I have absolutely no doubt that if the Natz were in power, this is exactly what we would be now facing.
I’m not religious, but thank God for our Labour government.
With the new New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, in charge, the chief health officer, Kerry Chant, was sidelined as the new policy to “let it rip” was rolled out.
In one previously unimaginable act, the premier, in a double act with Scott Morrison, announced a lifting of all restrictions including mandatory mask wearing and QR code check-ins.
As case numbers exploded, a week after they were removed, QR codes and indoor mask wearing were reinstated – but the horse had bolted.
Tony, I would wait until the fat lady sings before making assumptions like that. However, the Aussies made a dumb decision deporting Novak Djokovic. But, the Aussies know how to stand up to China…how to deal with foreign criminals and by the looks of it, not be swayed by famous people at the border. Our Labour government is incapable of any of that. Covid may not be the reason Labour lose the next election ( should they lose?).
ps- I forgot to mention regional defence. Labour believes we are safe down here in Never Never Land, even though we have a dictator just up the road so to speak.
Blade "Our Labour government" has proved itself more than capable, also, New Zealand has one of the best Covid19 responses in the world, under "Our Labour government". Facts back up Tony's post, not assumptions.
All I said, Louis, was Tony may be premature lauding the Labour governments Covid effort comparative to other countries. Tony MAY be basing his argument on our low Covid death rate. That may be a false measure when Kiwis start looking to get out of Stalag Aotearoa. If talkback is any measure, there seems to be many Poms ready to move back to Blighty. The main reason given is there is nothing certain in Aotearoa – things change constantly, or advice is contradictory. Then we have staff shortages in our main government sectors. Our supermarkets ( mine anyway) are starting to look decidedly Venezuelan. I have lost track at the number of overseas orders I have had cancelled because USPS and other postal services have stopped deliveries to New Zealand. The list is endless. I say the Labour government has been very lucky with their Covid response and our economy. In the end, in the cold light of day, we may have been better off with 2000 dead but athriving economy; a less stressed population and overseas people seeing potential in NZ, instead of giving us a miss.
I'm sorry Blade, but most of what you wrote is just bollocks!
Long term, 'Stalag Aotearoa' may become the norm. Have you, by any chance, heard of climate change? The old tourist industry is dead and is never coming back.
Our supermarket shelves may look Venezuelan, but that too may become the norm. If we are to have any chance of staving off climate catastrophe, globalisation has to be scaled back.
Finally, I've never yet heard someone argue in favour of 2000 dead – because that number of bodies, inevitably, would lead to a paralysis of business, as has happened in many countries.
In NZ, 2000 deaths would equate to 567,000 infections – say half of those are workers – than that is 10% of the workforce. They wouldn't all be sick at once but it would sure put small companies and short-staffed companies behind the 8-ball.
Well empty supermarket shelves are happening right now in Australia, not from panic buying, there's nothing to buy, half the drivers are sick or isolating with / from covid. And early days yet.
Yeah, once the essential goods supply chain starts falling over things can turn to custard very quickly and very comprehensively. I really hope Australia can keep it all together but they aren't in a good place and it's not getting better yet.
Thankfully we haven't gone there yet and have the luxury of being able to observe and plan.
"We need truck drivers to keep on trucking," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
"And that system is under strain because of the high case numbers.
"But that is the nature of Omicron, you have just got to keep pushing through."
So it's looking like they've removed the testing requirement for drivers so they keep working while they are infected. Looks like too many were testing positive, not because the testing regime was strained.
Traffic volumes here in Brisbane right down, lot's of people just staying at home regardless of what their status is. It's going to be an interesting few weeks, but Omicron peaks fast.
Finally, I've never yet heard someone argue in favour of 2000 dead – because that number of bodies, inevitably, would lead to a paralysis of business, as has happened in many countries.
But not just because of the deaths, or even the infections.
I know folks overseas who have been mostly living in self-imposed lockdown for years. So that's their disposable income not going on theatres or bars. Then there are the others who work from home, but maybe not as productively.
The let it rip crowd, especially those owning hospo businesses, seem to think that it means a return to the before-time. It just means our GDP turns even more to shit.
Re Supermarkets – Venezuelan would be a compliment. I have been to 4 (!) supermarkets today because any of these either lacked salad, greens in season – these are NOT imported products. Another had no, please read again, no meat on the shelf- at all. Also not an imported product. I have asked one of the staff and they said that the delivery truck is late. They would need 4 plus hanger to get the shop filled. But I can tell you what really is happening. Firstly, online shoppers get priority and any stock that is there will be gone by the time you get to the shop as picking is done outside shop hours. And secondly, the buying model is still on the now well outdated model of just in time. To be honest and I have been through the east of Europe in its darker days when war was a constant treat and even acted on, the supermarkets here look like these except when you go to the posh ones in town. But it won't be long when the veneer falters there too.
As for this government, it is not really doing anything. Look at Law and order. How many people are getting killed every week and always children amongst them. Anybody with half a brain will ask why and conclude that NZ has a serious gang problem. But what are the answers of Kāinga Ora to those who are living next door to hell? Oh well you have to move. Just wait until the anger reaches crisis point.
Unemployment, defined by work of 1 hr per week – the stats are a farce. Billions are squandered and many who have an education and are young enough will leave once the pandemic looses its grip and borders open.
I am by upbringing and conviction left leaning but this government is anything but. Appeasement policies to keep the certain groups quiet and the rest just has to belief and pray.
And yes to a certain degree some policies do look like the ostblock policies of decades past. Many will say that it is OK but this is only because they have never experienced what that means.
Neither, Wellington – the capital city of NZ no less. And absolutely true. Shame on you to think that I lie to put a story out.
I have lived here for almost 4 decades and never have seen something like it.
Feel free and visit supermarkets around Wellington and make your own assessment. Compare also the ones around wealthy city dwellers and the less fortunate.
putting aside for the moment that if we did live in Stalag Aotearoa the Poms wouldn't be allowed to leave (and it's a long way to tunnel even for the ingenious Brits).
How is the USPS issue the NZ government's fault?
How much of the supermarket issue is due to global supply chain issues?
"In the end, in the cold light of day, we may have been better off with 2000 dead but athriving economy"
Wow. In order to be able to get quick deliveries from overseas and international tourism, you think it's ok to trade that for 2000 dead NZers?
''How is the USPS issue the NZ government's fault?''
It's not. But transport problems are about to hit Aotearoa big time, and indirectly that is going to put pressure on the government as our economy starts to stagnate. You can't sell non existent products. Or create products without raw materials.
''How much of the supermarket issue is due to global supply chain issues?''
I would say the majority for many products. See above.
''Wow. In order to be able to get quick deliveries from overseas and international tourism, you think it's ok to trade that for 2000 dead NZers?''
The dead don't need food, money, medicine or hope. The living do! A decision I hope we never have to make.
I fear for people like you who may not be ready for WHAT may lie ahead, or be able to accept your life is about to get way worse. In fact I don't know if I am mentally prepared. It's been awhile since I had to do 'hard times.'
I fear for people like you who may not be ready for WHAT may lie ahead, or be able to accept your life is about to get way worse. In fact I don't know if I am mentally prepared. It's been awhile since I had to do 'hard times.'
People like me? I write posts about the Powerdown and resiliency.
You always had trouble controlling that vicious Lefty temper. The good thing about blogs is they allow people to empty their hate filled souls. Let it out, son. I don't hold that against you.
Weka, I'm not baiting over Maori. I know what's going on behind the scenes. I doubt you do. If you do, please advise what you know and we can debate the issue.
I have seen racism in Maori institutes. I have have watched Pakeha be denigrated for being white. And nobody from our gutless media down does anything…except agree Maori are always right. And then provide more taxpayer money.
Irrespective of your personal views as just expressed, when you throw out racist tropes casually, it’s going to get moderation attention eventually. The idea that Māori control water,power,food and infrastructure in NZ is both factually wrong and had nothing to do with the conversation.
Luck has nothing to do with it Blade and there is nothing certain in the entire world that's struggling with a global pandemic. Would that talkback you are referring to have a decidedly right wing slant about it? imo I'm not sure that would be a true measure of anything, besides which, people are free to leave, if that is what they want.
In late 2016 she spent a fortnight in waders collecting water and sediment samples from 18 streams from Slippery Creek in Papakura to a stream in Shakespear Regional Park in the north.
That was the easy part. She then spent a further four months sifting plastic particles from organic matter for further analysis under a microscope and then a spectrometer to pin down their composition. The result was a paper on Microplastic pollution in streams spanning an urbanisation gradient, published in the journal Environmental Pollution.
The good news. “We didn’t find very many microbeads,” she says. The purposefully designed microbeads in facial scrubs and cleansers were banned here in June 2018, following a consultation that saw more than 16,000 submissions in support of the ban and none opposed. While the ban makes sense, microbeads are not the major source of micro-plastic pollution in Auckland’s waterways.
Instead her hunt revealed mostly fragments of plastic, almost 80 percent, followed by fibres and films. The mesh of her collection net was fine enough to capture any particles in water bigger than 15 microns (1 micron is one millionth of a metre). In the lab the micro-plastics ranged from 63 microns to 5000 microns. In all Nadia isolated 3309 particles via microscope and then confirmed their identity through spectroscopic analysis. The films were mostly acrylate polymers used in paints and coating materials, the fragments, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), common plastics found in everything from construction materials to cars.
The bad news is that the concentration of micro-plastics in Auckland streams matches that found in much more densely populated northern hemisphere cities. On average Auckland’s waterways have between 17 and 303 particles of micro-plastic per cubic metre of water and between 9-90 items in each kilogram of sediment.
A lovely mini documentary from the fabulous Ash Sarkar on SUVs, with the meta that if you stop fighting culture wars long enough you can actually discover that even a businessman in a pinstrip suit in Kensiongton with no formed political views can agree that SUVs are a problem.
And man, does the “hedonistic treadmill” comment resonate – I spent a half day in Mangawhai the other day and my God, the hedonistic treadmill of the material culture of Pakeha NZ was so on display, and it is just so damn ugly.
In NZ the diesels generate 44% of NZTAs income, but pedestrians and cyclists and electric cars deliver $0.
Yet government directive is for more and more spent on public transport and active modes.
Wouldn't be surprised if Minister Wood changed every single vehicle to have to pay RUC, by 2024. One consistent user-pays policy. Tradies and farmers in particular would appreciate the level playing field.
And more urbanites get off their combustion-propelled asses.
I wouldn't oppose RUC, provided they that process is as painless as using the AT parking app. However if you're going to do a tax change on transport, then it should be done correctly – and target where the costs go. That is mostly for road maintenance at various levels, handling accidents, and increasingly to ETS. There is also the relatively minor cost of installing new roading and transport routes.
Wouldn't be a problem for this urbanite – I will only do a 1-2 thousand km per year in a 1500cc hybrid.
Going to RUC, dropping fuel excise taxes on petrol to the same kinds of rates as for diesel and finally going fully digital on registration would free up more of my time and be a whole lot cheaper for me.
Not sure how they would do RUC on bikes. But I do less than 1000km on the e-bike each year as well.
However the RUC should be based entirely around max load axle weights and number of wheels to accurately reflect road maintenance costs and overspec roads to handle max high axle weight vehicles.
That also means that other motorists should not subsidise trucks, SUVs, and overweight tradie vehicles.
Personally I don't think that the tradies and farmers would like that much as it would likely increase their RUC rates for the current vehicles. The trucking industry will scream. However the costs for that can go straight on to the cost of goods and services provided – thereby leaning towards a a more efficient economy.
But at least it would provide a more accurate economic framework for transport change in the future and remove paradoxical hidden transport subsidies.
There may not be a great deal of wear and tear on the roads from bicycles but there are very large costs in actually providing the road surface for the cyclists to ride on. A new cycleway from Ngauranga to Petone in Wellington is estimated at $190 million for 4.5 kilometres. Should the cyclists pay for the building and maintenance of the route? If not, why not?
provide a more accurate economic framework for transport change in the future and remove paradoxical hidden transport subsidies
Making govt genuinely greener, but is Labour capable of that? Would be excellent. USA has retained such subsidies for a century. Oil, coal. I marvelled how they survived unscathed through the era when righteous rightist abhorrence of such achieved hegemony (Reagan's team) and deduced that pragmatic pork barrel politics will always defeat purist ideology.
Is your car always parked on private property and not on the roadway? Would it make any difference to you if all parking on public property had to be paid for?
It wouldn’t worry me at all – in fact personally I’d prefer to have all public parking metered – becausue that is effectively what I have right now.
My car is usually parked in our apartment's garage (ie private property).
Most of the places I go I am usually parked on private property (ie customer parking) or on metered parking which in Auckland I handle with the AT Parking App.
BTW: We have metered parking outside our apartment building these days. It has massively improved the availability of parking. The overall cost of parking for my usage patterns is minimal.
Right now, I have the car on the road because we have been short of a FOB required to drive it and we have stacked (ie one car behind another) in the garage. That is the current task on my post-lockdown list of tasks
So AT metered parking at home or work. Not killing my budget.
I expect that all vehicles will be required to have a GPS tracker installed with automatic billing in the not too distant future….Victoria have had a similar set up for their toll roads for sometime now.
Does that allow them to separate on and off highway usage. Quite significant for a farmer or contractor where a large proportion of usage is off highway.
Yes, i imagine there will be resistance from some and there will be enforcement issues but I cant see an alternative especially if there is a drive to reduce petrol/diesel use.
I expect the penalties for non compliance will overcome a lot of that resistance , though of course not all.
A lot of the resistance would evaporate if the system accurately separated on and off highway usage. Quite significant for farmers and like. Since some form of congestion or graduated charge would be part of the package this shouldn't be too hard, provided it works as it says on the box.
The resistors will just pay maximum charge everywhere.
Provided it works as described….and I envisage there will be instances when it dosnt, but assume they have those issues in Victoria as well, nethertheless it is the system they have,
Ubiquitous surveillance being one of the better known end-points of the civilisations. Vernor Vinge
A comment like yours above would have been torn to shreds here 10 years ago. I remember suggesting such things sarcastically and getting dumped on by everyone – the exact reaction I'd hoped for at the time. But now real life overtakes irony.
It's all flipped, the authoritarian left on display here feels secure enough in it's political dominance that 'freedums' are sneered at knowingly, and the resisters are dismissed as paranoid, dodgy or 'anti-vax'.
It is striking, RedLogix, to find ourselves in the situation you describe, but description and interpretation are everything and very fluid substances. Seemingly sinister situations may or may not be what they seem. "Ubiquitous surveillance" sounds sinister, but ain't necessarily so: much discussion should be had on that very point but keeping it focussed and arriving at an unassailable point of view will be a challenge in these interesting times.
We're not too far off the point where tracking, recording and storing every moment 24/7 of everyone's life, everything we all say and do, can be done. It would have the remarkable effect of greatly reducing crime, especially those always difficult ones of a sexual nature where there is rarely independent evidence. Every act of sex would have a legal record of every moment that can be analysed by an AI to ensure legal consent was present at every moment for instance. Then we could change the rules retrospectively and get the 100% conviction rates desired. Well obviously we'd confine this to right wingers, white supremacists and the anti-vaxxers who annoy us – but think of all the crimes, frauds and conspiracies that currently go undetected that would be exposed by this. Finally the world might be a safe place.
Yes you can accuse me of an absurd argument here – but my point is that while 20 years ago this was science fiction, today's it's feasible. And there is a non-zero fraction of people who would embrace it.
What direction do you think surveillance technologies are heading in – toward more intrusiveness or less? And where do we draw the line?
Lol…I find it somewhat ironic that such a champion of 'mans technological advances' is now railing against such.
Which political party do you think will campaign against road use taxation via some form of monitoring?…the Greens perhaps?…. and should a party do so what alternative will they offer?….and ultimately what support will they receive?
Its easier all round to throw baseless emotive slurs into the mix
You were the one advocating for all vehicle usage to be GPS tracked by government – it's over to you to justify it.
My alternative has always been consistent – developing and introducing the technologies that actually decarbonise are what's important and primary. Social engineering and ubiquitous control of people are secondary – and mostly not needed.
Notably whenever I try and talk about the former I get a queue of people here telling me how it cannot be done, yet the same people seem remarkably keen on the latter.
So you have no viable alternative nor can you justify the slur.
"Fuel taxes and road user charges could be abolished and drivers tracked by GPS if one of the options from a review of road taxes is adopted by the Government."
"The Government currently collects about $4 billion a year from fuel taxes and road user charges. The revenue is currently used to build and maintain roads, and other transport projects."
Yes, i imagine there will be resistance from some and there will be enforcement issues but I cant see an alternative especially if there is a drive to reduce petrol/diesel use.
I expect the penalties for non compliance will overcome a lot of that resistance , though of course not all.
Maybe we could implement a triple rate RUC on back-pedalling.
What you are describing has moved very slowly, imo: I expected rapid implementation of "ubiquitous surveillance" especially when the first camera was installed on our village's main street (watching for the vandals who stole the ornaments off the big outdoor Christmas tree) but it all seems to have gone off the boil.
The screws perhaps, are being tightened slowly and I suspect, in an uncoordinated manner – these functions are very convenient for all!
In any case, we have all willingly signed-on for a raft of "behaviour markers" – from cellphones to bank cards. As I was asking (above) should we consider these actions sinister (from the implementors) or naive (from the users)?
I don't know that you left/right thread is as valuable as you think – the acceptance of greater surveillance doesn't seem to me to be driven by the examples you cite.
The screws perhaps, are being tightened slowly and I suspect, in an uncoordinated manner – these functions are very convenient for all!
True. Implementing such a system all at once could only be done in a totalitarian state like the PRC has done. The western world sleep walks into it one easy step at a time, each one justified by the latest crisis.
I don't know that you left/right thread is as valuable as you think
Agreed – in the end it doesn't matter what your political leanings are, it's the power imbalance between the system and the individual that matters here. And yes there are plenty of other ways to illustrate this question beyond the intentionally provocative example I gave.
Do you believe there's a political/industrial, co-ordinated, focussed, "party" driving the expansion of surveillance?
I mostly doubt there is 'smoky back-room full of the cabal's elite goons' meticulously planning their next step in world domination. That reduces the issue to a cartoonish us vs them depiction of good and evil.
The real question is where this line passes through each of our own hearts.
Given that the absolutely NOT fabulous Sarkar is 'literally a communist', if she doesn't get her own way, she'll probably try to crush all opposition in the usual communist fashion.
She famously owned Piers Morgan a couple of years back –
But the idea that her being a communist somehow disqualifies her from being a journalist when our entire MSM ecosystem is dominated by neoliberal apologists for business interests is so stupifying idiotic an idea one should first check the person who says such a thing against the possibility they’ve suffered brain damage recently.
Fascinating postscript – On Ms. Sarkar's twitter feed the Asian-American dude has posted identifying himself as (of all things) a Phd in Byzantine History at Oxford and the ex-chairman of the Oxford young Tories. It indicates that if you seek to build alliances, the desire for real political action on climate change transcends political ideology, particularly in anyone under 40-45.
Capitalism promotes freedom in it;s many forms. Capitalism results in increased choice and opportunities. It rewards work and innovation. Capitalism has delivered incredible improvements in our standard of living, and lifted millions out of extreme poverty. It's far from perfect, but capitalism continues to make Bernie Sanders look idiotic.
Ash Sakar,s ok i guess i watch her on tiskey sour like her male counterpart better dont like fake finger nails much isnt she just pointing out the obvious ? that the rich like to drive big cars ?havnt they always ?.Its pretty obvious the money arround in mangawhai for sure you hardly ever see an old bomb anymore .
Sanctuary – 3:
You should visit the Porirua area and you will find out very soon that it isn't the pakehas with the work materials on the back of their suv's driving around. Another one of the hate messages about "white people"?
Adams is pushing the Labour stealth agenda thesis:
Jacinda Ardern — and her senior ministers Nanaia Mahuta and Andrew Little — appear to have adopted the tactics of the Cuban revolutionary leader Jose Marti, who wrote in 1895: “I have had to work quietly and somewhat indirectly, because to achieve certain objectives, they must be kept under cover; to proclaim them for what they are would raise such difficulties that the objectives could not be attained.”
Already attracting attention overseas…
The debate over giving matauranga Māori equal status with physics, biology and chemistry in the NCEA science syllabus — sparked by a letter in the Listener signed by seven eminent professors — has become so inflammatory that famous US and British public intellectuals, including scientists Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker and Jerry Coyne, have pitched into the fray and made it into an international cause célèbre.
Cool if true, but I bet Graham Adamsis talking that dimension up. I haven't even noticed any advocacy in the media attempting to explain what part of matauranga Māori ought to be included in science. Can anyone here elucidate this?
Science and mātauranga Māori do not seek to do the same thing. Mātauranga Maori is knowledge – knowing about things (such as preparing poisonous karaka berries for eating). Science is about finding out why and how things happen (such as why and how karaka berries are poisonous and how preparation removes the poison).
Brycwe Edwards is running yet another site dedicated to the primary interest of right wing "think tanks" – scratching an income by grifting for cash from right wing business “sponsors”. Graham Adams starts with the big lie strawman and it goes downhill from there, but insincere race baiting is clearly thought to be a winning product to be pushed by a political right that has no economic solutions to the problems of the 21st century so seeks power by the jerking the levers of crude 20th century settler racism.
Bryce Edwards is a devious little weasel much beloved of the MSM-and so by definition tending towards the Right politically. One should always read carefully between the lines of anything he posts.
The "road blocks" were done almost entirely in cooperation with NZPolice.
The curriculum cooperation is consistent with a broad cultural shift across every single government department and quite uncontroversial.
3 waters shifts assets and staff to delivery higher water quality. Thats it. The only guarantee is that the consumer outcomes will be higher than what local government controls delivered over a century.
So Adam's is simply as tiresome aa Trotter on so called racial divides.
The Ardern government has decided to spend its political capital somewhere useful and I congratulate them.
The government should be applauded for taking into account the concerns of local Iwi to protect their addmitted vulnerable communities, and supporting them with the state forces.
Democracy and justice is not constrained to a narrow vote of the majority of the population every three years. (Sometimes the minority are right).
The right to protest, trial by jury, enshrine democracy and justice at the micro level.
Spend it's capital somewhere useful LOL there's five motels across the road with me all full of people who live in them there are 200,000 empty homes in NZ that could house half a million people but the pm doesn't think it's an issue, every new build I see is an unoccupied town house unsuitable for families and even then they get snatched up as soon as they are brought and sit empty spending political capital on real solutions to housing instead of doing pr announcements about consents issues would be useful.
Spending a small percentage or two of her capital on marijuana reform, labour are now to the right of the democrats and south Australia and obtaining medicinal marijuana is harder than ever but no capital spent there
Then there's this thing called her being the minister of child poverty … No capital spent there in fact she should fire herself from that portfolio.
Poor brown and poor white and everyone else need houses, a stronger safety net and the removal of the fear of the cops busting down their door and ruining their lives over a damn joint more than they need social engineering programs.
You applaud the prime minister, I condemn the prime minister for only ever using her political capital to rule out doing anything substantial or to woke social engineer.
She is a political coward and a conservative and the sooner she will be remembered only for COVID because otherwise she is a complete disappointment who got everyone's hopes up for change and then did nothing for two terms but manage the downward spiral of this country.
' there's five motels across the road with me all full of people who live in them there are 200,000 empty homes in NZ that could house half a million people but the pm doesn't think it's an issue, '
Yes ,I've seen the empty houses issue blithely dismissed here because we 'don't have reliable data'.
We know when Vancouver introduced a mere 1% levy on homes empty for 6 months or more without good reason,that there was a 25% reduction in empty homes ,quicksmart.
23,000 living in motels,2billion plus Govt subsidies to landlords…!
ROFL….. Billions and billions have been already spend with nothing to show for. That will continue. Meanwhile law and order is something the pakeha invented, LOL
Yes, no part, if you apply the definition of true Western Science. The problem science has when defending its rationale against Maori mysticism is Western science does not follow its own tenets. Funding and paid for outcomes has corrupted science in my opinion. But sciences worst crime is they are no longer interested in following the evidence once that evidence becomes uncomfortable to the status quo.
Given that, why shouldn't Mātauranga Māori not consider itself an equal and viable alternative to Western science?
Mātauranga Māori is a legitimate and valuable part of that vast human heritage of observational knowledge that was hard-won by humanity over millennia. No-one wants to discount or diminish it.
But the only people who confuse it with modern science are those who either those who don't understand what science is, or are too gutless to say so.
In terms of the classic STEM subjects, mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology there is an increasing shift from hard data, to noisy imprecise data – and the tools to interpret it become more difficult not less.
For example expressing concepts in most of physics can be done with rigor and formalism using mathematical tools. Much the same with chemistry, although statistical methods start to dominate. By the time we get to modern biological systems we no longer express much in deterministic equations, but a multitude of high order models and causal inferences. The tools shift and become harder to use but the modern world we live in is testament to it's astonishing success to date.
The social sciences always had the legitimate vision of emulating the same success – but many have failed to grasp just how damned hard that was going to be. And far too many of it's practitioners lacked the deep mathematical and logical skills necessary to do it well – and this is really quite understandable. Student who are interested in people are not so often also interested in the abstractions of mathematics and logic necessary to design, implement and analyse their experiments well. Instead they tend to uncritically stuff their raw data into a stats package and trust that the pretty graphs outputted will get the paper published.
As you say a lot of social science papers lack rigor, are rarely cited, lack repeatability and skepticism, are ideological and speculative. They aren't science either.
Yeah, I'll echo RL, acknowledging your good response. My take is the Labour caucus decision to endorse mM (matauranga Māori) as a policy strategy exploits the dichotomy between the original concept of science (mostly knowledge/gnosis, publicised via reasoning from evidence) and the in-crowd definition that has emerged since the 19th century.
As a physics grad I naturally defer to the mana around the latter. As an alternative thinker for even longer, I naturally see the inadequacies & deficiencies of the latter.
Perversion of science via arbitrary or politically-biased funding decisions is way more obvious in the US scene, but is indeed apparent here too as you imply. And the question you ended with is indeed the key to advancing the policy. Unless sceptics pull finger & do some work rather than knee-jerk complaints, I have no real problem with mM. It needs to be contestable, but conservative laziness & lack of intellect could provide no contest.
I have no real problem with mM. It needs to be contestable, but conservative laziness & lack of intellect could provide no contest.
How do you mean Mātauranga Māori needs to be contestible?
It is often wrapped up with mythological concepts as a means of facilitating memory.
So for example the mātauranga around growing and harvesting harakeke (flax) is spoken about in Māoridom in terms of the plant being a whanau, with children at the centre of the plant, so flax leaves are cut from outside – the tūpuna leaves.
How do you mean Mātauranga Māori needs to be contestible?
Contestable in designing legislation (select committee scrutiny), then in how the policy is implemented. I meant re the "debate over giving matauranga Māori equal status with physics, biology and chemistry in the NCEA science syllabus".
We don't know enough to be more precise at this stage. So the thing will advance in credibility if it is framed for consensus. If framing is partisan, opposition gets more opportunity for leverage…
It's not an 'alternative'. Mataurangi Maori is not science, it is valuable observational knowledge which also happens to be intertwined with Maori spiritual concepts. Science attempts to explain natural observations with reference to the natural world. There are numerous observations of the natural world in the Bible, but that isn't science, and shouldn't be taught as such in schools. Nor should matauranga Maori.
If this equates to the mathematical science that made it possible to get the mars voyage under way please bring the proof. Otherwise, in the field of science NZ will become the laughing stock internationally.
I am aware that this sounds offensive but I can reassure you, this is what will be seen in the very competitive field of science. BTW Science always was competitive, never benevolent.
Traditional lore is present in all cultures and is not called science.
As for the assertion the science based on mathematics and literature to record this – it is distinctly not Western but middle eastern and Asian.
"Parity in the Māori school curriculum for mātauranga Māori with other bodies of knowledge
Discussion and analysis within the NCEA of the ways in which science has supported the dominance of Eurocentric views, including science’s use as a rationale for colonisation of Māori and the suppression of Māori knowledge
Discussion within the NCEA of the notion that science is a Western European invention and itself evidence of European dominance over Māori and other indigenous peoples."
Matauranga Maori is a knowledge system that has valuable insights, but it's fundamental basis is Maori spirituality, and as such has no more place in the education curriculum than any other religious text with similar claims.
Righto. Thanks for that clarification! I agree with whoever wrote the report that the three recommendations are worth considering. Here's why:
Re #1, such curriculum parity serves to implement Te Tiriti – inasmuch as the principle of racial parity can be read between the lines of that. Happy to concede that yourself & others may not be able to discern it lying there! Doesn't matter. Maori will. Plus sufficient numbers of pakeha who give credence to the spirit of the treaty (rather than the colonial artifact itself) to be politically crucial to our future.
Re #2, that will serve as useful education to get participants up to speed on the ways science has been misused in governance – provided that suitable examples are both found and deployed in the instruction.
Re #3, it seems supplementary to #2 and one may need a microscope to spot the difference between them. Americans would undoubtedly deem their exclusion culturally offensive. Some would likely call it racist (inaccurately).
Yes, insofar as the former is more relevant, but I really meant in a political context in general & Labour's collective interests in particular (whilst declaring I'm not a Labour supporter I do support their hamfisted attempts to make progress – in principle)…
BLM protesters acquitted over pulling down of slave trader statue
……"We are ecstatic and stunned," said Rhian Graham, one of the four protesters cleared by a jury of criminal damage following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
The girl, Arianna Delane, was reportedly asleep in a front room of a Houston apartment at around 3 a.m. when an unknown assailant fired several shots into the second-story unit, hitting her in the torso. She was left with a punctured lung and liver, and three broken ribs, a family friend told local outlet KHOU-11.
ABC13 reporter Mycah Hatfield said the apartment where Arianna was wounded was the same one where members of Floyd’s family gathered to watch the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck until he died.
Although Arianna’s mother rushed her to a hospital straight away, police reportedly did not arrive until around four hours after the incident, reported CBS DFW, a local outlet. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said Tuesday that his department launched an internal affairs investigation into the response time.
Derrick Delane told ABC13 he had reason to believe his home had been targeted, not simply unlucky. But Houston police have not yet identified any suspects.
Could just be coincidence. Gun crime is so rife in the US and Floyd had connections with drugs, so maybe his family do as well. Not enough information in that article to suggest anything particularly out of the ordinary or "unreal" to me.
One to watch – for the outcome of the internal investigation into the police delay in attending, though.
A question for all you well informed covid vaccination people (hopefully you don’t mind me picking your brains…
we are booked to get our booster soon. Have had two Pfizer to date. A friend of mine told me in passing you are better to get a different vaccine for your third jab.
Anyone know.?
I have not be following covid so much, just doing all the stuff to be safe for self and others (especially the medical people)
There has been a few studies suggesting that to be the case. I'll try and find one later but from memory I dont think they're particularly applicable here as we only have 2 vaccines available.
Of course Soimom is a fan of the multimillionaire representing the second-poorest state in the union who denied his own constituents desperately needed relief in a pandemic.
Why Grant Robertson should listen to US Senator Joe Manchin
Simon Bridges05:00, Jan 06 2022
[…]
The reason is that, in an evenly divided senate of 100, Manchin’s fellow Democrat, President Joe Biden, needs his support to pass the sweeping $2 trillion (yes, trillion) Build Back Better plan.
Manchin, though, on the eve of Christmas, decided to vote against the bill. His view is that the US already has high inflation, that inflation is hurting workers and families in his state, and that all the spending in the proposal would simply fuel that inflation.
Simon managed to mention the last time inflation was even higher than present. It was due to a GST increase price adjustment imposed by National.
He also mentions that wages grew by only 2.4% and below inflation but fails to note the likely implication of that is that the increase will likely not be sustainable and will be a short term price adjustment.
Maybe try again when you figure out how to get most people above inflation pay raises, Simon.
The only way to do that is with two implementations:
Remove GST on rates (its a tax on the tax)
Remove GST on fresh vegetables and bread
Monitor all prices whether retailers increase their margins and impose Tax penalties if they do.
This would make a real difference to the vast majority of people, working or on a benefit. It is color blind, race neutral and helps children the most.
“I do not think J.K. Rowling is antisemitic. I did not accuse her of being antisemitic,” Stewart said. “I do not think the Harry Potter movies are antisemitic. I really love the Harry Potter movies, probably too much for a gentleman of my considerable age.”
Stewart added, “I cannot stress this enough. I am not accusing J.K. Rowling of being antisemitic. She need not answer to any of it. I don’t want the Harry Potter movies censored in any way. It was a lighthearted conversation. Get a fucking grip.”
I don't get it, possibly because I've not see the films nor read the book. Are the goblins in the film true in imagery to the descriptions of the goblins in the books?
I haven’t read the books but some have argued the imagery of the films seems to have played on antisemitic stereotypes of bankers:
It is not often that I am stopped in my tracks. But the press photography from the new Gringotts wing of Warner Bros’ Harry Potter Studio tour positively shrieked with antisemitic tropes; the long-nosed goblin, his natty suit, clawed fingers caressing a pile of gold coins. When I positioned a Gringotts shot alongside a series of cartoons from Nazi Germany’s Der Stürmer, it did not seem out of place.
I get that bit, just wasn't sure if the books are the same (and whether JKR is responsible for the film imagery). I'm guessing there is some similarity (the film just didn't make this up), but everyone is talking as though we've all read the books and seen the film.
goblins are beings that live underground, are associated with minind, minting and gold. Generally referred to as small, cunning, some what mean tempered, and involved in 'banking'.
Goblins were short and fair-skinned, as they spent very little time outside. They had very long fingers and feet, dome-shaped heads and were slightly larger than house-elves. Griphook, one of the hundreds of goblins working at Gringotts, had a bald head, pointed nose, and pointed ears. Some had dark, slanted eyes, and some goblins even wore pointed hats.[4]
Now one can argue that the fact that the Goblins are the bankers is 'anti semitic' per se. However, the words above are the words from her book.
Maybe this really is just another thing that poeple want to be truth about the witch from scotland who believes that non males used to be called something, something particular that no one really can't quite remember anymore.
and again with trigger warning, the daily fail reporting where the left dare not go to
But Jewish fans were quick to note that the author has consistently called out anti-Semitism in recent years; including as a frequent critic of Jeremy Corbyn during his leadership of the Labour Party and when she refused to join a cultural boycott of Israel.
And Dave Rich, director of policy at Jewish charity the Community Security Trust, told MailOnline that Rowling had been 'very supportive' of the Jewish community.
He said: 'JK Rowling has been very supportive of the Jewish community in recent years and tweeted repeatedly against antisemitism, so it is hard to imagine that she used anti-semitic caricatures in her books. Sometimes a goblin is just a goblin.'
Comedian David Baddiel also waded in, adding: 'The goblins in Harry Potter need to be seen not in a simplistic #teamRowling vs #antiteamRowling way but in a many-centuries long, deeply subconsciously embedded cultural context.'
Author and literature expert Nicholas Jubber told MailOnline: 'Rowling appears to have followed traditions in British fantasy literature. The old German word, 'kobold', gave us the word 'cobalt', signalling the association of these creatures with mining for precious ores. So it makes sense that goblins would be linked with vaults and underground storage.'
One could argue that the description of goblins is based on old – very old anti semitism that goes back to medieval times, but for what its worth, i don't think that JKR really did go there.
So either someone tried to use John Stewart to smear an accomplished but opinionated and unimpressed author of the best selling books series, or John Stewart did try to smear the very opinionated author of a best selling book series and he got a call from her lawyer. And i would bet a dollar that she is way richer then he is. Take your pick.
Last, i hope that the NZ Herald has it in them to also print the fact that John Stewart is saying NO i did not say nor mean that. (not holding my breath though)
In the german story telling a kobold (goblin) is a magic small being. Can be good, can be mean, depending on the situation. Is often blamed for mechanical failure. Is associated with metals, mining, minting, hording. A mixture of a dwarf and an elf. A person, that should you cross one, you have to be honest with, show no fear, and above all don't try to bs your way out if you are having issues with them. Small but mighty, easily annoyed, angered, dread full temperament. Kobolde in german story telling are many things, but they are always small, cunning, not easily frightened, full of magic, and should never be taken for fools.
Here are the pooklets videoed on 2 & 3 January 2022. They've just started turning blue in front and on the underside. It always seems to happen suddenly, almost overnight.
And here they are when I first videoed them on 8 December 2021, then about a week old:
We may joke about him – but we really need an opposition that would compel the govt. to lift their game.
Robertson needs to be coming up with a few solutions to improve the housing affordability crisis irrespective of the abysmal quality of opposition members.
lols
dude tweeting that a disease is nothing to worry about, as 96% of people are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms. Good body of evidence. Passes the initial wikipedia test. That disease?
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
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Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
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The clusterfuck that is Australia at the moment.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/04/a-shambolic-mess-the-only-example-australia-is-giving-the-world-now-is-how-not-to-manage-covid?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
I have absolutely no doubt that if the Natz were in power, this is exactly what we would be now facing.
I’m not religious, but thank God for our Labour government.
+100
Also the US White House has shifted from "contain" to "manage".
Pretty much the definition of politics being pulled years later to align with reality. Heading for 1 million dead.
Tony, I would wait until the fat lady sings before making assumptions like that. However, the Aussies made a dumb decision deporting Novak Djokovic. But, the Aussies know how to stand up to China…how to deal with foreign criminals and by the looks of it, not be swayed by famous people at the border. Our Labour government is incapable of any of that. Covid may not be the reason Labour lose the next election ( should they lose?).
ps- I forgot to mention regional defence. Labour believes we are safe down here in Never Never Land, even though we have a dictator just up the road so to speak.
Who is this dictator "just up the road so to speak", Blade?
Frankie.
Righto. 👍🏼
Blade "Our Labour government" has proved itself more than capable, also, New Zealand has one of the best Covid19 responses in the world, under "Our Labour government". Facts back up Tony's post, not assumptions.
All I said, Louis, was Tony may be premature lauding the Labour governments Covid effort comparative to other countries. Tony MAY be basing his argument on our low Covid death rate. That may be a false measure when Kiwis start looking to get out of Stalag Aotearoa. If talkback is any measure, there seems to be many Poms ready to move back to Blighty. The main reason given is there is nothing certain in Aotearoa – things change constantly, or advice is contradictory. Then we have staff shortages in our main government sectors. Our supermarkets ( mine anyway) are starting to look decidedly Venezuelan. I have lost track at the number of overseas orders I have had cancelled because USPS and other postal services have stopped deliveries to New Zealand. The list is endless. I say the Labour government has been very lucky with their Covid response and our economy. In the end, in the cold light of day, we may have been better off with 2000 dead but a thriving economy; a less stressed population and overseas people seeing potential in NZ, instead of giving us a miss.
I'm sorry Blade, but most of what you wrote is just bollocks!
Long term, 'Stalag Aotearoa' may become the norm. Have you, by any chance, heard of climate change? The old tourist industry is dead and is never coming back.
Our supermarket shelves may look Venezuelan, but that too may become the norm. If we are to have any chance of staving off climate catastrophe, globalisation has to be scaled back.
Finally, I've never yet heard someone argue in favour of 2000 dead – because that number of bodies, inevitably, would lead to a paralysis of business, as has happened in many countries.
So I repeat, thank God for our Labour government.
inevitably, would lead to a paralysis of business, as has happened in many countries.
Given the huge majority of COVID deaths are in people well past retirement age I'm not sure how that logic works.
In NZ, 2000 deaths would equate to 567,000 infections – say half of those are workers – than that is 10% of the workforce. They wouldn't all be sick at once but it would sure put small companies and short-staffed companies behind the 8-ball.
Just like say – lockdowns?
not really. Essential workers have still worked during lockdowns. People worked from home.
Well empty supermarket shelves are happening right now in Australia, not from panic buying, there's nothing to buy, half the drivers are sick or isolating with / from covid. And early days yet.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-06/supermarket-shortage-supply-chain-truck-driver-covid/100741392
And they thought lockdowns were destroying the economy…
yikes. That explains this yesterday (I didn't get at the time why she posted it).
https://twitter.com/Asher_Wolf/status/1478603498124054532
Yeah, once the essential goods supply chain starts falling over things can turn to custard very quickly and very comprehensively. I really hope Australia can keep it all together but they aren't in a good place and it's not getting better yet.
Thankfully we haven't gone there yet and have the luxury of being able to observe and plan.
do you have a sense of how much of the current freight issue is sickness vs self isolating after a positive test?
From the ABC article,
So it's looking like they've removed the testing requirement for drivers so they keep working while they are infected. Looks like too many were testing positive, not because the testing regime was strained.
Fuck I hope this doesn't go bad
same. Like many I have family in Oz, trying not to think to closely about it.
do we know what the rate of omicron is in Australia?
Traffic volumes here in Brisbane right down, lot's of people just staying at home regardless of what their status is. It's going to be an interesting few weeks, but Omicron peaks fast.
I'm going fishing in the local creek tomorrow.
But not just because of the deaths, or even the infections.
I know folks overseas who have been mostly living in self-imposed lockdown for years. So that's their disposable income not going on theatres or bars. Then there are the others who work from home, but maybe not as productively.
The let it rip crowd, especially those owning hospo businesses, seem to think that it means a return to the before-time. It just means our GDP turns even more to shit.
If talkback is any measure…
Thankfully, it ain't.
Yeah, it is. That's why all political parties monitor it.
Re Supermarkets – Venezuelan would be a compliment. I have been to 4 (!) supermarkets today because any of these either lacked salad, greens in season – these are NOT imported products. Another had no, please read again, no meat on the shelf- at all. Also not an imported product. I have asked one of the staff and they said that the delivery truck is late. They would need 4 plus hanger to get the shop filled. But I can tell you what really is happening. Firstly, online shoppers get priority and any stock that is there will be gone by the time you get to the shop as picking is done outside shop hours. And secondly, the buying model is still on the now well outdated model of just in time. To be honest and I have been through the east of Europe in its darker days when war was a constant treat and even acted on, the supermarkets here look like these except when you go to the posh ones in town. But it won't be long when the veneer falters there too.
As for this government, it is not really doing anything. Look at Law and order. How many people are getting killed every week and always children amongst them. Anybody with half a brain will ask why and conclude that NZ has a serious gang problem. But what are the answers of Kāinga Ora to those who are living next door to hell? Oh well you have to move. Just wait until the anger reaches crisis point.
Unemployment, defined by work of 1 hr per week – the stats are a farce. Billions are squandered and many who have an education and are young enough will leave once the pandemic looses its grip and borders open.
I am by upbringing and conviction left leaning but this government is anything but. Appeasement policies to keep the certain groups quiet and the rest just has to belief and pray.
And yes to a certain degree some policies do look like the ostblock policies of decades past. Many will say that it is OK but this is only because they have never experienced what that means.
You either live in ..Eketahuna…or are ..exaggerating.
Neither, Wellington – the capital city of NZ no less. And absolutely true. Shame on you to think that I lie to put a story out.
I have lived here for almost 4 decades and never have seen something like it.
Feel free and visit supermarkets around Wellington and make your own assessment. Compare also the ones around wealthy city dwellers and the less fortunate.
How do know a plane full of poms has landed???
You can here the whineing after the engines stop!!!!
How do you know the average kiwi is as thick as pig shit?
When the Poms stop whining and disembark from their plane…they move into the top echelons of the union movement.
putting aside for the moment that if we did live in Stalag Aotearoa the Poms wouldn't be allowed to leave (and it's a long way to tunnel even for the ingenious Brits).
How is the USPS issue the NZ government's fault?
How much of the supermarket issue is due to global supply chain issues?
"In the end, in the cold light of day, we may have been better off with 2000 dead but a thriving economy"
Wow. In order to be able to get quick deliveries from overseas and international tourism, you think it's ok to trade that for 2000 dead NZers?
''How is the USPS issue the NZ government's fault?''
It's not. But transport problems are about to hit Aotearoa big time, and indirectly that is going to put pressure on the government as our economy starts to stagnate. You can't sell non existent products. Or create products without raw materials.
''How much of the supermarket issue is due to global supply chain issues?''
I would say the majority for many products. See above.
''Wow. In order to be able to get quick deliveries from overseas and international tourism, you think it's ok to trade that for 2000 dead NZers?''
The dead don't need food, money, medicine or hope. The living do! A decision I hope we never have to make.
I fear for people like you who may not be ready for WHAT may lie ahead, or be able to accept your life is about to get way worse. In fact I don't know if I am mentally prepared. It's been awhile since I had to do 'hard times.'
People like me? I write posts about the Powerdown and resiliency.
What transport problems.
Do not fear Blade.
Aotearoa is one of the best countries in the world to live in given your scenario.
We have plenty of water,power,food and infrastructure to service our population.
I think we can even survive without filipino farm workers and Indian truck …drivers.
''We have plenty of water,power,food and infrastructure to service our population.''
Maori will decide how much of that you receive, Blazer.
Be strong!
Is that you Don…you brash,racist…bastard?
[RL: Over the line. Take a day off.]
You always had trouble controlling that vicious Lefty temper. The good thing about blogs is they allow people to empty their hate filled souls. Let it out, son. I don't hold that against you.
Mod note
To be blunt…Blade…I always temper my responses to you ,because I know you are not the sharpest knife in..the drawer.
and you can stop with the baiting over Māori. It's tedious and starting to look like deliberate trolling.
Weka, I'm not baiting over Maori. I know what's going on behind the scenes. I doubt you do. If you do, please advise what you know and we can debate the issue.
I have seen racism in Maori institutes. I have have watched Pakeha be denigrated for being white. And nobody from our gutless media down does anything…except agree Maori are always right. And then provide more taxpayer money.
Irrespective of your personal views as just expressed, when you throw out racist tropes casually, it’s going to get moderation attention eventually. The idea that Māori control water,power,food and infrastructure in NZ is both factually wrong and had nothing to do with the conversation.
USPS has temporarily halted deliveries to a number of countries like Australia as well due to Covid19, so its not just New Zealand.
3 News:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/01/covid-19-warning-omicron-will-overwhelm-us-within-a-week-if-it-takes-hold-in-new-zealand-experts-say.html
This one is interesting. Usually the Left can rely on overseas votes at election time. But will that be the case this time? Will people forget?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/01/kiwis-stranded-in-australia-losing-hope-after-being-locked-out-of-miq-room-release.html
When people lose hope…the weirdest things happen.
Yes they then rely on faith…and ..charity.
And they vote National…for the next 20 years. I'm sure Luxon and co will lead us all to the promised land.
The Natz will lead you to a 'blighted ..future'.
Like they did last time.
Luck has nothing to do with it Blade and there is nothing certain in the entire world that's struggling with a global pandemic. Would that talkback you are referring to have a decidedly right wing slant about it? imo I'm not sure that would be a true measure of anything, besides which, people are free to leave, if that is what they want.
Russian scientist measures Auckland plastic pollution:
A lovely mini documentary from the fabulous Ash Sarkar on SUVs, with the meta that if you stop fighting culture wars long enough you can actually discover that even a businessman in a pinstrip suit in Kensiongton with no formed political views can agree that SUVs are a problem.
And man, does the “hedonistic treadmill” comment resonate – I spent a half day in Mangawhai the other day and my God, the hedonistic treadmill of the material culture of Pakeha NZ was so on display, and it is just so damn ugly.
In NZ the diesels generate 44% of NZTAs income, but pedestrians and cyclists and electric cars deliver $0.
Yet government directive is for more and more spent on public transport and active modes.
Wouldn't be surprised if Minister Wood changed every single vehicle to have to pay RUC, by 2024. One consistent user-pays policy. Tradies and farmers in particular would appreciate the level playing field.
And more urbanites get off their combustion-propelled asses.
Perhaps while we are about it we could take away Minister Wood's stretched BMW Limo and give him a bus pass instead?
I guess that is never going to happen though. It would mean that he had to mix with the common people and he is far to important to have to do that.
You are a fatuous moron incapable of useful thought.
And you are a defender of the privileged classes among us. But they are special, aren't they?
I wouldn't oppose RUC, provided they that process is as painless as using the AT parking app. However if you're going to do a tax change on transport, then it should be done correctly – and target where the costs go. That is mostly for road maintenance at various levels, handling accidents, and increasingly to ETS. There is also the relatively minor cost of installing new roading and transport routes.
Wouldn't be a problem for this urbanite – I will only do a 1-2 thousand km per year in a 1500cc hybrid.
Going to RUC, dropping fuel excise taxes on petrol to the same kinds of rates as for diesel and finally going fully digital on registration would free up more of my time and be a whole lot cheaper for me.
Not sure how they would do RUC on bikes. But I do less than 1000km on the e-bike each year as well.
However the RUC should be based entirely around max load axle weights and number of wheels to accurately reflect road maintenance costs and overspec roads to handle max high axle weight vehicles.
That also means that other motorists should not subsidise trucks, SUVs, and overweight tradie vehicles.
Personally I don't think that the tradies and farmers would like that much as it would likely increase their RUC rates for the current vehicles. The trucking industry will scream. However the costs for that can go straight on to the cost of goods and services provided – thereby leaning towards a a more efficient economy.
But at least it would provide a more accurate economic framework for transport change in the future and remove paradoxical hidden transport subsidies.
So little wear and tear from bicycles that RUC wouldn't be proportionate.
Heavy truckers will want to see their 40%+ contribution spent as you suggested on road maintenance.
There may not be a great deal of wear and tear on the roads from bicycles but there are very large costs in actually providing the road surface for the cyclists to ride on. A new cycleway from Ngauranga to Petone in Wellington is estimated at $190 million for 4.5 kilometres. Should the cyclists pay for the building and maintenance of the route? If not, why not?
provide a more accurate economic framework for transport change in the future and remove paradoxical hidden transport subsidies
Making govt genuinely greener, but is Labour capable of that? Would be excellent. USA has retained such subsidies for a century. Oil, coal. I marvelled how they survived unscathed through the era when righteous rightist abhorrence of such achieved hegemony (Reagan's team) and deduced that pragmatic pork barrel politics will always defeat purist ideology.
Is your car always parked on private property and not on the roadway? Would it make any difference to you if all parking on public property had to be paid for?
It wouldn’t worry me at all – in fact personally I’d prefer to have all public parking metered – becausue that is effectively what I have right now.
My car is usually parked in our apartment's garage (ie private property).
Most of the places I go I am usually parked on private property (ie customer parking) or on metered parking which in Auckland I handle with the AT Parking App.
BTW: We have metered parking outside our apartment building these days. It has massively improved the availability of parking. The overall cost of parking for my usage patterns is minimal.
Right now, I have the car on the road because we have been short of a FOB required to drive it and we have stacked (ie one car behind another) in the garage. That is the current task on my post-lockdown list of tasks
So AT metered parking at home or work. Not killing my budget.
The sooner they do that the better, can be calculated on vehicle size.
Exactly.
Also focuses daily route efficiency, in turn forcing fuel efficiency.
I expect that all vehicles will be required to have a GPS tracker installed with automatic billing in the not too distant future….Victoria have had a similar set up for their toll roads for sometime now.
Nearly all big NZ private fleets do that now.
Then the infrastructure is already in place…it is only a question of time, post election 2023 perhaps.
How well does that work?
Does that allow them to separate on and off highway usage. Quite significant for a farmer or contractor where a large proportion of usage is off highway.
Tracking every vehicle?
Cant see that happening, I have know problem at but theres a lot paranoid and or dodgy people who wont wear it.
Yes, i imagine there will be resistance from some and there will be enforcement issues but I cant see an alternative especially if there is a drive to reduce petrol/diesel use.
I expect the penalties for non compliance will overcome a lot of that resistance , though of course not all.
The vaccine strategy!
If you like…..you have an alternative?
Non compliance to society's rules always carries penalty of some form….only the form the penalty takes varies , not the fact.
A lot of the resistance would evaporate if the system accurately separated on and off highway usage. Quite significant for farmers and like. Since some form of congestion or graduated charge would be part of the package this shouldn't be too hard, provided it works as it says on the box.
The resistors will just pay maximum charge everywhere.
Provided it works as described….and I envisage there will be instances when it dosnt, but assume they have those issues in Victoria as well, nethertheless it is the system they have,
Ubiquitous surveillance being one of the better known end-points of the civilisations. Vernor Vinge
A comment like yours above would have been torn to shreds here 10 years ago. I remember suggesting such things sarcastically and getting dumped on by everyone – the exact reaction I'd hoped for at the time. But now real life overtakes irony.
It's all flipped, the authoritarian left on display here feels secure enough in it's political dominance that 'freedums' are sneered at knowingly, and the resisters are dismissed as paranoid, dodgy or 'anti-vax'.
It is striking, RedLogix, to find ourselves in the situation you describe, but description and interpretation are everything and very fluid substances. Seemingly sinister situations may or may not be what they seem. "Ubiquitous surveillance" sounds sinister, but ain't necessarily so: much discussion should be had on that very point but keeping it focussed and arriving at an unassailable point of view will be a challenge in these interesting times.
We're not too far off the point where tracking, recording and storing every moment 24/7 of everyone's life, everything we all say and do, can be done. It would have the remarkable effect of greatly reducing crime, especially those always difficult ones of a sexual nature where there is rarely independent evidence. Every act of sex would have a legal record of every moment that can be analysed by an AI to ensure legal consent was present at every moment for instance. Then we could change the rules retrospectively and get the 100% conviction rates desired. Well obviously we'd confine this to right wingers, white supremacists and the anti-vaxxers who annoy us – but think of all the crimes, frauds and conspiracies that currently go undetected that would be exposed by this. Finally the world might be a safe place.
Yes you can accuse me of an absurd argument here – but my point is that while 20 years ago this was science fiction, today's it's feasible. And there is a non-zero fraction of people who would embrace it.
What direction do you think surveillance technologies are heading in – toward more intrusiveness or less? And where do we draw the line?
Apparantly the measure is simply….'nothing to hide…nothing to…fear'!
Lol…I find it somewhat ironic that such a champion of 'mans technological advances' is now railing against such.
Which political party do you think will campaign against road use taxation via some form of monitoring?…the Greens perhaps?…. and should a party do so what alternative will they offer?….and ultimately what support will they receive?
Its easier all round to throw baseless emotive slurs into the mix
I find it somewhat ironic that such a champion of 'mans technological advances' is now railing against such.
Do I need to explain that all tools can be used both constructively and destructively?
How about explaining a likely alternative….or explaining how observing a highly likely trajectory equates with 'authoritarianism'?
"Do I need to explain that all tools can be used both constructively and destructively?"
Thumb-screws?
Thumbscrews might well do as a useful woodworking clamp – in a pinch.
Apparently not
Thumb-screws as a woodworking clamp?
That's stretching it!
🙂
Edit: No, yes, your “at a pinch” was very good – my (above) was muddled – I was thinking rack. I defer.
@pat
You were the one advocating for all vehicle usage to be GPS tracked by government – it's over to you to justify it.
My alternative has always been consistent – developing and introducing the technologies that actually decarbonise are what's important and primary. Social engineering and ubiquitous control of people are secondary – and mostly not needed.
Notably whenever I try and talk about the former I get a queue of people here telling me how it cannot be done, yet the same people seem remarkably keen on the latter.
Advocating?…thats BS and you know it.
So you have no viable alternative nor can you justify the slur.
"Fuel taxes and road user charges could be abolished and drivers tracked by GPS if one of the options from a review of road taxes is adopted by the Government."
"The Government currently collects about $4 billion a year from fuel taxes and road user charges. The revenue is currently used to build and maintain roads, and other transport projects."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300283956/government-looks-to-phase-out-fuel-taxes-road-user-charges-under-transport-review
Not sure what world you live in but it bears little resemblance to the one i inhabit.
bwaghorn said:
You said:
Maybe we could implement a triple rate RUC on back-pedalling.
expect
/ɪkˈspɛkt,ɛkˈspɛkt/
Learn to pronounce
verb
advocate
noun
/ˈadvəkət/
a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.
Is english your second language?
…and your (politically) viable alternative to raise the 4 billion plus revenue?
You clearly spoke in support of universal vehicle tracking and stated:
I'm happy for you to keep digging this hole as deep as you want – but I'm not wasting time and energy on this any further.
Weak….you have no ability to support your position.
What you are describing has moved very slowly, imo: I expected rapid implementation of "ubiquitous surveillance" especially when the first camera was installed on our village's main street (watching for the vandals who stole the ornaments off the big outdoor Christmas tree) but it all seems to have gone off the boil.
The screws perhaps, are being tightened slowly and I suspect, in an uncoordinated manner – these functions are very convenient for all!
In any case, we have all willingly signed-on for a raft of "behaviour markers" – from cellphones to bank cards. As I was asking (above) should we consider these actions sinister (from the implementors) or naive (from the users)?
I don't know that you left/right thread is as valuable as you think – the acceptance of greater surveillance doesn't seem to me to be driven by the examples you cite.
The screws perhaps, are being tightened slowly and I suspect, in an uncoordinated manner – these functions are very convenient for all!
True. Implementing such a system all at once could only be done in a totalitarian state like the PRC has done. The western world sleep walks into it one easy step at a time, each one justified by the latest crisis.
I don't know that you left/right thread is as valuable as you think
Agreed – in the end it doesn't matter what your political leanings are, it's the power imbalance between the system and the individual that matters here. And yes there are plenty of other ways to illustrate this question beyond the intentionally provocative example I gave.
"The western world sleep walks into it one easy step at a time, each one justified by the latest crisis."
Do you believe there's a political/industrial, co-ordinated, focussed, "party" driving the expansion of surveillance?
Or is circumstance/ease of doing business/convenience/love of novelty etc. causing the progress of the state of affairs?
In other words, who's causing this, the deliverer or the receiver?
Do you believe there's a political/industrial, co-ordinated, focussed, "party" driving the expansion of surveillance?
I mostly doubt there is 'smoky back-room full of the cabal's elite goons' meticulously planning their next step in world domination. That reduces the issue to a cartoonish us vs them depiction of good and evil.
The real question is where this line passes through each of our own hearts.
The line that passes through the heart of each of us?
That, and pathologies that exist "out there" and how we might protect ourselves from those.
'ubiquitous/mass surveillance is'bad'…..'bulk collection'..however is…acceptable.
Orwell was a time traveller
Not sure what your point is?
You wish to suggest that we wont have some form of road use taxation? (we already do)
Or that societies dont penalise rule breakers?
There's no need, Rucs as the are will work and im sure the system can be tidied up.
Congestion can be done with a transponder if we decide to go in that direction.
There may be no current need, but the linked article suggests that the politicians certainly see a coming revenue issue that needs addressing.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300283956/government-looks-to-phase-out-fuel-taxes-road-user-charges-under-transport-review
Given that the absolutely NOT fabulous Sarkar is 'literally a communist', if she doesn't get her own way, she'll probably try to crush all opposition in the usual communist fashion.
She seems to handle any interrogation of her beliefs with aplomb.A formidable intellect.
Your Communist cliche is regrettable.Perhaps you can expand on it…though I doubt it.
She famously owned Piers Morgan a couple of years back –
But the idea that her being a communist somehow disqualifies her from being a journalist when our entire MSM ecosystem is dominated by neoliberal apologists for business interests is so stupifying idiotic an idea one should first check the person who says such a thing against the possibility they’ve suffered brain damage recently.
Fascinating postscript – On Ms. Sarkar's twitter feed the Asian-American dude has posted identifying himself as (of all things) a Phd in Byzantine History at Oxford and the ex-chairman of the Oxford young Tories. It indicates that if you seek to build alliances, the desire for real political action on climate change transcends political ideology, particularly in anyone under 40-45.
She claimed to be 'literally a communist'. What more do you want?
You said -'she'll probably try to crush all opposition in the usual communist fashion.'
What does it mean?
Oh I see. I'll help by quoting Rabbil Sikdar in an article you will enjoy:
"Communism is stupid and almost certain to result in nothing but the mass spilling of blood and tears. "
Rabbil's opinion….noticed he said-'the ends justifying the means even if that includes the state-sanctioned murder of thousands. '
Rabbil needs to look at Communism's alternative since WW2 and apply his …somewhat ironic…critique.
What do you mean by 'communisms' alternative'?
Capitalism.
Capitalism promotes freedom in it;s many forms. Capitalism results in increased choice and opportunities. It rewards work and innovation. Capitalism has delivered incredible improvements in our standard of living, and lifted millions out of extreme poverty. It's far from perfect, but capitalism continues to make Bernie Sanders look idiotic.
hey Gypsy……that's an impressive regurgitation of delusional drivel.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rainerzitelmann/2020/07/27/anyone-who-doesnt-know-the-following-facts-about-capitalism-should-learn-them/?sh=178c3c673dc1
Ash Sakar,s ok i guess i watch her on tiskey sour like her male counterpart better dont like fake finger nails much isnt she just pointing out the obvious ? that the rich like to drive big cars ?havnt they always ?.Its pretty obvious the money arround in mangawhai for sure you hardly ever see an old bomb anymore .
Sanctuary – 3:
You should visit the Porirua area and you will find out very soon that it isn't the pakehas with the work materials on the back of their suv's driving around. Another one of the hate messages about "white people"?
We care about human rights overseas but………….
' housing had become a “speculative asset” in New Zealand rather than a “home”, citing low interest rates coupled with an underdeveloped rental housing system with inadequate tenant protections.'
Housing in New Zealand 'a human rights crisis', UN report says | Stuff.co.nz
The Kaitaia interviews would have been bracing.
Auckland landlord ups rent $50 to $900 per week due to 'overwhelming response'
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/housing-affordability/300488823/auckland-landlord-ups-rent-50-to-900-per-week-due-to-overwhelming-response
Got me curious about other high rents.
Trade me shows 544 properties over 1000$ a week, the top is 5000$ pw
Food for thought… https://democracyproject.nz/2022/01/05/graham-adams-2022-arderns-plans-for-co-governance-with-iwi-face-rough-seas/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=graham-adams-2022-arderns-plans-for-co-governance-with-iwi-face-rough-seas
Adams is pushing the Labour stealth agenda thesis:
Already attracting attention overseas…
Cool if true, but I bet Graham Adams is talking that dimension up. I haven't even noticed any advocacy in the media attempting to explain what part of matauranga Māori ought to be included in science. Can anyone here elucidate this?
Here is a resource for insight: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2545-matauranga-maori-and-science
Brycwe Edwards is running yet another site dedicated to the primary interest of right wing "think tanks" – scratching an income by grifting for cash from right wing business “sponsors”. Graham Adams starts with the big lie strawman and it goes downhill from there, but insincere race baiting is clearly thought to be a winning product to be pushed by a political right that has no economic solutions to the problems of the 21st century so seeks power by the jerking the levers of crude 20th century settler racism.
Bryce Edwards is a devious little weasel much beloved of the MSM-and so by definition tending towards the Right politically. One should always read carefully between the lines of anything he posts.
What Bryce does not say is as important as his collection of supporting voices.
The "road blocks" were done almost entirely in cooperation with NZPolice.
The curriculum cooperation is consistent with a broad cultural shift across every single government department and quite uncontroversial.
3 waters shifts assets and staff to delivery higher water quality. Thats it. The only guarantee is that the consumer outcomes will be higher than what local government controls delivered over a century.
So Adam's is simply as tiresome aa Trotter on so called racial divides.
The Ardern government has decided to spend its political capital somewhere useful and I congratulate them.
The government should be applauded for taking into account the concerns of local Iwi to protect their addmitted vulnerable communities, and supporting them with the state forces.
Democracy and justice is not constrained to a narrow vote of the majority of the population every three years. (Sometimes the minority are right).
The right to protest, trial by jury, enshrine democracy and justice at the micro level.
Spend it's capital somewhere useful LOL there's five motels across the road with me all full of people who live in them there are 200,000 empty homes in NZ that could house half a million people but the pm doesn't think it's an issue, every new build I see is an unoccupied town house unsuitable for families and even then they get snatched up as soon as they are brought and sit empty spending political capital on real solutions to housing instead of doing pr announcements about consents issues would be useful.
Spending a small percentage or two of her capital on marijuana reform, labour are now to the right of the democrats and south Australia and obtaining medicinal marijuana is harder than ever but no capital spent there
Then there's this thing called her being the minister of child poverty … No capital spent there in fact she should fire herself from that portfolio.
Poor brown and poor white and everyone else need houses, a stronger safety net and the removal of the fear of the cops busting down their door and ruining their lives over a damn joint more than they need social engineering programs.
You applaud the prime minister, I condemn the prime minister for only ever using her political capital to rule out doing anything substantial or to woke social engineer.
She is a political coward and a conservative and the sooner she will be remembered only for COVID because otherwise she is a complete disappointment who got everyone's hopes up for change and then did nothing for two terms but manage the downward spiral of this country.
' there's five motels across the road with me all full of people who live in them there are 200,000 empty homes in NZ that could house half a million people but the pm doesn't think it's an issue, '
Yes ,I've seen the empty houses issue blithely dismissed here because we 'don't have reliable data'.
We know when Vancouver introduced a mere 1% levy on homes empty for 6 months or more without good reason,that there was a 25% reduction in empty homes ,quicksmart.
23,000 living in motels,2billion plus Govt subsidies to landlords…!
No problemo.
ROFL….. Billions and billions have been already spend with nothing to show for. That will continue. Meanwhile law and order is something the pakeha invented, LOL
''Can anyone here elucidate this?''
Yes, no part, if you apply the definition of true Western Science. The problem science has when defending its rationale against Maori mysticism is Western science does not follow its own tenets. Funding and paid for outcomes has corrupted science in my opinion. But sciences worst crime is they are no longer interested in following the evidence once that evidence becomes uncomfortable to the status quo.
Given that, why shouldn't Mātauranga Māori not consider itself an equal and viable alternative to Western science?
Best comment yet.
Mātauranga Māori is a legitimate and valuable part of that vast human heritage of observational knowledge that was hard-won by humanity over millennia. No-one wants to discount or diminish it.
But the only people who confuse it with modern science are those who either those who don't understand what science is, or are too gutless to say so.
Exactly which Western sciences are you talking about when you talk about modern science?
Our universities have been calling lots of fields of study "science" – particularly in the Arts and Social Sciences fields.
My personal belief is that we are talking primarily about Maths+Physics+(maybe) Chemistry when we talk about modern science.
All the others appear to me to be primarily observational sciences. And some of those are highly speculative.
Fair point.
In terms of the classic STEM subjects, mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology there is an increasing shift from hard data, to noisy imprecise data – and the tools to interpret it become more difficult not less.
For example expressing concepts in most of physics can be done with rigor and formalism using mathematical tools. Much the same with chemistry, although statistical methods start to dominate. By the time we get to modern biological systems we no longer express much in deterministic equations, but a multitude of high order models and causal inferences. The tools shift and become harder to use but the modern world we live in is testament to it's astonishing success to date.
The social sciences always had the legitimate vision of emulating the same success – but many have failed to grasp just how damned hard that was going to be. And far too many of it's practitioners lacked the deep mathematical and logical skills necessary to do it well – and this is really quite understandable. Student who are interested in people are not so often also interested in the abstractions of mathematics and logic necessary to design, implement and analyse their experiments well. Instead they tend to uncritically stuff their raw data into a stats package and trust that the pretty graphs outputted will get the paper published.
As you say a lot of social science papers lack rigor, are rarely cited, lack repeatability and skepticism, are ideological and speculative. They aren't science either.
It's in the biological sciences that matauranga and science get overlaid and integrated..
Yeah, I'll echo RL, acknowledging your good response. My take is the Labour caucus decision to endorse mM (matauranga Māori) as a policy strategy exploits the dichotomy between the original concept of science (mostly knowledge/gnosis, publicised via reasoning from evidence) and the in-crowd definition that has emerged since the 19th century.
As a physics grad I naturally defer to the mana around the latter. As an alternative thinker for even longer, I naturally see the inadequacies & deficiencies of the latter.
Perversion of science via arbitrary or politically-biased funding decisions is way more obvious in the US scene, but is indeed apparent here too as you imply. And the question you ended with is indeed the key to advancing the policy. Unless sceptics pull finger & do some work rather than knee-jerk complaints, I have no real problem with mM. It needs to be contestable, but conservative laziness & lack of intellect could provide no contest.
How do you mean Mātauranga Māori needs to be contestible?
It is often wrapped up with mythological concepts as a means of facilitating memory.
So for example the mātauranga around growing and harvesting harakeke (flax) is spoken about in Māoridom in terms of the plant being a whanau, with children at the centre of the plant, so flax leaves are cut from outside – the tūpuna leaves.
https://eng.keitemohiokoe.tki.org.nz/Overview-of-Biology/Harakeke-1/Harvesting-harakeke
How do you mean Mātauranga Māori needs to be contestible?
Contestable in designing legislation (select committee scrutiny), then in how the policy is implemented. I meant re the "debate over giving matauranga Māori equal status with physics, biology and chemistry in the NCEA science syllabus".
We don't know enough to be more precise at this stage. So the thing will advance in credibility if it is framed for consensus. If framing is partisan, opposition gets more opportunity for leverage…
It's not an 'alternative'. Mataurangi Maori is not science, it is valuable observational knowledge which also happens to be intertwined with Maori spiritual concepts. Science attempts to explain natural observations with reference to the natural world. There are numerous observations of the natural world in the Bible, but that isn't science, and shouldn't be taught as such in schools. Nor should matauranga Maori.
Can someone please provide a comprehensive definition of "science"?
Thank you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science
"Science can be thought of as both a body of knowledge (the things we have already discovered), and the process of acquiring new knowledge (through observation and experimentation—testing and hypothesising). Both knowledge and process are interdependent, since the knowledge acquired depends on the questions asked and the methods used to find the answers."
Science is more than knowledge; it is a systemic approach to attaining knowledge that includes observation, experimentation, evidence, induction, repetition, critical analysis, verification and testing.
If this equates to the mathematical science that made it possible to get the mars voyage under way please bring the proof. Otherwise, in the field of science NZ will become the laughing stock internationally.
I am aware that this sounds offensive but I can reassure you, this is what will be seen in the very competitive field of science. BTW Science always was competitive, never benevolent.
Traditional lore is present in all cultures and is not called science.
As for the assertion the science based on mathematics and literature to record this – it is distinctly not Western but middle eastern and Asian.
"Can anyone here elucidate this?"
Sure.
The infamous Listener letter was prompted by a Ministry of Education Technical Report (Ministry of Education, 2021a) which recommended:
Matauranga Maori is a knowledge system that has valuable insights, but it's fundamental basis is Maori spirituality, and as such has no more place in the education curriculum than any other religious text with similar claims.
Righto. Thanks for that clarification! I agree with whoever wrote the report that the three recommendations are worth considering. Here's why:
Re #1, such curriculum parity serves to implement Te Tiriti – inasmuch as the principle of racial parity can be read between the lines of that. Happy to concede that yourself & others may not be able to discern it lying there! Doesn't matter. Maori will. Plus sufficient numbers of pakeha who give credence to the spirit of the treaty (rather than the colonial artifact itself) to be politically crucial to our future.
Re #2, that will serve as useful education to get participants up to speed on the ways science has been misused in governance – provided that suitable examples are both found and deployed in the instruction.
Re #3, it seems supplementary to #2 and one may need a microscope to spot the difference between them. Americans would undoubtedly deem their exclusion culturally offensive. Some would likely call it racist (inaccurately).
" I agree with whoever wrote the report that the three recommendations are worth considering. "
In a sociology context, not a scientific one.
a sociology context, not a scientific one
Yes, insofar as the former is more relevant, but I really meant in a political context in general & Labour's collective interests in particular (whilst declaring I'm not a Labour supporter I do support their hamfisted attempts to make progress – in principle)…
The 'Little Parliament' strikes again.
A victory for democracy, and justice.
……"We are ecstatic and stunned," said Rhian Graham, one of the four protesters cleared by a jury of criminal damage following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/politics/1872531-uk-blm-protesters-acquitted-over-pulling-down-of-slave-trader-statue
Unreal, the shit going down in the USA…
Could just be coincidence. Gun crime is so rife in the US and Floyd had connections with drugs, so maybe his family do as well. Not enough information in that article to suggest anything particularly out of the ordinary or "unreal" to me.
One to watch – for the outcome of the internal investigation into the police delay in attending, though.
There has been a few studies suggesting that to be the case. I'll try and find one later but from memory I dont think they're particularly applicable here as we only have 2 vaccines available.
is there a choice in NZ now?
Not at the moment.
This is not a bad read about it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/us/politics/fda-mix-and-match-boosters.html
Of course Soimom is a fan of the multimillionaire representing the second-poorest state in the union who denied his own constituents desperately needed relief in a pandemic.
Because poor people.
spit
https://twitter.com/nastywoman60/status/1476557623885451270
Why Grant Robertson should listen to US Senator Joe Manchin
Simon Bridges05:00, Jan 06 2022
[…]
The reason is that, in an evenly divided senate of 100, Manchin’s fellow Democrat, President Joe Biden, needs his support to pass the sweeping $2 trillion (yes, trillion) Build Back Better plan.
Manchin, though, on the eve of Christmas, decided to vote against the bill. His view is that the US already has high inflation, that inflation is hurting workers and families in his state, and that all the spending in the proposal would simply fuel that inflation.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/127437830/why-grant-robertson-should-listen-to-us-senator-joe-manchin
Simon managed to mention the last time inflation was even higher than present. It was due to a GST increase price adjustment imposed by National.
He also mentions that wages grew by only 2.4% and below inflation but fails to note the likely implication of that is that the increase will likely not be sustainable and will be a short term price adjustment.
Maybe try again when you figure out how to get most people above inflation pay raises, Simon.
The only way to do that is with two implementations:
Remove GST on rates (its a tax on the tax)
Remove GST on fresh vegetables and bread
Monitor all prices whether retailers increase their margins and impose Tax penalties if they do.
This would make a real difference to the vast majority of people, working or on a benefit. It is color blind, race neutral and helps children the most.
oh
Stewart rows it back.
“I do not think J.K. Rowling is antisemitic. I did not accuse her of being antisemitic,” Stewart said. “I do not think the Harry Potter movies are antisemitic. I really love the Harry Potter movies, probably too much for a gentleman of my considerable age.”
Stewart added, “I cannot stress this enough. I am not accusing J.K. Rowling of being antisemitic. She need not answer to any of it. I don’t want the Harry Potter movies censored in any way. It was a lighthearted conversation. Get a fucking grip.”
https://archive.li/Awjzq
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/campaign-against-antisemitism-defends-j-k-rowling-jon-stewart-goblin-claims-1278891/
His vid response
https://twitter.com/jonstewart/status/1478791577573199875
I don't get it, possibly because I've not see the films nor read the book. Are the goblins in the film true in imagery to the descriptions of the goblins in the books?
I haven’t read the books but some have argued the imagery of the films seems to have played on antisemitic stereotypes of bankers:
https://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/harry-potter-is-gringotts-picture-antisemitic-1.482785
I get that bit, just wasn't sure if the books are the same (and whether JKR is responsible for the film imagery). I'm guessing there is some similarity (the film just didn't make this up), but everyone is talking as though we've all read the books and seen the film.
goblins are beings that live underground, are associated with minind, minting and gold. Generally referred to as small, cunning, some what mean tempered, and involved in 'banking'.
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Goblin
Now one can argue that the fact that the Goblins are the bankers is 'anti semitic' per se. However, the words above are the words from her book.
the goblins in the film looked like that
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Goblin?file=Griphook.png
now according to John Steward his words were taken out of context, 'fuck news week' he said, and fwiw, i honestly believe that if he would have thought that about the Goblins that he would have been in a really good position to point that out 20 Years ago when the films were first relieved as host of the Daily Show.
https://dobrzen.com/jon-stewart-shreds-newsweek-for-claiming-he-accused-j-k-rowling-of-antisemitism-you-used-to-mean-something/
Maybe this really is just another thing that poeple want to be truth about the witch from scotland who believes that non males used to be called something, something particular that no one really can't quite remember anymore.
and again with trigger warning, the daily fail reporting where the left dare not go to
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10370787/Jewish-charity-defends-J-K-Rowling-Harry-Potter-anti-Semitism.html
One could argue that the description of goblins is based on old – very old anti semitism that goes back to medieval times, but for what its worth, i don't think that JKR really did go there.
So either someone tried to use John Stewart to smear an accomplished but opinionated and unimpressed author of the best selling books series, or John Stewart did try to smear the very opinionated author of a best selling book series and he got a call from her lawyer. And i would bet a dollar that she is way richer then he is. Take your pick.
Last, i hope that the NZ Herald has it in them to also print the fact that John Stewart is saying NO i did not say nor mean that. (not holding my breath though)
I was wondering if they arose originally because of anti-semitism in the middle ages, but google didn't help.
In the german story telling a kobold (goblin) is a magic small being. Can be good, can be mean, depending on the situation. Is often blamed for mechanical failure. Is associated with metals, mining, minting, hording. A mixture of a dwarf and an elf. A person, that should you cross one, you have to be honest with, show no fear, and above all don't try to bs your way out if you are having issues with them. Small but mighty, easily annoyed, angered, dread full temperament. Kobolde in german story telling are many things, but they are always small, cunning, not easily frightened, full of magic, and should never be taken for fools.
Rumpelstilzchen is a bit of a goblin.
ta.
That description really made me smile Sabine.
Has alot of similarities with an Irish…leprechaun.
My fav's the Lungnaslettir. He's one of the Yule Lads who wanders around Iceland with a set of bloody sheep's lungs slung over his shoulder.
Best any recalcitrant kids watch out because the Lungnaslettir is itching to give them one around the ears with the lungs.
https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/culture_and_living/2016/12/20/10_facts_about_the_icelandic_yule_lads/
Kind of funny if the only Australian courts Djokovic gets access to are the law courts.
Yes but his exemption…caught him..out…volley good ..show.
Here are the pooklets videoed on 2 & 3 January 2022. They've just started turning blue in front and on the underside. It always seems to happen suddenly, almost overnight.
And here they are when I first videoed them on 8 December 2021, then about a week old:
https://streamable.com/5ryqvs
Natz finance spokesperson Simon Bridges should do some research on Manchin…
Why Grant Robertson should listen to US Senator Joe Manchin | Stuff.co.nz
Manchin has done virtually zero to help West Virginians.
Senator Joe Manchin has a net worth of $5million, according to Ballotpedia.
He reportedly makes $174,000 annually from his job in the government.
When the Senator is not working, he can typically be found aboard his $250,000 boat.
Joe Manchin’s Dirty Empire (theintercept.com)
Well – that explains Simon's (JLR was my Chinese bagman) approval.
Well when I heard Simon was the Natz shadow finance minister,I realised Robertson would have a walk in the park.
I still remember Simons shitty deal with Anadarko…talk about N.F.I!
We may joke about him – but we really need an opposition that would compel the govt. to lift their game.
Robertson needs to be coming up with a few solutions to improve the housing affordability crisis irrespective of the abysmal quality of opposition members.
No argument there Stuart…the housing crisis could be solved by 'lunchtime' imo.
lols
dude tweeting that a disease is nothing to worry about, as 96% of people are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms. Good body of evidence. Passes the initial wikipedia test. That disease?
Polio.
https://twitter.com/kevpluck/status/1478996570653691904