I am looking for a piece of Remuera road verge or similar, or perhaps friendly resident who might allow me to ask the Auckland Council for a consent to “frack” on their patch. The interesting bit will be the responses in objection and their reasons. Anybody interested?
Is Collins and the ACC just the tip of a much bigger problem? Why not put the blowtorch to the whole Government iceburg? Maybe then David Shearer will be even more “interested to see what actually happens” when it’s politics as usual rather than his short lived “new kind of politics”.
Wave the mouse over the link. The browser will show the address of the link when you hover. Usually in the bottom left of the browser window. Doesn’t work in iPad damnit as it can’t detect my finger hovering.
Even better just post and comment on your own site PG, you’ll always agree with yourself, you reduce the risk of being seen as a hypocrite with limited knowledge of law and governmrnt process and we’ll never have to read anymore of your banal and self serving comments.
Petey: Small issue of semantics just to start here – David Shearer is part of the body that forms Parliament however he is not part of the body that forms the Government. That would be John Key, Banksie, the MP and the wig.
When you can’t even get basic terminology right, how can you be expected to be taken seriously?
Maybe it’s a small issue of lack of clarity or misunderstanding. Shearer seems to have bought into the blowtorch on the Government approach to politics.
Could any minister (or MP for that matter) be in Collins’ position simply with a choice hit squad focus and a helping leak or two?
It would be easy to target someone, blow up a storm, make a range of accusations and see if any chinks appear. With enough exposure, examination, conjecture, misinformation accusation and staring down wouldn’t any MP be vulnerable? Even if there’s nothing to start with they will end up cracking and making a mistake, or “perception of error”.
All they need o do is blink (like Collins with her questionable defamation threat) and it becomes a possible political victory.
Is this what people really want MPs to spend a lot of time on?
“It would be easy to target someone, blow up a storm, make a range of accusations and see if any chinks appear. With enough exposure, examination, conjecture, misinformation accusation and staring down wouldn’t any MP be vulnerable? Even if there’s nothing to start with they will end up cracking and making a mistake, or “perception of error”.”
It would be easy?
And credible?
How many times do you think you could do that Pete before people started ignoring you?
BBC interview has revealed that the intelligence (on which the invasion of Iraq was based) was a fabrication and puts Helen Clark’s stance in an even better light and makes Key’s assertion that New Zealand was “missing in action” even more pathetic, n’est–ce pas?
And as he will be well aware, the prospect of a federal Liberal/NCP landslide, along Queensland lines, seems more likely as time goes on. But is Abbott really The Man? Many Liberals must be wondering.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the wealthy were the most heavily implicated. Among those who made fortunes from the kipper- und wipperzeit were the Duke of Alva—supreme commander of Spanish forces in the Low Countries—and the Polish Duke Januz of Ostrog, who on his death left a fortune consisting of 600,000 ducats, 290,000 mixed coins, 400,000 crowns and 30 barrels of broken silver. Perhaps the greatest of the profiteers was Albrecht Von Wallenstein, who during the Thirty Years’ War became not only a great prince, but also generalissimo of all the imperial forces in Europe in large part as a result of the fortune he made during the inflationary period. Wallenstein achieved this by investing the fortune he inherited from his dead wife in a mint lease covering Bohemia, Moravia and Lower Austria, profiting hugely from churning out debased coinage and then using those profits to snap up the estates of dispossessed Protestant noblemen after the Defenestration of Prague sparked war in 1618—transactions that were, naturally, completed in dodgy kippergeld. The prince was one of the few nobles able to finance his own private mercenary army at a time when other princes had trouble merely feeding their troops.
joe90
Nostalgia. The honours roll of the scamlist rolls on from way back with additions to this minute.
I happened on info that the Vanderbilts at the start of the USA had more money than the government coffers. Pretty rich eh! They have lost most of it now through lavish spending apparently. They should have been sent to scamschool or such to learn the basic skills for grabbing and holding their heritage from an early date.
Overseas, and here?, the wealthy do funny things with their children though, like ignoring them muchly and penning them up in a nursery block with viewings of Mum and occasionally Dad at set times. Ted Turner’s father sent him off to military school at age nine I think, probably one of the older newbies. We don’t breed ourselves to be tough and crafty enough to match the old aristos. No wonder the French used their new humane people dispatcher so readily.
“Why does being able to buy more stuff make up for husbands and wives being able to see less of each other, having less time with the kids, having a lot more trouble getting together with your friends…”
* The super-rich will make more, much much more, and the rest of you will scramble for the crumbs that are left.
* Everyone must work! Mom, Dad, the teenagers in the house! Dad, you work a second job! Kids, here’s your latch-key! Your parents might be home in time to put you to bed.
* 50 million of you must go without health insurance! And health insurance companies: you go ahead and decide who you want to help — or not.
* Unions are evil! You will not belong to a union! You do not need an advocate! Shut up and get back to work! No, you can’t leave now, we’re not done. Your kids can make their own dinner.
* You want to go to college? No problem — just sign here and be in hock to a bank for the next 20 years!
* What’s “a raise”? Get back to work and shut up!
“Why does being able to buy more stuff make up for husbands and wives being able to see less of each other, having less time with the kids, having a lot more trouble getting together with your friends…”
Or, to put it another way, to have a life of his or her own. Having time to be the person you are, or to find out what you could be, and attend to the tasks that person needs to achieve, seems basic to being a human operating at each level of Maslow’s hierarchy.
Ahh Maslow. So much for self-actualisation (To develop or achieve one’s full potential) when many are struggling to meet the basic necessities of healthy food in their bellies and a roof over their heads. And what about affordable health and dental care? Where is NZ heading? So many stranded on the bottom tiers and more heading that way…not a lot of time for much else.
The Pike River enquiry has heard from CTU that a crime of corporate manslaughter should be introduced in New Zealand. That makes good sense for the same range of reasons that personal manslaughter exists – a duty of care exists to such an extent that if that duty is breached and people die then a conviction of the crime of manslaughter results. Simple.
And here is something else equally simple and applicable…
Political manslaughter.
Applied at Pike River the politics decreed that health and safety mechanisms could be amended to a different and lower standard. They were so amended and this led directly to people dying (this is what people knew before the hearings, this is what the commission has heard and imo this is what the commission will find, among much else).
A breach of the duty of care at a political level led to death.
A breach of the duty of care at a corporate level led to death.
A breach of a duty of care to fellow manwoman at a personal which leads to death is manslaughter.
I see National-lite are being as useless as usual.
The red neoliberials also want to also attack students, but just not hit them quite as hard.
No wonder NZ continues to be happy to get shafted by the blue neolibs.
Good luck getting students to vote on election day…why would they bother?
The charging of interest on student loans is totally wrong IMO as NZ benefits from having an educated society and the scheme when implemented was essentially a transfer of the costs of education from the state to to individual. I would even go further and say that the scheme and the debt needs to be written off and replaced with a universal student allowance and heavily subsidised fees to ensure affordable access to tertiary education and to rectify the historic injustice of the loan scheme. However I do concede that the benefit to NZ is lost if the student leaves NZ after studying not to return – this scenario does require a bit of thought as to how some benefit to NZ may be generated.
There was no talk in the article that you linked to of Labour supporting Nationals as yet unannounced plan to reintroduce interest on residents loans – nor would I expect there to be when it is announced.
What I don’t like to see is people pushing the old ‘why bother voting’ BS – voting is the only way we have of getting National out of office and it is National that is the greatest threat to students financial well being at present. You may feel cynical but do us all a favour and keep it to yourself – the rest of us want to get on with the job of getting the Nats out of office and comments like yours do nothing to assist nor do they help the students that you supposedly care about.
Funnily enough, if NZ was a country where your kids could get a free education (not to mention access to other social services), fewer people would leave permanently.
“What I don’t like to see is people pushing the old ‘why bother voting’ BS – voting is the only way we have of getting National out of office and it is National that is the greatest threat to students financial well being at present. You may feel cynical but do us all a favour and keep it to yourself – the rest of us want to get on with the job of getting the Nats out of office and comments like yours do nothing to assist nor do they help the students that you supposedly care about.”
My comment was “why would THEY bother”…I’m talking about the swing voters…the voters who might just flag voting cause a BBQ is on. This is the issue for Labour, they do not need to take many votes from National, they need to motivate their possible voters.
The so called ‘why bother voting BS’ is real and it should be of major concern to Labour, it is shortsighted to ignore it, its the reason why they continue to be in opposition.
The article states that Labour was going to agree to lowering it to 2 years, rather than one…so I think my post is fair. 2 years vs 1 year is like horse shit vs dog shit…
How can you not be cynical after your first paragraph? Trust me, I hate National just as much as you, that’s why I want to see an alternative that will move towards what we both believe in (see your paragraph 1).
“However I do concede that the benefit to NZ is lost if the student leaves NZ after studying not to return – this scenario does require a bit of thought as to how some benefit to NZ may be generated.”
McFlock is exactly right…I would throw in house prices there too
fatty – Labour withdrew their support for the Bill. You are criticising wrong people – however I’m sure your concern is noted. The real battle meanwhile is still being fought:
David Shearer was interviewd on TV3 this morning: .
The interview of David Shearer by Rachel Smalley on TV 3 this morning had four interesting points. Firstly, Shearer acknowledges that Mallard & Little were acting under his directions and had been since the matter arose. He then stated that there was no obligation on them to “man up” and show what facts they relied upon to substantiate the allegations. He stated that they did not have to do anything unless and until Collins pursued the defamation proceedings. The third point was that if Collins does proceed, every e-mail and every phone call would then be put on record and this is what they wanted from the start.
These 3 points are significant because they suggest an orchestrated strategy. There is a very strong suggestion that Mallard & Little were motivated by improper purposes. It has been sometime since I looked at the cases relating to the use of documents disclosed on “discovery” but I am quite sure that Mallard & Little cannot use them for political purposes and, I rather suspect, that these documents would never become part of a public record unless they substantiated or refuted the specific issues.
The interview suggests that Mallard & Little (more correctly, the Labour Party) are prepared to let the defamatory comments stand so that they can extract documentation which they will use to prove political points.
Shearer said that the proposed proceedings were without precedent. In the sense that few MPs have been stupid enough to repeat allegations outside the house, he may be correct. The interview today however suggests that it may not necessarily have been stupidity that lead them to make the comments but a planned out strategy.
Is this a fair reflection of the interview? (I didn’t see it). If so then Shearer was obviously at least supportive of the whole orchestrated “gotcha Collins” campaign.
What’s this “gotcha” meme you keep trying to plant? Is it something to do with the Slater child and his “gotcha” website?
It seems odd that you, who so often talks about cleaning up politics, wouldn’t want to get to the bottom of this matter as soon as possible. I would’ve expected you to be fully supportive of efforts to hold Collins to account, and to get all the facts on the table and in the light of day.
Why just this very morning you were suggesting that we “put the blowtorch to the whole Government iceburg”, something I was happy to fully support you on.
“I’m not the kind of leader who believes in rival tribes playing ‘gotcha’, where bickering and partisanship are prized. Of course that’s what a lot of people look for. They want to score the game, give points for the best smart remark in Parliament. But that’s not what most New Zealanders want,” Mr Shearer told an Auckland Grey Power meeting yesterday.
His consistent line that he doesn’t want to get involved in the usual bickering and partisanship (“rival tribes playing gotcha”) will be going over well with the public – “Shearer not buying into ‘gotcha’ politics“.
Anyone else picked up on this press release?
“John Key’s admission today that he chaired the committee which appointed his own electorate chair Stephen McElrea to the board of NZ on Air directly links the Prime Minister to allegations of cronyism and political interference, says Labour’s Broadcasting spokesperson Clare Curran.”
While I haven’t seem anything on Stuff or the Herald site as yet, RNZ National covered this in its news bulletins last night and it was also one of the top stories on Checkpoint, including an interview with Clare Curran. Here is the 17 minute Checkpoint item
Thanks deuto and Ben. Seems very clear and a case to answer.
Dr Smith tended his resignation for a conflict of interest. The PM accepted that.
If a conflict of interest is proven, then will the PM accept the resignation of John Key?
I heard the item on RNZ. Like most “scandals” this wouldn’t have come to light, except for McElrea drawing attention to himself with his comments. Silly thing to do.
This might be a valid issue to shine more light on, but how far? Both National and Labour have histories of making appointments that could attract accusations of “cronyism and political interference”.
A case could potentially be made to accuse the accusers of attempting political inteference.
Should no appointments be made of anyone who has (or has had) an involvement in politics?
Sure, you could make an absurd reduction of the principle and say that.
Probably more helpful to look at things that have actually happened though.
By which I mean yes, politically aligned or experienced people in a small country are inevitably going to be in these sorts of positions, but it usually doesn’t seem to cause too many problems.
It’s not really a matter of keeping you head down though as you imply. As long as you don’t do anything stupid or potentially corrupt like abuse your position in a public institution and make political decisions to spend public money in ways that favour your own party, you’ll probably be ok.
The event centre itself may not be viable in the current economical climate, and unless things improve, the costs will outweigh the benefits. The National government should concentrate on fixing the economy instead of making dirty deals with the gambling industry…
Back befor the House is the Fonterra bill,(sorry we forgot the actual title and are too lazy right now to dig it out),
There seems on the part of National an unholy haste to have this particular piece of legislation which pits the rights of Productive Capitalists against the wants of Speculative Capitalists,
The ”Fonterra Legislation” seems innocuous on the surface simply changing the law to allow dairy farmer suppliers to be able to trade shares in the company they own,Fonterra,in a yet to be established market between each other,
We,along with a large number of the dairy farming shareholders of Fonterra simply see this present piece of rushed legislation as the next attempt in a series of failed attempts to have the shares of the dairy giant Fonterra listed on the NZ Stock Exchange,
Having been rebuffed in their prior attempts at gaining such a listing of Fonterra by the share-holding Productive Capitalists,(the dairy farmers),the Speculative Capitalists have now opted for the ”new” approach of legislation which will allow those dairy farmers to trade the shares among one another thus we assume trying to create such a trading mentality within the dairy farming community,
The end game tho is still to have the Fonterra shares listed on the NZ Stock exchange,the Speculative Capitalists now realizing that this will have to be achieved with the slowly slowly approach if they are to have the dairy farming community kow-tow to their wishes of having the control of the company they own wrested from their hands by speculative capital…
Sounds like the time has arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand for farmers, townies, tangata whenua, greenies, and leftists together with traditional rightists (ie sans neo-cons) to come together and forge a new social contract for the nation to reject crony and speculative capitalism typified so much by the John Key government.
Smarmy boy Weldon’s NZX went around hoovering up Rural publications a few years back probably to stem this sort of inconvenient opinion as they were attempting to get in on the NZX back then.
Just when Fonterra,s ”milk in schools” program had us thinking that once they clean up the act around what gets leached or dropped into the waterways we could over time develop a grudging respect for the dairy giant the veil is lifted,
Here we were telling each other the other night that if Fonterra were to roll out ”milk in schools” nation-wide we would in all probability have forgiven them the over-pricing of dairy products we all here in New Zealand suffer via the forward contracts that Fonterra has with various Speculative Capitalists who have very cleverly,(without publicity),managed to insert themselves into the dairy supply chain between Fonterra and the points of retail,
There was even the suggestion here that should such a nation-wide milk in schools roll-out occur it would be impossible for any of us to entertain any thought of Fonterra at any time without also having pictures of little floating hearts occupy our minds,
However,as the cost of legislation for SkyCity to be able to install 500 extra pokie machines at its premises would seem to be the erection of an unwanted convention centre in the city of Auckland we now have to start asking about the price of such legislation as the Fonterra bill now befor the House and is there any connection between the ”milk in schools” roll-out in its oh so pretty small blue cartons…
bad 12. In the nature of trying to help, put a space after each comma.
And for apostrophes like “Fonterra,s” try using the apostrophe which on my keyboard is up one row of keys and at the end of the row. Thus “Fonterra’s”. OK?
Umm yeah ok,we give you express permission to reproduce our posts with what you see as the neccessary punctuation to make it intelligble to you,without having changed the meaning and intent of such posts as we produced them,
However,we write how we write and it all makes perfect sense to us and we dont propose to get into the same old arguments about our treatment of the English language we have had with others on other sites where we have commented,
We suppose that if the lack of punctuation,or,its over-supply from and by us causes too much angst and heart-ache at our treatment of the English language we will eventually be suitable moderated…
What makes perfect sense to you mightn’t appear that way to others. Poorly punctuated text is less likely to be read through and if it’s read it’s less likely to be understood or remembered by the reader.
The natural inference from the fact that you comment at all is that you wish to communicate some idea or another.
Effective communication requires common language – the greater the number of language features shared between communicator and audience, the more subtle points can be communicated efficiently. This includes not just syntactic consistency in the language (“let’s eat Derek” vs “let’s eat, Derek”), but also the likelihood of misinterpretation due to poor eyesight, small screens, vibrating vehicles, or divided attention. Particularly as in this medium we already tend to automatically substitute expected words to accommodate typos etc.
That’s why punctuation is more than just pretty pictures. Just FYI.
I agree with Pete for the second(!) time today. It’s not a matter of what rules of language and grammer are “correct”, it’s just a matter of whether you want to get your message across.
Translated would be ”havnt got the nous to enter the debate with anything constructive,(or destructive),concerning that debate,attack the messenger and not the message”…
It’s not attacking the messenger/s here, just passing on advice that you can choose to take notice of or ignore.
How information is presented can make a big difference to how it’s digested (or ignored). Punctuation is a part of that. We don’t read each letter and word, we look at groups of word patterns along with punctuation. If there are unfamiliar patterns it confuses, and distracts the brain from the meaning. Two much clashing and people give up reading. The PhilU style is a good (or bad) example.
Exactly our point Felix,we have noticed that you and most of those barking in criticism over our use of punctuation post quite frequently but dont actually say anything of interest…
We have no comment to make on We accept to say that We are here to discuss,politicians,politics and policies and any mention of We in the context of such discussion is limited to having done so to illuminate some point We are attempting to make…
If that means that you and the others chirping about a missing comma will take a hike and annoy someone else if we dont ”take on-board the above comments” then we definitely choose that option,
Your wee quisle of a post when translated reads thus,”say what we want to hear in a fashion of type that we want to see or we wont communicate with you”,
As above,if there,s a price we are expected to pay to enter into conversation with the likes of you then we will happily not engage…
Oh ffs, no-one’s chirping at you and no-one’s attacking you. You’ve got interesting info to share and that’s great, we’re just trying to help you do that more effectively.
Was going to ignore it, but this sort of nonsense comment is really not necessary….
Maybe if you were out contributing to real life, you would not be so rediculously petty over such trivial punctuation issues. The usual predatory, territiorial attack dogs chime in. FFS try focus on some actual problems why don’t you!
Come on you fullas , you can do better than that surely…maybe not, it’s just a blog site right!
muzza
To me this isn’t just a site to go to and fill in time idly speculating about life, though I do sometimes. But I mainly come here to read what people think and what they’ve read and the links they provide to other coherent thinkers. I think people here blog because they want to discuss society with a view to seeing it and the planet going in a direction that leads to good outcomes for all.
Wanting people to put up something coherent in a way that shows they want their points to be read and understood is not ‘ridiculously petty’. I like to read informed opinions and good rants. If I just wanted to fill my time with others’ half-digested mumblings there is the big wide world for that.
Any reasonable person would understand that the Greenpeace advertisement was concerned with total avian deaths from the Rena oil spill, of which only an educated estimate can be provided…
We already know the Nats love to mine. The PM recently signaled that as-yet undefined relationships with Google are going to be an ever-increasing part of the Government’s service provider policies. If we consider the proposed Cloud-mining, the recent steps by Facebook and Google to incorporate Suicide Hotline services, the massively intrusive nature of the amended Search & Surveillance Bill, the inflation only increases of Health budgets, the MSD nannystate paycards and the overall lack of human compassion expressed by this Government’s members you may understand how a person could be pressed to highlighting the fact there is a very large information void that begs the question:
What exactly are the Government plans for dealing with mental health in NZ?
Auditor-General to audit aspects of ACC governance
Was half listening to RNZ National 4pm news and heard something about the Auditor-General going to do an audit of ACC.
The following is now up on the RNZ National website
The auditor-general is to investigate aspects of how the ACC board deals with risks such as conflicts of interest.
It comes as a result of the recent release of confidential information and ACCs dealings with a claimant, Bronwyn Pullar.
The auditor-general will investigate aspects of governance at ACC not currently covered by other inquiries being carried out by the Privacy Commissioner and the ACC board itself.
3 April 2012 Last updated at 22:58 GMT Israeli PM seeks delay of Hebron settler eviction
Israel’s prime minister has asked his defence minister to delay the eviction of Jewish settlers who took over a house in the Arab part of Hebron.
Benjamin Netanyahu wants the settlers to be able to stay in the building while they “make their legal case”.
Ehud Barak had ordered the settlers out of the house in the West Bank city on Tuesday because they had not received the military’s approval to purchase it.
The settlers say they bought the house from its Palestinian owners legally.
But local Palestinian police disputed the validity of the deal, saying the building had more than 50 owners, only one of whom sold his share.
Mr Netanyahu’s move comes a week after his government unsuccessfully sought to delay an order from the Supreme Court to dismantle an illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank.
‘Provocation’
About 20 settlers moved into the two-storey house in Hebron on Thursday night, seeking to expand the settlement of some 500 families in the heart of the city, home to 180,000 Palestinians.
On Monday, the Israeli military told the settlers they had until 15:00 (12:00 GMT) on Tuesday to leave the house or prove it was theirs, after which the authorities would “act to restore the building to its previous state”.
“After examining all the evidence that was handed over and after considering all the circumstances of the incident, it was decided to return to the situation which existed before,” the military order said. The settlers did not obtain military approval to buy the house and their takeover constituted a provocation, it added.
But overnight, Mr Netanyahu “asked the defence minister to allow the settlers in the building to have time to make their legal case”, officials in the prime minister’s office said.
After the deadline passed, Hebron settlers’ spokesman David Wilder told AFP news agency they were awaiting the outcome of Mr Netanyahu’s meeting with senior ministers.
“There is nothing new, we are waiting for a decision by the ministers,” he said.
About 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
PRESS RELEASE
The Union Report – starts 8pm Monday 23rd April:
{…]
a new current affairs show that looks at the news week through the lens of industrial relations.
Hosted by blogger and controversial broadcaster Martyn Bradbury, the show will bring together dispute insiders, Union leaders and political commentators and politicians to provide an alternative analysis to traditional mainstream media coverage.
Council of Trade Union President Helen Kelly, commentators Chris Trotter and Mike Williams will be joined by a changing panel of guests from EPMU, PSA, NZNO, Unite, First Union, SFWU, MUNZ, PPTA and CTU affiliates to discuss the weeks industrial activity from the worker’s perspective
One of the most troubling aspects of all the media coverage of an attack on Iran is that it can make a radically destabilizing act of unprovoked war seem like just another policy choice.
I thought of this when I saw a PBS NewsHour segment (3/28/12) that set out to ponder the consequences of an Israeli attack on Iran. PBS reporter Margaret Warner oddly framed Israeli public opinion this way:
Though the Iranian regime has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, recent polls in Israel show only 19 percent would support their government attacking Iran unilaterally.
Hearing that, you might wonder why there’s a segment of Israeli society that doesn’t support their own self-defense. It’s not clear what Iranian vow Warner might be talking about (presumably not their pledge to not develop nuclear weapons). It’s possibly a reference to the contested translation of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comment about wiping Israel “off the map.” Or it could be a reference to more recent comments from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He called Israel a “cancerous tumor” in February, and vowed to support those fighting Israel. Given that the Israeli government is openly speaking about the need to attack Iran sooner rather than later, and does not exactly deny a role in the killings of Iranian scientists, one could just easily be talking about Israeli belligerence. But that’s rarely the subject.
Then look at the experts PBS lined up to talk about Iran: Hawkish Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg (who served in the Israeli army), a Columbia University defense analyst who speaks of Israeli weapons capabilities (“The Israelis have a really robust military capability”), an analyst from the right-leaning Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a fellow at the right wing American Enterprise Institute (who says that if Iran were attacked it would “depict itself as a victim of Israeli aggression”).
To the extent that there’s any debate at all, it’s mostly about whether or not Iran will retaliate, and where. And then there is some talk about the technical difficulties for Israel in successfully carrying out this massive unprovoked act of war (something we’ve discussed before).
Goldberg sees the possibility of an accidental escalation from Iran–”one hyperactive commander acting on his own to ram or try to ram a U.S. ship”–and it is there that the segment closes, with Warner saying, “It is just this unpredictability that keeps Washington policymakers and many Israeli citizens up at night.”
The calculations and worries of Beltway insiders and Israeli political leaders are well-represented here–but very little else. It’d be nice for discussions about launching a war to include some voices from outside those elite circles–especially when the discussion is happening on public television.
John Key: “It (the mental health package) sends a strong message to young New Zealanders : we value you and will help you succeed”
If I were a young person I would be very suspicious about the intent of a “strong message” from a rich speculator, who’s current hobby (sorry “job”) is playing Prime Minister of New Zealand.
I would wonder who the “we” are who are supposed to value me so much and I would fight tooth and nail to avoid the kind of success I think they have in mind for me.
The message avoids the reasons for a lot of mental suffering, which are feeling of not belonging, being sort of separate and not really respected by the people who seem to know so much more than me and to know better than me how to live, and so deserving of their wealth, unlike me.
The wealth gap needs to shrink – as has been pointed out many times on this site and elsewhere.
The wealthy in NZ have too much to spend and the poor have too little.
A real Prime Minister would be devoting everey fibre of his being to trying to fix that.
The New Zealand Initiative (the takeover of the mantle of the NZ Institute by utter right wing ideologues) has launched with Oliver Hartwich at the helm. Here’s a little sample of the wisdom this recycled Australian climate change sceptic will be pushing…
Dr Hartwich:
“To begin with, “consensus” is a term which is alien to science. It is a
concept from sociology which describes only that a general agreement
has been reached, a process of collective decision-making, if you will. In
science, however, such a process could never be understood as a means
of establishing “truth”, for it would not only require the individual sci-
entist to submit himself to a majority view, but it would make that con-
sensually achieved view virtually unassailable.Thus, establishing a scientific consensus is incompatible with the way that science has evolved,
from the Age of Reason to Karl Popper’s theory of critical rationalism.
One would be well advised then to treat the talk about a “climate
change consensus” as what it is: not as a scientific consensus about climate
change but at most as a political agreement to act and speak as if the major
questions surrounding climate change had already been answered. In
reality, however, there are very few things on which the majority climate
scientists would readily agree.8
Dealing with those issues on which there is agreement is very simple,
for they are few. First, the average global temperature has risen by
approximately 0.7 degrees centigrade since 1860. Second, an ever
increasing world population has an influence on the climate through
increased energy and land use. Everything else in the climate change
debate is highly controversial. Has the climate of the past millennium
always been colder than today or not? How much of an effect on the cli-
mate does atmospheric carbon dioxide have? Do rising carbon dioxide
concentrations lead us to a point of no return? Or are there self-regulat-
ing mechanisms which will slow, halt, or even reverse the process? For
each question one finds much disagreement among climatologists. Such
disagreement should be welcomed, for it is what science is all about. Far
from any clear-cut consensus then, there is a debate amongst experts
about the various aspects of climate change. Puzzling, then, that most of
what we hear in the public domain gives the impression that the case is
quite the opposite.
etc
“Hartwich demonstrates his passion for the polemic; he sows the seed of doubt among the populace to ensure the flows of riches to his already wealthy supporters’ remain uninterrupted … Hartwich and his cronies would have us maximise their annual profits at the expense of our grandchildren and then our granchildren’s grandchildren. … Hartwich, the Centre for Independent Studies and other right-wing thoughtless-tanks are working hard to guarantee your children and grandchildren will suffer. We cannot let these (insanely wealthy) people dictate our future.”
Corey J.A. Bradshaw and Paul R. Ehrlich, 12 November 2010
“Oliver Marc Hartwich … arguably sets a new benchmark in fact-free opinion journalism.”
Ken Parish, Club Troppo, 8 November 2010
“One has to assume that Dr. Hartwich is not stupid, which forces one to accept that he is being intentionally deceitful and misleading.”
Reader comment on BusinessSpectator.com.au, 7 October 2010
“Hartwich is just a shill for the old and now totally discredited Neo-Liberal economic theology. Everything he says … needs to be seen through the distorted and now cracked prism of that ideology.”
“Oliver Hartwich – well known Randian paper shuffler, formerly adviser to a Tory Lord, snout in the trough of a right-wing big-business-funded “think-tank” (read propoganda outlet)”
Reader comments on the National Times website, 23 June 2010
oh, so he’s a narcissist as well… uses the the Oscar Wilde quote about the not being talked about at all as his rationale…
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
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 ...
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 ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
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 ...
Dairy prices increased by 3.9% across the board at the latest Fonterra global auction. The lift followed rises of 1.3% and 4.3% in the December auctions which took dairy prices to their highest level in 11 months, defying those analysts who believed Covid-19 had disrupted dairy markets. In the latest ...
America's Cup team American Magic has spoken publicly after their boat Patriot capsized when on its way to their first win of the Challenger Selection Series yesterday. Patriot dramatically capsized yesterday, becoming temporarily airborne before crashing back into the water and tipping. The boat, helmed by New Zealander Dean Barker, could not be ...
It’s a seemingly age old question: why do Auckland’s beaches become unswimmable after every single downpour? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates.Ah, the beach. A staple of the New Zealand summer. Unless, of course, you’re based in Auckland and it’s raining. The start of 2021 has been a lot like every other New ...
We have opened a book, among members of the Point of Order team, on how long it will be before the PM offers to sort out the land dispute at Wellington’s Shelly Bay and (to win the double) how much the settlement will cost taxpayers. Just a few weeks ago ...
Breakfast TV news is back for 2021, and Tara Ward got up early to watch. “Thank god it’s almost Christmas,” John Campbell said during the opening minutes of Breakfast’s premiere episode of the year. “2021’s been rough so far. I’m buggered”. We’re all buggered, to be fair, but I’m worried that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Pearson, Professor of Journalism and Social Media, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Griffith University The blame for the recent assault on the US Capitol and President Donald Trump’s broader dismantling of democratic institutions and norms can be ...
Despite a popular and unifying leader of the governing party, divisions both in policy and culture will test the progressive movement, writes Peter McKenzie.‘I think we’re confused.” Marlon Drake is an organiser for the Living Wage Movement. His job takes him all over Wellington, trying to convince businesses to increase ...
Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins says vaccinations should be available to the public by the middle of the year, but other countries are prioritised. ...
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students.From high in the summit ...
Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University It could be argued artificial intelligence (AI) is already the indispensable tool of the 21st century. From helping doctors diagnose and treat patients to rapidly advancing new drug discoveries, it’s our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australia’s political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also kept faith with governmental norms, eschewing the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW Health workers are at higher risk of COVID infection and illness. They can also act as extremely efficient transmitters of viruses to others in medical and aged care facilities. That’s why health workers have been prioritised to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Orchard, Adjunct Lecturer, Monash University Last week, somewhat overshadowed by the events in Washington, the Democrats took control of the US Senate. The Democrats now hold a small majority in both the House and the Senate until 2022, giving President-elect Joe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mittul Vahanvati, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Heatwaves, floods, bushfires: disaster season is upon us again. We can’t prevent hazards or climate change-related extreme weather events but we can prepare for them — not just as individuals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Starting school is an important event for children and a positive experience can set the tone for the rest of their school experience. Some children are excited to attend school for the first ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book – but it was ...
New data from the CTU’s annual work life survey shows a snapshot of working people’s experiences and outlook heading out of 2020 and into the new year. Concerningly 42% of respondents cite workplace bullying as an issue in their workplace - a number ...
An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsella’s cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. “My first tour to Australia, we ...
The dramatic capsize of American Magic brought out the best in the America's Cup sailing fraternity. But, Suzanne McFadden asks, what does it mean to the crippled New York Yacht Club campaign and to the Prada Cup? It was a scene as unreal as it was calamitous. Right at the moment the ...
The current number of members of parliament is starting to get too low for the job we expect them to do, argues Alex Braae. As a general rule, with the possible exception of their families, nobody likes backbench MPs. But it’s nevertheless time we accepted that parliament should have more of ...
The experience in the Brazilian city of Manaus reveals how mistaken, and dangerous, the herd-immunity-by-infection theory really is. As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop ...
As New Zealand gears up to fight climate change, experts warn that we need to actually reduce emissions, not just plant trees to offset our greenhouse gases. ...
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 ...
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I am looking for a piece of Remuera road verge or similar, or perhaps friendly resident who might allow me to ask the Auckland Council for a consent to “frack” on their patch. The interesting bit will be the responses in objection and their reasons. Anybody interested?
haha I think you’ll find that NIMBY! will be the response. But they might invest in your proposal if you do find someone a bit further away.
Is Collins and the ACC just the tip of a much bigger problem? Why not put the blowtorch to the whole Government iceburg? Maybe then David Shearer will be even more “interested to see what actually happens” when it’s politics as usual rather than his short lived “new kind of politics”.
It would be much more courteous of you, if you did not link ever to your own website from your posts here.
I have no desire to ever go there on purpose and dislike going there accidentally because I assume your link is to a newspaper article.
Wave the mouse over the link. The browser will show the address of the link when you hover. Usually in the bottom left of the browser window. Doesn’t work in iPad damnit as it can’t detect my finger hovering.
Apple should fix that – implanted GPS chip in your fingertip perhaps?
Would save also those fingerprints on the screen as well.
Not if you are on a mobile device. You don’t have that facility.
Plenty of people here link to their own sites and make it obvious.
It’s not that hard.
The solution is what slashdot does: put the domain name in a bracket after the link, eg
“Is Collins and the ACC just the tip of a much bigger problem? [yournz.org]”
That is a thought. Ummm.
I made a fatal mistake and clicked through. Now my brain really hurts …
Even better just post and comment on your own site PG, you’ll always agree with yourself, you reduce the risk of being seen as a hypocrite with limited knowledge of law and governmrnt process and we’ll never have to read anymore of your banal and self serving comments.
WIN WIN !
Ditto DOS and thank you lprent for that very useful piece of advice. Learn something new everyday!
Petey: Small issue of semantics just to start here – David Shearer is part of the body that forms Parliament however he is not part of the body that forms the Government. That would be John Key, Banksie, the MP and the wig.
When you can’t even get basic terminology right, how can you be expected to be taken seriously?
Maybe it’s a small issue of lack of clarity or misunderstanding. Shearer seems to have bought into the blowtorch on the Government approach to politics.
Could any minister (or MP for that matter) be in Collins’ position simply with a choice hit squad focus and a helping leak or two?
It would be easy to target someone, blow up a storm, make a range of accusations and see if any chinks appear. With enough exposure, examination, conjecture, misinformation accusation and staring down wouldn’t any MP be vulnerable? Even if there’s nothing to start with they will end up cracking and making a mistake, or “perception of error”.
All they need o do is blink (like Collins with her questionable defamation threat) and it becomes a possible political victory.
Is this what people really want MPs to spend a lot of time on?
I agree.
The whole of the government must be held to rigourous standards.
I think you’re starting to get the hang of opposition Pete. Is that because you’re quitting United Future?
“It would be easy to target someone, blow up a storm, make a range of accusations and see if any chinks appear. With enough exposure, examination, conjecture, misinformation accusation and staring down wouldn’t any MP be vulnerable? Even if there’s nothing to start with they will end up cracking and making a mistake, or “perception of error”.”
It would be easy?
And credible?
How many times do you think you could do that Pete before people started ignoring you?
BBC interview has revealed that the intelligence (on which the invasion of Iraq was based) was a fabrication and puts Helen Clark’s stance in an even better light and makes Key’s assertion that New Zealand was “missing in action” even more pathetic, n’est–ce pas?
Curveball interview (subtitled Arabic) and transcript here.
AFAIK, it’s a series, and it’s excellent! Many of us suspected as much from the start, but it’s very good to have it confirmed…
A thoughtful view on the US from a genuinely Liberal Oz politician, ousted by wingnuts himself.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/turnbull-laments-state-of-us-politics-20120403-1wavb.html
And as he will be well aware, the prospect of a federal Liberal/NCP landslide, along Queensland lines, seems more likely as time goes on. But is Abbott really The Man? Many Liberals must be wondering.
Never a dull moment.
Related article on the unravelling of the US economy and the political system that’s making things worse. .
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/7a39bdc4-7940-11e1-9f0f-00144feab49a.html#axzz1qltAOv00
Sounds familiar.
“Kipper und Wipper”: Rogue Traders, Rogue Princes, Rogue Bishops and the German Financial Meltdown of 1621-23
Perhaps not surprisingly, the wealthy were the most heavily implicated. Among those who made fortunes from the kipper- und wipperzeit were the Duke of Alva—supreme commander of Spanish forces in the Low Countries—and the Polish Duke Januz of Ostrog, who on his death left a fortune consisting of 600,000 ducats, 290,000 mixed coins, 400,000 crowns and 30 barrels of broken silver. Perhaps the greatest of the profiteers was Albrecht Von Wallenstein, who during the Thirty Years’ War became not only a great prince, but also generalissimo of all the imperial forces in Europe in large part as a result of the fortune he made during the inflationary period. Wallenstein achieved this by investing the fortune he inherited from his dead wife in a mint lease covering Bohemia, Moravia and Lower Austria, profiting hugely from churning out debased coinage and then using those profits to snap up the estates of dispossessed Protestant noblemen after the Defenestration of Prague sparked war in 1618—transactions that were, naturally, completed in dodgy kippergeld. The prince was one of the few nobles able to finance his own private mercenary army at a time when other princes had trouble merely feeding their troops.
joe90
Nostalgia. The honours roll of the scamlist rolls on from way back with additions to this minute.
I happened on info that the Vanderbilts at the start of the USA had more money than the government coffers. Pretty rich eh! They have lost most of it now through lavish spending apparently. They should have been sent to scamschool or such to learn the basic skills for grabbing and holding their heritage from an early date.
Overseas, and here?, the wealthy do funny things with their children though, like ignoring them muchly and penning them up in a nursery block with viewings of Mum and occasionally Dad at set times. Ted Turner’s father sent him off to military school at age nine I think, probably one of the older newbies. We don’t breed ourselves to be tough and crafty enough to match the old aristos. No wonder the French used their new humane people dispatcher so readily.
Following the above links I thought this article also from Oz was much more more aligned to my thinking.
I would stop shops trading on Sunday and Saturday afternoon in a heartbeat.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/workers-pay-the-penalty-for-oneway-flexibility-20120403-1wakl.html
This paragraph sums it up nicely:
“Why does being able to buy more stuff make up for husbands and wives being able to see less of each other, having less time with the kids, having a lot more trouble getting together with your friends…”
This.
http://ucimc.org/content/patco-30-years-ago-today-day-middle-class-died
* The super-rich will make more, much much more, and the rest of you will scramble for the crumbs that are left.
* Everyone must work! Mom, Dad, the teenagers in the house! Dad, you work a second job! Kids, here’s your latch-key! Your parents might be home in time to put you to bed.
* 50 million of you must go without health insurance! And health insurance companies: you go ahead and decide who you want to help — or not.
* Unions are evil! You will not belong to a union! You do not need an advocate! Shut up and get back to work! No, you can’t leave now, we’re not done. Your kids can make their own dinner.
* You want to go to college? No problem — just sign here and be in hock to a bank for the next 20 years!
* What’s “a raise”? Get back to work and shut up!
DoS
Or, to put it another way, to have a life of his or her own. Having time to be the person you are, or to find out what you could be, and attend to the tasks that person needs to achieve, seems basic to being a human operating at each level of Maslow’s hierarchy.
Ahh Maslow. So much for self-actualisation (To develop or achieve one’s full potential) when many are struggling to meet the basic necessities of healthy food in their bellies and a roof over their heads. And what about affordable health and dental care? Where is NZ heading? So many stranded on the bottom tiers and more heading that way…not a lot of time for much else.
The Pike River enquiry has heard from CTU that a crime of corporate manslaughter should be introduced in New Zealand. That makes good sense for the same range of reasons that personal manslaughter exists – a duty of care exists to such an extent that if that duty is breached and people die then a conviction of the crime of manslaughter results. Simple.
And here is something else equally simple and applicable…
Political manslaughter.
Applied at Pike River the politics decreed that health and safety mechanisms could be amended to a different and lower standard. They were so amended and this led directly to people dying (this is what people knew before the hearings, this is what the commission has heard and imo this is what the commission will find, among much else).
A breach of the duty of care at a political level led to death.
A breach of the duty of care at a corporate level led to death.
A breach of a duty of care to fellow manwoman at a personal which leads to death is manslaughter.
Tell me I’m wrong.
I see National-lite are being as useless as usual.
The red neoliberials also want to also attack students, but just not hit them quite as hard.
No wonder NZ continues to be happy to get shafted by the blue neolibs.
Good luck getting students to vote on election day…why would they bother?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10796533&ref-fbheadline
The charging of interest on student loans is totally wrong IMO as NZ benefits from having an educated society and the scheme when implemented was essentially a transfer of the costs of education from the state to to individual. I would even go further and say that the scheme and the debt needs to be written off and replaced with a universal student allowance and heavily subsidised fees to ensure affordable access to tertiary education and to rectify the historic injustice of the loan scheme. However I do concede that the benefit to NZ is lost if the student leaves NZ after studying not to return – this scenario does require a bit of thought as to how some benefit to NZ may be generated.
There was no talk in the article that you linked to of Labour supporting Nationals as yet unannounced plan to reintroduce interest on residents loans – nor would I expect there to be when it is announced.
What I don’t like to see is people pushing the old ‘why bother voting’ BS – voting is the only way we have of getting National out of office and it is National that is the greatest threat to students financial well being at present. You may feel cynical but do us all a favour and keep it to yourself – the rest of us want to get on with the job of getting the Nats out of office and comments like yours do nothing to assist nor do they help the students that you supposedly care about.
Funnily enough, if NZ was a country where your kids could get a free education (not to mention access to other social services), fewer people would leave permanently.
Campbell Larsen:
“What I don’t like to see is people pushing the old ‘why bother voting’ BS – voting is the only way we have of getting National out of office and it is National that is the greatest threat to students financial well being at present. You may feel cynical but do us all a favour and keep it to yourself – the rest of us want to get on with the job of getting the Nats out of office and comments like yours do nothing to assist nor do they help the students that you supposedly care about.”
My comment was “why would THEY bother”…I’m talking about the swing voters…the voters who might just flag voting cause a BBQ is on. This is the issue for Labour, they do not need to take many votes from National, they need to motivate their possible voters.
The so called ‘why bother voting BS’ is real and it should be of major concern to Labour, it is shortsighted to ignore it, its the reason why they continue to be in opposition.
The article states that Labour was going to agree to lowering it to 2 years, rather than one…so I think my post is fair. 2 years vs 1 year is like horse shit vs dog shit…
How can you not be cynical after your first paragraph? Trust me, I hate National just as much as you, that’s why I want to see an alternative that will move towards what we both believe in (see your paragraph 1).
“However I do concede that the benefit to NZ is lost if the student leaves NZ after studying not to return – this scenario does require a bit of thought as to how some benefit to NZ may be generated.”
McFlock is exactly right…I would throw in house prices there too
fatty – Labour withdrew their support for the Bill. You are criticising wrong people – however I’m sure your concern is noted. The real battle meanwhile is still being fought:
The sound of one worm turning. Or in petespeak, pragmatically reversing a previously pragmatic position in the interests of pragmatism going forward.
“Mr Robertson poked fun at Mr Dunne because he introduced the three-year holiday in 2007 as Revenue Minister in the then Labour-led Government.
Mr Dunne referred to it then as a pragmatic way to deal with the problem of the tradition of the OE.
‘Mr Dunne has changed his mind.’ ”
(From fatty’s stuff link)
David Shearer was interviewd on TV3 this morning: .
Is this a fair reflection of the interview? (I didn’t see it). If so then Shearer was obviously at least supportive of the whole orchestrated “gotcha Collins” campaign.
What’s this “gotcha” meme you keep trying to plant? Is it something to do with the Slater child and his “gotcha” website?
It seems odd that you, who so often talks about cleaning up politics, wouldn’t want to get to the bottom of this matter as soon as possible. I would’ve expected you to be fully supportive of efforts to hold Collins to account, and to get all the facts on the table and in the light of day.
Why just this very morning you were suggesting that we “put the blowtorch to the whole Government iceburg”, something I was happy to fully support you on.
Shearer started “gotcha” himself:
Anyone else picked up on this press release?
“John Key’s admission today that he chaired the committee which appointed his own electorate chair Stephen McElrea to the board of NZ on Air directly links the Prime Minister to allegations of cronyism and political interference, says Labour’s Broadcasting spokesperson Clare Curran.”
Bet you won’t read about that in the DomPost.
Here’s the press release:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1204/S00027/pm-has-questions-to-answer-over-nz-on-air-link.htm
While I haven’t seem anything on Stuff or the Herald site as yet, RNZ National covered this in its news bulletins last night and it was also one of the top stories on Checkpoint, including an interview with Clare Curran. Here is the 17 minute Checkpoint item
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2514808/labour-accuses-pm-of-conflict-of-interest.asx
Thanks deuto and Ben. Seems very clear and a case to answer.
Dr Smith tended his resignation for a conflict of interest. The PM accepted that.
If a conflict of interest is proven, then will the PM accept the resignation of John Key?
LOL – don’t hold your breath!
I heard the item on RNZ. Like most “scandals” this wouldn’t have come to light, except for McElrea drawing attention to himself with his comments. Silly thing to do.
This might be a valid issue to shine more light on, but how far? Both National and Labour have histories of making appointments that could attract accusations of “cronyism and political interference”.
A case could potentially be made to accuse the accusers of attempting political inteference.
Should no appointments be made of anyone who has (or has had) an involvement in politics?
Sure, you could make an absurd reduction of the principle and say that.
Probably more helpful to look at things that have actually happened though.
By which I mean yes, politically aligned or experienced people in a small country are inevitably going to be in these sorts of positions, but it usually doesn’t seem to cause too many problems.
It’s not really a matter of keeping you head down though as you imply. As long as you don’t do anything stupid or potentially corrupt like abuse your position in a public institution and make political decisions to spend public money in ways that favour your own party, you’ll probably be ok.
Nats gambling addiction
The event centre itself may not be viable in the current economical climate, and unless things improve, the costs will outweigh the benefits. The National government should concentrate on fixing the economy instead of making dirty deals with the gambling industry…
Back befor the House is the Fonterra bill,(sorry we forgot the actual title and are too lazy right now to dig it out),
There seems on the part of National an unholy haste to have this particular piece of legislation which pits the rights of Productive Capitalists against the wants of Speculative Capitalists,
The ”Fonterra Legislation” seems innocuous on the surface simply changing the law to allow dairy farmer suppliers to be able to trade shares in the company they own,Fonterra,in a yet to be established market between each other,
We,along with a large number of the dairy farming shareholders of Fonterra simply see this present piece of rushed legislation as the next attempt in a series of failed attempts to have the shares of the dairy giant Fonterra listed on the NZ Stock Exchange,
Having been rebuffed in their prior attempts at gaining such a listing of Fonterra by the share-holding Productive Capitalists,(the dairy farmers),the Speculative Capitalists have now opted for the ”new” approach of legislation which will allow those dairy farmers to trade the shares among one another thus we assume trying to create such a trading mentality within the dairy farming community,
The end game tho is still to have the Fonterra shares listed on the NZ Stock exchange,the Speculative Capitalists now realizing that this will have to be achieved with the slowly slowly approach if they are to have the dairy farming community kow-tow to their wishes of having the control of the company they own wrested from their hands by speculative capital…
Letters to the editors in the rural press have been pretty blunt about this. Not happy.
Sounds like the time has arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand for farmers, townies, tangata whenua, greenies, and leftists together with traditional rightists (ie sans neo-cons) to come together and forge a new social contract for the nation to reject crony and speculative capitalism typified so much by the John Key government.
Smarmy boy Weldon’s NZX went around hoovering up Rural publications a few years back probably to stem this sort of inconvenient opinion as they were attempting to get in on the NZX back then.
Just when Fonterra,s ”milk in schools” program had us thinking that once they clean up the act around what gets leached or dropped into the waterways we could over time develop a grudging respect for the dairy giant the veil is lifted,
Here we were telling each other the other night that if Fonterra were to roll out ”milk in schools” nation-wide we would in all probability have forgiven them the over-pricing of dairy products we all here in New Zealand suffer via the forward contracts that Fonterra has with various Speculative Capitalists who have very cleverly,(without publicity),managed to insert themselves into the dairy supply chain between Fonterra and the points of retail,
There was even the suggestion here that should such a nation-wide milk in schools roll-out occur it would be impossible for any of us to entertain any thought of Fonterra at any time without also having pictures of little floating hearts occupy our minds,
However,as the cost of legislation for SkyCity to be able to install 500 extra pokie machines at its premises would seem to be the erection of an unwanted convention centre in the city of Auckland we now have to start asking about the price of such legislation as the Fonterra bill now befor the House and is there any connection between the ”milk in schools” roll-out in its oh so pretty small blue cartons…
bad 12. In the nature of trying to help, put a space after each comma.
And for apostrophes like “Fonterra,s” try using the apostrophe which on my keyboard is up one row of keys and at the end of the row. Thus “Fonterra’s”. OK?
Umm yeah ok,we give you express permission to reproduce our posts with what you see as the neccessary punctuation to make it intelligble to you,without having changed the meaning and intent of such posts as we produced them,
However,we write how we write and it all makes perfect sense to us and we dont propose to get into the same old arguments about our treatment of the English language we have had with others on other sites where we have commented,
We suppose that if the lack of punctuation,or,its over-supply from and by us causes too much angst and heart-ache at our treatment of the English language we will eventually be suitable moderated…
What makes perfect sense to you mightn’t appear that way to others. Poorly punctuated text is less likely to be read through and if it’s read it’s less likely to be understood or remembered by the reader.
Punctuation: the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you’re shit.
lolz
And yet, and yet – I get attacked for similar pleas to people about their language usage. How does that work, hey?
Yeah it’s a hard road being a punctuation naz1 in a world of thumbs.
Also related: A wee vodka and soda is not the same as a wee, vodka and soda.
And we would take the slightest bit of notice of anything you have to say vis a vis our writing style(or lack of it),why???…
The natural inference from the fact that you comment at all is that you wish to communicate some idea or another.
Effective communication requires common language – the greater the number of language features shared between communicator and audience, the more subtle points can be communicated efficiently. This includes not just syntactic consistency in the language (“let’s eat Derek” vs “let’s eat, Derek”), but also the likelihood of misinterpretation due to poor eyesight, small screens, vibrating vehicles, or divided attention. Particularly as in this medium we already tend to automatically substitute expected words to accommodate typos etc.
That’s why punctuation is more than just pretty pictures. Just FYI.
I agree with Pete for the second(!) time today. It’s not a matter of what rules of language and grammer are “correct”, it’s just a matter of whether you want to get your message across.
Translated would be ”havnt got the nous to enter the debate with anything constructive,(or destructive),concerning that debate,attack the messenger and not the message”…
It’s not attacking the messenger/s here, just passing on advice that you can choose to take notice of or ignore.
How information is presented can make a big difference to how it’s digested (or ignored). Punctuation is a part of that. We don’t read each letter and word, we look at groups of word patterns along with punctuation. If there are unfamiliar patterns it confuses, and distracts the brain from the meaning. Two much clashing and people give up reading. The PhilU style is a good (or bad) example.
You think I’m attacking you, bad12?
Get a fucking grip.
(See how easy that was to read?)
Exactly our point Felix,we have noticed that you and most of those barking in criticism over our use of punctuation post quite frequently but dont actually say anything of interest…
Good for you bad12, I suggest you stop reading my comments as soon as you can.
bad12 What’s this royal ‘we’? We are not amused at your intransigence about clarity.
We have no comment to make on We accept to say that We are here to discuss,politicians,politics and policies and any mention of We in the context of such discussion is limited to having done so to illuminate some point We are attempting to make…
If you want others to engage with you, then take on-board the above comments.
If that means that you and the others chirping about a missing comma will take a hike and annoy someone else if we dont ”take on-board the above comments” then we definitely choose that option,
Your wee quisle of a post when translated reads thus,”say what we want to hear in a fashion of type that we want to see or we wont communicate with you”,
As above,if there,s a price we are expected to pay to enter into conversation with the likes of you then we will happily not engage…
Oh ffs, no-one’s chirping at you and no-one’s attacking you. You’ve got interesting info to share and that’s great, we’re just trying to help you do that more effectively.
Wrong end of the stick buddy.
I agree with felix but i cannot stand the royal wee, nevertheless – wrong end of the stick buddies.
Yeah, bad’s content is interesting, but the royal “we” and “our” gets really irritating to read.
Was going to ignore it, but this sort of nonsense comment is really not necessary….
Maybe if you were out contributing to real life, you would not be so rediculously petty over such trivial punctuation issues. The usual predatory, territiorial attack dogs chime in. FFS try focus on some actual problems why don’t you!
Come on you fullas , you can do better than that surely…maybe not, it’s just a blog site right!
muzza
To me this isn’t just a site to go to and fill in time idly speculating about life, though I do sometimes. But I mainly come here to read what people think and what they’ve read and the links they provide to other coherent thinkers. I think people here blog because they want to discuss society with a view to seeing it and the planet going in a direction that leads to good outcomes for all.
Wanting people to put up something coherent in a way that shows they want their points to be read and understood is not ‘ridiculously petty’. I like to read informed opinions and good rants. If I just wanted to fill my time with others’ half-digested mumblings there is the big wide world for that.
Greenpeace wronged by ASA
Any reasonable person would understand that the Greenpeace advertisement was concerned with total avian deaths from the Rena oil spill, of which only an educated estimate can be provided…
Rebecca Macfie is live tweeting from the pike river hearing, here:
https://twitter.com/#!/rebeccamacfie
Shorter version: PRC lawyer sez not Board or CEO’s fault, it’s his fault and his fault and their fault, also possibly Jesus’ fault.
Sounds Like Commissioner Pankhurst is none too impressed with PRCs lawyer’s arguments
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10796661
We already know the Nats love to mine. The PM recently signaled that as-yet undefined relationships with Google are going to be an ever-increasing part of the Government’s service provider policies. If we consider the proposed Cloud-mining, the recent steps by Facebook and Google to incorporate Suicide Hotline services, the massively intrusive nature of the amended Search & Surveillance Bill, the inflation only increases of Health budgets, the MSD nannystate paycards and the overall lack of human compassion expressed by this Government’s members you may understand how a person could be pressed to highlighting the fact there is a very large information void that begs the question:
What exactly are the Government plans for dealing with mental health in NZ?
Auditor-General to audit aspects of ACC governance
Was half listening to RNZ National 4pm news and heard something about the Auditor-General going to do an audit of ACC.
The following is now up on the RNZ National website
The auditor-general is to investigate aspects of how the ACC board deals with risks such as conflicts of interest.
It comes as a result of the recent release of confidential information and ACCs dealings with a claimant, Bronwyn Pullar.
The auditor-general will investigate aspects of governance at ACC not currently covered by other inquiries being carried out by the Privacy Commissioner and the ACC board itself.
Edit: More detail:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6694431/ACC-leadership-to-be-investigated
Things just aren’t going the Slippery way are they? “No need for another inquiry” says Slippery. “Yeah right” says the Auditor General.
BBC’s Concept of Balance–“The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this”:
Or, “The world is considered round under the laws of gravity, though the Flat-Earth Society disputes this.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17596199
3 April 2012 Last updated at 22:58 GMT
Israeli PM seeks delay of Hebron settler eviction
Israel’s prime minister has asked his defence minister to delay the eviction of Jewish settlers who took over a house in the Arab part of Hebron.
Benjamin Netanyahu wants the settlers to be able to stay in the building while they “make their legal case”.
Ehud Barak had ordered the settlers out of the house in the West Bank city on Tuesday because they had not received the military’s approval to purchase it.
The settlers say they bought the house from its Palestinian owners legally.
But local Palestinian police disputed the validity of the deal, saying the building had more than 50 owners, only one of whom sold his share.
Mr Netanyahu’s move comes a week after his government unsuccessfully sought to delay an order from the Supreme Court to dismantle an illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank.
‘Provocation’
About 20 settlers moved into the two-storey house in Hebron on Thursday night, seeking to expand the settlement of some 500 families in the heart of the city, home to 180,000 Palestinians.
On Monday, the Israeli military told the settlers they had until 15:00 (12:00 GMT) on Tuesday to leave the house or prove it was theirs, after which the authorities would “act to restore the building to its previous state”.
“After examining all the evidence that was handed over and after considering all the circumstances of the incident, it was decided to return to the situation which existed before,” the military order said. The settlers did not obtain military approval to buy the house and their takeover constituted a provocation, it added.
But overnight, Mr Netanyahu “asked the defence minister to allow the settlers in the building to have time to make their legal case”, officials in the prime minister’s office said.
After the deadline passed, Hebron settlers’ spokesman David Wilder told AFP news agency they were awaiting the outcome of Mr Netanyahu’s meeting with senior ministers.
“There is nothing new, we are waiting for a decision by the ministers,” he said.
About 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17596199
This looks promising for those of us who get Triangle…. hopefully the shows will also be put online:
http://www.tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/press-release-union-report-new-tv-show.html
When War Is in the Air on PBS
Posted on 04/03/2012 by PETER HART
http://www.fair.org/blog/
One of the most troubling aspects of all the media coverage of an attack on Iran is that it can make a radically destabilizing act of unprovoked war seem like just another policy choice.
I thought of this when I saw a PBS NewsHour segment (3/28/12) that set out to ponder the consequences of an Israeli attack on Iran. PBS reporter Margaret Warner oddly framed Israeli public opinion this way:
Though the Iranian regime has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, recent polls in Israel show only 19 percent would support their government attacking Iran unilaterally.
Hearing that, you might wonder why there’s a segment of Israeli society that doesn’t support their own self-defense. It’s not clear what Iranian vow Warner might be talking about (presumably not their pledge to not develop nuclear weapons). It’s possibly a reference to the contested translation of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comment about wiping Israel “off the map.” Or it could be a reference to more recent comments from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He called Israel a “cancerous tumor” in February, and vowed to support those fighting Israel. Given that the Israeli government is openly speaking about the need to attack Iran sooner rather than later, and does not exactly deny a role in the killings of Iranian scientists, one could just easily be talking about Israeli belligerence. But that’s rarely the subject.
Then look at the experts PBS lined up to talk about Iran: Hawkish Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg (who served in the Israeli army), a Columbia University defense analyst who speaks of Israeli weapons capabilities (“The Israelis have a really robust military capability”), an analyst from the right-leaning Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a fellow at the right wing American Enterprise Institute (who says that if Iran were attacked it would “depict itself as a victim of Israeli aggression”).
To the extent that there’s any debate at all, it’s mostly about whether or not Iran will retaliate, and where. And then there is some talk about the technical difficulties for Israel in successfully carrying out this massive unprovoked act of war (something we’ve discussed before).
Goldberg sees the possibility of an accidental escalation from Iran–”one hyperactive commander acting on his own to ram or try to ram a U.S. ship”–and it is there that the segment closes, with Warner saying, “It is just this unpredictability that keeps Washington policymakers and many Israeli citizens up at night.”
The calculations and worries of Beltway insiders and Israeli political leaders are well-represented here–but very little else. It’d be nice for discussions about launching a war to include some voices from outside those elite circles–especially when the discussion is happening on public television.
http://www.fair.org/blog/
John Key: “It (the mental health package) sends a strong message to young New Zealanders : we value you and will help you succeed”
If I were a young person I would be very suspicious about the intent of a “strong message” from a rich speculator, who’s current hobby (sorry “job”) is playing Prime Minister of New Zealand.
I would wonder who the “we” are who are supposed to value me so much and I would fight tooth and nail to avoid the kind of success I think they have in mind for me.
The message avoids the reasons for a lot of mental suffering, which are feeling of not belonging, being sort of separate and not really respected by the people who seem to know so much more than me and to know better than me how to live, and so deserving of their wealth, unlike me.
The wealth gap needs to shrink – as has been pointed out many times on this site and elsewhere.
The wealthy in NZ have too much to spend and the poor have too little.
A real Prime Minister would be devoting everey fibre of his being to trying to fix that.
+1
The New Zealand Initiative (the takeover of the mantle of the NZ Institute by utter right wing ideologues) has launched with Oliver Hartwich at the helm. Here’s a little sample of the wisdom this recycled Australian climate change sceptic will be pushing…
The current planning system is an outdated straitjacket on economic growth, contends Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich of Policy Exchange
http://www.oliver-marc-hartwich.com/publications/wasteland
Dr Hartwich:
“To begin with, “consensus” is a term which is alien to science. It is a
concept from sociology which describes only that a general agreement
has been reached, a process of collective decision-making, if you will. In
science, however, such a process could never be understood as a means
of establishing “truth”, for it would not only require the individual sci-
entist to submit himself to a majority view, but it would make that con-
sensually achieved view virtually unassailable.Thus, establishing a scientific consensus is incompatible with the way that science has evolved,
from the Age of Reason to Karl Popper’s theory of critical rationalism.
One would be well advised then to treat the talk about a “climate
change consensus” as what it is: not as a scientific consensus about climate
change but at most as a political agreement to act and speak as if the major
questions surrounding climate change had already been answered. In
reality, however, there are very few things on which the majority climate
scientists would readily agree.8
Dealing with those issues on which there is agreement is very simple,
for they are few. First, the average global temperature has risen by
approximately 0.7 degrees centigrade since 1860. Second, an ever
increasing world population has an influence on the climate through
increased energy and land use. Everything else in the climate change
debate is highly controversial. Has the climate of the past millennium
always been colder than today or not? How much of an effect on the cli-
mate does atmospheric carbon dioxide have? Do rising carbon dioxide
concentrations lead us to a point of no return? Or are there self-regulat-
ing mechanisms which will slow, halt, or even reverse the process? For
each question one finds much disagreement among climatologists. Such
disagreement should be welcomed, for it is what science is all about. Far
from any clear-cut consensus then, there is a debate amongst experts
about the various aspects of climate change. Puzzling, then, that most of
what we hear in the public domain gives the impression that the case is
quite the opposite.
etc
http://www.oliver-marc-hartwich.com/publications/science-vs-superstition—the-case-for-a-new-scientific-enlightenment
More on Oliver Hartwich, quotes he collates on his own webpage. http://www.oliver-marc-hartwich.com/or-loathe-me
“Hartwich demonstrates his passion for the polemic; he sows the seed of doubt among the populace to ensure the flows of riches to his already wealthy supporters’ remain uninterrupted … Hartwich and his cronies would have us maximise their annual profits at the expense of our grandchildren and then our granchildren’s grandchildren. … Hartwich, the Centre for Independent Studies and other right-wing thoughtless-tanks are working hard to guarantee your children and grandchildren will suffer. We cannot let these (insanely wealthy) people dictate our future.”
Corey J.A. Bradshaw and Paul R. Ehrlich, 12 November 2010
“Oliver Marc Hartwich … arguably sets a new benchmark in fact-free opinion journalism.”
Ken Parish, Club Troppo, 8 November 2010
“One has to assume that Dr. Hartwich is not stupid, which forces one to accept that he is being intentionally deceitful and misleading.”
Reader comment on BusinessSpectator.com.au, 7 October 2010
“Hartwich is just a shill for the old and now totally discredited Neo-Liberal economic theology. Everything he says … needs to be seen through the distorted and now cracked prism of that ideology.”
“Oliver Hartwich – well known Randian paper shuffler, formerly adviser to a Tory Lord, snout in the trough of a right-wing big-business-funded “think-tank” (read propoganda outlet)”
Reader comments on the National Times website, 23 June 2010
oh, so he’s a narcissist as well… uses the the Oscar Wilde quote about the not being talked about at all as his rationale…