It was five dollars a night for a meal and a bed. Fifty to a room, two rooms to a floor, and four floors high. There was a rooftop to jump from or streets to die slow in. An axe murder that week narrowed the streets odds considerably; the dismemberment of limbs signalling more than the frustrations of poverty run amok. We sat on the rooftop smoking weed, gazing down at the nervous prostitutes.
I did a gig with Steady Eddie. I got into town, phoned a comedy club and scored an open mic spot for the next week. After the phone call I went to 'volunteer' at a homeless mission in exchange for a room and meals, as I'd done at a sister fellowship in Brisbane. "Oh no", she said through armoured glass. "This is Sydney, we have far more homeless here and many of them are mental patients. All our staff are trained professionals. Five bucks a night, dinner at six."
The last time I saw Steady Eddie I was a teenager sneaking into The Hillcrest Tavern in Hamilton, NZ. Now I was a homeless man sneaking to avoid a deranged killer while navigating King's Cross. I'd managed to land a day helping a builder lug gib up some stairs for pocket money, and for the gig I'd get a couple of beers. Sure, the axe murderer was a risk: but this was a gig and a couple of beers.
The manager said, "everything went great until you started singing". I drank my beer and watched the rest of the show. Eddie arrived with an attractive blonde shortly before his closing spot. He was hilarious and then he was drinking at the bar. We chatted a little. I liked him. I told Eddie my singing sucked, and he told me his was worse – but he was currently in the charts, and we laughed. Eddie left with two blondes and a 40 oz of bourbon. I took a cab back to the shelter with one eye on the meter.
"Stop here" I said. I got out on the pavement not far from the shelter. I grabbed my guitar and bag and took stock, then a double take. The cab pulled off to leave me standing there with a dozen prostitutes lining the street all the way to the corner; and they had seen me flinch.
"Hi Honey, you want some of this", began the first as she lewdly grabbed at me. "I've got no money." I stammered as I jostled guitar and bag, hands busy and thus helpless. "Well you can do me for your jacket." Says the next as she pulls her top up to reveal breasts bursting from a red lace bra. "No no," says the third, "you can do me for your guitar" as she lifts her skirt and sidles a bare ass toward me. I pick up the pace. The suggestions and sideshow get bluer as I progress. The hands are all over me, tits, ass, pussy; rubbing and thrusting through lace and lycra. Then I am at the corner, turgid, broke, frustrated, alive. I head for the mission as laughter rang down the alley.
My guitar and bag got locked up. I had permission to arrive late and a security guard escorted me up to the room. Softly, slowly, through the lines of broken men I inched over to the empty cot. My clothes and shoes went in the small cupboard beside the single bed, one shoelace tied to my hand and the other end to the cupboard door.
I dreamed I was on stage at the club with an audience full of prostitutes. The microphone wasn't projecting my voice but the ladies howled with laughter at the erection in my pants. One of them came up to the stage and tugged at my hand to draw me down amongst them. I woke to my hand being tugged by the shoelace as I opened my eyes a slit. A junkie was crouched in the dim light, quietly trying to undo the knot on my cupboard door. I punched down hard to the side of his face where his jaws met, knocking him to the floor. "Fuck Off" I said as he hit the floor. He scrambled backward: "I was only looking to see if you had any cigarettes, man" he lisped. "Fuck off now". He slithered off into the dark. The man in the next bed coughed and murmured. "Good job, son".
It was a schizophrenic guy Rafael Gavranovic who attacked at least three, but was found not guilty by means of insanity.
I can't find details of his residence, the Police were in that shelter a few times checking over resident lists to try find the guy. I guess only local cops and law would remember details that far back.
I had a guy lunge for me with a large knife there. I didn't even see him coming, had never met or spoke to him. Luckily security saw him pull the knife and took him down a couple of feet from me. Close call.
Maybe I punched his boyfriend? Staff kicked him out and told me he was a junkie and PTSD vet ‘with a few problems.’
IMO powerful writing, WTB. Definitely not too blue for the subject. The clean direct writing style is perfect and tells it as it is – or rather was. Anything more descriptive (eg descriptive adjectives etc) would lose the message IMO.
Is the collection of short stories to be all your own work, experiences? The short story is probably my most favourite genre and is one of the hardest to master as it has a tight framework to be achieved – and imo you have done it perfectly in the one above. I could 'feel' the experience.
A couple of friends of mine teach creative writing at Victoria and Massey Universities, and one in particular, specialises in the personal memoir and personal essay. I am going to copy your excerpt above to her and I think she will be impressed.
While writing the above, I realised that it reminded me of a little book of a similar nature I had and treasured years ago. It was a collection of short stories by/about a diverse group of people who were part of Wellington's so called 'underworld' back in the 1960s/70s – a world of small time crime, honour amongst thieves, madams who looked after their staff etc which was being overtaken by a darker, more drug driven element which eventually took over the old world. The book was a chronicle of the way life had been in that underworld and the consequences of its loss.
I knew a number of the people whose stories made up the collection – some of which were written by them personally and others were written as interviews by a local journalist who saw what was happening and was inspired to pull the book together as a memory of that part of Wellington's history. I cannot remember the name of the book, or the journalist, but your post has inspired me to try to track both down and refind that book. Probably well out of print etc, but somewhere in Wellington it will still exist. Archives NZ?
Keep going on this, WTB. It is an important part of both your own history and the social history of our country (and Australia).
Thanks for the compliments, I think my writing is finally maturing where it sounds like my voice not some Bukowski fan trying to emulate…
Bukowski could write a short story!
I interviewed Henry Rollins one time and he said of Bukowski that he only had one line 'life sucks and I'm drunk again' – he made a good point. Bukowski was flatting with the author Hubert Selby Junior (Last Exit to Brooklyn, Requiem For a Dream) and turned me on to his writing. 'The Demon' was a startling book.
For me, the attempted novel didn't work. The memories were all snapshots rather than a narrative. There was no thread only survival. Hence short stories.
The stories will be my experiences, and sidetracks to others stories where discussions are recalled. Still trying to 'capture' Sarge, a vet who showed young street people the ropes to survival on Sydney's streets. We downed a goon of wine while talking which didn't help…
I love it all!
I also had a chaotic childhood and young adulthood,nothing made sense , you had to be ready to run (wore a dress only about 3 times in my life, I reckon for that very reason)But I don’t regret it , and reading the sense of aliveness ,immediacy, and richness in your “snapshot”I don’t reckon you do either.
"For me, the attempted novel didn't work. The memories were all snapshots rather than a narrative. There was no thread only survival. Hence short stories."
The snapshot is much more powerful, imo. I like it far more than a full length historical type narrative. The snapshot allows the reader to participate in/savour/feel a moment in time, an experience. That is what happened to me when I read your snapshot above. The reader can then linger in the moment, think about it etc, before moving on to the next snapshot, with each snapshot possibly invoking a different experience. You have chosen well – don't let it go. Kia kaha
[Sorry, not trying to lecture – was just very moved by your post and want to see more!]
Correction – Rollins flatted with HSJ – not Bukowski. I doubt he'd have let him in his door. Rollins was quite hardcore straight-edge at that stage and had very poor opinions of drunks.
I turned up hammered for the interview. It was awkward but we got past it.
That's bloody awful. And then WINZ try shift blame to the helpers for this mess. They love to treat you with suspicion and prejudice, had my fill of these mongrels in the past.
Lol definitely you're top of the list. And incidentally the Murdoch cartoon this a.m. in the Nelson Mail/stuff seems to refer to the recentclimate change thumbs-down.
Excellent strategy from the Herald management. Put him behind the paywall so he can preach only at the converted. Since the battle for public opinion nowadays occurs in the middle ground, the rightists get to lose their champion & centrists won't have to roll their eyes at him any more. Win/win all round, eh?
I broke the other day and took the premium option with a local delivery paper on Sat – it will be clear at that end though that I never "opened" Hosking's rants before and won't now, there were just a few items of interest I wanted to keep up with.
Looks like the British electorate has now split into four more-or-less equal parts: Labour "was ranked fourth in a YouGov poll for The Times on just 18 per cent – its joint lowest level, matched only by Gordon Brown in the depths of the 2009 financial crisis. Labour trailed behind the Tories on 24 per cent, Brexit Party on 23 and Liberal Democrats on 20."
Is 18% for Labour a negative verdict on Jeremy's (lack of) leadership? Probably, but I vaguely recall Helen Clark scored around that prior to becoming PM. Could be he's playing the `slowly slowly catchee monkey' game.
Corbyn campaigned well in 2017. However it was mainly Labour versus a terrible Tory party campaign effort. Since then both the Tories AND Corbyn have impoded. I don't know how he will change that dynamic.
A character test for him, this crisis. The zen sidestep could yet work. I'd rather he told the nation what to do though. See how the news featured a woman brexiteer ranting about slavery to the EU this morning? So they're playing the freedom card.
Jeremy could cite `free to choose' as principled dogma, outflank the Tories on the right like Helen Clark did. Leftists acting like rightists is a known behavioural pattern since the '80s so voters are comfortable with it.
Equally he could steal a portion of the conservative electoral base by telling them independence means reverting to being told what to do by indigenous leaders rather than the Eurocrats. Tories love the lash of the whip so he could easily grab 10% of them with that type of leadership rhetoric.
Agreed he should do something. At the moment he is trying to play both sides of the aisle and it is simply not working for him. He looks weak and indecisive and more importantly losing support from the group of Labour activists who brought him to power.
I can't imagine the horrors some of these folk go through, but I do know they go through it to serve our country and protect the rest of us. These people deserve kindness, respect, assistance, and a place in the sun.
I can't imagine follow up is easy however. PTSD causes isolation, thus leaving one to one's own thoughts. The worst decisions are often born in isolation. Reaching out is so hard yet so vital.
"continuing to try and spread the message that it is ok to not be ok, and to ask for help."
virtue signalling?…..I think the signal is a little more explicit.
"Cull’s welcome speech was anything but welcoming.
“I’ve taken this opportunity to welcome you and this conference to Dunedin – not because I support all of the various plans and projects that will be promoted here, but so you can hear why some of those plans are not welcome here.
“So, to be clear, if you’re promoting fossil fuel exploration, extraction and exploitation – and especially its expansion – then understand you are at odds with this community and my council that represents it.”
He ended by calling fossil fuel exploration and exploitation a “dangerous and immoral folly”.
Cool – he has gone up in my estimation – a few mates in dunners don't like him for some reason. Leadership in action – good luck for the next few 'restful' years sir.
Much of the animosity seems to be from supporters of a local councillor who is "polarising", as in that many people think the councillor is a dickhead, but his supporters think he walks on water.
Possibly, he was anti-stadium. But most of the people who knock him that I've encountered were also anti-stadium. Maybe he wasn't anti enough for their tastes. But the ongoing financing of the stadium has been questionable. He has been pro one or two other developments that were pretty controversial, ISTR.
I've never had too much problem with him either way. Just seems to be pretty bland, nothing too amazing but a solid worker. There are other councillors who are more polarising, and then the usual bunch whose passion for original projects is inversely proportional to the proximity of the next election.
So how about we have a nationalised forest service to implement our aspirations to plant 1 billion trees?
Including research, nurseries, engineers, maintenance crews, millers
Instead of planting short rotation pines, we plant long term hardwoods, mixed native plantations that don't get clear felled but selectively logged for high end use, and we leave the pines and other conifers much longer for their heartwood, thus removing the need for treating with poisons.
Only a nationalised industry can do this, opting for long term gains over short term profit.Once set in motion, its in perpetuity, dedicated forestry land publicly owned cant be turned in to dairy or whatever new short sighted bonanza shows up.
And what say we have dedicated plantations for all future public buildings , schools, housing, libraries etc, getting away from carbon emitting concrete?
Each generation plants for future generations , so there's continuity.
We grow mushrooms ,or rather , we facilitate them , medicinal and otherwise as a sideline
Good thinking, Francesca. I've often wondered why pine replacement doesn't happen – just short-termism or is growing alternative trees just too hard here? I wonder if there's a relevant forestry lobby group, that could push policy from a resilience perspective instead of status quo complacency.
As regards mushrooms, nostalgia tempts me to advocate the magical, but realism reminds me there’s too many folk with vulnerable mental states. Would be interested in hearing from people with expertise in the potential benefits of diverse species of mushrooms though.
And apparently the quality of NZ grown oak, despite fast growth is pretty good
We have a history of chasing short term gains , boom and bust cycles
Maybe its our youth as a country.
In the UK oak forests are attached to Universities , with repairs, future building, roof replacement in mind.This was instituted back in an era where there was a different perception of time
We modern day desperadoes want it all now, with no thought for the morrow
And we have created a world that mirrors that – we have cut down our future to the day after next year. Changing fixed minds based on 20th century thinking is almost impossible, I think one has to smile and go round them.
Trying to keep that in mind while still planning rationally for the near future is the hardest thing.
Taranaki farmers were saved from going broke once by the export of wood ear fungi to China. There are a range of fungi we could grow for a range of purposes.
One interesting emerging idea is to use fungi to devour waste streams while making packaging and other materials.
Another is to use fungi as part of bio-remediation on riparian edges and elsewhere.
There's medicinal fungi of many types, and huge markets for them in Asia. Western medicine is slowly coming on board when they can isolate compounds and make exorbitantly priced products.
There's insecticidal fungi we can use for research and bio-control.
There's turning forestry slash to topsoil.
Then there's food.
Off the top of my head…
There's psilocybin mushrooms in my front garden… I did not put them there but lol, maybe they recognised me and moved in.
I had a look through Lincoln staff and programs once thinking that is where they would have a good silviculture program but it seemed to feature pines. We like to stick to the good idea, keep it going.
Fransesca said so rightly:
Instead of planting short rotation pines, we plant long term hardwoods, mixed native plantations that don't get clear felled but selectively logged for high end use, and we leave the pines and other conifers much longer for their heartwood, thus removing the need for treating with poisons.
Only a nationalised industry can do this, opting for long term gains over short term profit.Once set in motion, its in perpetuity, dedicated forestry land publicly owned cant be turned in to dairy or whatever new short sighted bonanza shows up.
Facts about the effect of planting pine trees and harvesting them leaving the land bare: A Tasman District Council and NIWA study released in 2018 found that recently harvested pine forests along with bank erosion were responsible for a high proportion of sediment in the Waimea Inlet, which is the largest semi-enclosed coastal estuary in the South Island. Coverage of very soft mud in the inlet soared from 10ha in 1999 to 551ha in 2013….
Jones said the national tree-planting programme was "on-track" to have 80,000 trees planted by the end of the current season, with 65,000 trees already planted.
“This new quantitative evaluation shows [forest] restoration isn’t just one of our climate change solutions, it is overwhelmingly the top one,” said Prof Tom Crowther at the Swiss university ETH Zürich, who led the research. “What blows my mind is the scale. I thought restoration would be in the top 10, but it is overwhelmingly more powerful than all of the other climate change solutions proposed.”
Crowther emphasised that it remains vital to reverse the current trends of rising greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and forest destruction, and bring them down to zero. He said this is needed to stop the climate crisis becoming even worse and because the forest restoration envisaged would take 50-100 years to have its full effect of removing 200bn tonnes of carbon."
but…
"However, some scientists said the estimated amount of carbon that mass tree planting could suck from the air was too high. Prof Simon Lewis, at University College London, said the carbon already in the land before tree planting was not accounted for and that it takes hundreds of years to achieve maximum storage. He pointed to a scenario from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 1.5C report of 57bn tonnes of carbon sequestered by new forests this century."
however…
"But tree planting is “a climate change solution that doesn’t require President Trump to immediately start believing in climate change, or scientists to come up with technological solutions to draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere”, Crowther said. “It is available now, it is the cheapest one possible and every one of us can get involved.” Individuals could make a tangible impact by growing trees themselves, donating to forest restoration organisations and avoiding irresponsible companies, he added."
It pleases me so much to see how many people are growing in ecological awareness and proffering practical solutions to move forward. Not just here in TS but all over the place.
RIP Simone – I'm sorry everything fell apart for you. You did some good work for refugees – thank you.
A human rights lawyer who was jailed after shouting racist abuse at Air India staff was found dead days after being released from prison, police have said.
Hopkins' disgusting views are consistent with those of Boris Johnson and the rest of those rats in the Conservative Party. She's a moderate compared to the likes of old Yenta Hodge and her vicious cronies.
Monbiot is a spineless fellow. He can't even do something that is decent (supporting the victim of an extermination campaign) without first paying lip service to the villainous lies perpetrated by the would-be exterminators.
Whether or not you like Assange's politics (I don't), or his character (ditto), the charges he faces in the US are oppressive and inimical to free speech. The UK should resist his extradition https://t.co/PKFdtisA22.
A greater environmental mind than you or I has put forward a good Arguement for nuclear power.
James Lovelock talked about the issue and containing the waste from nuclear. Contrasting that with the waste from gas/coal generation of electricity.
Granted, not here in Aotearoa, (go hydro).
I am starting to doubt some of yr proclamations, a coupla days ago a video was posted with Ben Shapiro and Andrew Neil.
Either yrself or yr protege opined that Shapiro came second in the discussion. I watched it and I thought Shapiro ran rings around Neil. I find a lot of Shapiro's views abhorrent, but he came across more competent and consistent than the senior journalist.
Brazil’s Bar Association, journalists and opposition lawmakers have reacted with outrage to reports that the country’s federal police plan to investigate the bank accounts of an American journalist who published leaked conversations between prosecutors and the graft-busting judge who is now Jair Bolsonaro’s justice minister.
The rightwing site the Antagonist (O Antagonista) reported on Tuesday that federal police had asked a money-laundering unit at Brazil’s finance ministry to investigate the “financial activities” of Glenn Greenwald.
Assange was never charged with rape. One is tempted to be charitable and say that such a vicious and ignorant slur is unworthy of you, but that would be a false statement.
Once again: when will you start pouring filth on Glenn Greenwald? Will you start now or will you wait for the morsels of disinformation to be fed to you from the Brazilian/U.S. authorities, as you did with the campaign against Assange?
Accusations Unlimited – is that your speciality. Why can't you give us time to come to the same opinion as you instead of insulting anybody different? Desist.
I don't think the Professor was "insulting anybody different", Mr Shark. He was simply posing the question: how long before these creeps start to pour filth on another government-designated target for destruction?
Is that a rhetorical question he was posing then, or you are? I have a feeling I am missing something here. It seemed to me that he was attacking Joe90 for something that he thought that Joe90 and others might do, like pouring filth on a speaker. Ugh.
He was attacking Joe90 not because of something he might do, but because of something he has actually done. (The latest examples of his pouring filth on a journalist is just above us on this thread, in messages 15.1.1 and 15.1.1.1.1)
Surprise surprise, the corruption prosecutions that resulted in Lula's imprisonment and his ineligibility to run were cooked up by the right.
On Sunday evening, The Intercept published a series of incendiary articles and documents purporting to expose massive problems of unethical behavior and political motives in Brazil’s Operation Car Wash—a five-year investigation into corruption at state oil company Petrobras, which resulted in the conviction of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Based on “a massive archive of previously undisclosed materials,” The Intercept is reporting that judge Sérgio Moro, hailed in Brazil, on the Time 100 list, and in a fawning 60 Minutes segment in 2017 as a paragon of courageous civic virtue, secretly aided the prosecution in Lula’s case, an egregious ethical violation in a justice system that depends upon the impartiality of the presiding magistrate. Moro has since been appointed Justice Minister in the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, a radical right-winger who won the presidential election in 2018 after Lula was barred from running.
Indeed: "incendiary articles" and exposing of "unethical behaviour and political motives" constitute a grave risk to the state. He'll have to be destroyed, just like Assange.
Could you explain: exactly why are you not on board with the state campaign this time?
Calling Adam – I know that you are there up at 11 but don't want to derail the thread there. Forget feeling crap under capitalism and feel great after rewatching this! Do you remember it Adam?
Adam posted this wonderful, wonderful dance video back on 26 June 2015 on Weekend Social and I refound it a few days ago when totally crap with a full-on dose of the common cold. It restored my belief that life is still worth living and the more I played it, the better I felt.
A must view. Thanks Adam
PS – I am still learning the new system, so if the above does not work, here is a link to Adam’s original comment with video.
One of the quirks of the current comment editor is if you want to link to a specific comment on TS, putting the link as a standalone paragraph strips the #commentnumber off the URL and turns it into a link to the OP.
But if you use the linking tool (that looks more like a misdrawn infinity symbol) or just include the link to a comment in a sentence like this /open-mike-05-07-2019/#comment-1634457 it correctly links to the actual comment.
Thanks for that tip. I assume you mean the symbol that looks like a paperclip next to the slashed S. I used that to put in the actual link to the video which eventually came up properly! But when it did not originally come up, I then edited the comment and the toolbar doesn't come up when I edit so cannot use the symbol. LOL. So I will know for the future when that happens to put the link into a sentence.
But that young woman is an amazing dancer! The ability to move bits of the body separately like they are all unconnected is not easy – and she is tops. The other videos of her both alone and with her dance partner are superb. Now off to find the Trump parade videos …
Now seen Joe90’s comment below – LOL
A while back I vaguely remember lprent explained that the delay in the image showing up for video, twitter links etc had something to do with the server having to go fetch the image and then put it into the cache, and there can be delays in some of the processes to make that happen.
Interesting what different people see that linking tool icon to be. I reckon there's a good chance that McFlock with his security background might be the only one of us that correctly interprets it as a short bit of chain at first glance.
I know it's supposed to be a chain link and when I work at it I can make myself see it as chain. But even though it's been there for months, every time I first glance at it I still see it as a misdrawn infinity. Funny how visual perception and mental shortcuts work.
You didn't derail it at all. But I have been so enjoying that video I wanted to thank Adam. He and I have had our spats, but it just brought me so much relief the other day, I wanted to share it and to acknowledge Adam for first putting it up.
I am laughing at what's happening in Washington DC – the sky gods are no fools!
Russian paranoia—you're donkey-deep in it as well. I was providing our friend, and the likes of yourself, with—by your lights—a reasonable explanation.
America is gonna need one all those rednecks have turned it into a symbol of hate.
It's not working people—scoffingly dismissed as “rednecks” by thoughtless rich pricks—that are spreading hate, but the soft, doughy white-collar bigots who have never worked in the sun in their miserable, privileged lives. People like Stephen Miller, Ben Shapiro, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump….
Is there a recipe for starting flame wars? I feel that the tone of the Perfesser is familiar. Or perhaps there is a tide in the affairs of men, and it washes up lumps of spite in blogs leaving a high water mark of see-weed.
USA, China, Australia… and so many more – why? They know what they have to do to win and that is destroy. Not just the actual people, but hope, respect, dignity.
China is deliberately separating Muslim children from their families, faith and language in its far western region of Xinjiang, according to new research.
At the same time as hundreds of thousands of adults are being detained in giant camps, a rapid, large-scale campaign to build boarding schools is under way.
Based on publicly available documents, and backed up by dozens of interviews with family members overseas, the BBC has gathered some of the most comprehensive evidence to date about what is happening to children in the region.
… In a large hall in Istanbul, dozens of people queue to tell their stories, many of them clutching photographs of children, all now missing back home in Xinjiang.
"I don't know who is looking after them," one mother says, pointing to a picture of her three young daughters, "there is no contact at all."
Another mother, holding a photo of three sons and a daughter, wipes away her tears. "I heard that they've been taken to an orphanage," she says.
Good work these crews and good report from Minister Sage on fbook.
Great progress is being made on cleaning up the Fox River since the Department of Conservation (DOC) took over managing the clean-up. Since then, Operation Tidy Fox has cleared 25 ha of rubbish between the Fox River Bridge and the confluence of the Cook River.
The team of daily volunteers has grown from fewer than 10 to around 50 people. Together they’ve picked up 55 fadges of rubbish, with each fadge weighing around 500kgs. (Fadges are like giant wool sacks).
It was good to thank and talk to the wonderful volunteer team and DOC staff in Fox Glacier yesterday. I look forward to the extra support the NZ Defence Force, working with DOC, is planning to provide in the coming weeks. And Government has also provided another $300,000, on top of the $300,000 provided earlier.
Watching a piece of the Trump Parade and it seemed to be pretty shambolic to me. Huge gaps and amatuerish participants. Funny that faces in parade seemed to be fuzzied out.
If EU politics is about incorporating the vote, & therefore you would think it's efficacy, then insular coalition bargaining before the vote is increasingly problematic when there is increasing fragmentation ( which of itself is not necessarily a bad thing ), & it seems like they have essentially a very good structure to take that into account overall if not the traditional method of using it that way.
Seems like some of the criticism is a mix of First Past the Post and Direct Democracy type asks that are being put forward theoretically, but to my understanding both applications of those models to what is being talked about seems misplaced.
Hopefully they can get over this bump and reap the increased benefits after a rocky few years.
Over the past month we've heard some horrificstories about bullying in the police. The police's response? Try to bully people into silence:The police have told a whistleblower to retract his statements to RNZ about being bullied or face legal action. The demand came just hours after Police Commissioner Mike ...
Today is a Member's Day, which should see the final part of the committee stage of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. The big question today is the referendum clause: will it be necessary, or can the bill pass without it? While the majorities for his amendments during the ...
One of the key arguments used by trans ideologists is that some male-bodied people (ie men) are women because they ‘feel’ they are women. To make this hocus-pocus sound a bit more credible, some will argue that such men have a ‘female brain’. But this is thoroughly anti-scientific too. . ...
Canadians went to the polls today in parliamentary elections, and appear to have re-elected blackface wearer Justin Trudeau. Unfortunately, they use first-past-the-post, and they've provided a perfect demonstration of how unfair this system is:PartySeats% Seats% VoteLiberal15746.4%33.1%Conservative12135.8%34.4%Bloc Québécois329.5%7.7%New Democratic Party247.1%15.9%Green Party30.9%6.5%Other10.3%2.4% [Results from Elections Canada] Yes, the Liberals got fewer votes ...
A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a health-related FB page that had published a post from a homeopathist, offering homeopathic “vaccination”¹ against measles (using something called a “Morbillinum nosode” at a “potency” of 200C, which I’ll explain shortly). I followed the link, left a comment ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This year marks the 20th anniversary of the La Gabarra massacre. The community organised an event to remember the most well-known of the horrendous heart-breaking events that befell the communities of this area of the municipality of Tibú: the massacre carried out on August 21st 1999. ...
There was another police chase in Christchurch this morning, resulting in a crash which killed one person and injured five more. Because someone died, the chase is being investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority. And based on previous reports by the IPCA, we know how it will go: the ...
Just a month ago we saw the biggest protest in a generation as people marched to demand stronger action on climate change. A core demand of the protesters was to strengthen the Zero Carbon Bill's target to net-zero by 2040. So what is the government's response? Judging by the ...
Back in 2010, I wrote about the strange tale of the zombie ants, which do the bidding of their fungal overlords. (They’re not an isolated example; a range of parasites change their hosts’ behaviour. See here and here for example – though as you’ll find, the toxoplasmosis story may be ...
Shouldn't That Be: "Wrong White Crowd"? Rather than apportion guilt, would it not have been wiser for the makers of Land Of The Long White Cloud to accept that the Pakeha of 2019 are not – and never will be – “Europeans”? Just as contemporary Maori are not – and ...
One, Two, Many Truths: With the collapse of “actually existing socialism” in 1991, the universities of the West found themselves saddled with a new mission. With their ideological competitors now soundly defeated they were no longer required to demonstrate the superiority of capitalist values. Their job now was to cement ...
by the Council of Disobedient Women We call on the Council of Trade Unions to show some fortitude and take a stand with your sisters. Unionists know that there is a material world, otherwise workers could simply identify out of poverty. They could declare themselves Well Paid. Why stop ...
I spent some time reading the Regulatory Impact Statement and Bill of Rights Act advice for the government's odious control order scheme today. I am not impressed with either of them. Starting with the RIS, it is built on some pretty questionable assumptions. For example:Unless individuals have been convicted of ...
#NoFly: Walking the talk on climate change, by Shaun Hendy. BWB Texts, 2019. Reviewed by Robert McLachlan In June 2018, Swede Maja Rosén founded We stay on the ground with a pledge not to fly in 2019, and a goal of persuading 100,000 other Swedes to join her. In August, ...
We all know that NZ First is a party of and for old people who hate the young. But they've topped their previous pedophobia with a proposal that all young people be forced to do 100 hours community work:NZ First wants all young people to do 100 hours of community ...
A couple days ago the NZ Herald published a story with the headline, “Science says Bella Hadid is world’s most beautiful woman“, and followed up with the ridiculous statement that Supermodel Bella Hadid has been declared as the world’s most beautiful woman following a scientific study into what constitutes as ...
A Sustainable Proposition: With as much as 18 percent of the electorate declaring itself “undecided” about who to vote for, there is obviously plenty of space for a party like former Green Party member, Vernon Tava's, about-to-be-launched "Sustainable NZ Party" to move into. The most hospitable political territory for such ...
Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...
In 1994, I was the editor for an issue of Planet magazine focused on cannabis, its culture and the prospects for the end of its prohibition. Part of that issue was an interview with 'Ringo', an experienced cannabis dealer.I recently posted my essay from that issue, and I figured it ...
Dr Helen Waite, sports sociologist and former elite athlete, on the invasion of women’s sport by men and the anti-scientific and misogynist ideology used to rationalise it. ...
As Brexit comes to a grisly conclusion (perhaps) people on all sides are saying intemperate and uwise things. Some, like the Daly Mail, have been doing it for years.People as normally level headed as Jon Lansman are calling for automatic deselection of MPs who vote against a (likely) Labour three ...
I've got one source saying more Labour MPs than expected are mulling whether to vote for the deal - including names who were not on the letter to Juncker and Tusk— Emilio Casalicchio (@e_casalicchio) 17 October 2019 I've compiled a list of possible reasons why Labour ...
On Wednesday, the government was loudly telling us that it needed to legislate to allow it to impose "control orders" - effectively a parole regime, but imposed without charge, prosecution, conviction or real evidence - on suspected terrorists because they couldn't be prosecuted for their supposed crimes. Today, it turns ...
On Monday, the Hit and Run inquiry heard from NZDF's former director of special operations, who claimed that the defence Minister knew everything about the Operation Burnham raid. Today, the inquiry heard from that (former) Minister - and it turns out that he didn't know nearly as much as NZDF ...
Yoga gurus and cult leaders – I’ve seen a few. Two weeks ago, I unknowingly joined an alleged new-age cult at the Kāpiti coast, together with a giant kraken and some neatly dressed pensioners who would make any book club proud.They were among the two hundred people of all ages ...
The last decade has seen a trend of increasing weapons availability to police. Assault rifles. Tasers on every hip. Guns in cars. And following the march 15 massacre, pistols on every hip, all over the country. At the same time, its also seen an increase in the abuse of force: ...
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy preparing for our summer paper on Science Communication. Looking for something amusing about ‘risk’ in science, I came across this neat xkcd.com cartoon about why so many people come knocking on my door (or phoning me, or emailing me) desperately wanting ...
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
"Auckland City Mission: 10% of Kiwis experiencing food insecurity", RNZ, 16 October 2019:About half a million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to new research from the Auckland City Mission. Food insecurity, or food poverty, is defined as not having enough appropriate food. The City Mission said over the last ...
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...
There is plenty of evidence of the way the business mentality has permeated every level of society since the recrudescence of market liberalism 35 years ago. You only need to think of how citizens in need of help from their government, their state, their country, are now routinely described as ...
John MacCormickOver the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...
Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
After a brief dalliance with 'hard Revoke' it looks like the Lib Dems are changing ground on on Brexit, with leader Jo Swinson reverting to calling for a second referendum on Johnson's deal.The party has tabled an amendment to the Queen’s speech requesting that any deal brought back from Brussels ...
The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...
So, Judith Collins has done a Facebook rant about climate change, peddling the same shit National has been shovelling for the past twenty years: the impacts are overstated, there's no need to do anything about it, and its too hard anyway (oh, and its so unfair that people who peddle ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThere is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...
I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Last month, NZDF's shoddy coverup of what it knew about civilian casualties in Operation Burnham began to fall apart, with the revelation that a report on the matter, which NZDF claimed not to have, had been sitting in an NZDF safe for the past nine years. Yesterday, the man responsible ...
While many imagine that countries like the USA and Europe dominate space activities, in fact India is now a major player on this stage. It launches satellites for its own purposes and also commercially, and has constellations orbiting our planet and returning data of vital importance to that nation in ...
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...
An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Hassan Vally, La Trobe UniversityWho doesn’t want to know if drinking that second or third cup of coffee a day will improve your memory, or if sleeping too much increases your risk of a heart attack? We’re invested in staying healthy and many of us are interested in reading ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy do people still think climate change isn’t real?David ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
Journalist Andrew Dickens, reporting from the 2019 New Zealand First Conference, states that the Party once again proved “they are more than a sideshow”. In his op-ed article for NewstalkZB, Mr Dickens said he has always been an admirer of the Party, saying they are “a true centrist party”. “[NZ ...
New Zealand First's potential policy of compulsory community service for ages 15-19 years old has been getting support from those in the industry. A policy remit was passed during their recent Conference in Christchurch, gaining the support of a majority of its membership. Party leader Winston Peters has been talking ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the Party hopes to decide it’s stance pill testing at music festivals "before the season of concern", with festivals generally held during the summer months. Mr Peters' comments come in an interview with TVNZ's Q+A and follow a remit from the party's youth ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says he has been told to be "alert" to potential cost blowouts for the light rail project in Auckland. Mr Peters said no such concerns were raised with him from ministerial colleagues, including Transport Minister Phil Twyford of the Labour Party. He suggested that ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters Leader of New Zealand First The Benefits of having New Zealand First in the Centre: Security, Experience & Balance 2.00pm, 20th October 2019 Ladies and Gentlemen Thank you all for your warm welcome to this, the party’s 26thConvention. Speaking on behalf of caucus colleagues, it’s great to ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Fletcher Tabuteau is travelling to the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu this week to continue toadvance important bilateral relationships in our region consistent with thePacific Reset. Mr Tabuteau will engage in a range of bilateral meetings and visit New Zealand development ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
The Government is investing in ambitious research that will digitise Te Reo, grow the low-carbon protein efficient aquaculture industry, help interpret environmental trends, and large data sets says Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods. The four projects range from teaching Siri to speak Te Reo to crunching large environmental ...
A new education-to-employment brokerage service to strengthen connections between local employers and schools. Funding for more trades focused ‘speed-dating’ events to connect schools with employers. Promotional campaign to raise profile of vocational education. The Government is taking action to increase the number of young people taking up vocational education and ...
A Bill to improve prison security and ensure the fair, safe, and humane treatment of people in prison while upholding public safety has passed its third reading. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the Corrections Amendment Bill makes a number of changes to ensure the Corrections Act 2004 is fit for ...
Minister for Māori Development, Nanaia Mahuta, has selected Arihia Bennett MNZM, Chief Executive Officer of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, as the Te Puni Kōkiri appointed representative on the New Zealand-China Council. The New Zealand-China Council (the Council) was established in 2012 as a New Zealand led and funded organisation ...
Responsibility for processing the small number of Southern Response claims still to be settled will be transferred to EQC by the end of the year. “As claim numbers reduce, it no longer makes sense for the Crown to have two organisations processing the remaining Canterbury claims,” Grant Robertson says. “Since ...
Health Minister David Clark is encouraging Whanganui residents to take up the opportunity for free bowel screening, which can detect cancer early when it’s easier to treat. Over the next two years 12,000 Whanganui locals, aged 60 to 74 will be invited to participate in the National Bowel Screening ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, heads to Oslo today to represent New Zealand at the sixth Our Ocean Conference, which is being hosted by the Norwegian Government from the 23-24 October. “The Our Ocean Conference mobilises real action on issues like marine plastic pollution and the impacts of ...
Two secondary-school initiatives are being expanded as part of the Government’s plan to see more young New Zealanders take up a trade to help close the skills gap. This includes the largest single increase in Trades Academy places in recent years. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris ...
Session 4: Pacific Connectivity – Youth, Media and New Opportunities Kia ora tatou katoa and Warm Pacific greetings to one and all. Representatives of Tainui, the local people of the land, or manawhenua – the indigenous peoples of this area – have welcomed you this morning in accordance with ...
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. “Every New Zealander has a stake in New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension,” says Carmel Sepuloni. “They are our most common form of social assistance – nearly 800,000 New ...
Babies in Auckland aged six months and over can receive a free vaccination and children will all have access to vaccines, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced today at Papatoetoe High School. The move comes as part of Government efforts to step up the fight against measles. ...
***Check against delivery*** Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and to have the honour of opening this important conference on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. Let us take the opportunity to acknowledge all the people who have helped make today possible, including our special ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the safety of frontline officers and members of the public will be the focus of a new trial of specialist Police response teams in three of our largest urban centres. Police have this morning released details of an initiative to be trialled in Counties Manukau, ...
The Minister of Fisheries is calling for entries for a new public award to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector. “I have established the Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise and celebrate those throughout industry, tangata whenua and communities who demonstrate outstanding dedication and innovation towards the sustainability of New Zealand’s ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter welcomes leaders in the private sector taking action on closing their gender pay gaps to ensure a fairer workplace for all New Zealanders. Ms Genter today launched a new report, Addressing the gender pay gap and driving women’s representation in senior leadership, from the Champions for ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Feedback sought– Lyttelton commercial zone parking The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to remove on-site car parking requirements for new developments in the Lyttelton commercial zone. The proposal, by Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section 71 of the Greater ...
Hon Minister Poto Williams Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration MEDIA STATEMENT Tuesday 15 October 2019 Feedback sought – Hagley Oval The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal about Hagley Oval. The proposal was developed by Regenerate Christchurch ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
Smoke continues to billow in downtown Auckland 24 hours after fire broke out in the incomplete complex.Shortly after 1pm yesterday came the first reports of a fire on the site of the SkyCity New Zealand International Convention Centre in central Auckland. That brought a massive mobilisation of emergency services, evacuations ...
He Kākano Ahau is a podcast by writer and activist Kahu Kutia (Ngāi Tūhoe) that explores stories of Māori in the city, and weaves together strands of connection. In episode one: the legacy of urban marae Tapu te Ranga.I grew up where the tarseal on the road crumbles away into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Australians are divided over whether the nation’s universities have too many foreign students, according to the Australian National University’s ANUpoll, released Wednesday. In the polling, 52.8% said the mix between foreign and domestic students was ...
National's leader Simon Bridges says a bill imposing restrictions on people returning after fighting for extremist groups would only keep New Zealanders "half safe". ...
Alex Casey talks to Leigh Hart about the return of Late Night Big Breakfast, the finest morning TV parody show New Zealand has ever made. Late Night Big Breakfast is set to return to TVNZ in 2020 after a five year hiatus, creator and comedian Leigh Hart has confirmed. Filmed in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Gordon, PhD candidate. Sydney University Physics Education Research (SUPER) group, University of Sydney If you want to get good marks in your exams, there’s no substitute for study. So do past exams, go over your notes, read what you need to ...
Otago University academic Chris Brickell wonders whether his new book on LGBT objects ought to be the sort of thing bookshops would want to have on their shelves. ...
South Aucklanders from Mangere to East Tamaki will be riding their Go Bus services to work for free tomorrow morning, as FIRST Union bus drivers opt out of collecting fares for their employer in an industrial action designed to show the wider public ...
What do we make of the Air New Zealand decision to quit the Auckland-Los Angeles-London route? Nothing much as it simply reflects the changing dynamics of the airline industry. Gone are the days when Air NZ took the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 into the fleet and began flying Los Angeles, then ...
Was the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site at higher risk of fire than any other construction site or building? Alex Braae asks the experts.A fire at the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site has continued to burn this morning, after a night of lighting up the Auckland CBD sky.The fire, which ...
Sky City and Fletcher Building see another "material delay" to opening of International Convention Centre as fire still rages. Plan B needed for APEC in November 2021, says Goff ...
First it was KiwiBuild, now it’s Auckland’s light rail that’s looking increasingly shambolic. Jenée Tibshraeny from Interest asks what’s going on, and how thin is that ice that transport minister Phil Twyford is skating on.The Opposition’s latest attack phrase aimed at the government is set to be one of its ...
At last, a break in the clouds for NZ’s dairy farmers : Fonterra suppliers could be looking at a sharp lift in income, as the co-op revises its forecast range for the milk price to $6.55-$7.55 kg/MS.And the signals are strong enough to underpin projections the milk price will rise ...
Members of the Indian community are angry at an immigration policy change making it harder for to bring spouses to NZ - but Shane Jones says anyone not happy should "catch the next flight home." ...
On October 7, New Zealand’s Labour Party-led coalition government announced draconian class-based restrictions on immigration. From February 2020, the government will reopen the Parent Category visa nearly four years after the previous National Party ...
Organise Aotearoa joined a rally held by the Chilean expatriate community on Tuesday outside the Chilean Embassy in Wellington, following widespread repression and brutality against protesters by President Sebastián Piñera’s armed forces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Shine, Robinson Fellow, University of Sydney Have you ever sat down to complete your morning crossword or Sudoku and wondered about what’s happening in your brain? Somewhere in the activity of the billions of neurons in your brain lies the code ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehmet Ozalp, Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University The five-day ceasefire negotiated by US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish President Recep Tayyib ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne The unprecedented blackout of front pages by Australia’s newspaper publishers this week is a highly significant event in Australian political and media history. It represents the completion of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation In recent years coconut water has left the palm-treed shores of tropical islands where tourists on lounge chairs stick straws straight into the fruit, and exploded onto supermarket shelves – helped along by beverage giants ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Petterson, Professor of Geology, Auckland University of Technology CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University A Greenpeace video of me plugging a trackless tram that went viral with 4 million hits has caused a few eyebrows to be raised over whether I think light rail is dead. So let me ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Asher, Associate Professor, UNSW Here’s the boldest idea the government’s inquiry into retirement incomes should consider but might not: no longer exempting all of the value of each retiree’s home from the pension assets test. The test would merely exempt part ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Sernack-Chee Quee, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building, University of Technology Sydney 1973 was a remarkable year for Sydney, with the opening of two major cultural icons. The first was the Sydney Opera House. The second, possibly more important ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: In today’s edition: Serious ramifications likely from SkyCity fire, dozens of partnership visas being denied, and yet another police pursuit death.The fire at the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site has continued to burn overnight. Fire crews were forced to abandon the roof, ...
Orange-fronted parakeets will still get protection but some mohua populations miss out as DoC reduces the area of forest being covered by 1080 poison. ...
The main way small countries like New Zealand can lead on climate change is through our ideas. Policies developed here may help other countries with similar issues, writes David Frame. ...
By Rebecca Ananian-Welsh Australians picked up their morning papers yesterday to find heavily blacked-out text instead of front-page headlines. This bold statement was instigated by the “Your Right to Know” campaign, an unlikely coalition of Australian media organisations fighting for press freedom and source protection. A key reform advocated by a ...
Surrounding sites evacuated and one reported hospitalised in serious condition as blaze rips through two floors of the under-construction building in the Auckland CBDLast updated: 6.30pmParts of central Auckland have been brought to a standstill this afternoon after a major fire broke out shortly after 1pm at the Sky City ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phil McManus, Professor of Urban and Environmental Geography: Head of School of Geosciences, University of Sydney In the wake of a shocking ABC report on the dismal end of many racehorses’ lives in slaughterhouses, many Australians are questioning whether the horse racing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lecturer of Computing & Security, Edith Cowan University Machines and the internet are woven into the fabric of our society. A growing number of users, devices and applications work together to produce what we now call “big data”. And this ...
After an unusually nasty campaign for their country, Canada has gone to the polls. They’ve decided that Justin Trudeau will continue as prime minister, but just like in New Zealand, he’ll have to work with coalition politics. What’s happened?After a brutal and at times humiliating campaign, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has ...
“The Prime Minister must publicly support an immediate ban on Gay Conversion Therapy . If I was Jacinda I would feel morally obligated to give more confidence on where I stand, when I have asked for, and received, support from that community.” ...
New abortion law marks significant and needed progress for reproductive rights in New Zealand Amnesty International has today made its submission to the Abortion Legislation Committee in Wellington. The rights at stake in the legislation include the rights ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Transport Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): NZ Transport Agency to Phil Twyford: We should have done better ...
Crisis of Safety and Confidence in our Engineering, Building and Construction Industries Please find attached a copy of an Open Letter from Professor Maan Alkaisi, Spokesperson CTV Families Group. This was sent a short time ago to the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, ...
Safe speed limits are survivable speed limits and this is what AT has endorsed in its step change decision today. This decision is a landmark that sets the scene for a new focus on road safety in New Zealand. ...
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) says the inadequate treatment of urology patients in Southern District Health Board is distressing and should serve as a broad reminder to DHB management to listen when specialists raise concerns. ...
Informed via telegram that Netflix has released a full trailer for the new season of The Crown, Tara Ward puts on her best boxhat and white gloves to find out what round three will bring. The good Lorde told us we’ll never be royals, so the first full trailer for the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie has some sobering reading to do over the coming weeks: an 88-page Senate report into the government-sponsored bill to repeal the medevac law that allow refugees and asylum seekers in Papua ...
Eric Crampton has fun imagining a version of MBIE that worried it could be subject to cartel criminalisation provisions for the anticompetitive regimes it has established. ...
Criminologist Antje Deckert has just completed a two-year study of how women offenders are portrayed in New Zealand newspapers. The results show that journalists are telling very different stories abut Māori and Pākehā. That our criminal justice system is in desperate need of reform and that we need to reduce the ...
China continues its march into the Pacific with a China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum in Samoa this week. Ahead of the forum, Beijing has signed seven new agreements with Samoa covering education, trade, e-commerce, investment, infrastructure and agriculture. China’s Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua heads his delegation in Apia ...
It might be tempting to yell, but there are more effective ways to talk to doubters about the value of vaccines, write Julie Leask and Maryke Steffens.Your neighbour is telling you about his new baby. He feels nervous about vaccinating, and says he’s considering delaying Lucy’s vaccines.Your mother’s group is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debra Wain, Academic in Professional and Creaive Writing, Deakin University Why do we tell stories, and how are they crafted? In this series, we unpick the work of the writer on both page and screen. Anna Spargo-Ryan’s debut novel, The Paper House ...
The Movies, a documentary series that celebrates movies and their impact on culture, is available on TVNZ OnDemand today. Sam Brooks pulls some of the best quotes from its galaxy of stars.Ever wanted to get a snapshot of cinematic history without leaving the comfort of your couch, or even your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ronald F Pol, Senior researcher NZ, La Trobe University Money laundering rarely gets as literal as the case in Thailand last week, where police raided homes of a ring suspected of laundering a billion baht (about A$48 million) of drug proceeds and ...
The NZTA chair has acknowledged the agency dropped the ball in its early handling of Auckland's light rail project, as the NZ Infra proposal grips ministers. ...
On Friday it was announced that Armed Offenders Squad patrols will be trialled in Counties Manukau, Waikato and Canterbury over the next six months. The data suggests this will increase police violence and unfairly target Māori, writes Emilie Rākete.Police Commissioner Mike Bush announced on Friday that cars of Armed Offender ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Court’s judgment. It does not comprise part of the reasons for that judgment. The full judgment with reasons is the only authoritative document. The full text of the judgment and reasons ...
There’s something about the feeling of wind whipping my face that brings me out of my head and into the moment. Once a month we pedal as a group: recreating the feeling of childlike glee riding our bikes together, writes Helen King.The first bike I learned to ride belonged to ...
More than 10,000 school support staff around the country have begun two weeks of paid union meetings to discuss progress on pay equity, and next steps following the Ministry of Education's failure to present a collective agreement offer. ...
Government ministers are adamant New Zealand’s economic fundamentals are solid, unemployment is at a record low, growth is faster than in Australia, and the surplus in the government accounts and low debt present further opportunities to strengthen the economy. Yet, across the road from the Beehive, the view from the ...
Wellington's mayor-elect Andy Foster says talk about a recount is causing a "distraction" for the council at the start of their term, but the incumbent Justin Lester says it's essential for a democratic process. ...
Police Commissioner Mike Bush has today announced an independent review of the systems and processes NZ Police has in place to address complaints of bullying. ...
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry has formalised an integrated pathway for survivors to seek justice for the abuse they suffered in State care or in the care of faith-based institutions. ...
The small-claims mediation process is meant to give real people a voice, but the financial and emotional sacrifice just isn’t worth it, writes Jai BreitnauerWhen we moved to the semi-rural dreamland of Te Henga (Bethell’s Beach) in 2017, we couldn’t imagine that anything would be able to tarnish the beautiful ...
The New Zealand Bar Association welcomes a Court of Appeal decision which gives detailed guidance on sentencing people convicted of offences related to the importation, manufacture and supply of methamphetamine. ...
Methamphetamine (meth) dealers who can prove their own addiction caused their drug offending could have their sentences cut by 30 per cent, according to a landmark judgement released by the Court of Appeal. The role of an offender in a drug network ...
Open mike 05/07/2019 
Over the past month we've heard some horrific stories about bullying in the police. The police's response? Try to bully people into silence:The police have told a whistleblower to retract his statements to RNZ about being bullied or face legal action. The demand came just hours after Police Commissioner Mike ...2 hours ago
One of the key arguments used by trans ideologists is that some male-bodied people (ie men) are women because they ‘feel’ they are women. To make this hocus-pocus sound a bit more credible, some will argue that such men have a ‘female brain’. But this is thoroughly anti-scientific too. . ...2 hours ago
A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a health-related FB page that had published a post from a homeopathist, offering homeopathic “vaccination”¹ against measles (using something called a “Morbillinum nosode” at a “potency” of 200C, which I’ll explain shortly). I followed the link, left a comment ...19 hours ago
1 day ago
by the Council of Disobedient Women We call on the Council of Trade Unions to show some fortitude and take a stand with your sisters. Unionists know that there is a material world, otherwise workers could simply identify out of poverty. They could declare themselves Well Paid. Why stop ...2 days ago
Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...2 days ago
In 1994, I was the editor for an issue of Planet magazine focused on cannabis, its culture and the prospects for the end of its prohibition. Part of that issue was an interview with 'Ringo', an experienced cannabis dealer.I recently posted my essay from that issue, and I figured it ...4 days ago
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...6 days ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz There is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...1 week ago
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...1 week ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...1 week ago
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...1 week ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...2 weeks ago
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...2 weeks ago
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...2 weeks ago
Journalist Andrew Dickens, reporting from the 2019 New Zealand First Conference, states that the Party once again proved “they are more than a sideshow”. In his op-ed article for NewstalkZB, Mr Dickens said he has always been an admirer of the Party, saying they are “a true centrist party”. “[NZ ...1 day ago
We're rebuilding our hospitals, protecting our oceans, and taking mental health seriously. ...5 days ago
The Government is investing in ambitious research that will digitise Te Reo, grow the low-carbon protein efficient aquaculture industry, help interpret environmental trends, and large data sets says Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods. The four projects range from teaching Siri to speak Te Reo to crunching large environmental ...5 hours ago
Smoke continues to billow in downtown Auckland 24 hours after fire broke out in the incomplete complex.Shortly after 1pm yesterday came the first reports of a fire on the site of the SkyCity New Zealand International Convention Centre in central Auckland. That brought a massive mobilisation of emergency services, evacuations ...22 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Australians are divided over whether the nation’s universities have too many foreign students, according to the Australian National University’s ANUpoll, released Wednesday. In the polling, 52.8% said the mix between foreign and domestic students was ...1 hour ago
National's leader Simon Bridges says a bill imposing restrictions on people returning after fighting for extremist groups would only keep New Zealanders "half safe". ...1 hour ago
Otago University academic Chris Brickell wonders whether his new book on LGBT objects ought to be the sort of thing bookshops would want to have on their shelves. ...2 hours ago
South Aucklanders from Mangere to East Tamaki will be riding their Go Bus services to work for free tomorrow morning, as FIRST Union bus drivers opt out of collecting fares for their employer in an industrial action designed to show the wider public ...3 hours ago
What do we make of the Air New Zealand decision to quit the Auckland-Los Angeles-London route? Nothing much as it simply reflects the changing dynamics of the airline industry. Gone are the days when Air NZ took the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 into the fleet and began flying Los Angeles, then ...3 hours ago
Sky City and Fletcher Building see another "material delay" to opening of International Convention Centre as fire still rages. Plan B needed for APEC in November 2021, says Goff ...4 hours ago
The Sky City Convention Centre fire burns on this morning, with the Prime Minister planning to visit firefighters today. ...8 hours ago
Orange-fronted parakeets will still get protection but some mohua populations miss out as DoC reduces the area of forest being covered by 1080 poison. ...8 hours ago
Changes to how courts deal with meth-related offending can only go so far thanks to current laws. And that's how it's going to stay. ...8 hours ago
David Seymour won't return a donation from a man who threatened to destroy mosques. ...8 hours ago
Sportsroom editor Steve Deane asks himself why he starts foaming at the mouth at the sight of a twit in a white shirt with a red rose on it. ...8 hours ago
The main way small countries like New Zealand can lead on climate change is through our ideas. Policies developed here may help other countries with similar issues, writes David Frame. ...8 hours ago
England's chirpy Aussie coach is in his element ahead of the World Cup semifinal. ...8 hours ago
Like the All Blacks, Kellie Bailey is hitting Japan this week at the top of her game - as a judge on the Olympic canoe slalom course. ...8 hours ago
The hugely disproportionate number of disabled people on benefits is hidden by our low unemployment figures. ...9 hours ago
Eric Crampton has fun imagining a version of MBIE that worried it could be subject to cartel criminalisation provisions for the anticompetitive regimes it has established. ...23 hours ago
China continues its march into the Pacific with a China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum in Samoa this week. Ahead of the forum, Beijing has signed seven new agreements with Samoa covering education, trade, e-commerce, investment, infrastructure and agriculture. China’s Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua heads his delegation in Apia ...24 hours ago
Fonterra has increased its forecast farmgate milk price for the current dairy season, sighting strong demand for the co-op's milk. ...1 day ago
Otago can boast having the cleanest air in NZ but it’s not in the mountains of Central Otago or on the windswept beaches of Dunedin. ...1 day ago
It was five dollars a night for a meal and a bed. Fifty to a room, two rooms to a floor, and four floors high. There was a rooftop to jump from or streets to die slow in. An axe murder that week narrowed the streets odds considerably; the dismemberment of limbs signalling more than the frustrations of poverty run amok. We sat on the rooftop smoking weed, gazing down at the nervous prostitutes.
I did a gig with Steady Eddie. I got into town, phoned a comedy club and scored an open mic spot for the next week. After the phone call I went to 'volunteer' at a homeless mission in exchange for a room and meals, as I'd done at a sister fellowship in Brisbane. "Oh no", she said through armoured glass. "This is Sydney, we have far more homeless here and many of them are mental patients. All our staff are trained professionals. Five bucks a night, dinner at six."
The last time I saw Steady Eddie I was a teenager sneaking into The Hillcrest Tavern in Hamilton, NZ. Now I was a homeless man sneaking to avoid a deranged killer while navigating King's Cross. I'd managed to land a day helping a builder lug gib up some stairs for pocket money, and for the gig I'd get a couple of beers. Sure, the axe murderer was a risk: but this was a gig and a couple of beers.
The manager said, "everything went great until you started singing". I drank my beer and watched the rest of the show. Eddie arrived with an attractive blonde shortly before his closing spot. He was hilarious and then he was drinking at the bar. We chatted a little. I liked him. I told Eddie my singing sucked, and he told me his was worse – but he was currently in the charts, and we laughed. Eddie left with two blondes and a 40 oz of bourbon. I took a cab back to the shelter with one eye on the meter.
"Stop here" I said. I got out on the pavement not far from the shelter. I grabbed my guitar and bag and took stock, then a double take. The cab pulled off to leave me standing there with a dozen prostitutes lining the street all the way to the corner; and they had seen me flinch.
"Hi Honey, you want some of this", began the first as she lewdly grabbed at me. "I've got no money." I stammered as I jostled guitar and bag, hands busy and thus helpless. "Well you can do me for your jacket." Says the next as she pulls her top up to reveal breasts bursting from a red lace bra. "No no," says the third, "you can do me for your guitar" as she lifts her skirt and sidles a bare ass toward me. I pick up the pace. The suggestions and sideshow get bluer as I progress. The hands are all over me, tits, ass, pussy; rubbing and thrusting through lace and lycra. Then I am at the corner, turgid, broke, frustrated, alive. I head for the mission as laughter rang down the alley.
My guitar and bag got locked up. I had permission to arrive late and a security guard escorted me up to the room. Softly, slowly, through the lines of broken men I inched over to the empty cot. My clothes and shoes went in the small cupboard beside the single bed, one shoelace tied to my hand and the other end to the cupboard door.
I dreamed I was on stage at the club with an audience full of prostitutes. The microphone wasn't projecting my voice but the ladies howled with laughter at the erection in my pants. One of them came up to the stage and tugged at my hand to draw me down amongst them. I woke to my hand being tugged by the shoelace as I opened my eyes a slit. A junkie was crouched in the dim light, quietly trying to undo the knot on my cupboard door. I punched down hard to the side of his face where his jaws met, knocking him to the floor. "Fuck Off" I said as he hit the floor. He scrambled backward: "I was only looking to see if you had any cigarettes, man" he lisped. "Fuck off now". He slithered off into the dark. The man in the next bed coughed and murmured. "Good job, son".
I lay awake till dawn.
I hope the above isn't too blue? I hear worse words here daily but not in the same context. It is a story from 1997 and I laid it out as it happened.
This is an excerpt from: Down & Out Down Under – a collection of short stories (in progress) from Aus/NZ about 'how the other half lives.'
I thought it was fabulous.I remember being in Sydney and King's Cross during that whole , what was it, a serial axe murderer rampaging at random
The fear and excitement!
You've lived on the edge WTB, and lived to tell the tale
Thanks
It was a schizophrenic guy Rafael Gavranovic who attacked at least three, but was found not guilty by means of insanity.
I can't find details of his residence, the Police were in that shelter a few times checking over resident lists to try find the guy. I guess only local cops and law would remember details that far back.
I had a guy lunge for me with a large knife there. I didn't even see him coming, had never met or spoke to him. Luckily security saw him pull the knife and took him down a couple of feet from me. Close call.
Maybe I punched his boyfriend? Staff kicked him out and told me he was a junkie and PTSD vet ‘with a few problems.’
IMO powerful writing, WTB. Definitely not too blue for the subject. The clean direct writing style is perfect and tells it as it is – or rather was. Anything more descriptive (eg descriptive adjectives etc) would lose the message IMO.
Is the collection of short stories to be all your own work, experiences? The short story is probably my most favourite genre and is one of the hardest to master as it has a tight framework to be achieved – and imo you have done it perfectly in the one above. I could 'feel' the experience.
A couple of friends of mine teach creative writing at Victoria and Massey Universities, and one in particular, specialises in the personal memoir and personal essay. I am going to copy your excerpt above to her and I think she will be impressed.
While writing the above, I realised that it reminded me of a little book of a similar nature I had and treasured years ago. It was a collection of short stories by/about a diverse group of people who were part of Wellington's so called 'underworld' back in the 1960s/70s – a world of small time crime, honour amongst thieves, madams who looked after their staff etc which was being overtaken by a darker, more drug driven element which eventually took over the old world. The book was a chronicle of the way life had been in that underworld and the consequences of its loss.
I knew a number of the people whose stories made up the collection – some of which were written by them personally and others were written as interviews by a local journalist who saw what was happening and was inspired to pull the book together as a memory of that part of Wellington's history. I cannot remember the name of the book, or the journalist, but your post has inspired me to try to track both down and refind that book. Probably well out of print etc, but somewhere in Wellington it will still exist. Archives NZ?
Keep going on this, WTB. It is an important part of both your own history and the social history of our country (and Australia).
Thanks for the compliments, I think my writing is finally maturing where it sounds like my voice not some Bukowski fan trying to emulate…
Bukowski could write a short story!
I interviewed Henry Rollins one time and he said of Bukowski that he only had one line 'life sucks and I'm drunk again' – he made a good point. Bukowski was flatting with the author Hubert Selby Junior (Last Exit to Brooklyn, Requiem For a Dream) and turned me on to his writing. 'The Demon' was a startling book.
For me, the attempted novel didn't work. The memories were all snapshots rather than a narrative. There was no thread only survival. Hence short stories.
The stories will be my experiences, and sidetracks to others stories where discussions are recalled. Still trying to 'capture' Sarge, a vet who showed young street people the ropes to survival on Sydney's streets. We downed a goon of wine while talking which didn't help…
“There was no thread , only survival”
Now that is stunning WTB
I love it all!
I also had a chaotic childhood and young adulthood,nothing made sense , you had to be ready to run (wore a dress only about 3 times in my life, I reckon for that very reason)But I don’t regret it , and reading the sense of aliveness ,immediacy, and richness in your “snapshot”I don’t reckon you do either.
"For me, the attempted novel didn't work. The memories were all snapshots rather than a narrative. There was no thread only survival. Hence short stories."
The snapshot is much more powerful, imo. I like it far more than a full length historical type narrative. The snapshot allows the reader to participate in/savour/feel a moment in time, an experience. That is what happened to me when I read your snapshot above. The reader can then linger in the moment, think about it etc, before moving on to the next snapshot, with each snapshot possibly invoking a different experience. You have chosen well – don't let it go. Kia kaha
[Sorry, not trying to lecture – was just very moved by your post and want to see more!]
Correction – Rollins flatted with HSJ – not Bukowski. I doubt he'd have let him in his door. Rollins was quite hardcore straight-edge at that stage and had very poor opinions of drunks.
I turned up hammered for the interview. It was awkward but we got past it.
Gritty rather than blue, either way i found it compelling, thanks WTB. A glimpse into a slice of life this boy hasn't experienced.
Rollins is an interesting character, can communicate strongly held views without being preachy.
I actually read that wrong thinking you said he was preachy.
I reckon he can/could certainly come across preachy but there's usually a back story worth hearing to explain some of his views.
Rollins nails it himself in a recent appearance in Portlandia, where Phil reforms his band Riot Spray.
Series 8 Episode 1 Riot Spray
Rollins: When I was younger I didn't like anything and now I like a lot of stuff.
This documentary is brilliant
2am WINZ queue anyone?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12246774
I’d quote the article but cant decide what to cut out – suggest read all
That's bloody awful. And then WINZ try shift blame to the helpers for this mess. They love to treat you with suspicion and prejudice, had my fill of these mongrels in the past.
The SFO decide not to prosecute Nigel Murray because it's too expensive.
Over $30m spent on Kim Dotcom's extradition trials.
One of these people actually committed a criminal offense in NZ.
Predictable. Murray's good at this, he's got form which Coleman was informed about.
Then there's that national neutered SFO which probably have him flirty looks and a process long enough to tidy up the loose ends.
I noticed his outrageous expenses were still way,way,less than Hisco's.
I see Hosking is now "premium content" at the Herald.
More reason to buy a subscription. Or on second thoughts, maybe not.
Always thought of Hosking as a premium donna.
Premium?
Premagnum?
Promagnum?
Cromagnum.
Premium Prick.
Robert
Lol definitely you're top of the list. And incidentally the Murdoch cartoon this a.m. in the Nelson Mail/stuff seems to refer to the recentclimate change thumbs-down.
Excellent strategy from the Herald management. Put him behind the paywall so he can preach only at the converted. Since the battle for public opinion nowadays occurs in the middle ground, the rightists get to lose their champion & centrists won't have to roll their eyes at him any more. Win/win all round, eh?
Tells you everything you need to know about the standard of egotistical immature rant granny calls 'premium'.
I broke the other day and took the premium option with a local delivery paper on Sat – it will be clear at that end though that I never "opened" Hosking's rants before and won't now, there were just a few items of interest I wanted to keep up with.
The wall isn't big enough nor well guarded enough.
I found myself listening to him via RNZ, I think it was the media slot. It was not a pleasant experience.
Looks like the British electorate has now split into four more-or-less equal parts: Labour "was ranked fourth in a YouGov poll for The Times on just 18 per cent – its joint lowest level, matched only by Gordon Brown in the depths of the 2009 financial crisis. Labour trailed behind the Tories on 24 per cent, Brexit Party on 23 and Liberal Democrats on 20."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/corbyn-labour-leader-poll-slump-low-a8988866.html
Is 18% for Labour a negative verdict on Jeremy's (lack of) leadership? Probably, but I vaguely recall Helen Clark scored around that prior to becoming PM. Could be he's playing the `slowly slowly catchee monkey' game.
Corbyn campaigned well in 2017. However it was mainly Labour versus a terrible Tory party campaign effort. Since then both the Tories AND Corbyn have impoded. I don't know how he will change that dynamic.
A character test for him, this crisis. The zen sidestep could yet work. I'd rather he told the nation what to do though. See how the news featured a woman brexiteer ranting about slavery to the EU this morning? So they're playing the freedom card.
Jeremy could cite `free to choose' as principled dogma, outflank the Tories on the right like Helen Clark did. Leftists acting like rightists is a known behavioural pattern since the '80s so voters are comfortable with it.
Equally he could steal a portion of the conservative electoral base by telling them independence means reverting to being told what to do by indigenous leaders rather than the Eurocrats. Tories love the lash of the whip so he could easily grab 10% of them with that type of leadership rhetoric.
Agreed he should do something. At the moment he is trying to play both sides of the aisle and it is simply not working for him. He looks weak and indecisive and more importantly losing support from the group of Labour activists who brought him to power.
It's unfortunate he looks weak, being the only one honest enough to 'not know' the way out of such a mess. Needs lessons in bluster.
Here she is.
Why is that embarrassing? She is expressing her firmly held opinion and representing the people who democratically chose her to do just that.
Well THIS is interesting….NZ removed the ability for property investors to off set residential property losses.
MSM stands to the side, useless. This happened last week – it should be big news but we’ve got crickets.
Soldiers in need of help.
People get broken when exposed to trauma, and if society sends them into harms way society should then be obliged to help them.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/113934132/young-army-veterans-in-need-of-mental-healthcare-are-slipping-through-the-gaps
I can't imagine the horrors some of these folk go through, but I do know they go through it to serve our country and protect the rest of us. These people deserve kindness, respect, assistance, and a place in the sun.
I can't imagine follow up is easy however. PTSD causes isolation, thus leaving one to one's own thoughts. The worst decisions are often born in isolation. Reaching out is so hard yet so vital.
"continuing to try and spread the message that it is ok to not be ok, and to ask for help."
Hear hear.
virtue signalling?…..I think the signal is a little more explicit.
"Cull’s welcome speech was anything but welcoming.
“I’ve taken this opportunity to welcome you and this conference to Dunedin – not because I support all of the various plans and projects that will be promoted here, but so you can hear why some of those plans are not welcome here.
“So, to be clear, if you’re promoting fossil fuel exploration, extraction and exploitation – and especially its expansion – then understand you are at odds with this community and my council that represents it.”
He ended by calling fossil fuel exploration and exploitation a “dangerous and immoral folly”.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/05/667795/the-un-welcome-speech-dunedins-mayor-gave-miners
Cool – he has gone up in my estimation – a few mates in dunners don't like him for some reason. Leadership in action – good luck for the next few 'restful' years sir.
Much of the animosity seems to be from supporters of a local councillor who is "polarising", as in that many people think the councillor is a dickhead, but his supporters think he walks on water.
I thought the stadium had something to do it.
Possibly, he was anti-stadium. But most of the people who knock him that I've encountered were also anti-stadium. Maybe he wasn't anti enough for their tastes. But the ongoing financing of the stadium has been questionable. He has been pro one or two other developments that were pretty controversial, ISTR.
I've never had too much problem with him either way. Just seems to be pretty bland, nothing too amazing but a solid worker. There are other councillors who are more polarising, and then the usual bunch whose passion for original projects is inversely proportional to the proximity of the next election.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/04/planting-billions-trees-best-tackle-climate-crisis-scientists-canopy-emissions
So how about we have a nationalised forest service to implement our aspirations to plant 1 billion trees?
Including research, nurseries, engineers, maintenance crews, millers
Instead of planting short rotation pines, we plant long term hardwoods, mixed native plantations that don't get clear felled but selectively logged for high end use, and we leave the pines and other conifers much longer for their heartwood, thus removing the need for treating with poisons.
Only a nationalised industry can do this, opting for long term gains over short term profit.Once set in motion, its in perpetuity, dedicated forestry land publicly owned cant be turned in to dairy or whatever new short sighted bonanza shows up.
And what say we have dedicated plantations for all future public buildings , schools, housing, libraries etc, getting away from carbon emitting concrete?
Each generation plants for future generations , so there's continuity.
We grow mushrooms ,or rather , we facilitate them , medicinal and otherwise as a sideline
within the forests.
Good thinking, Francesca. I've often wondered why pine replacement doesn't happen – just short-termism or is growing alternative trees just too hard here? I wonder if there's a relevant forestry lobby group, that could push policy from a resilience perspective instead of status quo complacency.
As regards mushrooms, nostalgia tempts me to advocate the magical, but realism reminds me there’s too many folk with vulnerable mental states. Would be interested in hearing from people with expertise in the potential benefits of diverse species of mushrooms though.
https://www.tanestrees.org.nz/
A great model and underway
And apparently the quality of NZ grown oak, despite fast growth is pretty good
We have a history of chasing short term gains , boom and bust cycles
Maybe its our youth as a country.
In the UK oak forests are attached to Universities , with repairs, future building, roof replacement in mind.This was instituted back in an era where there was a different perception of time
We modern day desperadoes want it all now, with no thought for the morrow
And we have created a world that mirrors that – we have cut down our future to the day after next year. Changing fixed minds based on 20th century thinking is almost impossible, I think one has to smile and go round them.
Trying to keep that in mind while still planning rationally for the near future is the hardest thing.
Taranaki farmers were saved from going broke once by the export of wood ear fungi to China. There are a range of fungi we could grow for a range of purposes.
One interesting emerging idea is to use fungi to devour waste streams while making packaging and other materials.
Another is to use fungi as part of bio-remediation on riparian edges and elsewhere.
There's medicinal fungi of many types, and huge markets for them in Asia. Western medicine is slowly coming on board when they can isolate compounds and make exorbitantly priced products.
There's insecticidal fungi we can use for research and bio-control.
There's turning forestry slash to topsoil.
Then there's food.
Off the top of my head…
There's psilocybin mushrooms in my front garden… I did not put them there but lol, maybe they recognised me and moved in.
I had a look through Lincoln staff and programs once thinking that is where they would have a good silviculture program but it seemed to feature pines. We like to stick to the good idea, keep it going.
Fransesca said so rightly:
Instead of planting short rotation pines, we plant long term hardwoods, mixed native plantations that don't get clear felled but selectively logged for high end use, and we leave the pines and other conifers much longer for their heartwood, thus removing the need for treating with poisons.
Only a nationalised industry can do this, opting for long term gains over short term profit.Once set in motion, its in perpetuity, dedicated forestry land publicly owned cant be turned in to dairy or whatever new short sighted bonanza shows up.
There will be others out there who think the same. How can we help?
Shane Jones recently announced planting of native trees in Waimea Nelson.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113953302/government-announces-70000-trees-to-be-planted-to-protect-tasmans-waimea-inlet
Facts about the effect of planting pine trees and harvesting them leaving the land bare:
A Tasman District Council and NIWA study released in 2018 found that recently harvested pine forests along with bank erosion were responsible for a high proportion of sediment in the Waimea Inlet, which is the largest semi-enclosed coastal estuary in the South Island. Coverage of very soft mud in the inlet soared from 10ha in 1999 to 551ha in 2013….
Jones said the national tree-planting programme was "on-track" to have 80,000 trees planted by the end of the current season, with 65,000 trees already planted.
“This new quantitative evaluation shows [forest] restoration isn’t just one of our climate change solutions, it is overwhelmingly the top one,” said Prof Tom Crowther at the Swiss university ETH Zürich, who led the research. “What blows my mind is the scale. I thought restoration would be in the top 10, but it is overwhelmingly more powerful than all of the other climate change solutions proposed.”
Crowther emphasised that it remains vital to reverse the current trends of rising greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and forest destruction, and bring them down to zero. He said this is needed to stop the climate crisis becoming even worse and because the forest restoration envisaged would take 50-100 years to have its full effect of removing 200bn tonnes of carbon."
but…
"However, some scientists said the estimated amount of carbon that mass tree planting could suck from the air was too high. Prof Simon Lewis, at University College London, said the carbon already in the land before tree planting was not accounted for and that it takes hundreds of years to achieve maximum storage. He pointed to a scenario from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 1.5C report of 57bn tonnes of carbon sequestered by new forests this century."
however…
"But tree planting is “a climate change solution that doesn’t require President Trump to immediately start believing in climate change, or scientists to come up with technological solutions to draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere”, Crowther said. “It is available now, it is the cheapest one possible and every one of us can get involved.” Individuals could make a tangible impact by growing trees themselves, donating to forest restoration organisations and avoiding irresponsible companies, he added."
Nothing to lose
Yes
It pleases me so much to see how many people are growing in ecological awareness and proffering practical solutions to move forward. Not just here in TS but all over the place.
Sad story all around
RIP Simone – I'm sorry everything fell apart for you. You did some good work for refugees – thank you.
For those who feel a bit economic ignorant. Or understanding why you feel like crap under capitalism.
Not unsympathetic to Wolf's views.
Does he have alternatives to the Capitalist model?
He errs at the beginning by stating the difference between hourly wage rates and the price of the end service or product is profit.
Most people are aware of operational costs,rents,insurances,taxes,cost of goods,super..etc
Multi national companies have the influence and resources that the small businessman does not.(to state the obvious)
"Does he have alternatives to the Capitalist model?"
My favorite economist.
See 16 below.
Right wing loon Katie Hopkins and her apartheid state supporters
A word far stronger than "despicable" is needed to describe her and the people who applaud her racist ranting….
https://www.thejc.com/news/news-features/katie-hopkins-homelands-film-premiere-london-hendon-islamophobia-1.486061
I'm sure Hopkins appreciates your efforts in spreading her work to a wider audience.
Hopkins' disgusting views are consistent with those of Boris Johnson and the rest of those rats in the Conservative Party. She's a moderate compared to the likes of old Yenta Hodge and her vicious cronies.
Marcus posted this link to Monbiot:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/03/land-reform-brute-power-billionaire-press-attacks?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR19LprhYKBidvX-ytKgbhoAbK8CXdQeS8hDS0sQubJmYni_nAawou8MwMA
It's a must-read.
Good work from Monbiot.
An extension of Rutgers Davos observation, about millionaire media front persons,always promoting the vested interests of their billionaire owners.
Monbiot is a spineless fellow. He can't even do something that is decent (supporting the victim of an extermination campaign) without first paying lip service to the villainous lies perpetrated by the would-be exterminators.
As well as his moral cowardice, he's a dodgy "environmentalist"—he supports nuclear power.
A greater environmental mind than you or I has put forward a good Arguement for nuclear power.
James Lovelock talked about the issue and containing the waste from nuclear. Contrasting that with the waste from gas/coal generation of electricity.
Granted, not here in Aotearoa, (go hydro).
I am starting to doubt some of yr proclamations, a coupla days ago a video was posted with Ben Shapiro and Andrew Neil.
Either yrself or yr protege opined that Shapiro came second in the discussion. I watched it and I thought Shapiro ran rings around Neil. I find a lot of Shapiro's views abhorrent, but he came across more competent and consistent than the senior journalist.
I thought Shapiro ran rings around Neil….competent and consistent.
And the sun circles the earth. Got it.
(Whatever this fellow is smoking, I would recommend the rest of you steer clear of it.)
You have written that James Lovelock is credible, and that Ben Shapiro "ran rings around" Andrew Neil.
You are under the influence of a powerful hallucinogen, aren't you?
Hee hee, just high on life.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
The Trump Show Sucks Balls.
Bound to happen when Bolsonaro took over.
Brazil’s Bar Association, journalists and opposition lawmakers have reacted with outrage to reports that the country’s federal police plan to investigate the bank accounts of an American journalist who published leaked conversations between prosecutors and the graft-busting judge who is now Jair Bolsonaro’s justice minister.
The rightwing site the Antagonist (O Antagonista) reported on Tuesday that federal police had asked a money-laundering unit at Brazil’s finance ministry to investigate the “financial activities” of Glenn Greenwald.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/03/brazil-glenn-greenwald-investigation-outcry-bar-association-journalists
You'll be right behind this latest state campaign against a journalist, of course.
Unlike the alleged rapist, Greenwald's an actual journalist.
Assange was never charged with rape. One is tempted to be charitable and say that such a vicious and ignorant slur is unworthy of you, but that would be a false statement.
Oh, my bad.
The alleged sexual violator.
Nope. You're still lying.
Once again: when will you start pouring filth on Glenn Greenwald? Will you start now or will you wait for the morsels of disinformation to be fed to you from the Brazilian/U.S. authorities, as you did with the campaign against Assange?
Professor L
Accusations Unlimited – is that your speciality. Why can't you give us time to come to the same opinion as you instead of insulting anybody different? Desist.
I don't think the Professor was "insulting anybody different", Mr Shark. He was simply posing the question: how long before these creeps start to pour filth on another government-designated target for destruction?
Is that a rhetorical question he was posing then, or you are? I have a feeling I am missing something here. It seemed to me that he was attacking Joe90 for something that he thought that Joe90 and others might do, like pouring filth on a speaker. Ugh.
I prefer to get down and dirty in the garden.
He was attacking Joe90 not because of something he might do, but because of something he has actually done. (The latest examples of his pouring filth on a journalist is just above us on this thread, in messages 15.1.1 and 15.1.1.1.1)
If only you and your sock were as concerned with Greenwald's work as you are with defending an alleged sexual offender.
joe90
11 June 2019 at 8:23 pm
Surprise surprise, the corruption prosecutions that resulted in Lula's imprisonment and his ineligibility to run were cooked up by the right.
Indeed: "incendiary articles" and exposing of "unethical behaviour and political motives" constitute a grave risk to the state. He'll have to be destroyed, just like Assange.
Could you explain: exactly why are you not on board with the state campaign this time?
Calling Adam – I know that you are there up at 11 but don't want to derail the thread there. Forget feeling crap under capitalism and feel great after rewatching this! Do you remember it Adam?
Adam posted this wonderful, wonderful dance video back on 26 June 2015 on Weekend Social and I refound it a few days ago when totally crap with a full-on dose of the common cold. It restored my belief that life is still worth living and the more I played it, the better I felt.
A must view. Thanks Adam
PS – I am still learning the new system, so if the above does not work, here is a link to Adam’s original comment with video.
One of the quirks of the current comment editor is if you want to link to a specific comment on TS, putting the link as a standalone paragraph strips the #commentnumber off the URL and turns it into a link to the OP.
But if you use the linking tool (that looks more like a misdrawn infinity symbol) or just include the link to a comment in a sentence like this /open-mike-05-07-2019/#comment-1634457 it correctly links to the actual comment.
Thanks for that tip. I assume you mean the symbol that looks like a paperclip next to the slashed S. I used that to put in the actual link to the video which eventually came up properly! But when it did not originally come up, I then edited the comment and the toolbar doesn't come up when I edit so cannot use the symbol. LOL. So I will know for the future when that happens to put the link into a sentence.
But that young woman is an amazing dancer! The ability to move bits of the body separately like they are all unconnected is not easy – and she is tops. The other videos of her both alone and with her dance partner are superb. Now off to find the Trump parade videos …
Now seen Joe90’s comment below – LOL
A while back I vaguely remember lprent explained that the delay in the image showing up for video, twitter links etc had something to do with the server having to go fetch the image and then put it into the cache, and there can be delays in some of the processes to make that happen.
Interesting what different people see that linking tool icon to be. I reckon there's a good chance that McFlock with his security background might be the only one of us that correctly interprets it as a short bit of chain at first glance.
Sorry to derail your thread about dance …
I see a chain link.
I know it's supposed to be a chain link and when I work at it I can make myself see it as chain. But even though it's been there for months, every time I first glance at it I still see it as a misdrawn infinity. Funny how visual perception and mental shortcuts work.
You didn't derail it at all. But I have been so enjoying that video I wanted to thank Adam. He and I have had our spats, but it just brought me so much relief the other day, I wanted to share it and to acknowledge Adam for first putting it up.
I am laughing at what's happening in Washington DC – the sky gods are no fools!
But I so wanted to see Trump's Shermans!
Aww..
Maybe the new Shermans didn't make it off the production line in time?
Russian sabotage? You'd buy into that theory, no doubt?
You're spluttering. Damn pin bones, again?
Russian paranoia—you're donkey-deep in it as well. I was providing our friend, and the likes of yourself, with—by your lights—a reasonable explanation.
Well said Prof.
..and don't worry Biden 2020 will save us lol.
Nah. This time it was all the immigrant workers in the defense contractors that went on a go-slow when they saw the design.
Yes, but it was the evil Russian masterminds that persuaded them to take that go-slow action, surely.
Surely? They control everything and everyone, as you know.
Huuge parade.
Much more fun than the Trump Parade!
Thanks lol
Speaking of flag referendums…
America is gonna need one all those rednecks have turned it into a symbol of hate.
Speaking of flag referendums…
The correct word is "referenda."
America is gonna need one all those rednecks have turned it into a symbol of hate.
It's not working people—scoffingly dismissed as “rednecks” by thoughtless rich pricks—that are spreading hate, but the soft, doughy white-collar bigots who have never worked in the sun in their miserable, privileged lives. People like Stephen Miller, Ben Shapiro, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump….
referendum, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌrɛfəˈrɛndəm/, U.S. /ˌrɛfəˈrɛndəm/
Inflections: Plural referendums, referenda.
OED
Quoting the OED, no less. Q.E.D.
Identity crisis? Or just in two minds?
I ladled out the praise after you had dealt a lesson to the Professor, and you come back with an allegation like that. Sheesh! Talk about ungracious.
Peculiar prose and passionate protest. Anyway, we’re all on the same page so all good with me.
Enjoy your weekend.
Yep, that's me, a thoughtless rich prick.
'Professor'
And those proud boys and their truck humpin cousins are all very fine people indeed.
Thanks for the lesson.
You schooled me good.
Is there a recipe for starting flame wars? I feel that the tone of the Perfesser is familiar. Or perhaps there is a tide in the affairs of men, and it washes up lumps of spite in blogs leaving a high water mark of see-weed.
Should we be celebrating? https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-china-defence-relationship-recognised-through-conclusion-defence-cooperation
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2019-07/Memorandum%20of%20Arrangement%20Concerning%20Defence%20Cooperation.pdf
USA, China, Australia… and so many more – why? They know what they have to do to win and that is destroy. Not just the actual people, but hope, respect, dignity.
Good work these crews and good report from Minister Sage on fbook.
Watching a piece of the Trump Parade and it seemed to be pretty shambolic to me. Huge gaps and amatuerish participants. Funny that faces in parade seemed to be fuzzied out.
If EU politics is about incorporating the vote, & therefore you would think it's efficacy, then insular coalition bargaining before the vote is increasingly problematic when there is increasing fragmentation ( which of itself is not necessarily a bad thing ), & it seems like they have essentially a very good structure to take that into account overall if not the traditional method of using it that way.
https://www.dw.com/en/inside-europe-women-nominated-for-eus-top-jobs/av-49472112
Seems like some of the criticism is a mix of First Past the Post and Direct Democracy type asks that are being put forward theoretically, but to my understanding both applications of those models to what is being talked about seems misplaced.
Hopefully they can get over this bump and reap the increased benefits after a rocky few years.