on Teresa now resuming deportation flights to Jamaica – consistent with how she first made her UK political reputation in deporting Carribbeans who had arrived on a ship called ‘Windrush’.
Brexit’s gonna be a process of unintended consequences due to problems with internal ruling class structures (which is what it was an expression of in part) i’m guessing.
New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Tracey Martin says she personally witnessed a National Party MP instructing online “trolls” to attack a political opponent.
Interesting they went straight to Paula Bennett for comment. 😆
Standby….. nat trolls will now be actively trying to discredit the Tracey Martin via social media, because that’s how they roll when people speak the truth.
Tracey Martin discredits herself…..wasn’t it her that forgot linkedin didnt exist several years ago, and also appointing someone “independent” to the Wally Haumana investigation that had endorsed the person.
I think Tracey Martin is NZ First’s Clare Curran.
If this story was from a Labour MP it would be more credible (except maybe Kelvin Davis).
I wouldn’t be surprised if Labour runs similar groups of people.
The short answer is that there aren’t. I’ve been looking for them for more than a decade. Every time I think I see a left group, it turns out that they have just had a split and several aren’t talking to each other. Think of The Daily Blog for an example of the usual behaviour.
I’ve come to conclusion that while there are a lot of lefties with some weird opinions, they are also extremely and usually excessively individualistic. Trying to get them to work closely together is an interesting exercise, and what you see here is about as good as it gets. However the better ones are pretty good at cooperating together so long as everyone else is aware that they’re just sort of heading in a similar direction.
Strikingly, and outright strangely for this dedicated iconoclastic loner, I think that I’m actually one of the more cooperative ones and one who actively works with a lot of people for work through to this.. And I’m used to regarded as a weird loner in every other part of my long life.
On the other hand, there are obvious groups of rightie trolls. They do tend to operate like a flock of carnivorous sheep. Their belief systems are weird as they all seem to believe the same crap as a group and keep repeating the same stupid ideas as a statement of fact regardless of contradictory evidence. Few seem to be able to think for themselves and they seem to require a pile of self-reinforcement from their flock
But on the net they are fierce warriors – right up until they are effectively challenged with facts. Then they huddle together and bleep how everyone is against them and that they need protection and every one should be polite to them. Think of Cameron Slater and his bunch of ‘warriors’ over the years. Or that bunch of no-hopers in the sewer section at
Kiwiblog.
In my ‘generalised’ opinion, many righties seem to lack a personal backbone and cling to what they know like it is a comforter and troll as a pack. While most lefties tend to be extreme individualists whose biggest problem is that they all think differently and each thinks that their own particular opinions are the very best.
Fair comments. I was simply trying to provide some wider context to the quoted comments, although I did find it interesting that Tracey Martin would put that thought out there.
She tries to be ‘balanced’. It is the political nature of a centre party and their politicians.
But basically she doesn’t know. Not exactly the most network or computer literate person or even politician based on her online presence.
I think that this site is the nearest thing (outside of the politicians) to a coordinated left group on the local net, and we’re a very loose co-operative with each author expressing their very distinct opinions. And there have been over 80 authors over the ~10.5 years.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Labour runs similar groups of people.
Tracey Martin is totally wrong there. I suspect she was trying to appear non biased either way.
Labour encourages supporters to write letters to the newspapers and no doubt to talk about Labour’s policies online and respond to misinformation being presented as fact. What self respecting political party doesn’t including NZ First.
But no way does Labour set up groups of trained trolls (and we know the Nats do it from Hager’s “Dirty Politics”) to maliciously sabotage the efforts of opposition MPs? The odd individual may have been guilty in the past but it is not in Labour’s DNA to behave in such a lowbrow way.
We’ve seen the ploy here on many occasions although not so much in recent times. I recall last year submitting a reasonably innocuous comment about something or another and a small army of trolls descended on me and tore me to pieces. The word had apparently gone out. Plenty of others have had the same experience over the years.
Would you care to elaborate or link to something? Tracey Martin is a straight talker and I like her a lot because of it. But she’s wrong to assume that Labour indulges in the kind of “dirty politics” we’ve witnessed from National over the years.
Aussie Banks are damned in new reports coming from a Australian Royal investigation just released;
Question; Are NZ bank workers along with their bosses now in line to receive criminal charges? TSB has shown us solid support over many years so should be except here are the reasons.
I applied for a Kiwi bank account as a retired 68yr old homeowner in 2010 and we were refused, as my husband is disabled, and did honestly declare this on our application to Kiwi bank.
We complained as clients who were ‘completely clear of any bad credit history at all’ and the Kiwi bank Manager was acting unreasonable on the phone to us, and afterwards sent us a scathing letter effectively saying our profile as a client was not welcomed????
We never missed a mortgage payment with our previews accounts with two other banks.
We had an account at ANZ and TSB, so we were so shocked as my husband is disabled we only are concerned that disabled people are singled our for being denied for being clients with banks, and this is a breach of our human rights.
We are still with TSB. They are so far the best bank we have ever found.
NZ Banks need to be investigated as insurance companies are being now, and while we are at that issue of insurance companies wrong doings in NZ me and my husband had a life insurance policy with a insurance company in NZ since 1884 and when we become 68 our insurer cut our life insurance policy off after they doubled the premium and then cut off our account, so we lost our life insurance through extortion policies it seems as they were threatening to substantial raise our premium cost monthly at where no one on a pension could have afforded the cost.
Yes insurance and banks are apparently corrupt privateers.
Now the local councils around the country are telling us all they need to sell our assets such as Port airports and other “essential services” so all of us are in for yet more rorting of our money as privatising our assets will only bring the same greed policy we have witnessed in banking and insurance companies just to keep profits for “shareholders happy folks!!!
So we are doomed in this ‘corporate greed culture’ we have apparently embraced.
That’s very disappointing to hear. We were with ASB and ANZ and switched all our banking to Kiwi Bank several years ago when we bought a house. We have found them very good.
Kevin
Don’t diss Kiwibank – it is NZ owned not Australian. Definitely different from the big 4. And it has always had to fight to live against the asset strippers who have run NZ who were quite happy to have Australia make money from creating money to lend to us and take the profit which means they make the profit not us.
Get with it please.
They operate exactly the same way despite the advertising. If your circumstances change and you fall outside the box, they are just the same bunch or arseholes as BNZ, ANZ etc.
Kiwibank has to compete with the others, and can’t be too different. But they have kept going despite National and ACT (Actively Conning the Trusting), dissing them. I hope you are not a right-leaning person, it is a struggle to keep NZ alive and kicking despite the knockers. They earn money for NZ despite their corporate tendencies.
Also to note is TSB – completely NZ operation, and SBS (was Southland Building Society) which is NZ enterprise but uses Westpac as ‘clearing bank’, I think it is called.
I was a Foundation Customer, something I was very proud of, and joined on day one. I have my mortgage with them and have always supported them.
Around three years ago I had a drop in income for six months (had to go on a four day week) and they went from being ‘best friends’ to absolute cunts in the blink of an eye.
When my mortgage comes up for renewal this year, I am out of there. Will go to Co-op or SBS.
I am not with Kiwibank Kevin. An initial test was that they charged $30? for a bounced cheque. At my previous bank I had paid in a cheque for about $30 for a payment to me, had it bounced and charged the same amount. So I was $60 out of pocket instead of $30 which being hard up made me sore. So when I saw what I thought of as ‘the people’s bank’ charged the same impost I took this as a sign that the reality was less than the expected.
I thought from the beginning that Kiwibank was ‘pretty conservative’ in their approach. But they are NZ and had to set up and stand up to opposition and sneering and doubts about their ability with small capital to be effective from such as ‘Yellow(turn)coat Hide’ and so they deserve some authentic accolades.
I am with SBS and have found them more than pretty good and TSB interested in helping small business.
Kiwibank succeeded immediately in stopping all the Aussie banks charging really high set fees just for the privilege of having an account with them. Anderton deserved to feel proud about that.
It is nothing less than what the government is having to contend with with sectors on NZ pulling every which way for things to be returned to “normal” and coping with the extra demands regardless of the rhetoric the National Party left in its wake.
Some of those striking all of a sudden for pay deals that were denied them have been appeased but their is long list of people with demands.
Those demands, they should finally recognise, will never be met for most of NZ if a National Party government is ever let near the seats of power for quite some time.
National played divide and rule and they do it every day still with support from a lot of media while all the time swallowing a dead rat and telling the country that Simon Bridges is a “leader” in any sense of the term. Frankly if that is their best they deserve to moulder for a long, long time that that is what it has come to.
We had a hiccup some years back, went into Cooperative Bank NZ Branch here in Rotorua. After a stroke and early retirement we discussed our changed circumstances. They made several suggestions, and went the extra mile to help us implement a new budget that included rearranged payments on two things. We were given a 3 month break, the changed payment plan, and we got on top again as my health improved. This Bank is rated BBB which some would shun, but I have been with them since 1973. Norm was with Westpac. Their suggestion, ” You could sell up.” Needless to say he joined me at my bank!!. In Banks I am parochial.
Patricia B
Anecdotes like yours are very telling; proof of the pudding etc. As you say the grading BBB is interesting- based on what? Most of us will remember that right up to the GFC back a decade, the ratings agencies amongst them Standards & Poor’s (great name eh) were issuing gradings indicating the banks were AOkay to trade, and suddenly they weren’t. So what are gradings looking at?
On google: Standard & Poor’s | Americas https://www.standardandpoors.com/
In 28 countries around the world and a history that dates back more than 150 years, S&P Global Ratings provides high-quality market intelligence in the form of …
I don’t work in insurance, but I understand it and can comprehend policy wording. It’s not that difficult.
Were you opening a chequing account or seeking a loan? It makes a big difference if you are slagging a kiwi owned bank off and your accusation needs context
But don’t you know he never missed a mortgage payment?
Which is the not the same as having security to allow a new one.
Pretty stupid rant really. Kiwi bank is consistently rated pretty high in customer satisfaction surveys, behind tsb but a long way ahead of ANZ. They also help keep NZ rural infrastructure in the form of post shops alive.
But if it ain’t rail, ol single issue nutter clean green ain’t interested
As the nation counts down to New Zealand’s national day, calls are mounting for the Treaty of Waitangi to be a compulsory part of the school curriculum.
The Post Primary Teachers’ Association is calling for the Treaty to be a compulsory part of the curriculum.
Currently it’s optional, with schools deciding whether or not to teach it.
She wasn’t the only person at the highest level of Government to struggle with the question, Greens co-leader James Shaw admitting: “I actually don’t know the articles”.
really? You are the co leader of a political party in power and you don’t know the articles contained within our founding document? ffs
Ardern was the OTHER “person at the highest level of Government” who couldn’t answer the question. Why single out Shaw when the PM and couldn’t answer the question either?
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today stumbled when asked by 1 NEWS what Article One of the Treaty says.
“Oh, Article One? On the spot?” Ms Ardern replied.
“Kawanatanga, sorry, excuse me,” she added when helped by ministers standing nearby.
I was also disappointed that Shaw could not answer that question i just didn’t think it was fair to not mention Ardern. Both should have been able to say.
I think though that not being able to immediately recall which article is which does not mean that they don’t understand the concepts involved.
As to my opinion on Treaty and Land Wars education being compulsory i have stated that many times here – I think it should be considered essential.
marty mars
I think you are a bit light on looking at understanding the Treaty. It is a bit difficult because of the application of the principle of it being a living document. So we start off with the three principles, then what meanings have been attributed to them. And what additional effects does each point have in certain circumstances and times and what interpretations have been made in current times.
So it could be a lively session as youngsters asked questions and discussed their views of the rights and wrongs. And even though they ended up not agreeing, they would understand more than the limited set of pre-judgments that they have embedded in their minds. Many adults have no understanding of the general principles of our law, and how being a law-based country is both restraining and freeing. There is little time in secondary and even primary I guess, spent on thinking about paradoxes and how we deal with them in culture and society, and how context makes its way into our thinking.
“I think you are a bit light on looking at understanding the Treaty.”
Probably. I was just touching very lightly on a specific area rather than going into it too deep. I have done some university papers around the treaty – I recommend it as well as chatting to tangata whenua at your local marae.
And Yes – think about going to the local marae TOMORROW 6 February Waitangi Day – it is the 6th of February all over the country not just at Waitangi!
Don’t let the overseas visitors have all the fun rapping and eating at the marae. Meet and eat with the local tangata whenua. Get there early and take part in the welcoming powhiri and hear what your Maori neighbours have to say about their special place. There will probably be some music, some singing, some kapa haka that has been practised and performed for everyone’s enjoyment and praise.
Take some money to buy food and you might see some interesting pendant or creative artwork. Embrace our nation’s biculturality, and there might be some multi-culture going on there too.
Yes, the word “stumble” was used by the MSM except she didn’t stumble at all.
When faced with the question (which was designed to faze her) she openly said she had to think about it (or words to that effect) and them someone prompted her and immediately she recalled… and came up with the answer. A split second hesitation while she thought about it is NOT a stumble. A deliberately calculated wrong impression given in my opinion.
For Goodness sake. Are you serious”” How many times did PM Key say, I am not wearing that hat, I don’t have that available, etc.
PM Ardern pauses and is prompted and it is a crime??
You appear desperate…. Like MSM, trying to discombobulate!!
consistant at Dumbtionary.com. Consistent is the correct spelling for the word that you entered (consistant). This is based on commonly misspelled words.
consistant at Dumbtionary.com http://www.dumbtionary.com/word/consistant.shtml
I do wish more people would get that after its signing, Māori are part of both parties to the Treaty agreement including those represented by the Crown. Hence two bites at the cherry in some instances. And overwhelmingly generous in settlements as Morgan notes.
So do you agree with him that Maori ceded sovereignty? He doesn’t make sense on that as he says that the Tribunal is right to say that Ngapuhi did not cede sovereignty but then tries to argue that because they have accepted court rulings they have given up sovereignty so they did cede it in article one. Part of the build up to the Northern War was Ngapuhi chiefs not accepting the ruling of the courts. Just because they later accepted rulings because they had no choice does not mean they ceded it in the Treaty but rather that it was taken by force.
I really respect Morgan for trying to get educated in this area but his perspective is still simplistic. He starts by saying that the Treaty was signed by “two societies”. This is nonsense. The Treaty was singed by the British Crown and Iwi. What Morgan says is akin to saying that the EU is a treaty signed by Britain and Europe. At the time of the Treaty the word”Maori” just meant “ordinary person”. It was not a political or social structure.
He then goes on to argue that “Maori” own the water because they own everything that they have not sold to the Crown. But Hapu are mana whenua. Hapu own the resources. But if hapu owned the water what water did they own? Did they own the clouds above? Was it theirs when it fell on their whenua? When it flowed in their awa? Did it become the next hapu’s water when the awa crossed a territorial boundary? Could one hapu have built a dam and deprived the next of the water?
If it is the water falling on or passing through a whenua dictates ownership then shouldn’t this ownership right transfer when the land is sold? If that is the case then the Crown also owns water.
More importantly did Maori consider, and do they now consider, water as something that could or should be ‘owned’? Under English common law nobody owns water. This seems to me as a very sound principle. Morgan comes from the perspective of a capitalist economist. He seeks to determine the ownership of assets rather than enter into a complex philosophical discussion on disparate perspectives. Maori have specific interests in and rights to water while Pakeha have general rights. A reductionist capitalist asset allocation will not cut the mustard.
ps
That gringo should show more care with the lingo: “tay-ray-owe”
Wow sounds like you have some great questions for tangata whenua tomorrow at the waitangi day ceremony, event and marae that you may be going to – let us know what they say.
I’ll be taking the kid to Waitangi for the day tomorrow but i’m going to try really hard to keep away from politics and spend the time with her absorbing the vibe.
I agree it should be part of the core curriculum, and I’m a bit surprised that it’s not.
But I think knowing the vibe of it is more important, even for representatives, than remembering the order or precise contents of the Articles for spot quizzes.
I suspect because it is not uppermost in the majority of citizens minds they don’t think about it much. Pity it isn’t engraved, like the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution in the gun nut minds, into our consciousness.
Depending on the situation of whether they’re asked, and sometimes the value is in remembering that it’s there rather than the exact particulars.
It’s the sort of thing where if I sat down somewhere quiet and thought for a few minutes, I’d probably do better than if I had to answer it on my feet out of the blue.
I think we can do better. Compulsory treaty learning seems the way to go.
Funny – how many remember the 3 ships Columbus used to get over the ditch before he ravaged the new lands. A lot I’d say yet hardly relevant to us here.
Interesting conversation with a Dairy owner yesterday. He has a dozen double glass door fridges, pie warmers, freezers, none of them his. Companies pay for the fridges, pay for and are prompt with maintenance, and: …. dictate what is allowed in their appliances.
It’s monopoly by stealth. You stock the fridge, you don’t stock the competitors products.
That’s why so many dairies have the same rubbish wall to wall. That’s why local pie makers and drink makers are pushing shit uphill before they get started.
Coke is the largest culprit, V is not far behind whoever owns them. Big Ben pies, fuck your horrible nasty products I can’t buy a decent pie because of your crap, and Irvines is similarly rubbish in a pastry wrap.
No wonder we’re in so much trouble. We spend our waking hours devising ways to fuck everyone else over so we can sell rubbish in place of food.
Yep that’s big business for you. Putting yourself in the dairy owners shoes, of course you would take the offer of free freezers etc. as it saves him thousands on buying and maintaining them himself.
But as you say, the flip side is the consumer has less choice of brands to choose from.
And I agree with you ….its hard to get a decent pie these days…..try finding a bakery some of them are good.
I’m guessing this is a resultant of the owner not having the capital to purchase there own fridge, and the reality of the income generated for them by the fridge as part of there business.
I’ve seen it in industry like 3D printing where the industrial scale versions have systems that control the materials used. They become hostage to the inflated price at say $600 kg when generic material is available at about $50 kg. Eventually competition provides machines allowing generic material and the extorting companies are abandoned.
Same as the fridge. The owner gets the capital to by there own fridge and can stock products without the extortionary use of the fridge providers products. It could be the business owner is happy with the arrangement and puts available capital spend elsewhere.
If you don’t like what they are selling don’t buy it. Want a nice pie go to a Bakery.
A similar situation exists with pubs where the taps etc are supplied by a brewery and the competitors’ products are banned.
Here’s an excerpt from a February 2017 Herald article.
“….. despite increasing consumption, there’s a mystifying lack of outlets showcasing the diversity of New Zealand’s brewing ecosystem.
“Most pubs and bars in New Zealand have ‘tied taps’, meaning that they are under contract to sell a limited range of beers owned by the brewery.”
Very evident on a road triStap in the southern South Island. Mind you, that’s when I go to pubs for meals and accommodation. At home there are two popular untied pubs, with excellent food as well as beer. One highlights Japanese food, the other German style.
There seems to be a link between quality of product sold and the commercial nature of the publican’s business arrangements. The untied seem to enjoy a different focus more on quality as well as variety.
The benefits to a small business are great. But it is still big money using big money to control small business, via either exclusion or contracted collusion.
I’m sure it’s all legal. That’s how they do if possible…
Yeah true about pubs aye. Two pubs per town. A Lion pub and a DB pub. And from region to region you couldn’t tell what you were walking into by brand of pub. In the Waikato the Bikers drank at Lion pubs, in Taranaki, DB… You never knew what was in the parcel from the packet. As a wee teen it paid to be careful. You could drink underage the length and breadth of the country but it was still an adults world.
A kid thumbing the road might seek solace from the sun. Might accidentally strut his mohawk hairdo into a Lion Pub on the outskirts of the Waikato, to find a Mongrel Mob bar full of patch members, he might order a shot instead of the beer he wanted, he might then down it and walk back out all cool like, but in a timely manner!
…the idea that remote rural communities are [slow?] allow on the uptake is demonstrably untrue in Orkney.
“Actually it is the opposite, when things are small-scale it means you know who to pick up the phone to make things happen, you’re fleet of foot.”
Orkney is now energy rich to the extent that it created a problem for its electricity grid.
“Having 120 percent energy generating is a serious problem, because it loads electricity on to the grid and when you start loading too much electricity on to cables they tend to blow fuses or melt – literally.”
Showing a knack for problem solving, the Islanders decided to generate hydrogen with the surplus power it was making, which it could then store or sell.
“Hydrogen fuel is one way that you can store electricity off the grid and bring it back on when you need it.
The islanders decided to take the surplus energy to run an electrolyser which splits sea water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The electrolyser sits on one of the Orkney islands called Edie, which has 180 residents.
“What’s going on in Orkney is neither a dystopian future where they’ve given up, nor is it a utopian future where they’ve said somebody else or technology will save the day.
“It’s not some renewable energy nirvana that’s going on, it’s a challenging place, part of what’s happening is because there are high levels of fuel poverty and there are still too many people in Orkney on fuel poverty all the initiatives are very much driven by how do we make the energy cheaper.”
Can we say the results and outcomes in NZ show that we have ‘a knack for problem solving’?
environment
3 Feb 2019
Laura Watts: Orkney’s sustainability revolution
From Sunday Morning, 8:38 am on 3 February 2019
Orkney used to be a study in how to use energy unsustainably. The archipelago off the northern tip of Scotland bought and imported all its power from coal and gas plants on the Scottish mainland.
These days it generates more electricity than it needs via a host of wind turbines and through capturing tidal energy
Author Laura Watts has studied the sustainable energy revolution taking place on the far-flung islands, she tells Jim Mora that innovation often occurs at the edge of things.
Maybe the interview on Radionz this morning would be pertinent to this matter – about nz coastal rips.
9:20 Predicting rips
University of Canterbury Coastal Geomorphologist Dr Seb Pitman is developing a way of mapping rip tides on Muriwai beach. He explains to Kathryn Ryan how GPS “drifters” could predict rips and make sea swimming safer.
My wife comes from ‘Herne Bay’ along the river Thames in UK.
At the coastal area of the English Thames river mouth where it meets the English channel we saw they install ‘Beakwaters’ after the horrific storm ruined her town of Hearne Bay in the 1950’s..
They have enormous ‘rip tides’ from the ‘north sea’ and calmed their areas of those coastal regions and river mouth waterways.
We saw these coastal regions being calmed by placing ‘ breakwaters’ along many tidal prone areas.
European nations including France, Spain, Germany, Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands are supporting the leader of the opposition.
With everything going on and the population just wanting someone, anyone to save them from impending starvation as a result of economic collapse;, how much do people really know about Juan Guaido?
Interestingly enough Guaido made his claim as interim President the day after a call with Mike Pence.
Where there is oil, you can almost guarantee the USA is involved.
The Listening Post….. article is the first one up, approx 11 mins long.
Guaido “is a Venezuelan engineer and politician serving as the President of the National Assembly of Venezuela since 5 January 2019. A member of the centrist social-democratic Popular Will party, he also serves as a federal deputy to the National Assembly, representing the state of Vargas. On 23 January 2019, Guaidó took a public oath to serve as interim President of Venezuela. The inauguration of Nicolás Maduro as President of Venezuela earlier that month was contested and the National Assembly considered the position vacant; under the Constitution of Venezuela, if the office of President of the Republic becomes vacant, the President of the National Assembly may serve as interim president until elections can be held.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Guaid%C3%B3
If people keep avoiding the fact that his assumption of the office was authorised by the Venezuelan Constitution, someone has to keep reminding them of reality. Could get tedious, eh? Those who would rather believe the neocon plot theory, or the lone-wolf competing with the dictator theory, ought perhaps to reassess the merit of such hallucinations.
“Part of a large family, and of modest origins, Guaidó was raised in a middle-class home by his parents, Wilmer and Norka. His father was an airline pilot and his mother, a teacher. One grandfather was a sergeant of the Venezuelan National Guard while another grandfather was a captain in the Venezuelan Navy.
Guaidó lived through the 1999 Vargas tragedy which left his family temporarily homeless; he lost friends and his school. The tragedy, according to his colleagues, influenced his political views after the then-new government of Hugo Chávez allegedly provided ineffective response to the disaster. He said, “I saw that if I wanted a better future for my country I had to roll up my sleeves and give my life to public service.”
Those seeking to demonise a young man who wants to provide his country with a positive alternative have an onus on them to present evidence that he is actually a demon. None have yet. Occam’s razor implies we ought to take him at face value unless we get good reason not to.
We are lost in a sea of misinformation and withdrawal from truth and our achievements and also our fallacies and flaws under this privatisation approach that says no compulsion, no regulation and leaves our lives and commitment to our country to people who flap in the wind of commercial interests.
Thank god for Maori drive to know their history, and show capabilities, for instance in building a waka and sailing it to Raratonga. A visual symbol of greatness. How can we make the country great again, when we don’t know our past greatness in the first place?
Long time ago – it must seem so to many – the ones born after 1984 and after the advent of the computerisation generation ‘CGs”.
Makes me think of Don McLean – ‘long time ago’ and ‘the day the music died’ from Bye Bye American Pie.
He added: “(It was) this idea of being a rock ‘n’ roll dream, or a fantasy, of some sort. But it’s a dream where things morph into other things.”
“The day the music died” initially refers to the plane crash, McLean said, but takes on “so many things” as the song progresses through six verses.
“The music is the poetry of life, it’s the spirit of something,” McLean said. “It’s the essence of art. It’s so many things. So, as the song develops after each verse, that music has died, you see? So I realize at a metaphor it was perfect for what I was thinking.”
+ 1 yep – until we know the past our foundation will continue to be weak and the society we have built on it a fragile, tottering lie. Proof? Suicide stats and all the rest of the indicators even down to our filthy water in our rivers and beaches.
Stealing children from their parents and placing them with the right families looks like child trafficking and smells like child trafficking.
The tRump regime is a child trafficking cartel
The Trump administration says it would require extraordinary effort to reunite what may be thousands of migrant children who have been separated from their parents and, even if it could, the children would likely be emotionally harmed.
Jonathan White, who leads the Health and Human Services Department’s efforts to reunite migrant children with their parents, said removing children from “sponsor” homes to rejoin their parents “would present grave child welfare concerns.” He said the government should focus on reuniting children currently in its custody, not those who have already been released to sponsors.
but they are good christian families ……………and these are little catholic heathen children that should be lucky to be so lucky.
what they are saying is we don’t know where the children are, and we can’t possibly get them back, and we don’t know where the parents are…and besides its business, really good business for the ones that run the internment camps for babies, toddlers to teenagers, for the adoption businesses (the christian ones DeVos comes up again and again), and besides the US will need an underclass in twenty years as much as they need their underclass now. After all how can all the white people feel superior if they are no others left to be superior too?
Everything that i was afraid would happen before the election came true. And so many so many many many could not give a flying fuck, cause he is not beholden to money, he will drain the swamp, he will not start world war three, he is not corrupt, he is this and he is that, and he is all i ever wanted him to be, despite the fact that the man in his whole life has shown nothing but contempt for everyone and everything, has bankrupted everything he laid his hands on, has lusted after his daughter publicly, and to boot has surrounded himself with the worst that the US has to offer in supporters and enablers.
Every single Trump supporter, water carrier, should be ashamed. Simply that. Nothing more nothing left. Just shame, and pity for children who will never be really whole again.
I read both the standard and kiwiblog because I find them both on the same pegging. The Standard is generally quite centre left and Kiwiblog quite centre right. I avoid whale oil and the daily blog because Slater and Bomber share the same traits – just on different sides of the fence.
My politics are much aligned with the standard but occasionally kiwiblog does something worth considering and this post I thought was very good:
It played to the assumption that politicians ought to know what they’re talking about. Why should they? Representatives elected to represent most people are selected because most see them as an accurate match. So the aggregate effect, as per statistics, locates them atop the bell curve, centred on the exact median intelligence of the populace. How many kiwis could tell you the correct answer? Way less than 1%! Unreasonable to expect politicians to be less ignorant than the average voter…
I wasn’t thrilled by the realisation when it first occurred to me years ago. But it stands to reason, eh? Identity politics, people identify most with the one they tick at the ballot box. Lowest-common-denominator design of democracy ensures that mediocrity is produced as output.
That’s why I started advocating meritocracy as a positive alternative. We can use codesign to evolve it as an alternative political system. Not to replace democracy, but to complement it.
Another death resulting from easy-peasy attitudes. A Korean man with family and little English holidaying here. Sandboarding down slope. Part of a group on one bus. A second bus pulls into the area where he will slide to a stop. He goes under the bus while his family watches. Why can’t tourist companies work together and help keep their precious trusting customers safe? Cosset them FGS.
Just run through some what-ifs and be ahead of the problems that will crop up.
Health and Safety are OTT often but you can see their necessity when there are so many cowboys running companies, or with employees that haven’t had the job and methods properly explained to them. How do companies feel about their employees suffering at having been involved in this sort of thing. The sadness and the nightmares, and the shakes? Everyone suffers. We need to do better.
Ah. Well the first thing to consider is that both buses are in the tourism business and so it is wise to not go running down each other’s clients. Not good for business.
Then the next is that there is always an over riding rule about driving in that the speed and manner should be suitable for the conditions. Though I imagine that a driver would not expect a pedestrian to come shooting down a dune beside which he is driving, at a great rate of knots, so his shock and surprise can be understood. So we come back to due care and attention in driving into an area with super-speed people on toboggans shooting around the place.
And then consider a need for caution in looking after people from a different country, not speaking English, and who expect a modicum of expertise and care in a supposedly sane, civilised country. They put their trust in us and find it wanting because we are wanting in the head, just a little, but she’ll be right!
After just reading a bit of Bertie Wooster I may have imbibed a bit of PG Wodehouses style I’m afraid. But still I think I have covered your points ianmac.
If anyone thinks the State owning businesses is a desirable goal Venezuela should give you pause for thought.
“Even so, De Freitas said the initial findings paint a picture of an oversized state hemorrhaging money — at a time when the country desperately needs it. The organization found that 70 percent of the 511 companies have produced losses in 2016 totaling 1.29 trillion bolivares — or about $129 billion dollars. That amount is 14 percent higher than what the government earmarked for education, health, housing, and social security that same year.”
Ok mate, then what about SOE’s in the Western style Gulf States and in Singapore along with Singapore’s State run Super?
We also have the Nordic Nations SOE’s (Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland) and their State run Super schemes?
Would you care to explain why they are going gangbusters? Which are in your warp mind of the free market Neo- Con/ Lib BS shouldn’t be State Own or State Run. I don’t why you keep craping on about some tin pot country in Latin America? Because I really don’t give a shit about as there are important issues in the SP Region and NZ that need addressing than a bunch of muppets with their fingers in that country’s coffers.
So what you are saying that all those countries mentioned should disinvest from their SOE’s that are making a return/ profit for their taxpayers and the State disinvest from them as they distorted the so- call free market in your little warped mind of your Neo- Lib/Con BS. Even though they protect the economic wealth of those mentioned countries over the longer term, unlike little old NZ which flogged off almost all of its SOE’s and as a result has gone backwards compared to those countries over the longer term.
From you logic it seems in your warped little mind the State should only divest from assets when they make a loss. While I don’t care when the State divests themselves of such assets your option will mean far less return than if they were sold if they were profitable.
No Sir, having read your posts over the years. Is that you lot believe that all Governments should disinvest from all Government SOE’s and leave it to the market to sort out?
Unlike those countries that I mentioned, they have use those profits to be invest back into to those SOE’s or into a Sovereign Wealth Fund for a rainy day or in a couple cases they have use the interest payments to reduce government tax income in which they still maintain a higher standard of living across the with well funded Government Departments such as Health, Education etc.
In the case the of NZ, you lot flogged everything off, lower taxes to the upper echelons of society, screw the workers employment rights and WHS aka Pike River Coal Mine along with wrecking every Government Department though lack of funding and making them run as business. As you lot have said the market is always right and private industry is better than Government.
Well these countries that I have mentioned compared to your tin pot country from South America that you keep crapping on about, must be doing something wrong then?
Btw I have none time in Singers and in a couple of the Western Style Gulf States and met a few the ministers along the way. They can’t get their head around the stupidity of the Neo Con/Lib economic theory that you lot brought in from the mid 80’s to the present. Us Expat Kiwi’s BS unlike you sir or your dumb ass backers/ oil snake salesman of the Neo Con/ Lib economic theory.
The Vikings, Arabs, and the jokers from Singers aren’t the stupid ones here, lovely boy! But you Mr Magoo and your Neo Con/ Lib Mates who are after a quick buck for the race to the bottom of the nearest pissaphone or thunderbox are the stupid ones here.
Or this one which I forgot to mention, when a private contractorscomes round saying they have fixed the problem and when they really haven’t. ISBACSICRT’O I Should Be A Contractor So I Can Rip Taxpayers Off.
Yeah – but then we have all the local evidence of privatisations, which shows unequivocally that the private sector generally only contributes corruption. Service standards fall, promises made to secure the assets (Max Bradford’s “prices will fall”) prove to be lies, cost of living rises and the state is deprived of income for social spending. That evidence, the applicable evidence, shows incontrovertibly that privatization is essentially fraud in drag as business, and no NZ citizen should support it for a moment – in fact we ought to press our politicians to reverse the rorts that have fallen short of the promises made to justify looting the public estate.
Go and tell it to the Venezuelans, I’m sure they know more about what works and doesn’t in their own country than any far-right foreigner.
The British people Raided, Stole, Enslaved, Slaughtered numerous peoples under Queen Elizabeth 1, 1553 – 1603.
The British raided 90 different Nations from Elizabeth’s time up unitl very recently.. If you look at the school map of “British Empire” you will see the extent of its Rape.
When it Raided and Stole New Zealand, it took Maori Children, Women and Men to War. By Gun. That was in 1840. It handed the the reluctant Maori people a defective Treaty.
The Bastard Thieving Brits have never apologised. They never do.
Supporting the Maori is expensive. The Bill is largely paid by the low wage workers Pakeha and Maori.
To ease the situation for Maori and the low paid workers (pakeha and Maori) I believe that a levy should be paid by the excessively wealthy New Zealanders and their Share Holders. Their Tax Rorts included.
The burden thrown on NZ by the British Crown needs attention. It needs it now.
There was war between Maori tribes before Europeans arrived in NZ. Was there ever apology between tribes after these battles ? Just wonder as maybe it was only passed down with oral history ?
Josie Butler banned, but Brash and Tamaki are okay?!?!?!?!?
What the F*&K is going on in this country? Checkpoint, RNZ National, Tuesday 5 February 2019. 5:38 p.m.
Josie Butler should have been given a medal for throwing a dildo at that dickhead Steven Joyce in 2016. Instead, she’s been banned from the Treaty grounds, while a vicious racist (Don Brash) and a rabble-rousing thug (Brian Tamaki) are allowed free access.
This is a disgraceful affair, instigated by some disgusting chump at Police HQ, and featuring the usual dispiriting cast of sad lickspittles and minor officials. Most contemptible of the lot of them is one Peter Paraone, who apparently was a New Zealand First List M.P. for some years. If he was, no one noticed him.
This afternoon, Paraone finally did something to force himself on the public’s attention. He nodded his head and said “Yes boss.”
LISA OWEN: So you banned her because the Police requested you to ban her?
PETER PARAONE: Uh, yes.
LISA OWEN: Why?
….Long silence….
PETER PARAONE: Uh, I’m not familiar with the detail….
I think people who throw things should be banned. Appalling behaviour to treat anyone that way. If we want people to turn up to Waitangi then they at least need to feel safe.
OK – I’m calling it – based on @CheckpointRNZ’s report the decision to trespass Josie Butler from Waitangi’s Treaty Grounds (initiated by the NZ Police) was flat out unlawful … done purely because what she had done, not any reasonable concern about current behaviour.
I could agree with you that there are major inequalities between various parts of New Zealand currently. Also major variations in incomes.
Wealthy New Zealanders however, are not at all interested in paying realistic wages to their staff.
You may have heard that no low wage Worker can afford to Buy a home in New Zealand. Not can they afford Rental accommodation without skinflint assistance.
I’m not in poverty & agree housing costs have turned totally unrealistic, not just for low wages earners. I think the statement about wealthy NZers not interested in paying realistic wages may not be accurate – not sure where you get this from ? Most NZ businesses are small & while I agree that employees should be paid more, I know quite a few small businesses whose owners work long hours & their hourly rate isn’t flash either.
Your pertinent words:
“I know quite a few small businesses whose owners work long hours & their hourly rate isn’t flash either”.
The rise and rise of big Business is the destruction of small Business.
The huge resources of big Business have been allowed to all but obliterate the former opportunities of individuals and families in our Country. Thanks to our appalling politicians.
The money Big Business makes in NZ, is shipped out to its owners in Australia, Korea, China, Saudi Arabia. And god knows where else. Further adding to the poverty of individuals and families in NZ.
The only solution I can see is to Levy the very wealthy sector of Business and the Wealthy (and their Share Holders) so that Financial Equity returns to New Zealanders.
So that the Banks operating here should return at least 1 Billions of $dollars Per Annam. And so on to all the Businesses of great wealth.
All that our Parliament has done since the rise of National is denude the wealth of Aotearoa. This must be turned around. And Quickly.
You’re totally correct re big business – the worst thing is companies like Apple, Google etc make money here, but seem to pay very little tax. There was an outcry about this several months ago, but I haven’t heard anything more since then, hopefully government will update the tax rules to stop this happening.
It’s great to read details surrounding Te Tiriti O Waitangi being discussed and debated in Open Mike today. Hopefully a healthy discussion will continue tomorrow, 6 February.
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Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 24 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry ...
On ‘diversity’ .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We0sqgHAZKI
Paul Mason on “Britain’s Impossible Futures” at Le Monde Diplomatique
https://mondediplo.com/2019/02/01brexit
Bit confused. Can you please explain how you see that as being relevant to the clip I posted?
Diversity. See
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/04/deportation-flights-jamaica-government-windrush-scandal
on Teresa now resuming deportation flights to Jamaica – consistent with how she first made her UK political reputation in deporting Carribbeans who had arrived on a ship called ‘Windrush’.
Did you watch the clip or just see I had used the word?
I empathised with your theme of diversity.
The clip may unlock it differently for you.
Brexit’s gonna be a process of unintended consequences due to problems with internal ruling class structures (which is what it was an expression of in part) i’m guessing.
Dirty Politics from the dirty party:
Never a truer word said about the member for Rodney.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12198076
Interesting they went straight to Paula Bennett for comment. 😆
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200803
Those “online trolls” were probably just the National MP’s caucus colleagues.
Standby….. nat trolls will now be actively trying to discredit the Tracey Martin via social media, because that’s how they roll when people speak the truth.
Tracey Martin discredits herself…..wasn’t it her that forgot linkedin didnt exist several years ago, and also appointing someone “independent” to the Wally Haumana investigation that had endorsed the person.
I think Tracey Martin is NZ First’s Clare Curran.
If this story was from a Labour MP it would be more credible (except maybe Kelvin Davis).
I wonder why you didn’t print this from the Martin in the same piece:
“It won’t be a shock to anybody that it’s a political tool. I wouldn’t be surprised if Labour runs similar groups of people.”
The short answer is that there aren’t. I’ve been looking for them for more than a decade. Every time I think I see a left group, it turns out that they have just had a split and several aren’t talking to each other. Think of The Daily Blog for an example of the usual behaviour.
I’ve come to conclusion that while there are a lot of lefties with some weird opinions, they are also extremely and usually excessively individualistic. Trying to get them to work closely together is an interesting exercise, and what you see here is about as good as it gets. However the better ones are pretty good at cooperating together so long as everyone else is aware that they’re just sort of heading in a similar direction.
Strikingly, and outright strangely for this dedicated iconoclastic loner, I think that I’m actually one of the more cooperative ones and one who actively works with a lot of people for work through to this.. And I’m used to regarded as a weird loner in every other part of my long life.
On the other hand, there are obvious groups of rightie trolls. They do tend to operate like a flock of carnivorous sheep. Their belief systems are weird as they all seem to believe the same crap as a group and keep repeating the same stupid ideas as a statement of fact regardless of contradictory evidence. Few seem to be able to think for themselves and they seem to require a pile of self-reinforcement from their flock
But on the net they are fierce warriors – right up until they are effectively challenged with facts. Then they huddle together and bleep how everyone is against them and that they need protection and every one should be polite to them. Think of Cameron Slater and his bunch of ‘warriors’ over the years. Or that bunch of no-hopers in the sewer section at
Kiwiblog.
In my ‘generalised’ opinion, many righties seem to lack a personal backbone and cling to what they know like it is a comforter and troll as a pack. While most lefties tend to be extreme individualists whose biggest problem is that they all think differently and each thinks that their own particular opinions are the very best.
Fair comments. I was simply trying to provide some wider context to the quoted comments, although I did find it interesting that Tracey Martin would put that thought out there.
She tries to be ‘balanced’. It is the political nature of a centre party and their politicians.
But basically she doesn’t know. Not exactly the most network or computer literate person or even politician based on her online presence.
I think that this site is the nearest thing (outside of the politicians) to a coordinated left group on the local net, and we’re a very loose co-operative with each author expressing their very distinct opinions. And there have been over 80 authors over the ~10.5 years.
From second link:
I wouldn’t be surprised if Labour runs similar groups of people.
Tracey Martin is totally wrong there. I suspect she was trying to appear non biased either way.
Labour encourages supporters to write letters to the newspapers and no doubt to talk about Labour’s policies online and respond to misinformation being presented as fact. What self respecting political party doesn’t including NZ First.
But no way does Labour set up groups of trained trolls (and we know the Nats do it from Hager’s “Dirty Politics”) to maliciously sabotage the efforts of opposition MPs? The odd individual may have been guilty in the past but it is not in Labour’s DNA to behave in such a lowbrow way.
We’ve seen the ploy here on many occasions although not so much in recent times. I recall last year submitting a reasonably innocuous comment about something or another and a small army of trolls descended on me and tore me to pieces. The word had apparently gone out. Plenty of others have had the same experience over the years.
I tend to agree – having one or two “ends justify the means” jerks in a party is unavoidable, but having them on the payroll is.
Besides, who on the left has the money to waste?
Or the time..
Seems like Martin used a similar tactic in 2011. Dirty politics I’d say on her part
Would you care to elaborate or link to something? Tracey Martin is a straight talker and I like her a lot because of it. But she’s wrong to assume that Labour indulges in the kind of “dirty politics” we’ve witnessed from National over the years.
Grantoc, In this instance I doubt that kiwiblog would be a credible source. JS
Discredit and distract……. and little david is trying hard to do that today looking at his blog.
Aussie Banks are damned in new reports coming from a Australian Royal investigation just released;
Question; Are NZ bank workers along with their bosses now in line to receive criminal charges? TSB has shown us solid support over many years so should be except here are the reasons.
I applied for a Kiwi bank account as a retired 68yr old homeowner in 2010 and we were refused, as my husband is disabled, and did honestly declare this on our application to Kiwi bank.
We complained as clients who were ‘completely clear of any bad credit history at all’ and the Kiwi bank Manager was acting unreasonable on the phone to us, and afterwards sent us a scathing letter effectively saying our profile as a client was not welcomed????
We never missed a mortgage payment with our previews accounts with two other banks.
We had an account at ANZ and TSB, so we were so shocked as my husband is disabled we only are concerned that disabled people are singled our for being denied for being clients with banks, and this is a breach of our human rights.
We are still with TSB. They are so far the best bank we have ever found.
NZ Banks need to be investigated as insurance companies are being now, and while we are at that issue of insurance companies wrong doings in NZ me and my husband had a life insurance policy with a insurance company in NZ since 1884 and when we become 68 our insurer cut our life insurance policy off after they doubled the premium and then cut off our account, so we lost our life insurance through extortion policies it seems as they were threatening to substantial raise our premium cost monthly at where no one on a pension could have afforded the cost.
Yes insurance and banks are apparently corrupt privateers.
Now the local councils around the country are telling us all they need to sell our assets such as Port airports and other “essential services” so all of us are in for yet more rorting of our money as privatising our assets will only bring the same greed policy we have witnessed in banking and insurance companies just to keep profits for “shareholders happy folks!!!
So we are doomed in this ‘corporate greed culture’ we have apparently embraced.
Just remember; – “What goes around comes around”
What were you applying for at kiwi bank? A chequing account or were you applying for some type of loan?
That’s very disappointing to hear. We were with ASB and ANZ and switched all our banking to Kiwi Bank several years ago when we bought a house. We have found them very good.
KiwiBank are no different to the big 4.
Kevin
Don’t diss Kiwibank – it is NZ owned not Australian. Definitely different from the big 4. And it has always had to fight to live against the asset strippers who have run NZ who were quite happy to have Australia make money from creating money to lend to us and take the profit which means they make the profit not us.
Get with it please.
It maybe NZ owned, but that is all.
They operate exactly the same way despite the advertising. If your circumstances change and you fall outside the box, they are just the same bunch or arseholes as BNZ, ANZ etc.
Kiwibank has to compete with the others, and can’t be too different. But they have kept going despite National and ACT (Actively Conning the Trusting), dissing them. I hope you are not a right-leaning person, it is a struggle to keep NZ alive and kicking despite the knockers. They earn money for NZ despite their corporate tendencies.
Also to note is TSB – completely NZ operation, and SBS (was Southland Building Society) which is NZ enterprise but uses Westpac as ‘clearing bank’, I think it is called.
They pay millions each year to foreign suppliers of their core banking infrastructure.
I was a Foundation Customer, something I was very proud of, and joined on day one. I have my mortgage with them and have always supported them.
Around three years ago I had a drop in income for six months (had to go on a four day week) and they went from being ‘best friends’ to absolute cunts in the blink of an eye.
When my mortgage comes up for renewal this year, I am out of there. Will go to Co-op or SBS.
I am not with Kiwibank Kevin. An initial test was that they charged $30? for a bounced cheque. At my previous bank I had paid in a cheque for about $30 for a payment to me, had it bounced and charged the same amount. So I was $60 out of pocket instead of $30 which being hard up made me sore. So when I saw what I thought of as ‘the people’s bank’ charged the same impost I took this as a sign that the reality was less than the expected.
I thought from the beginning that Kiwibank was ‘pretty conservative’ in their approach. But they are NZ and had to set up and stand up to opposition and sneering and doubts about their ability with small capital to be effective from such as ‘Yellow(turn)coat Hide’ and so they deserve some authentic accolades.
I am with SBS and have found them more than pretty good and TSB interested in helping small business.
Kiwibank succeeded immediately in stopping all the Aussie banks charging really high set fees just for the privilege of having an account with them. Anderton deserved to feel proud about that.
NBS is awesome.
Banks get like that when debt to income ratios drop.
Cooperative Bank NZ is really customer orientated. You will find it very easy to change. If you have a mortgage and your’e aged 65 + no fees.
It is nothing less than what the government is having to contend with with sectors on NZ pulling every which way for things to be returned to “normal” and coping with the extra demands regardless of the rhetoric the National Party left in its wake.
Some of those striking all of a sudden for pay deals that were denied them have been appeased but their is long list of people with demands.
Those demands, they should finally recognise, will never be met for most of NZ if a National Party government is ever let near the seats of power for quite some time.
National played divide and rule and they do it every day still with support from a lot of media while all the time swallowing a dead rat and telling the country that Simon Bridges is a “leader” in any sense of the term. Frankly if that is their best they deserve to moulder for a long, long time that that is what it has come to.
We had a hiccup some years back, went into Cooperative Bank NZ Branch here in Rotorua. After a stroke and early retirement we discussed our changed circumstances. They made several suggestions, and went the extra mile to help us implement a new budget that included rearranged payments on two things. We were given a 3 month break, the changed payment plan, and we got on top again as my health improved. This Bank is rated BBB which some would shun, but I have been with them since 1973. Norm was with Westpac. Their suggestion, ” You could sell up.” Needless to say he joined me at my bank!!. In Banks I am parochial.
Patricia B
Anecdotes like yours are very telling; proof of the pudding etc. As you say the grading BBB is interesting- based on what? Most of us will remember that right up to the GFC back a decade, the ratings agencies amongst them Standards & Poor’s (great name eh) were issuing gradings indicating the banks were AOkay to trade, and suddenly they weren’t. So what are gradings looking at?
On google:
Standard & Poor’s | Americas
https://www.standardandpoors.com/
In 28 countries around the world and a history that dates back more than 150 years, S&P Global Ratings provides high-quality market intelligence in the form of …
Ratings schmatings.
At the GFC hearings they admitted the ratings were ‘just their opinion’ and bore no resemblance to reality.
Yes Kevin;
Kiwibank was ruined under National ‘Key ism.’
Now it is seeded with corporate maggots now.
Jacinda needs to overhaul this bank we own?
She needs to deal firmly with the rorting insurance companies too!!!!!
I note that in Tuppence Shrewsbury’s fishing response he/she never showed concerns about out corrupt insurance companies,
Question is; – Does he/she (TS) work for that industry?
What specific policy did National implement in relation to Kiwibank that lead to it being ” seeded with corporate maggots “?
Personally I think you have little actual understandings of the workings of Kiwibank and are just spouting your unsubstantiated biased opinion.
I notice you smear me and avoid my question.
I don’t work in insurance, but I understand it and can comprehend policy wording. It’s not that difficult.
Were you opening a chequing account or seeking a loan? It makes a big difference if you are slagging a kiwi owned bank off and your accusation needs context
If you were applying for a loan – then looking at the profile you just gave – I’m not shocked you were turned down.
68 years old – single income (I assume from above)
Hardly the best risk profile.
But don’t you know he never missed a mortgage payment?
Which is the not the same as having security to allow a new one.
Pretty stupid rant really. Kiwi bank is consistently rated pretty high in customer satisfaction surveys, behind tsb but a long way ahead of ANZ. They also help keep NZ rural infrastructure in the form of post shops alive.
But if it ain’t rail, ol single issue nutter clean green ain’t interested
Yes we need to do this
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/growing-calls-treaty-waitangi-compulsory-part-school-curriculum?variant=tb_v_1
and shame
really? You are the co leader of a political party in power and you don’t know the articles contained within our founding document? ffs
Here let Gareth enlighten you – thanks Gareth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwWzcU51DB8&feature=youtu.be
Ardern was the OTHER “person at the highest level of Government” who couldn’t answer the question. Why single out Shaw when the PM and couldn’t answer the question either?
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today stumbled when asked by 1 NEWS what Article One of the Treaty says.
“Oh, Article One? On the spot?” Ms Ardern replied.
“Kawanatanga, sorry, excuse me,” she added when helped by ministers standing nearby.
So this is all okay with you?
Did i say that?
No you said why did I pick on him and not Jacinda. I suppose I was just surprised and disappointed really in James and the Greens.
It seemed we were going off on a tangent to my point which is why I asked if you are okay with this situation.
I hope the Greens walk the walk not just talk the talk.
I was also disappointed that Shaw could not answer that question i just didn’t think it was fair to not mention Ardern. Both should have been able to say.
I think though that not being able to immediately recall which article is which does not mean that they don’t understand the concepts involved.
As to my opinion on Treaty and Land Wars education being compulsory i have stated that many times here – I think it should be considered essential.
I think we are in agreement.
There are 3 articles and they aren’t that difficult – maybe the leaders should do some swot before this time next year
We can bet Jacinda will have been hunched over the books last night, which seems tardy for such a fundamental topic.
marty mars
I think you are a bit light on looking at understanding the Treaty. It is a bit difficult because of the application of the principle of it being a living document. So we start off with the three principles, then what meanings have been attributed to them. And what additional effects does each point have in certain circumstances and times and what interpretations have been made in current times.
So it could be a lively session as youngsters asked questions and discussed their views of the rights and wrongs. And even though they ended up not agreeing, they would understand more than the limited set of pre-judgments that they have embedded in their minds. Many adults have no understanding of the general principles of our law, and how being a law-based country is both restraining and freeing. There is little time in secondary and even primary I guess, spent on thinking about paradoxes and how we deal with them in culture and society, and how context makes its way into our thinking.
“I think you are a bit light on looking at understanding the Treaty.”
Probably. I was just touching very lightly on a specific area rather than going into it too deep. I have done some university papers around the treaty – I recommend it as well as chatting to tangata whenua at your local marae.
And Yes – think about going to the local marae TOMORROW 6 February Waitangi Day – it is the 6th of February all over the country not just at Waitangi!
Don’t let the overseas visitors have all the fun rapping and eating at the marae. Meet and eat with the local tangata whenua. Get there early and take part in the welcoming powhiri and hear what your Maori neighbours have to say about their special place. There will probably be some music, some singing, some kapa haka that has been practised and performed for everyone’s enjoyment and praise.
Take some money to buy food and you might see some interesting pendant or creative artwork. Embrace our nation’s biculturality, and there might be some multi-culture going on there too.
Great events at Te Āwhina Marae in Motueka and Whakatū Marae in Nelson.
I hope you enjoy our day.
Yes, the word “stumble” was used by the MSM except she didn’t stumble at all.
When faced with the question (which was designed to faze her) she openly said she had to think about it (or words to that effect) and them someone prompted her and immediately she recalled… and came up with the answer. A split second hesitation while she thought about it is NOT a stumble. A deliberately calculated wrong impression given in my opinion.
Thank you Anne for once again proving the bias against Ardern by MSM.
With her own rose coloured specs bias for Jacinda.
Proves nothing.
For Goodness sake. Are you serious”” How many times did PM Key say, I am not wearing that hat, I don’t have that available, etc.
PM Ardern pauses and is prompted and it is a crime??
You appear desperate…. Like MSM, trying to discombobulate!!
Spot on, Patricia – dead true.
I thought Willie Jackson gave her the answer?
Well to be fair she also didn’t know what GDP meant either so at least shes consistant 😉
puckish rogue
Oh yes, GDP, where the greedy get to control or own all the finite and priceless resources by pretending they have no value.
And fucking learn to spell while you’re at it.
While 😉
consistant at Dumbtionary.com. Consistent is the correct spelling for the word that you entered (consistant). This is based on commonly misspelled words.
consistant at Dumbtionary.com
http://www.dumbtionary.com/word/consistant.shtml
https://dumbtionary.wordpress.com/
And if it wasn’t so damned hot, I wouldn’t have sworn at you! But for being so clever, I’m glad I did.
Admittedly it was fairly low to start with, but my personal respecto-meter for Morgan just went up for the bloke after watching that.
Yep he did a good job with that vid and explanation.
Yes. The advantage of doing your homework. 🙂
I do wish more people would get that after its signing, Māori are part of both parties to the Treaty agreement including those represented by the Crown. Hence two bites at the cherry in some instances. And overwhelmingly generous in settlements as Morgan notes.
So do you agree with him that Maori ceded sovereignty? He doesn’t make sense on that as he says that the Tribunal is right to say that Ngapuhi did not cede sovereignty but then tries to argue that because they have accepted court rulings they have given up sovereignty so they did cede it in article one. Part of the build up to the Northern War was Ngapuhi chiefs not accepting the ruling of the courts. Just because they later accepted rulings because they had no choice does not mean they ceded it in the Treaty but rather that it was taken by force.
No I don’t agree. He’s good on the pithy explanation for those who don’t know but there is a lot more to know. I support tino rangatiratanga 100%
I really respect Morgan for trying to get educated in this area but his perspective is still simplistic. He starts by saying that the Treaty was signed by “two societies”. This is nonsense. The Treaty was singed by the British Crown and Iwi. What Morgan says is akin to saying that the EU is a treaty signed by Britain and Europe. At the time of the Treaty the word”Maori” just meant “ordinary person”. It was not a political or social structure.
He then goes on to argue that “Maori” own the water because they own everything that they have not sold to the Crown. But Hapu are mana whenua. Hapu own the resources. But if hapu owned the water what water did they own? Did they own the clouds above? Was it theirs when it fell on their whenua? When it flowed in their awa? Did it become the next hapu’s water when the awa crossed a territorial boundary? Could one hapu have built a dam and deprived the next of the water?
If it is the water falling on or passing through a whenua dictates ownership then shouldn’t this ownership right transfer when the land is sold? If that is the case then the Crown also owns water.
More importantly did Maori consider, and do they now consider, water as something that could or should be ‘owned’? Under English common law nobody owns water. This seems to me as a very sound principle. Morgan comes from the perspective of a capitalist economist. He seeks to determine the ownership of assets rather than enter into a complex philosophical discussion on disparate perspectives. Maori have specific interests in and rights to water while Pakeha have general rights. A reductionist capitalist asset allocation will not cut the mustard.
ps
That gringo should show more care with the lingo: “tay-ray-owe”
“At the time of the Treaty the word ”Maori” just meant “ordinary person”. It was not a political or social structure.”
Then why would the English have negotiated and sought signatures from iwi and hapu chiefs?
And in Te Ao Maori, water owns people who are charged with protecting it. The concept is of guardianship, not ownership.
Then why would the English have negotiated and sought signatures from iwi and hapu chiefs?
I don’t understand your question. Iwi and Hapu chiefs not Maori chiefs.
Those are political and social structures. They have been called ‘Māori’ as an umbrella term for the other party to the Treaty. What was your point?
Wow sounds like you have some great questions for tangata whenua tomorrow at the waitangi day ceremony, event and marae that you may be going to – let us know what they say.
I’ll be taking the kid to Waitangi for the day tomorrow but i’m going to try really hard to keep away from politics and spend the time with her absorbing the vibe.
Nice – wish I was up there too. I work tonight so my start to the day is later. Kia kaha – I really enjoy your comments and thinking.
Not too sure myself but off the bat –
Right to govern ceded to the Queen.
Land rights guaranteed.
Citizenship of the empire granted to all.
How did I do?
A +
I agree it should be part of the core curriculum, and I’m a bit surprised that it’s not.
But I think knowing the vibe of it is more important, even for representatives, than remembering the order or precise contents of the Articles for spot quizzes.
True.
I suspect because it is not uppermost in the majority of citizens minds they don’t think about it much. Pity it isn’t engraved, like the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution in the gun nut minds, into our consciousness.
The gun nuts usually forget the bit about a well regulated militia, though 😉
Yeah the analogy is weak. If people care they remember imo
Depending on the situation of whether they’re asked, and sometimes the value is in remembering that it’s there rather than the exact particulars.
It’s the sort of thing where if I sat down somewhere quiet and thought for a few minutes, I’d probably do better than if I had to answer it on my feet out of the blue.
True.
I think we can do better. Compulsory treaty learning seems the way to go.
Funny – how many remember the 3 ships Columbus used to get over the ditch before he ravaged the new lands. A lot I’d say yet hardly relevant to us here.
Interesting conversation with a Dairy owner yesterday. He has a dozen double glass door fridges, pie warmers, freezers, none of them his. Companies pay for the fridges, pay for and are prompt with maintenance, and: …. dictate what is allowed in their appliances.
It’s monopoly by stealth. You stock the fridge, you don’t stock the competitors products.
That’s why so many dairies have the same rubbish wall to wall. That’s why local pie makers and drink makers are pushing shit uphill before they get started.
Coke is the largest culprit, V is not far behind whoever owns them. Big Ben pies, fuck your horrible nasty products I can’t buy a decent pie because of your crap, and Irvines is similarly rubbish in a pastry wrap.
No wonder we’re in so much trouble. We spend our waking hours devising ways to fuck everyone else over so we can sell rubbish in place of food.
Business.
Yep that’s big business for you. Putting yourself in the dairy owners shoes, of course you would take the offer of free freezers etc. as it saves him thousands on buying and maintaining them himself.
But as you say, the flip side is the consumer has less choice of brands to choose from.
And I agree with you ….its hard to get a decent pie these days…..try finding a bakery some of them are good.
I’m guessing this is a resultant of the owner not having the capital to purchase there own fridge, and the reality of the income generated for them by the fridge as part of there business.
I’ve seen it in industry like 3D printing where the industrial scale versions have systems that control the materials used. They become hostage to the inflated price at say $600 kg when generic material is available at about $50 kg. Eventually competition provides machines allowing generic material and the extorting companies are abandoned.
Same as the fridge. The owner gets the capital to by there own fridge and can stock products without the extortionary use of the fridge providers products. It could be the business owner is happy with the arrangement and puts available capital spend elsewhere.
If you don’t like what they are selling don’t buy it. Want a nice pie go to a Bakery.
A similar situation exists with pubs where the taps etc are supplied by a brewery and the competitors’ products are banned.
Here’s an excerpt from a February 2017 Herald article.
“….. despite increasing consumption, there’s a mystifying lack of outlets showcasing the diversity of New Zealand’s brewing ecosystem.
“Most pubs and bars in New Zealand have ‘tied taps’, meaning that they are under contract to sell a limited range of beers owned by the brewery.”
Very evident on a road triStap in the southern South Island. Mind you, that’s when I go to pubs for meals and accommodation. At home there are two popular untied pubs, with excellent food as well as beer. One highlights Japanese food, the other German style.
There seems to be a link between quality of product sold and the commercial nature of the publican’s business arrangements. The untied seem to enjoy a different focus more on quality as well as variety.
The benefits to a small business are great. But it is still big money using big money to control small business, via either exclusion or contracted collusion.
I’m sure it’s all legal. That’s how they do if possible…
Yeah true about pubs aye. Two pubs per town. A Lion pub and a DB pub. And from region to region you couldn’t tell what you were walking into by brand of pub. In the Waikato the Bikers drank at Lion pubs, in Taranaki, DB… You never knew what was in the parcel from the packet. As a wee teen it paid to be careful. You could drink underage the length and breadth of the country but it was still an adults world.
A kid thumbing the road might seek solace from the sun. Might accidentally strut his mohawk hairdo into a Lion Pub on the outskirts of the Waikato, to find a Mongrel Mob bar full of patch members, he might order a shot instead of the beer he wanted, he might then down it and walk back out all cool like, but in a timely manner!
😀
Interesting.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018680874/laura-watts-orkney-s-sustainability-revolution
…the idea that remote rural communities are [slow?] allow on the uptake is demonstrably untrue in Orkney.
“Actually it is the opposite, when things are small-scale it means you know who to pick up the phone to make things happen, you’re fleet of foot.”
Orkney is now energy rich to the extent that it created a problem for its electricity grid.
“Having 120 percent energy generating is a serious problem, because it loads electricity on to the grid and when you start loading too much electricity on to cables they tend to blow fuses or melt – literally.”
Showing a knack for problem solving, the Islanders decided to generate hydrogen with the surplus power it was making, which it could then store or sell.
“Hydrogen fuel is one way that you can store electricity off the grid and bring it back on when you need it.
The islanders decided to take the surplus energy to run an electrolyser which splits sea water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The electrolyser sits on one of the Orkney islands called Edie, which has 180 residents.
“What’s going on in Orkney is neither a dystopian future where they’ve given up, nor is it a utopian future where they’ve said somebody else or technology will save the day.
“It’s not some renewable energy nirvana that’s going on, it’s a challenging place, part of what’s happening is because there are high levels of fuel poverty and there are still too many people in Orkney on fuel poverty all the initiatives are very much driven by how do we make the energy cheaper.”
Can we say the results and outcomes in NZ show that we have ‘a knack for problem solving’?
environment
3 Feb 2019
Laura Watts: Orkney’s sustainability revolution
From Sunday Morning, 8:38 am on 3 February 2019
Orkney used to be a study in how to use energy unsustainably. The archipelago off the northern tip of Scotland bought and imported all its power from coal and gas plants on the Scottish mainland.
These days it generates more electricity than it needs via a host of wind turbines and through capturing tidal energy
Author Laura Watts has studied the sustainable energy revolution taking place on the far-flung islands, she tells Jim Mora that innovation often occurs at the edge of things.
Maybe the interview on Radionz this morning would be pertinent to this matter – about nz coastal rips.
9:20 Predicting rips
University of Canterbury Coastal Geomorphologist Dr Seb Pitman is developing a way of mapping rip tides on Muriwai beach. He explains to Kathryn Ryan how GPS “drifters” could predict rips and make sea swimming safer.
Well said greywarshark;
My wife comes from ‘Herne Bay’ along the river Thames in UK.
At the coastal area of the English Thames river mouth where it meets the English channel we saw they install ‘Beakwaters’ after the horrific storm ruined her town of Hearne Bay in the 1950’s..
They have enormous ‘rip tides’ from the ‘north sea’ and calmed their areas of those coastal regions and river mouth waterways.
We saw these coastal regions being calmed by placing ‘ breakwaters’ along many tidal prone areas.
I guess those breakwaters could harness energy that could be used etc…..
More countries are choosing sides, re Venezuela.
European nations including France, Spain, Germany, Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands are supporting the leader of the opposition.
With everything going on and the population just wanting someone, anyone to save them from impending starvation as a result of economic collapse;, how much do people really know about Juan Guaido?
Interestingly enough Guaido made his claim as interim President the day after a call with Mike Pence.
Where there is oil, you can almost guarantee the USA is involved.
The Listening Post….. article is the first one up, approx 11 mins long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYpxcFsPDD8
If he could nationalise oil, why not rice?
Love your work Gabby 🙂
Guaido “is a Venezuelan engineer and politician serving as the President of the National Assembly of Venezuela since 5 January 2019. A member of the centrist social-democratic Popular Will party, he also serves as a federal deputy to the National Assembly, representing the state of Vargas. On 23 January 2019, Guaidó took a public oath to serve as interim President of Venezuela. The inauguration of Nicolás Maduro as President of Venezuela earlier that month was contested and the National Assembly considered the position vacant; under the Constitution of Venezuela, if the office of President of the Republic becomes vacant, the President of the National Assembly may serve as interim president until elections can be held.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Guaid%C3%B3
If people keep avoiding the fact that his assumption of the office was authorised by the Venezuelan Constitution, someone has to keep reminding them of reality. Could get tedious, eh? Those who would rather believe the neocon plot theory, or the lone-wolf competing with the dictator theory, ought perhaps to reassess the merit of such hallucinations.
“Part of a large family, and of modest origins, Guaidó was raised in a middle-class home by his parents, Wilmer and Norka. His father was an airline pilot and his mother, a teacher. One grandfather was a sergeant of the Venezuelan National Guard while another grandfather was a captain in the Venezuelan Navy.
Guaidó lived through the 1999 Vargas tragedy which left his family temporarily homeless; he lost friends and his school. The tragedy, according to his colleagues, influenced his political views after the then-new government of Hugo Chávez allegedly provided ineffective response to the disaster. He said, “I saw that if I wanted a better future for my country I had to roll up my sleeves and give my life to public service.”
Those seeking to demonise a young man who wants to provide his country with a positive alternative have an onus on them to present evidence that he is actually a demon. None have yet. Occam’s razor implies we ought to take him at face value unless we get good reason not to.
For balance, I suggest people read Chris Trotter’s article on The Daily Blog, as well as Gordon Campbell’s @ Werewolf.
Correction – only Chris trotter’s article.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/381749/history-teachers-decry-shameful-ignorance-of-colonial-maori-history
Now i have heard it all! Kelvin Davis and Chris Hipkins not willing to jump in and say yes our own history should be compulsory subjects. The affirmative is an obvious approach on the basis that ‘if we don’t know where we have come from, we can’t understand where and how we are going’.
We are lost in a sea of misinformation and withdrawal from truth and our achievements and also our fallacies and flaws under this privatisation approach that says no compulsion, no regulation and leaves our lives and commitment to our country to people who flap in the wind of commercial interests.
Thank god for Maori drive to know their history, and show capabilities, for instance in building a waka and sailing it to Raratonga. A visual symbol of greatness. How can we make the country great again, when we don’t know our past greatness in the first place?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/8699257/Waka-make-historic-trip
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Busby
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/top/381724/waitangi-roars-into-life-as-hekenukumai-busby-becomes-sir-hek
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/maori/news/article.cfm?c_id=252&objectid=12063372
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/kupe-voyaging-by-the-stars-1993
https://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/native-affairs-summer-series–dying-art-waka-building
They wouldn’t want people to find out there was a party for working people long time age greysy.
Long time ago – it must seem so to many – the ones born after 1984 and after the advent of the computerisation generation ‘CGs”.
Makes me think of Don McLean – ‘long time ago’ and ‘the day the music died’ from Bye Bye American Pie.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/don-mclean-american-pie-live-day-music-died-786825/
(https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/american-pie-not-about-buddy-holly-singer-don-mclean-says-60-years-later/
“Buddy Holly’s death is what I used to try to write the biggest possible song I could write about America. And not a ‘This Land Is Your Land’ or ‘America, the Beautiful” or something like that. I wanted to write a song that was completely brand new in its perspective.”
He added: “(It was) this idea of being a rock ‘n’ roll dream, or a fantasy, of some sort. But it’s a dream where things morph into other things.”
“The day the music died” initially refers to the plane crash, McLean said, but takes on “so many things” as the song progresses through six verses.
“The music is the poetry of life, it’s the spirit of something,” McLean said. “It’s the essence of art. It’s so many things. So, as the song develops after each verse, that music has died, you see? So I realize at a metaphor it was perfect for what I was thinking.”
Many of us are thinking that now.
+ 1 yep – until we know the past our foundation will continue to be weak and the society we have built on it a fragile, tottering lie. Proof? Suicide stats and all the rest of the indicators even down to our filthy water in our rivers and beaches.
If you want to see a car crash interview watch this one with Ken Livingstone on Venezuela.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUG2gZGTSmU&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3rFoN0lyzNIGw5GEbgM-8T9oO3msP9vKizC6MqKy23J8yVA8UJnWg3M6I
Best Line – ” I know the economy has been damaged by sanctions because the Venezuelan ambassador told me”
LOL!
Stealing children from their parents and placing them with the right families looks like child trafficking and smells like child trafficking.
The tRump regime is a child trafficking cartel
And not one motherfucker will see jailtime over it.
but they are good christian families ……………and these are little catholic heathen children that should be lucky to be so lucky.
what they are saying is we don’t know where the children are, and we can’t possibly get them back, and we don’t know where the parents are…and besides its business, really good business for the ones that run the internment camps for babies, toddlers to teenagers, for the adoption businesses (the christian ones DeVos comes up again and again), and besides the US will need an underclass in twenty years as much as they need their underclass now. After all how can all the white people feel superior if they are no others left to be superior too?
Everything that i was afraid would happen before the election came true. And so many so many many many could not give a flying fuck, cause he is not beholden to money, he will drain the swamp, he will not start world war three, he is not corrupt, he is this and he is that, and he is all i ever wanted him to be, despite the fact that the man in his whole life has shown nothing but contempt for everyone and everything, has bankrupted everything he laid his hands on, has lusted after his daughter publicly, and to boot has surrounded himself with the worst that the US has to offer in supporters and enablers.
Every single Trump supporter, water carrier, should be ashamed. Simply that. Nothing more nothing left. Just shame, and pity for children who will never be really whole again.
I read both the standard and kiwiblog because I find them both on the same pegging. The Standard is generally quite centre left and Kiwiblog quite centre right. I avoid whale oil and the daily blog because Slater and Bomber share the same traits – just on different sides of the fence.
My politics are much aligned with the standard but occasionally kiwiblog does something worth considering and this post I thought was very good:
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2019/02/pm_fell_for_the_quiz_trick.html
I agree.
Jacinda should have told the idiot reporter that she wasn’t playing those games
Yep. Totally stupid question, and a good response by Farrar.
Arse.
It was a red meat cue for his commenters to insult, exercise their bigotry and vent their vile, misogynist bile .
It played to the assumption that politicians ought to know what they’re talking about. Why should they? Representatives elected to represent most people are selected because most see them as an accurate match. So the aggregate effect, as per statistics, locates them atop the bell curve, centred on the exact median intelligence of the populace. How many kiwis could tell you the correct answer? Way less than 1%! Unreasonable to expect politicians to be less ignorant than the average voter…
I despair for your reasoning that those in charge of leading our nation should not be more intelligent than the average voter.
I wasn’t thrilled by the realisation when it first occurred to me years ago. But it stands to reason, eh? Identity politics, people identify most with the one they tick at the ballot box. Lowest-common-denominator design of democracy ensures that mediocrity is produced as output.
That’s why I started advocating meritocracy as a positive alternative. We can use codesign to evolve it as an alternative political system. Not to replace democracy, but to complement it.
Another death resulting from easy-peasy attitudes. A Korean man with family and little English holidaying here. Sandboarding down slope. Part of a group on one bus. A second bus pulls into the area where he will slide to a stop. He goes under the bus while his family watches. Why can’t tourist companies work together and help keep their precious trusting customers safe? Cosset them FGS.
Just run through some what-ifs and be ahead of the problems that will crop up.
Health and Safety are OTT often but you can see their necessity when there are so many cowboys running companies, or with employees that haven’t had the job and methods properly explained to them. How do companies feel about their employees suffering at having been involved in this sort of thing. The sadness and the nightmares, and the shakes? Everyone suffers. We need to do better.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/381779/korean-tourist-s-sandboarding-death-preventable-police
The beach is classed as a road so road rules apply. Who is responsible for a “pedestrian stepping out onto the “road?”
Ah. Well the first thing to consider is that both buses are in the tourism business and so it is wise to not go running down each other’s clients. Not good for business.
Then the next is that there is always an over riding rule about driving in that the speed and manner should be suitable for the conditions. Though I imagine that a driver would not expect a pedestrian to come shooting down a dune beside which he is driving, at a great rate of knots, so his shock and surprise can be understood. So we come back to due care and attention in driving into an area with super-speed people on toboggans shooting around the place.
And then consider a need for caution in looking after people from a different country, not speaking English, and who expect a modicum of expertise and care in a supposedly sane, civilised country. They put their trust in us and find it wanting because we are wanting in the head, just a little, but she’ll be right!
After just reading a bit of Bertie Wooster I may have imbibed a bit of PG Wodehouses style I’m afraid. But still I think I have covered your points ianmac.
If anyone thinks the State owning businesses is a desirable goal Venezuela should give you pause for thought.
“Even so, De Freitas said the initial findings paint a picture of an oversized state hemorrhaging money — at a time when the country desperately needs it. The organization found that 70 percent of the 511 companies have produced losses in 2016 totaling 1.29 trillion bolivares — or about $129 billion dollars. That amount is 14 percent higher than what the government earmarked for education, health, housing, and social security that same year.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article138402248.html
Ok mate, then what about SOE’s in the Western style Gulf States and in Singapore along with Singapore’s State run Super?
We also have the Nordic Nations SOE’s (Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland) and their State run Super schemes?
Would you care to explain why they are going gangbusters? Which are in your warp mind of the free market Neo- Con/ Lib BS shouldn’t be State Own or State Run. I don’t why you keep craping on about some tin pot country in Latin America? Because I really don’t give a shit about as there are important issues in the SP Region and NZ that need addressing than a bunch of muppets with their fingers in that country’s coffers.
A State run investment scheme is not the same as a State Owned Enterprise.
So what you are saying that all those countries mentioned should disinvest from their SOE’s that are making a return/ profit for their taxpayers and the State disinvest from them as they distorted the so- call free market in your little warped mind of your Neo- Lib/Con BS. Even though they protect the economic wealth of those mentioned countries over the longer term, unlike little old NZ which flogged off almost all of its SOE’s and as a result has gone backwards compared to those countries over the longer term.
From you logic it seems in your warped little mind the State should only divest from assets when they make a loss. While I don’t care when the State divests themselves of such assets your option will mean far less return than if they were sold if they were profitable.
No Sir, having read your posts over the years. Is that you lot believe that all Governments should disinvest from all Government SOE’s and leave it to the market to sort out?
Unlike those countries that I mentioned, they have use those profits to be invest back into to those SOE’s or into a Sovereign Wealth Fund for a rainy day or in a couple cases they have use the interest payments to reduce government tax income in which they still maintain a higher standard of living across the with well funded Government Departments such as Health, Education etc.
In the case the of NZ, you lot flogged everything off, lower taxes to the upper echelons of society, screw the workers employment rights and WHS aka Pike River Coal Mine along with wrecking every Government Department though lack of funding and making them run as business. As you lot have said the market is always right and private industry is better than Government.
Well these countries that I have mentioned compared to your tin pot country from South America that you keep crapping on about, must be doing something wrong then?
Btw I have none time in Singers and in a couple of the Western Style Gulf States and met a few the ministers along the way. They can’t get their head around the stupidity of the Neo Con/Lib economic theory that you lot brought in from the mid 80’s to the present. Us Expat Kiwi’s BS unlike you sir or your dumb ass backers/ oil snake salesman of the Neo Con/ Lib economic theory.
The Vikings, Arabs, and the jokers from Singers aren’t the stupid ones here, lovely boy! But you Mr Magoo and your Neo Con/ Lib Mates who are after a quick buck for the race to the bottom of the nearest pissaphone or thunderbox are the stupid ones here.
Not to mention filling the public service with incompetent status obsessed funknuts from the private sector management sump.
You mean, SMEFA Subject Matter of Fuck All or LARToBOP Lazy And Ripping Taxpayers off By Over Pricing.
Or this one from the UK as they are now the sole provider of HM Combat Ships, BAES Big And Expensive Ships.
Or this one which I forgot to mention, when a private contractorscomes round saying they have fixed the problem and when they really haven’t. ISBACSICRT’O I Should Be A Contractor So I Can Rip Taxpayers Off.
Which is still less return than if they weren’t sold at all.
You assume they make money if they remain in State hands. The example of Venezuela (and many other countries) suggests they don’t.
xkf has mentioned other examples that suggest they do.
Hell, we sold profitable SOEs because… foolishness.
State run is state run El Gozzerino.
Yeah – but then we have all the local evidence of privatisations, which shows unequivocally that the private sector generally only contributes corruption. Service standards fall, promises made to secure the assets (Max Bradford’s “prices will fall”) prove to be lies, cost of living rises and the state is deprived of income for social spending. That evidence, the applicable evidence, shows incontrovertibly that privatization is essentially fraud in drag as business, and no NZ citizen should support it for a moment – in fact we ought to press our politicians to reverse the rorts that have fallen short of the promises made to justify looting the public estate.
Go and tell it to the Venezuelans, I’m sure they know more about what works and doesn’t in their own country than any far-right foreigner.
Happy Chinese New Year. We are now in the year of the pig – gonna be a good one especially for those turning 60. Doesn’t bode well for some lol
“Unlucky things
Colors: blue, green”
dang it back to the drawing board gnat big brains.
I’m a Horse so all good.
If anyone is interested in knowing more about Chinese Astrology, here is the forecast for the year from Lillian Bridges who lives in the US but learned from her Chinese grandmother. Very well respected author, speaker and teacher.
https://flowermountain.org/year-of-the-pig?fbclid=IwAR35x9_jRwK0_HP1mZO_RN_YXWDj7ff52mA8jilFbVWAFFls1GE5xpcgON0
I’m sure it’s not at all a giant load of codswallop.
yay NOW the year can begin…
Maintenance of the Treaty
The British people Raided, Stole, Enslaved, Slaughtered numerous peoples under Queen Elizabeth 1, 1553 – 1603.
The British raided 90 different Nations from Elizabeth’s time up unitl very recently.. If you look at the school map of “British Empire” you will see the extent of its Rape.
When it Raided and Stole New Zealand, it took Maori Children, Women and Men to War. By Gun. That was in 1840. It handed the the reluctant Maori people a defective Treaty.
The Bastard Thieving Brits have never apologised. They never do.
Supporting the Maori is expensive. The Bill is largely paid by the low wage workers Pakeha and Maori.
To ease the situation for Maori and the low paid workers (pakeha and Maori) I believe that a levy should be paid by the excessively wealthy New Zealanders and their Share Holders. Their Tax Rorts included.
The burden thrown on NZ by the British Crown needs attention. It needs it now.
Lets do it.
There was war between Maori tribes before Europeans arrived in NZ. Was there ever apology between tribes after these battles ? Just wonder as maybe it was only passed down with oral history ?
There must have been or that Te Rauparaha haka wouldn’t be so widely used would it. Be a bit of a slap at the descendants of his victims.
Josie Butler banned, but Brash and Tamaki are okay?!?!?!?!?
What the F*&K is going on in this country?
Checkpoint, RNZ National, Tuesday 5 February 2019. 5:38 p.m.
Josie Butler should have been given a medal for throwing a dildo at that dickhead Steven Joyce in 2016. Instead, she’s been banned from the Treaty grounds, while a vicious racist (Don Brash) and a rabble-rousing thug (Brian Tamaki) are allowed free access.
This is a disgraceful affair, instigated by some disgusting chump at Police HQ, and featuring the usual dispiriting cast of sad lickspittles and minor officials. Most contemptible of the lot of them is one Peter Paraone, who apparently was a New Zealand First List M.P. for some years. If he was, no one noticed him.
This afternoon, Paraone finally did something to force himself on the public’s attention. He nodded his head and said “Yes boss.”
LISA OWEN: So you banned her because the Police requested you to ban her?
PETER PARAONE: Uh, yes.
LISA OWEN: Why?
….Long silence….
PETER PARAONE: Uh, I’m not familiar with the detail….
I think people who throw things should be banned. Appalling behaviour to treat anyone that way. If we want people to turn up to Waitangi then they at least need to feel safe.
Law professor Andrew Geddis is not amused: https://twitter.com/acgeddis/status/1092645672979853313
Hi Bazza64
I could agree with you that there are major inequalities between various parts of New Zealand currently. Also major variations in incomes.
Wealthy New Zealanders however, are not at all interested in paying realistic wages to their staff.
You may have heard that no low wage Worker can afford to Buy a home in New Zealand. Not can they afford Rental accommodation without skinflint assistance.
I hope you avoid Poverty Bazza64.
I’m not in poverty & agree housing costs have turned totally unrealistic, not just for low wages earners. I think the statement about wealthy NZers not interested in paying realistic wages may not be accurate – not sure where you get this from ? Most NZ businesses are small & while I agree that employees should be paid more, I know quite a few small businesses whose owners work long hours & their hourly rate isn’t flash either.
To: Bazza64
Your pertinent words:
“I know quite a few small businesses whose owners work long hours & their hourly rate isn’t flash either”.
The rise and rise of big Business is the destruction of small Business.
The huge resources of big Business have been allowed to all but obliterate the former opportunities of individuals and families in our Country. Thanks to our appalling politicians.
The money Big Business makes in NZ, is shipped out to its owners in Australia, Korea, China, Saudi Arabia. And god knows where else. Further adding to the poverty of individuals and families in NZ.
The only solution I can see is to Levy the very wealthy sector of Business and the Wealthy (and their Share Holders) so that Financial Equity returns to New Zealanders.
So that the Banks operating here should return at least 1 Billions of $dollars Per Annam. And so on to all the Businesses of great wealth.
All that our Parliament has done since the rise of National is denude the wealth of Aotearoa. This must be turned around. And Quickly.
You’re totally correct re big business – the worst thing is companies like Apple, Google etc make money here, but seem to pay very little tax. There was an outcry about this several months ago, but I haven’t heard anything more since then, hopefully government will update the tax rules to stop this happening.
It’s great to read details surrounding Te Tiriti O Waitangi being discussed and debated in Open Mike today. Hopefully a healthy discussion will continue tomorrow, 6 February.
We should do this for every person the Australian Government tries to deport to New Zealand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2G4Q0_hNhU