Directorial standards are slipping, the plot is getting stale, the script needs radical editing and new perspectives. We have a few writers, directors and operators who can do the job. No hobbits, I promise ..
This was on the 7:30 report tonight a very good article about this gas attack.
I’m afraid folks this looks like the real deal and it doesn’t be appear be a VX agent or something similar more off a sarin or mustard agent ,but it might take 1-2 weeks to confirm. I’ll do some digging around tomorrow and see what I can come with.
The Guardian has given over its opinion column to the leader of the west’s favourite terrorist organisation. Is anyone still singing along to this broken record?
Here’s the opening verse (you’ve heard it before).
Yet only this morning we have witnessed a suspected chemical weapon attack – one of the most horrifying in six years of this bloody conflict.At least 60 civilians were gassed to death and more than 300 are still being treated; many are in a critical condition. Members of my team sought to wash the deadly chemical from the eyes of the affected children. Soon afterwards our centre in the town was destroyed, along with all of our life-saving equipment. Then a local hospital where victims were being treated was also bombed. On Sunday, the largest hospital in the region was also bombed, again after treating children affected by Assad’s chemical attacks. Are there no red lines?
Many people are there. Not all people there are Syrian. Some people have agendas that are helped along and supported by explicit and direct western government support.
Do I have to link to the Guardian piece again from a while back that was out of step with their otherwise uniform reporting? The one that perhaps mistakenly or inadvertently, or then again, perhaps by dint of some very cunning work by a journalist or journalists with a conscience, kind of ‘let the cat out of the bag’?
Here you go. Try reading it critically and a little (just a little) deeper than at a mere surface level. I’ll give you some help. (Think, given their genesis is English, “White Helmets”)
Contractors hired by the Foreign Office but overseen by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) produce videos, photos, military reports, radio broadcasts, print products and social media posts branded with the logos of fighting groups, and effectively run a press office for opposition fighters.
Fisk: “…don’t ask me if they’ve used chemical weapons. It’s conceivable. There really isn’t any proof.”
Well, exactly. If there was proof, this wouldn’t just be a matter of competing claims in the media. My own view of it is that people who’ve been murdered by their own government no longer care about the weapons that were used (or anything else, for that matter) – but it’s newsworthy either way.
…supported by explicit and direct western government support.
Do you know how many revolutionary movements of the 20th Century received explicit and direct Soviet government support? It’s certainly too many for me to be arsed counting them all, but only right-wing propagandists claimed those movements were therefore puppets of the USSR. Governments have interests, and sometimes those interests overlap with other people’s interests – it’s a given, ’twas ever thus, and doesn’t necessarily imply the people who find their interests overlapping with a foreign government’s are tools of a foreign power, terrorists, untrustworthy, or very much else.
Mate! you can’t put up links from ‘fake news’ sites! /sarc
So that you know (for future reference) PM and many others will only countenance news coming from more impeccable sources, the likes of CNN, BBC, Guardian, NYT…because thems is fonts of truth, objectivity, serious investigative reporting and critical analysis.
What the hell you thinking? Linking to dodgy foreign (non- western) rubbish… 😉
edit – serious request. Can you please use the reply tabs in future? Thanks.
There’s a difference between propaganda and “fake news” – we’ve had that discussion before. This one looks to be a Syrian regime propaganda site, not a fake news site.
You know I’m of the persuasion that only those desperate to cling to a particular world view divide propaganda into supposed ”fake news” and propaganda, and that they do that in order to justify dismissing out of hand information that might threaten their cotton candy silo.
And I know you disagree.
Al-Masdar News is based in the United Arab Emirates, not Syria.
Totally agree . We do not allow frausters to immigrate to this country. If guilty of it here they should all be sent back to wherever they came from. Same for the Indian shopkeeper found guilty of tricking and exploiting his immigrant workers last week.
Why have our immigration doors not been closed by now except to the people who have skills not found in our own population. Why ? Everyone I speak to wants this to happen. Where are the ears and actions of the politicians who are supposed to be acting on the mainstream will of the legal New Zealand population. Why ?
About halfway down there are a couple of bar graphs, in the second, “Average Length of Stay by Market”, Indian and Thai visitors have the second and third longest average stays at 48 and 29 days, something odd going on there. Most Thai, and all Indian visitors I encounter across are finding New Zealand far too expensive for their budget, so month or so stays would be unexpected. For those markets to be staying that long they would have to be working, so probably shouldn’t be on a tourist visa.
Germans are longest at 49 days which would be right for the backpacker market.
Mum & Dad coming to stay with the kids to look after grandchildren might explain the length of Indian & Thai stays as they may be largish in proportion to the just holidaying tourist market
NZ news item! Interesting contrast in RadioNZ news items today. And some other titbits thrown in for your info. Enjoy….
technology life and society
4 Apr 2017
Robotics in farming – the revolution begins
From Nine To Noon, 9:25 am on 4 April 2017
Listen duration 13′ :46″ http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201839068
Waikato University’s Mike Duke says robots harvesting fruit in New Zealand orchards could be years not decades away. He’s picking that the technology has the potential to revolutionize all aspects of the horticulture industry as well as forestry and dairy.
Professor Duke will be giving a lecture on this topic next Tuesday 11th April at the University of Waikato.
and
money economy
4 Apr 2017
NZ’s homeowners now worth $1.2 trillion
From Nine To Noon, 9:08 am on 4 April 2017
Listen duration 19′ :53″ http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201839067
Kathryn Ryan talks to Bernard Hickey from Newsroom who says figures released by Statistics New Zealand show household net worth has risen from $323 billion to $1.2 trillion in the last 8 years – with most of that increase being driven by rising property prices.
As a side effect he says its now virtually impossible for children of renters to make their way onto the property ladder unless they marry into what he’s dubbed the new landed gentry.
The connection here? Who will be buying and living in houses when the robots take the employment from society’s hands, and contain it in their elegantly sculpted fingers? Wot about the workers? Wot’s left for the humans! Oh that’s right the Conchords told us, they’re dead.
Or soon will be – just wrecks and the nobs left, showing little of our potential to be wonderful creatures living together in uneasy creativity under regularly affirmed and agreed restraints using our rationality.
Scoop needs money to run an effective campaign in election year. If you can channel some of your spending to a donation and regular monthly payments of even $20 to keep the support, you are doing your best to be a wonderfully creative human. But act now, there will be tipping points where we can stop the run of the dominoes, or alter the flow but they can’t be constantly passed by.
Finally Schumacher from essay – Technology with a Human Face in Small is Beautiful. Technology although of course the product of man, tends to develop by its own laws and principles and these are very different from those of human nature or of living nature in general. Nature always, so to speak, knows where and when to stop. Greater even than the mystery of natural growth is the mystery of the natural cessation of growth…which tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology and specialisation….
If that which has been shaped by technology and continues to be so shaped, looks sick, it might be wise to have a look at technology itself…if becoming more inhuman, we might do well to consider…better – a technology with a human face.
@greywarshark
Hundreds of thousands of $$ on robots or $15.50 an hour on backpackers/islanders where you can explain the fruit picking job to them in 30 minutes and that’s just about all the instruction they need for a month?
Hundreds of thousands of dollars on a machine that will do the work of two people for twenty years with good maintenance. Against thirty five thousand per person every year for those twenty years.
Yep, the robot is much cheaper.
And, yep, hopefully it’s only a few years before they’re available.
and then you start adding cost of unemployment – yes even a UBI will cost money, and other societal costs associated with long term unemployment and then maybe your robot is not that cheap after all.
but you make a good point,
its not that we don’t have jobs that needs doing, its just that we don’t want to pay anyone for doing them.
Really what do you expect the people of tomorrow to do on their poverty UBI with fuck all to do during the day cause everything is done by robots.
Oh yeah, they will pick up knitting and drown in jumpers.
The economy is not money no matter how much the economists and RWNJs insist that it is. It the physical resources we have available at any one time and the people to bring about innovative ways to use them for the benefit of society.
its not that we don’t have jobs that needs doing, its just that we don’t want to pay anyone for doing them.
That’s part of it – NZers are generally horribly cheap. But that’s partially because the RWNJs have been saying that taxes are theft and robbery. Now look at what happens when we follow the recommendations of those RWNJs and cut taxes – the people become worse off while a few rich people become much richer.
In other words the lessons that the RWNJs and the rich have thrown at us are a smokescreen to encourage the people to vote against their own best interests.
Really what do you expect the people of tomorrow to do on their poverty UBI with fuck all to do during the day cause everything is done by robots.
Revolution and the permanent removal of rich people.
“its not that we don’t have jobs that needs doing, its just that we don’t want to pay anyone for doing them.”
” That’s part of it – NZers are generally horribly cheap. But that’s partially because the RWNJs have been saying that taxes are theft and robbery. Now look at what happens when we follow the recommendations of those RWNJs and cut taxes – the people become worse off while a few rich people become much richer.”
Actually no, its society. We all want shit done for free or for cheap. We use volunteers to not have to pay people a wage. We hold fundraiser for Ambulances and Fire Engines. We have high unemployment while we have high demand for volunteers. Hmmm? Why? Why not pay people money to do that as a job instead and call it working for the UBI. or, you cold condemn people to death by boredom, once all the work is done by robots and most of us live in chicken cages and try to survive of a UBI.
as for Revolution…sorry mate. Not interested. Revolution generally are not good for women. Especially i have no use for revolutions that involve smashing the lot and replacing it with nothing.
Its a bit like Trumpcare, all repeal, little replacement but a whole lot of grifting for the rich which – and this is historically proven – you will never really get rid of, you chop the head of one family, other will come and take over. Rinse repeat.
oh and society can’t unlearn what it has been tought? Seriously?
yes, the suffragettes were revolutionary, but getting the right to vote was not a revolution. It was a fight to a particular right and they won, but they did not want to dis-stablilze society in order to burn it down and remake a ‘better and brighter future’ from the ashes. They wanted to vote.
But it was not a society changing revolution. It gave women the vote and until the late sixties early seventies that was pretty much what they got. The right to vote. The right to have a bank account and a cheque book came in the 70, the right to the pill came in 1974 and so on and so on, tiny little wars won in a long battle that is still being fought. So maybe this is what you mean when you say revolution? Hundred of years of tiny battle to get a little bit more rights.
No the type of revolution that changes a society radically such as the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution are bloody, messy, full of hunger and violence and it is usually the women and children who are at the receiving end.
And if there is no music and dance, then i have no use in your revolution.
The quicker New Zealand gets rid of most of these poorly paid harvesting jobs that few locals want to do, the better.
QFT
And that’s what many people don’t understand. Get rid of those jobs and we have more people to put into the education and health systems and many other jobs that presently don’t have enough people in them.
Alternative facts did not start with Donald Trump. For years, emotion has played a bigger role than reason in many public debates.
But the rejection of rationalism and faith in experts is getting worse according to Tom Nichols, a Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.
He says an epidemic of narcissism, where no one is ever wrong, is fueling the problem.
He explores the implications of the ‘post truth’ era in his new book, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters.
Hey thanks – just picked up item while passing at Radionz for my comment on tech and housing. I’ll get the gen on all all the expertise stuff at the same time. I do rely on TS when I go to get The Knowledge! I particularly resonates with me as I try to discuss and offer ideas to various others and find I can’t dent the Certainty Carapace.
A few minutes after this report North Korea fired a projectile off it’s east coast.
BREAKING: A senior WH official on the state of North Korea’s nuclear program: “The clock has now run out and all options are on the table”— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 4, 2017
The 20 million souls within range of NK artillery will be pleased to have a man with a steady hand in the White House.
/
Secretary of State Tillerson released this statement on Tuesday’s ballistic missile launch:
North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.
It would be one thing for the US to simply ignore North Korea’s provocations, but Tillerson’s statement follows this warning from a senior White House official just hours earlier:
The clock has now run out and all options are on the table.
I guess wee Stevie will be along soon to tell us Co2 is great because palm trees and crocodiles.
No, the headline is not a typo. Current carbon dioxide levels are unprecedented in human history and are on track to climb to even more ominous heights in just a few decades.
If carbon emissions continue on their current trajectory, new findings show that by mid-century, the atmosphere could reach a state unseen in 50 million years. Back then, temperatures were up to 18°F (10°C) warmer, ice was almost nowhere to be seen and oceans were dramatically higher than they are now.
[…]
“The early Eocene was much warmer than today: global mean surface temperature was at least 10°C (18°F) warmer than today,” Dana Royer, a paleoclimate researcher at Wesleyan University who co-authored the new research, said. “There was little-to-no permanent ice. Palms and crocodiles inhabited the Canadian Arctic.”
Where were humans in this warmer age? Anywhere? Living in palm trees because of the crocodiles? What about now? What about the polar bears and penguins!
Let’s concentrate, and not digress – look here WW1, look here footpaths for cycles and pedestrians walking inside little plastic protective cubes with helmets on, look here pictures from 5 million light years in space, look here implants of stem cells keeping you alive to 200 years. Phooey.
The amount of a UBI is quite important, if its too low (like what TOP is proposing) then it will become a way to undermine welfare.
But this is not the only problem with a UBI. For example what a UBI doesn’t do is engage people in meaningful work, and as such it doesn’t put any pressure on the nature of work in society. You can find discussion of this among the linked blog posts from that one, but just to highlight one issue.
Somebody sitting on a UBI for a long time is not too different to somebody being on a benefit for a number of years. What it doesn’t do is give them the job skills which somebody employed over those years will develop. The person unemployed for this period will still no doubt be discriminated against when trying to enter employment from that position, and will likely start at a lower wage rate than the employed person changing work at that point. There are plenty of good economic reasons to favor employment over just income due to similar factors as this (both for individuals and macro-economic outcomes).
How can Bill English use the word compassionate, when the costs for cannabis products are prohibitive. A total disconnect from reality of the people who need this medicines, and their economic status.
Nice one Roy. I’d say it’s not about the money. It’s about getting an unreserved apology for being accused of corruption by someone whose every word is potentially broadcast to 4 million people.
So it’s not pathetic, it’s a lesson in getting it right and admitting when you got it wrong
“…not about the money…”
He’s unreservedly, publicly apologised already; but they aren’t having it. Moreover, asking for a bit of sunlight isn’t quite an ‘accusation’ is it?
He did get it right – there’s a very bad smell about people getting government funding shortly after making a fat donation to the governing party. Unfortunately, under NZ law, being right doesn’t necessarily keep you out of court if you’re right about vindictive Tories with deep pockets.
They didn’t. The money went to the govt of Niue. That’s why Little is in court. The same sloppy attention to detail you’re showing. He pointed to the wrong village same as some other newsworthy individuals.
Thing about smells is that they’re not about details. They’re the general odour, in the general area of something that might be rotten, or just blue cheese.
When the general picture needs investigating, arguing over details is just weak.
Smells can also be highly misleading as you point out. Rather than shrieking something is dead and rotting under the bed you should first investigate that it’s not your own sweaty socks.
He said something smelled, and that maybe we should look under the bed and make sure it’s all clean under there. That’s all. And it’s his job to do that.
I think the apology was likely a rational cost/benefit calculation on the eve of the trial. I frankly think the complaint about his comments is bullshit, but whatever. It’s a civil matter, not a criminal case.
He made a very genuine apology in court today and good on him. Par;iamentarians have a huge advantage over the public with almost total freedom of speech in Parliament, with next to no comeback if you are maligned. But they have to use that responsibly and if they don’t they deserve to get stung – though not the $2m being spoken about. That said I would have thought their reputation was worth at least double that of Jordan Williams. Juries can be funny folk.
Horseshit. AL has already apologised and offered a settlement. Why do RWNJ’s always want to investigate the whistleblower rather than the criminal stench that surrounds the Nats dodgy deals?
There was nothing dodgy here. Are you in the Labour Research Unit? Because your alternative facts are just fake news.
You need to read the AG report and understand the mechanics of what went on.
The Matavai Hotel is owned by the Govt of Niue. it had something like 20 rooms. The NZ Govt gave them money to double its size. This process was started before the Hagaman donation and SCenic winning the managment contract, and was part of a long term pattern of NZ support for Niue’s only hotel.
Niue only has 1500 people and have shown no real skills at running international hotels. So they decided to contract its management out. There was an open tender run by an expert global hotel consultancy. Scenic was one of two tenders.
They get paid a fee to manage a hotel. They don’t own it, they aren’t being paid to build it. do you really think they are making much money managing a 45 room hotel on an isolated island?
I had the impression that the money went to the owner of the hotel – do you have a reference for where it was said that the hotel is owned by the government of Niue? I presume it is a franchise operation however, so some of the benefit of any improvement to the property should accrue to the franchise holders – else why would the Hagermans be even slightly interested?.
I’m not clear on the time line, but there was apparently an assessment process in place which was considering a possible grant – again I don’t know whether the grant had been requested or whether tenders had been called for ways of assisting Nuie, but it seems reasonable to presume that Mrs Hagerman at least was aware of that process. Murray McCully has a reputation for knowing all details of what is going on in his department, so it is possible he knew about the assessment being made. At some stage around then the President of the National Party just happens to turn up to seek a donation to the party – absolutely no link can ever be proved between that chance visit and anything else, and of course the Hagermans cannot be criticised for doing what many other business people engaged in a commercial relationship with the government seem to have done, which is making a donation to the National Party – there is the example of Oravida for example which also coincidentally may have received government assistance around the time of making a donation – just as and that other friend of National, Kim Dotcom, made political donations around the time that a friendly John Banks had been assisting him. No connection at all between donations and services of course – pure coincidence, but it may perhaps be reasonable to call attention to a series of coincidences where business people may have been under the (obviously mistaken) impression that a donation to National somehow may assist getting assistance from some part of government. That is no criticism of people making donations of course, but it may be hard to give an example of a coincidence without mentioning both a donation and a service that just happens to occur in close proximity . . . However the praise that the Hagermans are now getting for their business acumen (they apparently sure know how to invest to make money) is possibly an unexpected bonus for them, particularly as Mr Hagerman is apparently gravely unwell – a reputation for tenacity, an eye to a chance of making money, and for looking after friends is surely no bad thing?
you had that impression becasue Andrew Little aided by people like Ropata and others, couldn’t be bothered doing proper research. you also were willing to accept their slurs were true because you probably thought they had done their homework. You were misled and you should be angry with the people who did that to you.
It’s all in the AG report http://www.oag.govt.nz/media/2016/niue-hotel. It’s an easy read. The contract was let by Matavai Niue Limited, a company registered in Niue. directors Of MNL are responsible for appointing the manager of the resort. The premier of Niue is one of the directors.
It wasn’t rocket science. A few phone calls could have saved them a lot of grief but political grabs were the priority.
There is also a very rotten smell about vexatious litigation against the leader of the Opposition Party acting in his democratic role.
Potential for a rather chilling effect on free speech and democracy. The court better think carefully, especially given the smog of “dirty politics” is still hanging around the Nats.
It looks exactly like a dirty politics style smear campaign. Little has apologised and offered a huge settlement, but the litigious twats are enjoying their pathetic revenge by trying to drag AL through the mud. Vexatious.
He had plenty of time to apologise when the AG report came out. Why do you feel that ordinary citizens don’t have the right to defend their reputations while politicians have free reign to trample on them?
Even Lani (sp?) gave evidence that all she wants is an apology and costs, but somehow her intentions fell right off and she ended up suing for $2M by accident.
Bwahaha thanks for putting words in my mouth. The job of an Opposition MP is to question the Government and other powerful establishment figures. I know this seems like treason to RW fucktards (no doubt you are dying to send AL to Guantanamo Bay) but it used to be a democratic norm.
prettt silly comment there ropata. He’s got the right to make those comments, his victims have the right to sue if they are libellous. Andrew little has found out the greatest lesson there is on freedom of speech. Say what you want, just accept the consequences.
How democratic is it if politicians can wildly spray allegations around without any consequence.
You mean like the Nat’s campaign of lies against David Cunliffe over a nonexistent 100K donation from Donghua Liu?
Not very “democratic” was it. I find it deeply concerning that the dirty politics machine seems to be gearing up for another assault on democracy in NZ. And yet unprincipled RWNJ’s refuse to admit their own complicity, and moronically slag off truth tellers like Nicky Hager. Disgusting
No problem at all. You would think that the current leader of the opposition would have the wit to use it. Jacinda wouldn’t have made this grievous mistake that is going to cost little and labour a fortune.
Deep legal reasoning and economic understanding aren’t really your thing. yes little has apologised, but only once he realised that he was deep in the kak.
But It certainly won’t keep you out of court if your wrong and refuse to admit that and apologise in a timely fashion. Little is a lawyer, how did he not know this?
It’s right there in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 427(b): Everyone has the right to own hotels and make enormous political donations and no free speech about such arrangements is allowed whatsoever.
I was impressed with Michael Wood speaking on the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill (both parts one and two).
He looks a more experienced speaker than I would have imagined for a newby.
Video part one here:
Trevor Mallard criticised Wood at the end, saying he had been talking about a part of the amendment bill that had been axed. After the next speaker also slammed the amendment, Mallard appologised for getting it wrong, and that Wood had been correctly addressing a part still in the bill.
Isn’t it strange how National party politicians can overtly slander people (e.g. Nicky Hager is a left wing conspiracy theorist” despite his acknowledged credentials here and overseas), yet Andrew Little can’t ask questions about hotel owners who receive business benefits after donating to National?
Isn’t it odd that politicians who are a threat to National end up in court? Craig, the Conservative Party leader (taken to court by National Party boys), went to court for speaking out to the media after he’d signed an agreement to keep quiet. He was done on this (it was not actually a court case about the rights and wrongs of his sexual behaviour).
All National need is a TV appearance of their political foes in court. This is what they are after. Most of the public don’t follow the details; National knows this.
And the spin doctors above who’ve infiltrated this site know this.
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The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
The Ombudsman has been surveying people about their knowledge of the OIA and the right to information. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that widespread:The Chief Ombudsman says too many New Zealanders were in the dark over their right to access official information. Peter Boshier said an independent survey released yesterday on ...
In the wake of last Friday's climate strike, Peter McKenzie had an article in The Spinoff about protest strategies. The school strike movement is "polite" and cooperates with those in power because that's its kaupapa - its led by schoolkids who understandably don't want to risk arrest. But there's more ...
So, the latest ruminations on the gnews from Westminster (Again, sorry; I'll stop making that pun right now). This follows on from, and likely repeats bits of, my last post, on the suggestion that a Government of National Unity (GNU) should be set up and then oversee a referendum before ...
New Zealand likes to think of itself as not a racist country (despite being founded on the racist dispossession and subjugation of Maori). But for years, we've had a racist refugee policy, which basicly excludes refugees from Africa and the Middle East unless they already have relatives here. Now, the ...
Several people have asked me whether a particular repeat litigant could be declared a vexatious litigant, in light of their recent decision to appeal an adverse High Court ruling. My nascent tweet thread was getting ridiculously long, so it became this blog post instead.The short answer is: no. The particular ...
Appealing To The Past: Action Zealandia, like so many of the organisations springing up on the far-Right, across what they call the “Anglosphere”, is born out of the profound confusion over what a man is supposed to be in the twenty-first century and, more importantly, what he is supposed to do.THE STATUE OF ...
The attempts of anti-democratic transactivists to (often violently) disrupt women’s rights organising is largely ignored by those sections of the left most prone to misogyny and authoritarianism in New Zealand. In Britain, however, scores of trade union and left activists added their names to a letter in July, defending ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill. The Bill would establish an independent, quasi-judicial body to investigate and review potential miscarriages of justice, and refer them back to the Court of appeal if required. It would be a vital backstop to our judiciary, help ...
by The Spark On September 14, a total of 22 drones and cruise missiles struck two oil installations in Saudi Arabia, the Abqaiq processing facility and the Khurais oil field. Abqaiq is the largest oil production facility in the world. For a few days afterwards, Saudi Aramco, the Saudi national ...
How much will NeoLiberal irregulation of the building sector and subsequent leaky homes crisis cost us? $47 billion, according to a new book:The total cost to fix all of New Zealand's leaky homes would be $47 billion, probably. The estimate comes from a new book, Rottenomics written by journalist Peter ...
Below is the start of another excellent article on the Freer Lives blog. Click onto the link at the end of this extract to read the full article. The punch-a-terf, kill-a-terf message pervades social media, always righteously delivered, chin held high. By contrast, the dehumanised “terfs” themselves, that is gender-critical ...
The Reserve Bank is currently planning tighter banking regulation, requiring banks to hold enough local capital to survive a 1-in-200 year financial crisis in order to protect consumers. The big Aussies banks, those foreign leeches who suck $5 billion in profit out of our economy every year, don't like that, ...
Its the usual story: a police officer beats a handcuffed suspect so hard they break one of their own fingers. The IPCA investigates and concludes that the use of force was unlawful. And the police refuse to do anything about it:A man punched repeatedly in the face by a police ...
From time to time we add links to our blogroll. The latest blog we have added is Freer Lives. This is a Marxist gender-critical blog, based in Melbourne, Australia. On it you will find a bunch of excellent articles which use the tools of Marxist analysis to critique the rise ...
Last Friday say the largest protest in a generation, as 170,000 people joined the school strike and marched to demand real action on climate change. The demands of the school strike were simple and clear: declare a climate emergency, set a climate target of net-zero by 2040, impose a total ...
Labour is a rather middle of the road capitalist party and earlier this year we discussed how far from being ‘transformative’, Ardern’s government is. An article published this week in the Guardian, by Bryce Edwards (political scientist and commentator at Victoria University), looks at Ardern’s business as usual performance. Where ...
In the hours since my last interminable wittering about the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain, there has been a slight maybe development:A Corbyn-led caretaker government could then sit for several months while it enacted and delivered a referendum with the support of smaller parties and ...
Jeremy Clarkson says much like Greta Thunberg, Anne Frank “didn’t like what was going on”, but “she didn’t have a tantrum about it.” Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has offered praise to historical figure Anne Frank, comparing her favourably to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who he attacked in ...
Press release by Speak Up For Women Lesbians from women’s rights group Speak Up For Women are furious at reports that Rainbow Tick are threatening Massey University with the removal of their ‘tick’ if they let the group’s event go ahead. The group has been under attack from trans ...
By Duncan Garner Before you jump down my throat, nobody cares about the environment more than me. I have a garden, and since my wife and I broke up, I’ve let it grow wildly out of control, so please don’t tell me I’m not doing enough for plants. They’re ten ...
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Another busy week, from speaking with world leaders on the world stage about climate change, to equipping our school leavers with everything they need to get ahead in life. ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says Air New Zealand has "an obligation to look after Kiwis", and urged the national carrier not to hike up their prices after Jetstar airline announced their withdrawal from regional flights this week. The Provincial Champion also expressed his disappointment at Jetstar’s decision on ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will help fund a new dredge for the Port of Greymouth to ensure the regional fishing fleet have a reliable and productive harbour, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today “Last year the movements of ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
The Government is acting swiftly to strengthen NZTA’s regulatory role following a review into the Transport Agency, and Ministry of Transport’s performance as its monitor, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. An independent review by Martin Jenkins has found NZTA failed to properly regulate the transport sector under the previous ...
The Netherlands and New Zealand have a long-standing and close relationship based on many shared interests and values. We value the rule of law, our democracies, and multilateralism. And we value our environment – at home and globally. Right now there are major global challenges in all of these areas – ...
The Government is putting right a decade’s worth of underpayment to nurses, doctors and other health workers, says Health Minister Dr David Clark. Initial sampling of District Health Boards payroll records has found that around $550-$650 million is owed to DHB staff to comply with the Holidays Act. It’s expected ...
A strong surplus and low debt show the economy is performing well, and means the Government is in a good position to meet the challenges of global economic uncertainty. “The surplus and low levels of debt show the economy is in good shape. This allows the Government to spend more ...
New applications from mining company OceanaGold to purchase land in Waihi for new tailings ponds associated with its gold mines have been approved. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Associate Minister of Finance David Parker considered the applications under the Overseas Investment Act. Earlier this year, applications from OceanaGold to ...
New Zealanders in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay will witness Māori, Pākehā and Pacific voyaging traditions come together today as the Tuia 250 Voyage flotilla assembles for the first time, Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Minister Kelvin Davis says. “Tuia 250 is a national commemoration and an opportunity for honest conversations ...
Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker leaves tomorrow for Dubai, London and Berlin for a series of meetings to advance New Zealand’s trade interests. In Dubai he will visit New Zealand’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 where construction is underway. There he will meet Minister of State for International Cooperation, Her ...
Confirmation that PHARMAC will fund two new cancer drugs is further evidence of the good progress the Government is making to improve the treatment of New Zealand’s leading cause of death, Health Minister David Clark says. From 1 December PHARMAC will fund alectinib (Alecensa) for ALK positive advanced non-small cell ...
An additional $2.7 million has been announced for the Government Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation on the first anniversary of the strategy’s launch. Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson gave the opening address to the first Sport NZ Women + Girls Summit in Wellington today, ...
As part of its work to ensure businesses can get the skilled workers they need, the Coalition Government is re-opening and re-setting the Parent Category visa programme, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. The move will: support skilled migrants who help fill New Zealand’s skills gaps by providing a pathway for ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has today announced Major General Evan Williams of the New Zealand Defence Force has been selected as the commander of a significant, longstanding peacekeeping mission in the Middle East. In December, Major General Williams takes over as Force Commander for the Multinational Force and Observers ...
A record number of nurses are now working to deliver health services to New Zealanders as the Government’s increased funding and new initiatives rebuild key workforces start to show results, Health Minister Dr David Clark says. • 1458 more DHB nurses since the Government took office • 106 more midwives ...
Farmer and former Nuffield scholar Mel Poulton has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, David Parker, and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, announced today. The position supports key Government objectives, including raising the value of New Zealand agricultural goods and services. Mel is ...
New Zealand’s Pacific and Māori voyaging heritage is acknowledged and celebrated today as waka of the Tuia 250 voyage flotilla arrive in Tūranga / Gisborne. “Today we celebrate Tangata Whenua, the first people of Aotearoa, and the triumphs of the voyaging tradition that brought our ancestors here from Polynesia 1000 ...
“Fijian Language Week starts on Sunday and the theme reminds us how important it is that we each have something to anchor ourselves to, something that can help us pause and feel in control in a rapidly changing world,” says Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. “Family, culture, faith, ...
The Government is establishing an Airspace Integration Trials Programme to support the safe testing and development of advanced unmanned aircraft and accelerate their integration into the aviation system, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods announced today. The Government will work with leading, innovative aviation industry partners to test and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The last PM shock jock Alan Jones slapped down was Jacinda Ardern. His language was particularly offensive, advertisers deserted his program and he apologised to New Zealand’s leader. But at least Ardern didn’t have to ...
By Michael Andrew and Sri Krishnamurthi The true story of one of the Pacific’s great waka builders and sailor has been captured in a stirring and visually gripping documentary. Loimata: The Sweetest Tears follows the final years of Ema Siope, a Samoan born kiwi who endured a tumultuous past ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Cowie, Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity Around one-third of Australians living with hepatitis C have been cured in the last four years. Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis C is ...
New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. Image AsiaPacificReport.nz/RNZ.Commentators across the political spectrum seem to agree – the Labour-led Government’s popularity is being damaged by its failure to deliver in Jacinda Ardern’s self-proclaimed “Year of Delivery”. Instead, the delivery of bad news to Labour and the Government has come in ...
Internet Service Providers have cautiously greeted the news that the Government is exploring an internet filter for violent extremist and terrorist content. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Polls Richard Harman (Politik): Ardern now dependent on Peters Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ardern still standing, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Austin, Professor UNSW Canberra Cyber, UNSW This is part of a new series looking at the national security challenges facing Australia, how our leaders are responding to them and how these measures are impacting society. Read other stories in the series ...
Researchers from Lincoln University are investigating how to use nanotechnology in agriculture to increase productivity and reduce environmental impact. ...
The increased presence of anti-trans and white supremacist stickers around the University of Auckland campus is proof that inaction is enabling hate groups, write Anisha Sankar and Max Whitehurst.Anisha Sankar is a Chennai-born, Te Awakairangi-raised, South Indian Tamil studying at the University of Auckland. Max Whitehurst is a transgender Pākehā ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Following the Christchurch mosque shootings, the New Zealand government’s first response was to ban the firearms the alleged gunman had used to murder 51 people. Seven months later, the second tranche of this process ...
The nine members for the next three year term of the Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB) for Auckland have been appointed by the statutory Selection Body. Their appointments begin on 1 November 2019 and continue to 31 October 2022. Mana Whenua ...
“If we are truly to solve the challenge of poverty within the Te Ao Maori world we must lift our people from the low wage and low skills growth side of the economy. At the same time we must continue to ensure our people, no matter where they are, ...
Alex Casey asks Rose Stewart from Family Planning every single question she can think of about New Zealand’s new free IUDs. Listen up, womb-owners who love free shit and long-term contraceptive options: Pharmac announced that they will be fully funding two new long-lasting, reversible contraceptives in New Zealand from November 1, ...
Patients are increasingly being turned away for treatment and there can be no more excuses from the Government over properly funding district health boards to boost specialist numbers in public hospitals, says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the ...
Today’s Council of Trade Unions’ report, Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness , provides a much-needed pathway to fair wages and conditions across several major industries, and the Government must deliver on its promise to introduce FPAs ...
The Speaker has limited the number of questions Simon Bridges can ask in the House as a punishment for the National Party defying Trevor Mallard by not pulling down their attack ads. ...
Sunshine capital? Check. Rich artisan tradition? Check. Incredible sausages? That’s a big check. We’ve put together a list of all you need to know before you explore the truly gorgeous Nelson region this summer. If you’ve got friends or relatives visiting Aotearoa, top of their list should be sorting out their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate and Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University In the four years since the Paris climate agreement was adopted, countries have debated the fine print of how emissions reduction should be tracked and ...
The flight drink company 1Above, partly-owned by the high profile, venture capital fund Movac and businessman Gareth Morgan, is in liquidation owing almost $10 million. ...
In recent weeks Responsible Campers Association Incorporated (RCAi) has become involved in some high level discussions about our right to camp. This began out of discussion about the disabled who which to participate in Sport and Recreation activities. ...
In their quest for a cashless society the Japanese have beaten New Zealand to its own next-gen shopping experience.New Zealanders are missing out to the Japanese on a Kiwi technology that is set to eliminate supermarket queues.The first store to implement the SmartCart cashierless shopping system will be in Osaka, ...
If you don’t like Shortland Street, or you’re unconvinced that Michael Galvin actually is a doctor, does that mean all New Zealand television is rubbish? Some say yes. Tara Ward says an emphatic no. The world is our TV oyster, but lately it seems not everyone in Godzone is feeling the ...
The National Party is accusing the Immigration Minister of a "Sroubek 2.0" after revelations he granted residence to a man with multiple drink-driving convictions. ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu urges the Crown to ensure that the Establishment Board of the newly formed Institute of Skills and Technology meets its Treaty obligations and addresses the statutory role of iwi as Treaty partners in redesigning the education ...
The top-selling food magazine in New Zealand is closing its print operation. Niki Bezzant, Healthy Food Guide‘s former editor, reflects on the challenges the title faced.The news that after 14 years and 176 issues Healthy Food Guide magazine is closing its print operation came as a shock to some. It ...
A unique deal saw Sky buy the rugby rights and sell some of itself to NZ Rugby. Trevor McKewen breaks down what it all means.The news came thick and fast over a remarkable five-day corporate slugfest, starting last Thursday. First, Spark Sport struck, gobbling up New Zealand Cricket’s domestic broadcasting ...
In what’s thought to be the last piece of writing Peter Wells completed before he died, he wonders about his great-grandfather, and the locket he wore all his life. ‘The Story of a Locket’ is published in part here, and features in the extraordinary collection of essays Queer Objects, released this ...
Relationship expert Holly Dixon explains why the entire Married at First Sight franchise is based on bunk science.As the third MAFS NZ season has come to an end, I thought it relevant to answer the question upon which the entire MAFS enterprise is built: Is it possible to predict attraction and ...
SkyCity Casino workers will be on strike and picketing today as Rob Campbell, the Chair of SkyCity Casino talks to other employers about making pay fair at a “Wellbeing at Work” conference today. ...
He was the prototypical high school nerd, hanging on Don Brash’s every word. Then the financial world turned upside down. This is the story of how Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr became a most unconventional economist.In 2008, Jarrod Kerr was working at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia when the global financial crisis ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriela D’Souza, Affiliate, Monash department of business statistics and econometrics, Monash University For most people the second week in October probably doesn’t hold much promise. Longer days for some, perhaps. But for those is us in the economics profession, come the second ...
One of the important parameters of the agreement’s aims was to ensure there was no threat to food production from the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. ...
A monument to Winston Peters and Think Big projects would both boost the economy, but Argentina learned the hard way they can also impoverish a nation, writes Tony Burton.Everyone who loves New Zealand should visit Argentina. There are more similarities than you might think – large areas of wild natural ...
The Salvation Army foodbank in Waitakere ran out of food last week; an indication of the strain many New Zealand whanau are under as they struggle to afford the cost of living. Wednesday, October 16 is World Food Day, and as demand for services offered ...
Phil Goff was re-elected by a huge margin on Saturday. How will he put that mandate to use this term? Hayden Donnell asks the questions.Phil Goff is once again Auckland’s mayor. Preliminary local election results show him with a lead of nearly 100,000 votes over his nearest challenger, John Tamihere. ...
Catherine Bindon from Ban the Boom has created these colourful and positive posters for you to use to show you don't support the use of fireworks in your neighbourhood over the next few weeks distressing our animals and birds. ...
On Tuesday morning the Operation Burnham inquiry hearing resumed after it was suspended three weeks ago. The hearing is being held at Royal Society of New Zealand, 11 Turnbull St, Thorndon, Wellington on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Ellerton, Lecturer in Critical Thinking; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland It’s not uncommon for science and religion to be framed as two opposing forces. The Catholic church has famously struggled to accommodate scientific research in its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cat Pausé, Senior Lecturer in Human Development, Massey University The British Psychological Society is calling for changes for how we talk about fatness, suggesting we should no longer use the phrase “obese people”, but instead, “people with obesity” or “people living with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The federal government’s much-vaunted Snowy Hydro expansion is supposed to smooth out the bumps in electricity supply as Australia transitions to renewables. But not only is the project a bad deal for taxpayers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By María Yanotti, Lecturer of Economics and Finance Tasmanian School of Business & Economics, University of Tasmania The housing market is moving again. In the past month, national prices have climbed 0.9%. What matters most to buyers (and especially to investors), along with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, University of Melbourne It seems appropriate that a painting titled Feng Shui dominates the new exhibition of Guan Wei’s work ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Matthews, Lecturer in Digital Media and Popular Culture Researcher, Auckland University of Technology According to a recent study, the sixth leading cause of death for young men in the United States is the warranted and unwarranted use of police force. With ...
The Council of Trade Unions has today released its report - Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness . The report details the six key principles needed for Fair Pay Agreements to deliver real change for working people, and democratic agreements ...
Too many New Zealanders endure poor working conditions in jobs that don’t pay enough and offer few opportunities for career progression, and the union movement is calling for change. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the latest polls which show a drop in support for Labour are not a concern when it comes to forming a government. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: A pair of polls put pressure on the Labour Party, a wild night of weather in the North Island, and Shane Jones snapped brandishing a semi-automatic.Parliament resumes today after a fortnight recess, and MPs were given a welcome-back present in ...
Mandy Hager, the newly elected head of the New Zealand Society of Authors, is lobbying the government to improve the lot of writers - to no avail, despite the Prime Minister's championing of the arts. ...
Given the vast impacts that poor diet have had on global health, a deficit in nutrition education in medicine represents a big problem, writes Dr Jennifer Crowley. ...
Any time Olympian Luuka Jones needs advice or encouragement in her pursuit of more canoe slalom success, she doesn’t have to look far. Jones’ coach, Campbell Walsh, is also her partner. ...
Competition for the rights to broadcast sports matches involving NZ’s top teams has produced a bonanza for the sporting bodies, forcing media companies to be a lot more innovative. ...
The Wellington suburb’s successful opposition to a proposed Bottle-O shows how the system is biased towards communities with the organisation, capacity and resources to protest effectively, says Jenesa Jeram.For those unfamiliar with Wellington geography, Khandallah is a Very Nice place to live (Aucklanders: think Remuera). So when it was reported ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission conducted an inquiry into mortgage pricing as recently as last year. Now Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has asked it to do another, broader one, in order to ensure the banks’ ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsThe results of the local government elections appear to show that New Zealanders are generally supportive of a more diverse range of representatives, having voted in greater numbers for candidates from traditionally under-represented groups. The elections have therefore modernised our councils in a small but very significant ...
The Inquiry has today published Minute No 21. This Minute sets out how the Inquiry intends to proceed given that the Attorney-General the Hon David Parker has agreed to extend the Inquiry’s reporting date by three months to 31 March 2020. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grace Skrzypiec, Senior Lecturer, Flinders University Many Australian students don’t know the difference between banter and bullying, with some saying they joke about wishing their friend would “drown” or “die in a car crash”. More than 800 Australian students aged 11-16 took ...
But he did play a crucial role in helping journeyman Andy Foster knock over Justin Lester. Team Gone By Lunchtime size up the local elections, gaze plaintively at the dramas in the NZ First Party, and ask how bad the new poll is for Jacinda Ardern.Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and ...
In the fifth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect Artificial Intelligence has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ben Reid, executive director of the AI Forum, about the role of government in embracing and regulating AI.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Local government Henry Cooke (Stuff): How to lose an election: Over-promise or under-deliver Simon Collins ...
By RNZ Pacific A Solomon Islands province has agreed to lease a large island to a Chinese developer to develop into a special economic zone, weeks after the country opened diplomatic ties with China. But already cracks abound; there has been no official announcement and the provincial premier says the ...
Open Mike 05/04/2017 
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...10 hours ago
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For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...13 hours ago
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This needs saying again and again…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/04/ripping-up-protections-brexit-trump-freedom
See NZ Heralds weekly Basketball Podcast is Double Dribble. This will piss our Double Dipper Dipton pm right off. Name recognition etc,.tut-tut.
.. they are at it again, but has Deep State trumped Trump or is it the other way around ?
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/jumping-conclusions-something-not-adding-idlib-chemical-weapons-attack/
Directorial standards are slipping, the plot is getting stale, the script needs radical editing and new perspectives. We have a few writers, directors and operators who can do the job. No hobbits, I promise ..
Evening All,
This was on the 7:30 report tonight a very good article about this gas attack.
I’m afraid folks this looks like the real deal and it doesn’t be appear be a VX agent or something similar more off a sarin or mustard agent ,but it might take 1-2 weeks to confirm. I’ll do some digging around tomorrow and see what I can come with.
Have a watch of this and form you own opinion.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2017/s4648907.htm
Oh dear.
The Guardian has given over its opinion column to the leader of the west’s favourite terrorist organisation. Is anyone still singing along to this broken record?
Here’s the opening verse (you’ve heard it before).
The offer of an opinion column presumably was prompted by this piece of news:
At least 60 people have been killed in northern Syria after being exposed to a toxic gas that survivors said was dropped from warplanes…
…
The town is also on a crossroads between Hama and Idlib and is considered vital to any regime offensive towards the northern city of Idlib.
Those damn terrorists!
Yeah, yeah. I’m fully aware of that report…furnished by?
The people who live there.
Many people are there. Not all people there are Syrian. Some people have agendas that are helped along and supported by explicit and direct western government support.
Do I have to link to the Guardian piece again from a while back that was out of step with their otherwise uniform reporting? The one that perhaps mistakenly or inadvertently, or then again, perhaps by dint of some very cunning work by a journalist or journalists with a conscience, kind of ‘let the cat out of the bag’?
Here you go. Try reading it critically and a little (just a little) deeper than at a mere surface level. I’ll give you some help. (Think, given their genesis is English, “White Helmets”)
The old chemical weapon canard,
Fisk from 2013 still survives the test of time.
https://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/7/robert_fisk_on_syrias_civil_war
Fisk: “…don’t ask me if they’ve used chemical weapons. It’s conceivable. There really isn’t any proof.”
Well, exactly. If there was proof, this wouldn’t just be a matter of competing claims in the media. My own view of it is that people who’ve been murdered by their own government no longer care about the weapons that were used (or anything else, for that matter) – but it’s newsworthy either way.
…supported by explicit and direct western government support.
Do you know how many revolutionary movements of the 20th Century received explicit and direct Soviet government support? It’s certainly too many for me to be arsed counting them all, but only right-wing propagandists claimed those movements were therefore puppets of the USSR. Governments have interests, and sometimes those interests overlap with other people’s interests – it’s a given, ’twas ever thus, and doesn’t necessarily imply the people who find their interests overlapping with a foreign government’s are tools of a foreign power, terrorists, untrustworthy, or very much else.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/jumping-conclusions-something-not-adding-idlib-chemical-weapons-attack/
Mate! you can’t put up links from ‘fake news’ sites! /sarc
So that you know (for future reference) PM and many others will only countenance news coming from more impeccable sources, the likes of CNN, BBC, Guardian, NYT…because thems is fonts of truth, objectivity, serious investigative reporting and critical analysis.
What the hell you thinking? Linking to dodgy foreign (non- western) rubbish… 😉
edit – serious request. Can you please use the reply tabs in future? Thanks.
There’s a difference between propaganda and “fake news” – we’ve had that discussion before. This one looks to be a Syrian regime propaganda site, not a fake news site.
You know I’m of the persuasion that only those desperate to cling to a particular world view divide propaganda into supposed ”fake news” and propaganda, and that they do that in order to justify dismissing out of hand information that might threaten their cotton candy silo.
And I know you disagree.
Al-Masdar News is based in the United Arab Emirates, not Syria.
Fraud sentence a joke, some 11 months of home detention plus 180 hours community work for systematic Filipino work visa fraud. This dual passport carrier along with her family should be sent back to her country of origin.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1704/S00035/sentence-in-filipino-visa-fraud-case.htm
And Immigration NZ hopes the sentence will act as a deterrent for anybody else looking to cheat our borders. Ha.
Totally agree . We do not allow frausters to immigrate to this country. If guilty of it here they should all be sent back to wherever they came from. Same for the Indian shopkeeper found guilty of tricking and exploiting his immigrant workers last week.
Why have our immigration doors not been closed by now except to the people who have skills not found in our own population. Why ? Everyone I speak to wants this to happen. Where are the ears and actions of the politicians who are supposed to be acting on the mainstream will of the legal New Zealand population. Why ?
We got this from the Retailer’s Assn yesterday, about the drop off in Chinese tourists. (separate issue, and quite interesting)
http://theregister.co.nz/news/2017/04/data-dump-chinese-new-zealand-tourism
About halfway down there are a couple of bar graphs, in the second, “Average Length of Stay by Market”, Indian and Thai visitors have the second and third longest average stays at 48 and 29 days, something odd going on there. Most Thai, and all Indian visitors I encounter across are finding New Zealand far too expensive for their budget, so month or so stays would be unexpected. For those markets to be staying that long they would have to be working, so probably shouldn’t be on a tourist visa.
Germans are longest at 49 days which would be right for the backpacker market.
Mum & Dad coming to stay with the kids to look after grandchildren might explain the length of Indian & Thai stays as they may be largish in proportion to the just holidaying tourist market
NZ news item! Interesting contrast in RadioNZ news items today. And some other titbits thrown in for your info. Enjoy….
technology life and society
4 Apr 2017
Robotics in farming – the revolution begins
From Nine To Noon, 9:25 am on 4 April 2017
Listen duration 13′ :46″ http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201839068
Waikato University’s Mike Duke says robots harvesting fruit in New Zealand orchards could be years not decades away. He’s picking that the technology has the potential to revolutionize all aspects of the horticulture industry as well as forestry and dairy.
Professor Duke will be giving a lecture on this topic next Tuesday 11th April at the University of Waikato.
and
money economy
4 Apr 2017
NZ’s homeowners now worth $1.2 trillion
From Nine To Noon, 9:08 am on 4 April 2017
Listen duration 19′ :53″ http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201839067
Kathryn Ryan talks to Bernard Hickey from Newsroom who says figures released by Statistics New Zealand show household net worth has risen from $323 billion to $1.2 trillion in the last 8 years – with most of that increase being driven by rising property prices.
As a side effect he says its now virtually impossible for children of renters to make their way onto the property ladder unless they marry into what he’s dubbed the new landed gentry.
The connection here? Who will be buying and living in houses when the robots take the employment from society’s hands, and contain it in their elegantly sculpted fingers? Wot about the workers? Wot’s left for the humans! Oh that’s right the Conchords told us, they’re dead.
Or soon will be – just wrecks and the nobs left, showing little of our potential to be wonderful creatures living together in uneasy creativity under regularly affirmed and agreed restraints using our rationality.
Scoop needs money to run an effective campaign in election year. If you can channel some of your spending to a donation and regular monthly payments of even $20 to keep the support, you are doing your best to be a wonderfully creative human. But act now, there will be tipping points where we can stop the run of the dominoes, or alter the flow but they can’t be constantly passed by.
Finally Schumacher from essay – Technology with a Human Face in Small is Beautiful.
Technology although of course the product of man, tends to develop by its own laws and principles and these are very different from those of human nature or of living nature in general. Nature always, so to speak, knows where and when to stop. Greater even than the mystery of natural growth is the mystery of the natural cessation of growth…which tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology and specialisation….
If that which has been shaped by technology and continues to be so shaped, looks sick, it might be wise to have a look at technology itself…if becoming more inhuman, we might do well to consider…better – a technology with a human face.
@greywarshark
Hundreds of thousands of $$ on robots or $15.50 an hour on backpackers/islanders where you can explain the fruit picking job to them in 30 minutes and that’s just about all the instruction they need for a month?
Robots ARE decades away.
Hooray for decades, then I won’t see them rampant before I die. But AFTER!
Hundreds of thousands of dollars on a machine that will do the work of two people for twenty years with good maintenance. Against thirty five thousand per person every year for those twenty years.
Yep, the robot is much cheaper.
And, yep, hopefully it’s only a few years before they’re available.
and then you start adding cost of unemployment – yes even a UBI will cost money, and other societal costs associated with long term unemployment and then maybe your robot is not that cheap after all.
but you make a good point,
its not that we don’t have jobs that needs doing, its just that we don’t want to pay anyone for doing them.
Really what do you expect the people of tomorrow to do on their poverty UBI with fuck all to do during the day cause everything is done by robots.
Oh yeah, they will pick up knitting and drown in jumpers.
There shouldn’t be any unemployment.
The economy is not money no matter how much the economists and RWNJs insist that it is. It the physical resources we have available at any one time and the people to bring about innovative ways to use them for the benefit of society.
That’s part of it – NZers are generally horribly cheap. But that’s partially because the RWNJs have been saying that taxes are theft and robbery. Now look at what happens when we follow the recommendations of those RWNJs and cut taxes – the people become worse off while a few rich people become much richer.
In other words the lessons that the RWNJs and the rich have thrown at us are a smokescreen to encourage the people to vote against their own best interests.
Revolution and the permanent removal of rich people.
“its not that we don’t have jobs that needs doing, its just that we don’t want to pay anyone for doing them.”
” That’s part of it – NZers are generally horribly cheap. But that’s partially because the RWNJs have been saying that taxes are theft and robbery. Now look at what happens when we follow the recommendations of those RWNJs and cut taxes – the people become worse off while a few rich people become much richer.”
Actually no, its society. We all want shit done for free or for cheap. We use volunteers to not have to pay people a wage. We hold fundraiser for Ambulances and Fire Engines. We have high unemployment while we have high demand for volunteers. Hmmm? Why? Why not pay people money to do that as a job instead and call it working for the UBI. or, you cold condemn people to death by boredom, once all the work is done by robots and most of us live in chicken cages and try to survive of a UBI.
as for Revolution…sorry mate. Not interested. Revolution generally are not good for women. Especially i have no use for revolutions that involve smashing the lot and replacing it with nothing.
Its a bit like Trumpcare, all repeal, little replacement but a whole lot of grifting for the rich which – and this is historically proven – you will never really get rid of, you chop the head of one family, other will come and take over. Rinse repeat.
Yes, it’s society but only because of what society has been taught. Change the lesson.
Depends upon the revolution. Or don’t you think that the actions of the Suffragettes was revolutionary?
https://www.marxist.com/women-in-the-paris-commune.htm
oh and society can’t unlearn what it has been tought? Seriously?
yes, the suffragettes were revolutionary, but getting the right to vote was not a revolution. It was a fight to a particular right and they won, but they did not want to dis-stablilze society in order to burn it down and remake a ‘better and brighter future’ from the ashes. They wanted to vote.
But it was not a society changing revolution. It gave women the vote and until the late sixties early seventies that was pretty much what they got. The right to vote. The right to have a bank account and a cheque book came in the 70, the right to the pill came in 1974 and so on and so on, tiny little wars won in a long battle that is still being fought. So maybe this is what you mean when you say revolution? Hundred of years of tiny battle to get a little bit more rights.
No the type of revolution that changes a society radically such as the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution are bloody, messy, full of hunger and violence and it is usually the women and children who are at the receiving end.
And if there is no music and dance, then i have no use in your revolution.
Like the paraphrasing of Red Emma there Sabine. 🙂
you guys migh be interested in this
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/19/basic-income-finland-low-wages-fewer-jobs
Mechanical harvesters have been used in the wine industry for many years.
Despite that, it’s still a massive and growing industry, great productivity, excellent careers.
The quicker New Zealand gets rid of most of these poorly paid harvesting jobs that few locals want to do, the better.
Hi ad, in respect to your last sentence, better for what/whom?
Society but we have to stop the rich grabbing all the gains as they’ve been doing for the last 30+ years.
QFT
And that’s what many people don’t understand. Get rid of those jobs and we have more people to put into the education and health systems and many other jobs that presently don’t have enough people in them.
Next up, Tiffany Trump’s former babysitter goes to Syria.
Thinkpiece from Radionz yesterday. This has worried many commenters here.
media education
4 Apr 2017
The Death of Expertise
From Jesse Mulligan, 1–4pm, 3:10 pm on 4 April 2017
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201839116
Listen duration 23′ :05″
Alternative facts did not start with Donald Trump. For years, emotion has played a bigger role than reason in many public debates.
But the rejection of rationalism and faith in experts is getting worse according to Tom Nichols, a Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.
He says an epidemic of narcissism, where no one is ever wrong, is fueling the problem.
He explores the implications of the ‘post truth’ era in his new book, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters.
I posted this on TS a couple of years ago.
http://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/the-death-of-expertise/
Nichols on Twitter – https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom
Hey thanks – just picked up item while passing at Radionz for my comment on tech and housing. I’ll get the gen on all all the expertise stuff at the same time. I do rely on TS when I go to get The Knowledge! I particularly resonates with me as I try to discuss and offer ideas to various others and find I can’t dent the Certainty Carapace.
A few minutes after this report North Korea fired a projectile off it’s east coast.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-idUSKBN1762XX
The 20 million souls within range of NK artillery will be pleased to have a man with a steady hand in the White House.
/
Secretary of State Tillerson released this statement on Tuesday’s ballistic missile launch:
It would be one thing for the US to simply ignore North Korea’s provocations, but Tillerson’s statement follows this warning from a senior White House official just hours earlier:
https://www.axios.com/tillersons-cryptic-statement-on-north-korea-missile-launch-2345034795.html
We used to be such a caring nation. Is this a taste of our brighter future?
“One passerby even stopped to take photos before carrying on.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/91217934/woman-aquaplanes-crashes-in-waikato-floodwaters-during-cummute
I guess wee Stevie will be along soon to tell us Co2 is great because palm trees and crocodiles.
No, the headline is not a typo. Current carbon dioxide levels are unprecedented in human history and are on track to climb to even more ominous heights in just a few decades.
If carbon emissions continue on their current trajectory, new findings show that by mid-century, the atmosphere could reach a state unseen in 50 million years. Back then, temperatures were up to 18°F (10°C) warmer, ice was almost nowhere to be seen and oceans were dramatically higher than they are now.
[…]
“The early Eocene was much warmer than today: global mean surface temperature was at least 10°C (18°F) warmer than today,” Dana Royer, a paleoclimate researcher at Wesleyan University who co-authored the new research, said. “There was little-to-no permanent ice. Palms and crocodiles inhabited the Canadian Arctic.”
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-change-unseen-50-million-years-21312
Where were humans in this warmer age? Anywhere? Living in palm trees because of the crocodiles? What about now? What about the polar bears and penguins!
Let’s concentrate, and not digress – look here WW1, look here footpaths for cycles and pedestrians walking inside little plastic protective cubes with helmets on, look here pictures from 5 million light years in space, look here implants of stem cells keeping you alive to 200 years. Phooey.
More stick, less carrot. Rachel Stewart notes the abject failure of all our environmental regulatory agencies (especially regional councils) to enforce the rules: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11831658
Relatedly, a court has ruled against one regional council for not doing its job: http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2017/04/a-victory-for-clean-rivers.html
Strange bedfellows. The alt-right’s enthusiasm for single payer healthcare, explained. UBI gets a look in too.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/4/15164598/alt-right-single-payer-health-care-trump
Criticism of UBI here. Its not a progressive policy.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=35705
Cheers nic, plenty of food for thought in that essay.
I suppose it would depend on the amount of the UBI.
Enough to take in the concerns weka has expressed.
It was from an American perspective, where one must spit after implying anything socialist.
The amount of a UBI is quite important, if its too low (like what TOP is proposing) then it will become a way to undermine welfare.
But this is not the only problem with a UBI. For example what a UBI doesn’t do is engage people in meaningful work, and as such it doesn’t put any pressure on the nature of work in society. You can find discussion of this among the linked blog posts from that one, but just to highlight one issue.
Somebody sitting on a UBI for a long time is not too different to somebody being on a benefit for a number of years. What it doesn’t do is give them the job skills which somebody employed over those years will develop. The person unemployed for this period will still no doubt be discriminated against when trying to enter employment from that position, and will likely start at a lower wage rate than the employed person changing work at that point. There are plenty of good economic reasons to favor employment over just income due to similar factors as this (both for individuals and macro-economic outcomes).
Eagerly awaiting the results of the select committee hearings today on Medical Cannabis, in the mean time…
https://yournz.org/2017/04/05/medical-cannabis-regime-anything-but-compassionate/#comment-177377
How can Bill English use the word compassionate, when the costs for cannabis products are prohibitive. A total disconnect from reality of the people who need this medicines, and their economic status.
Watching the Hawks
This show has been running for a while on RT America, and I’ve just got into watching it on a more regular basis – the latest show is rather good.
Is it possible to have a ‘Swamp’ on the 68th floor of a 59 floor ‘Tower’ ?
Trump’s advisory team hard at work. Another little gem for Alex Jones aficionados.
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/04/infowars-host-alex-jones-threatens-adam-schiff-ill-beat-your-goddamn-ass/
I just heard the Prime Minister say traffic is so slow in Auckland because of the number of roading projects under way.
He’s allowed to be a fuckwit. Presuming us to be the same and accept such crap just doubles up his quota of that quality.
like all good lies there is an element of truth to it
do you live in Auckland repateet?
I’m glad TS isn’t lowering itself to covering the pathetic story about Andrew in court… is anyone else feeling totally UNsorry for the millionaires who are extracting another $2m because they got ‘hurt feelings’?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/91225586/labour-leader-andrew-little-niue-hotel-comments-aimed-at-government-not-hagamans
Please!
Nice one Roy. I’d say it’s not about the money. It’s about getting an unreserved apology for being accused of corruption by someone whose every word is potentially broadcast to 4 million people.
So it’s not pathetic, it’s a lesson in getting it right and admitting when you got it wrong
“…not about the money…”
He’s unreservedly, publicly apologised already; but they aren’t having it. Moreover, asking for a bit of sunlight isn’t quite an ‘accusation’ is it?
A year too late. A week before court. That smacks of repentance indeed.
So it’s worth $2m – TWO MILLION DOLLARS??!!
Go on, tell me again that that isn’t pathetic.
Oh and since you’re so in to the legal over the moral, lateness and timing isn’t relevant, right? Right.
IMO, he shouldn’t have done that. He was doing his job and it needs to be done espcially when you consider that National are corrupt.
I’d say it’s not about the money.
Er, hello… rich Nat donors not about the money?
…it’s a lesson in getting it right…
He did get it right – there’s a very bad smell about people getting government funding shortly after making a fat donation to the governing party. Unfortunately, under NZ law, being right doesn’t necessarily keep you out of court if you’re right about vindictive Tories with deep pockets.
They didn’t. The money went to the govt of Niue. That’s why Little is in court. The same sloppy attention to detail you’re showing. He pointed to the wrong village same as some other newsworthy individuals.
Thing about smells is that they’re not about details. They’re the general odour, in the general area of something that might be rotten, or just blue cheese.
When the general picture needs investigating, arguing over details is just weak.
Smells can also be highly misleading as you point out. Rather than shrieking something is dead and rotting under the bed you should first investigate that it’s not your own sweaty socks.
Guess which option Andrew chose
He said something smelled, and that maybe we should look under the bed and make sure it’s all clean under there. That’s all. And it’s his job to do that.
Yes but he also has the responsibility to do so within the law. Do you disagree with the auditor general and his apology?
meh
I think the apology was likely a rational cost/benefit calculation on the eve of the trial. I frankly think the complaint about his comments is bullshit, but whatever. It’s a civil matter, not a criminal case.
He made a very genuine apology in court today and good on him. Par;iamentarians have a huge advantage over the public with almost total freedom of speech in Parliament, with next to no comeback if you are maligned. But they have to use that responsibly and if they don’t they deserve to get stung – though not the $2m being spoken about. That said I would have thought their reputation was worth at least double that of Jordan Williams. Juries can be funny folk.
And when the investigation is over not fronting and admitting fault and sorting the mess you created out is even weaker. It’s so petulant.
Horseshit. AL has already apologised and offered a settlement. Why do RWNJ’s always want to investigate the whistleblower rather than the criminal stench that surrounds the Nats dodgy deals?
because those that denied it supplied it?
+1 yep strange odors
There was nothing dodgy here. Are you in the Labour Research Unit? Because your alternative facts are just fake news.
You need to read the AG report and understand the mechanics of what went on.
The Matavai Hotel is owned by the Govt of Niue. it had something like 20 rooms. The NZ Govt gave them money to double its size. This process was started before the Hagaman donation and SCenic winning the managment contract, and was part of a long term pattern of NZ support for Niue’s only hotel.
Niue only has 1500 people and have shown no real skills at running international hotels. So they decided to contract its management out. There was an open tender run by an expert global hotel consultancy. Scenic was one of two tenders.
They get paid a fee to manage a hotel. They don’t own it, they aren’t being paid to build it. do you really think they are making much money managing a 45 room hotel on an isolated island?
I had the impression that the money went to the owner of the hotel – do you have a reference for where it was said that the hotel is owned by the government of Niue? I presume it is a franchise operation however, so some of the benefit of any improvement to the property should accrue to the franchise holders – else why would the Hagermans be even slightly interested?.
I’m not clear on the time line, but there was apparently an assessment process in place which was considering a possible grant – again I don’t know whether the grant had been requested or whether tenders had been called for ways of assisting Nuie, but it seems reasonable to presume that Mrs Hagerman at least was aware of that process. Murray McCully has a reputation for knowing all details of what is going on in his department, so it is possible he knew about the assessment being made. At some stage around then the President of the National Party just happens to turn up to seek a donation to the party – absolutely no link can ever be proved between that chance visit and anything else, and of course the Hagermans cannot be criticised for doing what many other business people engaged in a commercial relationship with the government seem to have done, which is making a donation to the National Party – there is the example of Oravida for example which also coincidentally may have received government assistance around the time of making a donation – just as and that other friend of National, Kim Dotcom, made political donations around the time that a friendly John Banks had been assisting him. No connection at all between donations and services of course – pure coincidence, but it may perhaps be reasonable to call attention to a series of coincidences where business people may have been under the (obviously mistaken) impression that a donation to National somehow may assist getting assistance from some part of government. That is no criticism of people making donations of course, but it may be hard to give an example of a coincidence without mentioning both a donation and a service that just happens to occur in close proximity . . . However the praise that the Hagermans are now getting for their business acumen (they apparently sure know how to invest to make money) is possibly an unexpected bonus for them, particularly as Mr Hagerman is apparently gravely unwell – a reputation for tenacity, an eye to a chance of making money, and for looking after friends is surely no bad thing?
you had that impression becasue Andrew Little aided by people like Ropata and others, couldn’t be bothered doing proper research. you also were willing to accept their slurs were true because you probably thought they had done their homework. You were misled and you should be angry with the people who did that to you.
It’s all in the AG report http://www.oag.govt.nz/media/2016/niue-hotel. It’s an easy read. The contract was let by Matavai Niue Limited, a company registered in Niue. directors Of MNL are responsible for appointing the manager of the resort. The premier of Niue is one of the directors.
It wasn’t rocket science. A few phone calls could have saved them a lot of grief but political grabs were the priority.
There is also a very rotten smell about vexatious litigation against the leader of the Opposition Party acting in his democratic role.
Potential for a rather chilling effect on free speech and democracy. The court better think carefully, especially given the smog of “dirty politics” is still hanging around the Nats.
Really? You think an apology and an offer of $100k in damages is the result of vexatiousness? I suggest you get a new dictionary
I suspect $100k is what he suspects this will cost him, whether he wins or not.
It looks exactly like a dirty politics style smear campaign. Little has apologised and offered a huge settlement, but the litigious twats are enjoying their pathetic revenge by trying to drag AL through the mud. Vexatious.
He had plenty of time to apologise when the AG report came out. Why do you feel that ordinary citizens don’t have the right to defend their reputations while politicians have free reign to trample on them?
Even Lani (sp?) gave evidence that all she wants is an apology and costs, but somehow her intentions fell right off and she ended up suing for $2M by accident.
Bwahaha thanks for putting words in my mouth. The job of an Opposition MP is to question the Government and other powerful establishment figures. I know this seems like treason to RW fucktards (no doubt you are dying to send AL to Guantanamo Bay) but it used to be a democratic norm.
prettt silly comment there ropata. He’s got the right to make those comments, his victims have the right to sue if they are libellous. Andrew little has found out the greatest lesson there is on freedom of speech. Say what you want, just accept the consequences.
How democratic is it if politicians can wildly spray allegations around without any consequence.
You mean like the Nat’s campaign of lies against David Cunliffe over a nonexistent 100K donation from Donghua Liu?
Not very “democratic” was it. I find it deeply concerning that the dirty politics machine seems to be gearing up for another assault on democracy in NZ. And yet unprincipled RWNJ’s refuse to admit their own complicity, and moronically slag off truth tellers like Nicky Hager. Disgusting
PS: Do you have a problem with Parliamentary privilege?
No problem at all. You would think that the current leader of the opposition would have the wit to use it. Jacinda wouldn’t have made this grievous mistake that is going to cost little and labour a fortune.
He shouldn’t have repeated it outside of Parliament.
Little should blame Robertson internally for researching and raising it.
It’s going to be a pretty expensive lesson for Little.
the award should be the grand sum of $1
When little has already offered $100k?
Deep legal reasoning and economic understanding aren’t really your thing. yes little has apologised, but only once he realised that he was deep in the kak.
ethics and democracy arent really your thing are they
It may not, you’re right.
But It certainly won’t keep you out of court if your wrong and refuse to admit that and apologise in a timely fashion. Little is a lawyer, how did he not know this?
“Timely”.
Um, yes. Interesting word, that. Well chosen on your part, although I’m not sure you really thought it through.
That’s strange Roy because only a month ago you upticked an idea of taking people to court on charges of hate speech.
So you want to criminalise people just because they hurt someone else’s feelings?
What’s strange exactly? Having a point of view on two separate issues or…?
ps – I hope it’s not that “pandering” article you’re referring to… Because conflating those two issues would be vexatious trolling.
No it was on attack ads and hate speech, which is not dissimilar from the current context imo.
It’s right there in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I seen it.
+1+1 OAB
That’s a very entertaining comment AOB.
it’s on the interwebs so it must be true.
That appears to be the motto of the Labour Research Unit.
Watched a bit of parliament today.
I was impressed with Michael Wood speaking on the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill (both parts one and two).
He looks a more experienced speaker than I would have imagined for a newby.
Video part one here:
Trevor Mallard criticised Wood at the end, saying he had been talking about a part of the amendment bill that had been axed. After the next speaker also slammed the amendment, Mallard appologised for getting it wrong, and that Wood had been correctly addressing a part still in the bill.
Isn’t it strange how National party politicians can overtly slander people (e.g. Nicky Hager is a left wing conspiracy theorist” despite his acknowledged credentials here and overseas), yet Andrew Little can’t ask questions about hotel owners who receive business benefits after donating to National?
Isn’t it odd that politicians who are a threat to National end up in court? Craig, the Conservative Party leader (taken to court by National Party boys), went to court for speaking out to the media after he’d signed an agreement to keep quiet. He was done on this (it was not actually a court case about the rights and wrongs of his sexual behaviour).
All National need is a TV appearance of their political foes in court. This is what they are after. Most of the public don’t follow the details; National knows this.
And the spin doctors above who’ve infiltrated this site know this.
Nicky Hager
Bradley Ambrose
Ponytail Victim
Colin Craig
David Cunliffe
and now Andrew Little … it smells a lot like another dirty politics subterfuge