Maybe Labour understand that there are tough times ahead with any amount of unrest…..
I would invite readers to delve daily into the markets on http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/markets/overview/overview.asp . There are some interestingly rapid movements during the last month, commodities are well down, only Brent Crude over $100, light crude down near $70. Shares are crashing. What this all indicates is a deflationary spiral as prices have peaked, a lack of liquidity in the markets. Money is looking for safe hedges and has nowhere to go.
What does it mean…tough times ahead with more disruption, more dissent. national as the next government (should they gain that poisoned challice) will end up needing all the police powers they can muster. The legitimacy of the current system is on the line, and rather than face the challenge positively they seem to want the right to repress whilst they loot our assets for their mates benefit.
You need to ask one more “why”. Why, after the US Federal Reserve has pumped $16T in new cash into the financial markets via the major banks, is there still a “lack of liquidity” in the markets?
And really, its a very simple issue. There is no shortage of money. There is an excess of debt and liabilities.
In other words, this isn’t a liquidity issue, its a solvency issue.
They can impoverish the middle class and under class all they like now, there are not enough assets in the OECD to compensate for the hundreds of trillions of potential loan and derivative bad (false) assets now hidden on bank balance sheets. At a time when the banks themselves have maximised their leverage in an attempt to maximise their profits, hence are woefully undercapitalised.
Some of the largest banks in the world are operating at leverage ratios of over 30:1. This is exactly like taking a million dollar mortgage out with a $30K deposit. Guess what, if the housing market tanks by just 5% you are suddenly left underwater.
That’s where all the banks are right now, except with trillion dollar bigger sums, and the markets set to tank by 40%-50%.
Yes, solvency is the big underlying issue. Creating credit out of thin air gives short term liquidity but it all gets dissolved or has nowhere safe to go. Creating any more credit just increases solvency problems.Bail outs are just a waste of time propping up the edifice.
Yep. A “bail out” is simply more debt, creating a short term supply of money to help pay off debts already owed to banks.
The Greek “bail outs” increase Greek debt further, and the money is paid straight to bankers.
The Greek ‘socialist’ government is working hand in hand with the bankers and the corporatists against their own people.
The Greeks defaulted in the first half of the 20th century, and they should do so again. And this time, they should get their tax systems and enforcement sorted out.
IT does have another side effect devaluing the American dollar forcing ours up if we don’t do something our export sector will get damaged again just when it is showing some resilience laissez fair for us social credit for them =disaster for our export sector just when we need it to keep our economy afloat , Their is a difference between borrowing and printing .Blinglish will have to borrow more if he doesn’t print and that will cost more and weaken our economy further.
“Maybe Labour understand that there are tough times ahead with any amount of unrest…..”
Wow, ‘ tough times ahead’, this is a valid reason for increasing the powers of the state?
Tough times for whom, and unrest from where? More importantly, how will increasing the Orwellian surveillance powers of a Government address the financial minefields, the increasing costs and the ballooning employment shortages we know make up the bulk of the tough times ahead.
Yeah let’s continue to ignore the problems that lead to the unjust laws and just give the State more and more of our freedoms. If we are to believe all the info distributed from our great leader the ‘serious crimes, the ones that desperately required National to remove even more of the freedoms fought for by our soldiers in bloody wars past, relate primarily to the cultivation and trafficking of marijuana.
A subject which only highlights exactly how uninterested they are in solving the problem.
Wow, ‘ tough times ahead’, this is a valid reason for increasing the powers of the state?
In the eyes of Right Wing Authoritarians it is. Labour has been centre-right for a while now and it now seems to be shifting into the authoritarian mode along with National, Act and United Future.
More importantly, how will increasing the Orwellian surveillance powers of a Government address the financial minefields…
It won’t but it will allow the government to oppress the populace to protect the thieves capitalists.
IMO, Anybody who’s voted Labour before because they were the party of the working class should now either be voting Mana, Alliance or Greens. None of the other parties are there for the majority of the populace.
amen, jenny.
i had just put a comment on another posting here but will repeat it here.
i seem to be missing something here, i thought the tories where all for less (nanny) state in our lives and yet we get this legislation.
equally i see a major left wing party struggling to get traction in polls, rushing to the aid of the tories to help them push thru this disgusting piece of lawmaking.
it has helped to decide where this one will vote come november and it aint gonna be for the nat lite crew. sorry guys.
peace.
The Tories are for anything which will secure their status and power when citizen uprisings occur. Just watch the UK.
And it is a shame that after 9/11, UK Labour led the charge into increased surveillance and CCTV powers, more than what was ever necessary to combat the IRA.
i seem to be missing something here, i thought the tories where all for less (nanny) state in our lives and yet we get this legislation.
That’s what the Tories say that they’re for but any reading of history will show the exact opposite. The Tories are the dictators that they warn people about.
Should MPs be party puppets or individual representatives?
John Key is famous for being an open and accessible PM, amicable and chatty, but National have become famous for saying as little as possible about stuff that matters.
Phil Goff looks more like he’s on slogan autopilot, but Labour MPs like Trevor Mallard, Clare Curran and Darien Fenton have generated publicity for speaking their own minds – for better or worse.
The Maori Party speaks as “our people” while Hone Harawira says what he likes.
Depends on what it is about. There are obviously party positions and ministerial responsibilities, but I have not been given any limitiation on what I can say from a personal point of view and how wider issues might effect my own region.
Isn’t this current public discussion around the future of the RWC just another example of the wider cultural cringe that we as a nation suffer from. (“Please world, love us, please! Please endorse that our decision to live here was the right one!”)
We talk about whinging Poms.
Where else in the world would you get such a debate dominating the media.
And at an event as it enters its final and high profile stage.
Strange thing is at school Kiwi kids are taught that the game is bigger than the man …
(People, the sun will continue to rise in the East whether the ABs are there or not)
Oh yes, my goodness yes, you do! Anyone old enough to remember that git Bickerstaff and his “punch a Pom a day” campaign? All in fun, he said… sadly my ex-husband took that as an instruction, and guess who the “Pom” was that he had ready to hand? 🙁
As a ‘pommy youth’ I well remember the shadow the ‘bash a pom a day’ sentiment cast over my family. I guess to many New Zealanders it was just harmless fun at the expense of the plummy voiced English (which we weren’t/aren’t) or part of Muldoon’s anti-union barrage (Dad was a shop steward).
To my family it was simply an experience of hostility and non-belonging. I remember Mum crying and just wanting to go ‘home’.
Having said that, I had very good friends (some of my best friends – still – are New Zealanders :)).
And don’t get me on to my ‘identity’ – I’ve given up on that as a bad joke.
Yeah but the likes of Deaker has a soft spot for the Irish, Welsh, or Scots. But they despise the English.
It seems that people can wave the flags of any nationality here in Godzone and say they are proud of their “homeland”, but look out if you are English or from areas of Asia.
but look out if you are English or from areas of Asia.
That is so true! My students are for the most part Asian, which is something I’ve learned not to talk about, if I don’t want to hear stereotypes and ignorant abuse. “They’re taking our jobs”, etc..
I remember a student at Unitec in tears over the abuse she got from a bus driver when she asked a question about his route. My son and his friend Jinkoo were catching a bus near their school Western Springs College and they got on together. Jinkoo (Korean, and quite dark-skinned) started to ask something and the driver responded with “I’m sick of you bloody Chinese coming here, you don’t even speak English, and your bloody stupid questions…”. WSC doesn’t have uniforms, goodness knows how old this driver thought they were, but they were just kids! Jinkoo grew up in Germany until he was 8, then in Titirangi. His English is perfect, and his response was scathing!
As a ‘pommy youth’ I well remember the shadow the ‘bash a pom a day’ sentiment cast over my family. I guess to many New Zealanders it was just harmless fun at the expense of the plummy voiced English (which we weren’t/aren’t) or part of Muldoon’s anti-union barrage (Dad was a shop steward)
I was glad at the time that my Dad hadn’t lived to see it! When we girls started school, we had our Dad’s Scouse accent, but we were gobsmacked to be mobbed by 6 year olds screaming “Get back to Pongolia, garn!” My Dutch friend Ellen actually did get punched for speaking Dutch in the street, she was 5 years old, her sister 4.. (Her father then declared that they would all speak English in the home from then on.) New Zealanders seem deeply suspicious of and hostile to “foreigners”..
It’s been the subject of much mirth that our glorious leader John “100% pure compared to other countries” Keys doesn’t seem to know what a percentage is.
But this latest bit of innumeracy has me stunned. From question time yesterday:
When Standard & Poors were giving a meeting in New Zealand about a month ago what they did say, was there was about a 30% chance, ah, that we would be downgraded, that’s what happens when you’re on negative outlook, they did go on to say though, if there was a change of government then that downgrade would be much more likely.
Everyone catch that?
Keys is now crowing that the likelyhood of something that has already happened would be even higher if National weren’t in govt.
Keys dropped the ball. But it’s a good thing Keys is in charge, ‘cos if it were someone else they might’ve dropped the ball.
FFS people used to let this idiot play with their money? Oh that’s right, we still do.
There used to be lots of money slopping around for the idiot to play with….but now?????
“100% pure compared to other countries….” the fekker should have been standing in the stream with me opening day watching effluent dumping, I would have submerged his TV friendly little nostrils deep into it for as long as it took for him to wise up..
Yep Bored, just after opening day on a river in the back of beyond seemingly clear and 100% pure as they come. After not too long me net and screens all clogged with dairy farm shit. And there aint even hardly none dairy farms in this catchment !!
Fertiliser use up 700% in last decade.
Imagine if everyone’s business could just dump their refuse in the street.
Got broken off and then thrown off on the Tuki, rainbows, one large, one little….took a fish out of the top of the Manawatu. Rainbow, 1.5Kgs. Some council idiots plough the Hawkes Bay rivers to”help” river flood flows..buggers the pools big time.
Season looking good if you are prepared to walk into difficult spots around Tararuas / Ruahines. Those streams dont turn to black bottomed slime drains (courtesy of fertilizer / dairy) like the lower country streams. The Manawatu, Mangatainoka, Makakahi, and to the Ruamahanga have been pretty much stuffed with algae by mid season for the last few years. Its a disgrace, and Keys willful ignorance of this makes me despise him more.
Businesses do dump their refuse in the street. The difference is that it can actually be picked up and is organised to be so. Farm refuse can’t be and no in government is bothered about either cleaning it up or preventing it from being dumped in the first place.
Yes, well it is the fundamental issue. How many businesses are still allowed to dump their refuse in the public estate like streets or creeks? None.
There seems to be some kind of implicit understanding that the farming sector can so dump. Similarly with the mining sector, though less so.
The farming one stems of course from NZ’s historical agricultural development when such things were relatively somewhat understandable. But that has morphed and changed to such an extent that if pre-european NZ was subjected to a resource consent application for the agricultural practices as practised today it would not progress very far methinks …
Farms should stop dumping anything outside the farm gate. Big ask for the current generation and would take time but that is what needs to happen. And people get grumpy WHEN ANOTHER FUKCING SHAKE RUMBLES THROUGH MID-SENTENCE … AAARRRRGH! … now where was my brain cells … ah yes, people get grumpy when that sector fails to acknowledge that very particular and major point.
What about TripleD (dipton double dipper) saying on morning report about the deposit guarantee scheme, “nobody knew how to do it”.
Well why the hell didnt they find out?
Oh I see, they needed the opportunity to dispense funds to their mates under a cloak of legality.
Nice work if you can get it.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 5.1
You should listen to the interview. English barely mentioned that Labour were the ones who set it up – I figured he’d be crowing from the rooftops that that was the case.
National supports the Government’s plans to offer a guarantee of $150 billion in retail banking deposits, but says there still many unknowns about how the scheme will work.
National leader John Key was briefed by Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard this afternoon about the plan after the Government announced the policy at the Labour Party campaign launch.
Makes no difference, marsman. If they hadn’t extended it, SCF would have gone into liquidation in the first period specifically to get the advantage of the scheme.
you cannot have it both ways, If they were unstable, the Government should not have extended the Guarantee, If they were fine then they simply manipulated the NZ Govt to make a buck
So either Blingless was an idiot signing them an extension or the SCF are guilty of serious misconduct
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 5.1.2.1.1.1
If the government had not extended the guarantee, SCF would have triggered the payout earlier while under the protection of the original term extended to them by Labour.
On November 19th 2008, Key and his ministers were sworn in. That very day, Treasury Head John Whitehead signed the deed admitting SCF into the retail deposit guarantee scheme “on behalf of the Minister of Finance” Bill English.
Labour didn’t sign SCF into the scheme – National did and they did so while aware that SCF was not up to the terms of the scheme.
Fascinating to hear Bill English on Morning Report clouding the issue so thoroughly that the answer was not his problem and he was not responsible. The good thing was that he actually fronted up.
I do not care who it was that originally signed SCF on. It could have been Tinkerbell trembling in fear when she signed, asCaptain Hook held a shimmering longblade to her tiny throat. It is irrelevant. If SCF had failed during the term of that agreement then the relevant questions would be asked. The FACTS plainly show that the EXTENDED coverage was signed on by National, THREE TIMES My earlier statement stands
” either Blingless was an idiot signing them an extension
or the SCF are guilty of serious misconduct ”
I have seen figures reported at various places that show as much as a billion dollars was added to the risk value in the period between National coming to power and the actual collapse
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell …
Gormless, ( at 3:08) still has trouble with the FACTS that hundreds of millions of dollars of liability were added to the guarantee AFTER National extended the scheme for SCF. What about that data is so hard to understand?
Fox: Your colleague, she’d seen the protests in Greece and Europe and elsewhere. Did you guys take your cue from that? Are you hoping to cite certainly what was a lot of the tension, if not police activity. I know over the weekend there were over 100 arrests and you guys got things fired up. Are you taking your cues from the international movement and how do you want to see this? If you could have it in a perfect way, how would it be?
Jesse: Well I don’t know, its really difficult to answer questions leading to those conclusions. I’d say that we didn’t take our cue leading off of anybody really. It became a more spontaneous movement. As far as seeing this end, I wouldn’t like to see this end. I would like to see the conversation continue. This is what we should have been talking about in 2008 when the economy collapsed. We basically patched a hole on the tire and said let the car keep rolling. Unfortunately it’s fun to talk to the propaganda machine and the media especially conservative media networks such as yourself, because we find that we cant get conversations for the department of Justice’s ongoing investigation of News Corporation, for which you are an employee. But we can certainly ask questions like you know, why are the poor engaging in class warfare? After 30 years of having our living standards decrease while the wealthiest 1% have had it better than ever, I think it’s time for some maybe, I don’t know, participation in our democracy that isn’t funded by news cameras and gentlemen such as yourself.
Fox: But, uh, yeah well, let me give you this challenge Jesse.
Jesse: Sure.
Fox: We’re here giving you an opportunity on the record […] to put any
message you want out there, to give you fair coverage and I’m not
going to in any way
Jesse: That’s awesome!
Fox:…give you advice about it. So, there is an exception in the case, because you wouldn’t be able to get your message out there without us.
Jesse: No, surely, I mean, take for instance when Glenn Beck was doing his protest and he called the President, uh, a person who hates white people and white culture. That was a low moment in Americans’ history and you guys kinda had a big part in it. So, I’m glad to see you coming around and kind of paying attention to what the other 99 percent of Americans are paying attention to, as opposed to the far-right fringe, who who would just love to destroy the middle class entirely.
Fox: Alright, fair enough. You have a voice, an important reason to criticize myself, my company and anyone else. But, let me ask you that, in fairness, does this administration, President Obama, have any criticism as to the the financial situation the country’s in…?
Jesse: I think, myself, uh, as well as many other people, would like to see a little but more economic justice or social justice—Jesus stuff—as far as feeding the poor, healthcare for the sick. You know, I find it really entertaining that people like to hold the Bill of Rights up while they’re screaming at gay soldiers, but they just can’t wrap their heads around the idea that a for-profit healthcare system doesn’t work. So, let’s just look at it like this, if we want the President to do more, let’s talk to him on a level that actually reaches people, instead of asking for his birth certificate and wasting time with total nonsense like Solyndra.
I’ve been looking at the comments on the stuff political blogs for a while now. Every time John Pagani writes a blog he gets dozens of incredibly vitriolic, and often very uninformed, people commenting. A lot of them repeat the lies that Labour left us in a huge deficit hole and wasted all the money etc. They’re all generally very very anti-Labour and very pro-National.
When DPF writes a blog the comments are sort of 60/40 supportive or anti, with the anti ones saying stuff about him deliberately manipulating the media spin for his paymasters.
Yet when a new post goes up in the What (S)he Said blog, which is by Andrea Vance and John Hartevelt who are in the parliamentary press gallery, the comments are usually a lot more anti-national.
It makes me think there’s a whole bunch of righties just waiting for DPF and Pagani’s blogs so they can go in an astroturf hither and yon. But they ignore What (S)he Said and as a result we get more honest commenting going on.
I thought Pagani’s role was to act as a punchbag for Paul Holmes, Richard Griffin, Matthew Hooton and whoever else on the right wants a workout on an agreeable patsy.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 8
I wasn’t ill-informed, it is unfortunately, a subject that I know rather too well (as John already knew). John Pagani however was quite ill-informed on the subject he was writing on – which is why he got my comment pointing out one aspect of why he was ill-informed. Apparently he didn’t like by characterization of his motivation for writing such cobblers.
In any event, the comment didn’t survive there. So I repeated and expanded it here.
Japan is to resume whaling in the Southern Ocean next month with military security to protect its boats from the radical environment group Sea Shepherd which has promised to launch “Operation Divine Wind” or kamikaze against them.
On the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan being connected to the emperor of Japan having sex with the sun goddess
“That happened many, many years ago, and that created a spiritual atmosphere over Japan which was an atmosphere ruled by the powers of darkness. The sun goddess is not a very nice lady. The sun goddess is a power of darkness, which is headed up by the kingdom of Satan. And so the sun goddess wants natural disasters to come to Japan. Sometimes the hand of God, which is more powerful, will prevent them. And when he decides to prevent them and when he doesn’t is far beyond anything that we can predict.”
Why the surprise? This creationism crap is worming its way into schools. It comes from the cell groups that set themselves up in the libraries of our teacher colleges. The graduates go out into the world and this drivel slowly permeates the classrooms – particularly, but not exclusively, in the lower decile schools where the communities are receptive and indeed request it – the communities’ boards recruit them. (Further confirming the warnings that were given when Picot set in train the self managing schools model).
It’s a toss up between English and Heatley as being the worst cabinet ministers. Both have caused immense financial hardship to those in the lowest income bracket.
I am concerned about how much Heatley has wasted on his screwed up housing policies. The man simply does NOT get it that his newly developed social housing unit will not deliver affordable rental properties to those who do not qualify for a HNZ property.
NZ has such an aging population who require medical treatment. Unless there is a robust, affordable secure housing policy, the elderly in particular are going to require more health resources. This can be said for children as well and people with permanent health conditions which impede working more than several hours a week.
Heatley has 40 million for his social housing unit EXPERIMENT, which has redirected money away from housing people in need, while far too many HNZ homes are unoccupied.
Dosent help that the HCC is full of Tea-Party wannabes, and Julie Hardaker is trying her best to be like Michelle Bachman without the god-bothering.
Heatley is probably in the pocket of the slumlords union Property Investors’ Federation.
Fortunately, the Tea Parters on my council are a) most of the time all bluff and bluster and b) too caught up into having admission fees established for the local art gallery to be any sort of threat to council services.
Profit is a dead weight loss so I’m not overly concerned about that especially considering that it is the profit drive (pure greed) that is destroying the environment.
No, we needed the lab time to tell us that those effects were good for us rather than the End of Civilisation which seems to be the reason why such drugs are banned.
“The majority of voters for all main political parties want the government to phase out battery cages. When asked whether animal welfare laws should prohibit cages, 70 per cent of the respondents said they should. When told the government is considering phasing out battery cages and asked if they agreed with this, 81 per cent said they did,” says SAFE campaign director Eliot Pryor.
So, is the government listening to the public on this or are they still defending the use of battery hens?
However, the Horizon poll finds 64% say they are not well enough informed or not informed at all on Preferential voting (64%); Single Transferable Vote (62.2%) and
Supplementary Member (71.3%). Only on the former electoral system, First Past the Post, do a majority (58.1%) feel informed or well informed, while 28% feel ill-informed on it.
Asked if they would like the electoral Commission to send them information about the alternative voting systems to MMP, 74.2% say yes, 25.8% no.
Well, at least people are asking for the information. Now hopefully that will be made available to them. Although I’m pretty sure that NAct will prefer to keep people uninformed.
Among voters who are registered, intend to vote, have decided which party to support or who don’t know but express a current preference, Mana has 2.2% (up from 1.9% in July). The Maori Party has 1.1%. Some 21% of those supporting Mana voted for the Maori Party at the 2008 general election.
National has 39.5% (up 2.2% since July), Act 4.8% and United Future 0.8%.
Labour has 27% (no change), the Green party 10.7% (+ 0.5%), New Zealand First 7.3% (+1.3%).
Actually, the most important point of that poll is that Labour would only be able to form a coalition with the support of Mana. Phil Goff should, about now, be feeling really stupid for saying that he won’t work with Hone.
This one’s the most disturbing though. Apparently, most people believe that employers should have a say in your recreation.
Whao! What just happened in the public gallery in Parliament? It happened as Goff was beginning his speech in the general debate, and apparently our friendly PM blamed the incident on Labour.
I think the speaker got it wrong. But the PM obviously said something during/just after the kerfuffle in the gallery that got right up the nose of the opposition.
The incident interrupted a speech by Labour leader Phil Goff and several MPs leapt to their feet out of concern.
At the time Prime Minister John Key was shouting across the House “shame on Labour”. Question time had just finished and MPs were engaged in a general debate.
[…]
Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said security guards were on the scene “very, very quickly”.
[…]
“[We were] shocked because you don’t know why he was wanting to leap. When he went out he made a few statements that were fairly clear what he was about. I’d rather not go into that.”
The man was heard calling out about Work and Income, Prime Minister John Key and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.
I happened to read an article today entitled Key Nats’ ace; Goff sidelined, published on the Otago Daily Times website today. The fictional piece is so obviously a beat up that I’m surprised it reached publication…
Dalefield School principal Kevin Jephson said the standards would reward only those pupils “who arrive at school from extremely advantaged backgrounds such as inherited intelligence, emotional security, financial prospects and pro-active parenting”.
“The many children who come to school less advantaged not only demonstrate their lack of readiness to learn at higher academic levels but also inflict on the school their many and varied social problems.”
National Standards had allowed politicians and bureaucrats to “get in by the back door” and influence policy and practice in schools, which under parent control were “more relaxed and human”, he said.
Now boards of trustees face the axe for not implementing National Standards and teachers are hamstrung and demotivated by “countless restrictive practices”. “With the tyranny of officialdom flooding our schools they will soon descend into mediocrity and then over time become ripe for closure and mergers.”
(funny that is already happening in Dunedin and Kawerau, and the rumour mill suggests those are ‘pilots’ for future amalgamations)
and…
“We at Dalefield cannot afford to wait any longer for the minister to wake up and rescind an unworkable, treacherous and anti-child educational law. “It is time for the lawmakers to stand up and apologise to our citizens for wasting precious taxpayer funds and degrading high performing schools on a political whim.”
I’d love to see Tolley do that! And finally
“We have a duty to the children of this country to maintain the very high educational standards we have now and not just let our children’s futures and our high international rankings be destroyed by a political neoliberal ideology which has captured the present government,”
Well said Kevin Jephson and well spotted Ian.
Last week buried in a column somewhere I saw a quote from Anne Tolley to the effect that National Standards were just a beginning and that she had many more things to improve NZ education. Ominous.
And watch that Mandate that National will seize in order to justify massive changes.
So what about the wairarapa times age running a meet john key forum and putting a two inch bannner for key on the bottom of every page for a week?
When the goebbles golum come back to life?
Noting that effective enforcement of intellectual property rights is critical to sustaining economic growth across all industries and globally;
Is completely contrary to reality. Preventing people from applying their imagination and coming up with ideas, which is what IP enforcement does, actively prevents development of the economy.
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If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Last night the police dramatically incresed their numbers at Ihumātao, shoving over protestors and threatening them with arrest. Despite police talk about the need to maintain "public order" and prevent a "breach of the peace", there appeared to be absolutely no justification for this: the protest camp is, was, and ...
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...
Today's abortion reform announcement is just the latest in a long line of disappointing decisions or outright failures from the Labour government. The 90-day law. KiwiBuild. A capital gains tax. Climate change. Every time they make one of those decisions, we hope for better next time. No repeal of the ...
The Greens used their party conference over the weekend to push for a rent-to-own scheme, where people would be able to work towards home ownership by renting from the government. Its a sensible policy, and one which could make a real difference to home ownership rates. But its also basicly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Over the past fortnight, thousands of people have come to the Ihumātao land protest in South Auckland. On 23 July police prepared to evict a few dozen people who had maintained the encampment at Ihumātao for the past three years. As hundreds of supporters arrived the ...
The following article is translated from an article in Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of the French revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle). The United States’ blacklisting of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which took shape in Google’s ban on Huawei using its systems on its phones, marks a ...
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...
An Auckland Homelessness Collective is optimistic extra government support for sustaining tenancies signals a commitment to a multi-pronged approach to tackling homelessness. ...
Wanaka-based trust ONE New Zealand will be hosting six days of talks, workshops and hands-on activities with local and national experts to educate, inspire and enable grassroots action towards a sustainable future. ...
In last week’s episode of Politics in Full Sentences, David, Brooke and Ruwan discussed why Jacinda Ardern has been lecturing our friends overseas, why Andrew Little called ACT's three strikes law “fascism”, whether he will give prisoners the right to ...
“Community safety must be the paramount consideration when releasing an offender, and the only way for that to be achieved is for the offender to acknowledge their crimes.” ...
“District Health Boards are failing to foster a culture of distributed clinical leadership, despite its demonstrated benefits to the sector,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
Ratepayers around Auckland were spitting out their morning coffees listening to Phil Goff’s incredible claims on breakfast radio today that this election is about ‘honesty’ and that Aucklanders can trust him on his promises. Auckland Ratepayers’ ...
The Hōkai Rangi plan for reducing Māori reoffending announced today fails to fulfil the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations, says justice organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. Minister Kelvin Davis announced the plan this morning, which aims ...
Waatea News at the invitation of the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency will exclusively broadcast the next Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki starting today at 1pm. ...
Staff at the Ministry of Social Development say they are enthusiastic about the government’s $54 million investment in housing the homeless, with many describing it as a welcome change. ...
Today posters have gone up outside ANZ branches across New Zealand to expose ANZ’s sponsorship of an exclusive oil industry group, ‘The Petroleum Club’. The satirical posters play on ANZ’s recent ad campaigns, replacing the banks’ tagline ‘healthy ...
Imagine a country where children look forward to walking or cycling to school, parents arrive home safely, and the journeys we take for work or pleasure do more than leave us alive or uninjured, they also improve our lives. This is happening now in countries ...
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...
The Government’s proposed rescue plan must be strengthened because it is the last chance to save Māui dolphins from extinction and secure the future for Hector’s dolphins, Forest & Bird says. ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Today’s news from the Electoral Commission has provided the party with the clarity it was seeking around use of the word “Coalition” being used as the brand name of the party. ...
A recently released Otago University study has provided further evidence that low-quality housing is a significant problem in Aotearoa. This has prompted the Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ) Paul Evans to question “why ...
With the BNZ-Business NZ PMI signaling manufacturing is contracting , the Government needs to seriously consider tax relief, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called for an overhaul of the Public Services executive ranks as the Corrections debacle shows mis-management and incompetence at the highest level. Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council has said ...
Findings from the 2018 New Zealand Consumer Survey have been released and the results are in; 48 per cent of respondents consider their purchases based on how ethically employees are treated. ...
The responsibility for the fact that Westland Milk Products is now in the hands of an overseas conglomerate 25% owned by the Chinese government can be laid fair and square at our government's doorstep. ...
As Fonterra is projecting multi million dollar losses for the second year in a row, it is clear the writing is on the wall for dairy as more and more Kiwis turn to plant milks. 22nd August is International Plant Milk Day and there is now a different plant ...
The $65,000 granted to Interislander so it can install electric vehicle chargers on its ferries is the most absurd waste of money yet to be delivered by the “Low Emissions” vehicle fund, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
Wellingtonians will have the chance to hear international child rights experts from Ireland, Scotland and Samoa speak at the Making Child Rights Real in Aotearoa New Zealand seminar to be held in the city on Wednesday 21 August. ...
Paul Evans, Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ), is advocating a balanced approach to the development of productive land. ...
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) says that new research from the University of Otago provides a solid foundation for why the Government must not delay instating a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for tenanted homes in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer drove carelessly during a pursuit and that this was the primary cause of a collision with a motorcycle that injured the rider. ...
Responding to the Prime Minister’s commitment of $150 million in funding for climate change response in the Pacific, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “It is no secret that many Pacific nations lack serious oversight when it ...
AUT research not only shows an increase in political affiliation, but that candidates affiliated to a central political party are more likely to win seats in Auckland local government. ...
On the 23rd of August School Strike NZ will join Ollie Langridge in his 100th day of sitting outside of New Zealand Parliament calling for the government to declare a climate emergency. School Strike 4 Climate NZ also demand that Parliament acknowledge ...
You have stood up for what is fair, and I am sure you will speak for over 7 million people who have been muted and rendered voiceless in Indian occupied Kashmir for more than a 10 days now. I am writing to bring to your notice the plight of Kashmiri ...
In the last 10 months alone, 11 petitions have been delivered to Parliament calling for medicines to be funded by Pharmac. Today, another nine petitions have been launched by Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) members asking that life changing, saving and extending ...
When we were first working to get Miscanthus approved for import into New Zealand, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) waived the fee for their work because they thought that having Miscanthus in New Zealand was so very much in the ...
PHARMAC’s recent decision to fund two additional drugs from December this year has been widely welcomed by patients and the general public alike. The drugs, Kadcyla and Ibrance, are used in the treatment of advanced lung and breast cancers and will ...
Animal rights organisation SAFE is urging the Government to include experts and advocates from outside the agriculture industry on its newly announced winter crop grazing taskforce. ...
The Government’s plans to prohibit housing on ‘productive’ farmland will serve as yet another regulatory tax on housing, and is a shameful breach of Jacinda Ardern’s promise to fix housing supply, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The latest round of the Ethnic Communities Development Fund opens today, supporting projects that grow the leadership and capability of ethnic groups, improve cultural understanding, and ensure our ethnic communities are a vibrant and celebrated part ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is warning of the dangers of hiking excise tax, in response to calls from a former Prime Minister for stronger action on alcohol harm. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It seems inevitable ...
Is a second attempt at merging parts of Stuff and NZ Herald owner NZME planned, with a bid for political intervention to help the media industry? Tim Murphy reports. ...
How the NZ Superfund has drummed up $15 trillion to put pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube giants over livestreaming following the Christchurch terror attacks. ...
Kiwi Jamie Greene has established herself as one of the fittest women on the globe in the fast-growing gruelling sport of CrossFit. And she wants to thank her runner sister for helping drive her. ...
Newsroom is delighted to welcome the University of Otago as our third university partner for the IdeasRoom section exploring issues of importance to society and the country’s future. ...
Who should decide how many more tourists fly into Queenstown and Wanaka? Journalist and former district councillor, Cath Gilmour, argues local residents should, not the airlines. ...
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to ...
Backed by businessman Eric Watson and launched in a blaze of publicity, online trader Fashbae disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now its founder is traversing the globe in a jeep. Business editor Maria Slade tries to keep up with events.It had it all. A suave multi-millionaire investor and ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Rioting broke out in Manokwari, West Papua, today as local people – mostly university students – protested against racial abuse of Papuan students in East Java, reports TheJakarta Post. The protesters blocked a number of major streets in the city this morning, cutting down ...
By Ben Bilua in Suva Multimedia skills and innovation are key to adapting to the changing media landscape, said US academic Professor Debora Wenger as newsmakers around the world continue to grapple with challenges arising from the transformation of technology and social media. Speaking to journalists at a regional ...
The new RBNZ seems to crave the limelight and be known for advocacy of new causes, and that has not impressed macroeconomics professor Robert MacCulloch. ...
The prime minister won't meet with Ihumātao protesters before Thursday - the deadline given by the group to stop them marching to her Auckland electorate office. ...
Cabinet ministers will discuss possible law changes to what mail can be received and sent by prisoners, after the accused Christchurch gunman was able to send mail to supporters. ...
The Catholic and Anglican churches are still considering quashing legal agreements that may prevent abuse survivors from giving evidence to the inquiry investigating historical abuse in care. ...
The new joint from the team behind one of Wellington’s favourite craft beer bars is dedicated to minimal-intervention, organic wine – and more exciting things are coming to the heritage building it’s housed in.Before the Cadbury factory opened in Dunedin in 1930, New Zealanders ate Cadbury chocolate made in England. ...
Alex Casey chats to Bree Tomasel about hosting Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, farting in the ZM studio and going viral on the regular. The most important thing you need to know about Bree Tomasel is not the fact that she peed her pants during Celebrity Treasure Island NZ, but the glee ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsAnalysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – The election race is on. The nominations process for local government positions has now closed, and the political campaign is officially underway. But does the public care? Will many of us even vote for any of the various mayoral or council ...
At Eden Park on Saturday night, the Wallabies were on the receiving end of a ruthless players’ revenge, writes Scotty StevensonThe rain came. It always seems to at Eden Park, just as the Wallabies warm up on the pitch, dreaming of ending a drought. It came from the west, the ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Local government Michael Fallow (Stuff): Your council – what’s its job description? Dileepa Fonseka and ...
Protesters occupying land at Ihumātao will begin a four-hour hikoi to Mt Albert on Thursday to present a petition calling on the Prime Minister to visit the land. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Walvisch, Lecturer, Monash University This morning an Extinction Rebellion protester was arrested after hanging from a rope over the William Jolly Bridge in Brisbane, blocking all lanes to peak hour traffic. And earlier this month in Brisbane, more than 70 climate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Jobson, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Monash University Many of us enjoy writing in a diary, reading autobiographies or nostalgically reflecting with others about past times. Why is remembering our past so important? Are there downsides? And what can we do ...
Roll Red Roll is a brutal, painfully illuminating documentary on the Steubenville High School rape case, a shocking crime that made headlines worldwide. Emily Writes reviews. This review discusses rape and sexual violenceAugust 11, 2012: two teenage boys rape an unconscious teenage girl as two of their peers watch and ...
By RNZ Pacific Tuvalu’s Prime Minister has condemned the Australian Prime Minister’s conduct at last week’s Pacific Islands Forum, calling Scott Morrison’s attitude “unfortunate” and “neo-colonial,” and questioning Australia’s future in the 18-member body. In an interview with RNZ on Sunday, Enele Sopoaga also threatened to pull Tuvaluan labour from ...
The second hui of the Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki takes place in Hamilton today. Newsroom, in partnership with Radio Waatea, are broadcasting it live from 1pm. ...
Prolific, award-winning Palmerston North poet Paula Harris somehow manages to be stroppy and properly vulnerable all at once. Here, she writes about her first slam competition – and why she cried all the way home. I am old enough to have given birth to most of the people here.Sure, there’s a ...
High speed rail links between cities could play a massive role in revitalising regional New Zealand, says a visiting transport infrastructure expert. Professor Andrew McNaughton spoke to Alex Braae. Imagine commuting from Hamilton to Auckland, and it only taking an hour to get there. It’s a vision of how the right ...
On the good days, riding a bike is the best. But in Auckland there aren’t nearly enough of those days, and unless decision makers take urgent action, that’s not going to change.This piece originally appeared on Bike AucklandMy first bike crash in central Auckland happened on Symonds Street. I was ...
It's not since 1989 that a mayoralty campaign in the southern city has been so unpredictable - a record 14 candidates have put their names forward. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Mills, Hon Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney On the morning of the last Monday in April, 2019, federal election officials opened the doors of more than 500 pre-poll voting centres around Australia, and waited for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Veronica Alfano, Research Fellow, Australian Catholic University Memorising poetry was once common in classrooms. But it has, for the most part, gone out of style. There are good reasons for this. Memorisation can clash with creativity and analytical thought. Rote learning can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darren Paul Fisher, Head of Directing, Department of Film, Screen and Creative Media, Bond University What do J.J. Abrams, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Shonda Rhimes, David Lynch, Aaron Sorkin, Donald Glover, Jenji Kohan, Jordan Peele, Tina Fey, and Joss Whedon have in common? They ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mayors launch bids to return in Auckland and Wellington, Hamilton’s skyline could change significantly, and support for cannabis legalisation plummets in poll.Two incumbent mayors have launched their re-election campaigns over the weekend, with a bigger fight on their hands than ...
MediaWorks has been lobbying the Government to turn TVNZ 1 into a non-commercial channel to help stem its own financial bleeding. Frustrated, and getting nowhere, it’s decided to change tack. ...
Open mike 05/10/2011 
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...16 hours ago
Last week, Australia sabotaged the Pacific Forum by opposing action on climate change. Their Deputy Prime Minister followed that up by saying that Pacific Peoples could always pick Australian fruit - just as they had done in the era of blackbirding. And now, that arrogant, tone-deaf approach has drawn a ...16 hours ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...2 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...2 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...3 days ago
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Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...4 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...5 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...6 days ago
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Where does the left/right divide fall?
The Labour Party will vote with the right wing parties to introduce the Orwellian Video Surveillance bill.
For:
Labour
National
ACT
Against:
Maori Party
Green Party
Mana Party
No wonder flaxroots voters are confused and/or indifferent when it comes to voting time.
Maybe Labour understand that there are tough times ahead with any amount of unrest…..
I would invite readers to delve daily into the markets on http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/markets/overview/overview.asp . There are some interestingly rapid movements during the last month, commodities are well down, only Brent Crude over $100, light crude down near $70. Shares are crashing. What this all indicates is a deflationary spiral as prices have peaked, a lack of liquidity in the markets. Money is looking for safe hedges and has nowhere to go.
What does it mean…tough times ahead with more disruption, more dissent. national as the next government (should they gain that poisoned challice) will end up needing all the police powers they can muster. The legitimacy of the current system is on the line, and rather than face the challenge positively they seem to want the right to repress whilst they loot our assets for their mates benefit.
You need to ask one more “why”. Why, after the US Federal Reserve has pumped $16T in new cash into the financial markets via the major banks, is there still a “lack of liquidity” in the markets?
And really, its a very simple issue. There is no shortage of money. There is an excess of debt and liabilities.
In other words, this isn’t a liquidity issue, its a solvency issue.
They can impoverish the middle class and under class all they like now, there are not enough assets in the OECD to compensate for the hundreds of trillions of potential loan and derivative bad (false) assets now hidden on bank balance sheets. At a time when the banks themselves have maximised their leverage in an attempt to maximise their profits, hence are woefully undercapitalised.
Some of the largest banks in the world are operating at leverage ratios of over 30:1. This is exactly like taking a million dollar mortgage out with a $30K deposit. Guess what, if the housing market tanks by just 5% you are suddenly left underwater.
That’s where all the banks are right now, except with trillion dollar bigger sums, and the markets set to tank by 40%-50%.
Yes, solvency is the big underlying issue. Creating credit out of thin air gives short term liquidity but it all gets dissolved or has nowhere safe to go. Creating any more credit just increases solvency problems.Bail outs are just a waste of time propping up the edifice.
Yep. A “bail out” is simply more debt, creating a short term supply of money to help pay off debts already owed to banks.
The Greek “bail outs” increase Greek debt further, and the money is paid straight to bankers.
The Greek ‘socialist’ government is working hand in hand with the bankers and the corporatists against their own people.
The Greeks defaulted in the first half of the 20th century, and they should do so again. And this time, they should get their tax systems and enforcement sorted out.
Keiser today had some speculation that the Germans would revert to the Deutchsmark, and leave the Euro altogether…. http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/episode-192-max-keiser/
And in the UK, the anti- Euro pot is boiling.
http://rt.com/news/uk-referendum-eu-membership-863/
IT does have another side effect devaluing the American dollar forcing ours up if we don’t do something our export sector will get damaged again just when it is showing some resilience laissez fair for us social credit for them =disaster for our export sector just when we need it to keep our economy afloat , Their is a difference between borrowing and printing .Blinglish will have to borrow more if he doesn’t print and that will cost more and weaken our economy further.
“Maybe Labour understand that there are tough times ahead with any amount of unrest…..”
Wow, ‘ tough times ahead’, this is a valid reason for increasing the powers of the state?
Tough times for whom, and unrest from where? More importantly, how will increasing the Orwellian surveillance powers of a Government address the financial minefields, the increasing costs and the ballooning employment shortages we know make up the bulk of the tough times ahead.
Yeah let’s continue to ignore the problems that lead to the unjust laws and just give the State more and more of our freedoms. If we are to believe all the info distributed from our great leader the ‘serious crimes, the ones that desperately required National to remove even more of the freedoms fought for by our soldiers in bloody wars past, relate primarily to the cultivation and trafficking of marijuana.
A subject which only highlights exactly how uninterested they are in solving the problem.
In the eyes of Right Wing Authoritarians it is. Labour has been centre-right for a while now and it now seems to be shifting into the authoritarian mode along with National, Act and United Future.
It won’t but it will allow the government to oppress the populace to protect the
thievescapitalists.IMO, Anybody who’s voted Labour before because they were the party of the working class should now either be voting Mana, Alliance or Greens. None of the other parties are there for the majority of the populace.
amen, jenny.
i had just put a comment on another posting here but will repeat it here.
i seem to be missing something here, i thought the tories where all for less (nanny) state in our lives and yet we get this legislation.
equally i see a major left wing party struggling to get traction in polls, rushing to the aid of the tories to help them push thru this disgusting piece of lawmaking.
it has helped to decide where this one will vote come november and it aint gonna be for the nat lite crew. sorry guys.
peace.
The Tories are for anything which will secure their status and power when citizen uprisings occur. Just watch the UK.
And it is a shame that after 9/11, UK Labour led the charge into increased surveillance and CCTV powers, more than what was ever necessary to combat the IRA.
That’s what the Tories say that they’re for but any reading of history will show the exact opposite. The Tories are the dictators that they warn people about.
Should MPs be party puppets or individual representatives?
John Key is famous for being an open and accessible PM, amicable and chatty, but National have become famous for saying as little as possible about stuff that matters.
Phil Goff looks more like he’s on slogan autopilot, but Labour MPs like Trevor Mallard, Clare Curran and Darien Fenton have generated publicity for speaking their own minds – for better or worse.
The Maori Party speaks as “our people” while Hone Harawira says what he likes.
Peter Dunne has made it clear UnitedFuture is “not a one man band”.
Should there be strict party message control?
Should parliament be a house of parties or a house of representaives – or a balance of both?
Just about fell over laughing at the irony
Danyl does National to an N.
http://dimpost.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/i-hope-this-doesnt-get-me-in-trouble-with-the-electoral-commission/
Oh that is good.
Serious question: Dunne seems to be saying feel free to speak your mind on local issues. What about wider issues?
Depends on what it is about. There are obviously party positions and ministerial responsibilities, but I have not been given any limitiation on what I can say from a personal point of view and how wider issues might effect my own region.
A one man band says he is not a one man band? Hopefully a zero man band by Nov 27.
People still vote United?
Dunne has been in so many parties it a job to remember which is which.Is he still in United ? Let’s hope this is the last we will see of him.
No Pete George forges 20,00o signatures.2 man band the only supporter outside ohariu
Isn’t this current public discussion around the future of the RWC just another example of the wider cultural cringe that we as a nation suffer from. (“Please world, love us, please! Please endorse that our decision to live here was the right one!”)
We talk about whinging Poms.
Where else in the world would you get such a debate dominating the media.
And at an event as it enters its final and high profile stage.
Strange thing is at school Kiwi kids are taught that the game is bigger than the man …
(People, the sun will continue to rise in the East whether the ABs are there or not)
Oh yes, my goodness yes, you do! Anyone old enough to remember that git Bickerstaff and his “punch a Pom a day” campaign? All in fun, he said… sadly my ex-husband took that as an instruction, and guess who the “Pom” was that he had ready to hand? 🙁
I remember the seventies well.
As a ‘pommy youth’ I well remember the shadow the ‘bash a pom a day’ sentiment cast over my family. I guess to many New Zealanders it was just harmless fun at the expense of the plummy voiced English (which we weren’t/aren’t) or part of Muldoon’s anti-union barrage (Dad was a shop steward).
To my family it was simply an experience of hostility and non-belonging. I remember Mum crying and just wanting to go ‘home’.
Having said that, I had very good friends (some of my best friends – still – are New Zealanders :)).
And don’t get me on to my ‘identity’ – I’ve given up on that as a bad joke.
Yeah but the likes of Deaker has a soft spot for the Irish, Welsh, or Scots. But they despise the English.
It seems that people can wave the flags of any nationality here in Godzone and say they are proud of their “homeland”, but look out if you are English or from areas of Asia.
That is so true! My students are for the most part Asian, which is something I’ve learned not to talk about, if I don’t want to hear stereotypes and ignorant abuse. “They’re taking our jobs”, etc..
I remember a student at Unitec in tears over the abuse she got from a bus driver when she asked a question about his route. My son and his friend Jinkoo were catching a bus near their school Western Springs College and they got on together. Jinkoo (Korean, and quite dark-skinned) started to ask something and the driver responded with “I’m sick of you bloody Chinese coming here, you don’t even speak English, and your bloody stupid questions…”. WSC doesn’t have uniforms, goodness knows how old this driver thought they were, but they were just kids! Jinkoo grew up in Germany until he was 8, then in Titirangi. His English is perfect, and his response was scathing!
I was glad at the time that my Dad hadn’t lived to see it! When we girls started school, we had our Dad’s Scouse accent, but we were gobsmacked to be mobbed by 6 year olds screaming “Get back to Pongolia, garn!” My Dutch friend Ellen actually did get punched for speaking Dutch in the street, she was 5 years old, her sister 4.. (Her father then declared that they would all speak English in the home from then on.) New Zealanders seem deeply suspicious of and hostile to “foreigners”..
Oh frack.
It’s been the subject of much mirth that our glorious leader John “100% pure compared to other countries” Keys doesn’t seem to know what a percentage is.
But this latest bit of innumeracy has me stunned. From question time yesterday:
Everyone catch that?
Keys is now crowing that the likelyhood of something that has already happened would be even higher if National weren’t in govt.
Keys dropped the ball. But it’s a good thing Keys is in charge, ‘cos if it were someone else they might’ve dropped the ball.
FFS people used to let this idiot play with their money? Oh that’s right, we still do.
There used to be lots of money slopping around for the idiot to play with….but now?????
“100% pure compared to other countries….” the fekker should have been standing in the stream with me opening day watching effluent dumping, I would have submerged his TV friendly little nostrils deep into it for as long as it took for him to wise up..
Yep Bored, just after opening day on a river in the back of beyond seemingly clear and 100% pure as they come. After not too long me net and screens all clogged with dairy farm shit. And there aint even hardly none dairy farms in this catchment !!
Fertiliser use up 700% in last decade.
Imagine if everyone’s business could just dump their refuse in the street.
Speaking of, how’s the season down there apart from the cowshit and chemicals?
Oh you know felix, there not much about …… just cupfuls or enough for a feed …..
Seasons opening was beaut…who needs rugby?
Got broken off and then thrown off on the Tuki, rainbows, one large, one little….took a fish out of the top of the Manawatu. Rainbow, 1.5Kgs. Some council idiots plough the Hawkes Bay rivers to”help” river flood flows..buggers the pools big time.
Season looking good if you are prepared to walk into difficult spots around Tararuas / Ruahines. Those streams dont turn to black bottomed slime drains (courtesy of fertilizer / dairy) like the lower country streams. The Manawatu, Mangatainoka, Makakahi, and to the Ruamahanga have been pretty much stuffed with algae by mid season for the last few years. Its a disgrace, and Keys willful ignorance of this makes me despise him more.
I think vto is talking about whitebait. Only a week to go before heading off to the Coast to give it a crack myself……
Businesses do dump their refuse in the street. The difference is that it can actually be picked up and is organised to be so. Farm refuse can’t be and no in government is bothered about either cleaning it up or preventing it from being dumped in the first place.
Yes, well it is the fundamental issue. How many businesses are still allowed to dump their refuse in the public estate like streets or creeks? None.
There seems to be some kind of implicit understanding that the farming sector can so dump. Similarly with the mining sector, though less so.
The farming one stems of course from NZ’s historical agricultural development when such things were relatively somewhat understandable. But that has morphed and changed to such an extent that if pre-european NZ was subjected to a resource consent application for the agricultural practices as practised today it would not progress very far methinks …
Farms should stop dumping anything outside the farm gate. Big ask for the current generation and would take time but that is what needs to happen. And people get grumpy WHEN ANOTHER FUKCING SHAKE RUMBLES THROUGH MID-SENTENCE … AAARRRRGH! … now where was my brain cells … ah yes, people get grumpy when that sector fails to acknowledge that very particular and major point.
time for a drink now
What about TripleD (dipton double dipper) saying on morning report about the deposit guarantee scheme, “nobody knew how to do it”.
Well why the hell didnt they find out?
Oh I see, they needed the opportunity to dispense funds to their mates under a cloak of legality.
Nice work if you can get it.
Umm, randal. Labour set it up. You know that, right?
You should listen to the interview. English barely mentioned that Labour were the ones who set it up – I figured he’d be crowing from the rooftops that that was the case.
Actually National/Key said they backed the bank deposit guarantee scheme when Labour first announced it:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10537163
But Labour did NOT sign SCF on for a second time, that was Bill English, within days of being in office.
Makes no difference, marsman. If they hadn’t extended it, SCF would have gone into liquidation in the first period specifically to get the advantage of the scheme.
you cannot have it both ways, If they were unstable, the Government should not have extended the Guarantee, If they were fine then they simply manipulated the NZ Govt to make a buck
So either Blingless was an idiot signing them an extension or the SCF are guilty of serious misconduct
If the government had not extended the guarantee, SCF would have triggered the payout earlier while under the protection of the original term extended to them by Labour.
so you are saying English knowingly extended the guarantee to a failing company.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Labour didn’t sign SCF into the scheme – National did and they did so while aware that SCF was not up to the terms of the scheme.
To be fair this was the first scheme. But there are some real questions to be asked about allowing SCF retain Govt Guarantee later.
Fascinating to hear Bill English on Morning Report clouding the issue so thoroughly that the answer was not his problem and he was not responsible. The good thing was that he actually fronted up.
I do not care who it was that originally signed SCF on. It could have been Tinkerbell trembling in fear when she signed, asCaptain Hook held a shimmering longblade to her tiny throat. It is irrelevant. If SCF had failed during the term of that agreement then the relevant questions would be asked. The FACTS plainly show that the EXTENDED coverage was signed on by National, THREE TIMES My earlier statement stands
” either Blingless was an idiot signing them an extension
or the SCF are guilty of serious misconduct ”
I have seen figures reported at various places that show as much as a billion dollars was added to the risk value in the period between National coming to power and the actual collapse
If they hadn’t given the extension, SCF would have gone into liquidation while it was still covered. Same result.
Gormless, ( at 3:08) still has trouble with the FACTS that hundreds of millions of dollars of liability were added to the guarantee AFTER National extended the scheme for SCF. What about that data is so hard to understand?
Occupy Wall Street: NYPD’s arrests boosting mob’s numbers?
Also, Dailylife timeline of Occupy Wall Street coverage.
An interview you wont see.
Transcript:
Fox: Jesse, so Ray, your partner here, your ..
Ray: comrade.
Fox: Your colleague, she’d seen the protests in Greece and Europe and elsewhere. Did you guys take your cue from that? Are you hoping to cite certainly what was a lot of the tension, if not police activity. I know over the weekend there were over 100 arrests and you guys got things fired up. Are you taking your cues from the international movement and how do you want to see this? If you could have it in a perfect way, how would it be?
Jesse: Well I don’t know, its really difficult to answer questions leading to those conclusions. I’d say that we didn’t take our cue leading off of anybody really. It became a more spontaneous movement. As far as seeing this end, I wouldn’t like to see this end. I would like to see the conversation continue. This is what we should have been talking about in 2008 when the economy collapsed. We basically patched a hole on the tire and said let the car keep rolling. Unfortunately it’s fun to talk to the propaganda machine and the media especially conservative media networks such as yourself, because we find that we cant get conversations for the department of Justice’s ongoing investigation of News Corporation, for which you are an employee. But we can certainly ask questions like you know, why are the poor engaging in class warfare? After 30 years of having our living standards decrease while the wealthiest 1% have had it better than ever, I think it’s time for some maybe, I don’t know, participation in our democracy that isn’t funded by news cameras and gentlemen such as yourself.
Fox: But, uh, yeah well, let me give you this challenge Jesse.
Jesse: Sure.
Fox: We’re here giving you an opportunity on the record […] to put any
message you want out there, to give you fair coverage and I’m not
going to in any way
Jesse: That’s awesome!
Fox:…give you advice about it. So, there is an exception in the case, because you wouldn’t be able to get your message out there without us.
Jesse: No, surely, I mean, take for instance when Glenn Beck was doing his protest and he called the President, uh, a person who hates white people and white culture. That was a low moment in Americans’ history and you guys kinda had a big part in it. So, I’m glad to see you coming around and kind of paying attention to what the other 99 percent of Americans are paying attention to, as opposed to the far-right fringe, who who would just love to destroy the middle class entirely.
Fox: Alright, fair enough. You have a voice, an important reason to criticize myself, my company and anyone else. But, let me ask you that, in fairness, does this administration, President Obama, have any criticism as to the the financial situation the country’s in…?
Jesse: I think, myself, uh, as well as many other people, would like to see a little but more economic justice or social justice—Jesus stuff—as far as feeding the poor, healthcare for the sick. You know, I find it really entertaining that people like to hold the Bill of Rights up while they’re screaming at gay soldiers, but they just can’t wrap their heads around the idea that a for-profit healthcare system doesn’t work. So, let’s just look at it like this, if we want the President to do more, let’s talk to him on a level that actually reaches people, instead of asking for his birth certificate and wasting time with total nonsense like Solyndra.
I’ve been looking at the comments on the stuff political blogs for a while now. Every time John Pagani writes a blog he gets dozens of incredibly vitriolic, and often very uninformed, people commenting. A lot of them repeat the lies that Labour left us in a huge deficit hole and wasted all the money etc. They’re all generally very very anti-Labour and very pro-National.
When DPF writes a blog the comments are sort of 60/40 supportive or anti, with the anti ones saying stuff about him deliberately manipulating the media spin for his paymasters.
Yet when a new post goes up in the What (S)he Said blog, which is by Andrea Vance and John Hartevelt who are in the parliamentary press gallery, the comments are usually a lot more anti-national.
It makes me think there’s a whole bunch of righties just waiting for DPF and Pagani’s blogs so they can go in an astroturf hither and yon. But they ignore What (S)he Said and as a result we get more honest commenting going on.
I thought Pagani’s role was to act as a punchbag for Paul Holmes, Richard Griffin, Matthew Hooton and whoever else on the right wants a workout on an agreeable patsy.
Every time John Pagani writes a blog he gets dozens of incredibly vitriolic, and often very uninformed, people commenting.
Like Lprent.
No Stalebiscuit, like you.
I wasn’t ill-informed, it is unfortunately, a subject that I know rather too well (as John already knew). John Pagani however was quite ill-informed on the subject he was writing on – which is why he got my comment pointing out one aspect of why he was ill-informed. Apparently he didn’t like by characterization of his motivation for writing such cobblers.
In any event, the comment didn’t survive there. So I repeated and expanded it here.
Japan is to resume whaling in the Southern Ocean next month with military security to protect its boats from the radical environment group Sea Shepherd which has promised to launch “Operation Divine Wind” or kamikaze against them.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/5734445/Japan-to-whale-again-with-extra-security
But I thought John Key had fixed it, with an amazing compromise solution that no one else was capable of thinking of, ’cause he’s so smart?
Sigh! Lanthanide, you have to stop trying to undermine the utter reality of John Key’s promises and claims about what he’s doing with … reality.
Play fair.
The World
is going madhas gone mad, edition #I’mlosingcount.C. Peter Wagner, a prominent figure in the Apostolic world with connections to a potential U.S presidential candidate , interviewed by NPR:
On the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan being connected to the emperor of Japan having sex with the sun goddess
“That happened many, many years ago, and that created a spiritual atmosphere over Japan which was an atmosphere ruled by the powers of darkness. The sun goddess is not a very nice lady. The sun goddess is a power of darkness, which is headed up by the kingdom of Satan. And so the sun goddess wants natural disasters to come to Japan. Sometimes the hand of God, which is more powerful, will prevent them. And when he decides to prevent them and when he doesn’t is far beyond anything that we can predict.”
they elected Bush and he said , speaking as President, in front of real people and all that,
“God wanted me to be President”
the world has been nuts a very long time
Oh my giddy aunt! How completely nuts… He needs to learn, shit happens..
Why the surprise? This creationism crap is worming its way into schools. It comes from the cell groups that set themselves up in the libraries of our teacher colleges. The graduates go out into the world and this drivel slowly permeates the classrooms – particularly, but not exclusively, in the lower decile schools where the communities are receptive and indeed request it – the communities’ boards recruit them. (Further confirming the warnings that were given when Picot set in train the self managing schools model).
Auditor General Slams Treasury
A few days ago the Auditor General released her report on the way the Treasury implemented and managed the Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme…
It’s a toss up between English and Heatley as being the worst cabinet ministers. Both have caused immense financial hardship to those in the lowest income bracket.
I am concerned about how much Heatley has wasted on his screwed up housing policies. The man simply does NOT get it that his newly developed social housing unit will not deliver affordable rental properties to those who do not qualify for a HNZ property.
Housing not likely to buy flats
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10756481
NZ has such an aging population who require medical treatment. Unless there is a robust, affordable secure housing policy, the elderly in particular are going to require more health resources. This can be said for children as well and people with permanent health conditions which impede working more than several hours a week.
Heatley has 40 million for his social housing unit EXPERIMENT, which has redirected money away from housing people in need, while far too many HNZ homes are unoccupied.
I vote Tolley!
How about a toss up between Brownlee and Tolley because they are 3 and 4 on my list?
Dosent help that the HCC is full of Tea-Party wannabes, and Julie Hardaker is trying her best to be like Michelle Bachman without the god-bothering.
Heatley is probably in the pocket of the
slumlords unionProperty Investors’ Federation.Fortunately, the Tea Parters on my council are a) most of the time all bluff and bluster and b) too caught up into having admission fees established for the local art gallery to be any sort of threat to council services.
An athlete with a heart and a brain…
See, drugs are good.
Single treatment – that’s got to be better than ongoing treatments of prozac.
Not as profitable.
Profit is a dead weight loss so I’m not overly concerned about that especially considering that it is the profit drive (pure greed) that is destroying the environment.
Err, shrooms increase your “openness to new ideas or experiences [and] awareness of feelings in the self and others”.
Did we seriously need to spend lab time to tell us that?
No, we needed the lab time to tell us that those effects were good for us rather than the End of Civilisation which seems to be the reason why such drugs are banned.
Overwhelming opposition to battery hen cages
So, is the government listening to the public on this or are they still defending the use of battery hens?
Voters feel poorly informed on MMP alternatives
Well, at least people are asking for the information. Now hopefully that will be made available to them. Although I’m pretty sure that NAct will prefer to keep people uninformed.
Horizon Poll
Actually, the most important point of that poll is that Labour would only be able to form a coalition with the support of Mana. Phil Goff should, about now, be feeling really stupid for saying that he won’t work with Hone.
This one’s the most disturbing though. Apparently, most people believe that employers should have a say in your recreation.
Stockholm syndrome in action.
Whao! What just happened in the public gallery in Parliament? It happened as Goff was beginning his speech in the general debate, and apparently our friendly PM blamed the incident on Labour.
Dunno but the Chairman referred to the “Member has been removed.” What?
I think the speaker got it wrong. But the PM obviously said something during/just after the kerfuffle in the gallery that got right up the nose of the opposition.
Stuff has breaking news that a man tried to jump into the debating chamber.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5738033/Man-tries-to-jump-at-parliament
Yeah, for change of trousers!
He looked pale, slouched in his seat, and didn’t move. For a moment I thought he was dead……and then he moved *sigh*
Not classy, WJ. Sure, it’s a “joke”, but still … not a good one.
A very disturbing incident in Parliament, could have been even worse. Thankfully it wasn’t.
What? Too soon?
Update:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5738033/Man-tries-to-jump-at-parliament
A full report on the Herald with Key apparently justifying “Down to you,” at Goff and “a throat slashing gesture,” by Key, motivated by Labour’s complaint of excessive use of the Dip Squad. Eh???
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10756747
John Key’s office cleaner wants more than $43 to spend on groceries each week for her 4 children and 4 grandchildren:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5737904/John-Keys-cleaner-campaigns-for-better-wages
meanwhile across the road, Treasury spends up large
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5737438/Treasury-spent-13-8m-on-consultants-Greens
Dene MacKenzie Biased
I happened to read an article today entitled Key Nats’ ace; Goff sidelined, published on the Otago Daily Times website today. The fictional piece is so obviously a beat up that I’m surprised it reached publication…
If you said anything else as a reporter for the ODT you would be fired immediately his boss is the national and ACT leader in Otago.
Although DM is an enthusiastic propogandist, rather than reluctant collaborator.
From todays Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10756735
(funny that is already happening in Dunedin and Kawerau, and the rumour mill suggests those are ‘pilots’ for future amalgamations)
I’d love to see Tolley do that! And finally
Well said Kevin Jephson and well spotted Ian.
Last week buried in a column somewhere I saw a quote from Anne Tolley to the effect that National Standards were just a beginning and that she had many more things to improve NZ education. Ominous.
And watch that Mandate that National will seize in order to justify massive changes.
So what about the wairarapa times age running a meet john key forum and putting a two inch bannner for key on the bottom of every page for a week?
When the goebbles golum come back to life?
The full text of ACTA has been released. The first sentence in it:
Is completely contrary to reality. Preventing people from applying their imagination and coming up with ideas, which is what IP enforcement does, actively prevents development of the economy.
Go watch Everything is a Remix to get some idea.
As it’s a document designed to protect capitalism by preventing competition I’m sure it goes downhill from there.