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.
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.
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?
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Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 24 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Security forces reinforcements were sent from France ahead of two rival marches in the capital Nouméa today, at the same time and only two streets away one from the other. One march, called by Union Calédonienne party (a component of the ...
A poll last August found that just 16% of New Zealanders oppose bringing back the ‘Three Strikes’ law. The nationwide poll of 1,000 New Zealanders was commissioned by Family First NZ and carried out by Curia Market Research. ...
The solo show from Ana Scotney is both sprawling and intimate, and a must-see, writes Mad Chapman. In the opening moments of Scattergun: After the Death of Rūaumoko, writer and performer Ana Scotney lays out the groundwork, literally. Silently moving around the square stage, Scotney is not so much dancing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University Who makes the words? Why are trees called trees and why are shoes called shoes and who makes the names? – Elliot, age 5, Eltham, Victoria Good question Elliot! Let’s start with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne at amRawpixel.com/Shutterstock Roles of health professionals are still unfortunately often stuck in the past. That is, before the ...
COMMENTARY:By Malcolm Evans Last week’s leaked New York Times staff directive, as to what words can and cannot be used to describe the carnage Israel is raining on Palestinians, is proof positive, since those reports are published verbatim here in New Zealand, that our understanding of the conflict is ...
In the case of New Zealand, the results confirm that there is no popular support for the vicious austerity program being imposed by the National Party-led government, which is backed in all fundamental respects by the opposition Labour Party. ...
The ‘Vampire’ singer has never visited our part of the world, but that might all be about to change. We assess the evidence.Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour is pulling in massive crowds as it whips around the US and Europe, even helping to catapult regular supporting act Chappell Roan ...
Testing of drinking water in rural Canterbury over the weekend by Greenpeace revealed that several public town supplies were reaching levels of nitrate above 5 mg/L - the threshold which a growing body of scientific evidence has linked to increased ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Fisher, Information Technology for Development Researcher, Charles Darwin University It may come as a surprise to hear 2023 was Australia’s biggest bushfire season in more than a decade. Fires burned across an area eight times as big as the 2019–20 Black ...
Responding to the Government’s announcement of changes to resource management laws, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said: “These changes are a step in the right direction in terms of removing ideological and unworkable ...
More than two years after the Human Rights Council called for the establishment of a national human rights commission, such a body has yet to be formed. ...
Comment:An emergency management system with wide variations in performance, significant capability gaps, funding shortfalls and above all a setup that is not meeting the needs of New Zealanders at times of crisis. The Government’s inquiry into the response to Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events in the North ...
Welcome to the whirring wonders of one brain trying to align its actions with its beliefs within a system it thinks is evil. My brain has been spiralling in a woke conundrum ever since I found out a bookshop I’ve never been to was shutting down. Good Books, a bookshop ...
We repeat our call for criminal justice policy to be based on evidence, something the three strikes regime neglects to recognise – with no evidence that it either reduces crime or assists with rehabilitation. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara With only four more seats in the 50-member Parliament yet to be officially declared, there is no outright winner in the Solomon Islands elections. As of Monday, the two largest blocs in the winner’s circle, independents and the incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh ...
Two/fiftyseven is a multi-purpose space hidden in the heart of Wellington that is paving a way for sustainable building and responsible landlording in Aotearoa and beyond.By 2060 the world is predicted to double its entire building stock, which equates to building an entire New York City every 34 days, ...
Popstars wasn’t just a reality television revolution, it was also a huge moment for Y2K fashion.It’s 25 years since girl group TrueBliss was formed on New Zealand national television, breaking new ground for both the reality television industry and the shiny clothing industry. With the first episode on NZ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Pepping, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Griffith University Marvin / Shutterstock Are all single people insecure? When we think about people who have been single for a long time, we may assume it’s because single people have insecurities that make ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Geary, Lecturer in Quantitative Ecology & Biodiversity Conservation, The University of Melbourne Trismegist san, Shutterstock Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbour vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher, Lecturer in Marine Science, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Shutterstock/S Curtis Why are we crossing ecological boundaries that affect Earth’s fundamental life-supporting capacity? Is it because we don’t have enough information about how ecosystems respond to change? Or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Crocker, PhD Student in Economics, Deakin University Here’s something for the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia to ponder as it meets next month to set interest rates. It has pushed up rates on 13 occasions since it began its ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a charity director outlines how she’s saving for retirement and buying secondhand. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 45 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Charity director, mum of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Yates, Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Many Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late last year. Now a ...
It’s been called a failed experiment and a judicial straightjacket but the government says the revised three strikes law will be a more workable regime, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Three ...
New Zealand’s Palestinian community and Palestinian Youth Aotearoa are voicing alarm and disappointment with the lack of factual rigour present during the Israeli Ambassador’s appearance as a guest on TVNZ’s Q+A With Jack Tame Sunday (21/04). ...
Both ACT leader David Seymour, who played a key role in drawing up the assisted dying law, and hospice leaders say it's time the legislation was changed. ...
Public submissions on proposed gang control laws are being heard today. Rising gang membership has been cited as rationale for a crackdown – but what do we actually know about how many people belong to gangs in New Zealand?What’s all this then?A rise in the number of gang ...
Climate activists are setting their sights on an unpopular target, and hoping to bring lots of the public with them. It’s hard to miss the Majestic Princess: the enormous cruise ship, docked at Auckland’s Prince’s Wharf, looms over the nearby buildings. The ship, which can fit nearly 6,000 people, ...
Opinion: Making sure developers, local and central government, and landowners are all on the same page makes sense The post A new kind of city deal appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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The following korero between Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku, author of the newly published memoir Hine Toa, one of the year’s most important books, and Dale Husband from e-tangata, was first published in October. It traverses her involvement with the activist group Ngā Tamatoa at Auckland University in the early 1970s, her ...
In the 16 years since it was bought by the government for $690 million, KiwiRail has had several overhauls and turnaround plans worth billions of dollars. Its ambitions as a successful, profitable operator of tourism, freight and ferries have often been derailed by disasters from earthquakes to cyclones, mine explosions ...
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtJECy7aHwc
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 –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD7Ol0gz11k
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzffpeYnv-w
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.
https://vimeo.com/662802938
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