Such nastiness will not be confined to just the small South Waikato town of Putaruru either, beneficiaries all over the country will be suffering the same ‘punishment’ and it should be the duty of WINZ to send a case worker to these towns where there is no permanent office on one or two days a week so as to enable those in such towns to be able to fulfill their ‘obligations’ in a manner befitting human beings in the year 2014…
So you are telling me 20yrs of welfare bludging should be applauded and Winz officers should now be runing to the welfare dependants, maybe they should pick up their ciggies,booze and groceries while they are at it
To poor to afford the bus was she must be Paula Bennets fault as well
So she hasnt been on the dole for 20years and no buses run to Tokoroa,has no friends that own a car a bike etc, this is a bullshit media beatup, putting me down just shows you for the insulting idiot you are instead of contributing or debating you abuse me, my “reality” is based on the facts given to us btw
Garbageman
Look just stick to what you are good at. Picking up the garbage – and that is an important job and an admirable one. But don’t wear yourself out trying to think about social matters. You haven’t got a caring bone in your body or a real brain that can understand and assess a problem. So go with your strengths and go and lift something that isn’t living and therefore can’t get hurt.
no your reality is based on your ignorance, prejudice and hypocrisy
1) everyone, including the winz staff memebrs in tokoroa would know theres no bus service
2) its the punitive one size fits all policy set by the govt that created this situation.
3) perhaps she had other means of transport available to her, just not on the exact same day and time winz demanded she trun up
4) you complain about people putting you down and abusing you – yet thats exactly what you opened with.
maybe get over your hatred and holier than thou stance and understand that this woman was doing what was demanded of her – and it was a situation that could have easily been rectified with a bit of common sense and mutual organising. Thats the point
Your disgusting attitude is “putting you down” plenty enough. There are beneficiaries isolated simply because they live on social security. You sound like the type to ditch friends should they become welfare dependant, although I wouldn’t be surprised if you have none except for some of those clones of you commenting on that Stuff article. ‘Garbage’, ‘Rubbish’, ‘Trash’.. certainly….’.Man’… not so much.
more of a man than you will ever be Fondler you just stick to slapping people on the back that agree with you and attacking people personally that dont agree with you, i have noticed its an ongoing theme on this site, try attacking the issue for a change, more than likely another dole bludger must be if you are happy to be paying taxes for 20 years to any welfare recipient it is supposed to be used for a helping hand to future employment not a lifestyle
The woman from that article doesn’t need garbage dump loiterers throwing trash at her, making judgements about her imagined habits and sobriety; she looked perfectly sober on the news. I applaud her for raising four children alone, that’s an admirable feat and something you seem unable to comprehend.
Love the way you attacked her then advocate only attacking the issue when your refuse gets returned, your wheelie-bin is overflowing.
you little whine about people being totes mean to you rings rather hollow, its neither accurate or original
And you obviously havent noticed that the issues do get debated back and forth quite readily – just not with fools who think that manners is a one way street
Garbageman
You say ‘ try attacking the issue for a change,’ because we criticise you. But you are part of the issue. You don’t see bringing children up as a job? You don’t think that children and teenagers are important and need good caring support as they grow up? Because you don’t appreciate or value what parenting you had, which may have been little, it doesn’t mean that others shouldn’t have better.
Good on you for walking 40 minutes to your job. I hope when you get home you don’t have to do the housework, cook, and get the children to do their homework and to bed ready to get up and go to school another day. Also pay the bills out of small resources, and try to find some work that fits in with the children’s needs. And the constant jobs, mending their clothes, trying to get second hand school uniforms, finding shoes they can wear for sports again because the last pair got stolen from their school locker, it goes on and on.
You apparently imagine that a good fairy does all that, or you never had that sort of care and have no memories of what is involved in doing a good job as a parent. You just like hating and criticising, and want to kick someone because your life is unhappy, so look enviously on someone who, in your imagine, is getting a better deal.
Could you walk that far in the time she does? I’m impressed by the effort she puts in to meet some stupid bureaucratic requirement. I’m not impressed by your repetition of the same shit garbage that you fools come out with all the time. Garbage is right.
Actually i walk 40 mins to and from work every day,so you are impressed thats nice i personally would be more impressed if this lady put as much effort over the last 20 years into getting a job and yes Garbage is right thanks
LOL actually i would jump in my car or on my bike maybe get the bus if i had to or cadge a ride from someone and to show im not the heartless prick you lot seem to be trying to make me out to be im very happy she has had many offers of support and rides if needed but like i said initially its still just a bullshit media beat up
You arent her – your abilities, resources and opportunities (as well as mine) are irrelevant to the issue of someone with out any form of transport at that time, (other than walking) being required to travel a round trip of 25k over a state highway to get to an appointment that could have been rescheduled!
i would believe your not a heartless prick if you went back to your previous heartless comments, apologised for them and comprehended exactly why you got the reaction you did.
Few here would actually know each other in real life – so all anyone has to go on is what is written.
You started by attacking the person, spouted a whole lot of ignorant stereotypes, complained about people being mean right back at you and ignored the actual substance of any reply to you that attempted to examine or refute your claims
now youve got what?, Bragging about how far you walk to work and “LOL”?!
Did anyone hear Simon Mercep’s weak interview with Hekia Parata over declining international standing of NZ in education?
I felt he failed to ask her any of the key tricky questions?
Deliberate or incompetent?
However, the next report will almost certainly show a further decline for which the Standards should be implicated. It’s the paperwork, paperwork, …
Teachers have had to change their focus to produce a heap of “irrelevant” paper in the last decade to satisfy the statisticians at the expense of focusing on the children in front of them.
There has also been a significant increase in the number of children arriving at the school gates, tired and under-nourished – hardly in a fit state to learn.
Morrisey
Unlike your good self. You could be a good guy on a panel. There could be a guest spot available on Radio Live or wherever JT and WJ usually hang out. You could get people going for sure. With the right amount of irritation to produce some lively talk.
Thank you, greywarbler, but I’d be a dud. I’m absolutely sure I’d end up bending over backwards to be polite to the likes of Hekia Parata. I excoriate Simon Mercep for it, but I know I wouldn’t be any better than he is.
Morrissey
Good point. Striking the right balance – neither sycophantic (which makes the rest feel sick) or incisive and attacking (which results in drawn knives and cries of foul from the other side) is a hard thing. I didn’t realise that Maggie Barry was such a right wing gal till after she had left – she covered up so well from my perspective.
But don’t talk yourself down, you could have a role in stirring what can be a festering murky brew on some talkback, to mix some sunlight in. Or even add different colours to change the hue, some spilt blood red for instance. Then a touch of blue blood. Spin that colour wheel like a pizza cutter. wheee!
If you were still thinking that GMO was a good idea then think again:
“If this silences the same gene in us that it silences in the wheat — well, children who are born with this enzyme not working tend to die by the age of about five,” stated Professor Carman.
I never thought these thoughts would occur to me but today when I eat virtually anything I wonder if it has been over-modified, over-processed and whether it has been comprehensively tested for any potential effects from those overs-.
Clearly there will be a very rapidly growing market for non-modified and non-processed foods. It is already underway but I suspects it is about to go nuts….
… which of course will send the US corporates like Monsanto nuts, and their paid lobbyists in the TPPA and other corrals under construction will ramp it all up too.
Grow your own. The only way. With non-modified seeds.
In the context of the discussion above (yeah I know it’s really hard) lots of them.
In the context of the meaninglessness you’re trying to move the discussion to (everything is just molecules and it doesn’t matter how they’re arranged, man) none.
No you weren’t. You were attempting to demonstrate that everything is “modified” from something else in some way or other and then extrapolate that every modification is equally stable and worthwhile, and hope no-one noticed the massive leap in between.
I don’t know. But it has a great deal to do with your assertion that “the vast majority of the world actually can’t grow there own.”
Which I imagine is why it was placed as a reply to that assertion. But then I do have a very active imagination which even allows me to follow straightforward conversations without ending up like you.
GMO is a good idea, is supported in roughly the same overwhelming consensus of scientists as global warming and has been shown to safe for human consumption and study after study has shown it.
Rubbish. They haven’t been around long enough to test properly for long term effects on animals and humans. And all the published research is funded by the patent owners. Yes, you are really thinking this through, I can tell !
“GMO is a good idea, is supported in roughly the same overwhelming consensus of scientists as global warming and has been shown to safe for human consumption and study after study has shown it.”
It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution. Many more scientists oppose GMO because they see the damage that corporate monoculture does to agriculture. The soy in South America is about as good for the natural and social environment as Fonterra is for Aotearoa, but on a much larger scale. Do you have a source for your overwhelming consensus?
“It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution.”
Are these organisations lobbyists with the FDA? They are the same organisations that speak on the efficiency of vaccines and the truth of man-made global warming.
“It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution.”
These are some of the global, preeminent science organisations. Monsanto lobbyists they are not.
“It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution.”
These are some of the global, preeminent science organisations. Monsanto lobbyists they are not.
“It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution.”
These are some of the global, preeminent science organisations. Monsanto lobbyists they are not.
You usually behave yourself (apart from your taste in music of course). The site or rather the spam checker we use is having loading issues. So comments are winding up in moderation because they can’t get spam checked.
You have it easy. I’m cleaning up 500+ spam comments per day that are getting through the spam checker for me to examine.
Your hard work is very much appreciated lprent, I have much respect and gratitude for all that you do here. This end is certainly the easy part compared to your workload, I can only dream of having your skills and commitment.
Just another person following the advice that, supposedly, L. Ron Hubbard got: If you want to become rich, start your own church. And why not? It obviously worked for Hubbard and for Brian Tamaki.
…and Henry VIII. However the Tudors had the smarts to make their under-lords rich also. Brian is failing to share out the filthy lucre that his gang is pilfering from the poor.
Well, Murray, have a gander at an appearance he made on Jim Mora’s show earlier this year…
“After a comedy show, one is often mobbed by the ladies”
Angry boyfriends target Tall Poppy Andrew Clay The Panel, Radio NZ National, Thursday 28 April 2013
Jim Mora, Andrew Clay, Lisa Scott
Andrew Clay is a comedian, who a couple of years ago was paid to go to Afghanistan, ostensibly to entertain New Zealand’s occupation troops, but in fact to ensure he never again uttered a critical word about government policy. His comedic comrade MIKE KING was similarly co-opted, and even made a ridiculous television program about his trip. Clay likes to say he is a liberal, but every time he appears on The Panel he manages to froth and rave against such irritating trivialities as prisoners’ rights, or even human rights in general. Maybe he’s been out drinking with soldiers too often….
JIM MORA: We start with the very sad story of Jesse Ryder, who is in an induced coma after a very bad assault in Christchurch early this morning.
ANDREW CLAY: This is where I STOP being a liberal! I don’t CARE about the human rights of people who do this! Part of me just wants to HURT the people who did this to Jesse Ryder! Now I know I shouldn’t say that, but that’s the way I feel.
MORA: Mmmm, mmmm.
LISA SCOTT: Mmmmm.
ANDREW CLAY: We shouldn’t talk like that about people but….
LISA SCOTT: It’s okay for scum.
JIM MORA: Hmmmmmm…. We have this ugly thing in the New Zealand male psyche that makes us pick fights with sports stars, don’t we.
LISA SCOTT: It’s the Tall Poppy syndrome isn’t it.
ANDREW CLAY: It sure is. I’ve experienced it myself. After a comedy show, one is often mobbed by the ladies, and I have more than once felt the angry looks of male punters. Although I’ve never actually been assaulted, I’ve felt in imminent danger on several occasions and had to walk away. It’s the Tall Poppy syndrome.
Mediocrity Watch aims to keep you informed of—or, to quote the epically mediocre Simon Dallow, to be “right across”—the shoddiest, least professional, most insulting journalism and taxpayer-subsidised-sensitive-singer-songwriting from all over the world, but especially New Zealand. It is produced by DeakerWatch®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More mediocrities….
No. 8: Ed Sheeran “I See Dire” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-071113/#comment-723312
No. 7: Paul Little: [Russell Brand] is “petulant, ungracious and unfunny” and a “cut-rate Chomsky”.
No. 6: David Farrar: “Things were generally very relaxed in this area.”
No. 5: Jordan Williams: ““Capping rents seems like a recipe for disaster.”
No. 4: Prof. Robert Patman: “Hezbollah is totally a creature of the Iranian regime.”
No. 3: Jeremy Wells: “What evidence is there that secondhand smoking does any harm? Where is the evidence? WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?”
No. 2: Gavin Gray: “…never been any problems associated with the name King George.”
No. 1: Susie Ferguson: “If, as you say, this has all been done before, why do it all again?”
My experience with ts this morning. I wrote a comment and submitted with an involuntary double click and got duplicate message. Went back to my comment and it was back in editing mode, so I did that, and submitted again and got the closed sign. Then I went back and refreshed with Home and there it was in the Comments list.
My experience with ts this morning. I wrote a comment and submitted with an involuntary double click and got duplicate message. Went back to my comment and it was back in editing mode, so I did that, and submitted again and got the Connection closed by remote server page. Then I checked if I was still under submitting control. Then I went back and refreshed with Home and there it was in the Comments list.
Re Simon Merceps interview of Parata. Simon’s first question was, paraphrasing, “isn’t Labour just as much to blame?” He repeated this point in the same interview. It would appear he could be an apologist for the governments line. I have noticed Geof Robinson do the same thing when a government minister declined to be interviewed and he, by default, found himself taking the government line. Bizarre really.
Chomsky not impressed by Bob Dylan’s incoherent rambling
June, 1994
Just the other day I was sitting in a radio studio waiting for a satellite arrangement abroad to be set up. The engineers were putting together interviews with Bob Dylan from about 1966-7 or so (judging by the references), and I was listening (I’d never heard him talk before — if you can call that talking). He sounded as though he was so drugged he was barely coherent, but the message got through clearly enough through the haze. He said over and over that he’d been through all of this protest thing, realized it was nonsense, and that the only thing that was important was to live his own life happily and freely, not to “mess around with other people’s lives” by working for civil and human rights, ending war and poverty, etc. He was asked what he thought about the Berkeley “free speech movement” and said that he didn’t understand it. He said something like: “I have free speech, I can do what I want, so it has nothing to do with me. Period.” If the capitalist PR machine wanted to invent someone for their purposes, they couldn’t have made a better choice.
Stoned or not, Dylan’s political naïveté and the lack of intelligence is a sad fact of life for too many pampered American musicians. Here’s another fool who doesn’t seem to have much idea about anything….
It’s true that the wonderful word play, various interpretations/ meanings of a Dylan song outshine his ability to make sense with his spoken word more often than not. Many artists are better off letting their art do the talking.
You could have a valid point there. Perhaps Shakespeare was an indolent thinker and an incoherent dolt in his everyday discourse. Certainly Martin Amis is. As was his father Kingsley. And Bruce Springsteen.
In fact, it’s hard to think of a singer or a writer who does have the ability to express him/herself coherently, and who has actually done some serious reading and thinking.
It’s true that the wonderful word play, various interpretations/ meanings of a Dylan song outshine his ability to make sense with his spoken word more often than not.
Dylan made perfect sense, even though, as Chomsky observed, he was clearly under the influence of drugs at the time. The problem is not that his thinking was so muddled; the problem is that it is so threadbare, so irresponsible, and so contemptuous of people who did actually care about something other than themselves. Dylan was not stupid, he was indolent. Judging by some of his recent utterances, nothing has changed in forty-seven years.
He seemingly hasn’t moved on from trying to shock and offend the way he did in the ’60’s when he wanted to shake off the “voice of a generation”, “prophet” etc. labels people tried to pigeonhole him with. He’s the quintessential troubadour and would be best to keep to that field of expertise. i.e. Blind Willie McTell
I cannot figure what strategy Colin Craig has in mind in making non-committal statements about science. Attention seeking? Is he simply reflecting his constituency?
I hope there are not too many people out there which the education system has failed given that we live in a democracy.
Maybe it is all part of a master plan to not educate people well so the powers that be can rule with impunity.
In my work with T. William Lester and Michael Reich, we use nearly two decades’ worth of data and compare all bordering areas in the United States to show that while higher minimum wages raise earnings of low-wage workers, they do not have a detectable impact on employment. Our estimates — published in 2010 in the Review of Economics and Statistics — suggest that a hypothetical 10 percent increase in the minimum wage affects employment in the restaurant or retail industries, by much less than 1 percent; the change is in fact statistically indistinguishable from zero.
More research coming out showing that raising the minimum wage has no effect upon employment.
Cunliffe on Radio Live with Plunket just now: 10.20-10.30 (audio on their website 1 hour later).
Really strong and clear. And Plunket is no pussy cat.
Tweet – owns it, no waffle, no BS.
Craig – will not be a coalition partner, period. And asked the same Qs (moon landings, chem trails etc) Cunliffe’s answers are unequivocal and – thank goodness – sane.
Banks – toast.
Anyone who has any lingering doubts about Cunliffe vs Key (or Shearer, or whoever) should listen.
Very good performance from Cunners, even allowing for Plunket being such a persistently annoying dickhead over the tweet issue and talking over him at times.
I can understand it being up near three thousand and saying a couple, but it is more accurate for me to say nearly ten thousand people could have seen that tweet than Cunliffe saying only a couple of thousand of people could have seen that tweet.
How dare a politician be circumspect! They must always resort to hyperbole, name calling, hair pulling and mud slinging – 100% of the time, 24/7, round the clock, yadda yadda yadda
And as long as we continue with representative democracy we will have politicians continuing to try and prevent the people from having a say in their own governance. First they will continue to ensure that the people don’t have enough information (TPPA) and then they’ll ignore what the people say anyway (Asset sales).
I’m wondering if we could cut out some of the middlemen and put our names down to be on a panel for our locality interviewing the operational head of a department who would travel the country to be interviewed by a stratified random panel, with others in as observers. They would then have to follow a job description made up by we the peeps with input from them.
The politicians don’t seem to be interested in their electors and they don’t want to have any control over their workers, saying to any queries ‘Oh I couldn’t comment, it is an operational matter’. They are worse than useless because they will take a functioning system and discard it, or replace it. So something better is required.
As far as running things by referendum is concerned as another way, I don’t really like the It becomes another tax evasion system where people will go for the cheapest option unless it’s urgently necessary to have something done in their own neighbourhood.
Ok, due to a neat little trick in .htaccess, I’m now reflecting any attempt to leave comments without a referrer back to the Ip that it is calling from.
The effect is to block stupid spambots.
A few more of those and the current deluge of spam might stop clogging the servers.
amirite
You could try searching for lprent and all the things that are being done to the site and for it will come up. Which helps to keep up with the latest. Lynn said recently that there was a lot of spam coming through and overwhelming the system. I’m having some problems and think it possible that its partly my phone connections and/or my hardware.
Its possible but extremely unlikely, the Takahe was also thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in the late 40s, but it seems to me his big problem seems to be with answering questions too honestly
I wouldn’t mind betting that some (most?) of the MPs we have now probably have some extremely bat-shit crazy views but are smart enough to keep them to themselves
Although it seems to me that those with religious views almost seem to want to be ridiculed as it reinforces their views…almost like they’re martyrs or something so they’re probably cheering CC on
(I apologize to those on here who are religious but arn’t bat-shit crazy for lumping them all in together)
– While I don’t think what he did is all that bad but it really does just illustrate politicians lax views towards electoral rules (left and right), surely hes telling fibs that he didn’t know yet he knows he can quite clearly get away with doing it because the police probably won’t do anything about it
surely hes telling fibs that he didn’t know yet he knows he can quite clearly get away with doing it
Fair enough trying make a deal out of it, but honestly, doesn’t the fact he deleted it quick enough that hardly anyone even got a screen grab, and then informed on himself about it, kind of indicate that it was more cock up than intent to ‘get away with it’?
What was the plan? I’ll tweet something, delete it real quick so hardly anyone sees it, turn myself in, aah, win?
“Refreshing” is such a nicer term then got out telling porkies isn’t it
“Mr Cunliffe alleged Ms Adams went to “great lengths” to keep the information from the public, telling Parliament there was a “very low” risk of a large scale oil spill occurring.”
– Turned out the report was on-line the whole time
Anytime Cunliffe pledged support to Goff or Shearer and the exaggeration over the extent of his work on the formation of Fonterra
When did Cunliffe break his promise to support Goff or Shearer?
CV embellishment – if you are soooo concerned about such things, when/if Hooton announces he’s standing for parliament, I expect to see your full outrage against the CV embellishment that has long been in his work website. (after Bradbury tweeted about Hooton potentially standing for ACT leader, Hooton tweeted a couple of hours ago,
MatthewHootonNZ’s avatar
Matthew Hooton @MatthewHootonNZ
I may have more to say on the @actparty issue on Friday
)
Now that point about Adams report is just extreme total desperation.
Oh, it’s a dastardly one, PB. He’s going to convince us all that he’s upfront and trustworthy, even when he makes mistakes, by acting in an upfront and trustworthy way after he makes a mistake. Fuckin’ Machiavellian, that.
Piss73 – they (the upper echelons of the Police) actually might prosecute Cunliffe……..having learned their lesson about playing sucky politics – right wing sucky as it happens. McCready humiliated them. Ups to him.
Let’s suppose they do prosecute Pisso. An artful law student could probably word up a diversion submission before second appearance. Botox is headed for a jury Piss. That’s the diff’.
Piss attempt at painting moral equivalence there Piss.
I am starting to believe that the RWNJs are seeing the act in this light because even they are not blind to the writing on the wall for John Key. With their beloved hero, back against the wall, appealing to NZ not to vote him out next year and to vote in his only chances for electoral victory in the forms of Colin “Chemtrails” Craig and an as yet unnamed ACT representative (showing just how likely *that* is) – their only hope is that Cunliffe is removed.
Expect to see every single misstep from him represented in these preposterous terms all the way until election day – and the more they repeat it, the less the electorate will listen because it will become a continuing narrative of irrelevance from the Right as they focus on non-issues.
Billy says something about a rocket going to Venus, but he may have been taking the piss (or on it).
Next. Tracey, she believes in lots of them … Twin Towers, something about the Titanic not really sinking, a couple more, but – she emphasises – she does like Colin Craig.
Next guy also lists all of them. Must be heavy sarcasm. Well, maybe.
Mike says all the victims of 9/11 were paid to destroy the buildings from the inside. Plus something about Marilyn Monroe.
The next caller links the Christchurch earthquake(s) and Israel. Because Bob Parker went to Israel. Obviously.
Mark – 6,000 years ago there were the floods of Noah. The dinosaurs were killed off. Dragons survived in Wales and Loch Ness, but most were killed. The Bible is right, basically.
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Hi,I’ve been imagining a scenario where I am walking along the pavement in the United States. It’s dusk, I am off to get a dirty burrito from my favourite place, and I see three men in hoodies approaching.Anther two men appear from around a corner, and this whole thing feels ...
Since the announcement in September 2021 that Australia intended to acquire nuclear-powered submarines in partnership with Britain and the United States, the plan has received significant media attention, scepticism and criticism. There are four major ...
On a very wet Friday, we hope you have somewhere nice and warm and dry to sit and catch up on our roundup of some of this week’s top stories in transport and urbanism. The header image shows Northcote Intermediate Students strolling across the Te Ara Awataha Greenway Bridge in ...
On a very wet Friday, we hope you have somewhere nice and warm and dry to sit and catch up on our roundup of some of this week’s top stories in transport and urbanism. The header image shows Northcote Intermediate Students strolling across the Te Ara Awataha Greenway Bridge in ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and Elaine Monaghan on the week in geopolitics and climate, including Donald Trump’s tariff shock yesterday; and,Labour’s Disarmament and Associate ...
I'm gonna try real goodSwear that I'm gonna try from now on and for the rest of my lifeI'm gonna power on, I'm gonna enjoy the highsAnd the lows will come and goAnd may your dreamsAnd may your dreamsAnd may your dreams never dieSongwriters: Ben Reed.These are Stranger Days than ...
With the execution of global reciprocal tariffs, US President Donald Trump has issued his ‘declaration of economic independence for America’. The immediate direct effect on the Australian economy will likely be small, with more risk ...
The StrategistBy Jacqueline Gibson, Nerida King and Ned Talbot
AUKUS governments began 25 years ago trying to draw in a greater range of possible defence suppliers beyond the traditional big contractors. It is an important objective, and some progress has been made, but governments ...
I approach fresh Trump news reluctantly. It never holds the remotest promise of pleasure. I had the very, very least of expectations for his Rumble in the Jungle, his Thriller in Manila, his Liberation Day.God May 1945 is becoming the bitterest of jokes isn’t it?Whatever. Liberation Day he declared it ...
Beyond trade and tariff turmoil, Donald Trump pushes at the three core elements of Australia’s international policy: the US alliance, the region and multilateralism. What Kevin Rudd called the ‘three fundamental pillars’ are the heart ...
So, having broken its promise to the nation, and dumped 85% of submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill in the trash, National's stooges on the Justice Committee have decided to end their "consideration" of the bill, and report back a full month early: Labour says the Justice Select Committee ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review offers a mature and sophisticated understanding of workforce challenges facing Australia’s National Intelligence Community (NIC). It provides a thoughtful roadmap for modernising that workforce and enhancing cross-agency and cross-sector collaboration. ...
OPINION AND ANALYSIS:Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier’s comments singling out Health NZ for “acting contrary to the law” couldn’t be clearer. If you find my work of value, do consider subscribing and/or supporting me. Thank you.Health NZ has been acting a law unto itself. That includes putting its management under extraordinary ...
Southeast Asia’s three most populous countries are tightening their security relationships, evidently in response to China’s aggression in the South China Sea. This is most obvious in increased cooperation between the coast guards of the ...
In the late 1970s Australian sport underwent institutional innovation propelling it to new heights. Today, Australia must urgently adapt to a contested and confronting strategic environment. Contributing to this, a new ASPI research project will ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital waiting list crisis just gets worse, including compelling interviews with an over-worked surgeon who is leaving, and a patient who discovered after 19 months of waiting for a referral that her bowel and ovaries were fused together with scar tissue ...
Plainly, the claims being tossed around in the media last year that the new terminal envisaged by Auckland International Airport was a gold-plated “Taj Mahal” extravagance were false. With one notable exception, the Commerce Commission’s comprehensive investigation has ended up endorsing every other aspect of the airport’s building programme (and ...
Movements clustered around the Right, and Far Right as well, are rising globally. Despite the recent defeats we’ve seen in the last day or so with the win of a Democrat-backed challenger, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, over her Republican counterpart, Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, in the battle for ...
In February 2025, John Cook gave two webinars for republicEN explaining the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. 20 February 2025: republicEN webinar part 1 - BUST or TRUST? The scientific consensus on climate change In the first webinar, Cook explained the history of the 20-year scientific consensus on climate change. How do ...
After three decades of record-breaking growth, at about the same time as Xi Jinping rose to power in 2012, China’s economy started the long decline to its current state of stagnation. The Chinese Communist Party ...
The Pike River Coal mine was a ticking time bomb.Ventilation systems designed to prevent methane buildup were incomplete or neglected.Gas detectors that might warn of danger were absent or broken.Rock bolting was skipped, old tunnels left unsealed, communication systems failed during emergencies.Employees and engineers kept warning management about the … ...
Regional hegemons come in different shapes and sizes. Australia needs to think about what kind of hegemon China would be, and become, should it succeed in displacing the United States in Asia. It’s time to ...
RNZ has a story this morning about the expansion of solar farms in Aotearoa, driven by today's ground-breaking ceremony at the Tauhei solar farm in Te Aroha: From starting out as a tiny player in the electricity system, solar power generated more electricity than coal and gas combined for ...
After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, and almost a year before the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, US President George H W Bush proclaimed a ‘new world order’. Now, just two months ...
Warning: Some images may be distressing. Thank you for those who support my work. It means a lot.A shopfront in Australia shows Liberal leader Peter Dutton and mining magnate Gina Rinehart depicted with Nazi imageryUS Government Seeks Death Penalty for Luigi MangioneMangione was publicly walked in front of media in ...
Aged care workers rallying against potential roster changes say Bupa, which runs retirement homes across the country, needs to focus on care instead of money. More than half of New Zealand workers wish they had chosen a different career according to a new survey. Consumers are likely to see a ...
The scurrilous attacks on Benjamin Doyle, a list Green MP, over his supposed inappropriate behaviour towards children has dominated headlines and social media this past week, led by frothing Rightwing agitators clutching their pearls and fanning the flames of moral panic over pedophiles and and perverts. Winston Peter decided that ...
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...
The landedAnd the wealthyAnd the piousAnd the healthyAnd the straight onesAnd the pale onesAnd we only mean the male ones!If you're all of the above, then you're ok!As we build a new tomorrow here today!Lyrics Glenn Slater and Allan Menken.Ah, Democracy - can you smell it?It's presently a sulphurous odour, ...
US President Donald Trump’s unconventional methods of conducting international relations will compel the next federal government to reassess whether the United States’ presence in the region and its security assurances provide a reliable basis for ...
Things seem to be at a pretty low ebb in and around the Reserve Bank. There was, in particular, the mysterious, sudden, and as-yet unexplained resignation of the Governor (we’ve had four Governors since the Bank was given its operational autonomy 35 years ago, and only two have completed their ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
The war between Russia and Ukraine continues unabated. Neither side is in a position to achieve its stated objectives through military force. But now there is significant diplomatic activity as well. Ukraine has agreed to ...
One of the first aims of the United States’ new Department of Government Efficiency was shutting down USAID. By 6 February, the agency was functionally dissolved, its seal missing from its Washington headquarters. Amid the ...
If our strategic position was already challenging, it just got worse. Reliability of the US as an ally is in question, amid such actions by the Trump administration as calling for annexation of Canada, threating ...
Small businesses will be exempt from complying with some of the requirements of health and safety legislation under new reforms proposed by the Government. The living wage will be increased to $28.95 per hour from September, a $1.15 increase from the current $27.80. A poll has shown large opposition to ...
Summary A group of senior doctors in Nelson have spoken up, specifically stating that hospitals have never been as bad as in the last year.Patients are waiting up to 50 hours and 1 death is directly attributable to the situation: "I've never seen that number of patients waiting to be ...
Although semiconductor chips are ubiquitous nowadays, their production is concentrated in just a few countries, and this has left the US economy and military highly vulnerable at a time of rising geopolitical tensions. While the ...
Health and Safety changes driven by ACT party ideology, not evidence said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. Changes to health and safety legislation proposed by the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden today comply with ACT party ideology, ignores the evidence, and will compound New ...
In short in our political economy this morning:Fletcher Building is closing its pre-fabricated house-building factory in Auckland due to a lack of demand, particularly from the Government.Health NZ is sending a crisis management team to Nelson Hospital after a 1News investigation exposed doctors’ fears that nearly 500 patients are overdue ...
Exactly 10 years ago, the then minister for defence, Kevin Andrews, released the First Principles Review: Creating One Defence (FPR). With increasing talk about the rising possibility of major power-conflict, calls for Defence funding to ...
In events eerily similar to what happened in the USA last week, Greater Auckland was recently accidentally added to a group chat between government ministers on the topic of transport.We have no idea how it happened, but luckily we managed to transcribe most of what transpired. We share it ...
Hi,When I look back at my history with Dylan Reeve, it’s pretty unusual. We first met in the pool at Kim Dotcom’s mansion, as helicopters buzzed overhead and secret service agents flung themselves off the side of his house, abseiling to the ground with guns drawn.Kim Dotcom was a German ...
Come around for teaDance me round and round the kitchenBy the light of my T.VOn the night of the electionAncient stars will fall into the seaAnd the ocean floor sings her sympathySongwriter: Bic Runga.The Prime Minister stared into the camera, hot and flustered despite the predawn chill. He looked sadly ...
Has Winston Peters got a ferries deal for you! (Buyer caution advised.) Unfortunately, the vision that Peters has been busily peddling for the past 24 hours – of several shipyards bidding down the price of us getting smaller, narrower, rail-enabled ferries – looks more like a science fiction fantasy. One ...
Completed reads for March: The Heart of the Antarctic [1907-1909], by Ernest Shackleton South [1914-1917], by Ernest Shackleton Aurora Australis (collection), edited by Ernest Shackleton The Book of Urizen (poem), by William Blake The Book of Ahania (poem), by William Blake The Book of Los (poem), by William Blake ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
“Make New Zealand First Again” Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, thank you for being here today. We know your lives are busy and you are working harder and longer than you ever have, and there are many calls on your time, so thank you for the chance to speak ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Progressing a holistic strategy to unlock the potential of New Zealand’s geothermal resources, possibly in applications beyond energy generation, is at the centre of discussions with mana whenua at a hui in Rotorua today, Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is in the early stages ...
New annual data has exposed the staggering cost of delays previously hidden in the building consent system, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I directed Building Consent Authorities to begin providing quarterly data last year to improve transparency, following repeated complaints from tradespeople waiting far longer than the statutory ...
Increases in water charges for Auckland consumers this year will be halved under the Watercare Charter which has now been passed into law, Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say. The charter is part of the financial arrangement for Watercare developed last year by Auckland Council ...
There is wide public support for the Government’s work to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity protections, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. “The Ministry for Primary Industries recently completed public consultation on proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act and the submissions show that people understand the importance of having a strong biosecurity ...
A new independent review function will enable individuals and organisations to seek an expert independent review of specified civil aviation regulatory decisions made by, or on behalf of, the Director of Civil Aviation, Acting Transport Minister James Meager has announced today. “Today we are making it easier and more affordable ...
The Government will invest in an enhanced overnight urgent care service for the Napier community as part of our focus on ensuring access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown has today confirmed. “I am delighted that a solution has been found to ensure Napier residents will continue to ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey attended a sod turning today to officially mark the start of construction on a new mental health facility at Hillmorton Campus. “This represents a significant step in modernising mental health services in Canterbury,” Mr Brown says. “Improving health infrastructure is ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has welcomed confirmation the economy has turned the corner. Stats NZ reported today that gross domestic product grew 0.7 per cent in the three months to December following falls in the June and September quarters. “We know many families and businesses are still suffering the after-effects ...
The sealing of a 12-kilometre stretch of State Highway 43 (SH43) through the Tangarakau Gorge – one of the last remaining sections of unsealed state highway in the country – has been completed this week as part of a wider programme of work aimed at improving the safety and resilience ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters says relations between New Zealand and the United States are on a strong footing, as he concludes a week-long visit to New York and Washington DC today. “We came to the United States to ask the new Administration what it wants from ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has welcomed changes to international anti-money laundering standards which closely align with the Government’s reforms. “The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) last month adopted revised standards for tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorism to allow for simplified regulatory measures for businesses, organisations and sectors ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he welcomes Medsafe’s decision to approve an electronic controlled drug register for use in New Zealand pharmacies, allowing pharmacies to replace their physical paper-based register. “The register, developed by Kiwi brand Toniq Limited, is the first of its kind to be approved in New ...
The Coalition Government’s drive for regional economic growth through the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund is on track with more than $550 million in funding so far committed to key infrastructure projects, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. “To date, the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) has received more than 250 ...
[Comments following the bilateral meeting with United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; United States State Department, Washington D.C.] * We’re very pleased with our meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this afternoon. * We came here to listen to the new Administration and to be clear about what ...
The intersection of State Highway 2 (SH2) and Wainui Road in the Eastern Bay of Plenty will be made safer and more efficient for vehicles and freight with the construction of a new and long-awaited roundabout, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop. “The current intersection of SH2 and Wainui Road is ...
The Ocean Race will return to the City of Sails in 2027 following the Government’s decision to invest up to $4 million from the Major Events Fund into the international event, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealand is a proud sailing nation, and Auckland is well-known internationally as the ...
Improving access to mental health and addiction support took a significant step forward today with Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announcing that the University of Canterbury have been the first to be selected to develop the Government’s new associate psychologist training programme. “I am thrilled that the University of Canterbury ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened the new East Building expansion at Manukau Health Park. “This is a significant milestone and the first stage of the Grow Manukau programme, which will double the footprint of the Manukau Health Park to around 30,000m2 once complete,” Mr Brown says. “Home ...
The Government will boost anti-crime measures across central Auckland with $1.3 million of funding as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Fund, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee say. “In recent years there has been increased antisocial and criminal behaviour in our CBD. The Government ...
The Government is moving to strengthen rules for feeding food waste to pigs to protect New Zealand from exotic animal diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD), says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. ‘Feeding untreated meat waste, often known as "swill", to pigs could introduce serious animal diseases like FMD and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held productive talks in New Delhi today. Fresh off announcing that New Zealand and India would commence negotiations towards a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, the two Prime Ministers released a joint statement detailing plans for further cooperation between the two countries across ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the forestry sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the horticulture sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new Family Court Judges. The new Judges will take up their roles in April and May and fill Family Court vacancies at the Auckland and Manukau courts. Annette Gray Ms Gray completed her law degree at Victoria University before joining Phillips ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened Wellington Regional Hospital’s first High Dependency Unit (HDU). “This unit will boost critical care services in the lower North Island, providing extra capacity and relieving pressure on the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and emergency department. “Wellington Regional Hospital has previously relied ...
Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, kia ora and good afternoon everyone. What an honour it is to stand on this stage - to inaugurate this august Dialogue - with none other than the Honourable Narendra Modi. My good friend, thank you for so generously welcoming me to India and for our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Bradshaw, Professor of Marketing, Royal Holloway University of London US alcohol has been removed from sale in the Canadian province of British Columbia.lenic/Shutterstock As politicians around the world scramble to respond to US “liberation day” tariffs, consumers have also begun ...
While public opinion of Israel plummets, each day the genocide continues without significant repercussions only reinforces that they can ignore this opinion, writes Alex Foley.SPECIAL REPORT:By Alex Foley Israel announced that Hossam Shabat was a “terrorist” alongside six other Palestinian journalists. Hossam predicted they would assassinate him. He ...
Ngāi Tahu’s senior lawyer was in full flight on the final day of an eight-week High Court hearing when the judge brought him to a screeching halt.Barrister Chris Finlayson KC led the case for Ngāi Tahu, the South Island iwi that said a wai māori (freshwater) crisis prompted it to ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on a week of bleak reading. Nothing in life is free. Everyone knows that. But for a blissful eight months, my commute was. After closing Mount Eden station nearly a decade ago to redevelop it, Auckland Transport eventually opened a new, frequent bus route (64) to connect ...
Out of the little playground kiosk at Petone beach, Mariana’s Kitchen is serving up perfect, authentic empanadas. It was a perfect Wellington day: the sun was shining and the wind was blowing. In its gust the word “OPEN” flashed on a red and yellow banner on the Petone foreshore. From ...
As Daylight Saving comes to an end, let us remember the local naturalist who came up with the idea so he could spend more time searching for insects in the Karori Bush.Here in the south, the signs are everywhere. Beanies are creeping onto heads and people are starting to ...
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith chats to Marlon Williams about the six-year journey to releasing Te Whare Tīwekaweka, his first album entirely in te reo Māori.Singer-songwriter Marlon Williams (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāi Tai) remembers a childhood where speaking “household Māori” was as everyday as the waves which crash into the harbour of Ōhinehou. ...
The journalist and author takes us through her life in television, including her biggest live TV regret and the Succession moment she witnessed first hand. This week, journalist and broadcaster Ali Mau released No Words For This, a “gripping, generous, revelatory and layered” memoir that reveals shocking family secrets, explores ...
After ten rings Tracey hung up. She started the car; an orange petrol light appeared. It appeared yesterday on the way home, but Tracey decided to deal with it today. She opened her phone and first looked for specials on the BP app and then on Caltex, but there was ...
It has all the qualities of an aircraft but with its rocket engine, the Dawn Mk-II Aurora can fly faster and higher than any jet.“We have a real path to this being the first vehicle that flies to 100km altitude – the border of space – twice in a day,” ...
The agitated and perpetually frightened right wingBy spending a lot of time online while eating spaghetti on toast in small rooms and staying up all hours, illuminated by the ghostly white screen of the PC, and worrying about what could go wrong in the world if the left wing got ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese has announced that the government will ensure the Port of Darwin, currently leased by the Chinese company Landbridge, is returned to Australian hands. “Australia needs to own the Port of Darwin,” the prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese has announced that the government will ensure the Port of Darwin, currently leased by the Chinese company Landbridge, is returned to Australian hands. “Australia needs to own the Port of Darwin,” the prime ...
Now that Phil Goff has ended his term as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the UK, he is officially free to speak his mind on the damage he believes the Trump Administration is doing to the world. He has started with these comments he made on the betrayal of Ukraine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Draper, Professor, and Executive Director: Institute for International Trade, and Jean Monnet Chair of Trade and Environment, University of Adelaide On April 2, United States President Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping new “reciprocal tariff” regime he says will level the playing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Toby Murray, Professor of Cybersecurity, School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne Several of Australia’s biggest superannuation funds have suffered a suspected coordinated cyberattack, with scammers stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars of members’ retirement savings. Superannuation funds ...
Democracy Now! Jewish students at Columbia University chained themselves to a campus gate across from the graduate School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) this week, braving rain and cold to demand the school release information related to the targeting and ICE arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a former SIPA student. ...
We stand in solidarity with all communities impacted by Islamophobia, racism, and discrimination. We call for genuine accountability, not empty apologies. It is imperative that the government takes decisive action to restore integrity to the Human Rights ...
"This is a broken promise to the public. People demand the right to choose and want products from gene editing to be labelled,” said Jon Carapiet, spokesman for GE-Free New Zealand (in Food and Environment). ...
Public submissions potentially ignored and unrecorded were a focus this week. We background how the process usually works and what will happen now. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Trembath, Professor of Speech Pathology, Griffith University Lukas/Pexels If your child is struggling with certain everyday activities – such as playing with other kids, getting dressed or paying attention – you might want to get them assessed to see if ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Norfolk Island sees its United States tariff as an acknowledgment of independence from Australia. Norfolk Island, despite being an Australian territory, has been included on Trump’s tariff list. The territory has been given a 29 percent tariff, despite Australia getting only 10 percent. It ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of Melbourne alybaba/Shutterstock Street trees usually grow in appalling soils, have little space for their roots, are rarely watered and often get aggressively trimmed by road authorities ...
A new poem by Amanda Faye Martin. reluctant heterosexual one time i got snowed in with a guy i thought i didn’t want to sleep with but then he said something that felt true like clarity could be simple like things could be known like picking fruit in warm weather ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) More of that good Hunger Games stuff: ...
Three’s new local comedy is definitely not the same old song and dance, writes Tara Ward. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. Charlie Summers has barely set foot on New Zealand soil before the flash mob begins. As he glides down the ...
For the WTF column: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9472548/Trek-to-stop-benefit-cut-off. Time Paula Beneficiary-Basher had a bit of the same treatment.
Such nastiness will not be confined to just the small South Waikato town of Putaruru either, beneficiaries all over the country will be suffering the same ‘punishment’ and it should be the duty of WINZ to send a case worker to these towns where there is no permanent office on one or two days a week so as to enable those in such towns to be able to fulfill their ‘obligations’ in a manner befitting human beings in the year 2014…
Yep, nasty nasty nasty
nasty
nasty
nasty
what a horrible nasty Minister.
horrible and nasty
mean
compassionless
welcome to New Zealand, National Party style…….. no thanks
Thanks Slippery — good ole pure new zealand under your ‘leadership’.
So you are telling me 20yrs of welfare bludging should be applauded and Winz officers should now be runing to the welfare dependants, maybe they should pick up their ciggies,booze and groceries while they are at it
To poor to afford the bus was she must be Paula Bennets fault as well
I’m sure nobody could tell you a damned thing.
Well, nothing that will get through the armour of stereotyping stupidity that you have placed between yourself and reality, anyway.
So she hasnt been on the dole for 20years and no buses run to Tokoroa,has no friends that own a car a bike etc, this is a bullshit media beatup, putting me down just shows you for the insulting idiot you are instead of contributing or debating you abuse me, my “reality” is based on the facts given to us btw
grouch
Garbageman
Look just stick to what you are good at. Picking up the garbage – and that is an important job and an admirable one. But don’t wear yourself out trying to think about social matters. You haven’t got a caring bone in your body or a real brain that can understand and assess a problem. So go with your strengths and go and lift something that isn’t living and therefore can’t get hurt.
no your reality is based on your ignorance, prejudice and hypocrisy
1) everyone, including the winz staff memebrs in tokoroa would know theres no bus service
2) its the punitive one size fits all policy set by the govt that created this situation.
3) perhaps she had other means of transport available to her, just not on the exact same day and time winz demanded she trun up
4) you complain about people putting you down and abusing you – yet thats exactly what you opened with.
maybe get over your hatred and holier than thou stance and understand that this woman was doing what was demanded of her – and it was a situation that could have easily been rectified with a bit of common sense and mutual organising. Thats the point
Your disgusting attitude is “putting you down” plenty enough. There are beneficiaries isolated simply because they live on social security. You sound like the type to ditch friends should they become welfare dependant, although I wouldn’t be surprised if you have none except for some of those clones of you commenting on that Stuff article. ‘Garbage’, ‘Rubbish’, ‘Trash’.. certainly….’.Man’… not so much.
more of a man than you will ever be Fondler you just stick to slapping people on the back that agree with you and attacking people personally that dont agree with you, i have noticed its an ongoing theme on this site, try attacking the issue for a change, more than likely another dole bludger must be if you are happy to be paying taxes for 20 years to any welfare recipient it is supposed to be used for a helping hand to future employment not a lifestyle
The woman from that article doesn’t need garbage dump loiterers throwing trash at her, making judgements about her imagined habits and sobriety; she looked perfectly sober on the news. I applaud her for raising four children alone, that’s an admirable feat and something you seem unable to comprehend.
Love the way you attacked her then advocate only attacking the issue when your refuse gets returned, your wheelie-bin is overflowing.
perhaps you should stop attacking people first
you little whine about people being totes mean to you rings rather hollow, its neither accurate or original
And you obviously havent noticed that the issues do get debated back and forth quite readily – just not with fools who think that manners is a one way street
Garbageman
You say ‘ try attacking the issue for a change,’ because we criticise you. But you are part of the issue. You don’t see bringing children up as a job? You don’t think that children and teenagers are important and need good caring support as they grow up? Because you don’t appreciate or value what parenting you had, which may have been little, it doesn’t mean that others shouldn’t have better.
Good on you for walking 40 minutes to your job. I hope when you get home you don’t have to do the housework, cook, and get the children to do their homework and to bed ready to get up and go to school another day. Also pay the bills out of small resources, and try to find some work that fits in with the children’s needs. And the constant jobs, mending their clothes, trying to get second hand school uniforms, finding shoes they can wear for sports again because the last pair got stolen from their school locker, it goes on and on.
You apparently imagine that a good fairy does all that, or you never had that sort of care and have no memories of what is involved in doing a good job as a parent. You just like hating and criticising, and want to kick someone because your life is unhappy, so look enviously on someone who, in your imagine, is getting a better deal.
Well said GW, plenty for Garbage man to think about there, if he’s able to.
Could you walk that far in the time she does? I’m impressed by the effort she puts in to meet some stupid bureaucratic requirement. I’m not impressed by your repetition of the same shit garbage that you fools come out with all the time. Garbage is right.
Actually i walk 40 mins to and from work every day,so you are impressed thats nice i personally would be more impressed if this lady put as much effort over the last 20 years into getting a job and yes Garbage is right thanks
I’d be impressed if your 20 minutes each way amounted to a marathon distance. However it was more like what? 2-3kms
Actually its 40 mins each way every day to work which i guess isnt really relevant just clearing that up thanks
so you cant do 25k down a main highway? – what a patheitc wimp! There i was thinking you were a randian superman – im somewhat disappointed
LOL actually i would jump in my car or on my bike maybe get the bus if i had to or cadge a ride from someone and to show im not the heartless prick you lot seem to be trying to make me out to be im very happy she has had many offers of support and rides if needed but like i said initially its still just a bullshit media beat up
You arent her – your abilities, resources and opportunities (as well as mine) are irrelevant to the issue of someone with out any form of transport at that time, (other than walking) being required to travel a round trip of 25k over a state highway to get to an appointment that could have been rescheduled!
i would believe your not a heartless prick if you went back to your previous heartless comments, apologised for them and comprehended exactly why you got the reaction you did.
Few here would actually know each other in real life – so all anyone has to go on is what is written.
You started by attacking the person, spouted a whole lot of ignorant stereotypes, complained about people being mean right back at you and ignored the actual substance of any reply to you that attempted to examine or refute your claims
now youve got what?, Bragging about how far you walk to work and “LOL”?!
He should be able to make the road as he walks on it, and all without slowing down.
Did anyone hear Simon Mercep’s weak interview with Hekia Parata over declining international standing of NZ in education?
I felt he failed to ask her any of the key tricky questions?
Deliberate or incompetent?
We cannot blame National Standards for this one.
However, the next report will almost certainly show a further decline for which the Standards should be implicated. It’s the paperwork, paperwork, …
Teachers have had to change their focus to produce a heap of “irrelevant” paper in the last decade to satisfy the statisticians at the expense of focusing on the children in front of them.
There has also been a significant increase in the number of children arriving at the school gates, tired and under-nourished – hardly in a fit state to learn.
Deliberate or incompetent?
Timid and incompetent.
Morrisey
Unlike your good self. You could be a good guy on a panel. There could be a guest spot available on Radio Live or wherever JT and WJ usually hang out. You could get people going for sure. With the right amount of irritation to produce some lively talk.
Thank you, greywarbler, but I’d be a dud. I’m absolutely sure I’d end up bending over backwards to be polite to the likes of Hekia Parata. I excoriate Simon Mercep for it, but I know I wouldn’t be any better than he is.
Morrissey
Good point. Striking the right balance – neither sycophantic (which makes the rest feel sick) or incisive and attacking (which results in drawn knives and cries of foul from the other side) is a hard thing. I didn’t realise that Maggie Barry was such a right wing gal till after she had left – she covered up so well from my perspective.
But don’t talk yourself down, you could have a role in stirring what can be a festering murky brew on some talkback, to mix some sunlight in. Or even add different colours to change the hue, some spilt blood red for instance. Then a touch of blue blood. Spin that colour wheel like a pizza cutter. wheee!
Blood and pizza. I LIKE the sound of that!
‘Mr Dunn is a serial leaker’ Winston Peters, RNZ.
Pot and Kettle.
If you were still thinking that GMO was a good idea then think again:
I never thought these thoughts would occur to me but today when I eat virtually anything I wonder if it has been over-modified, over-processed and whether it has been comprehensively tested for any potential effects from those overs-.
Clearly there will be a very rapidly growing market for non-modified and non-processed foods. It is already underway but I suspects it is about to go nuts….
… which of course will send the US corporates like Monsanto nuts, and their paid lobbyists in the TPPA and other corrals under construction will ramp it all up too.
Grow your own. The only way. With non-modified seeds.
the only way
walk away
from the supermarche
“Grow your own. The only way. With non-modified seeds. ”
That’s good for you but the vast majority of the world actually can’t grow there own.
Doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea mate.
As below the overwhelming consensus is that they are safe for human consumption.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2013/08/29/are-gmos-safe-global-independent-science-organizations-weigh-in/
Don’t care. Mine are better.
?
Which word are you having trouble with?
Your what are better?
What they, TC?
My non-modified, non-processed foods.
Do you not even read the comments you reply to? Just lurch in? It won’t save you any time in the long run.
Which foods are you eating that are non-modified?
Which foods are you eating that are non-modified?
In the context of the discussion above (yeah I know it’s really hard) lots of them.
In the context of the meaninglessness you’re trying to move the discussion to (everything is just molecules and it doesn’t matter how they’re arranged, man) none.
I was asking for specifics.
No you weren’t. You were attempting to demonstrate that everything is “modified” from something else in some way or other and then extrapolate that every modification is equally stable and worthwhile, and hope no-one noticed the massive leap in between.
No.
Many of them could if their colonial masters hadn’t forced them to grow our fucking coffee.
What does that have to do with the safety of GMO?
I don’t know. But it has a great deal to do with your assertion that “the vast majority of the world actually can’t grow there own.”
Which I imagine is why it was placed as a reply to that assertion. But then I do have a very active imagination which even allows me to follow straightforward conversations without ending up like you.
GMO is a good idea, is supported in roughly the same overwhelming consensus of scientists as global warming and has been shown to safe for human consumption and study after study has shown it.
As to your specific link:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/04/22/better-late-than-never-when-hysteria-about-gmos-takes-root/
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/06/17/bad-science-about-gmos-it-reminds-me-of-the-antivaccine-movement-revisited/
Thanks for that. Always good to hear both sides.
How many generations of humans have been studied with regards to GMO food?
First you need to define GMO food because humans have been changing the genetics of food for 100s if not 1000s of years.
selective breeding isnt the same thing as genetic modification though is it
Rubbish. They haven’t been around long enough to test properly for long term effects on animals and humans. And all the published research is funded by the patent owners. Yes, you are really thinking this through, I can tell !
National Academy of Sciences owns GMO patents?
FUNDED by patent owners ..
doesn’t matter who does the research .. cherchez le holy dollars !!!
“GMO’s for dinner .. fine menu selection, sir.
Would you like a side-order of tumours with that ??”
What tumours? Got a link?
Also got a link to support the studies done by the National Academy of Sciences was funded by the patent owners?
What tumours? Got a link?
Also got a link to support the studies done by the National Academy of Sciences was funded by the patent owners?
“GMO is a good idea, is supported in roughly the same overwhelming consensus of scientists as global warming and has been shown to safe for human consumption and study after study has shown it.”
It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution. Many more scientists oppose GMO because they see the damage that corporate monoculture does to agriculture. The soy in South America is about as good for the natural and social environment as Fonterra is for Aotearoa, but on a much larger scale. Do you have a source for your overwhelming consensus?
“It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution.”
Are these organisations lobbyists with the FDA? They are the same organisations that speak on the efficiency of vaccines and the truth of man-made global warming.
http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GLP-Science-and-GMOs.pdf
“It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution.”
These are some of the global, preeminent science organisations. Monsanto lobbyists they are not.
http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GLP-Science-and-GMOs.pdf
“It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution.”
These are some of the global, preeminent science organisations. Monsanto lobbyists they are not.
http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GLP-Science-and-GMOs.pdf
And:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2013/08/29/are-gmos-safe-global-independent-science-organizations-weigh-in/
“It may be supported by an overwhelming consensus of Monsanto lobbyists working for the FDA, but my impression of the wider science community is that the jury is out and we should proceed with caution.”
These are some of the global, preeminent science organisations. Monsanto lobbyists they are not.
http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GLP-Science-and-GMOs.pdf
And:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2013/08/29/are-gmos-safe-global-independent-science-organizations-weigh-in/
Errr, not sure why the above repetition happened. Kept getting errors….
Errr, not sure why the above repetition happened. Kept getting errors….
Errr, not sure why the above repetition happened. Kept getting errors….
Because you submitted again after getting the error.
There may have been some repeated submitting…
Oh well, I keep getting put in moderation, and I thought I’d been behaving myself lately…
You usually behave yourself (apart from your taste in music of course). The site or rather the spam checker we use is having loading issues. So comments are winding up in moderation because they can’t get spam checked.
You have it easy. I’m cleaning up 500+ spam comments per day that are getting through the spam checker for me to examine.
Working on fixing it now.
Your hard work is very much appreciated lprent, I have much respect and gratitude for all that you do here. This end is certainly the easy part compared to your workload, I can only dream of having your skills and commitment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11166500
Split in Destiny church.
god will be really upset about this.
Just another person following the advice that, supposedly, L. Ron Hubbard got: If you want to become rich, start your own church. And why not? It obviously worked for Hubbard and for Brian Tamaki.
…and Henry VIII. However the Tudors had the smarts to make their under-lords rich also. Brian is failing to share out the filthy lucre that his gang is pilfering from the poor.
what I love about the destiny church and brian tamaki thingy is the illustration it is of the extent to which humans can self-justify.
most amusing, we humans …..
Schisms occur in big business too you know.
especially when flagship projects start to stall, like the Tamaki Jonestown.
Jonestown – “Love is the only weapon. Martin Luther King died for love…” @2:07
Religion is Big Business didn’t you know. The growth industry.
We hear that chartered accountants are attracted to all sort of figures but at the end of the day they don’t add up to much.
We hear that chartered accountants are attracted to all sorts of figures but at the end of the day they don’t add up to much.
“This is where I STOP being a liberal!”
“After a comedy show, one is often mobbed by the ladies…”
Mediocrity Watch No. 9: ANDREW CLAY
On yesterday’s Open Mike, our friend and colleague Murray Olsen asked: “Who is Andrew Clay and should I be worried?”…
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03122013-2/#comment-738655
Well, Murray, have a gander at an appearance he made on Jim Mora’s show earlier this year…
“After a comedy show, one is often mobbed by the ladies”
Angry boyfriends target Tall Poppy Andrew Clay
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Thursday 28 April 2013
Jim Mora, Andrew Clay, Lisa Scott
Andrew Clay is a comedian, who a couple of years ago was paid to go to Afghanistan, ostensibly to entertain New Zealand’s occupation troops, but in fact to ensure he never again uttered a critical word about government policy. His comedic comrade MIKE KING was similarly co-opted, and even made a ridiculous television program about his trip. Clay likes to say he is a liberal, but every time he appears on The Panel he manages to froth and rave against such irritating trivialities as prisoners’ rights, or even human rights in general. Maybe he’s been out drinking with soldiers too often….
JIM MORA: We start with the very sad story of Jesse Ryder, who is in an induced coma after a very bad assault in Christchurch early this morning.
ANDREW CLAY: This is where I STOP being a liberal! I don’t CARE about the human rights of people who do this! Part of me just wants to HURT the people who did this to Jesse Ryder! Now I know I shouldn’t say that, but that’s the way I feel.
MORA: Mmmm, mmmm.
LISA SCOTT: Mmmmm.
ANDREW CLAY: We shouldn’t talk like that about people but….
LISA SCOTT: It’s okay for scum.
JIM MORA: Hmmmmmm…. We have this ugly thing in the New Zealand male psyche that makes us pick fights with sports stars, don’t we.
LISA SCOTT: It’s the Tall Poppy syndrome isn’t it.
ANDREW CLAY: It sure is. I’ve experienced it myself. After a comedy show, one is often mobbed by the ladies, and I have more than once felt the angry looks of male punters. Although I’ve never actually been assaulted, I’ve felt in imminent danger on several occasions and had to walk away. It’s the Tall Poppy syndrome.
JIM MORA: [politely dubious] Hmmmmmm….
LISA SCOTT: [skeptical] Mmmmmmm…
Read more about Andrew Clay, including an extraordinarily embarrassing overshare about his ignorance of the Khmer Rouge….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-28032013/#comment-611053
Mediocrity Watch aims to keep you informed of—or, to quote the epically mediocre Simon Dallow, to be “right across”—the shoddiest, least professional, most insulting journalism and taxpayer-subsidised-sensitive-singer-songwriting from all over the world, but especially New Zealand. It is produced by DeakerWatch®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More mediocrities….
No. 8: Ed Sheeran “I See Dire”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-071113/#comment-723312
No. 7: Paul Little: [Russell Brand] is “petulant, ungracious and unfunny” and a “cut-rate Chomsky”.
No. 6: David Farrar: “Things were generally very relaxed in this area.”
No. 5: Jordan Williams: ““Capping rents seems like a recipe for disaster.”
No. 4: Prof. Robert Patman: “Hezbollah is totally a creature of the Iranian regime.”
No. 3: Jeremy Wells: “What evidence is there that secondhand smoking does any harm? Where is the evidence? WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?”
No. 2: Gavin Gray: “…never been any problems associated with the name King George.”
No. 1: Susie Ferguson: “If, as you say, this has all been done before, why do it all again?”
I remember seeing Mike King in Timor Leste, teaching young kids to say “Aussie wanker”. It was cringeworthy stuff.
on my rounds this morn..i found this tasty musical-treat..
“..Everyone knows Police and Thieves – but there was more to Junior Murvin than that one song.
Here’s the proof..”
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/dec/03/junior-murvin-five-great-performances-police-and-thieves
(hope that rocks yr morn..
phillip ure..
My experience with ts this morning. I wrote a comment and submitted with an involuntary double click and got duplicate message. Went back to my comment and it was back in editing mode, so I did that, and submitted again and got the closed sign. Then I went back and refreshed with Home and there it was in the Comments list.
on my rounds this morn..i found this tasty musical-treat..
“..Everyone knows Police and Thieves – but there was more to Junior Murvin than that one song.
Here’s the proof..”
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/dec/03/junior-murvin-five-great-performances-police-and-thieves
(hope that rocks yr morn..)
phillip ure..
My experience with ts this morning. I wrote a comment and submitted with an involuntary double click and got duplicate message. Went back to my comment and it was back in editing mode, so I did that, and submitted again and got the Connection closed by remote server page. Then I checked if I was still under submitting control. Then I went back and refreshed with Home and there it was in the Comments list.
Now I have double comments in moderation about the moves I had to make to get on ts this morning. Sigh. Bye for now. I’ll get on with my day.
Re Simon Merceps interview of Parata. Simon’s first question was, paraphrasing, “isn’t Labour just as much to blame?” He repeated this point in the same interview. It would appear he could be an apologist for the governments line. I have noticed Geof Robinson do the same thing when a government minister declined to be interviewed and he, by default, found himself taking the government line. Bizarre really.
@phil..
..if you accept..as i seem to be hearing..that much of this rankings-slump is down to poverty/inequality..
..that it is an outcome/symptom from the dickensian-horrors that is a life of grinding/abject-poverty..
..with no end in sight..
..then the rogernomics/clark labour govts most certainly are ‘as much to blame’..
..as the current band of tory opportunists/class-warriors/asset-looters..
..how can they not be..?
..(‘working for (some) families’..?..anyone..?..)
..phillip ure..
Chomsky not impressed by Bob Dylan’s incoherent rambling
June, 1994
Just the other day I was sitting in a radio studio waiting for a satellite arrangement abroad to be set up. The engineers were putting together interviews with Bob Dylan from about 1966-7 or so (judging by the references), and I was listening (I’d never heard him talk before — if you can call that talking). He sounded as though he was so drugged he was barely coherent, but the message got through clearly enough through the haze. He said over and over that he’d been through all of this protest thing, realized it was nonsense, and that the only thing that was important was to live his own life happily and freely, not to “mess around with other people’s lives” by working for civil and human rights, ending war and poverty, etc. He was asked what he thought about the Berkeley “free speech movement” and said that he didn’t understand it. He said something like: “I have free speech, I can do what I want, so it has nothing to do with me. Period.” If the capitalist PR machine wanted to invent someone for their purposes, they couldn’t have made a better choice.
http://www.chomsky.info/letters/199406–.htm
ok..a stoned-rant in/from 1966..
..got anything else..?
phillip ure..
a stoned rant from 2013 suffice?
Stoned or not, Dylan’s political naïveté and the lack of intelligence is a sad fact of life for too many pampered American musicians. Here’s another fool who doesn’t seem to have much idea about anything….
certainly not The Ghost of Tom Joad and a long way back to The River .
It’s true that the wonderful word play, various interpretations/ meanings of a Dylan song outshine his ability to make sense with his spoken word more often than not. Many artists are better off letting their art do the talking.
Talk Talk
You could have a valid point there. Perhaps Shakespeare was an indolent thinker and an incoherent dolt in his everyday discourse. Certainly Martin Amis is. As was his father Kingsley. And Bruce Springsteen.
In fact, it’s hard to think of a singer or a writer who does have the ability to express him/herself coherently, and who has actually done some serious reading and thinking.
It’s true that the wonderful word play, various interpretations/ meanings of a Dylan song outshine his ability to make sense with his spoken word more often than not.
Dylan made perfect sense, even though, as Chomsky observed, he was clearly under the influence of drugs at the time. The problem is not that his thinking was so muddled; the problem is that it is so threadbare, so irresponsible, and so contemptuous of people who did actually care about something other than themselves. Dylan was not stupid, he was indolent. Judging by some of his recent utterances, nothing has changed in forty-seven years.
He seemingly hasn’t moved on from trying to shock and offend the way he did in the ’60’s when he wanted to shake off the “voice of a generation”, “prophet” etc. labels people tried to pigeonhole him with. He’s the quintessential troubadour and would be best to keep to that field of expertise. i.e. Blind Willie McTell
Bob and John incoherent, – pissed or stoned.
edit: Bob’s been busy too.
Stoned immaculate joe; Wonderful footage.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/12/04/colin-craig-now-denies-moon-landing/
I cannot figure what strategy Colin Craig has in mind in making non-committal statements about science. Attention seeking? Is he simply reflecting his constituency?
I hope there are not too many people out there which the education system has failed given that we live in a democracy.
Maybe it is all part of a master plan to not educate people well so the powers that be can rule with impunity.
Don’t! Ask Colin
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11166736
-he’s still “looking into it”. -“…Here’s a truck-stop instead of St Peter’s , yeah yeah yeah yeah”
“…Asked again, Mr Craig said he had “no idea” whether man had walked on the moon…’
Wow. Just…wow.
I don’t understand how he can claim to not hold a position because it’s not worth his time to think about.
The questions would go away if he stopped umming and arrrring – instead, it appears he has thought about it enough to be aware of conspiracy theories.
the Minimum We Can Do
More research coming out showing that raising the minimum wage has no effect upon employment.
Banks has called a press conference for 11am. Boscowan in attendance.
The Prime Minister happily looks forward to the press conference …
http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/201349/12633fb638a61ec361a1be3808ec8a0caaf7ac76_620x310.jpg
(Photo: NZ Herald, today)
Dr Doom (no, not Victor) -Nouriel Roubini
on NZ and other international Housing Bubbles:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11166353
“policy-makers will not have the tools of 2008 to cushion the fall”. (just a little pin-prick…there will be some aaargh )
i will claim to have possibly been the first in nz to predict the g.f.c…and the reasons for it..(in sept ’06 @ whoar..)
..and i was relying on the words/predictions of roubini..in making that call..
..so..if roubini sez we have an about to burst housing bubble..
..i’d tend to believe him..
..eh..?
..he has quite the record for being accurate..
http://whoar.co.nz/?s=roubini
phillip ure..
whoar!
Parliamentary Select Committee piloting live streaming now. Serious Fraud Office Review.
Thanks Karol. Wonder if that will be constant?
Cunliffe on Radio Live with Plunket just now: 10.20-10.30 (audio on their website 1 hour later).
Really strong and clear. And Plunket is no pussy cat.
Tweet – owns it, no waffle, no BS.
Craig – will not be a coalition partner, period. And asked the same Qs (moon landings, chem trails etc) Cunliffe’s answers are unequivocal and – thank goodness – sane.
Banks – toast.
Anyone who has any lingering doubts about Cunliffe vs Key (or Shearer, or whoever) should listen.
And Radio live headlines the audio with David Cunliffe admits Christchurch East tweet error”
For analysis that puts the whole thing in perspective Imperator Fish’s latest is right on the money
http://imperatorfish.com/2013/12/03/you-will-never-take-me-alive/
Heh. Armed with a smart phone and dangerous!
And now his latest latest: A statement from Colin Craig
Very good performance from Cunners, even allowing for Plunket being such a persistently annoying dickhead over the tweet issue and talking over him at times.
Cunliffe tweet referred to the police by Electoral Commission
Seriously? A police investigation for this, a tweet which was deleted after a few seconds?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11167011
“Cunliffe on Radio Live with Plunket just now: 10.20-10.30 (audio on their website 1 hour later).
Really strong and clear. And Plunket is no pussy cat.
Tweet – owns it, no waffle, no BS.”
There was BS- Cunliffe claimed he has only a couple of thousand twitter followers- https://twitter.com/DavidCunliffeMP shows three times that amount.
Because “a couple” is only ever literally used to mean “2”.
Yes- http://www.thefreedictionary.com/couple
I can understand it being up near three thousand and saying a couple, but it is more accurate for me to say nearly ten thousand people could have seen that tweet than Cunliffe saying only a couple of thousand of people could have seen that tweet.
How dare a politician be circumspect! They must always resort to hyperbole, name calling, hair pulling and mud slinging – 100% of the time, 24/7, round the clock, yadda yadda yadda
RedRobin you’re a fucking moron.
Audio here: http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Audio.aspx Wednesday 10:15 am segment.
Cunliffe says “a few thousand”.
He probably doesn’t look at the number of followers he has and doesn’t normally know the number at all.
Banks to hold Press conference at 11am this morning.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11166756
Travellerev may have to vote for Colin Craig, if he keeps this up.
funny, yet unlikely.Craig would be more supportive of the AQ thesis
I hear Colin Craig is not sure if gravity exists, although he is inclined to believe it.
He has not investigated whether electricity is real, either.
shocking revelation as credibility plummets to Hades;
Styx and stones may break our bones, yet fools leave us in stitches.
those two are rather good
– have you taken up a post at the civilian?
maybe someone could provide him with a chair (ok, that’s two ‘contexts’ for the price of one)
“funny, yet unlikely.Craig would be more supportive of the AQ thesis”
He was asked about this just the other day by Sean Plunket. He reckons “probably terrorists but who knows” or words to that effect.
Ho Ho! Mr Banks will not seek re-election in 2014. Wow! Surprise. But it seems he will not resign. So he will continue to be a thorn in Key’s side?
Ho Ho! Mr Banks will not seek re-election in 2014. Wow! Surprise. But it seems he will not resign. So he will continue to be a thorn in Key’s side?
Crikey. Reply getting carried away – twice- again!
Read this link. It’s why we are in the state we are because almost all out pollies try to do the opposite
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1P83hd_hvX8/SbnUWo7nxCI/AAAAAAAAAG4/-jpyXk1XPIQ/S240/Jefferson_believed.jpg
And as long as we continue with representative democracy we will have politicians continuing to try and prevent the people from having a say in their own governance. First they will continue to ensure that the people don’t have enough information (TPPA) and then they’ll ignore what the people say anyway (Asset sales).
Bring on an informed participatory citizen democracy.
I’m wondering if we could cut out some of the middlemen and put our names down to be on a panel for our locality interviewing the operational head of a department who would travel the country to be interviewed by a stratified random panel, with others in as observers. They would then have to follow a job description made up by we the peeps with input from them.
The politicians don’t seem to be interested in their electors and they don’t want to have any control over their workers, saying to any queries ‘Oh I couldn’t comment, it is an operational matter’. They are worse than useless because they will take a functioning system and discard it, or replace it. So something better is required.
As far as running things by referendum is concerned as another way, I don’t really like the It becomes another tax evasion system where people will go for the cheapest option unless it’s urgently necessary to have something done in their own neighbourhood.
They missed the word “owning” before “the people”.
Testing comment bouncer.
That worked…
Test it again..
Ok, due to a neat little trick in .htaccess, I’m now reflecting any attempt to leave comments without a referrer back to the Ip that it is calling from.
The effect is to block stupid spambots.
A few more of those and the current deluge of spam might stop clogging the servers.
Back to being slow and getting lost when commenting.
Working on it now. Unfortunately I really have to do this stuff when the number of users online is low..
Ok. Partially a problem with akismet, and it looks like a routing problem on a server to the database.
I’m going to try a more passive anti-spam system that doesn’t involve squirting message data around the world.
Off to bed.
Colin Craig provides further evidence for falling educational standards
Colon Craig provides evidence people can succeed in business with only their brain stem functioning.
ah ah lol
Bouncer? You getting heavy lprent?
This site is awfully slow to load lately, why?
amirite
You could try searching for lprent and all the things that are being done to the site and for it will come up. Which helps to keep up with the latest. Lynn said recently that there was a lot of spam coming through and overwhelming the system. I’m having some problems and think it possible that its partly my phone connections and/or my hardware.
Mr C!
hosted overseas
by attentive ears.
I’m still laughing: Colin Craig said he had “no idea” whether moa are still alive in remote parts of New Zealand but some people might believe that.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11166736
Key trying to prove that his potential coalition partner is not just a joke.
Key is getting more desperate for Crazy’s support.
So, coming to you all next – Key providing cover, excuses and apologies for Crazy.
Its possible but extremely unlikely, the Takahe was also thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in the late 40s, but it seems to me his big problem seems to be with answering questions too honestly
I wouldn’t mind betting that some (most?) of the MPs we have now probably have some extremely bat-shit crazy views but are smart enough to keep them to themselves
Although it seems to me that those with religious views almost seem to want to be ridiculed as it reinforces their views…almost like they’re martyrs or something so they’re probably cheering CC on
(I apologize to those on here who are religious but arn’t bat-shit crazy for lumping them all in together)
Nah mate, the bat-shit crazy lot in power at present have been turning their warped views into law/policy, ffs .
Nah, it’s deliberate and there’s nothing honest about it. Craig is targeting his secondary market, plain and simple.
Piss73. “Batshit” was never a word. Please.
Referendum – now 1,008,600 votes
I think we need to set a target which crosses 1.5M votes. Let’s push for it.
Even that writer moi, knows you dont campaign on a election day. Perhaps Cunliffe can share a cell with Banks.
https://twitter.com/katieabradford
– While I don’t think what he did is all that bad but it really does just illustrate politicians lax views towards electoral rules (left and right), surely hes telling fibs that he didn’t know yet he knows he can quite clearly get away with doing it because the police probably won’t do anything about it
Thanks for an insight into the way you think.
Well theres not going to be any repercussions for him are their so theres no need for him or anyone else to be bothered with the electoral commission
surely hes telling fibs that he didn’t know yet he knows he can quite clearly get away with doing it
Fair enough trying make a deal out of it, but honestly, doesn’t the fact he deleted it quick enough that hardly anyone even got a screen grab, and then informed on himself about it, kind of indicate that it was more cock up than intent to ‘get away with it’?
What was the plan? I’ll tweet something, delete it real quick so hardly anyone sees it, turn myself in, aah, win?
Its more concerning that he and everyone else involved apparently didn’t know it wasn’t allowed, I mean its pretty basic stuff that isn’t it?
Curious to see the desperation of some righties – a 10 second tweet is all you’ve got?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9192790/Cunliffe-to-refresh-online-CV
“Refreshing” is such a nicer term then got out telling porkies isn’t it
“Mr Cunliffe alleged Ms Adams went to “great lengths” to keep the information from the public, telling Parliament there was a “very low” risk of a large scale oil spill occurring.”
– Turned out the report was on-line the whole time
Anytime Cunliffe pledged support to Goff or Shearer and the exaggeration over the extent of his work on the formation of Fonterra
Yeah, that’s the sort of thing karol was talking about I guess.
Jesus complex from the righties, Pb. Trying to turn water into wine; a few loaves and fishes into food for the thousands.
They seem to think if they endlessly repeat trivia, with or without embellishments, it’ll somehow become a major crime against humanity.
Painful to keep reading such desperation.
When did Cunliffe break his promise to support Goff or Shearer?
CV embellishment – if you are soooo concerned about such things, when/if Hooton announces he’s standing for parliament, I expect to see your full outrage against the CV embellishment that has long been in his work website. (after Bradbury tweeted about Hooton potentially standing for ACT leader, Hooton tweeted a couple of hours ago,
)
Now that point about Adams report is just extreme total desperation.
Very concerning yes. Deeply, terribly concerning. #concerned
There’s a difference between purposefully breaking the law and trying to get away with it and making a mistake and owning up to it within minutes.
What was the plan?
Oh, it’s a dastardly one, PB. He’s going to convince us all that he’s upfront and trustworthy, even when he makes mistakes, by acting in an upfront and trustworthy way after he makes a mistake. Fuckin’ Machiavellian, that.
Piss73 – they (the upper echelons of the Police) actually might prosecute Cunliffe……..having learned their lesson about playing sucky politics – right wing sucky as it happens. McCready humiliated them. Ups to him.
Let’s suppose they do prosecute Pisso. An artful law student could probably word up a diversion submission before second appearance. Botox is headed for a jury Piss. That’s the diff’.
Piss attempt at painting moral equivalence there Piss.
Banks is on trial for electoral fraud. The other fellow tweeted a straightforward message, and didn’t try to lie about it.
Yet another lamentable lapse of judgement by you.
Perhaps Cunliffe can share a cell with Banks.
Cunliffe’s “crime” would only get a fine – up to $20,000.
I am starting to believe that the RWNJs are seeing the act in this light because even they are not blind to the writing on the wall for John Key. With their beloved hero, back against the wall, appealing to NZ not to vote him out next year and to vote in his only chances for electoral victory in the forms of Colin “Chemtrails” Craig and an as yet unnamed ACT representative (showing just how likely *that* is) – their only hope is that Cunliffe is removed.
Expect to see every single misstep from him represented in these preposterous terms all the way until election day – and the more they repeat it, the less the electorate will listen because it will become a continuing narrative of irrelevance from the Right as they focus on non-issues.
Yeah, there are so many things to focus on … e.g. GCSB, Chorus, SkyCity, Christchurch rebuild, deep sea oil drilling, and the big one today about MRP share prices continuing to drop and the slump in sale proceeds:
http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/mrp-shares-dip-english-explains-asset-sales-shortfall-5753684
When I saw that Key called Banks a thoroughly honest guy I are you freaking serious thought do you believe what you are saying he’s got to go
both of them have to go.
Radio Live is now broadcasting The Conspiracy Hour. No, I am not making this up!
Callers are invited to outline their conspiracy theory in 90 seconds. There’s a prize for the “best” (craziest).
First up – 9/11.
Second caller – Johnny, says by 2024 there will be a One World Government. Something to do with UFB and digital TV. “Connect the dots” says Johnny.
More soon.
Billy says something about a rocket going to Venus, but he may have been taking the piss (or on it).
Next. Tracey, she believes in lots of them … Twin Towers, something about the Titanic not really sinking, a couple more, but – she emphasises – she does like Colin Craig.
Next guy also lists all of them. Must be heavy sarcasm. Well, maybe.
Mike says all the victims of 9/11 were paid to destroy the buildings from the inside. Plus something about Marilyn Monroe.
Who needs Rush Limbaugh, we got Radio Live!
More conspiracies …
The next caller links the Christchurch earthquake(s) and Israel. Because Bob Parker went to Israel. Obviously.
Mark – 6,000 years ago there were the floods of Noah. The dinosaurs were killed off. Dragons survived in Wales and Loch Ness, but most were killed. The Bible is right, basically.
Next one – not enough fuel to get to Moon and back. So there.
Tim has a law degree. Believe in the Bible, Jesus is Lord, and a whole lot more.
OK, now they’re coming thick and fast. Illuminati, the anti-Christ is behind everything bad.
Common theme so far: God.
Is Radio Live helping compile a long list of candidates for Crazy’s party list as well as assisting with policy development for the Crazy party?
WHERE ARE THE LIZARD PEOPLE!
This….?.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/03/1260000/-Exposed-Globally-Renowned-Activist-Collaborated-With-Intelligence-Firm-Stratfor
http://www.occupy.com/article/exposed-globally-renowned-activist-collaborated-intelligence-firm-stratfor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sr%C4%91a_Popovi%C4%87