[Moved to Open Mike. Obviously didn’t read the posts or engage brain before commenting.]
This 10-15% reduction is not necessary. You should check out the nzpostcarbon website to see a plan to make nz carbon negative by 2036. Having a percentage reduction is wrong, it should be a straight line, which allows time for society to adapt to the changes. Agriculture, which you don’t talk much about, has to be half of our reductions too. I calculate a 2.8 mtn year on year reduction in gross and an increase of the forest sink from current 24to 36 mats would do the trick.
Some families don’t discuss politics at all, exhusband gets furious that the kids know about politics, apparently kids should not have an opinion on that topic until they are 18. Foolish man, they can’t make an informed decision unless they start learning about it young.
Even funnier is they know more about what’s going on in politics than he does, proud of them, they have taught him much. I guess it depends on peoples upbringing, politics was always discussed when I was grown up, so is the norm, and as a result i make it the norm of my children’s lives.
Should be part of all children’s learning at high school, my kids are at primary school still.
Strongly agree. And kids need to know they don’t have to think like their parents, they just need to think, and parents need to understand that it’s ok for kids to make different choices than them as long as they’ve put thought into it.
A nation of independent thinkers however is not what some governments want. But imagine the inventions it would create, a nation of sheep no more, yes please
The link also highlights a number of flaws in our current political system.
It’s complex. And no matter how politically informed we are, to a large degree we’re all voting blind.
There is nothing preventing parties from introducing new policy (which they never campaigned on, thus we never voted upon) once in power.
Moreover, there is the dilemma of voters not supporting all of the policies of the particular party they select.
A number of these youth grow to become adult non-voters for largely the same reasons.
If we genuinely want to address this and a number of other issues, our current political structure needs to be revisited.
While we’ve made improvements like changing to MMP, more could and should be done. If we want better political outcomes we require to continue to improve our political structure.
A form of Direct Democracy will help address these current flaws, removing a lot of the complexity (allowing voters more opportunity to vote on single issues, opposed to coming to terms with a wide range of issues within a party’s policy manifesto and only voting once every 3 years) while giving voters more say, thus power and control.
NZ First has a form of Direct Democracy on offer, albeit one that could also be improved upon. But it is a start in a more democratic direction.
Like the UBI, a form of Direct Democracy is something that should be put out for wider public discussion and consideration.
Listening to Blinglish on radio NZ lying about P in houses is exactly the same as listening to nicksmith lying about 3% overseas house buyers….. It makes me want to cry that these guys are in charge of anything and destroying NZ…… And just think, DonKey is at the top of his shit mountain
Yes Nick. Bill’s line is that just because a couple of scientists say that the test is wrong is not a reason to change the test. So the evictions will continue for a long time yet.
Could it be a plan concocted from the Beehive?
Thanks to the Chiefs being all over the news Ive had to have a conversation with my 11 yr old girl about how drunk kiwi men behave towards women. Is that why you don’t like drunk men mum? Yes darling it is.
Last time i saw boozey chicks at a hensnight with a male stripper, I was DJing, male stripper was not touched except when he placed the ‘hens’ hands on himself. Sadly he was a terrible stripper. No one asked to lick his arse, no one threw stones at him, no one abuse him, everyone was like, oh we won’t be hiring him again he was terrible (after he left of course).
That being said drunks have no class male or female. Big difference between going to a strip club and having a stripper come to a party, chicks that go to male stripper clubs go crazy, but it is a controlled environment, unlike the chiefs party.
Still the Chiefs are heros in some kids eyes, rugby culture and drinking culture in NZ is disgraceful, hopefully this will continue getting coverage and people will wake up and take control of their own behaviour.
PS I’m no prude, but dang calm down rugby boys, makes one wonder how sad their intimate lives must be if they act like animals when confronted with a woman whom dances to music while removing her clothing. Bikers have more class when they see a stripper perform compared to the Chiefs, food for thought huh?
actually should drunk women and / or men sexually harass, grope a male stripper and expect him to act as a ‘whore’ and refuse to pay him for his services (stripping) that it would be the same scenario.
sexual assault and theft.
how is that so hard to understand? oh, you are one of these apologists…..got it.
James you whitter on about drunk women, this female was a stripper and not drunk and her job was to strip, nothing else was required of her. She is entitled to strip for an income just like guys can strip for an income or be a hooker if they choose. There are rules around these kinds of occupations and if men or women can’t control their groping whilst being in the audience they should remove themselves. Just like being a prostitute, there are rules in place, condoms to be used, no kissing, other requirements as well. Just because women have a more cerebral attitude towards sex and a man’s brain is in his penis doesn’t excuse voyeurs who are looking on to break the rules.
I heard on the news another woman who had stripped for the Chiefs last year got a right old unpleasant time with the guys – maybe their management team need to reign in these cowboys, keep them on home detention and teach them some restraint and manners. They are professional sportsmen and if any staff of a company were to carry on like that at a function with a stripper – and I have been to one with staff – then there would be a right old bollocking by the boss afterwards.
I just wanted to jump on this morning and apologise to anyone I have previously offended for my long held stance that females are already treated as equals in our current society.
After reading about the current situation with the Chiefs rugby team, and the abhorrent responses by both the Chiefs CEO and the representative from Gallagher’s towards the exotic dancer, I can now see that society still has a long way to go before true equality is even close to being reached.
“Major sponsor Gallagher Group on Thursday offered little sympathy for the stripper.
Corporate services executive Margaret Comer said: “If a woman takes her clothes off and walks around in a group of men, what are we supposed to do if one of them tries to touch her.””
What the fuck kind of response is this, and why the fuck has this women not been publicly vilified by her employer??? If a women takes her clothes off and walks around in a group of men, then she should be left the fuck alone, if she is hired to take her clothes off and walk around, she should still be left the fuck alone! She is hired to strip for visual enjoyment, not to be sexually harassed. The fact that there hasn’t been more public outrage over the Chiefs behaviour and the subsequent public responses makes me question how mature we actually are as a nation.
I really hope one of the players gets hauled up in front of the courts for their actions.
She (Margaret Comer (NZ Order of Merit for services to philanthropy)), is a trustee on the board of Waikato Women’s Refuge which just makes her comments that much more disgusting!
It’s the next big step in cultural shift around gender and sex, body sovereignty. None of us have right of access to other people’s bodies without their consent. It’s not what we think that counts, it’s what the person whose body it is thinks that matters.
“It’s the next big step in cultural shift around gender and sex, body sovereignty”
Forgive me for my ignorance, but I had previously been under the impression that this shift had already occurred, the last couple of days have been a massive eye opener for me.
I do think it’s changing, but too many still don’t understand this basic principle, which is part of why we still have such high rates of sexual assault, abuse and harassment. It’s common enough for some men to express confusion over consent issues, as if they don’t understand that it’s not their ideas that count, it’s the ideas of the person’s body they are trying to access. We should be teaching this stuff in school. I think most men want to do the right thing, but are still supported by socialisation that tells them that women’s bodies are objects and attainable.
Hmm ok here we go, delving into this pool is not something I take lightly but here goes nothing…
Most men do indeed want to do the right thing but what makes a man a man?
Remembering back to when I was in my teens there was one thing I wanted more then anything else, I won’t fall to the cliché of saying it was the only thing but it was certainly the most important
So at the time it was very much treat women with respect, girls can do anything etc etc but really I just wanted to get my end away
I think the issue (or at least part of it) is that men, in organised groups, can quite easily revert back to hormone driven teenagers because, for some, being in these organised groups can actually inhibit maturity ie you’re a man at 20 but emotionally you’re still a teen
I’ve seen this for myself, in various forms, from my time in rugby, rowing, uni, the army so I’ve seen how easy it could be for things to go overboard
Now take all that and add in the hero worship factor and the money factor of being a professional sportsperson and I don’t think its a big surprise to anyone that this happens, in fact I’d bet money that this, and similar, happens a lot more often but a supplicant media and “donation” of money to the victim probably helps it go away
But it can be done, the All Blacks appear to have managed to be far and away the best team in the world without being a bunch of a**holes about it (could be good media management though)
So while more stuff can be taught in schools it will only work with buy-in from other organisations such as sports club and other such organisations
If I recall correctly, about ten or twenty years ago the ABs had a spate difficulties with some of their older and younger members getting stonkered and committing crimes of greater or lesser degree.
ISTR at the time they basically said “we have a problem” and talked about instituted mentoring, alcohol bans, media and behaviour training, and even financial advice for new ABs so they don’t blow their “set up for life” salaries on TVs and expensive liquor.
With one or two lapses, admittedly, but without the ongoing dramas that the NRL have committed, it really does come down to the team leadership having to set the limits for acceptable behaviour.
Pack mentality is common with adolescents – it’s the coach’s job to control it, just as much as it is teaching them a new play.
Agreed, the best way to stop this is for the All Blacks management to pass on their “no dickheads” rule down to super 15 teams that behaviour like this will not help anyones chances of getting selected
I agree that the ABs etc do have special responsibilities and things they need to address specificly that come with money and fame, but I’d also point out that the underlying attitudes are not to do with money and fame and this aspect of rape culture exists in lots of places. It’s the socialisation that men have around entitlement to women’s bodies. And that socialisation starts young.
I know its a cliché but in this instance I think the media is most to blame for this
I mean look at Beyoncé, shes held up as a powerful, fierce feminist women making massive strides in business yet the reality is she dresses half naked for her music videos and stays married to a man worth half a billion dollars that’s (allegedly) cheated on her more than once
Or if you want to be famous quickly have sex with someone and release the tape (sorry have the tape released “accidently”)
However attitudes have changed but it seems like one step forward two steps back at the moment
Again, rape culture exists everywhere, even in place without fame and money.
Including in this thread 😉
Beyonce can do what she wants with her body. So can someone wanting to get famous by having sex and releasing it on tape. Whatever we might think of those things in terms of morals or good taste, they’re not about sexual assault. If we think that Beyonce wearing revealing clothing leads men to think that they can touch other women how they want, then we’re saying that women have to take responsibility for men’s lack of sense or self control. Which is hugely regressive, and takes us straight back to rape culture i.e. it’s really women who are to blame.
That’s a good point but it seems like we want to teach boys to respect women while the media simultaneously bombards boys with images of women being sexual playthings that are there for the taking which also teaches young girls that being sexy and hot is all important and that sex is no big deal
I’ve no problems with women being sexual and wearing very little if that’s what they like and choose to do but can young girls differentiate between dressing sexy because you want or dressing sexy because you think that’s what makes you popular and successful?
lols about being glad to be old – the aches are made up for by slightly shallower depths of insecurity, in my experience.
But really, if anyone is clear that she sets the limits, it’s B.
One thing I’ve found fascinating while watching my family’s next generation grow up is that she’s much smarter about self, sexuality and empowerment than I was, even going to the same school. Most of her friends seem smarter about it than kids in my day, as well. However, the boys seems to be as dropkicky as I remember being.
… the underlying attitudes are not to do with money and fame…
Absolutely. The only thing money and fame contributed to this is news media interest – there’s presumably a shitload of other strippers who’ve been molested by customers the media wouldn’t be interested in.
If she is offering a service and being paid for it there is no problem. She was not offering a groping service, so any groping is blatant harassment.
Put it this way, would you accept their actions to be fine if they did it to a bank teller? There is no difference.
Apparently 4 other guys got in on the rimming action but didn’t pay and she wasn’t very happy about not receiving payment for “services” rendered.
Which is probably why this rather sordid behavior is in the media right now.
Don’t think there would be a lot of happy wives/girlfriends in the chiefs community at the mo. Idiots.
How about hanging off the calls for lynching and wait and see what comes out after the investigation.
How much investigation do you figure is needed to establish that you’re not allowed to sexually molest people without their permission? That one’s not really up for debate, is it?
Nicely put Bob, I feel that Womens Refugee should disown Margaret Comer, sadly Gallagher Group are probably big donators, and Womens Refugee need all the help they can get.
Happy this is getting coverage, discussion needs to be had, hopefully with all rugby players tomorrow in the changing rooms at their Saturday games.
Margaret Comer is a trustee of Waikato Women’s Refuge, which apparently withdrew its affiliation to the Women’s Refuge NZ national collective some time ago.
Women’s Refuge NZ has spoken out against Mrs Comer’s comments and Dr Ang Jury, CEO of the collective appeared on Checkpoint last night.
Here is a link to their Twitter account for details and links to Checkpoint etc.
Another stripper has just come out against the Chiefs, interestingly enough in the report on the news, they said that the 2nd stripper was spat at among others things and would rather perform for a gang than the Chiefs. Just wows it’s all coming out now
Yes, the woman, Scarlette, is hired to strip. That is her job. It is a legal and legitimate job. She is covered under the Health and Safety Act as well as the Employment Relations Act.
Her workplace experience, legally, like anyone else’s should be free of abuse, non consensual touching and sexual harassment.
I am sick to death of these thuggish sports players getting away with this shit.
I was even more horrified to hear that the woman who condoned the behaviour of the players, Margaret Comer, is a trustee on the Board of Women’s Refuge.
She needs to stand down as she does not even understand the basics of boundaries and abuse, and of the power imbalance present in this situation. She has no place being any where near Women’s Refuge.
I disagree with you Rosie, This is now getting out of hand. Although I agree with a lot of the comments, I also feel for Comer. I heard the comment on the radio and I thought she was up the sharp end without a spear having no doubt a microphone or possibly on a cell phone with the interviewer demanding an instant opinion, Although I did not like what she said and I feel she really should have said something like “I don’t know the whole story and I will get back to you as soon as possible etc.” but she didn’t and is condemned for her utterances. This has taken the spotlight off the thugs and louts that were the problem in the first place.
It is now turning into a Comer witch hunt. A witch hunt that should be directed to the louts at the function who really should be questioned.
But they are thugby players arn’t they, next to god, so move the spotlight over to another area.
I wouldn’t have any “sympathy” for Comer, as she had had no “sympathy” for Scarlette. There is no need to “feel for her”. She was well out of order.
You are right in the fact that attention has conveniently hovered away from the players momentarily, but these situations can happen side by side, as they have done. No one should accept what the players have done, or how Comer indulged in victim blaming. Both situations are equally horrific in different ways.
Sure, people make mistakes, but Margaret Comer is on the board of trustees for Women’s Refuge Waikato. Her words are intolerable for someone in her position. She is meant to be standing besides victims and standing up for them, not kicking them while they’re down.
Kind of like having that woman abusing PM as a white ribbon ambassador FFS.
The lease stated the shop must act as a “general food store”, and the authority argued the local community was not being served well without alcohol and pork products in the store.
They may think they have a point but…I’d side with the shop on this, if they want to sell Halal only then good on them, they may or may not lose out on some business but that should be their decision
The french only allow a certain number of shop types in a particular area.
For example there can be only xxx number of butchers to this ratio of people, the whole idea being that the butchers can make a living and are not put out of business by excessive competition.
I’d say the same rule would apply to a “general food store”, you might only be allowed to have one “general food store” in that particular area and because it’s not selling pork or booze it’s not fulfilling it’s obligations to all members of that community.
New Zealand One News June 17 2016
Pharmac unsure when heart medicine shortage resolved
Metoprolol supplies rationed to Pharmacists Pharmac cannot say when
shortage will be resolved ,supplies are on way from Indian factory.
Pharmac news August 1st 2016.
More than 280,000 Kiwis depend on one of these tablets every day and they are being rationed and have been for most of 2016 in my experience.
good job, maybe she is not being “touched” in her intimate life, could be why she came out in support of the chiefs, frigid angry woman sides with drunk rugby perverts. Jealousy aint classy Ms Comer, get a grip you foolish woman, toys a plenty up KRoad, he’s a gift voucher, sort your self out if no one else will. Dang !
maybe, but i needed to get that out, everyone has needs and if a persons needs are not being met their behaviour will reflect it. Consensual loving intimacy creates less stress as well as more understanding and self control. Taboo topic for some perhaps.
maybe i was too rude in my wording, it was not meant to offend, let me put it into a scientific perspective, we need more Oxytocin in the world, that would heal and help so many, it’s part of what is missing in today’s society. Whether Oxytocin is self administered or through another. I’m glad she apologised, and I too apologise if any took my comments offensively. However so many things are not said, and maybe they should be.
If you are not too sure what Oxytocin is or how to get it…. here is a link http://io9.gizmodo.com/5925206/10-reasons-why-oxytocin-is-the-most-amazing-molecule-in-the-world
Making the suggestion that any woman needs certain kinds of sexual activity is hugely problematic, not least because it is part of rape culture. There are people who believe that some women just need a good fuck, and use this to dismiss rape. Your comment wasn’t quite that, but it was patronising to suggest that you know anything about the woman concerned or she does or doesn’t need. The whole issue here is around body sovereignty and people’s right to choose what happens to their bodies.
I know what you mean about oxytocin, but I’m not sure there is way to bring that into this political conversation without being offensive. To me she came across as thoughtless and probably bigoted, nothing to do with hormones.
I too apologise if any took my comments offensively
So you’re apologising for the state of people’s minds now. Is it an attempt to add insult to your existing injurious behaviour, or just thoughtlessness?
Apologise for your own behaviour (when appropriate) or don’t bother.
[Any more trolling will see you exited from this site. Start writing original comments rather than repasting the same idea repeatedly. Only warning. TRP]
In his last autobiography, Byrd explained that he was a KKK member because he “was sorely afflicted with tunnel vision — a jejune and immature outlook — seeing only what I wanted to see because I thought the Klan could provide an outlet for my talents and ambitions.” Byrd also said, in 2005, “I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times … and I don’t mind apologizing over and over again. I can’t erase what happened.”
Joe90’s comment started with a single word sentence, but then was self explanatory in the next sentence. It was complete in and of itself.
Yours was one word and a link. If you want to put up links, you need to put at least a basic explanation of where the link goes to avoid wasting people’s time. In this case you have linked to a mendacious right wing film on youtube that makes unsubstantiated claims about the next president of the USA.
And please don’t accuse me of censoring you. I left the link up and didn’t alter your comment in any way. Lying about an author is an automatic six week ban. If the sun wasn’t shining on a beautiful Friday afternoon, you’d already be gone.
Could you provide an insight in how you believe the emotional investment required in ‘taking sides’ (of the next POTUS) might raise the collective consciousness of humanity?
Perhaps I have misinterpreted your comments regarding the presidential ‘race’, but it appears to me that you are heavily attached to a certain outcome. Why?
What happens next, from your perspective following either eventual ‘winner’ ?
Usually, I’d be saying piss off you pompous git at about this point, but beautiful day etc. I’ve written plenty of posts in recent weeks. The answers you seek are most probably there.
It was a sincere query, formed by reading your confused and frantic musings
Your writings and moderating approach exhibit such heavy bias, it is reasonable to presume you see yourself in Hillary Clinton, and whatever it is she represents
By not attaching ourselves, we gain space to observe and self evaluate which in turn enables the activation of critical external evaluation senses
The more honestly we can evaluate and understand ourselves, the more transparent ‘our world’ becomes and the less our human ego can blind and mislead us
The web of life unfolds through new neural networks. True identity self interacts with boundless belonging. Therefore, Nature imparts reality to cosmic joy.
Deep stuff, indeed! I’ll just note that one two significantly undermines his philosophical detachment theory by attaching himself to a bullshit right wing hate site.
If a tree falls in the forest does it sound like one hand clapping?
I’ve explained my philosophical position to you in very simple terms, you don’t get alter or define that on my behalf, not even if it scares the daylights out of you
While the Gummint are restructuring Child, Youth and Family Services (yet again) and are doing the whole ‘re-branding’ thing with their nifty new name….exactly what form is the new structure going to take?
Large private foster agencies are offering cash incentives to recruit foster carers working for English local authorities – and then charging more for the service, councils say.
Some agencies pay “golden hellos” of around £3,000, but then charge councils more to care for the same child.
A recent independent review of residential care by government adviser Sir Martin Narey said that in 2014-15, eight commercial fostering agencies made around £41m in profit.
The president of ADCS, Dave Hill, said that companies should not be profiteering from children in care and that they objected very strongly to “golden hellos”.”
Repeat….eight commercial fostering agencies made around $41 MILLION PROFIT.
Sorry to shout….but this is really important.
The vulnerable child becomes a cash cow for unscrupulous businesses.
Exactly the case for disabled New Zealanders, especially those under Ministry of Health, Disability Support Services.
Marlborough, 5 August 2016. 80 hectare Lake Elterwater is usually 1.5-2 meters deep at this time. Still bone dry at the end of winter. Marlborough Express headline “Lake so dry it’s now a field of oats.”
No one, regardless of the type of work being carried out for payment, stripping, prostitution and dancing included, deserves to be groped, or touched in an unwanted or threatening manner that causes offence or fear. To do so is assault, where if proven to have taken place, attracts penalties through the law.
In this situation, the drunken rugby team members involved were driven it seems by an uncontrolled misogynistic attitude, combined with a feral pack mentality!
Everyone still going round and round in outrage about Comer and the Chiefs?
Think strategically FFS. Get the Chiefs suspended from participating in the Investec Super Rugby organisation until a full independent investigation is completed.
nah mate, the outrage is about the sexual assault. The rest is just the usual head in hands i can’t believe that in 2016 we still have to explain to certain people what consent and lack thereof means.
Workers are picketing Centre City New World in Dunedin this morning because their employers have refused to enter into negotiations with them. A group of employees are trying to hand out leaflets to the public, outlining their grievances, but security guards have been employed by the management to try to obstruct their protest. An acquaintance of mine confronted one of the guards after he snatched a leaflet out of his hand. The guard argued that the management didn’t want the public to read these. Is this legal?
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Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
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[Moved to Open Mike. Obviously didn’t read the posts or engage brain before commenting.]
This 10-15% reduction is not necessary. You should check out the nzpostcarbon website to see a plan to make nz carbon negative by 2036. Having a percentage reduction is wrong, it should be a straight line, which allows time for society to adapt to the changes. Agriculture, which you don’t talk much about, has to be half of our reductions too. I calculate a 2.8 mtn year on year reduction in gross and an increase of the forest sink from current 24to 36 mats would do the trick.
The Youth Vote
http://www.vice.com/en_au/video/vice-asks-why-the-youth-vote-matters
Thoughts?
Some families don’t discuss politics at all, exhusband gets furious that the kids know about politics, apparently kids should not have an opinion on that topic until they are 18. Foolish man, they can’t make an informed decision unless they start learning about it young.
Even funnier is they know more about what’s going on in politics than he does, proud of them, they have taught him much. I guess it depends on peoples upbringing, politics was always discussed when I was grown up, so is the norm, and as a result i make it the norm of my children’s lives.
Should be part of all children’s learning at high school, my kids are at primary school still.
Great link ty for sharing
Time learning and teaching practical skills arming youngsters thorough processes for the ability to think critically and logically
Then they will be capable of nagivating the corrupted human constructs such as politics, which people believe are ‘necessary’ and ‘real’. They are not
Giving children the skills of critical evaluation techniques should be the one of the primary objectives of parents
Strongly agree. And kids need to know they don’t have to think like their parents, they just need to think, and parents need to understand that it’s ok for kids to make different choices than them as long as they’ve put thought into it.
A nation of independent thinkers however is not what some governments want. But imagine the inventions it would create, a nation of sheep no more, yes please
The link also highlights a number of flaws in our current political system.
It’s complex. And no matter how politically informed we are, to a large degree we’re all voting blind.
There is nothing preventing parties from introducing new policy (which they never campaigned on, thus we never voted upon) once in power.
Moreover, there is the dilemma of voters not supporting all of the policies of the particular party they select.
A number of these youth grow to become adult non-voters for largely the same reasons.
If we genuinely want to address this and a number of other issues, our current political structure needs to be revisited.
While we’ve made improvements like changing to MMP, more could and should be done. If we want better political outcomes we require to continue to improve our political structure.
A form of Direct Democracy will help address these current flaws, removing a lot of the complexity (allowing voters more opportunity to vote on single issues, opposed to coming to terms with a wide range of issues within a party’s policy manifesto and only voting once every 3 years) while giving voters more say, thus power and control.
NZ First has a form of Direct Democracy on offer, albeit one that could also be improved upon. But it is a start in a more democratic direction.
Like the UBI, a form of Direct Democracy is something that should be put out for wider public discussion and consideration.
https://youtu.be/OMPvxPox1kA
great link, I enjoy your outlook, and intelligent thoughts, gives one much food for thought and fresh information, thanks Chairman much appreciated
Nice. Thanks Jenz.
Listening to Blinglish on radio NZ lying about P in houses is exactly the same as listening to nicksmith lying about 3% overseas house buyers….. It makes me want to cry that these guys are in charge of anything and destroying NZ…… And just think, DonKey is at the top of his shit mountain
Yes Nick. Bill’s line is that just because a couple of scientists say that the test is wrong is not a reason to change the test. So the evictions will continue for a long time yet.
Could it be a plan concocted from the Beehive?
Thanks to the Chiefs being all over the news Ive had to have a conversation with my 11 yr old girl about how drunk kiwi men behave towards women. Is that why you don’t like drunk men mum? Yes darling it is.
What about drunk women?
Ive seen some terrible behaviour by women when they have been drinking (Hens nights etc) – and you should see how they treat male strippers?
Piss off idiot, you weren’t a male stripper in a past life.
Didnt say I was. I was a barman.
Now how about answering the question – or are ill-informed insults all you have?
Why answer a pointless diversion that makes a mockery of a serious problem.
You’re right. It’s really shite when drunk women behave like drunk men. No respect.
Last time i saw boozey chicks at a hensnight with a male stripper, I was DJing, male stripper was not touched except when he placed the ‘hens’ hands on himself. Sadly he was a terrible stripper. No one asked to lick his arse, no one threw stones at him, no one abuse him, everyone was like, oh we won’t be hiring him again he was terrible (after he left of course).
That being said drunks have no class male or female. Big difference between going to a strip club and having a stripper come to a party, chicks that go to male stripper clubs go crazy, but it is a controlled environment, unlike the chiefs party.
Still the Chiefs are heros in some kids eyes, rugby culture and drinking culture in NZ is disgraceful, hopefully this will continue getting coverage and people will wake up and take control of their own behaviour.
PS I’m no prude, but dang calm down rugby boys, makes one wonder how sad their intimate lives must be if they act like animals when confronted with a woman whom dances to music while removing her clothing. Bikers have more class when they see a stripper perform compared to the Chiefs, food for thought huh?
actually should drunk women and / or men sexually harass, grope a male stripper and expect him to act as a ‘whore’ and refuse to pay him for his services (stripping) that it would be the same scenario.
sexual assault and theft.
how is that so hard to understand? oh, you are one of these apologists…..got it.
+1
Well said.
+ another 1
James you whitter on about drunk women, this female was a stripper and not drunk and her job was to strip, nothing else was required of her. She is entitled to strip for an income just like guys can strip for an income or be a hooker if they choose. There are rules around these kinds of occupations and if men or women can’t control their groping whilst being in the audience they should remove themselves. Just like being a prostitute, there are rules in place, condoms to be used, no kissing, other requirements as well. Just because women have a more cerebral attitude towards sex and a man’s brain is in his penis doesn’t excuse voyeurs who are looking on to break the rules.
I heard on the news another woman who had stripped for the Chiefs last year got a right old unpleasant time with the guys – maybe their management team need to reign in these cowboys, keep them on home detention and teach them some restraint and manners. They are professional sportsmen and if any staff of a company were to carry on like that at a function with a stripper – and I have been to one with staff – then there would be a right old bollocking by the boss afterwards.
Good one jenz
NZ has problems with sport and alcohol? It’s not rocket science.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/small-business/82807995/new-bat–beer-pong-product-thirstbat-labelled-as-juvenile-and-silly
and yet there is nothing to $top this $tuff. The brains behind it promote ‘re$pon$ible drinking’.
As daft as those yard long glasses miravox.
Yup… we’re meant to be getting better at this sort of thing.
I just wanted to jump on this morning and apologise to anyone I have previously offended for my long held stance that females are already treated as equals in our current society.
After reading about the current situation with the Chiefs rugby team, and the abhorrent responses by both the Chiefs CEO and the representative from Gallagher’s towards the exotic dancer, I can now see that society still has a long way to go before true equality is even close to being reached.
“Major sponsor Gallagher Group on Thursday offered little sympathy for the stripper.
Corporate services executive Margaret Comer said: “If a woman takes her clothes off and walks around in a group of men, what are we supposed to do if one of them tries to touch her.””
What the fuck kind of response is this, and why the fuck has this women not been publicly vilified by her employer??? If a women takes her clothes off and walks around in a group of men, then she should be left the fuck alone, if she is hired to take her clothes off and walk around, she should still be left the fuck alone! She is hired to strip for visual enjoyment, not to be sexually harassed. The fact that there hasn’t been more public outrage over the Chiefs behaviour and the subsequent public responses makes me question how mature we actually are as a nation.
I really hope one of the players gets hauled up in front of the courts for their actions.
“If a woman takes her clothes off and walks around in a group of men, what are we supposed to do if one of them tries to touch her.””
Completely agree, this guy needs to be fired as there is no justification for that at all
She (Margaret Comer (NZ Order of Merit for services to philanthropy)), is a trustee on the board of Waikato Women’s Refuge which just makes her comments that much more disgusting!
That’s even worse, that’s victim blaming
Nice one Bob, on both counts.
It’s the next big step in cultural shift around gender and sex, body sovereignty. None of us have right of access to other people’s bodies without their consent. It’s not what we think that counts, it’s what the person whose body it is thinks that matters.
“It’s the next big step in cultural shift around gender and sex, body sovereignty”
Forgive me for my ignorance, but I had previously been under the impression that this shift had already occurred, the last couple of days have been a massive eye opener for me.
I do think it’s changing, but too many still don’t understand this basic principle, which is part of why we still have such high rates of sexual assault, abuse and harassment. It’s common enough for some men to express confusion over consent issues, as if they don’t understand that it’s not their ideas that count, it’s the ideas of the person’s body they are trying to access. We should be teaching this stuff in school. I think most men want to do the right thing, but are still supported by socialisation that tells them that women’s bodies are objects and attainable.
Hmm ok here we go, delving into this pool is not something I take lightly but here goes nothing…
Most men do indeed want to do the right thing but what makes a man a man?
Remembering back to when I was in my teens there was one thing I wanted more then anything else, I won’t fall to the cliché of saying it was the only thing but it was certainly the most important
So at the time it was very much treat women with respect, girls can do anything etc etc but really I just wanted to get my end away
I think the issue (or at least part of it) is that men, in organised groups, can quite easily revert back to hormone driven teenagers because, for some, being in these organised groups can actually inhibit maturity ie you’re a man at 20 but emotionally you’re still a teen
I’ve seen this for myself, in various forms, from my time in rugby, rowing, uni, the army so I’ve seen how easy it could be for things to go overboard
Now take all that and add in the hero worship factor and the money factor of being a professional sportsperson and I don’t think its a big surprise to anyone that this happens, in fact I’d bet money that this, and similar, happens a lot more often but a supplicant media and “donation” of money to the victim probably helps it go away
But it can be done, the All Blacks appear to have managed to be far and away the best team in the world without being a bunch of a**holes about it (could be good media management though)
So while more stuff can be taught in schools it will only work with buy-in from other organisations such as sports club and other such organisations
If I recall correctly, about ten or twenty years ago the ABs had a spate difficulties with some of their older and younger members getting stonkered and committing crimes of greater or lesser degree.
ISTR at the time they basically said “we have a problem” and talked about instituted mentoring, alcohol bans, media and behaviour training, and even financial advice for new ABs so they don’t blow their “set up for life” salaries on TVs and expensive liquor.
With one or two lapses, admittedly, but without the ongoing dramas that the NRL have committed, it really does come down to the team leadership having to set the limits for acceptable behaviour.
Pack mentality is common with adolescents – it’s the coach’s job to control it, just as much as it is teaching them a new play.
Agreed, the best way to stop this is for the All Blacks management to pass on their “no dickheads” rule down to super 15 teams that behaviour like this will not help anyones chances of getting selected
I agree that the ABs etc do have special responsibilities and things they need to address specificly that come with money and fame, but I’d also point out that the underlying attitudes are not to do with money and fame and this aspect of rape culture exists in lots of places. It’s the socialisation that men have around entitlement to women’s bodies. And that socialisation starts young.
I know its a cliché but in this instance I think the media is most to blame for this
I mean look at Beyoncé, shes held up as a powerful, fierce feminist women making massive strides in business yet the reality is she dresses half naked for her music videos and stays married to a man worth half a billion dollars that’s (allegedly) cheated on her more than once
Or if you want to be famous quickly have sex with someone and release the tape (sorry have the tape released “accidently”)
However attitudes have changed but it seems like one step forward two steps back at the moment
Again, rape culture exists everywhere, even in place without fame and money.
Including in this thread 😉
Beyonce can do what she wants with her body. So can someone wanting to get famous by having sex and releasing it on tape. Whatever we might think of those things in terms of morals or good taste, they’re not about sexual assault. If we think that Beyonce wearing revealing clothing leads men to think that they can touch other women how they want, then we’re saying that women have to take responsibility for men’s lack of sense or self control. Which is hugely regressive, and takes us straight back to rape culture i.e. it’s really women who are to blame.
That’s a good point but it seems like we want to teach boys to respect women while the media simultaneously bombards boys with images of women being sexual playthings that are there for the taking which also teaches young girls that being sexy and hot is all important and that sex is no big deal
I’ve no problems with women being sexual and wearing very little if that’s what they like and choose to do but can young girls differentiate between dressing sexy because you want or dressing sexy because you think that’s what makes you popular and successful?
I’m just glad I’m not young anymore
lols about being glad to be old – the aches are made up for by slightly shallower depths of insecurity, in my experience.
But really, if anyone is clear that she sets the limits, it’s B.
One thing I’ve found fascinating while watching my family’s next generation grow up is that she’s much smarter about self, sexuality and empowerment than I was, even going to the same school. Most of her friends seem smarter about it than kids in my day, as well. However, the boys seems to be as dropkicky as I remember being.
… the underlying attitudes are not to do with money and fame…
Absolutely. The only thing money and fame contributed to this is news media interest – there’s presumably a shitload of other strippers who’ve been molested by customers the media wouldn’t be interested in.
Nice one. agree 200%
How about when she accepts $50.00 in exchange for getting her arsehole licked.
Bit more than just stripping happening here, obviously quite a bit of audience participation going on .
How about hanging off the calls for lynching and wait and see what comes out after the investigation.
Do you accept that she has a basic right in that job to determine what happens with her body? Or do you think that the men in the room get to decide?
If she is offering a service and being paid for it there is no problem. She was not offering a groping service, so any groping is blatant harassment.
Put it this way, would you accept their actions to be fine if they did it to a bank teller? There is no difference.
Apparently 4 other guys got in on the rimming action but didn’t pay and she wasn’t very happy about not receiving payment for “services” rendered.
Which is probably why this rather sordid behavior is in the media right now.
Don’t think there would be a lot of happy wives/girlfriends in the chiefs community at the mo. Idiots.
What ever happened to the raffle?.
Total cheating cheap skate morons.
BM – To know so much, you can only be an insider..?
@ Bob (6.4.2) … I’d go further than call it harassment. If the woman involved did not give permission to be touched, she was assaulted!
I stand corrected
How about hanging off the calls for lynching and wait and see what comes out after the investigation.
How much investigation do you figure is needed to establish that you’re not allowed to sexually molest people without their permission? That one’s not really up for debate, is it?
Nicely put Bob, I feel that Womens Refugee should disown Margaret Comer, sadly Gallagher Group are probably big donators, and Womens Refugee need all the help they can get.
Happy this is getting coverage, discussion needs to be had, hopefully with all rugby players tomorrow in the changing rooms at their Saturday games.
Completely agree.
As for Margaret Comer, she’s now apologised which is a start I guess: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11687856
Margaret Comer is a trustee of Waikato Women’s Refuge, which apparently withdrew its affiliation to the Women’s Refuge NZ national collective some time ago.
Women’s Refuge NZ has spoken out against Mrs Comer’s comments and Dr Ang Jury, CEO of the collective appeared on Checkpoint last night.
Here is a link to their Twitter account for details and links to Checkpoint etc.
https://twitter.com/womensrefugenz
Update – further discussion on Comer, links etc at 10 below.
Another stripper has just come out against the Chiefs, interestingly enough in the report on the news, they said that the 2nd stripper was spat at among others things and would rather perform for a gang than the Chiefs. Just wows it’s all coming out now
.
On ya Bob.
Yes, the woman, Scarlette, is hired to strip. That is her job. It is a legal and legitimate job. She is covered under the Health and Safety Act as well as the Employment Relations Act.
Her workplace experience, legally, like anyone else’s should be free of abuse, non consensual touching and sexual harassment.
I am sick to death of these thuggish sports players getting away with this shit.
I was even more horrified to hear that the woman who condoned the behaviour of the players, Margaret Comer, is a trustee on the Board of Women’s Refuge.
She needs to stand down as she does not even understand the basics of boundaries and abuse, and of the power imbalance present in this situation. She has no place being any where near Women’s Refuge.
I disagree with you Rosie, This is now getting out of hand. Although I agree with a lot of the comments, I also feel for Comer. I heard the comment on the radio and I thought she was up the sharp end without a spear having no doubt a microphone or possibly on a cell phone with the interviewer demanding an instant opinion, Although I did not like what she said and I feel she really should have said something like “I don’t know the whole story and I will get back to you as soon as possible etc.” but she didn’t and is condemned for her utterances. This has taken the spotlight off the thugs and louts that were the problem in the first place.
It is now turning into a Comer witch hunt. A witch hunt that should be directed to the louts at the function who really should be questioned.
But they are thugby players arn’t they, next to god, so move the spotlight over to another area.
I wouldn’t have any “sympathy” for Comer, as she had had no “sympathy” for Scarlette. There is no need to “feel for her”. She was well out of order.
You are right in the fact that attention has conveniently hovered away from the players momentarily, but these situations can happen side by side, as they have done. No one should accept what the players have done, or how Comer indulged in victim blaming. Both situations are equally horrific in different ways.
Sure, people make mistakes, but Margaret Comer is on the board of trustees for Women’s Refuge Waikato. Her words are intolerable for someone in her position. She is meant to be standing besides victims and standing up for them, not kicking them while they’re down.
Kind of like having that woman abusing PM as a white ribbon ambassador FFS.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/82842289/french-halal-supermarket-told-to-sell-alcohol-and-pork-or-face-closure
The lease stated the shop must act as a “general food store”, and the authority argued the local community was not being served well without alcohol and pork products in the store.
They may think they have a point but…I’d side with the shop on this, if they want to sell Halal only then good on them, they may or may not lose out on some business but that should be their decision
The french only allow a certain number of shop types in a particular area.
For example there can be only xxx number of butchers to this ratio of people, the whole idea being that the butchers can make a living and are not put out of business by excessive competition.
I’d say the same rule would apply to a “general food store”, you might only be allowed to have one “general food store” in that particular area and because it’s not selling pork or booze it’s not fulfilling it’s obligations to all members of that community.
Ah ok I wasn’t aware of how France do things but it wouldn’t be so bad if we had something like that here, especially in regards to 2 dollar shops…
A little socialism can be useful…only a little though
Why am I unable to find any posts on TS about the Vancouver tax on house sales to foreign buyers? thought it was in open mike a day or two ago.
http://globalnews.ca/news/2861138/metro-vancouver-home-sales-dropped-by-75-after-foreign-buyer-tax-announcement-realtor/
Vancouver/British Columbia similar populations to Auckland & NZ .
It’s there. The post is called “government puts 15% tax on foreign buyers”
Thanks JT but I must being doing something wrong as I cannot open the post.
I saw something about that the other day too. I don’t think the search function is working though.
New Zealand One News June 17 2016
Pharmac unsure when heart medicine shortage resolved
Metoprolol supplies rationed to Pharmacists Pharmac cannot say when
shortage will be resolved ,supplies are on way from Indian factory.
Pharmac news August 1st 2016.
More than 280,000 Kiwis depend on one of these tablets every day and they are being rationed and have been for most of 2016 in my experience.
Ms Comer is getting an absolute shellacking on twitter.
good job, maybe she is not being “touched” in her intimate life, could be why she came out in support of the chiefs, frigid angry woman sides with drunk rugby perverts. Jealousy aint classy Ms Comer, get a grip you foolish woman, toys a plenty up KRoad, he’s a gift voucher, sort your self out if no one else will. Dang !
and that comment was about as vile and useless as her comment.
maybe, but i needed to get that out, everyone has needs and if a persons needs are not being met their behaviour will reflect it. Consensual loving intimacy creates less stress as well as more understanding and self control. Taboo topic for some perhaps.
Your comment above is just as much a part of the problem as what’s happened with the Cheifs. It’s not taboo, it’s blatant misogyny.
+ 1
maybe i was too rude in my wording, it was not meant to offend, let me put it into a scientific perspective, we need more Oxytocin in the world, that would heal and help so many, it’s part of what is missing in today’s society. Whether Oxytocin is self administered or through another. I’m glad she apologised, and I too apologise if any took my comments offensively. However so many things are not said, and maybe they should be.
If you are not too sure what Oxytocin is or how to get it…. here is a link
http://io9.gizmodo.com/5925206/10-reasons-why-oxytocin-is-the-most-amazing-molecule-in-the-world
Making the suggestion that any woman needs certain kinds of sexual activity is hugely problematic, not least because it is part of rape culture. There are people who believe that some women just need a good fuck, and use this to dismiss rape. Your comment wasn’t quite that, but it was patronising to suggest that you know anything about the woman concerned or she does or doesn’t need. The whole issue here is around body sovereignty and people’s right to choose what happens to their bodies.
I know what you mean about oxytocin, but I’m not sure there is way to bring that into this political conversation without being offensive. To me she came across as thoughtless and probably bigoted, nothing to do with hormones.
+1 weka. Well said.
I too apologise if any took my comments offensively
So you’re apologising for the state of people’s minds now. Is it an attempt to add insult to your existing injurious behaviour, or just thoughtlessness?
Apologise for your own behaviour (when appropriate) or don’t bother.
I agree, Sabine – especially as I read somewhere online today that Mrs Comer’s husband of many years died suddenly and unexpectedly a few months ago.
that is awful in that case she needs some oxytocin, big hugs to her for her loss
Good joe90. Good comments. Glad to see a male comedian chipping in too.
Desperation..?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7LYRUOd_QoM
‘Balance’
[Any more trolling will see you exited from this site. Start writing original comments rather than repasting the same idea repeatedly. Only warning. TRP]
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IPL2JlJBuqs
Racists?
Not racists.
In his last autobiography, Byrd explained that he was a KKK member because he “was sorely afflicted with tunnel vision — a jejune and immature outlook — seeing only what I wanted to see because I thought the Klan could provide an outlet for my talents and ambitions.” Byrd also said, in 2005, “I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times … and I don’t mind apologizing over and over again. I can’t erase what happened.”
Not in your opinion
In my opinion they are!
Could you coherently articulate the difference between J90 comment and my own, which you appear so eager to censor?
I mirrored J90 technique using a single descriptor for which you accused me of trollling, but not did not apply the same threat elsewhere
Joe90’s comment started with a single word sentence, but then was self explanatory in the next sentence. It was complete in and of itself.
Yours was one word and a link. If you want to put up links, you need to put at least a basic explanation of where the link goes to avoid wasting people’s time. In this case you have linked to a mendacious right wing film on youtube that makes unsubstantiated claims about the next president of the USA.
And please don’t accuse me of censoring you. I left the link up and didn’t alter your comment in any way. Lying about an author is an automatic six week ban. If the sun wasn’t shining on a beautiful Friday afternoon, you’d already be gone.
As I do not attach myself to ‘things or stuff’ …
Could you provide an insight in how you believe the emotional investment required in ‘taking sides’ (of the next POTUS) might raise the collective consciousness of humanity?
Perhaps I have misinterpreted your comments regarding the presidential ‘race’, but it appears to me that you are heavily attached to a certain outcome. Why?
What happens next, from your perspective following either eventual ‘winner’ ?
Usually, I’d be saying piss off you pompous git at about this point, but beautiful day etc. I’ve written plenty of posts in recent weeks. The answers you seek are most probably there.
It was a sincere query, formed by reading your confused and frantic musings
Your writings and moderating approach exhibit such heavy bias, it is reasonable to presume you see yourself in Hillary Clinton, and whatever it is she represents
By not attaching ourselves, we gain space to observe and self evaluate which in turn enables the activation of critical external evaluation senses
The more honestly we can evaluate and understand ourselves, the more transparent ‘our world’ becomes and the less our human ego can blind and mislead us
The web of life unfolds through new neural networks. True identity self interacts with boundless belonging. Therefore, Nature imparts reality to cosmic joy.
Deep stuff, indeed! I’ll just note that one two significantly undermines his philosophical detachment theory by attaching himself to a bullshit right wing hate site.
If a tree falls in the forest does it sound like one hand clapping?
I’ve explained my philosophical position to you in very simple terms, you don’t get alter or define that on my behalf, not even if it scares the daylights out of you
The past is a foreign country.
/
While the Gummint are restructuring Child, Youth and Family Services (yet again) and are doing the whole ‘re-branding’ thing with their nifty new name….exactly what form is the new structure going to take?
And what is it going to cost?
From the UK…http://www.bbc.com/news/education-36975478
“Foster carers ‘poached with golden hellos’
Large private foster agencies are offering cash incentives to recruit foster carers working for English local authorities – and then charging more for the service, councils say.
Some agencies pay “golden hellos” of around £3,000, but then charge councils more to care for the same child.
A recent independent review of residential care by government adviser Sir Martin Narey said that in 2014-15, eight commercial fostering agencies made around £41m in profit.
The president of ADCS, Dave Hill, said that companies should not be profiteering from children in care and that they objected very strongly to “golden hellos”.”
Repeat….eight commercial fostering agencies made around $41 MILLION PROFIT.
Sorry to shout….but this is really important.
The vulnerable child becomes a cash cow for unscrupulous businesses.
Exactly the case for disabled New Zealanders, especially those under Ministry of Health, Disability Support Services.
Interesting links from war is boring.
https://warisboring.com/to-understand-chinese-expansionism-look-to-the-opium-wars-fc96e2bba94#.4yg00gfk1
https://warisboring.com/donald-trump-has-americanized-vladimir-putins-war-on-truth-1a09f95b67d9#.ffkpyiz3m
Marlborough, February 2016. Lake Elterwater dries out for first time since 2004
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/76659054/Marlborough-lake-dries-out-for-first-time-since-2004
Marlborough, 5 August 2016. 80 hectare Lake Elterwater is usually 1.5-2 meters deep at this time. Still bone dry at the end of winter. Marlborough Express headline “Lake so dry it’s now a field of oats.”
http://nvs24.com/news/world/Marlborough-farmers-staring-at-3-year-drought-use-dry-lake-bed-to-feed-stock-7568308.html
Oh, look over there, the Olympic Games!
Re the Chiefs and the woman stripper …
No one, regardless of the type of work being carried out for payment, stripping, prostitution and dancing included, deserves to be groped, or touched in an unwanted or threatening manner that causes offence or fear. To do so is assault, where if proven to have taken place, attracts penalties through the law.
In this situation, the drunken rugby team members involved were driven it seems by an uncontrolled misogynistic attitude, combined with a feral pack mentality!
Everyone still going round and round in outrage about Comer and the Chiefs?
Think strategically FFS. Get the Chiefs suspended from participating in the Investec Super Rugby organisation until a full independent investigation is completed.
That’ll learn ‘m.
It’s the foul, dirty sponsors that I blame.
nah mate, the outrage is about the sexual assault. The rest is just the usual head in hands i can’t believe that in 2016 we still have to explain to certain people what consent and lack thereof means.
but do continue, you were sayin?
Workers are picketing Centre City New World in Dunedin this morning because their employers have refused to enter into negotiations with them. A group of employees are trying to hand out leaflets to the public, outlining their grievances, but security guards have been employed by the management to try to obstruct their protest. An acquaintance of mine confronted one of the guards after he snatched a leaflet out of his hand. The guard argued that the management didn’t want the public to read these. Is this legal?