Our 'Nuclear Free Moment' is upon us. We have three years to start lowering our emissions before the bomb goes off.
Instead of trying to defuse the bomb, we have been setting the timer.
Global emissions must peak in just three years to stay below 1.5°C
A major report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that the window for avoiding more than 1.5°C of global warming has almost closed, with immediate and drastic cuts the only way to stay below the target
Adam Vaughn – New Scientist, 4 April 2022
Scientists say rapid, deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions can still keep the world’s target of holding global warming to 1.5°C within reach, but humanity’s emissions must peak within just three years to avoid breaching the important limit.,,,
….how societies can meet that tight “carbon budget” require emissions to peak by 2025, before falling 43 per cent by 2030 on 2019 levels. That would require a gargantuan political effort,
From the sound of it I had thought it was probably the launch of Putin's new superyacht which would be available to him when he seeks refugee status here.
Instead it is just another repeat of what we have been told is coming … sometime … maybe.
By the way did you see the date on Anne's first link? Where we have the bold claim that "This is my generation's nuclear-free moment and I am determined that we will tackle it head on". Five years ago. What happened?
“Our climate targets are not optional, they are critical – the Emissions Reduction Plan will set out how we are going to achieve them, and what we must all do to make it happen.
“There are those who will try and tell you, when it comes to climate change, New Zealand is too small to be counted – this report should well and truly dispel us of that notion. We are part of the problem and we must be part of the solution,” the Minister said."
Are you aware of what is being launched in New Zealand in May this ?
I am aware it will not be a gargantuan effort.
I am aware that it will not stop our emissions increasing.
I am aware that 'it', climate change, will NOT be something we will "tackle head on".
I am aware that coal will still be mined and exported from this country.
I am aware that Huntly Coal Fired Power Station will still remain operating.
I am aware that green house emitting companies like Air New Zealand and Comalco will still continue to receive government subsidies.
I am aware that the price of fossil fuels will not have to take into account the price of their emissions. This cost to be loaded on to future generations.
I am aware that things will be the same the day after the May climate change launch as they were the day before the climate change launch.
I am aware no leadership will be taken.
I am aware that despite our government's overwhelming majority in the house of representatives, not one single concrete enforceable piece of legislation will be passed to actually reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. And that our Greenhouse gas emissions will keep on increasing. Because, Y'know 'consensus'.
I am aware that Blah, Blah, Blah, will be the rule and not the exception.
Does anyone here have a hybrid car? I had my snazzy little Toyota Vitz stolen on Friday. Do they make a hybrid version? Are they more expensive and whereabouts in Auckland would they be available? Used of course. Can't afford a new car.
I have a Toyota Aqua that's really cheap to run .Would be great in a town situation .If I don't have to make the 2 hour trip into the city, I usually spend currently about $15 a week on petrol.
It happened in the early hours Friday morning – the day I had been cleared to start driving again after knee op. Car had been sitting in garage unused for six weeks and the garage is invisible from the road.
Prowlers have been prowling?
Yes you’re right. Mine was very economical to run.
Yes I have a hybrid. Cut down my emissions by half. And extremely reliable. Only tyres and regular service in the 5 years of ownership. Best car ever and that includes a number of expensive European cars. Toyota make a hybrid corolla and the aqua. My next car. Full electric does not have the range I need here. Apart from the expensive tesla.
Thanks for that Macro. Will certainly look into it. Price is a big consideration but I should like to do my bit to reduce emissions.
Yesterday around 3 pm I went for a walk to my local shopping precinct. Passed 3 schools on the way. A grammar school, intermediate and primary. I was staggered! SUV after SUV plus a few 4WD’s were parked along the roads – all of them with their motors running. It was a hot day too. I estimate there was around 30 to 40 of them and that might be an underestimate. I wanted to pull those entitled mums out of their cars and give them right bollocking.
The government should be implementing both a fuel and energy conservation campaign.With the former we will struggle to maintain our existing current account deficit,and there are significant shortages in distillates especially jet fuel and diesel.A good example of bad timing for shutting the refinery down.Diesel is in global shortage.
Electricity is at the security warning stage,with low hydro and wind,and only coal sustaining continuity of supply and whose price is also upsiding (australian coal exports will be north of 150 billion this year and their current account surplus at record levels)
If you do the economy would shrink substantially and the ones that suffer most will be all those who are on the bottom of the heap so to speak.
I think a lot of the consequences are being silenced, opening the door for more state control.
At the same time no one is making any suggestion what to do with those 3 – 4 million cars running on conventional fuel. Just discard them onto a deserted field? Or the ocean? Down a bank? You can drive to the landscape and find plenty of unwanted wrecks.
Have any of those who have the great ideas ever considered to look at means converting existing cars to hydrogen or other fuels? Maybe all those billionaires who have profited from the oil boom can finance that (year right Tui). It would be a small contribution to make good on the damage on which they earned their fortune.
And just to make clear, NZ has no public transport to speak off to maintain a daily routine for its workers whose income will never be enough to afford these cars. Either several billion dollars are being invested in the network or alternative fuels are being made available.
As for electric cars, they are not affordable for most average wage earners.
And of cause there is the issue of the batteries. NZ has neither the skills nor the means of recycling that needs different processes for different types.
So another very very dirty disposal of DG material in the landscape?
How do you reconcile all of this and what are the plans to implement other then to hand more money to the rich?
"EV batteries are larger and heavier than those in regular cars and are made up of several hundred individual lithium-ion cells, all of which need dismantling. They contain hazardous materials, and have an inconvenient tendency to explode if disassembled incorrectly.
EV BATTERIES are constructed a bit like nested dolls. Typically, a main pack holds several modules, each of which is constructed from numerous smaller cells (see graphic, below). Inside each cell, lithium atoms move through an electrolyte between a graphite anode and a cathode sheet composed of a metal oxide. Batteries are usually defined by the metals in the cathode. There are three main types: nickel-cobalt-aluminum, iron-phosphate, and nickel-manganese-cobalt.
I'm pretty sure running a substack page only produces an moderate independent writers income, quite far from millions. And in Joe Rogans case he made his deal well before covid began and certainly has plenty of non ivermectin material.
It looks like the withdrawal by the Russians has been rushed and chaotic. From the images that have been seen on the news, the Russians have been heavily attacked as they withdrew, and it looks like there are pockets left behind that may well end up as POWs.
The battle looks likely to move to the east. However, I have seen other reports that the Russians soon may run into difficulty there as temperatures are increasing, rain is forecast, and the whole area could become very muddy and difficult to manoeuvre their heavy weapons into.
Also, it looks like NATO is moving to supply heavier, more offensive weapons to Ukraine.
Along with all the anti-tank and anti-aircraft munitions that have been helping the Ukranians defend expertly, the addition of heavier weapons may well swing the balance of the conflict in their favour.
Such weaponry being moved east will be a target for the Russian air force, so moving it should occur after advanced forces are in place with stingers on aircraft flight paths first (to take down aircraft before they can attack).
Yes. I think they are getting more long range anti-aircraft systems as well. I hope they NATO bends and supplies them with more planes. Anti-artillary systems, and a lot more than 100 switchblade drones would make a major difference as well. Anti-ship missiles could be a game changer as a lot of cruise missiles are fired from Russian ships.
A big concern I have for them is that, as they fight further east, the logistic problems that have plagued the Russians could start becoming an issue for the Ukranians. So, will be interesting to see how they handle that.
I understand the Ukranian army now has more tanks than they had at the start of the war due to captured equipment from the Russians. An advantage for them is that they use the same sort of equipment as the Russians, so anything they capture they can put back into immediate service and attack the Russians with their own equipment.
I think one of their main advantages is that they are not so dependent on heavy armour, and are able to attack in small groups that are very impactful with Javelin missiles and the like. This makes them much harder to deal with is they are harder to see. Also, the weather is soon moving into the Ukranians favour.
If Russian tanks etc are forced onto roads they are going to be major targets for the Ukranian Bayraktar drones which are highly effective and help equalise the air power imbalance.
One of the things in favour of the Ukrainians in the north is that there is a lot of forest cover that has enabled the Ukranians to be very effective in setting up ambushes.
I saw a video about the 40km Russian convoy that was stalled. Apparently that was stopped in its tracks by a team of about 30 Ukranians on quad bikes who ambushed the front vehicles of the convoy by riding through forest. They the helped co-ordinate continuing drone strikes on the convoy that was basically paralyzed for a few weeks.
A problem for the Ukranians in the east is that the terrain is much more favourable towards tanks in that it has a lot more open, flat areas of ground. So could be more difficult for them to deal with the Russians there.
That is where the weather may help. If the ground becomes very slushy as predicted, then the open areas may not benefit the Russians so much.
Russian aircraft have low accuracy older technology.
Pilots have had free reign up until the Ukraine.Raining bombs down on chechnia and Syria with no opposition.
Now they are getting shot out of the sky,Morale will be waning just like the ground troops.
Hunger and desperation at home will be another morale sapping indignation.
Afghanistan lead to the break up of the Soviet Union.This could be an end for Putin.All that is needed is a General to turn the Russian military on Putin like what happened to Yeltsin a Drunk.Putin Drunk on power will be going into deep hiding maybe making the task easier for some up an coming Secret agent.
A short summary of an interview with Alain Juillet, former head of France's intelligence services DGSE, on the origins of the war.
He says everyone saw the Ukraine war coming, that "only those who know nothing about this matter can say it was a surprise"…
He says "the French, the Germans, the Russians and the Ukrainians signed the Minsk agreements in 2014 but the Ukrainians didn't respect the agreement during the entire period since. And the Russians were telling us all the time to get them to respect the agreement but we didn't."
He says it's unacceptable to invade a country but he also says that "we are co-responsible for it."
He was also a pro Kremlin pro Poots talking head on RT, a former para-military and one-time leader of the DGSE, the French spook outfit with a shit-list as long as your arm.
The DGSE were responsible for the murder of Fernando Pereira, too.
@aj…, now why isn't that sort of important context carried as a MSM news story?…why wouldn't our state owned news outlet, RNZ, strive to keep the NZ public fully informed with stories, information and news from every angle possible…so the NZ public could eventually form a coherent picture with that information…but no, RNZ will only deliver one view and one view only,.
RNZ are a disgrace to their trade, but worse, misinform the NZ public…..non-reporting of facts is exactly the same as reporting misinformation…and that is a fact.
For his part, Lavrov described the talks as open and useful but he accused NATO of working against Russia. He reiterated Moscow's position that it had "never threatened the Ukrainian people" and had no plans to attack Ukraine.
He also accused the Ukrainian government of using "state terrorism" against the rebels in the east and "sabotaging" the Minsk peace agreements on the conflict there.
Well, if you are concerned with the facts, and not merely the Kremlin feed, you might want to make some use of Meduza. Reporting on Russia, by Russian reporters.
Come on man…that is not what any sane, thinking, serious person would regard as balanced reporting…do you even know what balanced reporting is or looks like?..because from were I am sitting it doesn't appear that you do.
It must be said that your idea of "Balanced Reporting" appears to be confined to the propaganda organs of the Russian state, and a handful of dubious sites like Craig Murray or Consortium News. So clearly you don't meet any of the criteria you set: sane, thinking, or serious.
It seems to be all a joke to you, the constant lying of the Russian state. Meduza is a group of Russian journalists who risk their lives to bring you the truth – but you prefer Putin's lies. People with long familiarity with this culture of dishonesty (and yes, that includes me) do not hurry to swallow Russian disinformation.
Here a retired Estonian president, intimately familiar with this dishonesty, explains it, for folk like you, who clearly are not.
Adrian, as you should be well aware NZ dances almost entirely to the 5eyes tune, 99% of reporting. Select any one days of headlines from the last month and find any story questioning the narratives.
Western media is proving itself again quite incapable of giving citizens anything near a clear, balanced view of yet another important world event…although this I have to say they are really out doing themselves..now they (RNZ being one of the worst local offenders) are just pumping our straight propaganda without even trying to hide their extreme hawkish basis or pretending to offer even the slightest hint of balance in any of their coverage….though we should remember that this unhinged, dangerous and extremely vocal anti Russia propaganda has been being spewed out by all our press, and by all leading US politicians/pentagon without letup for five or six years now….and then we wonder why the Russians are paranoid of their boarders?
Russian troops have opened a "bazaar" in Belarus to trade and sell property looted during the invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate (GUR) alleged on Saturday.
Yeah but at least his misspelling revealed something about how Putin sees anyone who opposes him whether in Ukraine or Russia – typical gulag era tyrant.
@ SPC…."Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate (GUR) alleged on Saturday"…are you actually seriously going to link to GUR allegations as part of your debate?…..would you believe allegations made by Russian intelligence?
The destruction can still be seen several weeks later. "They even plundered the second-hand clothing store," scoffs a resident who returned after the town was liberated. "Was that the plan? Invade the place to make off with used clothing? We would have been happy to just send it to them."
The Verkhovna Rada has approved a law providing for the nationalization of the property of Russian citizens, as well as Ukrainian citizens who publicly deny the war.
The document clarifies that residents of Russia (except for legal entities) are also citizens of Russia, as well as persons who are not citizens but have the closest connection with Russia: those who reside or are engaged in major activities there.
You missed the bit where Ukrainian citizens also can have their property confiscated.Ah, the sanctity of private property.Ukraine seems to be full of traitors, from the Ukrainian negotiator who was assassinated to the Ukrainian Generals removed from their posts
Post WW2 most European countries de facto seized the assets of their respective Quislings, collaborators and traitors with a combination of some or all of imprisonment, fines, stripping of civil rights, outright seizure and summary or judicial execution.
This has to be one of the stupidest threads I have seen on TS. Are you seriously complaining that Ukraine is not respecting property rights when their cities are being flattened and citizens murdered in the street, by an invader intent on stealing as much territory as possible???!!!
Ukraine historically has a Russian population of 17%.Its like declaring war on almost a fifth of your population 'Oh wait , they already did, been bombing and killing them since early 2014 , for 8 years straight
You know what's actually "like" declaring war? Invading a country with a couple hundred thousand troops after annexing some of its territory for 8 years..
It is possible that on Saturday the full extent of the horror had yet to emerge
It's correct, until absolute verification either way, the possibility of fakes should be explored. After all, the Ukrainians could have shot those civilians or driven over them in tanks themselves or taken dead soldiers, put them in civvies, and made them up to look like old men and women.
Yes, this could have been staged. It could have been indeed, so that is why it is best to wait to see what comes out from it. It would not be the first time that terrible people get accused of something they did not do, and years later it was found out.
Such is the hatred of Russians or suspected Russian sympathisers , and the hunt for Russian "saboteurs"that we can't know until a proper independent investigation is done.If this is not done, one would have to ask why?
It's very easy to ascertain time of death for instance, or whether bodies have been shifted.
From another angle, the arming of civilians , as Zelensky enabled, was in my opinion a totally dumb move, putting untrained civilians in harms way .Does a civilian shooting at a soldier become a combatant?
1 – The Russians invaded the Ukraine in an unprovoked war of aggression. This is in itself is the highest of war crimes. Wars of aggression have been recognised as crimes since the Treaty of Versailles, and international agreements outlawing them have existed since at least the 1920s. THE VERY FIRST ARTICLE of the UN Charter declares the UN exists to "…for the suppression of acts of aggression…" All and any war crimes related to a war of aggression are therefore by definition also crimes of the perpetrating nation.
2 – The definition of a combatant in international law is hardly a secret, the Geneva conventions define a combatant as "…members of national armed forces or organized groups placed under the effective control of those forces…" Therefore Ukrainian territorial defense forces – even if in civilian clothing – are combatants. And combatants are, at least notionally, protected by the protocals of the Geneva convention – which, I guess I need to spell out, includes not being shot in the back of the head whilst tied up.
3- satellite imagery shows mass graves and bodies in Bucha as far back as three weeks ago, why do you think Biden called Putin a war criminal last week? The United States has better satellites than Maxar, they would have known – as an aside on Morning Report today Nanaia Mahuta mentioned NZ had been "helping" in the collecting of evidence – an oblique reference IMHO to our role in the five eyes network.
4 – If your army have just liberated a town and are chasing the enemy, don't you think they'd have more imprtant things to do (like, say, killing Russian soldiers) than conduct an elaborate exercise in fabricating a massacre?
a totally dumb move, putting untrained civilians in harms way
And dispatching untrained civilians to a mechanised war?
A battalion of volunteers is being formed in North Ossetia to take part in a special military operation in Ukraine. Recruitment takes place on the basis of DOSAAF.
As the director of DOSAAF, MP Boris Kantemirov, told OsNova, for volunteers, this is an opportunity to go to Ukraine within the framework of the law and rules.
“There is an opportunity for people who want to go there, so that they are not on their own, but have an official status. We have a mechanism that will allow us to bring all this under control, so that everything is correct, without spontaneity and in an organizational form. At the same time, the presence of military service behind the shoulders of volunteers is not a prerequisite. We understand that today not everyone has military tickets,” Kantemirov said.
There are a lot of applicants, he says. Many have already gone.
“Everyone understands that this is not just a war in Ukraine, but a war of the whole world against Russia. A lot of people have already left.”
The head of the republican branch of DOSAAF noted that the organization will play a filtering role when recruiting volunteers. Lists of those wishing to take part in a special operation in Ukraine will be transferred to the military registration and enlistment office.
They're forming a volunteer militia , just like Zelensky called for, (but later cancelled as the quality of recruits was so low)
They'll be filtered and assessed and placed under the supervision of regular military
That a far cry from the babushka being trained with wooden rifles by Azov in Kiev, and just opening up the armory for anyone to grab a gun, along with released criminals.
In the liberated city of Bucha, Kyiv region, special units of the National Police of Ukraine began clearing the area of saboteurs and accomplices of Russian troops.
This was reported on Facebook by the National Police of Ukraine.
@The Al1en…"It's correct, until absolute verification either way, the possibility of fakes should be explored"….exactly right, you would think any responsible media outlet would take that statement of your as a given…but as they all seem to believe that they themselves (the western media) are now at war with Russia, by extension, everything they say is now highly suspect.
@ roblogic…thanks, Micheal Tracy really hits the nail on the head at the bottom of that twitter link…..
"Call it "whataboutism," I don't care: it's impossible to take seriously this sudden newfound concern for "war crimes" coming from some of the same exact people who never gave a crap about similar or worse "crimes" committed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, etc."
That would be because your concern relates to superpower regimes, not the populations suffering the atrocities. Thus you could exculpate Assad for instance, for his activities against Aleppo, by claiming a parallel with US behaviour in Iraq, which the Left also strongly condemned.
Laws, as Solon noted, are like spider webs: "If some poor weak creature comes up against them, it is caught; but a big one can break through and get away.”
It is difficult to bring a Bush fils or a Putin to justice. Assad is easier prey.
Prosecuting the Assads makes it easier to bring the Bushes and Putins to justice – we don’t let them off the hook just because some other villains are momentarily out of reach.
"It is difficult to bring a Bush fils or a Putin to justice. Assad is easier prey.Prosecuting the Assads makes it easier to bring the Bushes and Putins to justice"….wow you really are living in a fantasy world over there pal…Bushes, Putins never get brought to justice, end of story.
That pathetic argument is just as hopeless as all your other twists of reality. There have been many condemnations of various American misadventures on this site and other left wing outlets. The MSM happened to ignore them for its own reasons.
Criticism of Russia doesn’t make all media American shills.
"The MSM happened to ignore them for its own reasons"…but do run Ukrainian news 24/7…and that doesn't ring even just a small alarm bell somewhere down deep in that highly repressed critical thinking part of your brain?
Whataboutism" – a term created to extract western warmongers from the difficult position of having done All The Bad Things they accuse others of doing. When someone uses it on you, it means you just killed their argument and exposed their moral bankruptcy.
OK – it is from RT which the critics will decry and the commentary is from Scott Ritter whose background has been attacked ever since he was removed from Iraq so that the team he was with didn't compromise yet another US war of choice but this may interest you The Al1en
Seen the video of ordinary Russians and the hatred they have for Ukrainians? It is disturbing. The slur "Khokhol" is common. Similar to the dehumanising language employed by N*zis during the Holocaust.
All Russian units completely withdrew from Bucha on March 30, and ‘not a single local resident was injured’ during the time when Bucha was under the control of Russian troops,” the Russian MOD said in a post on Telegram.
How many such disproofs will it take for you to treat propaganda sites like Consortium News with a healthy scepticism? We do not call you Putin dupes idly, or to provoke you, but because that is what you have allowed yourselves to become.
The Bandera elite must be liquidated, its re-education is impossible. The social "bog", which actively and passively supported it by action and inaction, must survive the hardships of the war and assimilate the experience as a historical lesson and atonement for its guilt.
Anyone who wants to believe the Kremlin line that the atrocities in Bucha and similar needs to watch this video:
Key points are:
1. Well recognised independent journalists who have documented previous war crimes (including those by the US) have been investigating and reporting these incidents. These journalists were travelling with Ukranian forces when they arrived on the scene.
2. Family members of those killed (including elderly people) have been giving their stories about what happened. They would hardly be so forthright and compelling if the Ukranians had actually done the killing. For example, there was a report on TV1 news last night about a woman who had to bury her own son who was shot by the Russians.
3. This sort of behaviour is very typical of Putin's MO as has been seen in other similar theatres of war such as Grozny.
@tsmithfield…That is a awful thing to watch, any person with a heart will feel all the sympathy in the world for that poor woman….however, there is no context whatsoever as to how or why her son was killed in that video.
He was 27 yo male, do you know if he was killed while fighting with the local militia? or was killed inadvertently by shrapnel?
Without that context what exactly does that video say?….for me, it says is war is shit, and awful and obscene and heartbreaking and pointless.
Just have a look at some of the journalist reports on youtube.
I have seen journalists talking about seeing decaying bodies with hands tied behind their backs and shot execution style. So it definitely isn't just recent killings.
For instance, the town Mayor his wife and son were found killed and tortured.
Yes, but you and I don't know what has really happened in any of those cases..are they executions by Russian forces or cases of retribution killings by Ukrainian extremists retaking the town…or something else?…who actually knows at this point?..probably only the people who pulled the triggers I would say.
Just remember the Ukrainian forces are starting to get a pretty poor reputation for their human right abuses as well…this is some extremely brutal shit right here….
See my posts that I accidently put lower down (12 & 12.1).
Satellite images have shown the bodies were on the streets when the Russians were there, and these images have been geolocated with what was found on the ground.
Its the nature of mankind to travel, to immigrate, the stars are just another extension of that
I hadn't thought of that but maybe when the Hadron Collider was first fired up in 2010 it sent us into a parallel universe and thats why everything has seemed so messed up this last 10 years..
Nope, we are good at messing things up ourself. But humanity seems good at finding excuses for our own short comings.
I always wanted to go to hte stars, sadly i am not going there i would guess. But i don't think that Elon Musk is our answer, mainly because in order to finance his dreams he is selling carbon credits from vehicles most can't afford and who seem to spontaniously combust every now and here and there. I put him in the same category as Bezos, much self love and fuck the rest of humanity. Humanity is a resource to be extracted much like the African workers in his parents emerald mine in Zambia. Only one profits the rest pays the bills.
Unbelievable how people swallow billionaire propaganda. They are the apex predators of capitalism, the pharaohs atop the pyramid built by the blood of a thousand slaves, the dragons sitting on a hoard of gold stolen via the genocide of a nation.
Musk is not a visionary or a genius or any kind of saviour. He's an sociopathic egomaniac, just like all of them.
they are propelling us to somewhere, forward might not be it.
fucking this planet over to the extend that they have to shoot a few humans into space in order to 'survive' is not a solution. And i am all for space travel. Glactica comes to mind, also Terminus. Neither of them are propelled into anything good.
No, it's the workers in his companies, and the taxpayers propping him up that propel him forward. Achievements like space flight are the collective effort of a civilisation. "If I have seen further than others, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants". Individualism and valourising superheroes are the marketing spiel of the ubermensch libertarians.
Musk is not great. The best that may be said is that he represents the potential greatness of the human spirit.
So the Boss departs the game and leaves a massive hole to fill, NZ cricket still can't find a another opener that can average above 30 and still seem to aghast at selecting a proper spinner
Heres my selection for the NZ test team moving forward
1. T Latham
2. D. Conway (yeah its tough on Devon but Youngs going backwards)
3. K Williamson (would have a word with him about bowler rotation and spinners)
4. H. Nicholls
5. W. Young (get his confidence back)
6. C. De Grandhomme (RMF, batting all rounder and better test and FC average then Blundell has)
7. T. Blundell (6 was a position to high)
8. S. Kuggeleijn (RFM, bowling all rounder, FC batting average of 28, bowls with a bit of pace)
9. N. Wagner (LMF, Iron Man, Lionheart, bowls with with broken bones, 'nuff said)
10. T. Boult (LFM, destined to be NZs third best bowler)
11. A. Patel (Spinner, ten wickets in an innings against India at home, 'nuff said)
Tough on K Jamieson and T Southee but selectors have to make the big calls and we need someone that can do a bit of batting in the number 8 position and Jamieson isn't there yet
Jamieson can't be dropped, even if his from of late hasn't been quite as stellar as at the start.
He has attributes that are rare to find in a bowler including his height, bounce, and ability to swing the ball both ways. He also has shown quite a bit of ability with the bat, and looks like it is an area that can be developed.
I would have him instead of Kuggeleijn any day. Kuggeleijn is quite good, but not really much of a threat to international batsmen.
Southee would be hard to drop given that he is still one of our best and most experienced performers. It would be hard to leave him out. I am not so sure about Boult these days. He doesn't seem to be the threat he once was.
Our conditions here don't tend to favour spinners, which is a pity as it means our batsmen don't get to face quality spin that often. Pitches tend not to deteriorate enough for them to become a big factor in most games. And Wagner has tended to perform that role by providing a point of difference with his style, and his ability to bowl for long periods.
One thing that annoys me is that Sodhi gets so little of a look in at test level. IMO that is a mistake. He can actually spin the ball, and seems to be improving with his consistency from what I have seen in the shorter formats. He also seems to have developed a nice flipper as a variation.
A good leg spinner is a major asset to a side and tends to be much more threatening from a wicket-taking point of view. He also has a test 50, so can handle a bat OK.
So far as Blundell goes, he has a test 100 against Australia as an opener. So, his batting can’t be too bad.
If it was just on bowling then sure it'd be Jamieson over Kuggeleijn but in the number 8 position you need to be able to provide consistent runs and Jamieson just can't do that yet
He may be able to work on his batting but at the moment Kuggeleijn is the better batter so he gets the nod.
Like I say its hard on Jamieson and Southee and conditions would certainly dictate who plays but at the moment it feels like the NZs plan of playing 4 seamers isn't working and teams are working out how to negate them
As for conditions suiting spinners in NZ in the test series against SA, SA spinners took 6 wickets and Bangladesh spinners took 7 wickets
I agree with your comments on Sohdi, it feels like NZ want another Vettori (who can blame them) a world class spinner that averages 40 at number 8 would certainly go a long way but at the moment it feels like they're trying force players into roles that aren't suitable
Santner is a very good limited overs bowler and batter but he reminds me of the bits and pieces bowlers NZ used to select back in the 80s and 90s, can bowl a bit and bat a bit but thats about it
Ravindra may turn into a very good number 5 or even opener but playing him as an all rounder makes no sense
Heres Blundells FC and test average vs De Grandhommes FC and test average:
Note he does have a test 50 and an average of 23.40. So, that is a pretty good record for a number nine. His bowling average of 18.72 is better than Hadlee's.
A couple of points about Kuggeleijn is that, firstly, he is quite old for a cricketer, nearly 31 now. So, not really a long term prospect, especially for a bowler. The other point is that he hasn't actually played a test. So, we don't know how his batting would perform against top level bowlers.
I think a mistake we make too often is to try and have lots of all-rounders meaning we can't make enough impact in either the batting or bowling. So far as bowling goes, I think it is good to have one or two all-rounders but help the bowlers to improve their batting. Wagner has been a good example of that in recent times.
No real argument about Blundell. Other than he seems to be a good back-foot player, and not so good against spin. That may explain why he got some good runs as an opener. Though opposition seemed to work out some of his technical weaknesses which he obviously needs to improve on.
They're not batting him at 9 though he's batting in the 8 position and I'll wait to see if he equals Hadlees overall average
Hadlee, Warner, Anderson etc might balk at the idea of 31 being too old, nutrition, training and rehabilitation means players can go on longer than before
Sure he hasn't played a test but by that logic we wouldn't select anyone but we know he's scored 100s and 50s and averages high 20s
True, but Hadlee et al had been in the respect national teams a long time before reaching a similar age.
It takes time to build up the skills and guile. Southee is relying on those sort of skills now rather than pace. Long before Kuggeleijn reached that point he would likely have retired.
I think when it gets to the 8-11 area of batting, then bowling should be the first skill, and batting can be worked on. Jamieson did start out as an opening batsman then developed into a bowler. So, his batting can't be too bad. And having someone with opening batting skills is quite handy at that point for coping with the second new ball.
Sure, I know that Jamieson is only starting his career, and so comparisons with Hadlee are premature. But he didn't get to the point he is at now by being useless, and he has enough tests under his belt to show he is has the talent required.
The other thing I have heard commentators saying about Jamieson is that if you were to create the perfect fast bowler in a laboratory, then you would probably come out with something like Jamieson. The only addition would probably be 10k more in pace. Though he has been working on getting quicker and now is regularly in the mid 130k range, which, along with his bounce makes him a bit of a handful.
They already did that, several times, in the West Indies.
They started with Joel Garner and then improved the model with the pair of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. None of them were particularly fast though. Ambrose was probably the fastest with a maximum of about 140kph. Garner was lucky to get up to 125kph.
The problem with all of them was they were, like Jamieson, very tall. Walsh was the runt at 1.98m. With their height they could bowl a bouncer off a full length.
Now take any one of those three and tell me how you could improve the model?
You're aware that Kuggeleijn is in the team already?
That hes played one day and T20 cricket for NZ
What it comes down to me is this, Jamieson is not a test number 8 and since the departure of Watling we don't have the luxury of playing an extra bowler which is what Jamieson is at the moment
Kuggeleijn is the superior batter, hes paid his dues and he'll shore up the batting a little
If you want to make the argument of Jamieson over Wagner and play Jamieson at 9 then thats not a bad one to make but at the moment Jamieson is too high at 8
Jamieson isn't a good enough batter for number 8 and wheres the wicket keeper?
I like Mitchell and I think he'd make a good number 6 but Williamson doesn't seem keen to use him as a bowler
I'm not saying never use Southee or Henry or Jamieson again just that there'll need to be rotating and we need someone that can bat at number 8 (Doug Bracewell is another option)
NZ can't keep playing 4 seamers in the same playing XI and expect the same results, a weakened SA and weakened Bangladesh just played out drawn test series with us at home
In the future then, you could probably make a better case for Kuggeleijn as a potential replacement for CDG if he is going to retire soon, or is injured.
But, as I pointed out below, I don't think the figures justify dropping Jamieson on the basis of his batting.
I don't think a case can be made that Jamieson isn't good enough for a test number 8.
Here are some comparative averages for other test number 8s after recent performances.
Maharaj South Africa 14.72
Stark Australia 22.84
Ali Pakistan 25.37
Woakes England 27.91
De Silva WI 32.00 (although his last innings was a not out 100 and not many games before which boosted his average a lot; mow 640 runs total)
The previous game the West Indies number 8 was Joseph at 14.29
So, Jamieson at 23.40 is certainly in the range that would be expected.
I did notice that Jamieson was getting into a bit of a tangle with the short ball in the games against South Africa. So, that is something he will need to work on and will likely be tested out on in future games.
The problem is we've had Watling (average 40 at number 6 v Blundell average 14 at 6) retire, Taylor retired, Williamson injured and we can't find another opener to partner Latham
Which means the top and middle order isn't settled and isn't producing as many runs as we'd like them to so we need to bat deeper
That means the number 8 position becomes that much more an important batting position for NZ
So the problem is the top order not number 8. We won't win tests unless we take twenty wickets. So stacking a team with all rounders won’t win many tests.
Will Young has a respectful average for an opener of 31.35, and seems to look very organised. He has only had nine tests, so a bit early to be drawing too many conclusions. His batting record here looks pretty reasonable:
The nature of opening the batting is that early failures happen reasonably frequently, especially in NZ where we have a lot of green tops. Look at Latham's record. He has had quite a few ups and downs as well, and in fact did worse than Young in the series against SA, but there is no thought of dropping him.
Opening has always been a problem for NZ which has made Williamson even more impressive as he often is in within the first ten overs.
I tend to view opening partnerships as successful if they can last 20 overs. The runs and averages are not such an issue. It is all about setting a good foundation for batters to follow.
Young averages 27.82 when opening and that was after a decent start so hes going backwards and hes such a talent I don't want what happened to K Rutherford happening to Young
But yes I've posted on the difficulties of being a NZ opener before and as an idea heres Lathams performance by opponent:
As mentioned, Young has only had nine tests, so he is still learning his trade. I think focus and technique are the two important characteristics for an opening batsman. And, from what I have seen with Young, I think he has that. If he continues to apply himself with good technique then he should come right.
It will be interesting to see what they do for England. There is no way Jamieson will miss out going there (other than for being injured). As was shown in his last series there, he was lethal with the Dukes ball.
No doubt he could but hes only recently started opening for CD (by choice or a word from the higher ups?) so hes not an opening batter by trade and I'd rather see him flourish in the troublesome number 5 position
Neither was Mark Richardson. He started out as a spin bowler until he got the Yips, then he applied himself and became one of our best opening batsmen.
As I said, opening is all about temperament and technique. Time at the crease is of a lot more value than runs scored for openers IMO.
In fact, the number of overs an opener lasts for should be part of the important stats recorded alongside average.
And that is why I think averages are misleading in comparing batsmen. Compare say Williamson with Steve Smith. Smith has a much higher average, but how often does he come in within the first 10 overs given he bats and number 4 compared to Williamson at 3. And that the Australian openers give a much better platform. And how often is he playing in conditions like we have in New Zealand?
'Neither was Mark Richardson. He started out as a spin bowler until he got the Yips, then he applied himself and became one of our best opening batsmen.'
Thats not really applicable, heres a repost about how difficult it is to be an opener:
Now consider most of those were openers or top order batters, Mark Richardson is a NZ great but his example isn't really useful because he must have had almost superhuman powers of concentration to go from what he was to what he became
Don't get me wrong it'd be great to be proven wrong but I'd rather see opening batters encouraged rather than trying to manufacture an opening batter which, historically, will most likely fail as well as possibly ruin a very good middle order batter
Thank fucking god. Kudos to the grassroots feminists in the UK for pushing until this happened. If you don’t know the issue, this is about the right of women to have single sex spaces eg rape crisis counselling, female only changing rooms, female only spaces, female only club and meetings.
The obvious solution here for trans people is for society to provide parallel services that suit trans eg refuges for trans women. But not at the expense of women and rights and services we worked and fought so hard for.
Afaik, NZ law should be interpreted in the same way but government and NGOs aren’t currently supporting this. Will need some test cases and good lawyers.
What Lawyer would undertake this here in NZ? Do we have a MP equivalent to Joanna Cherry?
Is one of the reason Govt are trying to merge trans and female into one so as to not having to provide funds for a different service? i.e. sport, public facilities, lit just a cheaper option and thus help establish a Unisex world? (Starship Troopers movie, shower scene comes to mind).
Would Midrul Wadhwa actually want to run/establish a rape crisis centre for transwomen/transmen/non binary/others rather then the Rape Crisis Centre that they are currently manning? Or do they just want the job and pay that was usually a job for female only and set precedent?
There are transwomen who are perfectly happy accepting they are not in fact biological women , and who do not expect to colonise women's spaces
But there are also transwomen who are desperate to be seen as biological women, who insist that everyone around them see them as biological women, and who insist on access to women only spaces.Gender dysphoria is very real, but it's not up to women as a class to accomodate those suffering from it.
That is not so much "gender dysphoria" as autogynephilia. Those chaps get their jollies from requiring other people – mainly women, to accept them as women in every facet of womenhood. Their is nothing they will not fetishise and colonise from menstruation, lactation and pregnancy to crafting groups. They are the ones achieving their "gender euphoria" in the women's bathroom and sharing the video with their mates.
are gender dysphoria and autogynephilia generally not found together?
(am also curious how for men societal negative attitudes and trauma plays into gender dysphoria, thinking about that UK MP that just came out as trans because he has GD).
AGP men will often claim dysphoria but as many of them do not undertake surgery or hormone treatment, there is a bit of a credibility gap. And in relation to the Conservative MP for Bridgend – there is obviously a new last refuge for scoundrels.
“Early” transgender surgeries, hormone treatment, and affirmations are “crucial” for the health of kids and teens who identify as transgender and nonbinary, President Joe Biden’s administration said in messaging released Thursday.
Er, not early surgeries surely – the best argument for hormone treatment/affirmation is time to consider such things. A classic case of taking sides and losing perspective.
13 yr olds have received double mastectomies in the US. Actively marketed on various social media to teens. (In NZ, we provide access in teen years as part of our “affirming health care”)
If your understanding that puberty blockers and cross sex hormones had clinical data to support their promotion as safe was erroneous, would you be concerned?
The article on this woman was interesting so its basically the same thing except shes talking about it, for those who want to listen instead of reading
The other thing is that these images have been geolocated to where bodies have been found:
“Disturbing video showing the bodies in Bucha was geolocated, authenticated and reported on by CNN on Friday. It came to light the same day Ukraine declared the town liberated from Russian troops.”
Fair Pay Agreements Act first reading introduced to parliament today.
Holly molly, some of the speeches in support are actually 'inspiring!' Especially from Michael Wood and Jan Logie!
National, as usual, arguing in favour of low wages!
Incidentally, Jacinda wiped the floor with Luxon and Seymour during QT. They're no match for her, and Willis made no dent in Grant's grasp of his portfolio.
… and Willis made no dent in Grant’s grasp of his portfolio.
I’d imagine that Grant would know his stuff reasonably well, but that doesn’t necessarily make it good stuff, does it? Was Willis playing the man or the ball?
She appeared to be 'playing' people who replied to the PM's facebook page – to the derision of members of the government. You know the preamble – 'what would he say to Sarah/Bill/Robert/Uncle Tom Cobbly and all . . . who said . . .
Heh, Mallard 'fined' them 2 supplementary questions.
Not very strong questions and not very strong answers either; Grant seemed to say that they’d already pumped billions into the economy and that they’re going for a long-term approach. Willis was trying to picture middle New Zealand hurting financially and thus trying to make a case for tax cuts again.
And todays financial statement says that tax was up 17.8% to february (a record) the operating balance before gains and losses was an 8.2 billion deficit and the full year operating account was 11.7 b a record number since the GFC (excluding the lockdown period)
Yeah, Grant did mention something about the increased government revenue because “companies are making profits, more people are in work and they’re earning more” and strong SME growth.
OCR has to move to meet inflationary expectations,adding cost and not value is a transfer to the financial sector from the productive economy and households.
The RBNZ does not have a choice (inflation need to be constrained) in an economy that is over extended say in the construction sector (with large backlogs,supply constraints,huuuuge price increases to come into the market from steel alone).There is a need for deference from central and local government for projects that are not shovel ready,or have little productive value.
Finland’s government is now preparing a white paper on the country’s security, including potential Nato membership, to be released this month. A parliamentary debate will follow, with some MPs pushing for a decision to be taken before a Nato summit in Madrid at the end of June.
As Ukraine turns into a worse multi-year meat grinder than it was before, Finland prepares its entire defensive and strategic position.
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
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Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
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Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
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Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,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, Thursday 9 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Jane Arthur, author of Brown Bird, and former bookseller at Good Books.The book I wish I’d writtenI have been working on not comparing myself to others. On accepting that what I can ...
The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
Productivity apps now make up a big chunk of the software market. But do they work? And why do they all have AI integrations?Despite being firmly on the record as a physical planner fan, I sometimes dream of something better than my pretty diary and its scrawled, ugly, interior ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the names of deceased people, and describes ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. First Nations people in Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Macquarie University Netflix Baby Reindeer’s phenomenal success has much to do with its writer and lead, Richard Gadd, who plays Donny in a tender semi-autobiographical account of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking. Gadd’s story has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Russia losing the battle in Ukraine but winning the war.
A new gold standard and the end of USD hegemony?
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4498704-russias-3-step-program-to-put-the-ruble-on-a-gold-standard?external=true&gclid=CjwKCAjwrqqSBhBbEiwAlQeqGpn0Z_UNj1M_gAr9g0DAkgmQn-DRYwAkSXSAYoQdQb7paRV
Well you only have until June 30th to figure if that is true.
How much of your own money will you put on that trade? You'd make George Soros' trade against the Pound look like a Harry Potter production.
'
Our 'Nuclear Free Moment' is upon us. We have three years to start lowering our emissions before the bomb goes off.
Instead of trying to defuse the bomb, we have been setting the timer.
Despite the Prime Minister's words, New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions are not falling, they are not even staying steady, they are increasing.
Let me repeat that. New Zealand's greenhouse emissions are increasing.
We are not defusing the bomb, we are setting the timer.
Where is that gargantuan political effort?
Are you aware of what is being launched in New Zealand in May this year?
Wouldn't hurt to say once again what you're referring to (not just because some of don't know, but to keep it in the current consciousness).
The NZ climate plan will be released in late May this year, coordinated with the Budget.
Timeline confirmed for Emissions Reductions Plan | Beehive.govt.nz
Is that all?
From the sound of it I had thought it was probably the launch of Putin's new superyacht which would be available to him when he seeks refugee status here.
Instead it is just another repeat of what we have been told is coming … sometime … maybe.
By the way did you see the date on Anne's first link? Where we have the bold claim that "This is my generation's nuclear-free moment and I am determined that we will tackle it head on". Five years ago. What happened?
Quite a lot happened. Go do some work and find out.
Quite a lot happened,under reporting of FF CH4 being one.
https://www.iea.org/news/methane-emissions-from-the-energy-sector-are-70-higher-than-official-figures
“Our climate targets are not optional, they are critical – the Emissions Reduction Plan will set out how we are going to achieve them, and what we must all do to make it happen.
“There are those who will try and tell you, when it comes to climate change, New Zealand is too small to be counted – this report should well and truly dispel us of that notion. We are part of the problem and we must be part of the solution,” the Minister said."
https://insidegovernment.co.nz/climate-change-report-calls-for-urgent-action/
I am aware it will not be a gargantuan effort.
I am aware that it will not stop our emissions increasing.
I am aware that 'it', climate change, will NOT be something we will "tackle head on".
I am aware that coal will still be mined and exported from this country.
I am aware that Huntly Coal Fired Power Station will still remain operating.
I am aware that green house emitting companies like Air New Zealand and Comalco will still continue to receive government subsidies.
I am aware that the price of fossil fuels will not have to take into account the price of their emissions. This cost to be loaded on to future generations.
I am aware that things will be the same the day after the May climate change launch as they were the day before the climate change launch.
I am aware no leadership will be taken.
I am aware that despite our government's overwhelming majority in the house of representatives, not one single concrete enforceable piece of legislation will be passed to actually reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. And that our Greenhouse gas emissions will keep on increasing. Because, Y'know 'consensus'.
I am aware that Blah, Blah, Blah, will be the rule and not the exception.
It's time, I think, to start rationing gasoline and diesel.
Price is a pretty big rationing all by itself.
Does anyone here have a hybrid car? I had my snazzy little Toyota Vitz stolen on Friday. Do they make a hybrid version? Are they more expensive and whereabouts in Auckland would they be available? Used of course. Can't afford a new car.
Thanks in advance if anyone can assist me.
Bugger Anne! thats terrible for you.
I have a Toyota Aqua that's really cheap to run .Would be great in a town situation .If I don't have to make the 2 hour trip into the city, I usually spend currently about $15 a week on petrol.
It happened in the early hours Friday morning – the day I had been cleared to start driving again after knee op. Car had been sitting in garage unused for six weeks and the garage is invisible from the road.
Prowlers have been prowling?
Yes you’re right. Mine was very economical to run.
I hope you get another car soon and can put that nasty shock behind you
All the best
Yes I have a hybrid. Cut down my emissions by half. And extremely reliable. Only tyres and regular service in the 5 years of ownership. Best car ever and that includes a number of expensive European cars. Toyota make a hybrid corolla and the aqua. My next car. Full electric does not have the range I need here. Apart from the expensive tesla.
Thanks for that Macro. Will certainly look into it. Price is a big consideration but I should like to do my bit to reduce emissions.
Yesterday around 3 pm I went for a walk to my local shopping precinct. Passed 3 schools on the way. A grammar school, intermediate and primary. I was staggered! SUV after SUV plus a few 4WD’s were parked along the roads – all of them with their motors running. It was a hot day too. I estimate there was around 30 to 40 of them and that might be an underestimate. I wanted to pull those entitled mums out of their cars and give them right bollocking.
The government should be implementing both a fuel and energy conservation campaign.With the former we will struggle to maintain our existing current account deficit,and there are significant shortages in distillates especially jet fuel and diesel.A good example of bad timing for shutting the refinery down.Diesel is in global shortage.
https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1511079032330326019?cxt=HHwWhsC42faXt_gpAAAA
Electricity is at the security warning stage,with low hydro and wind,and only coal sustaining continuity of supply and whose price is also upsiding (australian coal exports will be north of 150 billion this year and their current account surplus at record levels)
https://www.transpower.co.nz/sites/default/files/interfaces/can/CAN%20Southland%20security%20issues%20and%20request%20for%20information%204289359753.pdf
If you do the economy would shrink substantially and the ones that suffer most will be all those who are on the bottom of the heap so to speak.
I think a lot of the consequences are being silenced, opening the door for more state control.
At the same time no one is making any suggestion what to do with those 3 – 4 million cars running on conventional fuel. Just discard them onto a deserted field? Or the ocean? Down a bank? You can drive to the landscape and find plenty of unwanted wrecks.
Have any of those who have the great ideas ever considered to look at means converting existing cars to hydrogen or other fuels? Maybe all those billionaires who have profited from the oil boom can finance that (year right Tui). It would be a small contribution to make good on the damage on which they earned their fortune.
And just to make clear, NZ has no public transport to speak off to maintain a daily routine for its workers whose income will never be enough to afford these cars. Either several billion dollars are being invested in the network or alternative fuels are being made available.
As for electric cars, they are not affordable for most average wage earners.
And of cause there is the issue of the batteries. NZ has neither the skills nor the means of recycling that needs different processes for different types.
So another very very dirty disposal of DG material in the landscape?
How do you reconcile all of this and what are the plans to implement other then to hand more money to the rich?
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56574779
"EV batteries are larger and heavier than those in regular cars and are made up of several hundred individual lithium-ion cells, all of which need dismantling. They contain hazardous materials, and have an inconvenient tendency to explode if disassembled incorrectly.
https://www.science.org/content/article/millions-electric-cars-are-coming-what-happens-all-dead-batteries
EV BATTERIES are constructed a bit like nested dolls. Typically, a main pack holds several modules, each of which is constructed from numerous smaller cells (see graphic, below). Inside each cell, lithium atoms move through an electrolyte between a graphite anode and a cathode sheet composed of a metal oxide. Batteries are usually defined by the metals in the cathode. There are three main types: nickel-cobalt-aluminum, iron-phosphate, and nickel-manganese-cobalt.
Ivermectin grifters made millions while people died.
https://twitter.com/ryanlcooper/status/1510973832433221641?s=21&t=QXyVuQxVIpFv5_dbmsrDjw
I'm pretty sure running a substack page only produces an moderate independent writers income, quite far from millions. And in Joe Rogans case he made his deal well before covid began and certainly has plenty of non ivermectin material.
The Intercept: Far right health care companies made millions prescribing unproven Covid remedies
Hacked data shows the lucrative operation promoted by a prominent far-right organization.
Seems that your get rich quick scheme is to be a drug company during a Pandemic, not a podcaster.
A look at the three options left to Putin.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2022/04/05/guest-blog-ben-morgan-dont-get-excited-yet-there-is-a-long-way-to-go-and-we-need-more-information-about-russian-capabilities/
It looks like the withdrawal by the Russians has been rushed and chaotic. From the images that have been seen on the news, the Russians have been heavily attacked as they withdrew, and it looks like there are pockets left behind that may well end up as POWs.
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/breaking-down-the-withdrawal-of-russian-troops-from-northern-ukraine-136924741962
https://news.yahoo.com/national-security-military-analyst-putin-182758848.html
The battle looks likely to move to the east. However, I have seen other reports that the Russians soon may run into difficulty there as temperatures are increasing, rain is forecast, and the whole area could become very muddy and difficult to manoeuvre their heavy weapons into.
Also, it looks like NATO is moving to supply heavier, more offensive weapons to Ukraine.
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-germany-australia-to-send-ukraine-more-offensive-heavy-weapons-2022-4
Along with all the anti-tank and anti-aircraft munitions that have been helping the Ukranians defend expertly, the addition of heavier weapons may well swing the balance of the conflict in their favour.
Such weaponry being moved east will be a target for the Russian air force, so moving it should occur after advanced forces are in place with stingers on aircraft flight paths first (to take down aircraft before they can attack).
Yes. I think they are getting more long range anti-aircraft systems as well. I hope they NATO bends and supplies them with more planes. Anti-artillary systems, and a lot more than 100 switchblade drones would make a major difference as well. Anti-ship missiles could be a game changer as a lot of cruise missiles are fired from Russian ships.
A big concern I have for them is that, as they fight further east, the logistic problems that have plagued the Russians could start becoming an issue for the Ukranians. So, will be interesting to see how they handle that.
I understand the Ukranian army now has more tanks than they had at the start of the war due to captured equipment from the Russians. An advantage for them is that they use the same sort of equipment as the Russians, so anything they capture they can put back into immediate service and attack the Russians with their own equipment.
I think one of their main advantages is that they are not so dependent on heavy armour, and are able to attack in small groups that are very impactful with Javelin missiles and the like. This makes them much harder to deal with is they are harder to see. Also, the weather is soon moving into the Ukranians favour.
If Russian tanks etc are forced onto roads they are going to be major targets for the Ukranian Bayraktar drones which are highly effective and help equalise the air power imbalance.
Yeah a lot of off road vehicles with drones and missiles
One of the things in favour of the Ukrainians in the north is that there is a lot of forest cover that has enabled the Ukranians to be very effective in setting up ambushes.
I saw a video about the 40km Russian convoy that was stalled. Apparently that was stopped in its tracks by a team of about 30 Ukranians on quad bikes who ambushed the front vehicles of the convoy by riding through forest. They the helped co-ordinate continuing drone strikes on the convoy that was basically paralyzed for a few weeks.
A problem for the Ukranians in the east is that the terrain is much more favourable towards tanks in that it has a lot more open, flat areas of ground. So could be more difficult for them to deal with the Russians there.
That is where the weather may help. If the ground becomes very slushy as predicted, then the open areas may not benefit the Russians so much.
They would have to move at night .. and hide in barns while securing "pits/tunnel outlets to operate from.
The Russians will wait for summer – so this is a long game.
Russian aircraft have low accuracy older technology.
Pilots have had free reign up until the Ukraine.Raining bombs down on chechnia and Syria with no opposition.
Now they are getting shot out of the sky,Morale will be waning just like the ground troops.
Hunger and desperation at home will be another morale sapping indignation.
Afghanistan lead to the break up of the Soviet Union.This could be an end for Putin.All that is needed is a General to turn the Russian military on Putin like what happened to Yeltsin a Drunk.Putin Drunk on power will be going into deep hiding maybe making the task easier for some up an coming Secret agent.
A short summary of an interview with Alain Juillet, former head of France's intelligence services DGSE, on the origins of the war.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1510495717520928772.html
He was also a pro Kremlin pro Poots talking head on RT, a former para-military and one-time leader of the DGSE, the French spook outfit with a shit-list as long as your arm.
The DGSE were responsible for the murder of Fernando Pereira, too.
Directors of the DGSE
Pierre Marion (17 June 1981 – 10 November 1982)
Adm. Pierre Lacoste (10 November 1982 – 19 September 1985)
Gen. René Imbot (20 September 1985 – 1 December 1987)
Gen. François Mermet (2 December 1987 – 23 March 1989)
Claude Silberzahn (23 March 1989 – 7 June 1993)
Jacques Dewatre (7 June 1993 – 19 December 1999)
Jean-Claude Cousseran (19 December 1999 – 24 July 2002)
Pierre Brochand (24 July 2002 – 10 October 2008)
Erard Corbin de Mangoux (10 October 2008 – 10 April 2013)
Bernard Bajolet (10 April 2013 – 27 April 2017)
Jean-Pierre Palasset (interim) (27 April 2017 – 26 June 2017)
Bernard Émié (26 June 2017 – present)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directorate-General_for_External_Security
Yeah. As a reservist he was entrusted with the Intelligence Department within the DGSE.
https://fr-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Alain_Juillet?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
@aj…, now why isn't that sort of important context carried as a MSM news story?…why wouldn't our state owned news outlet, RNZ, strive to keep the NZ public fully informed with stories, information and news from every angle possible…so the NZ public could eventually form a coherent picture with that information…but no, RNZ will only deliver one view and one view only,.
RNZ are a disgrace to their trade, but worse, misinform the NZ public…..non-reporting of facts is exactly the same as reporting misinformation…and that is a fact.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/459976/ukraine-tension-us-and-russia-hold-frank-talks
Well, if you are concerned with the facts, and not merely the Kremlin feed, you might want to make some use of Meduza. Reporting on Russia, by Russian reporters.
Come on man…that is not what any sane, thinking, serious person would regard as balanced reporting…do you even know what balanced reporting is or looks like?..because from were I am sitting it doesn't appear that you do.
Do you? Reporting that goes against your confirmation bias is not journalistic malpractice.
"Do you?"…yes I do try.
It must be said that your idea of "Balanced Reporting" appears to be confined to the propaganda organs of the Russian state, and a handful of dubious sites like Craig Murray or Consortium News. So clearly you don't meet any of the criteria you set: sane, thinking, or serious.
It seems to be all a joke to you, the constant lying of the Russian state. Meduza is a group of Russian journalists who risk their lives to bring you the truth – but you prefer Putin's lies. People with long familiarity with this culture of dishonesty (and yes, that includes me) do not hurry to swallow Russian disinformation.
Here a retired Estonian president, intimately familiar with this dishonesty, explains it, for folk like you, who clearly are not.
Adrian, as you should be well aware NZ dances almost entirely to the 5eyes tune, 99% of reporting. Select any one days of headlines from the last month and find any story questioning the narratives.
Here is an interesting piece from Consortium News on the alleged ‘Russian’ massacre in Bucha, it is well worth a read.
Questions Abound About Bucha Massacre
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/04/04/questions-abound-about-bucha-massacre/
Western media is proving itself again quite incapable of giving citizens anything near a clear, balanced view of yet another important world event…although this I have to say they are really out doing themselves..now they (RNZ being one of the worst local offenders) are just pumping our straight propaganda without even trying to hide their extreme hawkish basis or pretending to offer even the slightest hint of balance in any of their coverage….though we should remember that this unhinged, dangerous and extremely vocal anti Russia propaganda has been being spewed out by all our press, and by all leading US politicians/pentagon without letup for five or six years now….and then we wonder why the Russians are paranoid of their boarders?
Ukrainians are not boarders, they are citizens of a nation state and have the right to life and liberty and private property ownership.
PS Property looted in Ukraine is being sold in Byelorussia by Russian troops when they arrive.
Pedantic prick – you knew exactly what Adrian meant!
Now where is the evidence of your accusation, "Property looted in Ukraine is being sold in Byelorussia by Russian troops when they arrive."
[Why don’t you count to 10 and calm down before you hit the Reply button – Incognito]
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-703211
https://odessa-journal.com/russian-marauders-in-belarus-organized-a-bazaar-for-the-trading-in-the-looted-ukrainian-property/
Yeah but at least his misspelling revealed something about how Putin sees anyone who opposes him whether in Ukraine or Russia – typical gulag era tyrant.
@ SPC…."Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate (GUR) alleged on Saturday"…are you actually seriously going to link to GUR allegations as part of your debate?…..would you believe allegations made by Russian intelligence?
Mod note
First as tragedy, then as farce
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/liberated-from-the-russians-a-visit-to-trostyanets-after-the-end-of-the-occupation-a-c088be53-5f6c-4059-8d46-68803276e473
The Ukrainians aren't so interested in the sanctity of private property ownership when it comes to their own "boarders " however
https://24.kg/english/227019__Volodymyr_Zelensky_signs_law_on_forced_seizure_of_Russias_property/
within Ukraine.
That would be like seizing the private property of UK citizens in New Zealand who are resident in NZ
Well, if the UK suddenly invaded NZ I'd expect the same thing from our government.
You have trouble with the concept of "war", don't you?
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3445822-ukrainian-parliament-approves-nationalization-of-property-of-russian-citizens.html
5th April , things have moved on
Country at war seizes the property of it's enemy. Shock, horror, hold the presses.
Heard of the Pamir?
Your grovelling apologia for Russia does you no favours.
You missed the bit where Ukrainian citizens also can have their property confiscated.Ah, the sanctity of private property.Ukraine seems to be full of traitors, from the Ukrainian negotiator who was assassinated to the Ukrainian Generals removed from their posts
Post WW2 most European countries de facto seized the assets of their respective Quislings, collaborators and traitors with a combination of some or all of imprisonment, fines, stripping of civil rights, outright seizure and summary or judicial execution.
Woe is the fate of traitors in war.
This has to be one of the stupidest threads I have seen on TS. Are you seriously complaining that Ukraine is not respecting property rights when their cities are being flattened and citizens murdered in the street, by an invader intent on stealing as much territory as possible???!!!
Yes, she/he certainly seems to be.
Ukraine historically has a Russian population of 17%.Its like declaring war on almost a fifth of your population 'Oh wait , they already did, been bombing and killing them since early 2014 , for 8 years straight
You know what's actually "like" declaring war? Invading a country with a couple hundred thousand troops after annexing some of its territory for 8 years..
Even though the author of your link does state
It's correct, until absolute verification either way, the possibility of fakes should be explored. After all, the Ukrainians could have shot those civilians or driven over them in tanks themselves or taken dead soldiers, put them in civvies, and made them up to look like old men and women.
Or they could have shot traitors and collaborators and left them.
Fact is we actually don't know what happened and should wait.
Or given men surgery to make them look like old ladies lying next to their supposed dead husbands.
Absolutely right to keep an open mind.
Yes, this could have been staged. It could have been indeed, so that is why it is best to wait to see what comes out from it. It would not be the first time that terrible people get accused of something they did not do, and years later it was found out.
The Katyn Massacre comes to mind. https://www.britannica.com/event/Katyn-Massacre
There are no winners in war, only losers and dead people.
Snap Sabine .
Such is the hatred of Russians or suspected Russian sympathisers , and the hunt for Russian "saboteurs"that we can't know until a proper independent investigation is done.If this is not done, one would have to ask why?
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/15/1086733790/on-the-hunt-for-russian-saboteurs
It's very easy to ascertain time of death for instance, or whether bodies have been shifted.
From another angle, the arming of civilians , as Zelensky enabled, was in my opinion a totally dumb move, putting untrained civilians in harms way .Does a civilian shooting at a soldier become a combatant?
God, the idiocy, it hurts.
1 – The Russians invaded the Ukraine in an unprovoked war of aggression. This is in itself is the highest of war crimes. Wars of aggression have been recognised as crimes since the Treaty of Versailles, and international agreements outlawing them have existed since at least the 1920s. THE VERY FIRST ARTICLE of the UN Charter declares the UN exists to "…for the suppression of acts of aggression…" All and any war crimes related to a war of aggression are therefore by definition also crimes of the perpetrating nation.
2 – The definition of a combatant in international law is hardly a secret, the Geneva conventions define a combatant as "…members of national armed forces or organized groups placed under the effective control of those forces…" Therefore Ukrainian territorial defense forces – even if in civilian clothing – are combatants. And combatants are, at least notionally, protected by the protocals of the Geneva convention – which, I guess I need to spell out, includes not being shot in the back of the head whilst tied up.
3- satellite imagery shows mass graves and bodies in Bucha as far back as three weeks ago, why do you think Biden called Putin a war criminal last week? The United States has better satellites than Maxar, they would have known – as an aside on Morning Report today Nanaia Mahuta mentioned NZ had been "helping" in the collecting of evidence – an oblique reference IMHO to our role in the five eyes network.
4 – If your army have just liberated a town and are chasing the enemy, don't you think they'd have more imprtant things to do (like, say, killing Russian soldiers) than conduct an elaborate exercise in fabricating a massacre?
Seriously, you insult my intelligence.
And dispatching untrained civilians to a mechanised war?
A battalion of volunteers is being formed in North Ossetia to take part in a special military operation in Ukraine. Recruitment takes place on the basis of DOSAAF.
As the director of DOSAAF, MP Boris Kantemirov, told OsNova, for volunteers, this is an opportunity to go to Ukraine within the framework of the law and rules.
“There is an opportunity for people who want to go there, so that they are not on their own, but have an official status. We have a mechanism that will allow us to bring all this under control, so that everything is correct, without spontaneity and in an organizational form. At the same time, the presence of military service behind the shoulders of volunteers is not a prerequisite. We understand that today not everyone has military tickets,” Kantemirov said.
There are a lot of applicants, he says. Many have already gone.
The head of the republican branch of DOSAAF noted that the organization will play a filtering role when recruiting volunteers. Lists of those wishing to take part in a special operation in Ukraine will be transferred to the military registration and enlistment office.
https://osnova-news.translate.goog/n/14573/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
They're not civilians
They're forming a volunteer militia , just like Zelensky called for, (but later cancelled as the quality of recruits was so low)
They'll be filtered and assessed and placed under the supervision of regular military
That a far cry from the babushka being trained with wooden rifles by Azov in Kiev, and just opening up the armory for anyone to grab a gun, along with released criminals.
The mobilisation of such groups indicates Putin's concern about the demographics of ethnic Russia, whose expendable …
Things are fucked up for the Russians if the invading army is bothering to take hastily-recruited civilians.
https://www.unian.ua/war/bucha-u-zvilnenomu-misti-rozpochali-zachistku-teritoriji-vid-diversantiv-ta-rosiyskih-posobnikiv-novini-kiyeva-11770498.html
@The Al1en…"It's correct, until absolute verification either way, the possibility of fakes should be explored"….exactly right, you would think any responsible media outlet would take that statement of your as a given…but as they all seem to believe that they themselves (the western media) are now at war with Russia, by extension, everything they say is now highly suspect.
And as independent verification comes through, debunking the 'fake' narrative, I'd expect any media reporting it will be cancelled outright.
I don't understand what your reply is inferring…please explain?
Disinformation 101. KGB are past masters. Nothing Russia says is reliable in the slightest.
https://twitter.com/KT_So_It_Goes/status/1510958783455023110?s=20&t=y2EOoZXxzN8e8eAU1VLvnQ
@ roblogic…thanks, Micheal Tracy really hits the nail on the head at the bottom of that twitter link…..
"Call it "whataboutism," I don't care: it's impossible to take seriously this sudden newfound concern for "war crimes" coming from some of the same exact people who never gave a crap about similar or worse "crimes" committed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, etc."
That would be because your concern relates to superpower regimes, not the populations suffering the atrocities. Thus you could exculpate Assad for instance, for his activities against Aleppo, by claiming a parallel with US behaviour in Iraq, which the Left also strongly condemned.
Laws, as Solon noted, are like spider webs: "If some poor weak creature comes up against them, it is caught; but a big one can break through and get away.”
It is difficult to bring a Bush fils or a Putin to justice. Assad is easier prey.
Prosecuting the Assads makes it easier to bring the Bushes and Putins to justice – we don’t let them off the hook just because some other villains are momentarily out of reach.
"It is difficult to bring a Bush fils or a Putin to justice. Assad is easier prey.Prosecuting the Assads makes it easier to bring the Bushes and Putins to justice"….wow you really are living in a fantasy world over there pal…Bushes, Putins never get brought to justice, end of story.
Oh – okay so they should just carry on murdering then?
If you cannot envisage or work toward a better future, why bother pretending Left values?
That pathetic argument is just as hopeless as all your other twists of reality. There have been many condemnations of various American misadventures on this site and other left wing outlets. The MSM happened to ignore them for its own reasons.
Criticism of Russia doesn’t make all media American shills.
"The MSM happened to ignore them for its own reasons"…but do run Ukrainian news 24/7…and that doesn't ring even just a small alarm bell somewhere down deep in that highly repressed critical thinking part of your brain?
I am drawn to this australian gentleman's considered opinion on the matter
[Stupid embedded YT clip converted to link to stupid YT clip and I almost deleted the whole stupid thing – Incognito]
Mod note
Whataboutism" – a term created to extract western warmongers from the difficult position of having done All The Bad Things they accuse others of doing. When someone uses it on you, it means you just killed their argument and exposed their moral bankruptcy.
OK – it is from RT which the critics will decry and the commentary is from Scott Ritter whose background has been attacked ever since he was removed from Iraq so that the team he was with didn't compromise yet another US war of choice but this may interest you The Al1en
https://www.rt.com/russia/553293-bucha-war-crimes-truth/
Seen the video of ordinary Russians and the hatred they have for Ukrainians? It is disturbing. The slur "Khokhol" is common. Similar to the dehumanising language employed by N*zis during the Holocaust.
Meduza also has a report on the atrocities in Bucha.
‘Russia’s culture died along with these Ukrainians’ The world reacts to evidence of Russian atrocities in Bucha — Meduza
The woman who appeared on our screens being helped from the bombed maternity hospital speaks out
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/03/testimony-mariupol-hospital-ukrainian-deceptions-media-malpractice/
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/The_Grayzone
From your link:
All Russian units completely withdrew from Bucha on March 30, and ‘not a single local resident was injured’ during the time when Bucha was under the control of Russian troops,” the Russian MOD said in a post on Telegram.
Aerial and satellite photos of the bodies give the lie to that whopper. Satellite images show bodies in Bucha for weeks, rebutting Moscow claim (france24.com)
How many such disproofs will it take for you to treat propaganda sites like Consortium News with a healthy scepticism? We do not call you Putin dupes idly, or to provoke you, but because that is what you have allowed yourselves to become.
State owned media are on the job.
The Bandera elite must be liquidated, its re-education is impossible. The social "bog", which actively and passively supported it by action and inaction, must survive the hardships of the war and assimilate the experience as a historical lesson and atonement for its guilt.
https://ria.ru/20220403/ukraina-1781469605.html
google translate
Anyone who wants to believe the Kremlin line that the atrocities in Bucha and similar needs to watch this video:
Key points are:
1. Well recognised independent journalists who have documented previous war crimes (including those by the US) have been investigating and reporting these incidents. These journalists were travelling with Ukranian forces when they arrived on the scene.
2. Family members of those killed (including elderly people) have been giving their stories about what happened. They would hardly be so forthright and compelling if the Ukranians had actually done the killing. For example, there was a report on TV1 news last night about a woman who had to bury her own son who was shot by the Russians.
3. This sort of behaviour is very typical of Putin's MO as has been seen in other similar theatres of war such as Grozny.
Here is an article about the woman burying her own son.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-60977889
They should watch this and then say whether they still believe it is faked.
Poignant.
https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1511028945965228040?s=20&t=y2EOoZXxzN8e8eAU1VLvnQ
@tsmithfield…That is a awful thing to watch, any person with a heart will feel all the sympathy in the world for that poor woman….however, there is no context whatsoever as to how or why her son was killed in that video.
He was 27 yo male, do you know if he was killed while fighting with the local militia? or was killed inadvertently by shrapnel?
Without that context what exactly does that video say?….for me, it says is war is shit, and awful and obscene and heartbreaking and pointless.
Just have a look at some of the journalist reports on youtube.
I have seen journalists talking about seeing decaying bodies with hands tied behind their backs and shot execution style. So it definitely isn't just recent killings.
For instance, the town Mayor his wife and son were found killed and tortured.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-accused-killing-ukraine-mayor-olga-sukhenko-family-motyzhyn-mass-grave/
Yes, but you and I don't know what has really happened in any of those cases..are they executions by Russian forces or cases of retribution killings by Ukrainian extremists retaking the town…or something else?…who actually knows at this point?..probably only the people who pulled the triggers I would say.
Just remember the Ukrainian forces are starting to get a pretty poor reputation for their human right abuses as well…this is some extremely brutal shit right here….
https://nypost.com/2022/03/28/ukraine-to-probe-after-videos-show-alleged-russian-pows-shot/
See my posts that I accidently put lower down (12 & 12.1).
Satellite images have shown the bodies were on the streets when the Russians were there, and these images have been geolocated with what was found on the ground.
There isn't any doubt about this now.
This is good news indeed, time to get a bit of balance back into social media platforms.
Just a shame it took one man a whole bunch of money to do it but its a start.
Well a little bit of petty cash made him major stake holder.
Not sure it will improve twitter.
Probably not but maybe it'll wake up Twatter a bit and not be so quick to hand out bans
We need people like Elon Musk, people that can push humanity forward.
I don't think that will happen. Elon Musk is not pushing 'humanity' forward, he is pushing technology forward.
Same thing in his mind.
Lots of people say about taking people into space, Elon made it happen.
Its people like Elon that'll take us to the stars…well to the Moon but from there it'll be to the stars
The guys a visionary that can make it happen
yeah, another planet to fuck up.
Have you ever considered that maybe we came from Mars and Earth was our 'refuge planet' and here we are doing the same shit again?
Its the nature of mankind to travel, to immigrate, the stars are just another extension of that
I hadn't thought of that but maybe when the Hadron Collider was first fired up in 2010 it sent us into a parallel universe and thats why everything has seemed so messed up this last 10 years..
Nope, we are good at messing things up ourself. But humanity seems good at finding excuses for our own short comings.
I always wanted to go to hte stars, sadly i am not going there i would guess. But i don't think that Elon Musk is our answer, mainly because in order to finance his dreams he is selling carbon credits from vehicles most can't afford and who seem to spontaniously combust every now and here and there. I put him in the same category as Bezos, much self love and fuck the rest of humanity. Humanity is a resource to be extracted much like the African workers in his parents emerald mine in Zambia. Only one profits the rest pays the bills.
Unbelievable how people swallow billionaire propaganda. They are the apex predators of capitalism, the pharaohs atop the pyramid built by the blood of a thousand slaves, the dragons sitting on a hoard of gold stolen via the genocide of a nation.
Musk is not a visionary or a genius or any kind of saviour. He's an sociopathic egomaniac, just like all of them.
Elon Musk Reveals Shocking Ignorance About Social Security (theintercept.com)
Hiltzik: NLRB rules that Elon Musk is no friend of labor – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
Elon Musk Is Not An Entrepreneur—He’s A Rich, Deceitful Hack – The Acronym | IMSA's Official Student Newspaper
Elon Musk Confesses to Lithium Coup in Bolivia | News | teleSUR English
Like it or not, people like him are what propels humanity forward
they are propelling us to somewhere, forward might not be it.
fucking this planet over to the extend that they have to shoot a few humans into space in order to 'survive' is not a solution. And i am all for space travel. Glactica comes to mind, also Terminus. Neither of them are propelled into anything good.
Maybe you need to read the Stark by Ben Elton. 🙂
Liked Stark, thought it was funny the guy taking the human sized amount of heroin with him as his plus one
No, it's the workers in his companies, and the taxpayers propping him up that propel him forward. Achievements like space flight are the collective effort of a civilisation. "If I have seen further than others, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants". Individualism and valourising superheroes are the marketing spiel of the ubermensch libertarians.
Musk is not great. The best that may be said is that he represents the potential greatness of the human spirit.
With his crazed killer robot experiments, the damn fool's gonna kill us all !
LOL! Kyle Dunnigan impersonates Elon Musk! – YouTube
Got to admit I wouldn't mind buying a flame thrower
https://www.boringcompany.com/not-a-flamethrower
Cricket, cricket, cricket!
So the Boss departs the game and leaves a massive hole to fill, NZ cricket still can't find a another opener that can average above 30 and still seem to aghast at selecting a proper spinner
Heres my selection for the NZ test team moving forward
1. T Latham
2. D. Conway (yeah its tough on Devon but Youngs going backwards)
3. K Williamson (would have a word with him about bowler rotation and spinners)
4. H. Nicholls
5. W. Young (get his confidence back)
6. C. De Grandhomme (RMF, batting all rounder and better test and FC average then Blundell has)
7. T. Blundell (6 was a position to high)
8. S. Kuggeleijn (RFM, bowling all rounder, FC batting average of 28, bowls with a bit of pace)
9. N. Wagner (LMF, Iron Man, Lionheart, bowls with with broken bones, 'nuff said)
10. T. Boult (LFM, destined to be NZs third best bowler)
11. A. Patel (Spinner, ten wickets in an innings against India at home, 'nuff said)
Tough on K Jamieson and T Southee but selectors have to make the big calls and we need someone that can do a bit of batting in the number 8 position and Jamieson isn't there yet
Jamieson can't be dropped, even if his from of late hasn't been quite as stellar as at the start.
He has attributes that are rare to find in a bowler including his height, bounce, and ability to swing the ball both ways. He also has shown quite a bit of ability with the bat, and looks like it is an area that can be developed.
I would have him instead of Kuggeleijn any day. Kuggeleijn is quite good, but not really much of a threat to international batsmen.
Southee would be hard to drop given that he is still one of our best and most experienced performers. It would be hard to leave him out. I am not so sure about Boult these days. He doesn't seem to be the threat he once was.
Our conditions here don't tend to favour spinners, which is a pity as it means our batsmen don't get to face quality spin that often. Pitches tend not to deteriorate enough for them to become a big factor in most games. And Wagner has tended to perform that role by providing a point of difference with his style, and his ability to bowl for long periods.
One thing that annoys me is that Sodhi gets so little of a look in at test level. IMO that is a mistake. He can actually spin the ball, and seems to be improving with his consistency from what I have seen in the shorter formats. He also seems to have developed a nice flipper as a variation.
A good leg spinner is a major asset to a side and tends to be much more threatening from a wicket-taking point of view. He also has a test 50, so can handle a bat OK.
So far as Blundell goes, he has a test 100 against Australia as an opener. So, his batting can’t be too bad.
If it was just on bowling then sure it'd be Jamieson over Kuggeleijn but in the number 8 position you need to be able to provide consistent runs and Jamieson just can't do that yet
He may be able to work on his batting but at the moment Kuggeleijn is the better batter so he gets the nod.
Like I say its hard on Jamieson and Southee and conditions would certainly dictate who plays but at the moment it feels like the NZs plan of playing 4 seamers isn't working and teams are working out how to negate them
As for conditions suiting spinners in NZ in the test series against SA, SA spinners took 6 wickets and Bangladesh spinners took 7 wickets
I agree with your comments on Sohdi, it feels like NZ want another Vettori (who can blame them) a world class spinner that averages 40 at number 8 would certainly go a long way but at the moment it feels like they're trying force players into roles that aren't suitable
Santner is a very good limited overs bowler and batter but he reminds me of the bits and pieces bowlers NZ used to select back in the 80s and 90s, can bowl a bit and bat a bit but thats about it
Ravindra may turn into a very good number 5 or even opener but playing him as an all rounder makes no sense
Heres Blundells FC and test average vs De Grandhommes FC and test average:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/tom-blundell-440516
https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/colin-de-grandhomme-55395
Here is Jamieson's test record:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/kyle-jamieson-625960
Note he does have a test 50 and an average of 23.40. So, that is a pretty good record for a number nine. His bowling average of 18.72 is better than Hadlee's.
A couple of points about Kuggeleijn is that, firstly, he is quite old for a cricketer, nearly 31 now. So, not really a long term prospect, especially for a bowler. The other point is that he hasn't actually played a test. So, we don't know how his batting would perform against top level bowlers.
I think a mistake we make too often is to try and have lots of all-rounders meaning we can't make enough impact in either the batting or bowling. So far as bowling goes, I think it is good to have one or two all-rounders but help the bowlers to improve their batting. Wagner has been a good example of that in recent times.
No real argument about Blundell. Other than he seems to be a good back-foot player, and not so good against spin. That may explain why he got some good runs as an opener. Though opposition seemed to work out some of his technical weaknesses which he obviously needs to improve on.
They're not batting him at 9 though he's batting in the 8 position and I'll wait to see if he equals Hadlees overall average
Hadlee, Warner, Anderson etc might balk at the idea of 31 being too old, nutrition, training and rehabilitation means players can go on longer than before
Sure he hasn't played a test but by that logic we wouldn't select anyone but we know he's scored 100s and 50s and averages high 20s
True, but Hadlee et al had been in the respect national teams a long time before reaching a similar age.
It takes time to build up the skills and guile. Southee is relying on those sort of skills now rather than pace. Long before Kuggeleijn reached that point he would likely have retired.
I think when it gets to the 8-11 area of batting, then bowling should be the first skill, and batting can be worked on. Jamieson did start out as an opening batsman then developed into a bowler. So, his batting can't be too bad. And having someone with opening batting skills is quite handy at that point for coping with the second new ball.
Sure, I know that Jamieson is only starting his career, and so comparisons with Hadlee are premature. But he didn't get to the point he is at now by being useless, and he has enough tests under his belt to show he is has the talent required.
The other thing I have heard commentators saying about Jamieson is that if you were to create the perfect fast bowler in a laboratory, then you would probably come out with something like Jamieson. The only addition would probably be 10k more in pace. Though he has been working on getting quicker and now is regularly in the mid 130k range, which, along with his bounce makes him a bit of a handful.
They already did that, several times, in the West Indies.
They started with Joel Garner and then improved the model with the pair of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. None of them were particularly fast though. Ambrose was probably the fastest with a maximum of about 140kph. Garner was lucky to get up to 125kph.
The problem with all of them was they were, like Jamieson, very tall. Walsh was the runt at 1.98m. With their height they could bowl a bouncer off a full length.
Now take any one of those three and tell me how you could improve the model?
Improving Jamieson is easy, compare his accuracy to Joel Garners accuracy
Sandshoe crusher for the win!
You're aware that Kuggeleijn is in the team already?
That hes played one day and T20 cricket for NZ
What it comes down to me is this, Jamieson is not a test number 8 and since the departure of Watling we don't have the luxury of playing an extra bowler which is what Jamieson is at the moment
Kuggeleijn is the superior batter, hes paid his dues and he'll shore up the batting a little
If you want to make the argument of Jamieson over Wagner and play Jamieson at 9 then thats not a bad one to make but at the moment Jamieson is too high at 8
Mitchell or Neesham at 6/7.
Jamieson at 8.
Wagner or quick or Henry.
Sodhi (variation) or Patel (when a lot of overs likely) or Boult.
Southee before Boult.
You'd drop De Grandhomme for Neesham or Mitchell?
Jamieson isn't a good enough batter for number 8 and wheres the wicket keeper?
I like Mitchell and I think he'd make a good number 6 but Williamson doesn't seem keen to use him as a bowler
I'm not saying never use Southee or Henry or Jamieson again just that there'll need to be rotating and we need someone that can bat at number 8 (Doug Bracewell is another option)
NZ can't keep playing 4 seamers in the same playing XI and expect the same results, a weakened SA and weakened Bangladesh just played out drawn test series with us at home
Drop – well it's a matter of time – De G (36) and Wagner (35) are the older ones – time expiry.
If Jamieson was at 9 in place of Wagner, there would be a spot for SK or DB at 8 while KJ's batting developed.
But if KJ's batting improves a quick or Henry in place of Wagner.
I mean sure De Grandhomme and Wagner are getting on but I'm not talking about the future, I'm talking about the next test
In the future then, you could probably make a better case for Kuggeleijn as a potential replacement for CDG if he is going to retire soon, or is injured.
But, as I pointed out below, I don't think the figures justify dropping Jamieson on the basis of his batting.
Its not being dropped its being rotated and, of course, conditions will also play a factor
I'd like to see Mitchell take the number 6 slot but there seems to be a reluctance to use him as a bowler
Sure hes not going to take many wickets but get him to dry up one end and build pressure the other bowlers can exploit
Would SK score the runs in test cricket?
Why not?
He scores runs at FC level so compare his FC average to Jamiesons
https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/scott-kuggeleijn-539548
https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/kyle-jamieson-625960
You seem to fail to note I was commenting on tsmithfield proposing he bat at 6/7.
Oopsy my bad
I don't think a case can be made that Jamieson isn't good enough for a test number 8.
Here are some comparative averages for other test number 8s after recent performances.
Maharaj South Africa 14.72
Stark Australia 22.84
Ali Pakistan 25.37
Woakes England 27.91
De Silva WI 32.00 (although his last innings was a not out 100 and not many games before which boosted his average a lot; mow 640 runs total)
The previous game the West Indies number 8 was Joseph at 14.29
So, Jamieson at 23.40 is certainly in the range that would be expected.
I did notice that Jamieson was getting into a bit of a tangle with the short ball in the games against South Africa. So, that is something he will need to work on and will likely be tested out on in future games.
The problem is we've had Watling (average 40 at number 6 v Blundell average 14 at 6) retire, Taylor retired, Williamson injured and we can't find another opener to partner Latham
Which means the top and middle order isn't settled and isn't producing as many runs as we'd like them to so we need to bat deeper
That means the number 8 position becomes that much more an important batting position for NZ
So the problem is the top order not number 8. We won't win tests unless we take twenty wickets. So stacking a team with all rounders won’t win many tests.
Will Young has a respectful average for an opener of 31.35, and seems to look very organised. He has only had nine tests, so a bit early to be drawing too many conclusions. His batting record here looks pretty reasonable:
https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/547749.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting;view=innings
The nature of opening the batting is that early failures happen reasonably frequently, especially in NZ where we have a lot of green tops. Look at Latham's record. He has had quite a few ups and downs as well, and in fact did worse than Young in the series against SA, but there is no thought of dropping him.
https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/388802.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting;view=innings
Opening has always been a problem for NZ which has made Williamson even more impressive as he often is in within the first ten overs.
I tend to view opening partnerships as successful if they can last 20 overs. The runs and averages are not such an issue. It is all about setting a good foundation for batters to follow.
Cricinfo is good for the overall stats but Howstat is better for drilling into it:
http://howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerPositions.asp?PlayerID=5927
Young averages 27.82 when opening and that was after a decent start so hes going backwards and hes such a talent I don't want what happened to K Rutherford happening to Young
But yes I've posted on the difficulties of being a NZ opener before and as an idea heres Lathams performance by opponent:
http://howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerOpponents.asp?PlayerID=3932
Anything about 30 is good so hes not too bad at all
As mentioned, Young has only had nine tests, so he is still learning his trade. I think focus and technique are the two important characteristics for an opening batsman. And, from what I have seen with Young, I think he has that. If he continues to apply himself with good technique then he should come right.
It will be interesting to see what they do for England. There is no way Jamieson will miss out going there (other than for being injured). As was shown in his last series there, he was lethal with the Dukes ball.
No doubt he could but hes only recently started opening for CD (by choice or a word from the higher ups?) so hes not an opening batter by trade and I'd rather see him flourish in the troublesome number 5 position
Neither was Mark Richardson. He started out as a spin bowler until he got the Yips, then he applied himself and became one of our best opening batsmen.
As I said, opening is all about temperament and technique. Time at the crease is of a lot more value than runs scored for openers IMO.
In fact, the number of overs an opener lasts for should be part of the important stats recorded alongside average.
And that is why I think averages are misleading in comparing batsmen. Compare say Williamson with Steve Smith. Smith has a much higher average, but how often does he come in within the first 10 overs given he bats and number 4 compared to Williamson at 3. And that the Australian openers give a much better platform. And how often is he playing in conditions like we have in New Zealand?
'Neither was Mark Richardson. He started out as a spin bowler until he got the Yips, then he applied himself and became one of our best opening batsmen.'
Thats not really applicable, heres a repost about how difficult it is to be an opener:
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06-03-2022/#comment-1871915
Now consider most of those were openers or top order batters, Mark Richardson is a NZ great but his example isn't really useful because he must have had almost superhuman powers of concentration to go from what he was to what he became
Don't get me wrong it'd be great to be proven wrong but I'd rather see opening batters encouraged rather than trying to manufacture an opening batter which, historically, will most likely fail as well as possibly ruin a very good middle order batter
Thank fucking god. Kudos to the grassroots feminists in the UK for pushing until this happened. If you don’t know the issue, this is about the right of women to have single sex spaces eg rape crisis counselling, female only changing rooms, female only spaces, female only club and meetings.
The obvious solution here for trans people is for society to provide parallel services that suit trans eg refuges for trans women. But not at the expense of women and rights and services we worked and fought so hard for.
Afaik, NZ law should be interpreted in the same way but government and NGOs aren’t currently supporting this. Will need some test cases and good lawyers.
https://twitter.com/wlaotearoa/status/1511108318672031747?s=21
What Lawyer would undertake this here in NZ? Do we have a MP equivalent to Joanna Cherry?
Is one of the reason Govt are trying to merge trans and female into one so as to not having to provide funds for a different service? i.e. sport, public facilities, lit just a cheaper option and thus help establish a Unisex world? (Starship Troopers movie, shower scene comes to mind).
Would Midrul Wadhwa actually want to run/establish a rape crisis centre for transwomen/transmen/non binary/others rather then the Rape Crisis Centre that they are currently manning? Or do they just want the job and pay that was usually a job for female only and set precedent?
I understand that women are organising in NZ, so we may see directed challenges to government, and public mainstream discussions.
We'll see.
Honestly, I see most of the problem in NZ is ideological and that trumps funding issues.
TW like Wadhwa are colonisers, having parallel services doesn’t serve that. Hopefully other TW with different world view will come to the table.
There are transwomen who are perfectly happy accepting they are not in fact biological women , and who do not expect to colonise women's spaces
But there are also transwomen who are desperate to be seen as biological women, who insist that everyone around them see them as biological women, and who insist on access to women only spaces.Gender dysphoria is very real, but it's not up to women as a class to accomodate those suffering from it.
That is not so much "gender dysphoria" as autogynephilia. Those chaps get their jollies from requiring other people – mainly women, to accept them as women in every facet of womenhood. Their is nothing they will not fetishise and colonise from menstruation, lactation and pregnancy to crafting groups. They are the ones achieving their "gender euphoria" in the women's bathroom and sharing the video with their mates.
are gender dysphoria and autogynephilia generally not found together?
(am also curious how for men societal negative attitudes and trauma plays into gender dysphoria, thinking about that UK MP that just came out as trans because he has GD).
AGP men will often claim dysphoria but as many of them do not undertake surgery or hormone treatment, there is a bit of a credibility gap. And in relation to the Conservative MP for Bridgend – there is obviously a new last refuge for scoundrels.
And over the pond, they're doubling down. Children and young people paying the cost.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-early-trans-surgeries-hormones-are-crucial-for-kids-teens-who-identify-as-trans
Er, not early surgeries surely – the best argument for hormone treatment/affirmation is time to consider such things. A classic case of taking sides and losing perspective.
I think you mean puberty blockers don't you?And the jury's still out on possible harmful side effects from that treatment.
Hormone treatment can be irreversible.Detransitioning transmen are stuck with the deep male voice for the rest of their lives
Yes. The thing being time to consider and think it all through. And operations on kids and maybe also teens is too early.
I don't know what your criteria of 'early' is.
13 yr olds have received double mastectomies in the US. Actively marketed on various social media to teens. (In NZ, we provide access in teen years as part of our “affirming health care”)
If your understanding that puberty blockers and cross sex hormones had clinical data to support their promotion as safe was erroneous, would you be concerned?
Tiktok link for Dr Sidhbh Gallagher:
https://www.tiktok.com/@gendersurgeon?lang=en
Reddit thread by some her patients regarding after care and surgery problems. Won't post link, as a bit graphic. You can Google if you want more.
PS. No evidential clinical data base has been created for drug protocol.
https://twitter.com/janeclarejones/status/1511002754721927178?s=21
Hey Molly this might be of interest to you.
The article on this woman was interesting so its basically the same thing except shes talking about it, for those who want to listen instead of reading
Thanks PR.
All good
Satellite images appear to confirm bodies on the street of Bucha while the Russians were there.
The article below allows comparison between images taken on February 28 and those taken on 19th of March.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10685595/Russia-claims-evidence-war-crimes-Ukraine-staged-provocation-Kyiv-regime.html
The other thing is that these images have been geolocated to where bodies have been found:
“Disturbing video showing the bodies in Bucha was geolocated, authenticated and reported on by CNN on Friday. It came to light the same day Ukraine declared the town liberated from Russian troops.”
https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-04-04-22/index.html
Open and shut case now.
Fair Pay Agreements Act first reading introduced to parliament today.
Holly molly, some of the speeches in support are actually 'inspiring!' Especially from Michael Wood and Jan Logie!
National, as usual, arguing in favour of low wages!
Incidentally, Jacinda wiped the floor with Luxon and Seymour during QT. They're no match for her, and Willis made no dent in Grant's grasp of his portfolio.
Bring on the 2023 election!
I’d imagine that Grant would know his stuff reasonably well, but that doesn’t necessarily make it good stuff, does it? Was Willis playing the man or the ball?
She appeared to be 'playing' people who replied to the PM's facebook page – to the derision of members of the government. You know the preamble – 'what would he say to Sarah/Bill/Robert/Uncle Tom Cobbly and all . . . who said . . .
Heh, Mallard 'fined' them 2 supplementary questions.
Here’s the clip: https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=224245
Not very strong questions and not very strong answers either; Grant seemed to say that they’d already pumped billions into the economy and that they’re going for a long-term approach. Willis was trying to picture middle New Zealand hurting financially and thus trying to make a case for tax cuts again.
And todays financial statement says that tax was up 17.8% to february (a record) the operating balance before gains and losses was an 8.2 billion deficit and the full year operating account was 11.7 b a record number since the GFC (excluding the lockdown period)
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/system/files/2022-04/fsgnz-8mths-feb22.pdf
So neither fulfilled their analysis homework problem,and next Wednesday the headmaster will award a d- and give them 25 to.50 bp on the OCR.
Yeah, Grant did mention something about the increased government revenue because “companies are making profits, more people are in work and they’re earning more” and strong SME growth.
Yup, the OCR is likely to go up and up.
OCR has to move to meet inflationary expectations,adding cost and not value is a transfer to the financial sector from the productive economy and households.
What choice does RBNZ have?
The RBNZ does not have a choice (inflation need to be constrained) in an economy that is over extended say in the construction sector (with large backlogs,supply constraints,huuuuge price increases to come into the market from steel alone).There is a need for deference from central and local government for projects that are not shovel ready,or have little productive value.
Here's the evaluation by the Finnish Department of Foreign affairs about joining NATO.
c206b3c2-acaa-5809-c545-7aa67c9bcb2a (um.fi)
Finland’s government is now preparing a white paper on the country’s security, including potential Nato membership, to be released this month. A parliamentary debate will follow, with some MPs pushing for a decision to be taken before a Nato summit in Madrid at the end of June.
As Ukraine turns into a worse multi-year meat grinder than it was before, Finland prepares its entire defensive and strategic position.