Interesting question, whether there's an NRA backdoor to ACT. But maybe the NRA's current troubles are severe enough they haven't the time, money, or energy for that kind of fuckery.
One thing the buy back has done is to point out who the nut cases are to the sane and responsible firearm owners. There's quite a stark division there now and the nutters aren't really listened to. And oddly, most of the 'Fuck 1080" bumper stickers and banners have disappeared. Often the same people.
From my small circle who surrendered their semi autos, it was the purchase, or deposit on something much better, and more appropriate for the sort of hunting they do. In all cases no regrets and are wondering why / how they came to buy the semi autos in the first place.
Also know someone who qualifies, and is going down the path of being able to legitimately own them.
I am struggling to find and policy regarding immigration, there has been a lot of noise regarding shortfalls in our workforce. Last election we were told of a reduction in immigration by all. Yet we achieved records growth.80,000 pa net inflows. Or for both National and Labour will it be open our boarders to all and sundry and then fix any resulting problems?
It would be nice to see them just enforcing the law we have.
Fruit pickers, liquor store checkout operators, or dairy shedhands are not and never have been skilled, and as such never have qualifed for working visas.
And, the statutory declaration "I could not find any suitable New Zealanders for the position" needs to be challenged in such instances. Most employers seeking these kinds of staff have perjured themselves, and should be prosecuted for it.
This systematic lawbreaking, often beginning under National, but shamelessly continued under Labour, is a major contributor to entrenched poverty and poor employment practices in NZ.
My suggestion – no industry can import any labour unless they can't get staff with reasonable working conditions on offer and $35/hr pay. And pay /conditions on offer (including to imported labour) must remain at this level or better the entire time imported labour is used.
RSE essentially tightened up immigration controls in the horticulture industry as it reduced significantly the use of illegal labour and all the associated problems that went with that – people not returning home, orchardists undercutting each other, no PAYE paid to IRD. It also became part of the aid package to the Pacific.
To some extent John Key opened up the rorting again with allowing students to work full-time while in NZ – English language schools that were fronts for residence and seasonal work.
Orchard rorts still continue but much reduced from twenty years ago e.g. the slavery case over in Hawkes Bay. Who was the orchardist in the media reports paying him in bags of cash for the last 10 years? Why isn't their name public?
There is a mis-match between where the supply is and where the work is and sharp peaks. In apples the peak is in picking, in kiwifruit in packing. One is definitely more attractive than the other hence when COVID hit many people jumped to the packhouses.
We also need to be careful about talking about labour supply that we are not being racist in demanding people work there. NZ Europeans have left the picking of fruit for other better paid, less physically difficult work for years and increasingly those left to pick have been Maori and PI. One hopes that Maori aspire to do more than pick fruit and if we are going to pressure New Zealanders to do this work that that pressure isn't just applied to Maori and PI.
If you think RSE tightened up controls it seems that you are mistaken. Segregated accommodation for married couples, harsh lessons in 'not bucking the boss', denied access to migration based on race and background – these are the epiphenomena of a deeply flawed system.
It's like the government sublet their morality to Treasury. If you only look at the numbers it doesn't matter who picks or prunes, but in terms of the local economy RSE workers don't have much of a spending profile – their portion of GDP is a loss, and Treasury should count it as such – then they might not be quite so keen on end runs around labour laws.
I'm sure at the time Treasury were more concerned with people coming from overseas, setting themselves up as contractors, then disappearing with all the PAYE and student loan money.
In this day and age I still don't get why the employer can't be required to simply pay it to IRD each payday – it's not their money – it's the employees.
That would save hundreds of millions each year in crook employers. My wife went through years of hassle because her employer didn't make the payments deducted out of her pay. Just as well she kept her payslips.
So we're left with a structure an accountant would call a C minus, and a citizen an F. And exercising structural prejudice against hiring New Zealanders – it should be utterly destroyed.
Meanwhile, governments express concern about declining regional economies – as if they hadn't just pulled out much of the cashflow.
Part of the result of economics as practised in NZ is that if a company can't get the workers then it must be uneconomical and closes down. Its not supposed to go whinging to the government for assistance and get an effective subsidy..
Or for both National and Labour will it be open our boarders to all and sundry and then fix any resulting problems?
NO.
If you had been keeping up with campaign news you would know that both major parties (Labour definitely and I'm sure I heard Collins say something similar) have indicated they are not planning to use immigration as an election issue because there is too much uncertainty around Covid 19 and its aftermath – words to that effect.
Wise and sensible while our borders are largely closed. In the meantime, I expect the ‘experts’ are quietly modelling new laws on future immigration policy for the next government to consider as we speak.
Whether it will be sufficient to solve some of the current problems remains to be seen.
The function of the Accident Compensation Corporation as a “top tier” alternative health and welfare system demonstrates the rampant and continuing success of a neoliberal agenda in Aotearoa. If we are going to move anything, we need to move this.
…
But let us not forget, this crisis, like the Global Financial Crisis before is working to the advantage of the already wealthy. Neoliberals never let a good crisis go to waste. And sadly, we are all neoliberals now. Even those who yell helplessly into the void, faced with the tyranny of a state-run system that pits my brain injured child against yours because yours was “lucky” enough to be in a car crash, as opposed to a birth crash.
…
This pandemic will do one thing for sure: exacerbate. Will it exacerbate inequality, as we are seeing? Or exacerbate our drive for a fairer future?
I have no problem with illness being extended to a higher rate and treated like ACC but we could do this in several ways:
1. Have an illness levy like an ACC levy
2. Increase benefits at least to the NZS rate like they used to be
3. Properly fund the health system
Replicating he ACC model for illness might not be the right solution.
Be interested in who you think should pay the levies – employer, worker – what about non-workers? What happens when ACC boot you off for illness if we no longer have a sickness benefit?
ACC needs to be done away with. It was good when it was first put in place but has been truly broken with the neo-liberal tweaks that its suffered under.
Simple fact of the matter is that health should be free no matter how you ended up in the system.
Then there needs to be a base benefit that's enough to live on with needs based increases.
Put more people through training as medical professionals, build more hospitals and clinics around the country and pay them well.
I feel for the whanau who have lost everything in the McKenzie Basin fires. Big ups to the firefighters and helicopter pilots.
But what the fuck are we doing farming in that area in the first place. Dry tussock hill country is not suitable for arable farming. Unless heavily watered, which it is.
As an area of unbelievable natural beauty it should be left that way.
As an area of unbelievable natural beauty it should be left that way.
I'm not disagreeing with you. Fly over that basin really brings home the lunacy of dairy farming in the basin.
RNZ this morning, a farmer said the problem was the land around his farm had been 'locked away' and this 'was just waiting to happen'. Not a lot of thought in that comment.
I'd be quite interested in how the fire started.
Thus it is, the divide between developers and environmentalists will always endure
Fires from arcing powerlines are very common in Waitaki / Central Otago. Central in particular is afflicted by a notoriously tight arsed lines company and the lines aren't maintained properly, stretch in the wind and then start arcing. I've caught one that happened right in front of me driving down the road, fortunately the wind was blowing the right way and a couple of other people turned up and we got it out, could have been very different very easily. And there was nothing 'ungrazed' about this one, but a lot of rural residential carved off to keep the farmers afloat, and a lot of wilding conifers, because 'they look nice' and cost the land owners to control.
There's certainly land management issues, but they go both ways. The confrontational attitude that lines companies take in managing vegetation, and the resulting minimalist, or non holistic, pruning that results doesn't help. The way the legislation works the land owner ens up with a minimal trim to the regulated limits, but no assistance, in either labour or planning, to manage the vegetation long term.
Then there's lines that shouldn't be where they are, or are that poorly engineered or managed that arcing and fires are inevitable. A lot of the networks have grown in an ad hoc way with each extension done to the minimum extent in the cheapest way. So you end up with something that wanders all over the place and is quite different to what you'd have if it was rebuilt from scratch. Long established rural areas with multiple phases of rural residential subdivision are terrible for this, above and below ground. Lines and cables everywhere, often not recorded properly or at all.
The defensive attitude of the lines company here has me wondering if the situation in Ohau wasn't that different to the network around here.
There will certainly be some of that but power lines should be run underground by now which is the other part of the problem. Everyone in the industry knows that overhead power-lines are dangerous but its expensive to put them underground.
"tight arsed lines company" is part of our dysfunctional power industry by design.
The annual rebate on consumer bills is a political tool of the lines trusts club members. Max Bradfords regionally based gravy train for the old power boards.
Network strengthening and resilience likely sit back in the queue as they can always blame the weather, which they mostly do.
The otago one is a slightly different issue – the city council that owns it dragged out dividends that really should have been spent on lines maintenance, and then they got pinged by a whistleblower when the power poles 30 years past their replacement date started falling over.
Sounds exactly like the others McFlock, all a question of priorities as dividends/rebates on accounts etc should come after all the maintenance is up to scratch.
If you looked at the wooden pole issue across NZ lines companies you'd likely find 'consistency' in this approach with Mother Nature now driving the work reactively.
fair enough. Wasn't sure about the "lines trusts". I'm often a bit hazy on precisely the way the world is fucked up, but I know a good stink when I smell it, lol
Part of the council's thing was to stop central government glomming the whole asset (as they did with Rangiora High School's properties) – so they created a nicely indebted structure to make it unpalatable – good accounting, but they needed a couple of engineers on board to explain infrastructure lifetimes.
Goes back a bit before that – but the stadium was certainly a fine model of the third world infrastructure project that needlessly indebts citizens. If not for the Christchurch earthquakes it would have lost even more money. Just have to hope their harbourside monstrosity doesn't go through.
Just to make it a bit weirder…. maureen pugh wasn't at Meet the Candidates in Golden Bay during the weekend.
She has a cold and as a result is self isolating just in case of Covid.
Recent days have seen Judith Collins making an unmistakable play for votes from people who might have gravitated towards other smaller parties. A sudden run of references to her Christian faith, and a visit to an Anglican church, look like a medium-term play to solidify support in caucus, but also an invitation back to the mothership to the 1.4% of the electorate planning to vote New Conservative, according to the last Colmar Brunton / TVNZ poll.
There have also been policy embraces of the racing industry – hello the remaining NZ First loyalists (1.4%)! Pronouncements on gun reform in the second debate round off a busy time of pitching the big tent on the right.
Bit of a stretch, right? His reasoning is weakest when he doesn't explain what would shift centrists away from Labour now. The fact that the Nat leader isn't courting them – is trying to herd neanderthals instead – is a tacit admission of defeat, I reckon.
But the best bit is his screenshot from ONE News of the TVNZ political editor modelling the 1950s housewife style. Frump, with flowers on. My daughter has been telling me for years that retro styles are huge in younger generations, but I hadn't realised things have gotten that bad.
Normal commentary style here. Trump's orange hair continued to feature persistently long after he blonded it several years ago. When in Rome, do as the Romans do…
the difference is that the president of the US isn't a class subjected to oppression. Women are routinely subjected to put downs, body shaming, ageism, classism and so on on the basis of their sex class, and additionally that plays into other real world effects of institutional sexism. If we devalue frumpy old women we don't have to pay them as much.
The young and 1950's retro … possibly derived from the United States of Tara, that or Mad Men or channelling dead grandparents before their children (it's a form of rebellion).
As for Tara, Gone with the Wind and Trump's hair, its less a change in colouring as looking different when sprayed on a ligher base, graying hair.
You seem to be getting caught up in detail here and confusing commentary for 'mocking'. What is acceptable discourse is a function of time, so our ages are relevant. The smell of Old Spice and Brylcreem reminds me of RSAs on rare visits as a kid. May not mean much to younger readers. Maybe more to older ones than me?
In this particular case, for years Jessica Mutch's hips were kept out of shot on screen, probably to avoid the sort of erudite rejoinders we saw upthread.
Can we all agree that the least interesting thing about the story cited is what she wore, then move on with our days?
Sacha Old Spice is still on sale at supermarkets. The makers have found that the OTT scents of modern product don't appeal as much to the sense of the olders. As you say let's keep on with the main story, and not be deflected to run after the smell of red herrings.
Oh come on weka. Don't be so uptight. Let us make rude remarks about each other sometimes. As long as it is give and take. Fr'instance men calling each other 'old bastard' doesn't mean they don't like each other or are calling their mothers' out.
I think you have been indoctrinated by some university course, or prolonged reflection and navel gazing one – similar to those I have attended myself, but have shed some of the strictures! I realise to many they are sacred, and everything that is said in them must be written in stone, and objectors bashed on the head with it. Feel free. But please can I be only attacked by one person, not a gang.
You know that you are intellectually overreaching when you use labels to generalise ordinary decent citizens as Neanderthals, which is not even stereotypically accurate, don’t you?
You also know that JC is fighting a rear-guard battle to stem imminent losses of MPs without any medium-term vision or strategy, don’t you?
And you should also know that it is the camera angle and studio lighting that might make that dress look less flattering, yes?
Toby Manhire is right. If the Greens fall below 5% Judith may well be PM.
Auckland Central Labour voters should split their vote, giving Chloe Swarbrick the candidate vote and Labour the party vote. This will ensure the Green vote is not wasted so that they can join Labour in coalition.
In other constituencies a party vote for the Greens is a vote for a more progressive Jacinda government.
For the Greens to drop below 5% would require its previous voters switching to Labour or staying home. The latter seems unlikely this year. The former counters any fantasies about a Judith victory celebration.
Yes the ‘paths to victory’ theorised by Manhire and others require major shifts between blocs, not just between parties. It requires National’s vote to rise significantly to c 40% without taking any of those votes off Act, and for the Greens to dip under 5% without those votes going to Labour.
His figures propose Nats 37.5% and Act 8%. The latter is the highest Act have been in any poll in the last few years. I don’t see they’d stay there if Nats climb over the 28-33% they’ve been in recent polls.
Or enough extra voters coming out in force without voting for the Greens that they drop below 5% (very unlikely, but thought I'd mention the slight possibility).
Powerful forces are at work. JC prays to God and even Sir John is back in the house as if he never left. Fortunately, ponytails are relatively safe due to social distancing rules.
Anecdotal stuff here, but I heard the voting places around Otago university are pumping, apparently the referendum is getting a lot of young ppl voting, could be interesting if it really is a trend.
Yes many people who have never voted are coming out to vote for the first time in years or ever for weed.
I keep getting asked by people if they can leave their party and candidate vote blank and just vote for the referendum (I think that's a an incomplete ballot? Though should be an option) so I expect much of that to go to the greens and top and there will be a bunch of people who just vote for some random parties with no chance (like TOP or legalize marijuana or even soc cred) still if it gets weed passed, good.
When they first suggested holding two referendums at the General Election I thought it could be too much, overloading people, and putting them off voting altogether. I’ll be gladly proven wrong 🙂
I suspect one of the reasons turnout is so low in the US is it's such a pain. Most places you're voting for an order of magnitude more candidates than even Auckland local government. Feels like everybody is on the ballot down to third assistant dog-catcher.
If it's paper ballots, it's a stack like a magazine, or in Pennsylvania the voting booth had a machine with more levers to turn than a nuclear power station control room.
Agreed, make it as simple as possible, which is necessary but not sufficient for high voter turnout. In other words, it is not good enough for people to have no excuse not to vote, but they have to have an actual reason to vote. Merely ticking boxes of a Candidate and a Party is barely enough, it seems, and for some it is not even enough. I hope my writing is improving because I know Morrissey is reading 😉
I suspect one of the reasons turnout is so low in the US is it's such a pain. Most places you're voting for an order of magnitude more candidates than even Auckland local government. Feels like everybody is on the ballot down to third assistant dog-catcher.
Exactly.
This is called "democracy". Except the right, and opportunity to vote is being eroded day by day – State Law by State Law – county by county and district by district.
Not sure Corey, you get 3 separate pieces of paper for voting, one for election, and 2 for each referendum, I would think you can vote for all 3, or just one? I'm not sure of course but just the fact it's all separate I assumed that? For what it's worth I voted Green Party, Labour candidate, and Yes & Yes for referenda. Walked in, stated my name, and voted. So easy, we got a lot to be thankful for in this country.
yes, think the fact there are two important referendum along with general election, and covid fallout, will lead to a high voter turnout. usually not good news for conservative parties.
Who knows, maybe in a few years erudite experts on popular culture will explain how the pandemic lockdowns and loss of female employment exacerbated existing trends towards delivery of food then cooked and prepared for dinner parties. As women reclaimed the home as their dominion for meaningful work and identity.
All while men resumed dominance of life in the wider world in a way not seen since the Greeks first made up democracy and western civilisation.
Of course New Zealand under an Ardern government would have to be ostracised as a socialist outlier …
SPC What action oriented women wanted was choice. The ability to get out and do things in society, not be embedded at home and treated as a 'drawing' on the household budget, and remaining in men's minds at about the age of 18, just over the age of consent and no more.
Unfortunately the male-oriented capitalistic culture always willing to pick out religious strictures about where women belong in society chose to elevate male’s true interest, that of making money, over the building of a good and fair society of strong characters. Women's work is dismissed, child rearing also, socialisation and building character and skills also, and women are forced into level entry jobs that teenagers preparing for their work life should be able to access.
That is the background to the present situation of many women. They aren't better than men, but are certainly are worthy of a lot more respect and attention to their ideas and smarts than now happens. And they would like to be at home more and able to carry out their child-raising duties adequately. But most would not want to be stuck there, instead enabled to get part-time work with school holidays off while the children are young. Later to move further into the enterprise and trading society, not objects of charity or dependency for life.
TBH the cat walking across my keyboard, wanting pats, rubbing up against the monitor, meowing loudly on calls and pinching my seat as soon as I get up are bigger problems than the children that frequent the house.
The dog at least just pokes his head in the door says "Oh you're still there" and wanders off again!
Right now, we have budgie sitting while family are off on a holiday annoying grandparents. I think that I’d prefer the squabbling kids.
Having the choice, I have retreated back to the workplace. In a 55 square metre apartment, I have decided that there isn’t really room for budgies.
The cat was ok – you just provide a unused laptop with its builtin heater and keyboard where they can supervise. Then use the 10 foot throw so they have to think about landing on their feet as entertainment when you have to remove them from place that are your spaces. They learn fast. Just not fast enough about motorway off-ramps – damnit.
SPC Job-sharing – perhaps. But women getting out into the wider world from the home and family is also good. Helps to enable full adult and social growth and understanding, (getting towards Maslow's ideas of self-realisation).
However to digress, I forecast that there will be more small family-owned businesses making small profits but being regularly in work, employing children etc – back to medieval approach. The march of the large corps(es) have and will continue to kill off many of our previous jobs.
The only way for society and community to survive is to practise circular trade with each other, so circulating money and enabling each other. This will provide the well-known multiplier effect, and build lively and busy towns, with lots of social contact, while big business tries to put spokes in everyone's wheels. The wealthy class and leaders might start taxing wheels as a good flat tax! The money-magnets will always be looking for ways to get their fingers in the pie. A tax on windows once, when glass was scarce.
Once again Vernon Tava gets it wrong. Timed his run too late, then shot himself in the foot.
The Sustainable New Zealand Party has admitted that a woman featured in one of its online video advertisements is not a small business owner named Jill, but is the partner of the party's leader.
However, a senior lecturer for marketing at Auckland University said there was a chance the ad breached advertising standards. "I think that portraying her as a small business owner, not disclosing the fact that she is an actor and is in fact his partner, I think that most people would see that as not quite telling the full truth," Dr Bodo Lang said.
Lang pointed to the second principle in the Advertising Standards Code called 'Truthful Presentation'. The section states that ads must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, deceive or confuse consumers or exploit their lack of knowledge. "This includes by implication, inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, unrealistic claim, omission, false representation or otherwise."
He’s found the past few years to be a “very disturbing time.” “Overall, as somebody who was a born populist,” he says, “I’ve got a little less faith in my neighbors than I had four years ago.”
Many on the left — including Springsteen’s friend Tom Morello — see Trump as more of a symptom of larger problems, I point out. “I’m probably not as left as Tom,” says Springsteen. “But look, if we want to have the America that we envision, it’s going to need some pretty serious systemic changes moving leftward.”
As for the leading politician on the left: “I like Bernie Sanders a lot,” Springsteen says. “I don’t know if he was my main choice, my first choice. I like Elizabeth Warren, I like Bernie.” For the moment, though, he is fully on board with the centrist Democratic nominee. “The power of the American idea has been abandoned,” Springsteen says.
“It’s a terrible shame, and we need somebody who can bring that to life again.… I think if we get Joe Biden, it’s gonna go a long way towards helping us regain our status around the world. The country as the shining light of democracy has been trashed by the administration. We abandoned friends, we befriended dictators, we denied climate science.”
Doubt it. Normally comes across as sensible. I always get a sense that he inherited leftism from his working-class dad. See the song Factory, for instance.
End of the day, factory whistle cries
Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes
Bruce's never done a hard days manual labour work or been in a factory, he admits that as most think that's his past based on the music.
10 years of solid gigging with the East Street band are his dues prior to ‘fame’ he's simply one of the best songwriters about able to convey emotion in a tune.
"Sensible"? Really? Then who's this singing out for Barack Obama in 2012? Not in the “hope and change” year of 2008, mind you, but after four years of signing off on drone killings (all of them illegal), shaking hands with and being lionized by human rights abusers, continuing the war against democratic governments in Central and South America, and persecuting and imprisoning U.S. and Australian journalists.
Folks who lead a busy life often don't keep up with politics, nor pay much other than scant attention to headline news stories. You tend to see black & white all the time. Others see shades of grey, some pale, some dark, some in between…
Folks who lead a busy life often don't keep up with politics, nor pay much other than scant attention to headline news stories.
Bruce Springsteen is certainly busy. Too busy to think or care about the implications of backing a war criminal. In fact, three war criminals in successive elections.
You tend to see black & white all the time.
Actually, as you will admit when you cool down, my thinking is a lot more sophisticated and subtle than that. But when it comes to people who order the killing of civilians, the destruction of democracy, and the persecution of journalists, yes, I do see such criminality in "black & white."
Others see shades of grey, some pale, some dark, some in between…
There's a way to finesse the killing of civilians and the undermining and/or destruction of democratic governments in Central and South America?
everyone is supposed to realize that the House should accept its own futility because it is run by Democrats now. It’s the Circle of Derp.
almost by the hour, the need for a new Voting Rights Act—for example, one sensitive to 21st-century international ratfcking—becomes more and more obvious.
Being fully on board with Biden is one strong indicator.
He was an unequivocal Hillary supporter in '16, instead of ranting about how Dems and Repugs are equally bad and Bernie wuz robbed and how he would vote for Stein or not at all.
AFAIK he's never suggested the likes of Tucker Carlson 'get it' or tried to smear movements such as BLM by calling them marxist or indulged in other white-supremacist-adjacent behaviour.
Nor has he ever shown any other behaviour associated with convergence moonbats, to my knowledge.
Being fully on board with Biden is one strong indicator.
Yikes! “The Boss” has spent far too much time singing hoarsely, not enough time reading and thinking.
He was an unequivocal Hillary supporter in '16….
AFAIK he's never suggested the likes of Tucker Carlson 'get it' or tried to smear movements such as BLM by calling them marxist or indulged in other white-supremacist-adjacent behaviour.
If he’s such a progressive and tolerant person, then why is he supporting Biden? And why was he an "unequivocal Hillary supporter" in 2016? Clinton?
…you've apparently never read anything significant in your life. Explains all the third rate attempts at stenography, tho.
Well that little effort was not as colorful as your ever-inventive cascade of abuse for the Orange Shit-Gibbon, or whatever witty putdown you're about to employ for the Fanta Fascist. Just as lame, however.
Keep trying, my friend. By the way, what's the state of progress in the search for that missing bit of evidence proving that Drumpf is a Russian puppet?
Not sure that applies to writing songs/music in the same way as, say, writing literature. Neither does storytelling rely on reading necessarily and many cultures, including Māori, of course, have a long and rich oral tradition in storytelling. I think living with open eyes and an open mind, observing, creating experiences, and meeting other people and travelling, for example, are probably more important for writing well than reading other people’s words.
When something pernicious is reframed by Judith as an employment scheme to give the 'dodgy' lot a chance..you know( you know that lot)…. then sack them.
" Collins said she backed 90-day trials.
"They give businesses confidence to give people a go, when … maybe there's something with that person – maybe there's something in their background, maybe they're not quite qualified enough, maybe they're not that experienced, maybe they don't know them that well.
Maybe they're a different ethnicity – you know, this is about actually giving people a chance "
Someone should ask Michael Barnett or Phil O'Reilly a direct question about whether they agree with Judith Collins that small employers need 90 days to overcome their fear of employing someone of a different ethnicity.
Judith is loved by the base because she says the quiet bits out loud. Having to keep the quiet bits quiet feels like oppression, like being 'told what to think'. By saying it out loud Judith breaks the shackles of this 'oppression' and champions 'freedom of speech'. Undoubtedly God agrees, because he/she/it speaks through Judith.
Instead of addressing underlying issues such as causes of people having 'backgrounds' , worker exploitation, non-livable wages or the sacking of workers for unseemly profit margins, it's Judith's innuendo (" the quiet bit" ) that it's okay that innate prejudice exists, that there is a boss with 'superior' knowledge and ethnicity …
Hey Judith while you're playing to the base secret supremacist, say it out loud…
Subjectively, One is only, you know, " a different ethnicity " when you Judith are looking in the mirror.
There'll be though that 1/10 grateful lepers out there for 90 days, dismissed on a whim, who's then on a WINZ stand down.
The Weekend at Bernie's similarities just keep coming. Now they've propped him up in a car to wheel him around for a few minutes in front of adoring Drumpfkins.
Come to think of it, how do we know it was really him? Could have been a crisis actor.
Weekend at Bernies! – USA politics isn't that good is it? Hollywood must be after all the footage of this incumbent/recumbent it can get – or is that frottage?
That long-running Russiagate joke was not so funny. I note they haven't been pushing it with quite the brio they used to do before the Clintonistas' three and a half years of fantasizing was sunk in the most embarrassing manner possible.
Of course: the criminal Trump regime is full of criminals. Who claimed Trump and his gang were “innocent”?
But as Greenwald and other real journalists have pointed out, all the deranged shouting by Rachel Maddow and her imitators in the media and by the absurd Jerrold Nadler and his hapless cronies in Congress have produced no evidence of the mythical "Russian collusion."
Nope, he’s a Russian agent made in North Korea with Japanese components, trained by the Chinese, and running on Taiwanese batteries. This explains his poor spelling and random Tweets because of conflicts in the firmware. Please keep up.
A while ago the Secret Service actually looked like they were going to have staffing problems because of how many were getting covid. So maybe they're putting recovered agents around the Coronamoron-in Chief, and hoping like hell the immunity actually lasts.
I looked at an old Punch and came across Edwina Currie – she was done on Spitting Image. This is a small break from The Election and the buskers involved – so out of tune many of them aren't they!
Currie came across as a lively speaker in Punch so I looked her up and here she is being interviewed in 2012. This gives an interesting example to compare with our women pollies or how they are presented anyway. Currie was in the Conservatives. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/edwina-currie
The NZ covid song was pretty funny, up until they did the "island with small population" bullshit. Fuck that excuse is getting old. If our PM was a dickhead we'd have covid through the roof just like they do.
Spitting Image fired their gun at a sensitive spot though. We are trying to stop people firing guns, not spot them. Bad people at spitting image, they don't know what's truly funny in the UK, their tastebuds have become coarsened with indulgence in jeremymandering, our rosebuds are still blooming, just.
Refining NZ have this morning confirmed that around 100 jobs will be cut as the first part of its Strategic Review concludes, but FIRST Union says that it isn’t too late to save more jobs, assets and infrastructure while transitioning to cleaner and greener operations if the Government are serious about a Just Transition for Marsden Point….
Just this morning I was musing to myself on the hypocrisy of Trump being cared for by a team of doctors and nurses and contributing hardly a cent to the public expense of such care being lavished upon him. And, at the same time doing his utmost to deprive millions of his fellow Americans, even the bare minimum of the treatment that he was receiving.
It also astounds me that the woman he has nominated for the Supreme Court; having had the way to the position she currently holds, paved for her by the tenacity of RBG, should now be even considering pulling up the ladder which she has climbed. Much like Pulla Benefit did to the women of NZ.
No insurance involved. As Commander-in-Chief, the military medical system looks after his medical needs and wants. There's even the dedicated Presidential Suite at the local military hospital.
When the stakes in games become so serious — when everybody's life is at stake — they ought not to be played at all, and the taxpayers should not support them. But the taxpayers do support them, and that is why we cannot halt these activities.
And later:
I have said that it was difficult to understand, in what we call our free world, how it can come about that a scientist who has been working on CBR [Chemical, Biological and Radiological weapons] but is dubious about the morality of what he is doing should not find it in his power to resign. But how free are we citizens of this free world to resign from the gigantic and demented undertakings to which our government has got us committed?
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
As a young gymnast, Aimee Didierjean was always conscious of making sure her underwear wasn’t showing on the competition floor. A peek of a bra strap, or briefs if a leotard rode up, would cost a gymnast points in her routines. “When I was growing and going through puberty, it ...
Jubi/West Papua Daily Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion. There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In 2023, Anthony Albanese was shooting for the moon, his eyes on the Voice referendum. On one view, he looked like the idealist reflecting his left-wing roots. In 2024, we’re seeing a pragmatic, determined, ...
The House - The principle that all MPs are honourable and that they should be taken at their word has been tested multiple times this week in Parliament. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock Since the review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) released its recommendations in December, there has been a series of Town Hall events to discuss them around the country ...
Gun owners a voting bloc? https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/427557/gun-owners-advised-not-to-vote-labour-greens-nz-first
Editorial cartoonist who was a journo in Australia is not amused by Act’s antics.
https://twitter.com/rodemmerson/status/1312696542009016320
Interesting question, whether there's an NRA backdoor to ACT. But maybe the NRA's current troubles are severe enough they haven't the time, money, or energy for that kind of fuckery.
Might be support from other US orgs backed by Koch money etc?
We've got a big enough firearms industry in New Zealand to play silly buggers without needing overseas help, most of it in one operator.
Someone a few months ago also mentioned that NZ's post-massacre buyback scheme had left many owners flush and motivated to contribute.
One thing the buy back has done is to point out who the nut cases are to the sane and responsible firearm owners. There's quite a stark division there now and the nutters aren't really listened to. And oddly, most of the 'Fuck 1080" bumper stickers and banners have disappeared. Often the same people.
Yep – Over $100 Millions paid out to firearms owners …. if just 1% of that heads in ACT's direction that is a quite large war chest ………
Unintended Consequences.
Who knows what the other $99 Millions has been spent on?
From my small circle who surrendered their semi autos, it was the purchase, or deposit on something much better, and more appropriate for the sort of hunting they do. In all cases no regrets and are wondering why / how they came to buy the semi autos in the first place.
Also know someone who qualifies, and is going down the path of being able to legitimately own them.
dont forget act have form for this behaviour. three strikes prison was pushed by senseless sentencing trust, with david garret as bagman.
I am struggling to find and policy regarding immigration, there has been a lot of noise regarding shortfalls in our workforce. Last election we were told of a reduction in immigration by all. Yet we achieved records growth.80,000 pa net inflows. Or for both National and Labour will it be open our boarders to all and sundry and then fix any resulting problems?
https://www.labour.org.nz/policy
It would be nice to see them just enforcing the law we have.
Fruit pickers, liquor store checkout operators, or dairy shedhands are not and never have been skilled, and as such never have qualifed for working visas.
And, the statutory declaration "I could not find any suitable New Zealanders for the position" needs to be challenged in such instances. Most employers seeking these kinds of staff have perjured themselves, and should be prosecuted for it.
This systematic lawbreaking, often beginning under National, but shamelessly continued under Labour, is a major contributor to entrenched poverty and poor employment practices in NZ.
My suggestion – no industry can import any labour unless they can't get staff with reasonable working conditions on offer and $35/hr pay. And pay /conditions on offer (including to imported labour) must remain at this level or better the entire time imported labour is used.
Often NZ industries suffer from a wages shortage, not a labour shortage.
RSE essentially tightened up immigration controls in the horticulture industry as it reduced significantly the use of illegal labour and all the associated problems that went with that – people not returning home, orchardists undercutting each other, no PAYE paid to IRD. It also became part of the aid package to the Pacific.
To some extent John Key opened up the rorting again with allowing students to work full-time while in NZ – English language schools that were fronts for residence and seasonal work.
Orchard rorts still continue but much reduced from twenty years ago e.g. the slavery case over in Hawkes Bay. Who was the orchardist in the media reports paying him in bags of cash for the last 10 years? Why isn't their name public?
There is a mis-match between where the supply is and where the work is and sharp peaks. In apples the peak is in picking, in kiwifruit in packing. One is definitely more attractive than the other hence when COVID hit many people jumped to the packhouses.
We also need to be careful about talking about labour supply that we are not being racist in demanding people work there. NZ Europeans have left the picking of fruit for other better paid, less physically difficult work for years and increasingly those left to pick have been Maori and PI. One hopes that Maori aspire to do more than pick fruit and if we are going to pressure New Zealanders to do this work that that pressure isn't just applied to Maori and PI.
If you think RSE tightened up controls it seems that you are mistaken. Segregated accommodation for married couples, harsh lessons in 'not bucking the boss', denied access to migration based on race and background – these are the epiphenomena of a deeply flawed system.
It was definitely worse before that. I never said it fixed all the problems in the industry.
Like a lot of the neo-liberal reforms over time the "good employers" got driven out as they couldn't compete with the crappy ones who paid low wages.
It did get rid of lots of dodgy contractors for instance.
It's like the government sublet their morality to Treasury. If you only look at the numbers it doesn't matter who picks or prunes, but in terms of the local economy RSE workers don't have much of a spending profile – their portion of GDP is a loss, and Treasury should count it as such – then they might not be quite so keen on end runs around labour laws.
I'm sure at the time Treasury were more concerned with people coming from overseas, setting themselves up as contractors, then disappearing with all the PAYE and student loan money.
In this day and age I still don't get why the employer can't be required to simply pay it to IRD each payday – it's not their money – it's the employees.
That would save hundreds of millions each year in crook employers. My wife went through years of hassle because her employer didn't make the payments deducted out of her pay. Just as well she kept her payslips.
So we're left with a structure an accountant would call a C minus, and a citizen an F. And exercising structural prejudice against hiring New Zealanders – it should be utterly destroyed.
Meanwhile, governments express concern about declining regional economies – as if they hadn't just pulled out much of the cashflow.
Aye things like the benefit cuts have cost regions hundreds of millions over the years as has the centralisation of public services to main centres.
Part of the result of economics as practised in NZ is that if a company can't get the workers then it must be uneconomical and closes down. Its not supposed to go whinging to the government for assistance and get an effective subsidy..
NO.
If you had been keeping up with campaign news you would know that both major parties (Labour definitely and I'm sure I heard Collins say something similar) have indicated they are not planning to use immigration as an election issue because there is too much uncertainty around Covid 19 and its aftermath – words to that effect.
Wise and sensible while our borders are largely closed. In the meantime, I expect the ‘experts’ are quietly modelling new laws on future immigration policy for the next government to consider as we speak.
Whether it will be sufficient to solve some of the current problems remains to be seen.
Concise article by a Massey academic and parent on the discrepancy between ACC and our other health and income support options. https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/300123342/the-accident-compensation-corporation-a-neoliberal-fairy-tale
I have no problem with illness being extended to a higher rate and treated like ACC but we could do this in several ways:
1. Have an illness levy like an ACC levy
2. Increase benefits at least to the NZS rate like they used to be
3. Properly fund the health system
Replicating he ACC model for illness might not be the right solution.
Be interested in who you think should pay the levies – employer, worker – what about non-workers? What happens when ACC boot you off for illness if we no longer have a sickness benefit?
ACC needs to be done away with. It was good when it was first put in place but has been truly broken with the neo-liberal tweaks that its suffered under.
Simple fact of the matter is that health should be free no matter how you ended up in the system.
Then there needs to be a base benefit that's enough to live on with needs based increases.
Put more people through training as medical professionals, build more hospitals and clinics around the country and pay them well.
And, yes, we can afford it as government spending actually boosts the rest of the economy. Need to stop subsidising uneconomic businesses though.
I feel for the whanau who have lost everything in the McKenzie Basin fires. Big ups to the firefighters and helicopter pilots.
But what the fuck are we doing farming in that area in the first place. Dry tussock hill country is not suitable for arable farming. Unless heavily watered, which it is.
As an area of unbelievable natural beauty it should be left that way.
We sure know how to fuck up a landscape.
I'm not disagreeing with you. Fly over that basin really brings home the lunacy of dairy farming in the basin.
RNZ this morning, a farmer said the problem was the land around his farm had been 'locked away' and this 'was just waiting to happen'. Not a lot of thought in that comment.
I'd be quite interested in how the fire started.
Thus it is, the divide between developers and environmentalists will always endure
Early report were that it had started from power lines arcing in the wind. The local lines company is frantically trying to hose that down because then it's on the lines company's insurance.
Fires from arcing powerlines are very common in Waitaki / Central Otago. Central in particular is afflicted by a notoriously tight arsed lines company and the lines aren't maintained properly, stretch in the wind and then start arcing. I've caught one that happened right in front of me driving down the road, fortunately the wind was blowing the right way and a couple of other people turned up and we got it out, could have been very different very easily. And there was nothing 'ungrazed' about this one, but a lot of rural residential carved off to keep the farmers afloat, and a lot of wilding conifers, because 'they look nice' and cost the land owners to control.
How much of this is about inappropriate land management where power lines run?
There's certainly land management issues, but they go both ways. The confrontational attitude that lines companies take in managing vegetation, and the resulting minimalist, or non holistic, pruning that results doesn't help. The way the legislation works the land owner ens up with a minimal trim to the regulated limits, but no assistance, in either labour or planning, to manage the vegetation long term.
Then there's lines that shouldn't be where they are, or are that poorly engineered or managed that arcing and fires are inevitable. A lot of the networks have grown in an ad hoc way with each extension done to the minimum extent in the cheapest way. So you end up with something that wanders all over the place and is quite different to what you'd have if it was rebuilt from scratch. Long established rural areas with multiple phases of rural residential subdivision are terrible for this, above and below ground. Lines and cables everywhere, often not recorded properly or at all.
The defensive attitude of the lines company here has me wondering if the situation in Ohau wasn't that different to the network around here.
There will certainly be some of that but power lines should be run underground by now which is the other part of the problem. Everyone in the industry knows that overhead power-lines are dangerous but its expensive to put them underground.
"tight arsed lines company" is part of our dysfunctional power industry by design.
The annual rebate on consumer bills is a political tool of the lines trusts club members. Max Bradfords regionally based gravy train for the old power boards.
Network strengthening and resilience likely sit back in the queue as they can always blame the weather, which they mostly do.
The otago one is a slightly different issue – the city council that owns it dragged out dividends that really should have been spent on lines maintenance, and then they got pinged by a whistleblower when the power poles 30 years past their replacement date started falling over.
Sounds exactly like the others McFlock, all a question of priorities as dividends/rebates on accounts etc should come after all the maintenance is up to scratch.
If you looked at the wooden pole issue across NZ lines companies you'd likely find 'consistency' in this approach with Mother Nature now driving the work reactively.
fair enough. Wasn't sure about the "lines trusts". I'm often a bit hazy on precisely the way the world is fucked up, but I know a good stink when I smell it, lol
Part of the council's thing was to stop central government glomming the whole asset (as they did with Rangiora High School's properties) – so they created a nicely indebted structure to make it unpalatable – good accounting, but they needed a couple of engineers on board to explain infrastructure lifetimes.
This would be the same council that fire-sold the generator pre-reforms.
But the main reason it needed the dividends was the fecking stadium.
Goes back a bit before that – but the stadium was certainly a fine model of the third world infrastructure project that needlessly indebts citizens. If not for the Christchurch earthquakes it would have lost even more money. Just have to hope their harbourside monstrosity doesn't go through.
That denunciation of Proud Boys that was just too hard for the Fourth Dorkman of the Apocalypse to get out? It might be forthcoming now …
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/4/1983433/-Gay-men-overwhelm-Twitter-taking-back-ProudBoys-and-it-is-glorious
Or not, since it seems they might be doing a Weekend at Bernie's with him:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12370238
Those gay men trumped the Proud Boys elegantly!
That Twitter feed is such an uplifting moment for the start of the week.
Trump's in hospital, and so's Farrar!
It just got beyond weird (hand-clasped, be-pewed Collin's was freaky enough – now this startling coincidence – OR IS IT???)
You mean Covid can spread by morphic resonance? Now we're really in trouble!
Just to make it a bit weirder…. maureen pugh wasn't at Meet the Candidates in Golden Bay during the weekend.
She has a cold and as a result is self isolating just in case of Covid.
Toby Manhire makes the case for why it might happen: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/05-10-2020/how-judith-collins-and-national-win-the-2020-election/
Bit of a stretch, right? His reasoning is weakest when he doesn't explain what would shift centrists away from Labour now. The fact that the Nat leader isn't courting them – is trying to herd neanderthals instead – is a tacit admission of defeat, I reckon.
But the best bit is his screenshot from ONE News of the TVNZ political editor modelling the 1950s housewife style. Frump, with flowers on. My daughter has been telling me for years that retro styles are huge in younger generations, but I hadn't realised things have gotten that bad.
Aren't comments about someone's attire just channelling your inner Judith? Or worse, your inner Bowron, musty with talcum. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/122961639/policy-on-the-hoof-reflected-in-hooves
Normal commentary style here. Trump's orange hair continued to feature persistently long after he blonded it several years ago. When in Rome, do as the Romans do…
Perhaps you are just showing your age.
the difference is that the president of the US isn't a class subjected to oppression. Women are routinely subjected to put downs, body shaming, ageism, classism and so on on the basis of their sex class, and additionally that plays into other real world effects of institutional sexism. If we devalue frumpy old women we don't have to pay them as much.
The young and 1950's retro … possibly derived from the United States of Tara, that or Mad Men or channelling dead grandparents before their children (it's a form of rebellion).
As for Tara, Gone with the Wind and Trump's hair, its less a change in colouring as looking different when sprayed on a ligher base, graying hair.
Old Spice and Brylcreem?
Eu de RSA.
how is ageism a good response to sexism?
Standards change over time. Overconfident old men are not a class subjected to oppression.
what's the relevance of old? Are you saying that returned servicemen are overconfident as a class?
Saying that Dennis deserves to be mocked because he's not part of a class subjected to oppression fails in at least two ways.
1. old people are a class subjected to oppression
2. if we say it's ok to mock some people on the basis of age as a class, then why not some people on the basis of body shape/size, or sex and so on?
You seem to be getting caught up in detail here and confusing commentary for 'mocking'. What is acceptable discourse is a function of time, so our ages are relevant. The smell of Old Spice and Brylcreem reminds me of RSAs on rare visits as a kid. May not mean much to younger readers. Maybe more to older ones than me?
In this particular case, for years Jessica Mutch's hips were kept out of shot on screen, probably to avoid the sort of erudite rejoinders we saw upthread.
Can we all agree that the least interesting thing about the story cited is what she wore, then move on with our days?
yes, way too much outrage. I realise that is default setting for many on here, but is bloody tiresome!
if you weren't mocking, I definitely misunderstood. It appears Incog was though.
Yup
Sacha Old Spice is still on sale at supermarkets. The makers have found that the OTT scents of modern product don't appeal as much to the sense of the olders. As you say let's keep on with the main story, and not be deflected to run after the smell of red herrings.
Sometimes a flashback is just that.
Dennis is in and of a class of his own and mocking him could be called Dennism 😉
The term is Denisovan.
Definitely, a dying
breedclass.Oh come on weka. Don't be so uptight. Let us make rude remarks about each other sometimes. As long as it is give and take. Fr'instance men calling each other 'old bastard' doesn't mean they don't like each other or are calling their mothers' out.
I think you have been indoctrinated by some university course, or prolonged reflection and navel gazing one – similar to those I have attended myself, but have shed some of the strictures! I realise to many they are sacred, and everything that is said in them must be written in stone, and objectors bashed on the head with it. Feel free. But please can I be only attacked by one person, not a gang.
For me, weka was and is not the issue that sparked this thread and we seem to be getting off tangent.
Get back to me when you can take class analysis into your account.
😀
Brut and Blue Stratos? Hehehe
4711, because I’m good with numbers and because I’m worth it.
Now you are talking 🙂 🙂
You know that you are intellectually overreaching when you use labels to generalise ordinary decent citizens as Neanderthals, which is not even stereotypically accurate, don’t you?
You also know that JC is fighting a rear-guard battle to stem imminent losses of MPs without any medium-term vision or strategy, don’t you?
And you should also know that it is the camera angle and studio lighting that might make that dress look less flattering, yes?
Toby Manhire is right. If the Greens fall below 5% Judith may well be PM.
Auckland Central Labour voters should split their vote, giving Chloe Swarbrick the candidate vote and Labour the party vote. This will ensure the Green vote is not wasted so that they can join Labour in coalition.
In other constituencies a party vote for the Greens is a vote for a more progressive Jacinda government.
For the Greens to drop below 5% would require its previous voters switching to Labour or staying home. The latter seems unlikely this year. The former counters any fantasies about a Judith victory celebration.
Yes the ‘paths to victory’ theorised by Manhire and others require major shifts between blocs, not just between parties. It requires National’s vote to rise significantly to c 40% without taking any of those votes off Act, and for the Greens to dip under 5% without those votes going to Labour.
Wrong Uncle-read the article again.
His figures propose Nats 37.5% and Act 8%. The latter is the highest Act have been in any poll in the last few years. I don’t see they’d stay there if Nats climb over the 28-33% they’ve been in recent polls.
Sacha-Imagine waking up on Oct 18 to PM Crusher per the Toby Manhire article.
How would you feel?
In that case, I’d wait until 6 Nov and pray like hell
Me too Incog…..well maybe hoping not praying.
Go the special votes, usually the nat's lose a seat and the Greens gain one.
Not going to happen. Sleep easy.
Or enough extra voters coming out in force without voting for the Greens that they drop below 5% (very unlikely, but thought I'd mention the slight possibility).
Powerful forces are at work. JC prays to God and even Sir John is back in the house as if he never left. Fortunately, ponytails are relatively safe due to social distancing rules.
Anecdotal stuff here, but I heard the voting places around Otago university are pumping, apparently the referendum is getting a lot of young ppl voting, could be interesting if it really is a trend.
You think it is due to just the one referendum? Even that would be good news!
I think younger people have many reasons as to why they should engage and vote but apathy has ruled for years and not just voter apathy.
Yes many people who have never voted are coming out to vote for the first time in years or ever for weed.
I keep getting asked by people if they can leave their party and candidate vote blank and just vote for the referendum (I think that's a an incomplete ballot? Though should be an option) so I expect much of that to go to the greens and top and there will be a bunch of people who just vote for some random parties with no chance (like TOP or legalize marijuana or even soc cred) still if it gets weed passed, good.
When they first suggested holding two referendums at the General Election I thought it could be too much, overloading people, and putting them off voting altogether. I’ll be gladly proven wrong 🙂
I suspect one of the reasons turnout is so low in the US is it's such a pain. Most places you're voting for an order of magnitude more candidates than even Auckland local government. Feels like everybody is on the ballot down to third assistant dog-catcher.
If it's paper ballots, it's a stack like a magazine, or in Pennsylvania the voting booth had a machine with more levers to turn than a nuclear power station control room.
So a mere four ticks to think about – dead easy.
Agreed, make it as simple as possible, which is necessary but not sufficient for high voter turnout. In other words, it is not good enough for people to have no excuse not to vote, but they have to have an actual reason to vote. Merely ticking boxes of a Candidate and a Party is barely enough, it seems, and for some it is not even enough. I hope my writing is improving because I know Morrissey is reading 😉
If comprehension is absent, is it still reading?
I’ll have to ask my cat because he’s an avid reader of my comments when he plops on my laptop while I’m trying to write well.
Give him a good rub behind the ears from me.
He says “purrrrr”.
Exactly.
This is called "democracy". Except the right, and opportunity to vote is being eroded day by day – State Law by State Law – county by county and district by district.
https://twitter.com/PoliticoRyan/status/1312989158730862594?s=19
Not sure Corey, you get 3 separate pieces of paper for voting, one for election, and 2 for each referendum, I would think you can vote for all 3, or just one? I'm not sure of course but just the fact it's all separate I assumed that? For what it's worth I voted Green Party, Labour candidate, and Yes & Yes for referenda. Walked in, stated my name, and voted. So easy, we got a lot to be thankful for in this country.
Do I have to vote in both referendums and the General Election?
At this year's General Election, New Zealanders can vote in:
Eligible voters can choose to vote in all, some, or none of these.
https://www.referendums.govt.nz/faq.html
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-05-10-2020/#comment-1756758
yes, think the fact there are two important referendum along with general election, and covid fallout, will lead to a high voter turnout. usually not good news for conservative parties.
Who knows, maybe in a few years erudite experts on popular culture will explain how the pandemic lockdowns and loss of female employment exacerbated existing trends towards delivery of food then cooked and prepared for dinner parties. As women reclaimed the home as their dominion for meaningful work and identity.
All while men resumed dominance of life in the wider world in a way not seen since the Greeks first made up democracy and western civilisation.
Of course New Zealand under an Ardern government would have to be ostracised as a socialist outlier …
SPC What action oriented women wanted was choice. The ability to get out and do things in society, not be embedded at home and treated as a 'drawing' on the household budget, and remaining in men's minds at about the age of 18, just over the age of consent and no more.
Unfortunately the male-oriented capitalistic culture always willing to pick out religious strictures about where women belong in society chose to elevate male’s true interest, that of making money, over the building of a good and fair society of strong characters. Women's work is dismissed, child rearing also, socialisation and building character and skills also, and women are forced into level entry jobs that teenagers preparing for their work life should be able to access.
That is the background to the present situation of many women. They aren't better than men, but are certainly are worthy of a lot more respect and attention to their ideas and smarts than now happens. And they would like to be at home more and able to carry out their child-raising duties adequately. But most would not want to be stuck there, instead enabled to get part-time work with school holidays off while the children are young. Later to move further into the enterprise and trading society, not objects of charity or dependency for life.
Job sharing would work, but men would have to learn how to use Zoom (as well as a car) and multi-task if there were children about.
TBH the cat walking across my keyboard, wanting pats, rubbing up against the monitor, meowing loudly on calls and pinching my seat as soon as I get up are bigger problems than the children that frequent the house.
The dog at least just pokes his head in the door says "Oh you're still there" and wanders off again!
Right now, we have budgie sitting while family are off on a holiday annoying grandparents. I think that I’d prefer the squabbling kids.
Having the choice, I have retreated back to the workplace. In a 55 square metre apartment, I have decided that there isn’t really room for budgies.
The cat was ok – you just provide a unused laptop with its builtin heater and keyboard where they can supervise. Then use the 10 foot throw so they have to think about landing on their feet as entertainment when you have to remove them from place that are your spaces. They learn fast. Just not fast enough about motorway off-ramps – damnit.
I'm sure a quick ad in the very local suburb news will produce some children in exchange for the budgie.
Walks off whistling "you don't know how lucky you are……"
Yeah! You gotta watch those pussy cats!
https://media1.giphy.com/media/unQ3IJU2RG7DO/giphy.gif
SPC Job-sharing – perhaps. But women getting out into the wider world from the home and family is also good. Helps to enable full adult and social growth and understanding, (getting towards Maslow's ideas of self-realisation).
However to digress, I forecast that there will be more small family-owned businesses making small profits but being regularly in work, employing children etc – back to medieval approach. The march of the large corps(es) have and will continue to kill off many of our previous jobs.
The only way for society and community to survive is to practise circular trade with each other, so circulating money and enabling each other. This will provide the well-known multiplier effect, and build lively and busy towns, with lots of social contact, while big business tries to put spokes in everyone's wheels. The wealthy class and leaders might start taxing wheels as a good flat tax! The money-magnets will always be looking for ways to get their fingers in the pie. A tax on windows once, when glass was scarce.
https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0236.xml
Family Life in the Middle Ages Jacqueline Murray
http://www.localhistories.org/middleageswomen.html
https://rosaliegilbert.com/employment.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_household#Rural
https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html – Pre-industrial workers had a shorter workweek than today's
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26289459 – What medieval Europe did with its teenagers
google keywords for further info: – medieval women at work in family business
Once again Vernon Tava gets it wrong. Timed his run too late, then shot himself in the foot.
Poor Vernon. Obviously, the ad was not only misleading – it was designed to mislead! What part of authenticity doesn't he get? Every part.
Bruce, on being a leftist:
Is Bruce a covergence moon bat?
Doubt it. Normally comes across as sensible. I always get a sense that he inherited leftism from his working-class dad. See the song Factory, for instance.
End of the day, factory whistle cries
Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes
Bruce's never done a hard days manual labour work or been in a factory, he admits that as most think that's his past based on the music.
10 years of solid gigging with the East Street band are his dues prior to ‘fame’ he's simply one of the best songwriters about able to convey emotion in a tune.
"Normally comes across as sensible."
?????????
"Sensible"? Really? Then who's this singing out for Barack Obama in 2012? Not in the “hope and change” year of 2008, mind you, but after four years of signing off on drone killings (all of them illegal), shaking hands with and being lionized by human rights abusers, continuing the war against democratic governments in Central and South America, and persecuting and imprisoning U.S. and Australian journalists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JygWoIeW224
Folks who lead a busy life often don't keep up with politics, nor pay much other than scant attention to headline news stories. You tend to see black & white all the time. Others see shades of grey, some pale, some dark, some in between…
Folks who lead a busy life often don't keep up with politics, nor pay much other than scant attention to headline news stories.
Bruce Springsteen is certainly busy. Too busy to think or care about the implications of backing a war criminal. In fact, three war criminals in successive elections.
You tend to see black & white all the time.
Actually, as you will admit when you cool down, my thinking is a lot more sophisticated and subtle than that. But when it comes to people who order the killing of civilians, the destruction of democracy, and the persecution of journalists, yes, I do see such criminality in "black & white."
Others see shades of grey, some pale, some dark, some in between…
There's a way to finesse the killing of civilians and the undermining and/or destruction of democratic governments in Central and South America?
…
https://me.me/i/moonbat-wingnut-convergence-moonbats-wingnuts-lef-wingthe-circle-of-derright-wing-democrats-republicans-25749fa6303748b6a61f2b3d82440c20
Life mimics art:
How anyone can call America a democracy these days:
The Supreme Court will hear a case that could destroy what remains of the Voting Rights Act
Is Bruce [Springsteen] a covergence moon bat?
Almost certainly not.
Being fully on board with Biden is one strong indicator.
He was an unequivocal Hillary supporter in '16, instead of ranting about how Dems and Repugs are equally bad and Bernie wuz robbed and how he would vote for Stein or not at all.
AFAIK he's never suggested the likes of Tucker Carlson 'get it' or tried to smear movements such as BLM by calling them marxist or indulged in other white-supremacist-adjacent behaviour.
Nor has he ever shown any other behaviour associated with convergence moonbats, to my knowledge.
Being fully on board with Biden is one strong indicator.
Yikes! “The Boss” has spent far too much time singing hoarsely, not enough time reading and thinking.
He was an unequivocal Hillary supporter in '16….
AFAIK he's never suggested the likes of Tucker Carlson 'get it' or tried to smear movements such as BLM by calling them marxist or indulged in other white-supremacist-adjacent behaviour.
If he’s such a progressive and tolerant person, then why is he supporting Biden? And why was he an "unequivocal Hillary supporter" in 2016? Clinton?
Maybe The Boss is not familiar with your oeuvre, Mr Breen, the illiterate uncultured heathen he is.
You're probably right. I doubt he reads much at all.
You're probably right. I doubt he has much time at all, in between the writing. In any case, why read when you can write?
To write well, you have to read. That explains why, for instance, Jeffrey Archer is such an appalling writer. And Cameron "Whaleoil" Slater.
By that standard, you've apparently never read anything significant in your life.
Explains all the third rate attempts at stenography, tho.
…you've apparently never read anything significant in your life. Explains all the third rate attempts at stenography, tho.
Well that little effort was not as colorful as your ever-inventive cascade of abuse for the Orange Shit-Gibbon, or whatever witty putdown you're about to employ for the Fanta Fascist. Just as lame, however.
Keep trying, my friend. By the way, what's the state of progress in the search for that missing bit of evidence proving that Drumpf is a Russian puppet?
Not sure that applies to writing songs/music in the same way as, say, writing literature. Neither does storytelling rely on reading necessarily and many cultures, including Māori, of course, have a long and rich oral tradition in storytelling. I think living with open eyes and an open mind, observing, creating experiences, and meeting other people and travelling, for example, are probably more important for writing well than reading other people’s words.
Agreed! You're onto it, Mr Cognito!
Collins: 90-day trials give businesses confidence to hire 'different ethnicity'
Geez
When something pernicious is reframed by Judith as an employment scheme to give the 'dodgy' lot a chance..you know( you know that lot)…. then sack them.
" Collins said she backed 90-day trials.
"They give businesses confidence to give people a go, when … maybe there's something with that person – maybe there's something in their background, maybe they're not quite qualified enough, maybe they're not that experienced, maybe they don't know them that well.
Maybe they're a different ethnicity – you know, this is about actually giving people a chance "
So Judith thinks the employers of this country are all pretty much racist? Oh dear – these employers need state support to overcome their racism??
Someone should ask Michael Barnett or Phil O'Reilly a direct question about whether they agree with Judith Collins that small employers need 90 days to overcome their fear of employing someone of a different ethnicity.
I'd love to see them squirm in response……
Oh god she's horrible.
It's never ever occurred to her that the employer employee relationship should be reciprocal. An equal partnership.
'give people a go'
fuksake
Judith is loved by the base because she says the quiet bits out loud. Having to keep the quiet bits quiet feels like oppression, like being 'told what to think'. By saying it out loud Judith breaks the shackles of this 'oppression' and champions 'freedom of speech'. Undoubtedly God agrees, because he/she/it speaks through Judith.
" the quiet bit"
Instead of addressing underlying issues such as causes of people having 'backgrounds' , worker exploitation, non-livable wages or the sacking of workers for unseemly profit margins, it's Judith's innuendo (" the quiet bit" ) that it's okay that innate prejudice exists, that there is a boss with 'superior' knowledge and ethnicity …
Hey Judith while you're playing to the base secret supremacist, say it out loud…
Subjectively, One is only, you know, " a different ethnicity " when you Judith are looking in the mirror.
There'll be though that 1/10 grateful lepers out there for 90 days, dismissed on a whim, who's then on a WINZ stand down.
The Weekend at Bernie's similarities just keep coming. Now they've propped him up in a car to wheel him around for a few minutes in front of adoring Drumpfkins.
Come to think of it, how do we know it was really him? Could have been a crisis actor.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/04/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-alternate-reality/index.html
Spitting Image?
Weekend at Bernies! – USA politics isn't that good is it? Hollywood must be after all the footage of this incumbent/recumbent it can get – or is that frottage?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twdOp1QBunQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrCz9mquM54
Love it – that was such a good film. Can stand being watched every couple of years I think my time is due.
hired from the same agency that supplies nth korea with phony kims. be a hoot if they got sent to the wrong job!!!
Would anyone notice?
AAA batteries included?
They're both low-energy. So yeah, sure.
I prefer the wind-up models.
Inserting the key in the correct location is a bit ewww.
The older models only had one hole.
No! That's where they are shinning the powerful light right now.
So he's a North Korean asset as well as a Russian agent. Keep those conspiracy theories coming!
Keep shinning, you can't imagine how this production ends but it's bound to be a blast!
Don't get high on your own supply, dude.
Jokes aren't conspiracy theories, but conspiracy theories can be jokes…
That long-running Russiagate joke was not so funny. I note they haven't been pushing it with quite the brio they used to do before the Clintonistas' three and a half years of fantasizing was sunk in the most embarrassing manner possible.
https://theintercept.com/2019/04/18/robert-mueller-did-not-merely-reject-the-trumprussia-conspiracy-theories-he-obliterated-them/
Blinkers are funny things. So many people charged and convicted in such an innocent campaign…
Of course: the criminal Trump regime is full of criminals. Who claimed Trump and his gang were “innocent”?
But as Greenwald and other real journalists have pointed out, all the deranged shouting by Rachel Maddow and her imitators in the media and by the absurd Jerrold Nadler and his hapless cronies in Congress have produced no evidence of the mythical "Russian collusion."
That's not quite what Mueller's report said, even according to your link.
There's a lot of difference between "produced no evidence" and "did not find evidence likely to prove beyond reasonable doubt", for example.
The eleven counts of suspected obstruction of justice by POTUS might have helped there minimise evidence actually gathered.
Nope, he’s a Russian agent made in North Korea with Japanese components, trained by the Chinese, and running on Taiwanese batteries. This explains his poor spelling and random Tweets because of conflicts in the firmware. Please keep up.
Thanks Mr Cognito. I knew you'd explain it perfectly.
Here on TS we look after our most vulnerable commenters and transport them to MIQ when necessary.
Love you all and appreciate you going the extra mile for the likes of moi.
https://media1.tenor.com/images/2b6138c8abd50d00965e784d948a88df/tenor.gif?itemid=4733491
I see you’re having to dig deep into your GIF collection again. Time for a better hobby?
Is there a better one?
Yes, there is! But we will miss you.
Ouch! Ya got me, and ya got me good.
https://www.offset.com/photos/downcast-man-in-pea-coat-in-field-168528
Narcissist in Chief was desperate to go drivies so he could wave to his gawking cult followers and fuck the help.
https://twitter.com/DrPhillipsMD/status/1312869454385229827
A while ago the Secret Service actually looked like they were going to have staffing problems because of how many were getting covid. So maybe they're putting recovered agents around the Coronamoron-in Chief, and hoping like hell the immunity actually lasts.
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200831/secret-service-faces-covid-19-concerns
Level 1
I looked at an old Punch and came across Edwina Currie – she was done on Spitting Image. This is a small break from The Election and the buskers involved – so out of tune many of them aren't they!
Currie came across as a lively speaker in Punch so I looked her up and here she is being interviewed in 2012. This gives an interesting example to compare with our women pollies or how they are presented anyway. Currie was in the Conservatives. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/edwina-currie
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j4D9iU4nac
Today's Spitting Image.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysbyHCc6B4s
Here she is in full flow at the Oxford Union. Topic: We are not all feminists. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cSrX2FJ-Q8
The NZ covid song was pretty funny, up until they did the "island with small population" bullshit. Fuck that excuse is getting old. If our PM was a dickhead we'd have covid through the roof just like they do.
And to celebrate Jacinda bringing Auckland back down to Level 1, let's all sing along to the Spitting Image song
SuperKiwiSocialisticExtraGoodJacinda
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12370354
Spitting Image fired their gun at a sensitive spot though. We are trying to stop people firing guns, not spot them. Bad people at spitting image, they don't know what's truly funny in the UK, their tastebuds have become coarsened with indulgence in jeremymandering, our rosebuds are still blooming, just.
Amazing. Who would have predicted that with the rugby in a post…….
This sounds intersting – something for those with election malaise to have a look at
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2010/S00063/its-not-too-late-govt-can-save-marsden-point-by-partnering-on-a-just-transition.htm
Refining NZ have this morning confirmed that around 100 jobs will be cut as the first part of its Strategic Review concludes, but FIRST Union says that it isn’t too late to save more jobs, assets and infrastructure while transitioning to cleaner and greener operations if the Government are serious about a Just Transition for Marsden Point….
Poll today?
Where is the report on voting progress.?????
165,000 on Saturday and Sunday.
https://elections.nz/stats-and-research/2020-general-election-advance-voting-statistics/
Admirably concise.
https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1312730589515190278
My thoughts entirely!
Just this morning I was musing to myself on the hypocrisy of Trump being cared for by a team of doctors and nurses and contributing hardly a cent to the public expense of such care being lavished upon him. And, at the same time doing his utmost to deprive millions of his fellow Americans, even the bare minimum of the treatment that he was receiving.
It also astounds me that the woman he has nominated for the Supreme Court; having had the way to the position she currently holds, paved for her by the tenacity of RBG, should now be even considering pulling up the ladder which she has climbed. Much like Pulla Benefit did to the women of NZ.
Trump's care would be a "Around about @#0000000$$$$$" bargaining with an insurance claim!! not much in the way of State care.
No insurance involved. As Commander-in-Chief, the military medical system looks after his medical needs and wants. There's even the dedicated Presidential Suite at the local military hospital.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Reed_National_Military_Medical_Center#Presidential_facilities
This USA commentator was concerned about loss of USA civil liberties and democracy mid last century – Edmund Wilson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Wilson#Cold_War
In his book The Cold War and the Income Tax: A Protest (1963), Wilson argued that as a result of competitive militarization against the Soviet Union, the civil liberties of Americans were being paradoxically infringed under the guise of defense from Communism. For those reasons, Wilson also opposed involvement in the Vietnam War. …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cold_War_and_the_Income_Tax
He's shocked and alarmed at the sums spent to fuel the arms race with the Soviet Union, and upset also at how enthusiastically his government pursues chemical, biological and nuclear weapons technology — what now gets lumped under the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" banner. He determines, finally, that:
And later: