A review by Australian consultancy Taribon last September and October, which included a survey of 1006 DOC staff, slated the restructure, blaming it for a breakdown in communication, inefficiencies, leadership difficulties and preventing DOC achieving its goal* of significant steps towards conservation gains.
So you would send NZ troops to all these places?
Personally, I would support the Kurds more in Iraq. They seem quite capable of looking after themselves.
I would not send foreign troops. 2003 invasion created the problem that exists now.
But don’t rely on my opinion. Look up Fisk, Cockburn and other reputable journalists on the matter.
Cheers for the reply, Paul. I would happily see NZ support an international effort in those countries in whatever way was appropriate. For example, the Iraqi Kurds are making progress with assistance from the US and allies. If we can help, why not?
So our underfunded military – who have issues related to that – your happy to put into a combat zone Te Reo Putake?
I’d support if we were going after Saudi Arabia – I really would. But ISIS, are a overblown state in fail mode. So they can kill a few people – but for how long – till the money from the Saudi’s runs out? Because if my Kurdish friends are correct, and I think they are – ISIS has no economy, no infrastructure, no ability to run a country – they are just a military movement who are well funded. Fighting them – lets cut the money off.
I don’t see the point in sending young men and women into a war zone, when we know for a fact, a so called ally is funding the other side. That to me is the height of negligence.
I hope your Kurdish friends are right, adam. But the current situation is that ISIS are running a country about the size of NZ and have both external funding and the ability to generate income within the conquered territories. They aren’t going to go away without intervention.
Who is the ally you reckon is funding them? The Saudis?
Well, that wasn’t much help! Honestly, Phil, if you think there are relevant facts I’m missing, please let me know. Preferably in a way that can be easily understood.
TRP – no NZ troops should go into Iraq until a non-sectarian government is installed in Baghdad, Middle Eastern billionaires – who are all US allies – stop funding ISIS, and the EU lock down on the hundreds of their citizens who are going to join and fight with ISIS. France is just one country which has been very tolerant of its citizens going to Syria to fight because they want to see Assad gone.
ISIS thrives in Northern Iraq because the local Sunni population is sick of partisan, sectarian Baghdad rule, and ISIS keeps itself stocked with lethal weapons because of billion dollar middle east backers.
Why the fuck would you want to send NZ troops in to that meat grinder, under those conditions?
And to do what? Train Iraqi security forces? That’s a failed mission before it even starts. In case you haven’t noticed, the USA and UK have poured the last ten years and hundreds of billions down the drain to train an Iraqi security force which is outstanding at running away and abandoning all its arms, equipment and vehicles to the enemy.
So why would you push for us to join more of the same???
Most of this is beside the point a bit TRP, I think.
The harping on about ‘what would you do then?’ and the like.
There is a plan on the table. And there are facts on the ground.
You either support the plan, or you don’t.
The facts on the ground should play a part in that decision, for sure. But so do the facts about the plan.
What shouldn’t play a part in the decsion to support the plan on the table, is whether or not you’d support some other plan. That other plan isn’t on the table.
So, if you don’t support this plan, that doesn’t mean you think nothing should or could be done. That’s just some bullshit.
And arguing about what would be a better plan is pointless given none of our plans will get to the table.
This plan, of sending some trainers who the Iraqi govt does not want to see action. That’s the plan.
On the gorund, the fighting is being done by militia. The govt is saying they will investigate some of the claims about the atrocties being committed as militoa drive sunni out of ISIS held territory. Of course they will.
The head of the interior ministry is the head of the politcal arm of the Badr brigade. So we’ll see how that goes.
Personally, I think this plan will achieve fuck all in terms of destroying ISIS. I think our politicians are lying about the dynamics on the ground. ie, I don’t think they are ignorant of those dynamics, I just think they believe that if they are honest, no one will support the war.
the political demand to ‘do something’ is all this plan achieves. I think that’s a shit reason to order troops into a potential quagmire. So I don’t support it.
If they present a different plan, in a way that strikes me as honest, I’ll reconsider.
Bookie, thanks for that reply. It’s as good an analysis of the situation as I’ve seen in NZ media this week. For mine, I want ISIS stopped. I also want my country to assist in any practical way, because I’m not an isolationist. We are part of the progressive world and we should stand up and be counted.
As you say, it’s a question of what plan should be used. There may be better alternatives, but a plan exists, it seems to be working reasonably well without western troops directly engaging ISIS. We can play a part within that plan, even given our limited resources. So I reckon we should be involved, becuase it’s the correct thing to do.
Are you having a laugh, Phil? You still haven’t even attempted to answer the very first question (what facts don’t I know?). As far as I can tell, you aren’t engaging your brain, so if you want to disengage your typing fingers as well, that’s coolio.
TRP: trying to train the Iraqi security forces is a waste of time. The US and UK tried for the last 12 years, spent hundreds of millions on it, and they ran away at the first sign of trouble.
Call my ideas weird or whatever, but your willingness to drive NZ deeper into a long failing strategy just to be part of the club is not just weird, it’s very foolish.
That’s about the limit of ‘debate’ one expects from you and I guess you’re content to not exceed expectations.
Now I know retard as an insult is frowned upon here, so when I ask are you retarded from being a drug addict? I’m actually do mean in the medical sense.
Not only would it explain a lot if you are, but it will also help me frame my responses in future as I don’t want to be known as the bloke that literately fucked up someone with learning difficulties. So hand on heart, are you afflicted?
And again, for reference,, my name isn’t Alan, Allan or any variation on it.
I’m not an isolationalist, I’m an internationalist. Do try and get your head around the difference. And, I suggested, look up ‘personal pronoun’ while you’re at it, it’ll help you understand why you misunderstood what I said.
Te Reo Putake – Yes the Saudis. And other in the region too, I don’t think and having asked I don’t believe Iran and Iraq have any money going to them. For the first time the Iranians are talking to the Kurds and helping them out – that’s all very new.
I think they will fall over – they may have access to resources – like oil. But the ability to extract it is getting beyond them. They have killed off many of the class who can do this type of work, and many other middle class professionals have just left.
I think NZ does have the ability to help. We have some might fine computer hackers and crackers – lets use them and cut of the funds from external sources.
Cheers, adam. The relationship with the Saudis is truly awful, clearly based on petrodollars not principle. If memory serves, we in the west gifted what is now Saudi Arabia to the Saud family when we could just as easily set up a democratic state. But whats a constitution compared to an oil concession?
I agree with you that ISIS won’t last the distance. There are already signs that their supply lines are stretched and fighting on multiple fronts is not a winning strategy. They may eventually have to withdraw and consolidate around the Syria/Iraq border and Mosul.
A good set of maps from the BBC here, including one showing ISIS controlled oil refineries that have been bombed :
Oh I guess western engineering companies will have to come in and take up the contracts to repair those bombed refineries once ISIS has gone. Damn shame.
I also read that General Dynamics will be manufacturing another 170 M1 Abrams tanks for the Iraqi army, given that they gave 40 of them to ISIS and the Americans had to destroy them. Good business at US$5M a pop.
And there’ll be Jognny boy wagging his tail for a pat on the head and he will put all of our citizens all over the world into danger by joining ‘The Family’ whats he tyhink this is a movie ?? The family! FFS did they steal the name from the latest mafia Movie?
Maybe if you don’t live in the real world, just a movie and everything’s happily ever after…. sipping drinks in Hawaii and playing golf… txting your pyscho bff for black op missions… playing Monopoly with a real country… whats next ‘state houses’ aka Old Kent Rd, swap for a motel aka convention centre Sky City… Then on the Sony playstation real life war games… reality TV, Would I lie to you…
It is all so horrific. Bloodshed and war just leads to more bloodshed and war and further atrocities. On the Guardian it said there has been 1800 bomb strikes in 6 months on ISIS, clearly in the ‘terrorist’ eyes it is payback, and they burned him on an air strike site. More bombs, more casualties, more hatred against the west, more recruits to ISIS. More terrorists attacks in retaliation into the west.
Lets face it, 9/11 was caused by mainly Saudis nationals, but in spite of Saudi Arabia’s horrific human rights records, we put our Kiwi flag on half mast when their King dies. Iraq was not even mainly Muslim when US and UK invaded, WMD never found and it was always controversial. Now we have new threat created by the invasion ISIS as well as Al Qaeda, so blow up more people and created more terrorist offshoots… God who is winning by this?
I’m against all violence and I am defiantly against NZ being dragged into an un winable war that is going to endanger NZ and western lives to be part of a warmongering ‘club’. Not a good reason to go to war. Not to mention the goading of Russia etc. What is next, nukes? It’s a battle to be the most inhumane. Maybe in the old days you could go around causing trouble and invading little and (big) countries with various dubious agendas, (like Vietnam) but with globalism not a good strategy.
The US are spreading a religious war with their privatisation of warfare which is big business while many US people are starving and homeless and have no access to healthcare. There are too many simpleton politicians strutting about the world with access to too many weapons, feeling powerful by being part of a ‘club’. Um, in the old days politicians used to work for the people of their country, not lobbyists and other countries governments.
Apart from the Human Rights issues of war, the strategy does not sound like Utopia or economic prosperity to me.
Sadly his own paper, the rag the Herald, is part of the corporate media that wants you not to focus on the important stories and so spends its time focusing in trivial nonsense, breathlessly telling the story of voyeurism in Christchurch.
And how much airtime discussing cadbury’s reducing the size of their bars?? Even a specialist saying this akshully does constitute an increase in price…..thanks for that, fascinating
Related to reducing the size of their bars in the name of running a massive multinational company, the real questions that I want to hear raised are what plans Cadbury has to increase the number of jobs in NZ by improving the quality of their products, sourcing ethical and fair trade ingredients, reducing any negative environmental impact, as well as how they will ensure profits and benefits flow to the wider local community and what they are doing to restore their credibility with NZ consumers and people.
Even a snippet of the above would be far too much to ask of our reporters to raise?
I can sleep well at night knowing that 2 minutes on One news was spent on Cadbury’s reducing their bar size, they even polled 3 people to find out what they thought!!! I was riveted to find out the result.
Maybe it was a ‘brand inside’ special like on the Herald. Who Knows. Looking forward to finding out about Sky cities latest creations too coming soon, to TV news advertorials.
I only watched TV1 news wondering about Sabin discourses to the masses. Was so pleased I did, because now I know about the latest NZ scandal of Cadbury… cos since I fast forward the adds, I would not have know this unless buried within the news itself.
For those who condemn sleepy NZ masses. Think about it, with the Rock Star economy being reported constantly in the Herald and the oldies watching TV1 thinking that chocolate is the only scandal to worry about, no wonder National gets away with blue murder.. (literally).
“Hamas is a monster that Israel helped create. And having spent three decades helping create Hamas, it has spent the next two trying to destroy it, through the imposition of collective punishment on Palestinians, from economic blockades to air strikes. . .”
full article at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/israels-role-in-the-creation-of-hamas/
Israel is trying to undermine Obama and USA foreign policy towards detente with Iran…Israel tail wagging the USA dog !?
“The closer the Western powers and Iran come to a negotiated settlement, the more we hear that the West and Iran are destined to be enemies. Can the political establishment in the West and Israel ever say ‘yes’ to peaceful co-existence with the Islamic Republic? CrossTalking with Charles Cogan, Chuck Freilich, and Jim Lobe.”
Great Britain did not create Israel. The United Nations sanctioned the Israeli state in 1947. The British did give their support to the concept of a Jewish State but also attempted to restrict it’s development during their Mandate of Palestine.
I agree with Gossy – The British troops I’ve talked to from the Mandate period – said whilst they were sympathetic to the Zionist cause – they were sicked by the Zionists treatment of the Palestinians. Great English diplomacy at the fore once again, bumbling, morally squiffy and if they can bugger it up for years to come – yeap that’s what will happen.
Have you read anything about the creation of Israel? The vote was actually a very close run thing and it wasn’t the British who swung it for the Israelis.
Have you read anything about the creation of Israel?
Yeah, I have thanks. Have you? I ask because you seem to be ignorant of the century or so before the UN vote of the Zionists working towards taking Palestine off of the Palestinians.
I don’t think it’s possible to legitimately buy the land from those who don’t live there. As I’ve said before, Palestine is a great example of why foreign ownership is bad for NZ.
In the west bank, most of the land used for settlements was purchased off the original Palestinian owners quite legally.
It’s the next step of rolling in the tanks and sectioning off that land from Palestinian Authority control thats the bugger.
And once the settlement is built, populating it with overzealous Zionists to ensure that any Palestinian who approaches said gated settlement is met with an entirely inappropriate response.
Maale Adumim is the poster child for this strategy.
It’s a bit like a foreign power buying up large sections of land in New Zealand, moving armour into those lands, and then telling the New Zealand government to fuck off.
“In the west bank, most of the land used for settlements was purchased off the original Palestinian owners quite legally.”
Not at all how I understand it. Some of the land was taken by force during the Six Day War, with Israel claiming it was taken in self defence. In my view, the Israeli Air Force began a war of aggression with a surprise attack and therefore the land is illegally occupied.
A lot of land that is bought is bought by fraudulent means, which must be challenged in Israeli courts. Much of the rest is denied to Palestinians because lunatic settlers shoot at them and uproot their olive trees, all with the protection of the IDF.
That was also my view before I lived in Palestine, that most of the settlement land was taken by force, also that the conflict was mainly a religious one.
Speaking to a wide range of Palestinians during the three years was there disabused be of both notions.
That land was taken by force and fraud is not disputed, but that the majority of was land annexed in this manner is not the general understanding of Palentinians themselves.
Edit: I am talking specifically about the settlements set up to ring and enclose Jerusalem, as is my original comment
The US was a key player that the Jewish leaders worked very hard to swing around to support them. Initially they were reluctant to be active supporters due to their relationship with Arab nations most notably Saudi Arabia. It was not the main influence though and was a relatively late convert to backing the Jewish state.
Your ignorance is exceeded only by your unfeasible confidence. I’ve said it before, but it needs to be said now more than ever: please do some serious reading on this subject.
Well, it was formally created by Britain, the US, the Soviet Union, France etc.
Interestingly the USA wasn’t originally so totally behind Israel as it is today.
In 1956, when France, Britain and Israel invaded Egypt, the US basically told them to fuck off. They threatened economic measures against Britain, which would have screwed the pound, and forced the Israelis to give back the Sinai.
It was only with the wider spread of progressive, secular Arab nationalism and the US deciding that the Middle East would be part of its new, ever-expanding ‘back yard’ that the US elite really committed to Israel.
As Kenan’s article explains, the US and Israel were happy to promote Islamic fundamentalism as a reactionary counter to progressive and secular pan-Arab nationalism. They had no idea how that would pan out for them in the end.
However, Hamas is not much of a threat to Israel. They are increasingly up for a deal, just like Fatah was and is.
The Brits were trying to reclaim possession of the Suez canal which they’d built at vast expense. The Americans told them to back off. So the US stood up for the Egyptians on a matter of principle? Nah. It was just oil diplomacy. Don’t forget that the Americans owned the Panama Canal at the time and had no intention of handing it over (they eventually did so only much later in 1999).
The Panel continues to be a forum for crazed ideologists;
At least Steve McCabe registered his disgust this afternoon
Radio NZ National, Tuesday 3 February 2015
Jim Mora, Nevil Gibson, Steve McCabe
It’s always a bit of a worry when National Business Review editor Nevil “Breivik” Gibson is a guest on this program. He’s one of those special guests who can usually be counted on to say something both stupid and offensive, if not downright depraved; other Panel regulars in that category include Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, Michelle Boag, Jordan Williams and Barry Corbett. Gibson is a former Maoist agitator, who went straight from harassing shoppers with crazed pamphlets espousing the Cultural Revolution into supporting the even crazier theories of Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman, without passing through any intermediate stage involving common sense, sanity or humanity. Gibson almost always gets away with it, however, because he’s usually paired up with a weaker guest, like Jeremy Elwood. [1]
Gibson has occasionally come a cropper on the Panel, though—most memorably when Gordon MacLauchlan lost patience with him. Gibson was delivering an absurd homily, in his trademark ponderous croak, about the role of city councils—merely to organize the picking up of rubbish and the maintenance of footpaths. “That’s RIDICULOUS, Nevil!” said MacLauchlan, and proceeded to school the doctrinaire dunderhead about the necessity for and the complexity of council functions, carefully established over generations, of public services like libraries, parks and festivals, as well as scores of other public amenities. Nevil Gibson simply did not have a coherent response to offer, and lapsed into a silence closely resembling stupidity.
On today’s show the other guest was Auckland teacher Steve McCabe, who was to be similarly disturbed by Gibson’s complacent fanaticism. Let’s see how things worked out…..
Before the news, there’s a brief discussion about the possibility of the United States backing the junta that seized power in Ukraine with “lethal force”. One of today’s guests is not convinced of the moral, legal or strategic justification for this. But the other guest has worked it all out; he’s been reading David Brooks and watching Fox News, so naturally he supports the junta, and supports the arming of it. He’s really on top of things. He speaks slowly, to convey just how deeply he is thinking…
NEVIL “BREIVIK” GIBSON:[speaking very slowly, to convey authority] It’s about stopping an invasion, isn’t it?
After the 4 o’clock news, there’s a discussion with Professor Jim Rolfe, Director at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University, about the possibility of New Zealand sending troops to Iraq to fight against the Islamic State. It soon becomes clear, after he delivers a confused and windy attempt to explain why this is a fight involving “all of us”, that Prof. Rolfe, like Nevil Gibson, is right behind whatever the Americans request (instruct) our government to do. Steve McCabe is not so sure, though, and he reminds Professor Rolfe and Gibson that only a decade ago, the United States was prosecuting an illegal invasion of Iraq, based on lies.
NEVIL “BREIVIK” GIBSON:[croaking testily, with contempt] As Professor Rolfe has just told you….
Later in the program, there’s a brief discussion about jobs in New Zealand. The unemployment rate of 5.4% is expected to remain steady, despite a predicted rise in employment. McCabe points out that there might be more jobs, but they are low-paid and unstable jobs. The median pay for CEOs has increased astronomically, but most people have seen their wages stagnate. What about all the poor people?
Once again, the Oracle has all the answers…
NEVIL “BREIVIK” GIBSON: Their job is to look for better jobs. No one looks to work in McDonald’s for ever. STEVE McCABE: So in the meantime we just let them eat cake. Brilliant.
An extended awkward silence ensues….
Later, during a brief discussion about the mega-rich, the editor of the NBR treats us to another of his insights, this time about what is perhaps the most misunderstood section of the world community….
NEVIL “BREIVIK” GIBSON: It’s assumed by people on the left wing that billionaires have done something corrupt, but that’s not the case….
After the news, Gibson recommends an article by Professor Jacqueline Rowarth, from Waikato University. She’s one of the nastier commentators going around, and further proof that if you want to find an extremist or an unhinged loon, you should travel to Hamilton. [2] But Nevil “Breivik” Gibson praises her, as well as plugging her column in—yes, you guessed it—the National Business Review.
Later on, Jim Mora introduces another serious topic—the shrinking size of the Cadbury chocolate block….. STEVE McCABE: I’m astonished that we’re talking about this topic on this program. JIM MORA:[suddenly taken aback, sheepish] But not only on this program. STEVE McCABE: Yes, but this is supposed to be a serious program.
. . . . . . . .
You think anything slightly right of The Greens is batshit crazy. In your world they only people allowed to comment would be left wingers (who you would define as right) and hard left which would become the new center’.
..i have as much respect for gibson..as i do for mike williams..
..my contempt is trans-ideological..
..but when you have rightwinger as climatechange-denying/social-welfare-net-shredding/poor-bashing/self-centered greedy fucks making up most of the rightwing..
..what else to feel for them..but contempt/derision..?
There is balance and the FOX news version of balanced.
Martin Bradbury was banned from the Panel.
Gordon McLaughlin seems no longer invited.
I challenge you to count the number of extreme neo-liberal apologists on ( Farrar, Gibson, Williams, Franks from the top of my head) , compared to real left voices.
They actually discussed this during the pre-Xmas show I believe. The view expressed at the time was there were slightly more left of center panelists than right of center. Of course this is a subjective measure but from what I can tell they seem quite balanced.
The RNZ statement said he was banned for defamatory statements, giving the producer incorrect information and breaking their editorial terms.
For which Bomber apologised.
Do you think he would have apologised if he was banned for having a dissenting POV?
No, I’m serious – the wealthy and powerful already have more than their share of airtime and media promotion. “Balance” is where the perspectives and ideas of those in the bottom 80% of society also get prominence and airing.
Except you require money to pay for this “balance”. This money will likely have to come disproportionately from the wealthy people who’s views you wish to reduce being heard or seen on this State funded media.
I know what I would campaign for if that happened. It would be the abolishment of the Leftist propaganda media or at least a major cutback in funding.
In essence you would have created a major political football for the two sides of the political divide to kick around for decades.
Gossie, would you prefer “fair and balanced” propaganda from our US corporate masters?
The problem with Mora is that he’s afraid of rocking the boat or questioning PR BS from the Beehive. Also, he frequently admits to not knowing much about current affairs. Also, his show frequently consists of mindless pap which does nothing to inform or elevate people’s thinking.
He’s just not the right person for the job. Kim Hill would be far better, as she always does her homework, and she asks the tough questions.
This money will likely have to come disproportionately from the wealthy people who’s views you wish to reduce being heard or seen on this State funded media.
And, really, telling poor people to shut up and listen to their betters is exactly what that means.
In natural and unavoidable extension that’s exactly what you did say Gosman.
The wealthy are entitled to the pre-eminent voice in state-funded media – because they are wealthy and while they’re not paying for it were they paying for it they would be paying for it – (WTF ???)
Then you said were the pre-eminence of the voice of the wealthy disturbed you would abolish altogether the alternative voice or at least use funding cuts to effect restoration of the pre-eminence of the voice of the wealthy who are not paying for it but would be were they – (again WTF ???)
Routine obfuscation, dishonesty, and callow wrongheadedness from Gosman. And it’s delivered with a professorially straight face. Unbelievable !
Except you require money to pay for this “balance”. This money will likely have to come disproportionately from the wealthy people who’s views you wish to reduce being heard or seen on this State funded media.
Don’t be a shite, the “wealthy” got this money from the rest of society and from government in the first place. It wasn’t theirs to start with.
Seems to me like you aren’t really interested in balance at all, unless it is balance tipped in favour of the top 1% to 2% of society.
Try pushing that view in the wider political arena and see where it gets you. I suspect that sort of class warfare talk will go down as well as a cup of cold sick with the wider electorate.
Gibson was a member of the Socialist Action League in its first few years – it was founded in 1969 and I think he left around 1971.
The SAL was very anti-Maoist. They were Trotskyists.
It’s funny that these days he’s such a paranoid and crude right-winger. Given his background, he should know better and be a more sane, sophisticated right-winger (there are a few such creatures about).
For several years I used to email him each July to ask him when that year’s Rich List was coming out and I’d add, “I like to keep up to date with what’s happening with the class enemy”.
He did always email back and tell me when the next one was due out.
I think he’s the only SALer that ended up a true believer in right-wing cargo-cult economics.
“It’s funny that these days he’s such a paranoid and crude right-winger.”
It’s a common phenomenon @PF, and I often wonder what causes it.
It isn’t just marrying and settling down, having kuds and supposedly becoming ‘responsible’.
It’s captured politicians, trade unionists and journalists alike. In my mind, most of them weren’t ekshully that principled to begin with. I mean I have NO doubt people like Toby Hill is probably rolling in his grave for starters – and with some of his kith and kin too, as well as those who built their careers claiming allegiance (and all the solidarity/fraternity/etc.)
I think maybe they were just bullshit artists to begin with
Really right-wing women in positions of authority are an interesting phenomenon.
They would still be shut out of a lot of these jobs if the left – the women’s liberation movement and socialist groups and individuals, progressive trade unionists and so on – hadn’t fought bloody hard for the doors to be open to women to move into the professions and better-paid jobs and into politics.
You’d think they might be a little bit grateful to the women’s liberation movement and wider socialist left.
But, not at all. They are every bit as grasping and nasty as their male counterparts, the very males who fought long and hard to keep women out of these roles!
To me, the classic case was Condoleeza Rice. She only got to have the career she had because *leftists* fought bloody hard to end segregation, win civil rights for Afro-Americans and women. It wasn’t her buddies, the Bushes and Cheneys and Rumsfelds of the world, who fought, and in the process risked their lives, to achieve civil rights. They never gave a shit; indeed it was right-wing Republicans and the Dixiecrats who fought long and hard to keep blacks and women ‘in their place’.
Morrissey you surprise and disappoint me. You omit mention of Gibson’s silent sulk so loud one could hear it, notwithstanding the radio medium, bloody near see it.
Discussion of Waitangi Day – bursting out in the most summary fashion and straight off the bat Gibson spat – “No No No !……I wouldn’t go……I object to the way it’s celebrated”. To the pedants I acknowledge, I paraphrase.
That was it…….mercifully he buttoned his surly lip for the minutes of discussion thereafter. Truly it was the most extraordinary public sulk I’ve been witness to for a very long time. It was as though the mere mention of Waitangi Day was savagely offensive to this miserable up-himself prat !
Unfortunately you cannot separate the two. The Quran is quite explicit on the correct way to slaughter animals for eating. Any other way is Haram. If you want them to stop then you need them to radically change their interpretation of their religion or all become Vegans. Which do you think would be easier to achieve?
I doubt very much you will convince too many Muslims to become Vegans. They believe Allah has willed it that certain animals should be available for humans to eat.
Not sure you can get that detail from the New Testament. Regardless Christianity (at least in the mainstream now) is less legalistic than Islam. In mainstream Islam (i.e. Sunni or Shia branches of the faith) you can’t really state that following the laws laid down in the Quaran is not important.
That is not an entirely wrong interpretation of Christianity. The very name New Testament suggests that it is replacing the older version that was in place up till then. I know many Christians take this view. The trouble for Islam is that they don’t really have the option for doing that. The closest they get is the concept of abrogation and unfortunately how the mainstream interpret that is not good news for a peaceful and tolerant faith.
Outside the Bible there is very little external references to Jesus. Josephus mentions him I believe but actually focusing much more time on John the Baptist. The view is that John was a much more influential religious figure and the early Christian’s basically assimilated him in to their cannon.
Gosman, I agree that fundamentalism of whatever stripe is deeply problematic, but it’s certainly not a problem exclusive to Islam.
Lumping all Muslims in with fundamentalist nutjobs (i.e. the MSM narrative) is simplistic bigotry. There are many ideologies in this world, none perfect. The holy books of religion speak to something transcendent in all humanity, and they are also deeply flawed, just like the human race.
Religion is used as a justification or whitewash for war, but rarely is it the true motive. The real motivations are injustice, economics, or political movements.
It’s very hard to make broad statements like Gossie does about “Islam”, as it’s a global faith with followers in many nations and cultures and huge variation on how the religion is practiced. Ex-muslim Cenk Uygur explains it quite well.
Bollocks. Muslims try this tack all the time. Arguing that it is a decentralised faith with no real authority detailing what it stands for. The trouble is there used to be a central authority (The Caliphate) and that it set out quite early on what the faith stood for. This forms what is commonly regarded as the mainstream Islamic view.
And protestants once followed the Pope before splitting off .
If anything, Christianity by your measure is more centralised than Islam. Yet Christianity is okay because “many” Christians discard half of the Bible.
Gossie. The “mainstream” practice of Islam is not a crazy jihad, although I’m sure that’s what you’re being paid to spread around. Muslims are people like us, who just want to mind their own business, look after their families, and live in peace with their neighbours.
Religious faiths such as Roman Catholicism and to a lesser extent the Eastern Orthodox religion don’t allow much individual interpretation of doctine. In that regard you are correct that they are more centralised. However Islam has imposed its own version of doctrine without the need of a central interpreter. The very concept of Islam means surrendering to Gods will as expressed in the teachings of the Quran. In that regard Islam is much more like the early Protestant movements which attempted to focus on the Bible and strip away the extras imposed by the Church hierarchy. Just as fundamentalist protestant churches can be extremely problematic so to is Islam.
“Many” Protestant churches might be problematically fundamentalist.
Would you say that “mainstream” Protestantism is problematically fundamentalist, gos?
Gooseman is trying to ferment an alarmist backlash against Islamism in general.
Gooseman your a fundamentaly a fuckwit.
You know fuck all about fuck all.
A Right Wing lackey that can’t think for yourself.
Spreading pathetic gossip you should be writing fo Coro or Shortland st.
You know nothing about Islam nothing about the Palestine to Israel transition 1947 48.
When you put links up 99 out of a 100 times contradict your claims.
You rely on wikipedia a popularity post of history pushed often by lobby groups changing the truth to suit their view.
Just like you try and do here gooseman.
Ever since the cristian crusades western christian countries have been interfering in Muslim countries when Oil was discovered more colonial interference has continued.
Israel formerly Palestine was promised to both the Jews and Arabs by England afterWWI and WW2 England interfered again allowing mass migration of Jews from Europe ruining the peaceful coexistance of Palestinian Jews and Arabs.
The New immigrants started causing trouble and in the end were shooting British Military Police in a guerilla style using the public as human shields.
Had the British not let mass immigration their wouldn’t be the mess their is today.
The British gave the West Bank to Jordan and Gaza to Egypt part of Englands colonies.
Now we are facing the backlash of many centuries of judeo christian interference in the Middle East.
Arabs find Islam more suited to their culture.
While Christians call it another form of satanism Muslims call Christian infadels both Religions have the same origins.
The Judeo Chistians have had the upper hand in more recent times and have kept govts that are willing to collude with the West in power by undemocratic means leaving large sections of the Arab world in poverty.
Arabs have had enough and are fighting back!
The Wests other problem with Islam it is more Socialist especially around banking.
Where Christian Ideals about looking out for your fellow man have gone by the way now Christian countries follow the greed is good greed is great.
So the Rich and Powerful don’t want Islamic ideas on profit spreading and underming their Banking Cartels!
Not in most countries and most likely not the majority of the Protestant churches. Certainly they are far more activist in places like the United States which does cause problems in that country. Luckily they have checks and balances on the influence of Religion in the political sphere which makes them less of a risk. Islamic majority nations generally don’t have such checks and balances and indeed often imbed Islamic principles in their laws.
Gosman makes one big categorical statement about Islam, but when the same logic is applied to Protestantism he’s all “most countries”, “majority of Protestant churches”, yadda yadda.
I think the point of difference is that Christianity has gone through the Reformation and other huge cultural movements to become part of modern “western european & american” culture. Some of the things we take for granted (aspects of human rights, democracy, secular education and government) have not yet been incorporated into (some) Islamic societies. However, others like Turkey, Indonesia, or Iran are relatively sophisticated and increasingly open to Western ideas.
On the other hand, (as Morrissey notes), novel re-interpretations of the Christian faith proliferate, which lack the veneer of modern civilisation.
I agree.
We should hope that the fundamentalist ultra orthodox backward ruthless strict sects do not take over the establishment and democratic ideas in the three more modern countries you mentioned.
If you want them to stop then you need them to radically change their interpretation of their religion or all become Vegans.
Nope. You need to address why the laws were there and why they’re no longer needed in a developed country with rules regarding testing for disease etc.
I went through a halal certified works recently and I can assure you the lambs being slaughtered were stunned in a very efficient manner before the throat was slit.
The old practice in the freezing works here in the killing of our lamb, hogget, and mutton was more humane. It was quick and, it was less stress for the animals. Halal is slow, and more stressful for animals. I remember as a kid, and talking to my father recently – when the Halal butchers came over in the 80’s that many freezing workers on the chain were not happy about the killing method at the time.
I wonder how Muslims feel that a religious practice has become a corporate model for maximum profits with not a care for animal welfare?
Given that the religious practice illustrates “not a care for animal welfare” in the first place, the fact corporates uses the same practice likely means nothing negative to muslims. They are probably pleased to be able to buy halal meat cheaply.
The real issue here is that medieval practices are being used in the 21st century. Lets introduce a few more like stoning, witchcraft trials, feudalism, duels, defecating out windows onto the street, jousting, treating women and children as chattels etc into society too. Some of them sound quite fun.
I struggle with the concept that religious free(or the bible for that matter) but I’m suspicious that a lot of religious traditions could be more aptly described as cultural baggage.
Kosher and Halal are almost identical from a practical level. Indeed Islamic law allows Muslims to eat Kosher meat if it is not possible to source Halal.
phillip. In 2009 I wrote to the then Minister for Agriculture, David Carter about the inhumane conditions for sheep on board ships being sent from NZ ports, around the world for Halal slaughter.
I no longer have the response, (which by the way took 2 months to arrive) so I can’t quote it. I lost all my poli comms, along with all other files in a crash of an old and tired machine.
What struck me, at that time, was the response from one of his staffer’s. There was a sentiment of “we don’t give a flying fuck” towards animal welfare. I got a spiel about the importance of the $$$ terms of such trade for NZ, as well as a petulant “Labour did it too”.
There should be a sub heading for agriculture beneath the “drill it, mine it, sell it” slogan. “milk it, kill it” to sum up the NZ Govt’s indifference to animal welfare and our environment. As long as money can be made it doesn’t matter what harm is done.
here should be a sub heading for agriculture beneath the “drill it, mine it, sell it” slogan. “milk it, kill it” to sum up the NZ Govt’s indifference to animal welfare and our environment. As long as money can be made it doesn’t matter what harm is done.
A fair number of European countries (Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway etc) have banned religious defined slaughter on the grounds it is inhumane.
Whereas in the UK, the right to inhumanely slaughter animals is regarded as a human right.
While the NZ Herald was dehumanising the bonded labourers who come to New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, a group of artists were staging a celebration of the Pacific Island working class in a gallery in the middle of New Zealand’s most redneck town: http://eyecontactsite.com/2015/02/lost-in-the-job
The landscape and the activity provides a vivid canvas for pictures.
My son enjoys photography, and we couldn’t think of a respectful way to ask if we could take photos to get a series together. (Although next year we might be flush enough to take cold drinks and food along with the request.)
The pickers have been out in the searing heat, and whole families come along to do the job, and are there from dawn to dusk and sometimes beyond, turning their headlights on to finish off. The are provided with port-a-loos, which sometimes don’t look very level or stable.
The kids either join in, or wait under whatever sparse shade there is, and in grower’s fields that is very little. They seem to occupy themselves but it would be a strange school holiday for many.
I don’t know about the pay or working conditions, but they do appear to work incredibly hard.
(And wish I had read Scott Hamilton’s piece earlier, I would have gone into the gallery to check it out).
That article on the halal slaughterhouse is sickening but the carnivores will stick their heads in the sand as usual and think because they dont eat halal lamb it doesnt apply to them.
Changes to animal welfare will come when enough meat eaters start making ethical meat eating choices. Stopping eating meat, while laudable for other reasons, leaves the animals to the ethics of the meat eaters, most of whom don’t care enough to change and look at the fundamentalist vegans as crazy people.
Obviously animal rights activist are very important in changes too. I think too many of the people who are vegan that think the whole world should be vegan, and who are basically intolerant fundamentalists make the problem worse (I don’t included you in that, for what I hope are obvious reasons) eg swapping beef and lamb for imported monsanto soy is not a solution to animal welfare issues, because the same mentality that treats animals badly treats plants and ecosystems badly too.
Judgemental patronising comments like Belladonna’s just turn people off food ethics entirely.
“i usually ignore weka as much as possible….but when she comes out with batshit-crazy/weird stuff about ‘vegans abandoning animals’….and then gives a condescending ‘you’re dumb!’ sneer when i ask if she could explain this weird statement….so i reacted to that..
..weka..like alan..follows me around….you could well be mistaking bettering for ‘harrassment’….in fact..i will try even harder to ignore her….(starting with not responding to her most recent ad-hom – at the bottom of this thread’..)”
Yes, shockingly I “don’t have warm feelings” about men who harass a woman just because they can’t handle her disagreeing with them/can’t handle her paying other men attention. 🙄
weka explained her point perfectly clearly in reply to marty mars. You can disagree with her premise but this “she never explains anything and you just hate me because you’re friends with her” rubbish is a bit sad.
imo alan and weka are quite opposite in their motivation and the way they express themselves.
I think you are peeved because weka doesn’t agree with you – others do agree in part or full with you – as they do with weka.
I’m lucky because I quite like both of you – not so much that alan – quite disappointed he came back after his nasty spiteful exit but as Mr Young says “keep on rocking in the free world…”
weka. The push for change to our animal welfare codes has to come from every corner if we are to succeed. That means it has to come from meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans alike. Our dietary choices shouldn’t dictate whether we should or shouldn’t advocate for change, and consumer power alone is not enough to create change. It is our conscience that should drive us.
After being vegetarian for 30 years I started up with fish again. Officially, I’m a pescatarian. I also buy free range meat for the meat eating members of our household. (One cat, one human). I feel no different now, as a fish eater about the importance of advocating for more humane methods of farming, as I did all those years ago as a teenager, when I first went vego. Same goes for the fishing industry.
I agree that cropping of GE soy, as a protein alternate, isn’t the answer either. This is also part of the “Big Food” agenda that suppresses the ability for us to choose how we eat.
(Good thing we grow GE free soy beans in Nelson then isn’t it 🙂 )
And P.S If we had voted in a Labour/Green government wouldn’t we be looking at the phasing out of battery farming by 2017? We need that political will to change the status quo too, as well as consumer power. Right now, the political will doesn’t exist.
Thanks Rosie, I pretty much agree with all of that 🙂
I’m excited about the increase in variety of crops being grown in NZ. Am semi-veg myself (after being full veg for several decades then eating a lot of animals for 5 years to regain some of my health), so always grateful for an increase in locally produced veg food. However, monocropping via industrial agriculture in NZ is a small step up from importing it from China or the US. Not sure about the Nelson soy, but most grain and legume cropping in NZ is not being done sustainably. This is where the fundamentalist vegan argument falls down.
Re the NZ grown soy beans. (Motueka in fact, I was wrong) They aren’t organically grown but the owners of soyworks do intend to go down this path once they get their own land.
“Under its previous owners, Soy Works tofu was made using organic Chinese or Australian soybeans, a label that has been dropped. Mr Dalzell’s soybeans aren’t organic because his land is leased and it takes money and time to become certified.
Miss Rowley says becoming organic is a goal, but it won’t happen until they can buy a block of land themselves. She also believes her partner’s soybeans taste, look and smell better than overseas ones, and that using beans produced just down the road is ultimately more sustainable than shipping them from China, organically grown or not.”
I understand Urban Hippie also use their beans in the miso they produce.
One thing about growing crops more sustainably here is the issue of competition from cheaper overseas organically grown crops. One example. I remember from my time working in the organic industry (retail and distribution) that local production of organic oats dropped dramatically once NZ started importing much cheaper Canadian grown organic oats.
Even in our small organic industry here in NZ, globalisation still has an impact.
that’s cool, thanks. I’ve heard about that guy but didn’t realise he was in Mot. I agree with them about local non-organic vs imported organic, esp as they’re wanting to head in the organic direction anyway.
Similar to this present National government : Copy a few Labour party social polices for the ‘under class’, but triple the pro-wealthy right wing nasty policies.
“I’d be quite skeptical about “Organic Chinese Soyabeans”…….. Slap on a label, triple your margin.”
For precisely this reason organics have international standards. eg IFOAM have been in existence for over 40 years and certify the national certifiers in each country. It’s true that some govts are trying to undermine organic certification in order to make the market money, but in that regard I’d be as concerned about the US as I would about China. Wholesalers in NZ and most retailers are aware of the issue, so it’s more about whether you trust them.
Thanks marty. I wish we could have food ethics conversations, esp regarding the politics and the context of CC, but I also think this may not be possible.
First published in the December 2013 issue of Metro.
Prime Minister John Key today pledged the government would fund $36 million towards Eleanor Catton’s defence of the Man Booker Prize.
Mr Key said it was in New Zealand’s interests that Catton, 28, repeat her “stunning” win of the world’s most celebrated literary award.
“We’ve all got to get behind Ellie,” he said. “She brought the nation together and gave us that ‘feel-good’ factor which certain other allegedly top performers manifestly failed to do.
The contrast is stark. As far as I’m concerned, getting so many Kiwis behind the rich pricks’ boat race was a bigger con job than the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
There’s a new Harper Lee novel coming out in July. To Kill a Mockingbird had a big impact in shaping my view of the world when I read it at 15 – especially around justice, fairness and race. We could stand to have a few more Atticuses (Atticii?) in the world.
When I started to read this my reaction was something like “Damn, her estate has allowed her name to be used by some hack”, rather like the sequels to “Gone With The Wind” or the James Bond books.
But it is really by her, after a lag of about 60+ years. I had assumed she was dead.
This I am going to have to read.
I wonder what are the chances that someone will find a second novel by Boris Pasternak, or Emily Bronte? There might even be a second novel by Keri Hulme somewhere out there.
“Alive and well”.
So I discovered. As I said though for some reason I had assumed she was dead.
She actually isn’t that old either. It was only the wording about the “new Harper Lee novel” and my mistaken opinion about her being no longer alive that made me think what I did.
I’m glad I was wrong.
From what I could gather from the news was that this book was written 50 years ago but she was advised not to publish it by her editor.
/blockquote In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called `Go Set a Watchman,'” the 88-year-old Lee said in a statement issued by Harper. “It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman, and I thought it a pretty decent effort. My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout’s childhood, persuaded me to write a novel (what became `To Kill a Mockingbird’) from the point of view of the young Scout.
Oh Boy! Up the stakes Mr Little. Crash or Soar Andrew! Breaking news?
“Labour leader Andrew Little believes John Key is lying about when he first knew of allegations concerning former MP Mike Sabin.
Mr Little told RadioLive this morning he did not accept the Prime Minister would not have known about the allegations before his chief of staff told the Prime Minister’s office on November 26.
This is what we want from little – get in keys face and he will bullshit even more and then that can be shown to be lies too and lo the actual unwinding of the costumekey accelerates.
key is the leftshark and his choreographer must be spewing!
I think we really need someone to go through Little’s various statements to try and identify “What did Little know and when did he know it?”. Examples of his confusion include.
A couple of days ago Little was quite sure his office notified Key on 28 November, and there was a file note to prove it. I suspect someone pointed out to him that 28 November was a Friday, that he wasn’t in the office and neither was Key, and that if he claimed to have a file note reporters would demand to see it. It would also mean that Key couldn’t possibly have heard about it until the next Monday, which was in December.
Suddenly there was no file note and he brought the date forward to 26 November. What evidence does he have? Well none really, just a list that says someone in his office rang the PMs office. Topic? Person? nothing identified.
On National Radio this morning he was asked who had told his office about the affair. He claimed he didn’t know who they were. Then about 10 seconds later he was gaily claiming that they weren’t MPs and had nothing to do with Parliament.
If he didn’t know who they were how could he possibly know that? The interviewer from Red-radio let him get away with it of course.
Come on Andy. If you are going to tell tales at least try and make them consistent.
Do you really expect the leader of the Labour Party to have full and accurate recall of a situation with the informing of a National Party situation, when the PM himself is unable to recall broad timelines?
Don’t misdirect the issue.
The problem lies with:
1. Mike Sabin
2. The PM
3. National party officials and members who knew about this prior to the election and who did not raise enough concern about continuing with Mike Sabin as candidate.
Even if you hadn’t heard that cellphones let people tell political leaders stuff on a weekend, there’s a major difference between being within a couple of days when the even was weeks ago and being a full month out.
As for the national radio thing – I suspect that even morrissey has more accurate recollections about what was said on a radio program than you do. Time of broadcast?
The interview with Little was in Morning Report at about 7.50am
About 1 minute in he says he doesn’t know who the people were. Then he talks about who they aren’t. Then he waffles. http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20165995
I fear that Andrew’s problem is they he will say anything, regardless of the truth of what he is talking about and then has to reverse ground when Matt has words with him.
He said he didn’t know the exact sources. He did know that the information came in twice “clearly from independent sources”. Not people “in Parliament or Parliamentary precincts”.
“[…] it was clear to me the allegations had been around for some time. My office wasn’t the first to know of them“.
q: “were they anonymous”
a: “I’ll have to go back and have a look at what the record was , I was notified that two messages came in raising the same information”.
Seems to me that if it was two walk-ins/phone calls to electorate offices up north, that would fit the bill. It would also explain why the contact logs weren’t at his fingertips.
Late yesterday afternoon Little’s office produced the phone logs that proved McCarten made the call to Eagleson a week earlier than Key claimed – on November 26.
And there’s no way that Key wasn’t told on the same day (if he didn’t already know) as it’s just too explosive.
Still, Vance keeps plugging for the Key meme:
Critics and politicos can fulminate all they want, but Key knows the public switched off to this convoluted story as soon as Sabin exited stage left.
No, that was when the public sat up and took notice and realised that the smoke really indicate fire.
You do remember that Andrew Little claimed that there would be a file note in his office don’t you?
Then he came out with this little tale, reported on Stuff
“Just before 3pm today, Little gave a press conference saying he couldn’t verify claims he made contradicting Key. He said that didn’t matter – he didn’t believe Key, and says he should have immediately stepped Sabin down.
More than an hour later, the party supplied journalists with a telephone log which they say shows McCarten called Eagleson at 11.20am on November 26 and left a message. Eagleson returned the call 18 minutes later.”
They showed the “evidence” of the phone log on TV. There was absolutely nothing on it except that there were phone calls from unidentified people to other unidentified people with no indication of content. However Andy says that it was about Sabin and we all believe him because Andy is never mistaken about anything. Doesn’t matter anyway he says, because he doesn’t believe Key, so there!
yeah big deal, crime of the freaken century stuff there mate
Its a really small matter next to the fact by keys own admission (take whatever version you like) he let sabin stay on the law and order SC AFTER he knew he was being investigated by the police
and then theres the NBR calling BS on keys versions of events as well as pretty much everyone in northland
Tell you what Alwyn, the narrative “Key’s a bullshitter !” is more and more entrenched every day. You know it. Suspension of disbelief is ultimately bad for your health. Give yourself a break.
But I quite like visiting this blog-site.
As long as I don’t upset any of the people running it too much I intend to continue doing so.
I bet there are at least 100 people who comment here and would agree with your narrative about John Key, but I can stand reading them without hurting myself by laughing too much.
The real suspension of belief was actually commentators here last year who were absolutely certain that the polls were rubbish and that the left were going to win the election easily.
[lprent: I haven’t noticed your behaviour being an issue for quite some time. ]
Sport. ..sport…sport. Hides a plethora of social attitudes. Mark Reason in today’s Stuff.co.nz has written a column about the casual racialist of sport. In particular about how the greatest women’s player doesn’t pass muster for white America.
All very sad as it diminishes the pleasure spectators enjoy watching Serena stepping up the pace. It demeans her stature as the closest America has come to producing another Ali. All because she is black and a woman. Very sad.
Serena does amazingly well (in terms of US interest) given that tennis of any sort doesn’t capture the interest of the USA except at US open time. But even then not too many people care. Last year the US open was shown on CBS and rated 1.4% which in US terms is death. This year the coverage has gone from CBS to ESPN. Lets face it, most people find tennis boring.
he also refersto people as “girl” which my adult daughters indicated to me was not as funny as I thought.
I’ve just re-read the article – honestly it is a pile of shite thats not logically consistent. Serena is the most widely known female atlete in the US, the highest earning female athlete ever, and the fact that she has plenty of high profile endorsements would all indicate to me that she is pretty well liked. Companies don’t hire celebrity endorsers who the public don’t like. Check out Lance Armstrong post confession or Michael Vick or plenty of other unlikeable celebrity/athletes.
Hune-Brown cites another recent bit of evidence for the phenomenon: people with a strong belief in a just world, he reports, are more likely to oppose affirmative action schemes intended to help women or minorities. You needn’t be explicitly racist or sexist to hold such views, nor committed to a highly individualistic political position (such as libertarianism); the researchers controlled for those. You need only cling to a conviction that the world is basically fair. That might be a pretty naive position, of course – but it’s hard to argue that it’s a hateful one. Similar associations have been found between belief in a just world and a preference for authoritarian political leaders. To shield ourselves psychologically from the terrifying thought that the world is full of innocent people suffering, we endorse politicians and policies more likely to make that suffering worse.
The right-wing are definitely authoritarian and engage in victim-blaming.
It’s taking way too long to loaad pages
the Edit function don’t work
and when I tried to reply to a message without logging in it gave me some random thing and called me Spam.
The latest labour market data shows continuing strong employment growth with 80,000 more jobs added to the New Zealand economy in the last year.
Today’s Household Labour Force Survey shows employment was up by 1.2 per cent – 28,000 people – in the December quarter and up by 3.5 per cent in the last year.
[deleted]
[lprent: You know the rules. Quote segments and link. I corrected it for you ]
regarding any and all figures from the Household Labour Force Survey:
One hour of paid work a week is not employment.
and your 80,000 more jobs figure came from where exactly?
remember fisiani,
the number of new job listings does not equate to the number of new jobs available
““The other striking element in this jobs report is the record high participation in the labour market of 69.7 per cent. This participation rate increase means that unemployment rises slightly to 5.7 per cent despite the strong job growth.”
This participation rate increase means that unemployment rises slightly to 5.7 per cent despite the strong job growth. ??
Typical National tactic at the moment: just talk up the numbers without context or explanation. “Participation is up, everything’s great!” “There are more jobs, please ignore the fact there’s also more people trying to get them!”
I just received this email from the Labour party education spokesperson, Chris Hipkins:
You won’t believe this.
The government’s planning to make cuts to the National Library, which will mean teachers will no longer be able to request educational books for the children in their classes.
Last year, nearly a million books were sent to our kids to read. Stopping our kids from receiving these vital educational books will damage both their learning and education.
But the service hasn’t been stopped yet – and the government’s plans are coming under intense criticism.
If we act quickly, and in our thousands, we can show publicly how strongly mums, dads, grandparents, teachers and other Kiwis feel about this vital service being cut. That will heap pressure on the government which could even force them to scrap their plans.
Will you sign an open letter to Peter Dunne, the Minister responsible, asking him to stop his cuts to the National Library and keep the service providing our school kids with their educational books?
We’ll then send the letter to Peter Dunne, along with the signatures of everyone who signs it. It will make quite an impact when it lands on his desk – and the more people who sign it, the louder the thump will be!
The proposals are so concerning that the School Library Association of New Zealand wrote a letter to the National Library saying the scrapping of the service would have a negative impact on teaching and learning, and that it was was “disheartened” by the change.
Stopping our school kids’ access to books makes no sense at all.
Thanks,
Chris Hipkins
Labour Education Spokesperson
PS: You can read more about the Government’s plans on the Stuff website.
PPS: Here’s the text of the open letter in full:
Dear Peter Dunne,
Please do not cut school children’s access to National Library books.
The service is vital for educating our school children. Last year, 16,000 teachers made 40,000 requests for almost a million hard-copy items via the Curriculum Topic Support Service.
Please reconsider your plans in light of the huge opposition to your proposed cuts, which includes the School Library Association of New Zealand, and thousands of parents, grandparents and teachers – many of whom have signed this letter below.
Thank you.
———————-
Click here to add your signature to the letter.
P.S :
I can’t get the link to work, as I have already signed and link disappears! If any of you have the link, please post it here. Thanks.
This is a Chris Hipkins propaganda press release. You know the rules……..
[lprent: There is no rule against propaganda. There is a rule against dumping generally available and possibly copyrighted content on the site. It is often used as a technique to boost google scores.
The implementation of the rule is that if I drop quoted paragraphs out of the missive into google as quotes, then I shouldn’t be able to find the document already available online. I didn’t find this one online when I saw it. I did find yours at scoop and on the National party website (which is where I suspect you read it) in the top two links.
You easily can’t link to something that isn’t ‘visible’. You can when it is in the top of the first page of google.
This is incidentally why Penny Bright’s missives get through the filter. They don’t appear to exist elsewhere until after they get on our site. It is either bad SEO or this is her primary outlet. ]
The email is not publicly available/linkable the way a press release is. And yeah, shockingly on a leftwing blog we’re more interested in hearing about leftwing campaigns than in having to scroll past a dump of Steven Joyce’s spin.
The first link takes me to a page that tells me I have voted, as I have. I am presuming that the link works ok for those that haven’t signed yet. Cheers.
That is not a propaganda press release you idiot. It is a political campaign to alert the people of this country to the evil designs of the pro rich and anti less-privileged people of this country being unleashed by this sleazy, lying crap of a myopic right wing rogue government.
That email was sent to all the Labour party members including me to sign and shame this stupid penny wise pound foolish government.
The email was based on facts. There are no distortions or lies in that email unlike the Joyce propaganda piece you posted distorting jobs and unemployment figures.
You did not even bother to respond to my reply to your comment when I said, at 20.2 :
“The other striking element in this jobs report is the record high participation in the labour market of 69.7 per cent. This participation rate increase means that unemployment rises slightly to 5.7 per cent despite the strong job growth.”
This participation rate increase means that unemployment rises slightly to 5.7 per cent despite the strong job growth. ??
this from the Greens and the possibility that NZ is hosting a Sri Lankan wanted for war crimes. I havent checked any of the assertions.
“… I’d like to invite you to a presentation I’m hosting with the National Council of New Zealand Tamils at the University of Auckland.
I’ve been working closely with the Tamil community to raise awareness about what happened during the war in Sri Lanka as well as the fact that we still do not have truth or justice.
The Government invited Sri Lanka’s former President Rajapaksa – accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity – to come to Aotearoa New Zealand for the ICC Cricket World cup. In response, I’ll be hosting my own guest: renowned author and journalist Trevor Grant. A former sports reporter for Australia’s The Age and Herald Sun Newspapers, he also recently published Sri Lanka’s Secrets: How the Rajapaksa Regime Gets Away with Murder.
Please come to Trevor’s presentation and to hear eye witness accounts from Dr N. Malathy and Green MP Jan Logie about their time in Sri Lanka.
When: Thursday 12th February, 6.00pm
Where: Algie Lecture Theatre, University of Auckland Faculty of Law, City Campus, entrance via 9 Eden Cres.”
Just considering the implications of (grinning) Winston hinting that he might stand in the electorate vacated by Mr Sabin and Is there an opening for Labour or anyone else to take away National’s tiny majority?
Could be an interesting by- election if Little has a cuppa with Winston.
The irony of Winston winning would be delicious and so productive for the country by weakening Key’s majority.
And I well remember the irony of Muldoon’s filthy attack via SIS on Colin Moyle and his subsequent resignation — which of course saw David Lange into parliament for the first time as MP for Mangere… and the rest is history.
Not sure why, but this brings it all to mind ‘cos I enjoy it when justice diligently trumps filthy politics and all their tricks with the natural law of unintended consequences ….
No one can ever second guess Winston. One can only be certain if Winston explicitly says so, but I doubt he will for various political reasons which will be perfectly valid and advantageous to him.
It will be interesting how this bi-election plays out. If the opposition play it well with maximum effort, work very hard and with smart strategy, they do have an even chance to bring this sleazy disgraceful government down.
There may even be a small chance that a few disgruntled/scorned National MPs that may do the unexpected and pull the dirt-hiding-rotten-rug that is lying perilously under the more and more slippery Key. Never say never.
They do have four puppet MPs, three of whom occasionally disagree with National and Act of course is operated by National more rigidly with a ideological levers rather than strings.
So in a parliament of currently 120 seats, they have 59 National, 2 Maori party, 1 Peter Dunne, and the hologram from Act. National’s tiny majority is 63 votes at best, usually against 57.
Bearing in mind the rate that National has lost MP’s in the last few terms, I suspect they will be lucky to make it to the end of the term as government.
Don’t tell me you are on of those idiots who is still thinking in terms of National / Labour. Surely even a meathead conservative must have realised that 17 years ago we changed our electoral system.
If you think the West controls the oil price you are deluded. Opec has far more say in it. Venezuela is a member of Opec.
Venezuelan oil production has been declining over the past few years despite the high price of oil prior to now. Why do you think that is?
If you read the article you will see that most of the benefits from the windfall of high oil prices over the past few years have been squandered by the spendthrift policies of the Chavista regime. I certainly don’t see Norway running out of toilet paper and medicines.
You really do have a great interest in toilet paper Gosman.
Pretty sure you have run this line about toilet paper deprivation several times in the last couple of weeks.
Are you really that concerned about access to medicines or basic necessities?
Are you going to provide us with a list of peoples that have suffered (eg. under US sanctions, and Israeli checkpoints) and have for decades had the same complaint?
Right, so OPEC just decides how much they pump on their own, do they? They’re told what to pump by Capitol Hill and Brussels. Fact.
I suppose you think this sharp downturn in the GLOBAL oil price is just a normal, apolitical occurrence, which happens from time to time for no reason whatsoever like, say, a tornado, or an earthquake.
Equating the economies of Norway, which is on the doorstep of a wealthy Europe and that of Venezuela, locked out of the US market, and on the doorstep of a third world continent is perverse.
No, I’d prefer it if the government didn’t waste all of the windfall revenue and put aside some to cover periods where there is low oil prices. Tell me how all this spending on social welfare has mad a long term difference in Venezuela?
The essential few thing that need to happen is controlled ‘free market’, limits on the maximum pay that any CEO can ever receive pegged to a certain multiple of the median wage, limits on the uncontrolled accumulation of wealth and income by the very wealthy, much higher tax rates on higher incomes, living wage, control on inheritance, control on housing/immigration/foreign buyers.
That is, if you really and honestly want to make a difference and make NZ a great and fair place.
I am getting to understand pu, strange ideas but consistent , also right on the mark re weka and alien, bat shit crazy yet they try to pin that on poor phil
There is something very fishy going on with this IS lot……..
After all the effort they have gone to why would they try their very goddam best to rark up pretty much every nation on the planet? Why? It makes no sense to bring war down on your own heads – war that you will certainly fail at without doubt …..
And I don’t buy the madmen descriptor. Not with that many.
There is a piece missing in this situation – the lock piece
They are very well funded. It would be easy for Western powers to ask for this funding to be cut off but their arms manufacturing lobbyists would rather IS continue to create havoc in the hope there will be another large scale uptake in their wares.
+100 vto …good questions…something very fishy going on!…some more questions:
…what caused ISIS?…and doesnt Saudi Arabia support or fund ISIS?
…and who is friends with Saudi Arabia?
…and what nations flew their flags at half mast when Saudi Arabian King whats- his- name died recently? …( wasnt John Key Nact supportive of half mast flying flags in NZ?)
…and what is the effect of ISIS atrocities ?…will it draw unwilling countries into war in the Middle East? ( is it being stage managed?)
…and whose ends would this serve? ( the enemies of Iran and Assad in Syria?)
…even Prince Charles does not want to be associated with arms dealing to the Middle East
Why doesn’t a journalist ask these sort of questions of Key given he is so keen to send other peoples children off to war, and expose NZ now to all the associated shit that Sydney, Ottawa, Japan et al have suffered….
the evil of man
I see Putin is willing to undergo interviews of several hours – do you think old podge could handle the same jandle as the superior Putin?
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 ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
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 ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures.As we enter the New Year I ...
The Prada Cup challenger series starts today. Suzanne McFadden goes behind the scenes of the world's only live yachting regatta to see what's in store for the next five weeks. At 6am on race days, Iain Murray wakes up and immediately checks the weather outside his Auckland window. “It’s all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raquel Peel, Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton The first season of Bridgerton, Netflix’s new hit show based on Julia Quinn’s novels, premiered on December 25 last year. The show is set in London, during the ...
The New Zealand government believes its own negotiations with Rio Tinto will be resolved "fairly quickly" now there is certainty about the future of the Tiwai Point smelter. ...
Amanda Thompson and her family are attempting to cut back on the meat, so they gave all the vego sausies the local supermarket had to offer a hoon on the barbie. Here are the results.I was a vegetarian once. Even the best of us take a well-meaning wrong turn on ...
The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the call by Wellington City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons for a shift to land value based rates charges. Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "Local government leaders across the country should join in Fitzsimons’s call ...
It’s been described as ‘pointless revenge’, but impeaching the president has a firm moral purpose, argues Michael Blake – setting a limit to what sorts of action a society will accept.A House majority, including 10 Republicans, voted today to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection”. The vote will initiate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Cranston, Lead Academic Teacher – Politics & Social Science (Swinburne Online), Swinburne University of Technology In a historic vote today, Donald Trump became the only US president to be impeached twice. By a margin of 232–197, the Democrat-controlled US House of ...
Hurrah. The PM is back to posting her announcements on the government’s official website, her deputy is back in the business of self-congratulation, Rio Tinto is back in the business of sucking up cheap electricity to produce aluminium at Tiwai Point, near Bluff. And overseas students (some, anyway) can come ...
The electricity sector, Government and people of Southland are rejoicing after Tiwai Point aluminium smelter owner Rio Tinto announced the major industrial would be open until the end of 2024, Marc Daalder reports Stakeholders in the electricity sector and across Southland are celebrating the extension of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter's ...
If you’ve been on social media this week, you may well have come across a surge in interest in sea shanties. We asked a veteran of the style why. In case you missed it, soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum. If that sentence is even ...
“It is basic human decency to speak up and protect any vulnerable child from harm, so withholding information in child abuse cases and allowing the abuse to happen by not speaking up is, put simply, a cowardly move,” says Jess McVicar Co-Leader ...
Allowing 1,000 returning international students back to New Zealand is the right move by the Government, and hopefully we will be able to welcome more, says ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard. "International education has contributed ...
A majority of the House of Representatives have voted to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. Follow the ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “We believe it is vital to hold our new Labour-led government to account ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Rotorua Lakes District Council to urgently release the engineering report on the public safety and structural integrity of the visible foundation-misalignment and lean of the City’s Hemo Gorge monument to government ...
Changes in income and movement in and out of poverty over time are only weakly associated with higher rates of child hospitalisation in New Zealand, according to a new University of Auckland study. Published today in PLOS ONE, the collaborative study led by Dr ...
With a long, hot summer upon us, pet owners are urged to be extra mindful of their pet’s health and safety. Unusually warm weather can quickly take its toll on furry family members, who aren’t well equipped for dealing with blazing heat. The National ...
The Council for Civil Liberties is challenging a claim by former National Party leader Simon Bridges that people should have total freedom of expression on Twitter. ...
A century of sexual abuse of women in New Zealand is analysed in a University of Auckland study. The newly-published research looks back as far as 1922 by analysing interviews with thousands of women about their lifetime experiences. The study indicates ...
62,686 more native trees will be planted in New Zealand in 2021 thanks to generous Kiwis who chose to go green for Christmas gifting. <img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2101/cf409712f141732a8543.jpeg" width="720" height="540"> Trees That Count, a programme ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By Arturo López-LevyOakland, CaliforniaUnfortunately, the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, encouraged by the Inciter-in-Chief, will not be the last act of mischief. Trump is insisting on causing as much damage as possible to the interests and values ...
The anti-Midas strikes again.
Looks like Nick Smith might be correcting some of his answers.
*what kind of goal is a step to a gain? One that’s been touched by Dr. Smith.
‘the gurner’ strikes again..!
Didn’t staff go on strike last year? What happened with that?
Just had a quick look at the Stuff article. What a bunch of numpties. Question is, is this incompetence or monkey wrenching?
Headline news in the Herald this morning concerning the burning of a Jordanian pilot.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11396216
Just below on the online site, there is a video entitled
‘Something has to be done – PM.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/national/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503075&gal_cid=1503075&gallery_id=147846
And then of course all heard from the British Foreign Minster, what that something could be. Send soldiers to Iraq.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11395976
And just on time, Audrey Young has an exclusive, telling what the British want from us.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11396093
Problem. Reaction. Solution.
It’s not even subtle.
We’re being played by corporate media to support war.
+1
How would you respond to ISIS, Paul?
What is your view on our sending troops to Nigeria, trp?
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/if-all-rightthinking-people-are-united-against-terrorism-where-are-the-je-suis-nigeria-banners-9985589.html
Or us sending troops to fight Saudi Arabia?
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/crime-and-punishment-islamic-state-vs-saudi-arabia-1588245666
Happy to answer your questions. Yes and yes (if other options fail). Any chance you’d care to answer my question?
So you would send NZ troops to all these places?
Personally, I would support the Kurds more in Iraq. They seem quite capable of looking after themselves.
I would not send foreign troops. 2003 invasion created the problem that exists now.
But don’t rely on my opinion. Look up Fisk, Cockburn and other reputable journalists on the matter.
Cheers for the reply, Paul. I would happily see NZ support an international effort in those countries in whatever way was appropriate. For example, the Iraqi Kurds are making progress with assistance from the US and allies. If we can help, why not?
got any other global longterm sectarian disputes you’d like to pick a side in..?
..and fire off some troops to back-up that ‘call’..?
..or is it just the american/cia panic-du-jour/war-drums that well and truly sucks you in..?
..gets you all antsy/armchair-warrior-ing..?
you’d have been all gung-ho on overthrowing gadaffi..wouldn’t you..?..
..eh..?
..are you really so susceptible to war-propaganda-du-jour..?
..and factcheck:..yr ‘ally’ saudi arabia..executes far more people than isis do..
..what would you do about that..?
He said he’d send troops to Saudi Arabia as well.
um..!..don’t these ‘problems’ have neighbours that are oil-rich/armed to the teeth..?
..let them sort it out..it’s their fucken business..not ours..
..would they come down here if we had a problem..?
…wd they hell.!
..so..why the fuck this ‘we must go and help/stop them!-bullshit..
..and the unquestioning-media never ask those fucken questions..
..do they..?..
..useless bastards that they are..
So our underfunded military – who have issues related to that – your happy to put into a combat zone Te Reo Putake?
I’d support if we were going after Saudi Arabia – I really would. But ISIS, are a overblown state in fail mode. So they can kill a few people – but for how long – till the money from the Saudi’s runs out? Because if my Kurdish friends are correct, and I think they are – ISIS has no economy, no infrastructure, no ability to run a country – they are just a military movement who are well funded. Fighting them – lets cut the money off.
I don’t see the point in sending young men and women into a war zone, when we know for a fact, a so called ally is funding the other side. That to me is the height of negligence.
I hope your Kurdish friends are right, adam. But the current situation is that ISIS are running a country about the size of NZ and have both external funding and the ability to generate income within the conquered territories. They aren’t going to go away without intervention.
Who is the ally you reckon is funding them? The Saudis?
for one with such a strong opinion..
..you clearly know little of the facts of the matter..
Once again in English, please, Phil. What facts don’t I know?
where to begin..?..
..did you support/get all gung-ho over overthrowing gadaffi/invading libya..
..were you then also handwringing/saying:..’what would you do?’..
..wd the archives here have a record of that..?
..’cos i have memories of bitter arguments here..
..me against the warmongers..many of them ‘lefties’ from here..
..lefties whi had been well and truly sucked in by the cia-propaganda..
..much like t.r.p.is now over/around isis..)
(and amongst other warmongers…keith locke..(!)..go figure..!..the cia-propaganda even sucked him in..
..ya coulda knocked me over with a feather..)
Well, that wasn’t much help! Honestly, Phil, if you think there are relevant facts I’m missing, please let me know. Preferably in a way that can be easily understood.
TRP – no NZ troops should go into Iraq until a non-sectarian government is installed in Baghdad, Middle Eastern billionaires – who are all US allies – stop funding ISIS, and the EU lock down on the hundreds of their citizens who are going to join and fight with ISIS. France is just one country which has been very tolerant of its citizens going to Syria to fight because they want to see Assad gone.
ISIS thrives in Northern Iraq because the local Sunni population is sick of partisan, sectarian Baghdad rule, and ISIS keeps itself stocked with lethal weapons because of billion dollar middle east backers.
Why the fuck would you want to send NZ troops in to that meat grinder, under those conditions?
And to do what? Train Iraqi security forces? That’s a failed mission before it even starts. In case you haven’t noticed, the USA and UK have poured the last ten years and hundreds of billions down the drain to train an Iraqi security force which is outstanding at running away and abandoning all its arms, equipment and vehicles to the enemy.
So why would you push for us to join more of the same???
Most of this is beside the point a bit TRP, I think.
The harping on about ‘what would you do then?’ and the like.
There is a plan on the table. And there are facts on the ground.
You either support the plan, or you don’t.
The facts on the ground should play a part in that decision, for sure. But so do the facts about the plan.
What shouldn’t play a part in the decsion to support the plan on the table, is whether or not you’d support some other plan. That other plan isn’t on the table.
So, if you don’t support this plan, that doesn’t mean you think nothing should or could be done. That’s just some bullshit.
And arguing about what would be a better plan is pointless given none of our plans will get to the table.
This plan, of sending some trainers who the Iraqi govt does not want to see action. That’s the plan.
On the gorund, the fighting is being done by militia. The govt is saying they will investigate some of the claims about the atrocties being committed as militoa drive sunni out of ISIS held territory. Of course they will.
The head of the interior ministry is the head of the politcal arm of the Badr brigade. So we’ll see how that goes.
Personally, I think this plan will achieve fuck all in terms of destroying ISIS. I think our politicians are lying about the dynamics on the ground. ie, I don’t think they are ignorant of those dynamics, I just think they believe that if they are honest, no one will support the war.
the political demand to ‘do something’ is all this plan achieves. I think that’s a shit reason to order troops into a potential quagmire. So I don’t support it.
If they present a different plan, in a way that strikes me as honest, I’ll reconsider.
How about you?
We have to be part of the club. Right? Maybe that’s just as important a consideration to TRP as any other, I suspect.
“We have to be part of the club. Right? Maybe that’s just as important a consideration to TRP as any other, I suspect.”
You’ve made some pretty weird comments in recent months, CV. That may be the most out there so far.
Bookie, thanks for that reply. It’s as good an analysis of the situation as I’ve seen in NZ media this week. For mine, I want ISIS stopped. I also want my country to assist in any practical way, because I’m not an isolationist. We are part of the progressive world and we should stand up and be counted.
As you say, it’s a question of what plan should be used. There may be better alternatives, but a plan exists, it seems to be working reasonably well without western troops directly engaging ISIS. We can play a part within that plan, even given our limited resources. So I reckon we should be involved, becuase it’s the correct thing to do.
still can’t answer a straight question..eh trp..
..did you support the invasion of libya/over throw of gadaffi..?
…a simple yes or no will do..
.and looking back up this thread..and all the other questions from me/others you just ignore/don’t answer..
..and recognising that as yr standard-pattern (see what i did there..?)
..i have to be asking myself..why bother engaging..?..
Are you having a laugh, Phil? You still haven’t even attempted to answer the very first question (what facts don’t I know?). As far as I can tell, you aren’t engaging your brain, so if you want to disengage your typing fingers as well, that’s coolio.
u can go and join that alan in the ignore-corner..
..u can’t even/won’t answer whether u supported the invasion of iran..
..’cos u did..eh..?
..i’m tired of yr fucken games..
I’m broadly in agreement with TRP, though as I’ve stated before, I don’t support troops on the ground without UN authorisation.
TRP: trying to train the Iraqi security forces is a waste of time. The US and UK tried for the last 12 years, spent hundreds of millions on it, and they ran away at the first sign of trouble.
Call my ideas weird or whatever, but your willingness to drive NZ deeper into a long failing strategy just to be part of the club is not just weird, it’s very foolish.
heh..!
..trp and alan..sitting in a tree..
..along came another simplistic-warmonger..
..and that made three..
That’s about the limit of ‘debate’ one expects from you and I guess you’re content to not exceed expectations.
Now I know retard as an insult is frowned upon here, so when I ask are you retarded from being a drug addict? I’m actually do mean in the medical sense.
Not only would it explain a lot if you are, but it will also help me frame my responses in future as I don’t want to be known as the bloke that literately fucked up someone with learning difficulties. So hand on heart, are you afflicted?
And again, for reference,, my name isn’t Alan, Allan or any variation on it.
“I want ISIS stopped”
Yes it’s all about you despite claiming to not be an isolationist
Q. You understand how and why ‘ISIS’ exists right ?
You understand how the personal pronoun works, right?
(Well, no, apparently not.)
Q. So you are an isolationist ?
Among other strong indicators you have the ‘ mainlander handle supporting your position which is a powerful signal of being on the wrong track
That you are on the wrong track is not contentious
Why you are on the wrong track is down to you
I’m not an isolationalist, I’m an internationalist. Do try and get your head around the difference. And, I suggested, look up ‘personal pronoun’ while you’re at it, it’ll help you understand why you misunderstood what I said.
That you believe it matters is more vanity
I want ISIS stopped. I also want my country to assist in any practical way, because I’m not an isolationist
Q. Where do the above words translate to being an internationalist ?
You also have backing from the alien as well as mainlander
Q. Does such support reassure and reinforce ?
“..You also have backing from the alien as well as mainlander
Q. Does such support reassure and reinforce ?..”
heh..!
“oh..!..believe me….i am going to be much more vigilant/diligent in my ignoring from now on..”
😆 You can’t help yourself, eh bruv? 😆
“You also have backing from the alien as well as mainlander
Q. Does such support reassure and reinforce ?”
No need to bring me in to you whiny little cat fight cause you’re losing it and being exposed all over the board, Smurfette.
“Q. Where do the above words translate to being an internationalist ?”
They don’t. But they’re not actually mutually exclusive concepts, so yah boo sucks there, pal.
“You also have backing from the alien as well as mainlander
Q. Does such support reassure and reinforce ?”
Yup. If nothing else, they both have excellent taste 🙂
Te Reo Putake – Yes the Saudis. And other in the region too, I don’t think and having asked I don’t believe Iran and Iraq have any money going to them. For the first time the Iranians are talking to the Kurds and helping them out – that’s all very new.
I think they will fall over – they may have access to resources – like oil. But the ability to extract it is getting beyond them. They have killed off many of the class who can do this type of work, and many other middle class professionals have just left.
I think NZ does have the ability to help. We have some might fine computer hackers and crackers – lets use them and cut of the funds from external sources.
Cheers, adam. The relationship with the Saudis is truly awful, clearly based on petrodollars not principle. If memory serves, we in the west gifted what is now Saudi Arabia to the Saud family when we could just as easily set up a democratic state. But whats a constitution compared to an oil concession?
I agree with you that ISIS won’t last the distance. There are already signs that their supply lines are stretched and fighting on multiple fronts is not a winning strategy. They may eventually have to withdraw and consolidate around the Syria/Iraq border and Mosul.
A good set of maps from the BBC here, including one showing ISIS controlled oil refineries that have been bombed :
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27838034
Oh I guess western engineering companies will have to come in and take up the contracts to repair those bombed refineries once ISIS has gone. Damn shame.
I also read that General Dynamics will be manufacturing another 170 M1 Abrams tanks for the Iraqi army, given that they gave 40 of them to ISIS and the Americans had to destroy them. Good business at US$5M a pop.
Well said TRP, agree totally with all your statements on this topic
right on cue..!
..well done..!
Thank you thank you (takes bow) i would stay to discuss but if off to do some “simplistic warmongering”
as you do..as you do..
Or what about these murders? Should we also send troops to the United States of America?
How would you respond to the governments that fund them and arm them in their war of insurrection against the government of Syria?
Did anyone notice that the British Foreign minister looks suspiciously like the Cigarette Smoking Man. Scary stuff They are our there!
Geee that’s a blast from the past…go Agent Sculley
And I see that the Hooray Henry sent out from britain, is now lumping in the murders in Sydney into Isil (or whatever they are called today)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooray_Henry
And there’ll be Jognny boy wagging his tail for a pat on the head and he will put all of our citizens all over the world into danger by joining ‘The Family’ whats he tyhink this is a movie ?? The family! FFS did they steal the name from the latest mafia Movie?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404311/
And before that it was the Club whats coming next week?? The Organisation??
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067535/
Love it.
Maybe if you don’t live in the real world, just a movie and everything’s happily ever after…. sipping drinks in Hawaii and playing golf… txting your pyscho bff for black op missions… playing Monopoly with a real country… whats next ‘state houses’ aka Old Kent Rd, swap for a motel aka convention centre Sky City… Then on the Sony playstation real life war games… reality TV, Would I lie to you…
It is all so horrific. Bloodshed and war just leads to more bloodshed and war and further atrocities. On the Guardian it said there has been 1800 bomb strikes in 6 months on ISIS, clearly in the ‘terrorist’ eyes it is payback, and they burned him on an air strike site. More bombs, more casualties, more hatred against the west, more recruits to ISIS. More terrorists attacks in retaliation into the west.
Lets face it, 9/11 was caused by mainly Saudis nationals, but in spite of Saudi Arabia’s horrific human rights records, we put our Kiwi flag on half mast when their King dies. Iraq was not even mainly Muslim when US and UK invaded, WMD never found and it was always controversial. Now we have new threat created by the invasion ISIS as well as Al Qaeda, so blow up more people and created more terrorist offshoots… God who is winning by this?
I’m against all violence and I am defiantly against NZ being dragged into an un winable war that is going to endanger NZ and western lives to be part of a warmongering ‘club’. Not a good reason to go to war. Not to mention the goading of Russia etc. What is next, nukes? It’s a battle to be the most inhumane. Maybe in the old days you could go around causing trouble and invading little and (big) countries with various dubious agendas, (like Vietnam) but with globalism not a good strategy.
The US are spreading a religious war with their privatisation of warfare which is big business while many US people are starving and homeless and have no access to healthcare. There are too many simpleton politicians strutting about the world with access to too many weapons, feeling powerful by being part of a ‘club’. Um, in the old days politicians used to work for the people of their country, not lobbyists and other countries governments.
Apart from the Human Rights issues of war, the strategy does not sound like Utopia or economic prosperity to me.
+1 saveNZ, and also @ Colonial Rawshark/Viper and Pascals bookie above
+1 to all those comments as well, …and philu….
Tautoko, saveNZ. The first rule of foreign policy should be “do no harm.” This is obviously not the case in Iraq.
and the Jordanians have begun executing their ISIS prisoners.
Go back to sleep, New Zealanders.
Emerson nails it again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11396043
Sadly his own paper, the rag the Herald, is part of the corporate media that wants you not to focus on the important stories and so spends its time focusing in trivial nonsense, breathlessly telling the story of voyeurism in Christchurch.
Anything to get Sabin off the news.
For example, this story of Disney princesses!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11396088
Hmm, do you think Emmerson and the Herald are aware of the rumours about the nature of the charges against a certain well known NZer?
Yes, I think they would be.
And how much airtime discussing cadbury’s reducing the size of their bars?? Even a specialist saying this akshully does constitute an increase in price…..thanks for that, fascinating
Related to reducing the size of their bars in the name of running a massive multinational company, the real questions that I want to hear raised are what plans Cadbury has to increase the number of jobs in NZ by improving the quality of their products, sourcing ethical and fair trade ingredients, reducing any negative environmental impact, as well as how they will ensure profits and benefits flow to the wider local community and what they are doing to restore their credibility with NZ consumers and people.
Even a snippet of the above would be far too much to ask of our reporters to raise?
I can sleep well at night knowing that 2 minutes on One news was spent on Cadbury’s reducing their bar size, they even polled 3 people to find out what they thought!!! I was riveted to find out the result.
Maybe it was a ‘brand inside’ special like on the Herald. Who Knows. Looking forward to finding out about Sky cities latest creations too coming soon, to TV news advertorials.
I only watched TV1 news wondering about Sabin discourses to the masses. Was so pleased I did, because now I know about the latest NZ scandal of Cadbury… cos since I fast forward the adds, I would not have know this unless buried within the news itself.
For those who condemn sleepy NZ masses. Think about it, with the Rock Star economy being reported constantly in the Herald and the oldies watching TV1 thinking that chocolate is the only scandal to worry about, no wonder National gets away with blue murder.. (literally).
“Hamas is a monster that Israel helped create. And having spent three decades helping create Hamas, it has spent the next two trying to destroy it, through the imposition of collective punishment on Palestinians, from economic blockades to air strikes. . .”
full article at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/israels-role-in-the-creation-of-hamas/
Phil
Actually, Israel is a monster that Great Britain created. Hamas is a resistance movement that Israel helped to create.
Israel is trying to undermine Obama and USA foreign policy towards detente with Iran…Israel tail wagging the USA dog !?
“The closer the Western powers and Iran come to a negotiated settlement, the more we hear that the West and Iran are destined to be enemies. Can the political establishment in the West and Israel ever say ‘yes’ to peaceful co-existence with the Islamic Republic? CrossTalking with Charles Cogan, Chuck Freilich, and Jim Lobe.”
http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/228451-west-iran-bibi-gamble/
Great Britain did not create Israel. The United Nations sanctioned the Israeli state in 1947. The British did give their support to the concept of a Jewish State but also attempted to restrict it’s development during their Mandate of Palestine.
I agree with Gossy – The British troops I’ve talked to from the Mandate period – said whilst they were sympathetic to the Zionist cause – they were sicked by the Zionists treatment of the Palestinians. Great English diplomacy at the fore once again, bumbling, morally squiffy and if they can bugger it up for years to come – yeap that’s what will happen.
And why did the UN decide to do that? Was it a bright idea that the UN suddenly had or was it decades of the Zionists lobbying the British?
You’re either an ignorant fucken moron or you’re trying to re-write history.
Have you read anything about the creation of Israel? The vote was actually a very close run thing and it wasn’t the British who swung it for the Israelis.
Yeah, I have thanks. Have you? I ask because you seem to be ignorant of the century or so before the UN vote of the Zionists working towards taking Palestine off of the Palestinians.
I’m well aware of the Zionist movement. Much of their early efforts was in purchasing land legitimately.
And what about the efforts not included in your “much”, eh?
And using heavily armed paramilitaries in the 1930s and 1940s to ethnically cleanse Palestinians off their lands.
Remember that the Zionists understood full well that you cannot build your own nation state by “buying land” within someone else’s nation state.
I don’t think it’s possible to legitimately buy the land from those who don’t live there. As I’ve said before, Palestine is a great example of why foreign ownership is bad for NZ.
In the west bank, most of the land used for settlements was purchased off the original Palestinian owners quite legally.
It’s the next step of rolling in the tanks and sectioning off that land from Palestinian Authority control thats the bugger.
And once the settlement is built, populating it with overzealous Zionists to ensure that any Palestinian who approaches said gated settlement is met with an entirely inappropriate response.
Maale Adumim is the poster child for this strategy.
It’s a bit like a foreign power buying up large sections of land in New Zealand, moving armour into those lands, and then telling the New Zealand government to fuck off.
“In the west bank, most of the land used for settlements was purchased off the original Palestinian owners quite legally.”
Not at all how I understand it. Some of the land was taken by force during the Six Day War, with Israel claiming it was taken in self defence. In my view, the Israeli Air Force began a war of aggression with a surprise attack and therefore the land is illegally occupied.
A lot of land that is bought is bought by fraudulent means, which must be challenged in Israeli courts. Much of the rest is denied to Palestinians because lunatic settlers shoot at them and uproot their olive trees, all with the protection of the IDF.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/05/israeli-settlers-forging-deeds-land-201452095941176244.html
That was also my view before I lived in Palestine, that most of the settlement land was taken by force, also that the conflict was mainly a religious one.
Speaking to a wide range of Palestinians during the three years was there disabused be of both notions.
That land was taken by force and fraud is not disputed, but that the majority of was land annexed in this manner is not the general understanding of Palentinians themselves.
Edit: I am talking specifically about the settlements set up to ring and enclose Jerusalem, as is my original comment
” The vote was actually a very close run thing and it wasn’t the British who swung it for the Israelis.” How did the Arabs vote?
The independent Arab nations not surprisingly voted against it. It was the South Americans that really swung it for Israel.
Probably had nothing to do with the fact that the alternative site for the new Israeli Nation was in South America?
Africa actually. They seriously considered Uganda.
Holy shit, I’ve fallen for right wing propaganda again.
And Gosman is the one to correct me. Respect.
Actually the US was the main influence in creating the Zionist state in 1948
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/28805-the-us-s-hidden-hand-in-the-creation-of-israel
The US was a key player that the Jewish leaders worked very hard to swing around to support them. Initially they were reluctant to be active supporters due to their relationship with Arab nations most notably Saudi Arabia. It was not the main influence though and was a relatively late convert to backing the Jewish state.
Your ignorance is exceeded only by your unfeasible confidence. I’ve said it before, but it needs to be said now more than ever: please do some serious reading on this subject.
Well, it was formally created by Britain, the US, the Soviet Union, France etc.
Interestingly the USA wasn’t originally so totally behind Israel as it is today.
In 1956, when France, Britain and Israel invaded Egypt, the US basically told them to fuck off. They threatened economic measures against Britain, which would have screwed the pound, and forced the Israelis to give back the Sinai.
It was only with the wider spread of progressive, secular Arab nationalism and the US deciding that the Middle East would be part of its new, ever-expanding ‘back yard’ that the US elite really committed to Israel.
As Kenan’s article explains, the US and Israel were happy to promote Islamic fundamentalism as a reactionary counter to progressive and secular pan-Arab nationalism. They had no idea how that would pan out for them in the end.
However, Hamas is not much of a threat to Israel. They are increasingly up for a deal, just like Fatah was and is.
While Hamas may presently be a *resistance* movement in the sense of resisting Israel, it is certainly not a *liberation* movement. The Palestinian faction that stands for secularism, socialism, women’s liberation, and progressive policies generally is the PFLP. I think progressives here, while campaigning in general in solidarity with the Palestinians, should try to do what we can to help support the PFLP.
For a campaign of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/for-a-campaign-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-struggle/
Palestinian liberation and the PFLP today: interview with their deputy general-sec: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/palestinian-liberation-and-the-pflp-today-an-interview-with-abu-ahmad-fouad-deputy-secretary-general-of-the-pflp/
Phil
The Brits were trying to reclaim possession of the Suez canal which they’d built at vast expense. The Americans told them to back off. So the US stood up for the Egyptians on a matter of principle? Nah. It was just oil diplomacy. Don’t forget that the Americans owned the Panama Canal at the time and had no intention of handing it over (they eventually did so only much later in 1999).
The Panel continues to be a forum for crazed ideologists;
At least Steve McCabe registered his disgust this afternoon
Radio NZ National, Tuesday 3 February 2015
Jim Mora, Nevil Gibson, Steve McCabe
It’s always a bit of a worry when National Business Review editor Nevil “Breivik” Gibson is a guest on this program. He’s one of those special guests who can usually be counted on to say something both stupid and offensive, if not downright depraved; other Panel regulars in that category include Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, Michelle Boag, Jordan Williams and Barry Corbett. Gibson is a former Maoist agitator, who went straight from harassing shoppers with crazed pamphlets espousing the Cultural Revolution into supporting the even crazier theories of Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman, without passing through any intermediate stage involving common sense, sanity or humanity. Gibson almost always gets away with it, however, because he’s usually paired up with a weaker guest, like Jeremy Elwood. [1]
Gibson has occasionally come a cropper on the Panel, though—most memorably when Gordon MacLauchlan lost patience with him. Gibson was delivering an absurd homily, in his trademark ponderous croak, about the role of city councils—merely to organize the picking up of rubbish and the maintenance of footpaths. “That’s RIDICULOUS, Nevil!” said MacLauchlan, and proceeded to school the doctrinaire dunderhead about the necessity for and the complexity of council functions, carefully established over generations, of public services like libraries, parks and festivals, as well as scores of other public amenities. Nevil Gibson simply did not have a coherent response to offer, and lapsed into a silence closely resembling stupidity.
On today’s show the other guest was Auckland teacher Steve McCabe, who was to be similarly disturbed by Gibson’s complacent fanaticism. Let’s see how things worked out…..
Before the news, there’s a brief discussion about the possibility of the United States backing the junta that seized power in Ukraine with “lethal force”. One of today’s guests is not convinced of the moral, legal or strategic justification for this. But the other guest has worked it all out; he’s been reading David Brooks and watching Fox News, so naturally he supports the junta, and supports the arming of it. He’s really on top of things. He speaks slowly, to convey just how deeply he is thinking…
NEVIL “BREIVIK” GIBSON: [speaking very slowly, to convey authority] It’s about stopping an invasion, isn’t it?
After the 4 o’clock news, there’s a discussion with Professor Jim Rolfe, Director at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University, about the possibility of New Zealand sending troops to Iraq to fight against the Islamic State. It soon becomes clear, after he delivers a confused and windy attempt to explain why this is a fight involving “all of us”, that Prof. Rolfe, like Nevil Gibson, is right behind whatever the Americans request (instruct) our government to do. Steve McCabe is not so sure, though, and he reminds Professor Rolfe and Gibson that only a decade ago, the United States was prosecuting an illegal invasion of Iraq, based on lies.
NEVIL “BREIVIK” GIBSON: [croaking testily, with contempt] As Professor Rolfe has just told you….
Later in the program, there’s a brief discussion about jobs in New Zealand. The unemployment rate of 5.4% is expected to remain steady, despite a predicted rise in employment. McCabe points out that there might be more jobs, but they are low-paid and unstable jobs. The median pay for CEOs has increased astronomically, but most people have seen their wages stagnate. What about all the poor people?
Once again, the Oracle has all the answers…
NEVIL “BREIVIK” GIBSON: Their job is to look for better jobs. No one looks to work in McDonald’s for ever.
STEVE McCABE: So in the meantime we just let them eat cake. Brilliant.
An extended awkward silence ensues….
Later, during a brief discussion about the mega-rich, the editor of the NBR treats us to another of his insights, this time about what is perhaps the most misunderstood section of the world community….
NEVIL “BREIVIK” GIBSON: It’s assumed by people on the left wing that billionaires have done something corrupt, but that’s not the case….
After the news, Gibson recommends an article by Professor Jacqueline Rowarth, from Waikato University. She’s one of the nastier commentators going around, and further proof that if you want to find an extremist or an unhinged loon, you should travel to Hamilton. [2] But Nevil “Breivik” Gibson praises her, as well as plugging her column in—yes, you guessed it—the National Business Review.
Later on, Jim Mora introduces another serious topic—the shrinking size of the Cadbury chocolate block…..
STEVE McCABE: I’m astonished that we’re talking about this topic on this program.
JIM MORA: [suddenly taken aback, sheepish] But not only on this program.
STEVE McCABE: Yes, but this is supposed to be a serious program.
. . . . . . . .
[1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18102013/#comment-712798
[2] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23092014/#comment-895173
Yes, Steve McCabe fought a decent rearguard action against one of Mora’s most unpleasant commentators.
You guys really don’t like alternative views getting any airing. You have heard of a little thing called balance haven’t you?
there is ‘alternative’..then there is batshit-crazy..(c.f.gibson..)
..trotting out a mix of lies and rightwing-prejudices..
..that ain’t no ‘balance’..
You think anything slightly right of The Greens is batshit crazy. In your world they only people allowed to comment would be left wingers (who you would define as right) and hard left which would become the new center’.
no i don’t..
..i have as much respect for gibson..as i do for mike williams..
..my contempt is trans-ideological..
..but when you have rightwinger as climatechange-denying/social-welfare-net-shredding/poor-bashing/self-centered greedy fucks making up most of the rightwing..
..what else to feel for them..but contempt/derision..?
What a load of shit, Goosestep. The Standard is part of our world and you’re allowed to comment here.
There is balance and the FOX news version of balanced.
Martin Bradbury was banned from the Panel.
Gordon McLaughlin seems no longer invited.
I challenge you to count the number of extreme neo-liberal apologists on ( Farrar, Gibson, Williams, Franks from the top of my head) , compared to real left voices.
Gordon McLaughlan was on the show in December so not sure why you think he is no longer invited.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/20141210
Repeating a question I have kind of asked before. Which people from the Right are acceptable on the Panel?
if you compare the numbers of times a questioning-voice like mclaughlin is allowed on..(one..twice..a year..?..)
..with the steady parade of rightwing-freaks..(franks every couple of weeks..often more often..)
..the panel doesn’t come within a bulls-roar/country-mile of faint semblance of ‘balance’..
They actually discussed this during the pre-Xmas show I believe. The view expressed at the time was there were slightly more left of center panelists than right of center. Of course this is a subjective measure but from what I can tell they seem quite balanced.
If you think that they’re balanced then the chances are that they’re actually radical right-wing.
Bradbury was banned for being a loud, rude, jackass. Not for having a dissenting POV.
Opinion, not fact.
Well, no. He was a loud boorish asshole who ironically moderates almost all dissent from his own blog
Now thats a Fact
[citation needed]
The RNZ statement said he was banned for defamatory statements, giving the producer incorrect information and breaking their editorial terms.
For which Bomber apologised.
Do you think he would have apologised if he was banned for having a dissenting POV?
That’s not a citation.
much as it pains me to support contrarian..
..i think he is correct..
..bradbury also committed the ‘sin’ of bringing in a pre-written tirade for his ‘what have you been thinking about?’ segment..
..and then delivered it..with all the read-out/strident nuances present..
..i actually heard it on the day..and it jarred…
..and it wasn’t ‘good radio’..
..whether it was enough to boot him off the show..i dunno..
..(especially when u consider the drivel that is so often spoken there by others..)
Telling lies and spreading malicious rumours isn’t balance.
Yeah but I think some of the left wingers on there do the same so it is balance in that respect.
Nope.
Please provide examples.
It’s not that I think you are lying. It’s just that I don’t trust you.
No, scratch that – I do think you are lying
Balance is where the voices and perspectives of the less powerful and the less wealthy, get more airtime and prominence.
And that attitude is why there will unlikely to be a fully funded State media organisation run along the lines you and other leftists want.
No, I’m serious – the wealthy and powerful already have more than their share of airtime and media promotion. “Balance” is where the perspectives and ideas of those in the bottom 80% of society also get prominence and airing.
Except you require money to pay for this “balance”. This money will likely have to come disproportionately from the wealthy people who’s views you wish to reduce being heard or seen on this State funded media.
I know what I would campaign for if that happened. It would be the abolishment of the Leftist propaganda media or at least a major cutback in funding.
In essence you would have created a major political football for the two sides of the political divide to kick around for decades.
Gossie, would you prefer “fair and balanced” propaganda from our US corporate masters?
The problem with Mora is that he’s afraid of rocking the boat or questioning PR BS from the Beehive. Also, he frequently admits to not knowing much about current affairs. Also, his show frequently consists of mindless pap which does nothing to inform or elevate people’s thinking.
He’s just not the right person for the job. Kim Hill would be far better, as she always does her homework, and she asks the tough questions.
“… Kim Hill would be far better, as she always does her homework, and she asks the tough questions..”
..hard to argue with that..
..i wd actually enjoy hearing some of those rightwing bullshit-artists on the panel trying it on with la hill..
..they could well need therapy by the end of the show..heh..!
..quivering/quavering in a corner..lest her eyebrows again head skyward..
..and her tongue shred them..
..i’d almost pay to hear that…
So, what you’re saying is that only the rich should be heard and everyone else can shut up right?
Nope. Try again.
I’ve read what you wrote:
And, really, telling poor people to shut up and listen to their betters is exactly what that means.
Nope. Wrong again.
In natural and unavoidable extension that’s exactly what you did say Gosman.
The wealthy are entitled to the pre-eminent voice in state-funded media – because they are wealthy and while they’re not paying for it were they paying for it they would be paying for it – (WTF ???)
Then you said were the pre-eminence of the voice of the wealthy disturbed you would abolish altogether the alternative voice or at least use funding cuts to effect restoration of the pre-eminence of the voice of the wealthy who are not paying for it but would be were they – (again WTF ???)
Routine obfuscation, dishonesty, and callow wrongheadedness from Gosman. And it’s delivered with a professorially straight face. Unbelievable !
Don’t be a shite, the “wealthy” got this money from the rest of society and from government in the first place. It wasn’t theirs to start with.
Seems to me like you aren’t really interested in balance at all, unless it is balance tipped in favour of the top 1% to 2% of society.
Try pushing that view in the wider political arena and see where it gets you. I suspect that sort of class warfare talk will go down as well as a cup of cold sick with the wider electorate.
We are pushing this message out to the wider electorate. We want true balance in the media, not the tilted playing field that you support.
Yes, pointing out that it’s the poor that pay for everything including for the rich to be rich is such a bad idea…
oh, wait, no it isn’t – it’s the truth.
mora dosen’t like being ‘called’ by guests..
..perhaps we will just see less and less mccabe..
(and seriously..!..does mora even sometimes ‘feel’ like asking a question..?
..clowns like gibson trot out the most irredeemable -rubbish..
..and mora just nods-along..
..being ‘mr nice-guy’/unquestioning to everyone..
..no matter what rancid-muck they may spew into the airwaves..(c.f. gibson on waitangi yesterday..)
..as a broadcasting-tactic..it is way past its’ use-by date..
..and much more suited to garden-makeover shows..
Gibson was a member of the Socialist Action League in its first few years – it was founded in 1969 and I think he left around 1971.
The SAL was very anti-Maoist. They were Trotskyists.
It’s funny that these days he’s such a paranoid and crude right-winger. Given his background, he should know better and be a more sane, sophisticated right-winger (there are a few such creatures about).
For several years I used to email him each July to ask him when that year’s Rich List was coming out and I’d add, “I like to keep up to date with what’s happening with the class enemy”.
He did always email back and tell me when the next one was due out.
I think he’s the only SALer that ended up a true believer in right-wing cargo-cult economics.
Phil
“It’s funny that these days he’s such a paranoid and crude right-winger.”
It’s a common phenomenon @PF, and I often wonder what causes it.
It isn’t just marrying and settling down, having kuds and supposedly becoming ‘responsible’.
It’s captured politicians, trade unionists and journalists alike. In my mind, most of them weren’t ekshully that principled to begin with. I mean I have NO doubt people like Toby Hill is probably rolling in his grave for starters – and with some of his kith and kin too, as well as those who built their careers claiming allegiance (and all the solidarity/fraternity/etc.)
I think maybe they were just bullshit artists to begin with
Really right-wing women in positions of authority are an interesting phenomenon.
They would still be shut out of a lot of these jobs if the left – the women’s liberation movement and socialist groups and individuals, progressive trade unionists and so on – hadn’t fought bloody hard for the doors to be open to women to move into the professions and better-paid jobs and into politics.
You’d think they might be a little bit grateful to the women’s liberation movement and wider socialist left.
But, not at all. They are every bit as grasping and nasty as their male counterparts, the very males who fought long and hard to keep women out of these roles!
To me, the classic case was Condoleeza Rice. She only got to have the career she had because *leftists* fought bloody hard to end segregation, win civil rights for Afro-Americans and women. It wasn’t her buddies, the Bushes and Cheneys and Rumsfelds of the world, who fought, and in the process risked their lives, to achieve civil rights. They never gave a shit; indeed it was right-wing Republicans and the Dixiecrats who fought long and hard to keep blacks and women ‘in their place’.
Phil
Evidently psychopathy is more of a male trait than female, but I immediately thought of Jenny Shipley, Ruth Richardson, and Margaret Thatcher.
Morrissey you surprise and disappoint me. You omit mention of Gibson’s silent sulk so loud one could hear it, notwithstanding the radio medium, bloody near see it.
Discussion of Waitangi Day – bursting out in the most summary fashion and straight off the bat Gibson spat – “No No No !……I wouldn’t go……I object to the way it’s celebrated”. To the pedants I acknowledge, I paraphrase.
That was it…….mercifully he buttoned his surly lip for the minutes of discussion thereafter. Truly it was the most extraordinary public sulk I’ve been witness to for a very long time. It was as though the mere mention of Waitangi Day was savagely offensive to this miserable up-himself prat !
“..Sorry Islamophobes – this is about animal welfare – not religion..”
(+ comment:..this is the fate we live-export our sheep to..)
“..The images of sheep being tortured in a halal slaughterhouse should sicken us all –
– and open a debate about how we treat livestock..”
(cont..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2015/sorry-islamophobes-this-is-about-animal-welfare-not-religion-comment-this-is-the-fate-we-live-export-our-sheep-to/
Unfortunately you cannot separate the two. The Quran is quite explicit on the correct way to slaughter animals for eating. Any other way is Haram. If you want them to stop then you need them to radically change their interpretation of their religion or all become Vegans. Which do you think would be easier to achieve?
neither..
(on second thoughts..the latter..)
I doubt very much you will convince too many Muslims to become Vegans. They believe Allah has willed it that certain animals should be available for humans to eat.
as do most christians..
Not sure you can get that detail from the New Testament. Regardless Christianity (at least in the mainstream now) is less legalistic than Islam. In mainstream Islam (i.e. Sunni or Shia branches of the faith) you can’t really state that following the laws laid down in the Quaran is not important.
“..Not sure you can get that detail from the New Testament…”
that dosen’t stop them claiming it does..
Because christianity is just the new testament /sarc
Besides – loaves and fishes
That is not an entirely wrong interpretation of Christianity. The very name New Testament suggests that it is replacing the older version that was in place up till then. I know many Christians take this view. The trouble for Islam is that they don’t really have the option for doing that. The closest they get is the concept of abrogation and unfortunately how the mainstream interpret that is not good news for a peaceful and tolerant faith.
lol
whatever, dude.
Your sleazy use of “many” vs “mainstream” to perpetuate hate would make Jesus want to kick you in the nuts.
Except there is little evidence suggesting he was ever a real person.
same can be said about you.
Wrong G.
Most scholars accept that Jesus was a real person, but the myths that grew up around him (as recorded in scripture) are lacking independent evidence.
“..Your sleazy use of “many” vs “mainstream” to perpetuate hate would make Jesus want to kick you in the nuts..”
heh..!
Outside the Bible there is very little external references to Jesus. Josephus mentions him I believe but actually focusing much more time on John the Baptist. The view is that John was a much more influential religious figure and the early Christian’s basically assimilated him in to their cannon.
Gosman, I agree that fundamentalism of whatever stripe is deeply problematic, but it’s certainly not a problem exclusive to Islam.
Lumping all Muslims in with fundamentalist nutjobs (i.e. the MSM narrative) is simplistic bigotry. There are many ideologies in this world, none perfect. The holy books of religion speak to something transcendent in all humanity, and they are also deeply flawed, just like the human race.
Religion is used as a justification or whitewash for war, but rarely is it the true motive. The real motivations are injustice, economics, or political movements.
Reza Aslan is excellent on this topic.
I highly recommend John Ralston Saul’s “On Equilibrium” as an antidote to ideology.
Aslan’s book “How to win a cosmic war” is fucking awesome.
It’s very hard to make broad statements like Gossie does about “Islam”, as it’s a global faith with followers in many nations and cultures and huge variation on how the religion is practiced. Ex-muslim Cenk Uygur explains it quite well.
Bollocks. Muslims try this tack all the time. Arguing that it is a decentralised faith with no real authority detailing what it stands for. The trouble is there used to be a central authority (The Caliphate) and that it set out quite early on what the faith stood for. This forms what is commonly regarded as the mainstream Islamic view.
And protestants once followed the Pope before splitting off .
If anything, Christianity by your measure is more centralised than Islam. Yet Christianity is okay because “many” Christians discard half of the Bible.
Gossie. The “mainstream” practice of Islam is not a crazy jihad, although I’m sure that’s what you’re being paid to spread around. Muslims are people like us, who just want to mind their own business, look after their families, and live in peace with their neighbours.
Religious faiths such as Roman Catholicism and to a lesser extent the Eastern Orthodox religion don’t allow much individual interpretation of doctine. In that regard you are correct that they are more centralised. However Islam has imposed its own version of doctrine without the need of a central interpreter. The very concept of Islam means surrendering to Gods will as expressed in the teachings of the Quran. In that regard Islam is much more like the early Protestant movements which attempted to focus on the Bible and strip away the extras imposed by the Church hierarchy. Just as fundamentalist protestant churches can be extremely problematic so to is Islam.
“Many” Protestant churches might be problematically fundamentalist.
Would you say that “mainstream” Protestantism is problematically fundamentalist, gos?
“Roman Catholicism and …. Eastern Orthodox”
are – drum roll – sub sets of christianity – thanks for proving the points of others gos
Gooseman is trying to ferment an alarmist backlash against Islamism in general.
Gooseman your a fundamentaly a fuckwit.
You know fuck all about fuck all.
A Right Wing lackey that can’t think for yourself.
Spreading pathetic gossip you should be writing fo Coro or Shortland st.
You know nothing about Islam nothing about the Palestine to Israel transition 1947 48.
When you put links up 99 out of a 100 times contradict your claims.
You rely on wikipedia a popularity post of history pushed often by lobby groups changing the truth to suit their view.
Just like you try and do here gooseman.
Ever since the cristian crusades western christian countries have been interfering in Muslim countries when Oil was discovered more colonial interference has continued.
Israel formerly Palestine was promised to both the Jews and Arabs by England afterWWI and WW2 England interfered again allowing mass migration of Jews from Europe ruining the peaceful coexistance of Palestinian Jews and Arabs.
The New immigrants started causing trouble and in the end were shooting British Military Police in a guerilla style using the public as human shields.
Had the British not let mass immigration their wouldn’t be the mess their is today.
The British gave the West Bank to Jordan and Gaza to Egypt part of Englands colonies.
Now we are facing the backlash of many centuries of judeo christian interference in the Middle East.
Arabs find Islam more suited to their culture.
While Christians call it another form of satanism Muslims call Christian infadels both Religions have the same origins.
The Judeo Chistians have had the upper hand in more recent times and have kept govts that are willing to collude with the West in power by undemocratic means leaving large sections of the Arab world in poverty.
Arabs have had enough and are fighting back!
The Wests other problem with Islam it is more Socialist especially around banking.
Where Christian Ideals about looking out for your fellow man have gone by the way now Christian countries follow the greed is good greed is great.
So the Rich and Powerful don’t want Islamic ideas on profit spreading and underming their Banking Cartels!
tricledrown, you are aware that the Muslim Arabs invaded Western Europe 300 years before the First Crusade aren’t you?
Spain is not western Europe its just one country.
Ahhh…. no. You have obviously never heard of the Battle of Poitiers/Tours in the 8th Century
Ahhh, congratulations gos on a rather spectactular variation of the “labour did it too” argument.
Would you say that “mainstream” Protestantism is problematically fundamentalist, on the same basis that you criticise current-time Islam?
Not in most countries and most likely not the majority of the Protestant churches. Certainly they are far more activist in places like the United States which does cause problems in that country. Luckily they have checks and balances on the influence of Religion in the political sphere which makes them less of a risk. Islamic majority nations generally don’t have such checks and balances and indeed often imbed Islamic principles in their laws.
lol
Gosman makes one big categorical statement about Islam, but when the same logic is applied to Protestantism he’s all “most countries”, “majority of Protestant churches”, yadda yadda.
But he’s not a bigot, no sirree /sarc
so let’s buy into their stories..
..so we have this omniscient-being..
..who decides one week to whip up this thing we call earth..
..and all the wondrous-species on it..
..and he/she/it decides/dictates that one of these species..(humans..)
..shall ‘have dominion’ over all the other species..
..and will have the right to torture/kill/do whatever they like..
..with every other species..
..(see..even when you buy into the big-story…that claimed/self-justifying detail does not stand up to scrutiny..
..as clearly..no wise ‘god’ would do such a thing..)
keep up.
The discussion was on the tenets of particular religions, not the accuracy of those religions.
keep up..
..going for a bigger-picture/context/nuance…..
whatever, incomprehensible-dude
Christianity (at least in the mainstream now) is less legalistic than Islam.
You’re obviously unaware of the nutcases that run the Anglican Church in Africa, and the ravers that appear on our TV screens every Sunday morning.
I think the point of difference is that Christianity has gone through the Reformation and other huge cultural movements to become part of modern “western european & american” culture. Some of the things we take for granted (aspects of human rights, democracy, secular education and government) have not yet been incorporated into (some) Islamic societies. However, others like Turkey, Indonesia, or Iran are relatively sophisticated and increasingly open to Western ideas.
On the other hand, (as Morrissey notes), novel re-interpretations of the Christian faith proliferate, which lack the veneer of modern civilisation.
I agree.
We should hope that the fundamentalist ultra orthodox backward ruthless strict sects do not take over the establishment and democratic ideas in the three more modern countries you mentioned.
Nope. You need to address why the laws were there and why they’re no longer needed in a developed country with rules regarding testing for disease etc.
I went through a halal certified works recently and I can assure you the lambs being slaughtered were stunned in a very efficient manner before the throat was slit.
The old practice in the freezing works here in the killing of our lamb, hogget, and mutton was more humane. It was quick and, it was less stress for the animals. Halal is slow, and more stressful for animals. I remember as a kid, and talking to my father recently – when the Halal butchers came over in the 80’s that many freezing workers on the chain were not happy about the killing method at the time.
I wonder how Muslims feel that a religious practice has become a corporate model for maximum profits with not a care for animal welfare?
Given that the religious practice illustrates “not a care for animal welfare” in the first place, the fact corporates uses the same practice likely means nothing negative to muslims. They are probably pleased to be able to buy halal meat cheaply.
The real issue here is that medieval practices are being used in the 21st century. Lets introduce a few more like stoning, witchcraft trials, feudalism, duels, defecating out windows onto the street, jousting, treating women and children as chattels etc into society too. Some of them sound quite fun.
I struggle with the concept that religious free(or the bible for that matter) but I’m suspicious that a lot of religious traditions could be more aptly described as cultural baggage.
of course kosher slaughter is also as cruel/barbaric..
Kosher and Halal are almost identical from a practical level. Indeed Islamic law allows Muslims to eat Kosher meat if it is not possible to source Halal.
phillip. In 2009 I wrote to the then Minister for Agriculture, David Carter about the inhumane conditions for sheep on board ships being sent from NZ ports, around the world for Halal slaughter.
I no longer have the response, (which by the way took 2 months to arrive) so I can’t quote it. I lost all my poli comms, along with all other files in a crash of an old and tired machine.
What struck me, at that time, was the response from one of his staffer’s. There was a sentiment of “we don’t give a flying fuck” towards animal welfare. I got a spiel about the importance of the $$$ terms of such trade for NZ, as well as a petulant “Labour did it too”.
There should be a sub heading for agriculture beneath the “drill it, mine it, sell it” slogan. “milk it, kill it” to sum up the NZ Govt’s indifference to animal welfare and our environment. As long as money can be made it doesn’t matter what harm is done.
QFT
A fair number of European countries (Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway etc) have banned religious defined slaughter on the grounds it is inhumane.
Whereas in the UK, the right to inhumanely slaughter animals is regarded as a human right.
and nz where prestunning is required
i’m surprised it’s still halal if stunned. thought stunning wasnt allowed
electric stunning is apparently ok.
While the NZ Herald was dehumanising the bonded labourers who come to New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, a group of artists were staging a celebration of the Pacific Island working class in a gallery in the middle of New Zealand’s most redneck town:
http://eyecontactsite.com/2015/02/lost-in-the-job
Yep, that’s my town alright.
The landscape and the activity provides a vivid canvas for pictures.
My son enjoys photography, and we couldn’t think of a respectful way to ask if we could take photos to get a series together. (Although next year we might be flush enough to take cold drinks and food along with the request.)
The pickers have been out in the searing heat, and whole families come along to do the job, and are there from dawn to dusk and sometimes beyond, turning their headlights on to finish off. The are provided with port-a-loos, which sometimes don’t look very level or stable.
The kids either join in, or wait under whatever sparse shade there is, and in grower’s fields that is very little. They seem to occupy themselves but it would be a strange school holiday for many.
I don’t know about the pay or working conditions, but they do appear to work incredibly hard.
(And wish I had read Scott Hamilton’s piece earlier, I would have gone into the gallery to check it out).
+ 100%
That article on the halal slaughterhouse is sickening but the carnivores will stick their heads in the sand as usual and think because they dont eat halal lamb it doesnt apply to them.
and the fundamentalist vegans will continue to abandon animals to their fate.
I don’t understand what you mean by that.
Changes to animal welfare will come when enough meat eaters start making ethical meat eating choices. Stopping eating meat, while laudable for other reasons, leaves the animals to the ethics of the meat eaters, most of whom don’t care enough to change and look at the fundamentalist vegans as crazy people.
Obviously animal rights activist are very important in changes too. I think too many of the people who are vegan that think the whole world should be vegan, and who are basically intolerant fundamentalists make the problem worse (I don’t included you in that, for what I hope are obvious reasons) eg swapping beef and lamb for imported monsanto soy is not a solution to animal welfare issues, because the same mentality that treats animals badly treats plants and ecosystems badly too.
Judgemental patronising comments like Belladonna’s just turn people off food ethics entirely.
+1
gee..!..there’s a surprise..!
Do you have something intelligent to contribute or are you just continuing your bizarre harassment of weka through me?
i usually ignore weka as much as possible..
..but when she comes out with batshit-crazy/weird stuff about ‘vegans abandoning animals’..
..and then gives a condescending ‘you’re dumb!’ sneer when i ask if she could explain this weird statement..
..so i reacted to that..
..weka..like alan..follows me around..
..you could well be mistaking bettering for ‘harrassment’..
..in fact..i will try even harder to ignore her..
..(starting with not responding to her most recent ad-hom – at the bottom of this thread’..)
“i usually ignore weka as much as possible….but when she comes out with batshit-crazy/weird stuff about ‘vegans abandoning animals’….and then gives a condescending ‘you’re dumb!’ sneer when i ask if she could explain this weird statement….so i reacted to that..
..weka..like alan..follows me around….you could well be mistaking bettering for ‘harrassment’….in fact..i will try even harder to ignore her….(starting with not responding to her most recent ad-hom – at the bottom of this thread’..)”
…Parklife…
and my lack of surprise –
– was a throwaway-comment referring to the fact u do not seem to have the warmest feelings towards moi…
..that is all..
..and should you see some offence in it..
..i will withdraw it..
..(y’know..!..that power-(im)balance thang again..?..).
“– was a throwaway-comment referring to the fact u do not seem to have the warmest feelings towards moi…”
Hardly fair singling one out from the many.
“..i will withdraw it….(y’know..!..that power-(im)balance thang again..?..).”
Yes, shockingly I “don’t have warm feelings” about men who harass a woman just because they can’t handle her disagreeing with them/can’t handle her paying other men attention. 🙄
weka explained her point perfectly clearly in reply to marty mars. You can disagree with her premise but this “she never explains anything and you just hate me because you’re friends with her” rubbish is a bit sad.
“..men who harass a woman just because they can’t handle her disagreeing with them/can’t handle her paying other men attention..”
whoar..!
..are u serious..?
..i have absolutely no problem with ‘women who disagree with me’..on a gender-basis..
..and the ‘paying other men attention’ claim has me picking my jaw up off the floor..
factcheck:..
i am a male who raised my daughter as a solo-dad in the 70’s-80’s…
(..there wasn’t a lot of that going on around then..)
(and if having a daughter doesn’t make you a feminist..you are fucken brain-dead..)
..it incenses me that u try to paint me as some woman-hating reactionary..
..as i have supported the cause of feminism/equal-rights since day one..
..(a reader/supporter of broadsheet..)
..and here’s one for ya..
..i’l l betcha i’ve read/enjoyed more germaine greer than u have..
..read ‘the change’ ..yet..?
..i recommend it..
..one of her best…
“factcheck:….i’l l betcha i’ve read/enjoyed more germaine greer than u have..”
Well that settles it 😆
Phillip, calm down, it’s embarrassing to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbK9lh4jwBk
‘Did aliens protect our planet from being destroyed by a nuclear meltdown?’
😆
You seem to be following her around phil.
imo alan and weka are quite opposite in their motivation and the way they express themselves.
I think you are peeved because weka doesn’t agree with you – others do agree in part or full with you – as they do with weka.
I’m lucky because I quite like both of you – not so much that alan – quite disappointed he came back after his nasty spiteful exit but as Mr Young says “keep on rocking in the free world…”
“imo alan”
‘w’hypocrite 😆
oh..!..believe me..
..i am going to be much more vigilant/diligent in my ignoring from now on..
weka. The push for change to our animal welfare codes has to come from every corner if we are to succeed. That means it has to come from meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans alike. Our dietary choices shouldn’t dictate whether we should or shouldn’t advocate for change, and consumer power alone is not enough to create change. It is our conscience that should drive us.
After being vegetarian for 30 years I started up with fish again. Officially, I’m a pescatarian. I also buy free range meat for the meat eating members of our household. (One cat, one human). I feel no different now, as a fish eater about the importance of advocating for more humane methods of farming, as I did all those years ago as a teenager, when I first went vego. Same goes for the fishing industry.
I agree that cropping of GE soy, as a protein alternate, isn’t the answer either. This is also part of the “Big Food” agenda that suppresses the ability for us to choose how we eat.
(Good thing we grow GE free soy beans in Nelson then isn’t it 🙂 )
And P.S If we had voted in a Labour/Green government wouldn’t we be looking at the phasing out of battery farming by 2017? We need that political will to change the status quo too, as well as consumer power. Right now, the political will doesn’t exist.
Thanks Rosie, I pretty much agree with all of that 🙂
I’m excited about the increase in variety of crops being grown in NZ. Am semi-veg myself (after being full veg for several decades then eating a lot of animals for 5 years to regain some of my health), so always grateful for an increase in locally produced veg food. However, monocropping via industrial agriculture in NZ is a small step up from importing it from China or the US. Not sure about the Nelson soy, but most grain and legume cropping in NZ is not being done sustainably. This is where the fundamentalist vegan argument falls down.
Re the NZ grown soy beans. (Motueka in fact, I was wrong) They aren’t organically grown but the owners of soyworks do intend to go down this path once they get their own land.
“Under its previous owners, Soy Works tofu was made using organic Chinese or Australian soybeans, a label that has been dropped. Mr Dalzell’s soybeans aren’t organic because his land is leased and it takes money and time to become certified.
Miss Rowley says becoming organic is a goal, but it won’t happen until they can buy a block of land themselves. She also believes her partner’s soybeans taste, look and smell better than overseas ones, and that using beans produced just down the road is ultimately more sustainable than shipping them from China, organically grown or not.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/lifestyle-entertainment/lifestyle/4881941/Soy-business-takes-new-tack
I understand Urban Hippie also use their beans in the miso they produce.
One thing about growing crops more sustainably here is the issue of competition from cheaper overseas organically grown crops. One example. I remember from my time working in the organic industry (retail and distribution) that local production of organic oats dropped dramatically once NZ started importing much cheaper Canadian grown organic oats.
Even in our small organic industry here in NZ, globalisation still has an impact.
that’s cool, thanks. I’ve heard about that guy but didn’t realise he was in Mot. I agree with them about local non-organic vs imported organic, esp as they’re wanting to head in the organic direction anyway.
Yummmmm, miso.
I’d be quite skeptical about “Organic Chinese Soyabeans”…….. Slap on a label, triple your margin.
Similar to this present National government : Copy a few Labour party social polices for the ‘under class’, but triple the pro-wealthy right wing nasty policies.
“I’d be quite skeptical about “Organic Chinese Soyabeans”…….. Slap on a label, triple your margin.”
For precisely this reason organics have international standards. eg IFOAM have been in existence for over 40 years and certify the national certifiers in each country. It’s true that some govts are trying to undermine organic certification in order to make the market money, but in that regard I’d be as concerned about the US as I would about China. Wholesalers in NZ and most retailers are aware of the issue, so it’s more about whether you trust them.
http://www.ifoam.bio/en/ifoam-family-standards
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Federation_of_Organic_Agriculture_Movements
Thanks
For some, meat eating is fundamentally unethical, no matter which way they are killed or how much the animals have a human-determined happy life.
Food ethics is a very important issue because it is entangled in so much – from capitalism to commodification, from land use to sustainability.
I think that the same mentality that treats animals badly treats people badly as well as ecosystems – i don’t go for the plants angle myself.
I hope that food ethics can be discussed without ‘personalities’ or dug-in positions but that may not be possible. It is a tough issue.
Thanks marty. I wish we could have food ethics conversations, esp regarding the politics and the context of CC, but I also think this may not be possible.
“..the fundamentalist vegans will continue to abandon animals to their fate..”
cd u plse explain that..?
..and how the fuck it makes any sense at all..?
it’s beyond your understanding, so don’t worry about it.
no it’s not..
..it’s just another batshit-crazy/meaningless anti-vegan slagging/spillover from the carnival-noise that constitutes yr mind..
..nothing more..nothing less..
point proven, thanks phil.
Now if the Booker were the America’s Cup:
http://www.metromag.co.nz/metro-archive/key-pledges-36m-eleanor-catton-defend-booker-prize/#comment-337215
First published in the December 2013 issue of Metro.
Prime Minister John Key today pledged the government would fund $36 million towards Eleanor Catton’s defence of the Man Booker Prize.
Mr Key said it was in New Zealand’s interests that Catton, 28, repeat her “stunning” win of the world’s most celebrated literary award.
“We’ve all got to get behind Ellie,” he said. “She brought the nation together and gave us that ‘feel-good’ factor which certain other allegedly top performers manifestly failed to do.
The contrast is stark. As far as I’m concerned, getting so many Kiwis behind the rich pricks’ boat race was a bigger con job than the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
There’s a new Harper Lee novel coming out in July. To Kill a Mockingbird had a big impact in shaping my view of the world when I read it at 15 – especially around justice, fairness and race. We could stand to have a few more Atticuses (Atticii?) in the world.
When I started to read this my reaction was something like “Damn, her estate has allowed her name to be used by some hack”, rather like the sequels to “Gone With The Wind” or the James Bond books.
But it is really by her, after a lag of about 60+ years. I had assumed she was dead.
This I am going to have to read.
I wonder what are the chances that someone will find a second novel by Boris Pasternak, or Emily Bronte? There might even be a second novel by Keri Hulme somewhere out there.
What would her “estate” have to do with the matter when she is alive and well and making her own decisions?
“Making her own decisions” is apparently not a guaranteed factor in this publication.
“Alive and well”.
So I discovered. As I said though for some reason I had assumed she was dead.
She actually isn’t that old either. It was only the wording about the “new Harper Lee novel” and my mistaken opinion about her being no longer alive that made me think what I did.
I’m glad I was wrong.
From what I could gather from the news was that this book was written 50 years ago but she was advised not to publish it by her editor.
/blockquote In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called `Go Set a Watchman,'” the 88-year-old Lee said in a statement issued by Harper. “It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman, and I thought it a pretty decent effort. My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout’s childhood, persuaded me to write a novel (what became `To Kill a Mockingbird’) from the point of view of the young Scout.
hmmmm, may have to go read To Kill a Mockingbird
changed my life as a 14/15 year old.
Watch the movie as well. It’s one of the best novel to film adaptations I know of.
Oh Boy! Up the stakes Mr Little. Crash or Soar Andrew! Breaking news?
“Labour leader Andrew Little believes John Key is lying about when he first knew of allegations concerning former MP Mike Sabin.
Mr Little told RadioLive this morning he did not accept the Prime Minister would not have known about the allegations before his chief of staff told the Prime Minister’s office on November 26.
“I don’t accept what [Mr Key]’s saying, I don’t believe he’s telling the truth… [he is] a liar,” Mr Little said.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11396354
I was just going to post that ianmac
This is what we want from little – get in keys face and he will bullshit even more and then that can be shown to be lies too and lo the actual unwinding of the costumekey accelerates.
key is the leftshark and his choreographer must be spewing!
shark/choreographer reference..
..a special topcality/i’m-paying-attention-award will be couriered out to you..
😀
I think we really need someone to go through Little’s various statements to try and identify “What did Little know and when did he know it?”. Examples of his confusion include.
A couple of days ago Little was quite sure his office notified Key on 28 November, and there was a file note to prove it. I suspect someone pointed out to him that 28 November was a Friday, that he wasn’t in the office and neither was Key, and that if he claimed to have a file note reporters would demand to see it. It would also mean that Key couldn’t possibly have heard about it until the next Monday, which was in December.
Suddenly there was no file note and he brought the date forward to 26 November. What evidence does he have? Well none really, just a list that says someone in his office rang the PMs office. Topic? Person? nothing identified.
On National Radio this morning he was asked who had told his office about the affair. He claimed he didn’t know who they were. Then about 10 seconds later he was gaily claiming that they weren’t MPs and had nothing to do with Parliament.
If he didn’t know who they were how could he possibly know that? The interviewer from Red-radio let him get away with it of course.
Come on Andy. If you are going to tell tales at least try and make them consistent.
Do you really expect the leader of the Labour Party to have full and accurate recall of a situation with the informing of a National Party situation, when the PM himself is unable to recall broad timelines?
Don’t misdirect the issue.
The problem lies with:
1. Mike Sabin
2. The PM
3. National party officials and members who knew about this prior to the election and who did not raise enough concern about continuing with Mike Sabin as candidate.
Even if you hadn’t heard that cellphones let people tell political leaders stuff on a weekend, there’s a major difference between being within a couple of days when the even was weeks ago and being a full month out.
As for the national radio thing – I suspect that even morrissey has more accurate recollections about what was said on a radio program than you do. Time of broadcast?
The interview with Little was in Morning Report at about 7.50am
About 1 minute in he says he doesn’t know who the people were. Then he talks about who they aren’t. Then he waffles.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20165995
I fear that Andrew’s problem is they he will say anything, regardless of the truth of what he is talking about and then has to reverse ground when Matt has words with him.
He said he didn’t know the exact sources. He did know that the information came in twice “clearly from independent sources”. Not people “in Parliament or Parliamentary precincts”.
“[…] it was clear to me the allegations had been around for some time. My office wasn’t the first to know of them“.
q: “were they anonymous”
a: “I’ll have to go back and have a look at what the record was , I was notified that two messages came in raising the same information”.
Seems to me that if it was two walk-ins/phone calls to electorate offices up north, that would fit the bill. It would also explain why the contact logs weren’t at his fingertips.
“About 1 minute in he says he doesn’t know who the people were. Then he talks about who they aren’t.”
thats not neccessarily illogical
eg: little might not know the identity of the source but he might know that its not an MP
That thing in your hand is a straw – if you look down theres a few more you can grab
You mean like this?
And there’s no way that Key wasn’t told on the same day (if he didn’t already know) as it’s just too explosive.
Still, Vance keeps plugging for the Key meme:
No, that was when the public sat up and took notice and realised that the smoke really indicate fire.
You do remember that Andrew Little claimed that there would be a file note in his office don’t you?
Then he came out with this little tale, reported on Stuff
“Just before 3pm today, Little gave a press conference saying he couldn’t verify claims he made contradicting Key. He said that didn’t matter – he didn’t believe Key, and says he should have immediately stepped Sabin down.
More than an hour later, the party supplied journalists with a telephone log which they say shows McCarten called Eagleson at 11.20am on November 26 and left a message. Eagleson returned the call 18 minutes later.”
They showed the “evidence” of the phone log on TV. There was absolutely nothing on it except that there were phone calls from unidentified people to other unidentified people with no indication of content. However Andy says that it was about Sabin and we all believe him because Andy is never mistaken about anything. Doesn’t matter anyway he says, because he doesn’t believe Key, so there!
yeah big deal, crime of the freaken century stuff there mate
Its a really small matter next to the fact by keys own admission (take whatever version you like) he let sabin stay on the law and order SC AFTER he knew he was being investigated by the police
and then theres the NBR calling BS on keys versions of events as well as pretty much everyone in northland
give it up alwyn – its lame
the issue is key and sabin not little
Tell you what Alwyn, the narrative “Key’s a bullshitter !” is more and more entrenched every day. You know it. Suspension of disbelief is ultimately bad for your health. Give yourself a break.
But I quite like visiting this blog-site.
As long as I don’t upset any of the people running it too much I intend to continue doing so.
I bet there are at least 100 people who comment here and would agree with your narrative about John Key, but I can stand reading them without hurting myself by laughing too much.
The real suspension of belief was actually commentators here last year who were absolutely certain that the polls were rubbish and that the left were going to win the election easily.
[lprent: I haven’t noticed your behaviour being an issue for quite some time. ]
and theres the side step
why is little the issue for you instead of key/sabin?
Call logs have phone numbers, phone numbers can be traced as to who they belong to.
And I doubt if anyone in Labour is calling up National to just have a chin-wag.
Do you get paid much for this, alwyn? It’s not your best effort.
so this is an issue for you – but key changing his story, on a daily basis, again – isnt?
really dumb diversion – because thats all it can be – your moaning about this while ignoring that the PM is obviously lying
Can you point me to your analysis of Keys changes of stories?
Sport. ..sport…sport. Hides a plethora of social attitudes. Mark Reason in today’s Stuff.co.nz has written a column about the casual racialist of sport. In particular about how the greatest women’s player doesn’t pass muster for white America.
All very sad as it diminishes the pleasure spectators enjoy watching Serena stepping up the pace. It demeans her stature as the closest America has come to producing another Ali. All because she is black and a woman. Very sad.
And yet a recent survey of Americans has this listing for America’s most popular female athletes:
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/sports/the-7-most-popular-female-athletes-in-america.html/?a=viewall
Serena does amazingly well (in terms of US interest) given that tennis of any sort doesn’t capture the interest of the USA except at US open time. But even then not too many people care. Last year the US open was shown on CBS and rated 1.4% which in US terms is death. This year the coverage has gone from CBS to ESPN. Lets face it, most people find tennis boring.
Reason often writes sensationalist crap.
and then calls it the 50 Shades of Serena Williams and misses the irony of his sexism
he also refersto people as “girl” which my adult daughters indicated to me was not as funny as I thought.
I’ve just re-read the article – honestly it is a pile of shite thats not logically consistent. Serena is the most widely known female atlete in the US, the highest earning female athlete ever, and the fact that she has plenty of high profile endorsements would all indicate to me that she is pretty well liked. Companies don’t hire celebrity endorsers who the public don’t like. Check out Lance Armstrong post confession or Michael Vick or plenty of other unlikeable celebrity/athletes.
Is this why we keep getting a National govt?
Believing that life is fair makes you a terrible person
The right-wing are definitely authoritarian and engage in victim-blaming.
Thanks to the people in the Hokianga for protesting oil exploration.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/hokianga-protest-sparks-over-oil-exploration
And to Maori TV for reporting it.
Meanwhile, TVNZ report trivia.
http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/lindsay-lohan-and-her-mother-suing-fox-6227800
Test to see if this thing STILL thinks I am SPAM
There is something seriously wrong here.
It’s taking way too long to loaad pages
the Edit function don’t work
and when I tried to reply to a message without logging in it gave me some random thing and called me Spam.
Some material on the PFLP, the leading secular, radical-left Palestinian movement:
PFLP leader Khalida Jarrar: boycott Knesset elections, oppose UN resolution: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/pflp-leader-khalida-jarrar-boycott-knesset-elections-oppose-un-resolution/
PFLP says Palestinian capitalists are the 1% who confiscate 100% of Palestinian decision-making: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/pflp-palestinian-capitalists-are-the-1-who-confiscate-100-of-palestinian-decision-making/
PFLP rejects proposed recognition of fake ‘Palestinian state’: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/pflp-rejects-proposed-recognition-of-fake-palestinian-state/
PFLP statement on 47th anniversary of its founding: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/pflp-statement-on-47th-anniversary-of-its-founding/
For a world free of racism, colonialism, imperialism, oppression and capitalist exploitation – PFLP message to eirigi conference: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/for-a-world-that-is-free-of-racism-colonialism-imperialism-oppression-and-capitalist-exploitation-pflp-message-to-eirigi-conference/
PFLP on 97th anniversary of Balfour Declaration – Zionist state remains illegitimate: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/pflp-on-97th-anniversary-of-balfour-declaration-zionist-state-remains-illegitimate/
Republican voters at play…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay4IxkDW_UM
Good news to cheer you up.
[
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1502/S00030/strong-job-growth-and-record-labour-market-participation.htm
This is a Steven Joyce propaganda press release.
]
[deleted]
[lprent: You know the rules. Quote segments and link. I corrected it for you ]
regarding any and all figures from the Household Labour Force Survey:
One hour of paid work a week is not employment.
and your 80,000 more jobs figure came from where exactly?
remember fisiani,
the number of new job listings does not equate to the number of new jobs available
““The other striking element in this jobs report is the record high participation in the labour market of 69.7 per cent. This participation rate increase means that unemployment rises slightly to 5.7 per cent despite the strong job growth.”
This participation rate increase means that unemployment rises slightly to 5.7 per cent despite the strong job growth. ??
Participation INCREASE = Unemployment RISE??
What!?
Typical National tactic at the moment: just talk up the numbers without context or explanation. “Participation is up, everything’s great!” “There are more jobs, please ignore the fact there’s also more people trying to get them!”
how many jobs gone over the same period
I just received this email from the Labour party education spokesperson, Chris Hipkins:
You won’t believe this.
The government’s planning to make cuts to the National Library, which will mean teachers will no longer be able to request educational books for the children in their classes.
Last year, nearly a million books were sent to our kids to read. Stopping our kids from receiving these vital educational books will damage both their learning and education.
But the service hasn’t been stopped yet – and the government’s plans are coming under intense criticism.
If we act quickly, and in our thousands, we can show publicly how strongly mums, dads, grandparents, teachers and other Kiwis feel about this vital service being cut. That will heap pressure on the government which could even force them to scrap their plans.
Will you sign an open letter to Peter Dunne, the Minister responsible, asking him to stop his cuts to the National Library and keep the service providing our school kids with their educational books?
We’ll then send the letter to Peter Dunne, along with the signatures of everyone who signs it. It will make quite an impact when it lands on his desk – and the more people who sign it, the louder the thump will be!
The proposals are so concerning that the School Library Association of New Zealand wrote a letter to the National Library saying the scrapping of the service would have a negative impact on teaching and learning, and that it was was “disheartened” by the change.
Stopping our school kids’ access to books makes no sense at all.
Thanks,
Chris Hipkins
Labour Education Spokesperson
PS: You can read more about the Government’s plans on the Stuff website.
PPS: Here’s the text of the open letter in full:
Dear Peter Dunne,
Please do not cut school children’s access to National Library books.
The service is vital for educating our school children. Last year, 16,000 teachers made 40,000 requests for almost a million hard-copy items via the Curriculum Topic Support Service.
Please reconsider your plans in light of the huge opposition to your proposed cuts, which includes the School Library Association of New Zealand, and thousands of parents, grandparents and teachers – many of whom have signed this letter below.
Thank you.
———————-
Click here to add your signature to the letter.
P.S :
I can’t get the link to work, as I have already signed and link disappears! If any of you have the link, please post it here. Thanks.
This is a Chris Hipkins propaganda press release. You know the rules……..
[lprent: There is no rule against propaganda. There is a rule against dumping generally available and possibly copyrighted content on the site. It is often used as a technique to boost google scores.
The implementation of the rule is that if I drop quoted paragraphs out of the missive into google as quotes, then I shouldn’t be able to find the document already available online. I didn’t find this one online when I saw it. I did find yours at scoop and on the National party website (which is where I suspect you read it) in the top two links.
You easily can’t link to something that isn’t ‘visible’. You can when it is in the top of the first page of google.
This is incidentally why Penny Bright’s missives get through the filter. They don’t appear to exist elsewhere until after they get on our site. It is either bad SEO or this is her primary outlet. ]
The email is not publicly available/linkable the way a press release is. And yeah, shockingly on a leftwing blog we’re more interested in hearing about leftwing campaigns than in having to scroll past a dump of Steven Joyce’s spin.
This one should work. Or you can sign the Action Station version.
Thanks for that.
The first link takes me to a page that tells me I have voted, as I have. I am presuming that the link works ok for those that haven’t signed yet. Cheers.
That is not a propaganda press release you idiot. It is a political campaign to alert the people of this country to the evil designs of the pro rich and anti less-privileged people of this country being unleashed by this sleazy, lying crap of a myopic right wing rogue government.
That email was sent to all the Labour party members including me to sign and shame this stupid penny wise pound foolish government.
The email was based on facts. There are no distortions or lies in that email unlike the Joyce propaganda piece you posted distorting jobs and unemployment figures.
You did not even bother to respond to my reply to your comment when I said, at 20.2 :
“The other striking element in this jobs report is the record high participation in the labour market of 69.7 per cent. This participation rate increase means that unemployment rises slightly to 5.7 per cent despite the strong job growth.”
This participation rate increase means that unemployment rises slightly to 5.7 per cent despite the strong job growth. ??
Participation INCREASE = Unemployment RISE??
What!?
Anyway, take a look at this link and do something worth while like supporting it
http://action.labour.org.nz/kids-books?utm_campaign=150204_kidsbks1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nzlabour
this from the Greens and the possibility that NZ is hosting a Sri Lankan wanted for war crimes. I havent checked any of the assertions.
“… I’d like to invite you to a presentation I’m hosting with the National Council of New Zealand Tamils at the University of Auckland.
I’ve been working closely with the Tamil community to raise awareness about what happened during the war in Sri Lanka as well as the fact that we still do not have truth or justice.
The Government invited Sri Lanka’s former President Rajapaksa – accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity – to come to Aotearoa New Zealand for the ICC Cricket World cup. In response, I’ll be hosting my own guest: renowned author and journalist Trevor Grant. A former sports reporter for Australia’s The Age and Herald Sun Newspapers, he also recently published Sri Lanka’s Secrets: How the Rajapaksa Regime Gets Away with Murder.
Please come to Trevor’s presentation and to hear eye witness accounts from Dr N. Malathy and Green MP Jan Logie about their time in Sri Lanka.
When: Thursday 12th February, 6.00pm
Where: Algie Lecture Theatre, University of Auckland Faculty of Law, City Campus, entrance via 9 Eden Cres.”
Winston s making noise’s of standing in the north if he was to split the vote surely it would help Labour s chances.
Just considering the implications of (grinning) Winston hinting that he might stand in the electorate vacated by Mr Sabin and Is there an opening for Labour or anyone else to take away National’s tiny majority?
Could be an interesting by- election if Little has a cuppa with Winston.
Have that cuppa Andrew !
The irony of Winston winning would be delicious and so productive for the country by weakening Key’s majority.
And I well remember the irony of Muldoon’s filthy attack via SIS on Colin Moyle and his subsequent resignation — which of course saw David Lange into parliament for the first time as MP for Mangere… and the rest is history.
Not sure why, but this brings it all to mind ‘cos I enjoy it when justice diligently trumps filthy politics and all their tricks with the natural law of unintended consequences ….
Go Winston !
And if Winston wins how long would it take key to offer him the baubles of office there by strengthening the nats.
wouldnt take Key long at all…but I dont think Winston would go for the hook
You have more faith in the old falla than I do.
No one can ever second guess Winston. One can only be certain if Winston explicitly says so, but I doubt he will for various political reasons which will be perfectly valid and advantageous to him.
It will be interesting how this bi-election plays out. If the opposition play it well with maximum effort, work very hard and with smart strategy, they do have an even chance to bring this sleazy disgraceful government down.
There may even be a small chance that a few disgruntled/scorned National MPs that may do the unexpected and pull the dirt-hiding-rotten-rug that is lying perilously under the more and more slippery Key. Never say never.
+100 rawshark-yeshe
tiny majority?
National are short by one vote.
They do have four puppet MPs, three of whom occasionally disagree with National and Act of course is operated by National more rigidly with a ideological levers rather than strings.
So in a parliament of currently 120 seats, they have 59 National, 2 Maori party, 1 Peter Dunne, and the hologram from Act. National’s tiny majority is 63 votes at best, usually against 57.
Bearing in mind the rate that National has lost MP’s in the last few terms, I suspect they will be lucky to make it to the end of the term as government.
Don’t tell me you are on of those idiots who is still thinking in terms of National / Labour. Surely even a meathead conservative must have realised that 17 years ago we changed our electoral system.
Socialist policies contributing to deaths in Venezuela.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/11385294/Venezuelas-socialist-paradise-turns-into-a-nightmare-medical-shortages-claim-lives-as-oil-price-collapses.html
Really?
It’s socialist policy, is it?
Not the deliberate scuppering of the oil price by powerful Western interests?
You are either blind, or stupid. Which is it?
If you think the West controls the oil price you are deluded. Opec has far more say in it. Venezuela is a member of Opec.
Venezuelan oil production has been declining over the past few years despite the high price of oil prior to now. Why do you think that is?
If you read the article you will see that most of the benefits from the windfall of high oil prices over the past few years have been squandered by the spendthrift policies of the Chavista regime. I certainly don’t see Norway running out of toilet paper and medicines.
You really do have a great interest in toilet paper Gosman.
Pretty sure you have run this line about toilet paper deprivation several times in the last couple of weeks.
Are you really that concerned about access to medicines or basic necessities?
Are you going to provide us with a list of peoples that have suffered (eg. under US sanctions, and Israeli checkpoints) and have for decades had the same complaint?
Right, so OPEC just decides how much they pump on their own, do they? They’re told what to pump by Capitol Hill and Brussels. Fact.
I suppose you think this sharp downturn in the GLOBAL oil price is just a normal, apolitical occurrence, which happens from time to time for no reason whatsoever like, say, a tornado, or an earthquake.
Equating the economies of Norway, which is on the doorstep of a wealthy Europe and that of Venezuela, locked out of the US market, and on the doorstep of a third world continent is perverse.
Grow up.
Gosman thinks that spending oil profits on social welfare, jobs and education are “squandered, spendthrift policies” FFS
Would you prefer that the oil company execs got higher bonuses, or poor kids got food and education??
This is a new low in corrupt neocon ideology.
No, I’d prefer it if the government didn’t waste all of the windfall revenue and put aside some to cover periods where there is low oil prices. Tell me how all this spending on social welfare has mad a long term difference in Venezuela?
Investing in people (education, health, welfare) is a moral obligation and the best investment for developing nations.
The essential few thing that need to happen is controlled ‘free market’, limits on the maximum pay that any CEO can ever receive pegged to a certain multiple of the median wage, limits on the uncontrolled accumulation of wealth and income by the very wealthy, much higher tax rates on higher incomes, living wage, control on inheritance, control on housing/immigration/foreign buyers.
That is, if you really and honestly want to make a difference and make NZ a great and fair place.
http://newlondonwriters.com/2015/02/02/a-detailed-overview-on-the-hymen-centric-religions/
Perhaps a sentence on why we should click on your link might be useful? I, like many here, don’t like to just click on the link for no reason.
Thanks.
I am getting to understand pu, strange ideas but consistent , also right on the mark re weka and alien, bat shit crazy yet they try to pin that on poor phil
There is something very fishy going on with this IS lot……..
After all the effort they have gone to why would they try their very goddam best to rark up pretty much every nation on the planet? Why? It makes no sense to bring war down on your own heads – war that you will certainly fail at without doubt …..
And I don’t buy the madmen descriptor. Not with that many.
There is a piece missing in this situation – the lock piece
They are very well funded. It would be easy for Western powers to ask for this funding to be cut off but their arms manufacturing lobbyists would rather IS continue to create havoc in the hope there will be another large scale uptake in their wares.
+100 vto …good questions…something very fishy going on!…some more questions:
…what caused ISIS?…and doesnt Saudi Arabia support or fund ISIS?
…and who is friends with Saudi Arabia?
…and what nations flew their flags at half mast when Saudi Arabian King whats- his- name died recently? …( wasnt John Key Nact supportive of half mast flying flags in NZ?)
…and what is the effect of ISIS atrocities ?…will it draw unwilling countries into war in the Middle East? ( is it being stage managed?)
…and whose ends would this serve? ( the enemies of Iran and Assad in Syria?)
…even Prince Charles does not want to be associated with arms dealing to the Middle East
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/iraq-crisis-how-saudi-arabia-helped-isis-take-over-the-north-of-the-country-9602312.html
http://rt.com/news/192880-biden-isis-us-allies/
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119447/saudi-arabias-role-fighting-isis-and-aiding-syrian-rebels
http://rt.com/uk/228887-saudi-king-death-flag/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11392186
http://rt.com/uk/228867-middle-east-arms-charles/
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/28/iran-saudi-arabia-middle-east-stability-peace
Yep Chooky and weepu….
I think this is called an elephant in a room
Why doesn’t a journalist ask these sort of questions of Key given he is so keen to send other peoples children off to war, and expose NZ now to all the associated shit that Sydney, Ottawa, Japan et al have suffered….
the evil of man
I see Putin is willing to undergo interviews of several hours – do you think old podge could handle the same jandle as the superior Putin?
+100….key sentence …”other peoples children off to war”….!