I heard that the Oz police raid was done on their own bat. Thinking, police who answer to their own logic, to keep them free from government and political interference, isn't there a vacuum? One body full of self-righteousness and self-granted probity – isn't that like having another government body not answerable to the people. If it looks at a law and interprets it in an unintended way, is it then a rogue body within the polity?
Same with the Army. PM Helen Clark says publicly yes go to war but don't engage. just assist as back-up. And Army says Yeah right – a fibbing Tui moment.
And the police doing their own thing involving virtual manslaughter of naughty poor youngsters joyriding driving like they see on TV reality cop shows – excited and alarmed beyond brain control and killing themselves. Police fishing for drugs, raiding old women's homes to look for drugs which they might have to effectively kill themselves when needed. The drugs not for recreational use or to sell for mindless profit, but treated mindlessly the same by authority obeying a mindless government.
And behind this rather loose and murky entity is the overpowering large government that holds such firm reins on others theoretically sovereign nations that they can request our police to do their bidding. Wikileaks has exposed for real what has been whispered, and they hate the truth, they can't handle it. And everywhere it pops up through journalists releases, they will act and dispute, and delete and redact and punish.
Countries may not have control of their police because of some fine-thinking decree, but in the absence of over-arching local authority, another can step in as is apparently the case in Australia over Wikileaks publishing to the public's right to know.
Yeah. Well that is something I think I heard. But things can change fast, so can apparent facts – just take out a letter and you get fats and fast. Minute difference and such a big effect. Probably got it wrong.
You heard that trusting statement from one Craig McMurtrie, who was interviewed this morning on RNZ National by Corin Dann. McMurtrie is the ABC's "editorial director", which means, of course, that he will have been heavily involved in shaping the ABC's demeaning, misleading, Government-friendly coverage of Assange's persecution over the last few years.
It will be interesting to see if the likes of McMurtrie have the integrity and the courage to defend the ABC's few decent journalists who are being targeted by the Government via its publicly funded goon squad.
McMurtrie and Dann this morning both used phrases like "chilling effect on journalism" and talked of the need to protect "whistle-blowers". McMurtrie several times expressed surprise that such state intimidation of journalists could occur "in a liberal democracy like Australia."
Not once did either McMurtrie or Dann mention the most famed Australian whistle-blower and journalist, Julian Assange.
Yes, that was a stunning exercise in wonderment. Assange has figuratively been slow-boiled alive since since 2010. Now those two goons have suddenly found that the pot they are in is starting to boil as well.
Between Trump's label of 'fake news' for any report he doesn't like, and the increasing state oppression of investigative journalists, whistle blowers, and leakers, it has never be more plain that certain actors are trying to shut the media down.
Of course, where the USA goes Australia follows and the article "Shooting the messengers" on the Inside Story blog outlines how far down the track that track the ALP has wandered over the ditch. That article, by the way, also seems to studiously avoid mention Assange.
That sounds as I would imagine. Watch and wait for the next exciting episode. Who needs fiction when you find so much interesting faction around. Nightly shows will be held with erudite, ironic and fluent thinkers where they guess the amount of truth in current news. Could be something like the one with Stephen Fry in UK.
More Police Raids As War On Journalism Escalates Worldwide
June 05, 2019 "Information Clearing House" –The Australian Federal Police have conducted two raids on journalists and seized documents in purportedly unrelated incidents in the span of just two days.
Yesterday the AFP raided the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst, seeking information related to her investigative report last year which exposed the fact that the Australian government has been discussing the possibility of giving itself unprecedented powers to spy on its own citizens. Today they raided the Sydney headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corp, seizing information related to a 2017 investigative report on possible war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan.
Subterranean Fire documents historically how the capitalist class have nefariously accumulated wealth and power for selfish purposes by depriving working people of dignity and rights.
Subterranean Fire details at the outset how strike actions and popular revolts were put down by corporations through their cronies, including police, private detectives, vigilantes, and even the National Guard. In the Homestead strike of 1892, after workers had defeated the Pinkerton agency’s private army, the National Guard was brought out.
U.S. Congressman Admits His Marine Unit ‘Killed Probably Hundreds of Civilians’ in Iraq June 05, 2019 "Information Clearing House" – Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) has come under fire after admitting during a podcast interview that his Marine Corps unit "killed probably hundreds of civilians" during the atrocity-laden First Battle of Fallujah in 2004.
When will our Min of Education be honest regarding pay rates?
From June 2018 until June 2022 teachers pay increase 9.3%, inflation 8%, BUT it will not be until the 2021/2022 that teachers pay will be higher in real terms than it was in June 2018. And he thinks that is satisfactory for teacher pay to go backwards for all 3 years of this govts. term and that strike action is not warranted ?
Teachers should count themselves lucky. There are very large numbers of workers in this country who have had no meaningful wage rise in the past 10 years.
Kevin You represent backward-looking, yokel NZrs – making sure that the country never advances in any way by bringing up some negative statistic that undermines a case that somebody is making for improvements.
There is always somebody worse off than someone else near the bottom, but one advancing can result in others getting a trickle down effect. If wealthy there isn't the same, but teachers are not wealthy just rising a little in the pay scale to middle income and yet require great skills, and their work is getting more difficult. If you can't say anything helpful try not to say anything at all. I don't notice much from you except heaps of cold sludge.
"Radio New Zealand provides in depth, quality, impartial programmes that might otherwise not be available on commercial radio, or without public funding ."
What an untruth !
This is to say that Simon Bridges, The Head of the Undemocratic Wealthy Party in New Zealand gets to speak his incoherent nonsense on Radio New Zealand each week day. He has the run of the Studio. ! Bias upon Bias upon Bias.
He uses a segment called "Morning Report". Radio NZ's many reporters fawn over him – for they are members of his Undemocratic Wealthy Party in New Zealand.
They, the Reporters, have helped The Wealthy Party to bring about a horrendous attack on the normal citizens of New Zealand. Hundreds of Thousands of whom have no Housing, or who are paying rents to the amount of $500 weekly on very low wages.
Radio New Zealand is an Utter Scandal.
It is the plaything of very very Rich. It tramples over the poor day in day out.
We normal New Zealanders must take the Wealthy Undemocratic Party To the Highest Court in the Land.
With the Charge that they Have denied Food, to the Citizens of this Country; they Have denied Housing; They have charged outrageous Rents; they have paid very low wages. Let us take their Banks – to the same Courts.
Let us Get the Undemocratic filthy Wealthy National Mob – out of our Nation. ! Get Rid of Bias and inequality.
They start by training their little girls in wealth. Then their little snobby Boys. Then they tell them not to mix with nasty poor children.
Then in a short time they don't even know how to spell Poverty. And they get taken away to get their Tits reshaped. Then Daddy has a chat with the Cops and his boy doesn't get shoved into prison – where he should be.
NZTA's maps of their suggested "safe and appropriate speed" strongly suggests they have no fucking idea. Seriously, they suggest 100km/h as a safe and appropriate speeds for dangerous twisty high crash rate bits of road like the Desert Road from the Waihohonu Bridge through the Three Sisters through to the top of the long straight hill just south of Turangi, or SH1 beside Lake Taupo where there's the tight corners going around the bluffs, but suggest reducing parts of the Taupo bypass to 80km/h where it's limited access separate dual carriageways with median barriers.
That map seems to bear no relation to reality whatsoever. Either that or they got it round the wrong way and the slider reveals the roads that aren't safe to drive at 100kph.
They're certainly correct that the risk of being killed in a crash would be much lower if people drove the highways at 60 – 70kph, but that's the same as it being correct that your risk of electrocution would be much lower if you turned off the mains switch in your house: it's true, but no-one in their right mind would do it.
I'm somewhat amused by their treatment of the Waterview Tunnels. When they were opened, there was a massive song and dance about why the speed limit through them had to be 80km/h, and there's speed cameras at the entrance and exit both directions. Yet their suggested "safe and appropriate speed" is 100.
I hope this government gets nine years just so they can keep putting much-needed infrastructure spending into railways, but it's freight movements that will benefit. Passenger rail is never going to a popular means of inter-city travel as long as we have narrow-gauge rail, single-tracked. Fixing that will never be viable.
But you are allowed your e-bikes on trains for free. So you jump on the train and have personal transport at the other end. Personally, I love this concept.
It'll take some time for sure, we used to have an extensive rail network they were shutting lines down in the 70's and probably ever since.
It's what I was doing in the South Is in the 70's. Only my bike didn't have an 'e'. I have many fond memories of the NZR crews, more often than not they'd let me ride on top of the mail bags in the now vanished guard wagons for free. I think it was because I was too grubby to have anywhere near proper passengers!
And I'd get a cup of steaming hot tomato soup if I got dead lucky 🙂
We are repeating a similar gerfuffle to how it was when computers came in. Computers were known to be right so anything that came out of them must be genuflected to. Now it is alghorithms deciding and screening people from getting ACC treatment, and having to go at 80 on a perfect 120 km stretch of road because some bits of metal and wires in a container say so.
What about robot police eh. That'll be the next move, the police will enjoy running robots like Military Forces are sitting on swivel-chairs running armed forces doing maneouvres against real people and their homes.
This is serious, it is important that we don't all end up standing outside doors waiting for them to automatically open for us. And the frostbite when the electricity is down will be awful. The buzz before we collapse – if only our systems at home had informed us of this dangerous double tragedy, blizzards and non-opening doors. Oh what shall we do now, we can't phone home because the blizzards have knocked out the cellphones?
My birthday today. Fitting time to apologise to the people I've been aggressively arguing with over the past couple of days.
Tony, Peter, sorry. Gosman… lol.
And thank you to those commenters who talked me down rather than piled on.
Right or wrong I'm coming across angry a lot and it bothers me. It is amazing when mental health slips how emotions can take hold and your thinking ignores answers it has known for some time.
So I'm thinking I'm angry because x said this, and y thinks I'm that….
But anger is a secondary emotion. So what's going on?
I am profoundly sad. I am a clever bastard and I solve problems. With climate change I just feel utterly helpless and hopeless.
Acknowledging that I actually feel a bit better. Time for a birthday celebration of chest x rays and stool samples.
Good on ya Bleeple, keep rolling… and don't worry I suffer the same at times, getting all pissed off and writing aggro things, the style of which is later regretted…
Life's a roller-coaster – you just gotta buckle up properly and hold on for the ride…
Happy Birthday, WeTheBeeple. Being sad is ok – coming to terms with what is happening to our world is very hard, especially when it has to be acknowledged that we, as the 'little people' can't do much to change it. Be kind to yourself and try to find something to do on your special day that you enjoy in the midst of your medical dramas. Kia kaha
I've been wondering about ya, WTB. When someone's an exemplar, as you are in the realm of earth-care, it must be difficult to maintain high standards when venturing "off-site" into more mundane political fields where squabbling's the norm.
In any case, have a delightful birthday and regarding the stool sample; give 'em all you've got
With regards feeling sad; enjoy it while you can; sadness, especially when it's profound, is the gateway to Resolution and Growth. The alchemists said that deep darkness, charred and ruinous, is the prerequisite to the true growth that results in the state of whiteness and pure clarity; sounds like you're on your way
Thanks everyone I really appreciate the support. Got to venture off into this rainy day and I'm delaying, sitting here with the cat purring in my lap, all toasty and warm.
While I agree (Robert) that this process is part of healing/transformation, I do get overly frustrated with the three-steps forward, two-steps back pattern. But that's all typical human stuff?
As I get back on the road and my world broadens again the claustrophobic crowding of fears and anxiety will subside. Too much time in this chair.
Trying to work out a sustainable touring company. Tricky! Anyone got a spare 100K so I can get an EV with decent range.
Nissan Leaf currently has a 40Kw van model that will do 250-300 km depending on terrain. My partner's work vehicle is the older 24Kw that does around 112-130km and is upgrading soon.
There is a 7 seater on TradeMe for $37,850 but I suspect it is the low range version. My partner's boss is importing his directly from the UK. Sorry, can’t offer anything more substantive, especially since it is your birthday.
I appreciate the feedback! I got lucky. Last week(s) I took friends out to see comedy and a friend of a friend came too (new friend). So, ever the great host I filled him up with Jamiesons and introduced him to several 'stars'. Turns out his job is the importation and selling of EV's and he thinks I'm the bees knees.
My mate mentioned my situation and I just heard he might be keen on a sponsorship deal – which would work out great for him as I'd talk up the EV in every town.
We shall see, what a great twist of fate that that is who he was.
Always pays to be nice, I find it much easier in theory…
By temperament I have the same challenge. When I was younger I confronted it tramping, climbing and generally getting off my arse and doing things that provoked anxiety but in a controlled fashion. That was transformational, I went from being a useless 14 yr old to a functioning adult at 24 yrs. Took a while but it worked.
Next big mistake was not being responsible for my own naivety and stupid mistakes. You WILL get fucked around with and people WILL do things that are unfair and malicious; I spent far too much of my life expecting them to be better and the world to be a fairer place, when the problem was my own weakness.
The next piece of the puzzle is one crucial word … competence. Don't mistake this for being smart. People like you and me have relied on our IQ to get us through life, but by itself this is never sufficient. It leaves us feeling like we never quite fulfilled our potential. Or to put it bluntly … the world is full of smart people who're losers.
Smart is a trap, it fills the mind with useless chatter, it paralyses action and it means we never reach the point where we become truly, innately competent. IQ is merely a constraining factor in success, not the root cause of it. Competence is knowledge turned into skill, they're related but not the same thing. Worst of all the mere knowledge of this is useless to you. Without volition, without purpose and will, it fails to become action. This is the secret to never giving up, it rewires the brain, it reveals the unsuspected folded within you. In this you have to be really tough on yourself.
I empathise with the angst, but remind myself that after all those tests and x-rays, amongst all the chaff, you seem to be surrounded by good people and green and growing things. I'll try and do the same.
Your posts often elevate and inform, and your propensity to being just human after all, is reassuring for me at least.
We the Bleeple….Happy birthday! We are birthday twins. So hope you have a great day too!
I was really moved by what you wrote a few days back about your life. I was unab to comment at the time due to technical problems that sometimes happen for me on this site.
WtB Hope your birthday turns out nice. And remember there are 364 unbirthdays out there when good things and good wishes can turn up – nice surprises can abound not recognisably wrapped with bows on. Quote for the day: Life is a see-saw – up push, down fall, ready for the next day of …action, reflection, disappointment, recovery, completion, wonder, laughter, meeting of minds sweet, hopeful and ironic.
I guess I am one of the people who argued with you over the last few days, but nothing personal. We all have different viewpoints but I am sure we all want the best result. And a little robust and challenging discussion can help us all in the end.
Have a great day and best of wishes for a positive outcome all round and for the year ahead!
Don't forget you said yourself a day or so ago (I think it was you) that after some days of feeling bad you have days of feeling fine and dandy. I know when feeling bad I think I will never not feel bad. But it's not true. Brains can be such dicks some times.
A shrink I know says to remind oneself to tell the brain some thoughts are simply not helpful.
Are you coming across angry, or are you actually angry? Reading other people's comments is all about projection. If someone habitually uses the F word like punctuation rather than any real invective, others can infer anger when it was just a simple sentence 😉
The thing I worked out – some time back – is that each of us is unique. Which is a helluva beaut thing! We are not a clone. We do things our way WTP. Which is what Nature wants. Variety; penetration, Wonder. Our way is best. Hang on to that. Good man.
Thanks again everyone. Today I went to the wrong Hospital. Senility creeping in.
The editing software here is a nightmare to drop poetry into. It's godawful. Perhaps a selling point…
Five O + GST
The hairdresser couldn't make me any younger but she banished the neck fluff and beat the brows back into submission
Trimmed now I haul my aging frame out to a bench and strike conversation with Stan the homeless man
An amputee pigeon hobbles across the walkway in front of Prada "Kinda poetic" I point 'Meryl Steep wears that shit' says Stan "You mean the Devil?" We laugh "If the Devil turns up for a dress I'm'a kick him in the nuts" I say We laugh some more
I shake hands with Stan dropping a tenner in his palm then I walk the road
Twenty, forty, fifty dollars Smiling gap toothed faces
I've cheered myself up but I go all out Off to Lush for a perfumed bath bomb To Farmers for some pure wool socks and finally
A mince and cheese pie
Life is good.
(that was me attempting to get a format without large gaps in each line. Not worth the bother aye).
No, nay, never, No never no more, Will I play the wild rover, No, never, no more. Just keep on presenting poetry just like the above, or how it turns out WtB. You are wild and free, and great. Loved it all. Mince and cheese yeah. Who could ask for more.
Hi WTB. Have you ever had a look at Old Norse poetry. It's difficult because they used a circumlocutory device called kenning which takes some getting used to, but it can be very powerful. My favourite is one by Egil Skalla-Grimmsson called Sonnatorrek (loss of sons) It's a thousand years old. Probably not your thing but here it is: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/sonatorrek-loss-sons.html
I like it. It could almost have been written by some Celt today. Long, but.. no telly then.
By the format required, some of this (Skald work) might be considered 'viking doggerel' where the form relays events of the day.
Th English Dept at Uni did my head in they spent so much time discussing things that were not there and fawning over Jane Austen, no conjoint for me… Science all the way 😀
I'm getting to feel very sorry for Mr Makhlouf – National have managed to screw him up. I hope not over. Vicious little buggers in National. I am told that 2,000 hits does not meet the usual status of denial-of-service. But it is certainly way out from normal. Who actually explained the case to him? Have Treasury been hoist on their own petard in looking for well-priced contracts for maintaining their IT needs, and got what they paid for?
The sorry saga of hack-gate began about 6pm last Monday when a National Party staffer discovered parts of the government's Budget had been uploaded to the Treasury website.By 10am on Tuesday the Opposition had started drip-feeding details of the Wellbeing Budget – due to be released by the Finance Minister Grant Robertson on Thursday – to the media.,,, The National Party has for a week been calling for both Mr Makhlouf's and Mr Robertson's heads and has also demanded Mr Makhlouf at the least be stood down while the investigation is carried out.
How he's not been put on leave yet is quite baffling.
(I find it baffling how the local media can make judgments about someone being 'put on leave' over making a mistake like this very puzzling. A political journalist on a public body as Radionz calling for something that would have a destabilising effect of the government, unreasonably enhancing the minor mistake to a large misdemeanour is unsatisfactory.
Also Radionz have a number of times referred to the event as arising from simple searching. This also shows incorrect reporting. 2000 hits is not simple searching. It was using a public search option to a degree that normal public would be unaware of; a back-door way to manipulate the option to draw out more information than was intended to be available. It was a fault in the program and either known or found by manipulation then used to the full by working overtime to get the 2,000 hits.)
It would have been a long weary task but a sneaky and malign Opposition found it valuable and to its taste.
A denial of service attack just shuts websites down, it doesn't extract data.
The problem was with the search engine and the little samples of documents you get in the search results: you see a bit in front and a bit behind the search terms. So if you then search for those bits behind the original search, you can find the bits that come after them, and piece the whole document together that way. Those were the 2000 hits.
Debating whether that's a "hack" (conjuring images of spotty teens keyboard-mashing in basements to cool industrial soundtracks) is a distraction from the absolute fact that the people who extracted that data knew they should not be authorised to access the contents of budget documents in that way, yet still did so.
That's why the nats are pushing so hard on Makhlouf. Distract people from realising that what they did was illegal, and therefore that a police referral was appropriate.
To my mind it was a 'hack' alright. That is was a very easy hack technically is irrelevant. ALL hacks exploit some form of public domain vulnerability in a manner the owner of the site does not intend.
is a distraction from the absolute fact that the people who extracted that data knew they should not be authorised to access the contents of budget documents in that way, yet still did so
That is the critical and obvious point that most of the media seem determined to ignore. Totally agree with you on this one 🙂
You are obviously not well versed in IT based on your comments above. 2000 hits on the public search feature of an organisation in the time specified is not a lot at all.
From three different computers, often referring to the outputs of previous searches from those machines? When was the last time you searched a government site in that manner?
Yeah he knows, just parroting the same point over and over, but 2000 searches from 2-3 machines is a bit different than 2000 searches from 2000 machines, mmk?
It doesn't matter if it was 2 hits or 20 billion, whoever was doing this knew damn well they were not allowed to access the Budget documents before it was released.
… a National Party staffer discovered parts of the government's Budget had been uploaded to the Treasury website.
For fuck's sake, parts of the budget were not uploaded to the Treasury's web site, and that has been explained multiple times in various forums by people who know what they're talking about. Journalists should know better by now. The budget documents were indexed by the web site's search engine, which is not the same thing at all.
The mistake was somebody missing a config change they needed to make to a search engine. How that gets parlayed into something Gabriel Makhlouf and Grant Robertson should resign or be stood down for is beyond me. I notice Simon Bridges hasn't offered to resign for carrying out a data breach on a government agency, which sounds much more like a resignation offence to me.
"Broken promises" and "lies" are the words Ms Johnstone uses to describe her disappointment with the Labour government she's previously campaigned for after it failed to meaningfully boost funding to Pharmac in its latest budget.
"I was devastated," said Ms Johnstone, whose eight-year-old daughter Lucy featured on a Labour campaign advertisement during the last elections.
"David Clarke and Jacinda Ardern had all said they were going to improve cancer care and we believed it."
"I'd had friends who had never voted before who said, 'that's it, I'm enrolling and I'm going to vote' and who messaged me on the day 'I went and voted for you Claudine, I want to give you a chance.' So I feel like I've lied to them too, I've let them down."
"Those who were lied to by the current government will not necessarily vote National…they just won’t vote at all"
..indeed, it will be interesting to see turn out next election. Certainly I can see, at best, large disaffected/disillusioned groups dragging their feet reluctantly to the voting booths…though I get the feeling Labours 'trump card*' is hoping that National stick with Bridges.
*Both a figurative and Literal pun at this time. And a strategy that didn't help the Democrats last election.
There is deep disillusionment out here in formerly Hopeful Land. The wounds from National's hard arsed years are still raw, and the Wellbeing Balm is not being spread evenly across all those who have done it tough for well over a decade.
Making the most vulnerable on benefits wait years for any appreciable relief is cruel and unforgivable and will hurt children and those who are unable to work through health and disability issues most.
On these pages there appears to be little appetite for supporting those calling for an increase in Pharmac's budget so New Zealanders are not looking enviously at their Aussie cousins while their lives slip way.
I read the comment then went to check an article in Ingenio which just arrived 'Fighting Cancer: Our Research Revolution'
It's mostly to do with immune therapy, and how they believe they may have cancer beat – eventually. Apparently our survival rate was 24% in 1972, and 57% today. Still not great but definitely better.
All this research they're doing is rather brilliant and so is the team. But at the end of the day it's still a pipeline to make new drugs that pharmaceutical companies get hold of. Then, all that taxpayer money and philanthropy given to them is converted to dollars for billionaires and screw you.
As I see it.
I only lasted a few months in medical (micro) biology as I realised they were after new drugs, and I was after eliminating the need for them.
The whole Big Pharma drug business model is self-perpetuating and monopolising in the sense that it is the only existing pipeline, i.e. they are the only game in town. Therefore, it is inevitable that sooner or later a new drug or treatment ends up with and in the hands of Big Pharma. They will recoup costs plus a healthy [pardon the pun] profit margin so that they keep their shareholders happy and can keep investing in the next blockbuster. They need to do this to stay in business or become the target of a hostile take-over or a ‘friendly’ merger or acquisition.
If this pattern can be broken, or bypassed rather, and I think it can, and much of the irrelevant ‘development costs’ be removed then overall costs will drop and more smaller (niche) players can enter the game.
Instead of bringing new drugs to market, it will be bringing new drugs to patients. A fundamental shift in thinking AKA a paradigm shift.
An example of a different model is the money the Government spends on combatting Kauri disease. It is not profit-driven but needs-driven. I’d like to to think that it can be done in other settings too!
In the meantime, it is the system we are stuck with..with Pharmac acting as gatekeeper.
While we await this fundamental paradigm shift what do we say (as taxpayers) to those who are having the funding cut for the drugs that work for their condition or cannot get funding for drugs that are working for others overseas with their condition?
It's a pleasure, marty. I love seeing these fools melt down in public. Sugar's simply a gross and disgusting creature—a repulsive mixture of two other elderly racists, Donald Trump and our own "Sir" Bob Jones—-and his performance was nothing more or less than you would expect.
Less edifying, of course, is to see Keith Olberman, who used to be a thoughtful and intelligent commentator, allow himself to degenerate into a deranged conspiracy theorist, barking madly about "Russian SCUM!!!!"…..
SkyCity convention centre faces further six-month delay…. the Auckland-based company told the Macquarie Investor Conference in Sydney today.
When Fletcher won the contract in October 2015, construction was predicted to start in late December that year and be finished in February 2019. However after *Fletcher ran into problems with cost blowouts, SkyCity said last year that the deadline had been pushed out to mid-2019.
SkyCity said today that its investment in the projects is expected to be in line with the original budget of about $703m, and it remains comfortable with the contractual arrangements. The construction contracts provide for liquidated damages, which should mitigate losses through delay, the company said….
The company said it has secured three major convention bookings since March, in addition to the six previously announced, and continues to work on numerous leads and opportunities. The 33,000sq m facility will be the largest purpose-built convention centre [Auckland NZ International Convention Centre] in the country.
*Remember that Fletcher shares are now owned by many overseas retirement trusts etc. So they have come to NZ grabbed all the contracts and spoiled the flow of our business to our companies, and then FU and don't keep to contract. Also Fletchers seem to be majorly building casinos, and convention centres round the country. So is that where the building resources and foreign investment (so good for NZ economy) is going?
"There is not doubt in my mind that local industry could deliver the required amount of steel and the required quality as well," said David Moore, Grayson Engineering chief executive. "We'd just like to say we're here, we're capable, we have the skill set."
While the steel companies accept international competition, they say it's ultimately workers here who are being let down.
The union Etu has slammed the steel contract decision.
"I think it's a national disgrace that we are not supporting our local manufacturers who employ local people on big local jobs," said Joe Gallagher of the union.
Our government also fails to recognise the assistance China gives her steel mills in financial terms as "subsidies", and so no tariffs or penalties are applied to imports.
Therefore any domestic steel manufacturers are often unable to compete or even match on product price.
Cinderella is sweet often but rather simple. She keeps hoping for a Prince with good heart and bags of money. Meantime she whiles away her days dreaming of pumpkins turning into carriages, but that only happens in fairy stories. That is about the summation of our intellectual expertise and likely outcome I fear.
Its good that the gun person face supprisson order been lifted people will see Hes a puppet .
scottmo is suppressing the media in Australia is it accommodation ?????????
Eco Maori says the Obamas keeping a public profile is awesome we need good people to show the Papatuanuku how good whanau behave there spotafi deal will help keep that Phenomenon going congratulations on the book.
Alcohol causes a lot of harm to our society it's the usual everything in moderation 2 to 3 in the evening not getting stuffed up by the stuff.
It's good that the teachers strike next week has been called off. Why get rid of Kiwibuild there are people under the bridge judy can't get that logic.
It cool that Aotearoa scientists are pioneering ruamoko earthquake monertying technology to save lives.
That's why he didn't sign the social media clauses set up in one way its good to see Rugby.
Tall people have a advantage in society us average height tangata are ok my sons give me stick because they are taller than me.
The weight problem is dietary we consume way too much sugar it should be only put in the petrol tanks when the price of carbon goes up it will force the price of sugar up and it will all be diverted to fuel hopefully.
Here you go Whanau this proves that the wealthy make OUR laws to suit their ideals .
I have heard a old saying you have to have poverty to keep the system going to keep wages low to keep the economy humming along YEA RIGHT what's wrong with everyone having enough money to have a happy healthy life now and in the future.
You see Whanau it's the 99.9 % tangata who make the system if we all champion equalty for all it will happen.
The Wealthy could gift half of their money to the poor and still have plenty to play with .
Inequality is unlikely to fall much in the future unless our attitudes turn unequivocally against it. Among other things, we will need to accept that how much people earn in the market is often not what they deserve, and that the tax they pay is not taking from what is rightfully theirs.
One crucial reason why we have done so little to reduce inequality in recent years is that we downplay the role of luck in achieving success. Parents teach their children that almost all goals are attainable if you try hard enough. This is a lie, but there is a good excuse for it: unless you try your best, many goals will definitely remain unreachable Inequality begets further inequality. As the top 1% grow richer, they have more incentive and more ability to enrich themselves further. They exert more and more influence on politics, from election-campaign funding to lobbying over particular rules and regulations. The result is a stream of policies that help them but are inefficient and wasteful. Leftwing critics have called it “socialism for the rich”. Even the billionaire investor Warren Buffett seems to agree: “There’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years and my class has won,
It gives Eco Maori a sore face to see that our rangitahi are raising the awareness of climate changes being a huge threat to our future society's.
Public concern about the environment has soared to record levels in the UK since the visit of Greta Thunberg to parliament and the Extinction Rebellion protests in April.
The environment is now cited by people as the third most pressing issue facing the nation in tracking data from the polling company YouGov that began in 2010. Environment was ranked after Brexit and health, but is ahead of the economy, crime and immigration
The Whole Papatuanuku need to follow in the footsteps of these good intellectuals whom can see that recycling everything we can so as not to over exploit mother earth's capacity
The smell in Natural Weigh, a zero-waste shop that opened a year ago in Crickhowell in mid-Wales, is lovely. The shop – filled with pasta, grains, seeds and dried fruit served from hoppers to avoid plastic packaging; washing-up liquid and laundry products that customers pump into their battered old squeezy bottles; fair-trade coffee and chocolate, plus an array of environmentally friendly products, such as bamboo toothbrush holders, plastic-free dental floss and vegan leather snack pouches – looks lovely. The little town itself, which prides itself on having the best high street in Britain, is lovely, too. I am captivated ka kite ano link below.
Congratulations for your win Lisa I agree we can not let the disruptors win they use racial issues any issues to stirs up the people emotions and lie next minute when they are in power the people are let down because everything farge promises is just lies to pull in the votes .I think that there should be a huge fine for Bullshiting pollies who are caught losing.
Peterborough byelection result: Labour scrapes past Brexit party to hold seat
Labour’s Lisa Forbes says result shows ‘the politics of division will never win’
Labour has held on to the marginal seat of Peterborough, defeating predictions that the contest could deliver a first byelection victory to Nigel Farage’s Brexit party.
Addressing her supporters early on Friday following the count, Labour candidate Lisa Forbes said: “Tonight’s result is significant because it shows that the politics of division will never win
The tramper missing in the Tararua rangers hope he is found a live sounds like he is onto it fingers crossed.
It would be good to have cameras on all fishing boats to keep the fishermen honest and make them be extremely careful in areas where our endangered Maui dolphins resides.
A month rain in 24 hours the bad weather making havoc in America at the minute———–.
That is good luck the British motorbike rider who was impailed on a branch of the tree he crashed into on his bike.
The plastic fantastic roads being made using recycled plastic is awesome that is the correct attitude never giving in on your quest to recycle our waste . This is just the start in our recycle reuse SOCIETY.
Ka pai to te ao Maori news and Mr Black for championing the need for science room for the tamariki at that kurakopapa.
Mr Dews I agree we need to come up with new fishing techniques to stop the damage being dune to our endangered Maui dolphins.
Its is that Vanuatu got that hurricane last year it wreaked havoc on there coffee crop and plants 5 million from Aotearoa to help their Agricultural sector is very good.
It would be nice to see whare around all Marae I say we should structure mahi cottage industry around our Marae as well as houses we need to create our own mahi and money with the Marae mana the whanau won't let it fail.
Eco Maori is a fan of Ardijah and Pukuhohe Maori TV comedy series.
There are some farmers not being compliant on the environment laws for their property the few make the many look bad .
I agree we need to have more horticultural farming having policies and money to make that happen is cool
Its the old saying don't have to marry eggs in one basket we need to all Farm Organically also have to much exposure to China and dariy prices at the minute.
Alcohol needs to be restricted alcohol is a problem that has caused a lot of damage to tangata whenua Eco Maori say it's a gateway drug to harder DRUGS.
It should not be sold in food outlets supermarket keep the stuff out of sight of our Mokopuna.
I don't think that alcohol companies should be in school education tamariki about alcohol bad effects that's what the media job is .
Its hard for people with disabilities in our society's culture at the minute we need to value and respect our disadvantage tangata.
I agree the state making the disabled to keep producing duplicates of forms to apply for state funding when in most cases the person circumstance doesn't change how ridiculous.
Eco Maori thinks that junk food is definitely causing food allergies I think that is what was wrong with my mokopuna a last year all the chemicals that are put into that stuff is amazing that the food companies can get away with it commercialism 1
A ballooning diet of junk food might be one of the factors fuelling a rise in food allergies, researchers have suggested.
Experts say they have seen a rise in food allergies in western countries, including the UK. While true prevalence can be tricky to determine, data published by NHS Digital shows episodes of anaphylactic shock in England due to adverse food reactions rose steadily from 1,362 in 2011-12 to 1,922 in 2016-17.
The culprit, some scientists have suggested, could be substances known as advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs.
AGEs occur naturally in the body, but they are found in high levels in highly processed foods, as well as other sources such as cooked meats. They form when sugars react with proteins or lipids. High levels of AGEs in the body, which it has been suggested can result from consuming AGE-rich foods, have previously been linked to a number of conditions including diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
Now a small study by researchers in Italy has shown that children with food allergies have higher levels of AGEs in their bodies than healthy children without allergies. Children with respiratory allergies showed no such differences. The team also found that children with higher levels of AGEs consumed more food containing such substances la kite ano link below.
“Canani said the team’s research using cells suggested AGEs might directly interact with with immune cells, and they also seemed to have a detrimental effect on the gut barrier.”
That (gut epithelial deterioration) aligns with other studies into various conditions associated with dietary problems including Coeliac’s and IBS.
The housing shortage is dire it's bad that those people in Edgecome liveing in a tent 2 working but there are no suitable houses thanks shonky.
I say its very cool the walking tracks being closed so they can be up graded with board walls to minimize the spread of the Kauri die back disease in Auckland.
That's awesome NASA selling fairs to the space station that we're we have to go in the future. Its cool world health is it or highlighting all the plastic waste being washed into Tangaroa and our Awa
The skilled teachers shortage is another symptom of the last ten years of a government that ran the country cut budgets for core government services and gave the wealthy tax cuts.
The extra work for the people of Kai kohi planting trees is cool mahi is great for the wairua.
The sky tower challenge its cool that the aim is to tau toko mental health
Good short film made about Wahine monthly periods and Kuia menopause being short listed for a award.
Congratulations and good luck with your new song and single Pere
What other song could we play as the UK's political rule book gets torn up and thrown away?Video courtesy of YouTubeThis post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Legendary in my own mind, I mean. All times are NZ, which is an hour10.00am (NZ) There's about an hour to go until the exit poll is released. At that point, half of the British voting public will devastated, and the other half celebrating wildly. Unless everyone is simply confused.Turnout seems ...
Forlorn Hope: When the call came down to make Corbyn unelectable, the Establishment's journalists and columnists rose to the challenge. Antisemitism was only the most imaginative of the charges levelled against the old democratic-socialist. There were many more and, sadly, they appear to have worked. Boris Johnson may not be much ...
"Rendezvous" by David Low, September 1939.DUNEDIN IS THE BIRTHPLACE of, for my money, the world’s greatest cartoonist, David Low. At the height of his powers, in 1930s London, Low’s cartoons represented the visual conscience of the civilised world. His most famous cartoon, “Rendezvous”, penned a few weeks into the Second ...
If you want to study propagandist techniques, you are typically told to study Dictatorships. Not unfair, but what’s always been more interesting to me is so-called “democratic” countries and their broader information systems.Why? Because people opt for it, even as they decry “totalitarian regimes!”.. It’s quite an eye ...
Introducing legislation which shits on the public's right to know seems to have become a daily occurrence for this government. Today's example is the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill. The bill establishes a framework for the establishment of "special purpose vehicles" (SPVs) to hide debt from local government balance sheets ...
Below is the longlist of words and phrases generated in the korero phase of Public Address Word of the Year 2019, with some editorial moderation. Now it's time to vote. As you'll doubtless be able to see, you get three ranked choices. Use your power wisely. Or frivolously, whatever.As usual, ...
The University of Waikato and New Zealand Law Foundation have released a report today on the law around encryption in New Zealand. There's stuff in there about principles and values, and how proposed government policies to provide for "lawful access" by creating backdoors would destroy the trust which makes encryption ...
A ballot for two Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance (Prompt Settlement of Claims for Uninhabitable Residential Property) Bill (Stuart Smith) Social Security (Exemption for Ex Gratia and Compensation Payments) Amendment Bill (Willow-Jean Prime) Neither bill seems likely to be particularly controversial. This is ...
Earlier in the month, Bougainvilleans went to the polls in a landmark referendum to decide on whether they would remain part of Papua New Guinea or become independent. Yesterday, the results came in, with over 97% support for independence. The referendum wasn't binding - instead it means negotiations with the ...
by Daphna Whitmore This week 800 unionised bus drivers in Auckland were suspended from work after they refused to collect fares as part of a campaign of industrial action. Drivers working for Auckland’s largest bus company NZ Bus are asking for more pay and better working conditions after being offered ...
As details emerge about what unfolded on Whakaari / White Island two days ago, my thoughts go out to all the families affected by this terrible event. My thoughts are also with the first responders who worked in perilous circumstances to assist and protect those affected. Both local and ...
BMG research have unleashed their final poll of the 2019 campaign:Westminster voting intention: CON: 41% (-)LAB: 32% (-)LDEM: 14% (-)GRN: 4% (-)BREX: 3% (-1)via @BMGResearch , 06 - 11 Dec Chgs. w/ 06 Dec That's a bit of a "Dunno why we bothered" sort of poll. "Phillip, I'm afraid I've been a ...
Grant Keeps On Trucking: Out of the $12 billion Robertson has announced for infrastructure investment, $8 billion will be allocated to specific projects, with the balance of $4 billion held in reserve. What does it say about this Government's "transformational" ambitions that 85 percent of that $8 billion is to ...
I am not making this up.First few lines of the Dail Mail write up:Boris Johnson's exasperated media minder swore on live TV today as the PM refused to speak to Good Morning Britain before trotting into a fridge as he started an early milkround in Yorkshire. Piers Morgan was visibly ...
In previous elections pollsters have bemoaned the 'shy Tory' - the respondent who is so fearful of being judged as a cruel and heartless bastard by an anonymous pollster, or their spouses, workmates and friends, that they lie about their intention of voting Conservative, skewing the poll figures in Labour's ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzI was in Switzerland recently and discovered that they haven’t ...
So, You Gov's MRP poll - the weird one that tries to reflect what will happen at a constituency level and which pretty much nailed the hung parliament in 2017 - is not looking too good for Labour:
We've known about climate change for over forty years now,and it has been a major political issue for twenty. And yet fossil fuel companies have kept polluting with impunity, while government have looked the other way and twiddled their thumbs and refused to do anything because "the economy", or just ...
Sheer Loopiness: Many of those expressing bemusement at the antics of these #turnardern effacers, were convinced that they were yet another expression of the National Party’s increasingly spiteful anti-government propaganda campaign. They marvelled at the oddness of the perpetrators’ mindset and questioned the common-sense of allowing the rest of New Zealand ...
Brad Scott, GNS Science VolcanologistThis post was originally published by GeoNet.Following the 9 December devastating eruption at Whakaari/White Island we have put together some information about the island. New Zealand’s most active volcano Whakaari/White Island is currently New Zealand’s most active volcano, it has been since an eruptive episode ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on its Inquiry into the 2017 General Election and 2016 Local Elections, with a host of recommendations about how to improve our electoral systems. Some of their recommendations are already incorporate din the Electoral Amendment Bill currently before Parliament, but there's also a recommendation ...
Back in 2017, in order to make themselves "electable" in the eyes of rich people who oppose everything they stand for, the Greens signed up for NeoLiberalism, adopting a restrictive set of "Budget Responsibility Rules" which basicly prevented them from using government to make things better. Now, they're finally abandoning ...
Since invading in 2001, the US has consistently claimed that their war in Afghanistan has been going well, even when it continued year after year after year. Of course, they were lying, and thanks to the Washington Post and the US Freedom of Information Act, we get to see just ...
How should we think about artificial intelligence and the implications that it has for our work and leisure? There are many articles on artificial intelligence and its potential impacts on jobs, and the ethics of applications. These are important topics, but I want to focus on some less discussed aspects, ...
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ...
The other big story concerning Leeds Hospital is Boris Johnson's bizzare behaviour at Leeds Hospital, where he was confronted by a journalist and challenged about a four year old boy with suspected pneumonia who was left sleeping on the floor, rather than getting abed like a sick kid would in ...
So, for a brief period of history, it was alleged that a protester had punched Matt Hancock's SPAD (not a euphemism; special adviser) when Hancock visited Leeds Hospital.This was reported by the likes of Robert Peston and Laura Keunssberg, as well as the less credible Guido Fawkes. It also quickly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Last week France passed a law that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It is based on a definition of anti-Semitism that includes criticism of Israel such as: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist ...
Over the past year we've seen major bus problems in Hamilton and Wellington, as drivers have sought better wages and an end to the bullshit of split shifts, which basicly see them "married to the job". And now its Auckland's turn. When NZBus's drivers planned low-level strike action of not ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. But those targets are insufficient. Meanwhile, Denmark is showing us how its done:Denmark’s parliament adopted a new climate law on Friday, committing to reach 70% below its 1990 emissions in ...
Another day, another piece of legislation with a secrecy clause. This time its the innocuous-seeming Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill, which (after establishing a new body and making it subject to the OIA in three different ways) includes the rapidly-becoming-standard clauses enabling it to request information from other public ...
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...
On 27 September, Greta Thunberg addressed a crowd of 500,000 at the School Strike for Climate in Montreal, saying: “You are a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And Sweden is also a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And in both cases, it means absolutely nothing. Because ...
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...
Michael SchulsonWhen Shane Burcaw flies on an airplane, he brings along a customized gel cushion, a car seat, and about 10 pieces of memory foam. The whole arsenal costs around $1,000, but for Burcaw it’s a necessity. The 27-year-old author and speaker — who, alongside his fiancée, Hannah ...
We are very pleased to publish this submission is from Lucinda Stoan. She is a social justice activist, mother, and educator, based in Washington State in the US. This detailed and comprehensive source-linked overview of trans issues and what is at stake will be useful for many people, especially in ...
New Zealand's Underarm Banker: It bears recalling that the “independence” of the Reserve Bank Governor was for decades held up by neoliberal capitalists as the most compelling justification for passing the Reserve Bank Act. Interesting, is it not, how the ruling class’s support for the Bank’s independence lasted no longer than ...
Rubbish In, Rubbish Out: Put all this together, and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that anyone who responds positively to a pollster’s request to “answer a few questions” is just ever-so-slightly weird. Desperately lonely? Some sort of psephological train-spotter? Political party member primed to skew the poll for or against ...
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...
Samuel Becher, Victoria University of Wellington and Jessica C Lai, Victoria University of WellingtonEarlier this year, the New Zealand-based pizza chain Hell Pizza offered a limited-edition “Burger Pizza”. Its customers weren’t told that the “meat” was plant-based. Some customers complained to the Commerce Commission, which enforces consumer law in ...
Some people seem to want to close down any critical discussion of the current research into the relationship between water fluoride and child IQ. They appear to argue that claims made by researchers should not be open to critical review and that the claims be accepted without proper consideration ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. Meanwhile, Climate Action Tracker has the shameful reality: those targets are insufficient:While New Zealand is showing leadership by having passed the world’s second-ever Zero Carbon Act in November 2019, under ...
The government introduced a Racing Industry Bill today. As an urban who horse racing as pointless-to-cruel, and gambling as a tax on stupidity and/or hope, this isn't normally a bill which would interest me in the slightest, beyond grumpiness at more government money for a dying industry. But there is ...
Check. Check. One, two, three, four. Is this thing ON? Hello readers, I logged in last night (yeah, it’s been a while) to mark THE END of the landmark legal case, Jordan Williams v Colin Craig, which (gulp) reached The Supreme Court, in which New Zealand’s most-defamed man was suing the politician he ...
Before The Birth: Israel’s most fervent supporters set their clocks ticking in Biblical times. They cite the kingdoms of David and Solomon as proof that, in the words of the Exodus movie’s theme-song: “This land is mine.” The majority of Israel’s backers, however, start their clocks in 1933 – the year Adolf ...
In an unreliable, strange and confusing world, Public Address is proud to present a measure of comfort and stability by annually asking everyone what words or phrases sum up the year that's been – and then giving some of them consumer goods as prizes for being clever or simply lucky.Well, ...
Both my parents are pretty handy – and they seem to have the right tools for most jobs in the garage and they know how to fix practically anything. A similar story could be told about their generation’s experience in the workforce – being a generalist was not unusual and ...
When it was revealed that NZ First had tried to enrich itself from public office via the Provoncial Growth Fund, the Prime Minister assured us that everything was OK as Shane Jones, the Minister responsible for the fund, had recused himself. Except it seems that that recusal came very late ...
Today is a Member's Day, and probably the last one of the year. After the marathon of the End of Life Choice Act, most of the bills up for debate today are uncontentious. First up is the second reading of Chlöe Swarbrick's Election Access Fund Bill. This will be followed ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has reported back on the government's odious and tyrannical control orders bill. As expected, the fraudulent select committee process has made no significant changes (partly because they couldn't agree, but mostly because it was a stitch-up from the start, with no intention of ...
Yesterday, the government released its draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which will be put to a non-binding referendum at the next election. I'm not a drug policy expert, but Russell Brown is, and he thinks its pretty good. And pretty obviously, it will be a massive improvement on the ...
As you're probably aware, the draft bill outlining the proposed legal cannabis regime to be put to a referendum late next year was published yesterday, and has already attracted a flurry of comment. It's notable that a good deal of the comment is about proposals that aren't actually new.A minimum ...
One of the big problems in New Zealand climate change policy is the government working at cross-purposes with itself. It wants to reduce fossil fuel use, but encourages oil and gas exploration. It wants to reduce transport emissions, but then builds enormous new roads. The problem could be avoided if ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzAccording to the United Nations, food shortages are a threat ...
Last year, the government announced it was ending offshore oil exploration by no longer issuing new permits. The idea was that the industry would then die off as permits expired. Except almost immediately the government revealed its bad faith, by saying they would extend permits and alter conditions to keep ...
The government introduced the Education and Training Bill to Parliament yesterday. Its a massive bill, which replaces both existing Education Acts, as well as various other bits of legislation (including some which are still proceeding through the House). I'll leave the serious analysis to teachers and people who actually know ...
Amelia SharmanThere’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to micro-credentials, those bits of bite-sized learning that can help workers stay on top of technological change. What’s a micro-credential? While definitions vary, micro-credentials can be understood as short courses that allow people to learn new skills or have an existing competency recognised. ...
All Smiles Now: Claire Szabo is taking up her presidential role after serving as the CEO of Habitat For Humanity. Which is absolutely perfect! After KiwiBuild was so comprehensively mismanaged by Phil Twyford, the party has not only elected a new president from a thoroughly respectable not-for-profit, but one who ...
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...
by Daphna Whitmore At Golden Oaks, a luxurious country retreat in the Hudson Valley, pregnant women have the best care money can buy. From the organic food, personalised exercise programmes, private yoga instruction and daily massages Golden Oaks looks like a country lodge for the upper class. Set some time ...
When Labour was running for election in 2017, it felt it needed to demonstrate "fiscal responsibility" and signed itself up to masochistic "budget responsibility rules". It was a fool's errand: the sorts of voters who demand fiscal responsibility are also the sorts of voters who believe that labour can never ...
Writing in Stuff, Joel MacManus looks at what we need to do to meet the Zero Carbon Act's targets. The core of it:1. Convert 85 per cent of vehicles on the road to electric. 2. Eliminate fossil fuels from all industrial heating up to 300 degrees Celsius. 3. Double our ...
Professors Janet Hoek and Richard Edwards, Emeritus Professor Phil Gendall, Jude Ball, Dr Judith McCool, Anaru Waa, Dr Becky FreemanRecent media reports have presented conflicting evidence on youth vaping in NZ. While some NZ school principals report concerns about increasing vaping on school grounds and confiscating vapes, ASH Year ...
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...
Image credit:The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ...
1080 is used to control pests in NZ. Its use is contested by a noisy few. A new report claims high levels of 1080 in rats washed up on a beach. Flora and Fauna of Aotearoa (F&F) won’t name the laboratory that did their testing. It has sparked a hunt ...
What Kind Of Empire? The thing for Kiwis to decide is what kind of empire they want to belong to. The kind that, while offering its own citizens democratic rights, demands absolute obedience from its “friends”? Or, the kind that, while authoritarian at home, takes a relaxed attitude to the ...
It hasn't been a good week for the Conservatives, pollwise. All major recent polls are showing their lead shrinking.Comparing each pollster's current (between 29/11 and 22/11) and previous most recent poll.Com Res - Conservative lead down 3 points.You Gov - Conservative lead down 1 point.Kantar - Conservative lead down 4 ...
Within quick succession, Countdown maths wizard and twitterer Rachel Riley, alleged comedian David Baddiel and prominent lawyer Andrew Julius have all expressed very similar opinions / ideas:
These #3billboards are going round London today, organised by ex-Labour people, horrified by what their party has become. Their principles haven’t changed, they’re ...
New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s bill introducing a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its first reading in Parliament. Mr Ball said the new offence of "injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent" would target people who attacked paramedics, police, firefighters, and corrections ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters gave his final interview for 2019 on The Country to tell farmers they have never had it better under the current coalition Government. “Here you've got these record returns [for farmers]. These returns would be nothing like a record if the currency under the ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that New Zealand's Cook Islands High Commissioner, Tessa Temata, has died over the weekend. Ms Temata, 52, died in Palmerston North and had returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. She was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands of Cook Island ...
A new defence report has mapped out how New Zealand's soldiers will navigate rising seas, and a year after the Defence Force announced its need to prepare for climate change. In the “Responding to the Climate Crisis” report, the Force restates its operational plan and sets goals to tackle climate ...
We're rebuilding New Zealand - our transport network, our hospitals, our schools and more... After nine years of neglect there's a lot to fix - but we're getting on with the job. ...
We're rebuilding New Zealand - our transport network, our hospitals, our schools and more... After nine years of neglect there's a lot to fix - but we're getting on with the job. ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Human Rights A critical step has been taken to end gender based violence against women and girls in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Human Rights Jenny Marcroft MP has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Crimes (Definition of Female ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says it's time to recognise market forces haven't led to the expected reduction in Māori smoking rates and try a new approach. The Party had recently invoked the agree to disagree clause in their Coalition Agreement with the Labour Party, and will not support ...
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...
The Coalition Government will be banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, ahead of next year’s general elections. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament and passed under urgency – emphasising the need for such restrictions to safeguard our democracy. The bill introduces a new requirement that party secretaries and ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones opened Taipā's $19 million bridge recently, improving transport infrastructure in the Northland region. The two-lane bridge is 107m long with a 2.5m-wide shared walking and cycling path, and will reduce the congestion that the old one-lane bridge was notorious for. The project had also included ...
The Overseas Investment Office have rejected the application of Mercury Agriculture LP, which is 92 per cent controlled by Canadian interests, to purchase more than 2000 hectares of South Canterbury and Otago land. Mercury wanted to buy 2000ha at Rangitata, 1494ha near Ashburton, 816ha near Cromwell and 212ha near Temuka. ...
This weekend was Labour's 103rd Party Conference! We welcomed over 500 of our Labour whānau in red to Whanganui, where we reflected on the last two years in Government, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond. We know the long-term challenges facing New Zealand won't be tackled overnight, but we're making ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Provincial Growth Fund will invest $9.6 million to seal the final unsealed section of State Highway 43 from Stratford to Taumarunui. The Minister said sealing the 12-kilometre gravel section of the highway – also called the “Forgotten World Highway” - through ...
Former Finance Minister and former chair of the Tax Working Group, Sir Michael Cullen, has voiced his support for New Zealand First’s decision to oppose the planned increase in tobacco excise tax. In an interview with The Weekend Collective, he said that increasing the price was no longer effective in ...
Māori are natural storytellers. On the marae we use stories to tell our history, to teach the next generation life lessons and to let people know, in our most creative of ways, who we are and where we have come from. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First has invoked the ‘Agree to Disagree’ provisions of the Coalition Agreement because it cannot support the announced 11.46 percent increase in the tobacco excise from 1 January 2020. “Studies show that the automatic tobacco excise increases are having less effect ...
Taupō-based company Geo40 has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger. Its chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne. Geo40 was founded in 2010 to find ...
Crown research institute AgResearch Ltd, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln. However, those plans seem to have been shelved at the request of the Coalition Government. ...
Ten engineering firms in Southland are receiving a total of $2.13 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding to lift productivity and create new jobs. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Invercargill that the 10 engineering and manufacturing firms would receive funding to assist them with buying equipment that ...
The number of new residents to New Zealand is the lowest it has been in nearly two decades and it has earned the ire of the immigration industry. The industry alleges that 'Trump-style extreme vetting' is being put in place aimed at keeping a lid on immigration numbers. June Ranson, ...
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is one step closer to modernising its fleet after the United States State Department recently approved the sale of five new C-130J Hercules aircraft to New Zealand. Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the aircraft, but as a "foreign military ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of DefenceTērā te haeata takiri ana mai i runga o Pukaha!Ara tai uru, whai uru, whai uru!Ara whai ato, whai ato, whai ato!Ara rā tini, ara rā tini, ara ri!The rays of the morning sun strike a new dawn upon Pukaha ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic DevelopmentThe Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $772,000 in opportunities for growth in Manawatū-Whanganui, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today.NZ Bio-Forestry Limited will receive a $380,000 boost for game-changing research which could unlock significant growth in the wood processing sector, ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced today the appointment of diplomat Sarah Lee as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to South Africa. She will be the first female Head of Mission to represent New Zealand in Africa. “New Zealand’s relationship with South ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones wants to create a log barging facility at Hicks Bay and turn the area into a Special Economic Zone. The move would be part of protecting New Zealand's forests from being depleted by India and China, he said. It follows his announcement last week to strengthen ...
New Zealand First supports the changes recommended by the Winter Grazing Taskforce to improve animal welfare outcomes through the winter months, and the establishment of a pan-sector action group to implement them. New Zealand First Primary Industries Spokesperson Mark Patterson says the report highlights areas of concern about the animal ...
Former prime ministers Helen Clark and Sir John Key, formerly from the Labour and National parties respectively, have joined forces in support of New Zealand First’s plan to relocate Auckland's port to Whangārei. While Ms Clark and Sir John spent their political careers on opposite sides of the political divide, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Japan for the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 grouping of countries as one of nine "invited" countries. He has used the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the plight of Pacific countries, calling out countries which still offered subsidies or Government assistance to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further support for Samoa’s longer term needs as it continues to respond to a devastating measles epidemic. “Samoa’s health system has experienced massive strain in the wake of the measles epidemic. The volume of patients needing care during this outbreak, and the number of ...
Discounted electric bikes will be offered up to public sector staff across the country as part of the Government’s work to reduce transport emissions and support healthier transport options. Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter officially launched the new initiative at Wellington Hospital today. “The Government has negotiated bulk-purchase ...
The Australian and New Zealand Governments today launch an historic joint bid to bring the FIFA Women’s World Cup to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time. Australian Minister for Youth and Sport, Richard Colbeck and New Zealand Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson will announce the bold campaign, ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has approved a $15 million loan to help re-establish a gold mining operation at Blackwater Gold Mine, near Reefton, Rural Communities Minister and local MP Damien O’Connor announced at an event on the West Coast today. “This is great news for the Coast that could ...
Papakāinga model inspires whānau well-being A housing project by Kohupātiki whānau in Hastings is an outstanding example of a Māori-led housing initiative that can reduce financial pressure and reconnect whānau to their whakapapa says the Minister for Māori Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta. Minister Mahuta officially opened the Aroha Te Rangi ...
Nelson has today seen the launch of Housing First Nelson Tasman. Today’s launch marks the expansion of the Government’s homelessness programme, Housing First, to the top of the South Island. “Housing First is a proven programme that puts people who are experiencing homelessness and multiple, high and complex needs into ...
The days of vulnerable consumers falling victim to loan sharks, truck shops and other predatory lenders are numbered, following the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Bill passing its third reading tonight. “Too many Kiwis are being given loans that are unaffordable and unsuitable, trapping them in debt and leaving their families ...
A Bill that prevents terrorism and supports the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas has passed its third reading, Justice Minister Andrew Little says. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill is a carefully targeted response to manage the risk posed by a small number of New Zealanders who have ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio will travel to Samoa on Friday, where New Zealand medical teams are helping Samoa respond to an outbreak of measles. “New Zealand has been working closely with the Government of Samoa and offering our assistance from the ...
The Government has changed the law to improve student safety and welfare in university halls of residence and other student accommodation. The Education (Pastoral Care) Amendment Bill passed its third reading this afternoon and details of an interim Code of Practice setting out the Government’s expectations of tertiary providers have also been released. ...
A new tool to help councils fund and finance infrastructure could mean some housing developments happen a decade earlier than currently planned, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said today. “This new tool, developed by the Government in partnership with industry and high-growth councils, will allow councils to access private debt ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has welcomed the release of a bold new vision for the country’s vital food and fibre sector. “I’m delighted that New Zealand’s major farmer and grower organisations are today supporting the Primary Sector Council’s vision – Fit for a Better World,” he said. “The international consumers ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has congratulated the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government for completing a well-conducted referendum on the future political status of Bougainville. “New Zealand supported the referendum process by providing technical advice through the New Zealand Electoral Commission and leading a Regional Police ...
In light of Cabinet’s position that freight operations on prime land in downtown Auckland are no longer viable, the Government will now embark on a short work programme to enable decision-making in the first half of next year, Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones is today releasing the ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter has received the report back from a surgical mesh restorative justice process undertaken by Victoria University. The process heard stories, either in person or online submission, from more than 600 people affected by surgical mesh. “The report made for heart-breaking and confronting reading,” says ...
The Water Services Regulator Bill – Taumata Arowai , introduced to Parliament today, is a milestone for drinking water safety in New Zealand and will help improve environmental outcomes for urban waterways, rivers and lakes. “This is a breakthrough for New Zealanders in terms of providing safe drinking water throughout ...
Kia ora koutouE ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā matā wakaTēnā koutou katoaHaere ngā, moe maiKoutou ma ngā Rangatira Ko Anaru ahauKo au te Minita mo ngā TureHe Honore tino nui kei roto I ahau No reira tena koutou katoa Today, we are releasing two reports that are the ...
The Government is looking to turn around the long-term challenges of criminal justice by taking a new approach to break the cycle of offending to ensure there are fewer victims of crime. Justice Minister Andrew Little released two reports today, Turuki! Turuki! from Te Uepū Hāpai I te Ora, and ...
New Zealand firms expanding beyond the start-up phase are set for more support after today’s passage of the Venture Capital Fund Bill, Associate Finance Minister David Parker said. The Bill, which establishes a $300 million Venture Capital Fund, puts in place a key initiative of the Wellbeing Budget’s economic package. ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira mā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Señora Presidenta, Excellencies, Delegates. International action A common thread that runs through the Paris Agreement is the commitment we have made to each other to do what we can to ...
The Government is lifting capital investment to the highest level in more than 20 years as it takes the next step to future-proof New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced $12 billion of new investment, with $8 billion for specific capital projects and $4 billion to be added to ...
The Government is forecast to run $12 billion worth of surpluses across the four years to 2023/24 as the economy continues to grow. The surpluses will help fund day-to-day capital requirements each year. These include fixing leaky hospitals, building new classrooms to cover population growth and take pressure off class ...
Budget 2020 will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also investing to future-proof the economy. When the Government took office in 2017 it was left with crumbling infrastructure, severe underinvestment in public services, degraded rivers and lakes, a housing crisis and rising ...
The Minister responsible for the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (te Takutai Moana Act 2011), Andrew Little has welcomed the launch of an online geospatial tool that provides data-rich, dynamic coastline maps that will significantly boost research and evidence-gathering under the Act. Te Kete Kōrero a Te ...
The Chief Victims Advisor to Government Dr Kim McGregor, QSO, has been reappointed in her role for a further two years. Dr McGregor has held the role since it was established in November 2015. She provides independent advice to government on how to improve the criminal justice system for victims. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare have today announced the deployment of a network of DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoys. “New Zealand and the Pacific region are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. It is vital we have adequate warning systems in place,” ...
DART Buoys Announcement Aotea Wharf, 9.30am 11 December 2019 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements to Minister for Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare also here today. White Island It is with regret that this event shadows the tragic natural disaster two days ago. The volcanic eruptions on White Island have claimed 5 lives, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Racing Industry Bill in parliament today. This is the second of two Bills that have been introduced this year to revitalise New Zealand’s racing industry. “Our domestic racing industry has been in serious decline. The Government is committed to ...
Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni, is pleased to announce that $291,321 is to be awarded to national and local community initiatives to maintain and promote the use of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). “New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where Sign Language is an ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has announced today the Coalition Government’s initial response to work completed by the independent statutory body, the Veterans’ Advisory Board. “When Professor Ron Paterson completed his review of the Veterans’ Support Act in 2018, he made a number of recommendations, including one which I referred ...
The Government will fund the bulk of the cost of a rural water supply for the Ohakea community affected by PFAS contamination, Environment Minister David Parker announced today at a meeting of local residents. This new water scheme will provide a reliable and clean source of drinking water to the ...
I have had the opportunity to be briefed on the details of the volcanic eruption of Whakaari/White Island, off the coast of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. The eruption happened at 2.11pm today. It continues to be an evolving situation. We know that there were a number of tourists ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare have today confirmed initial Government support of $100,000 for communities affected by the severe weather that swept across the South Island and lower North Island over the weekend. The contribution will be made to Mayoral relief funds across the ...
New Zealand's High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, Tessa Temata, died in Palmerston North over the weekend, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today. Ms Temata, 52, had recently returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. "On behalf of the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we extend ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today announced construction is underway on Wellington commuter rail upgrades which will mean more frequent services and fewer breakdowns. The upgrades include converting the Trentham to Upper Hutt single track section to a double track, with a new signalling system, upgraded stations and level crossings, and ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark and Minister for Climate Change James Shaw have announced the release of a Defence Climate Change Implementation Work Plan, titled Responding to the Climate Crisis: An Implementation Plan. The plan sets out a series of recommendations based on the 2018 New Zealand Defence Assessment, The ...
A medium-scale adverse event has been declared for the South Canterbury district, which will see up to $50,000 in funding made available to support farming communities which have been significantly affected by recent heavy rain and flooding in the area, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two weeks of solid rain ...
Thank you Professor Juliet Gerrard and your team for the comprehensive and extremely helpful report and recommendations. Thank you too to all the stakeholders and interested parties who have contributed ideas and thinking to it. “Making best practice, standard practice” is a great framework for change and the action plan ...
The Government will phase out more single-use plastics following the success of its single-use plastic bag ban earlier this year and the release today of a pivotal report for dealing with waste. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed the Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealandreport, released by her Chief Science Advisor ...
International education continues to thrive as the Government focuses on quality over quantity, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. The tuition revenue from international education increased to $1.16 billion last year with the average tuition fee per student increasing by $960. The total number of international students enrolled in New Zealand ...
The second and final report of Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora, the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group, contains nothing we didn’t know 30 years ago. Yet generations of politicians have ignored the same advice, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira.Between the 1950s and 1990s, New Zealand experienced seismic social, economic ...
Fuel company Z Energy has cut its earnings forecast for the year by 10 percent because of tougher competition and falling margins, and is forecasting a big cut in dividends. ...
Liquidators of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia have travelled to the United States, to retrieve customers' information and certain crypto-assets. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kath Albury, Professor of Media and Communication, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology Popular commentary on dating apps often associates their use with “risky” sex, harassment and poor mental health. But anyone who has used a dating app ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Grimmer, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania Australian shoppers are set to spend $52.7 billion this Christmas. In the words of the retail industry, we are “stampeding” to empty our wallets, both online and ...
NZ Herald and many other media outlets ran a story on a man whose farts could repel mosquitos, despite the story coming from a satire news site and not being verified in any way, writes Dan Satherly for Newshub.“Man’s farts so deadly he kills mosquitoes in a 6m radius” is ...
Timing right to borrow our way to a stronger economy in 2020 The Government’s announcement of its intent to invest significantly in the county’s infrastructure could turbo charge an economic recovery that was already showing positive signs for ...
A poem by writer, journalist, and former Manus Island refugee Behrouz Boochani.Forgive me my loveTranslated by Moones Mansoubi, Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, 2018 Forgive me my bird as I am not able to embrace you.But here,in this corner,I know some migrating birds that I smile to at dawn.I embrace them ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Powles, Senior Lecturer in Security Studies, Massey University The Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a chain of islands that lie 959 kilometres northwest of Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, has voted unequivocally for independence. The referendum saw 85% voter turnout during ...
Fisheries New Zealand starts consultation today on proposed changes to catch settings for rock lobster and scallops for the new fishing year beginning 1 April 2020. ...
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. This was the declaration of the pigs who control the government in George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm– a tart comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but gives power and privileges ...
SPCA has been working flat out to desex more than 80 animals a day over the last year, which is the most desexing SPCA has done since recording the figures. ...
“The fact so many families are struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table must be addressed urgently if we’re to provide the foundations for a good life for the next generation of New Zealanders,” says Scott Figenshow, Chief Executive ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton, $40)Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize.2The Body: ...
This holiday season Te Tari Taiwhenua, Department of Internal Affairs wants to offer parents and caregivers some advice on how to help keep your family safe online. ...
A report released by the Chief Victims advisor Kim McGregor advising there needs to be an Independent Victims body is being welcomed by Victim Rights lobby group Sensible Sentencing Trust. National spokesperson Jess McVicar says the trust have ...
For the third time in five years, the United Kingdom has gone to the polls today. From the summer islands of New Zealand, join The Spinoff as we follow the results rolling in.9.30am: So, with polls about 90 minutes away from closing, the top line is this – we’ve got ...
Winston Peters will back an NZME proposal to buy Stuff with a 'Kiwishare' guarantee the merged news company will keep regional news and separate websites for at least two years. ...
The Executive Director of Dapaanz (Addiction Practitioners’ Association Aotearoa New Zealand), Sue Paton says the announcement that Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment court would become permanent immediately, following successful pilots in Auckland ...
Online marketplace Sidekicker is taking advantage of people who have little choice but to juggle multiple low-paying jobs to make ends meet, writes artist and freelancer Ben Markley.After graduating early this year with one of the least vocational degrees, I didn’t expect the largest array of job prospects. Nevertheless, I ...
National is vowing to bring back and expand health sector targets dropped by the current Government and mulling whether to scrap elected District Health Boards. ...
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition launched a week ago, calling for better support and funding for community midwives. The 10k figure was reached after the first four days. Chief executive of the College of Midwives, Alison Eddy, said last ...
Information obtained by animal rights organisation SAFE has revealed rodeo organisers are refusing to halt calf-roping events in rodeo, despite the Government’s animal welfare advisors’ recommendation that they do so. ...
Subject; Deputy PM said quote; “New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has challenged his Cabinet colleagues for the delay over a Northport decision, criticising it as "paralysis by analysis". https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/405385/paralysis-by-analysis-winston-peters-assessment-of-the-delay-over-northport ...
If the Productivity Commission's report on local government funding, released yesterday, had been relied on by NASA as the basis for getting astronauts to the moon, its greatest achievement by now would have been launching a $2 skyrocket 40 feet into the air ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Mayne, Molecular biologist and bioinformatician, CSIRO Humans have a “natural” lifespan of around 38 years, according to a new method we have developed for estimating the lifespans of different species by analysing their DNA. Extrapolating from genetic studies of species with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Evans, Professor of Governance and Director of Democracy 2025 – bridging the trust divide at Old Parliament House, University of Canberra A new, ongoing survey on how young Australians understand and imagine their democracy is already challenging long-held stereotypes. The survey ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesco Paolucci, Associate Professor; Head of Health Policy Program, Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs, University of Newcastle Private health insurance has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, as it becomes clear health insurers are failing to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project; and Online Teacher at Education Queensland’s IMPACT Centre, The University of Queensland This is the second of two essays exploring key theories – cognitive load theory and constructivism – underlying teaching ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW On Monday the Australian government will release the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO). This will – as required by the Charter of Budget Honesty – provide an update on the key assumptions made in this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia It seems like every time we switch on the idiot box we are confronted with news footage of another disaster. Bushfires in Australia. A hurricane in North America. A tsunami ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Andrew Little indicates justice system changes after reports, Auckland buses back on the road, and National release health proposals. Two significant reports for the justice sector were released yesterday. The first was Turuki! Turuki! Transforming our Criminal Justice System from the Chester Borrows-led Safe and ...
On Wednesday, the government announced a $12 billion infrastructure package. It turns out that scrapped National Party roading projects are back in consideration for funding under the scheme. ...
Andy Ruiz Jr pulled of a massive shock by KO’ing Anthony Joshua in New York. And then delivered another stunning moment when he stepped onto the scales in Saudi Arabia. ...
What happens when your work is the victim of attempted sabotage by a group of slow-moving middle-aged men? Author and journalist Michelle Duff reveals all.Initially, it was kind of unclear what I was looking at. The disembodied hand loomed from the shaky first-person footage, flipping the cover of the book ...
The National Party leader sits down with Alex Braae to talk political rhetoric, misinformation, and whether he’ll have any dance partners after next year’s election.How cynical is Simon Bridges? It’s a question that has dogged National’s leader over the past year.Being an opposition leader is, of course, a difficult job ...
Sharon Brettkelly calls home to the Bay of Plenty to give us an insight into what Whakatane locals are thinking in the wake of Whakaari-White Island's eruption ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison is picking up that Australia’s devastating, prolonged fires are producing a soured, anti-government mood among many in the community. It may not be entirely rational for people to turn on politicians in such ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katharine Kemp, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, UNSW, and Co-Leader, ‘Data as a Source of Market Power’ Research Stream of The Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation, UNSW Today, the federal government responded to the recommendations of the Australian Competition and ...
Winston Peters hopes mergers of NZME and Stuff and RNZ and TVNZ will save local journalism. Bernard Hickey argues they are more likely to again prove costly diversions. ...
The foreign affairs minister Winston Peters will be travelling to Samoa tomorrow to visit hospitals and medical teams dealing with the ongoing measles outbreak. ...
Andrew Little says the justice system is “taking wrecked lives and wrecking them just a little bit more”, but will the Govt cough up with what's needed for transformative change? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lidia Morawska, Professor, Science and Engineering Faculty; Director, International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (WHO CC for Air Quality and Health); Director – Australia, Australia – China Centre for Air Quality Science and Management (ACC-AQSM), Queensland University of Technology Bushfire smoke ...
Winston Peters is bemoaning how long a decision on Northport is taking, saying if you're faced with inevitability, you should act. But Cabinet ministers have put off making a call until next year. ...
A review of the ANZ Bank New Zealand's missteps over the past year has found complacency at the most senior level, leading to the departure of its long serving chief executive. ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.In his big-spending infrastructure announcement yesterday, Grant Robertson reinforced what many political commentators say about him – he’s electorally smart, but way too conservative to be a genuine leftwing minister of finance. Robertson does what is right for winning votes, but not necessarily what is in the ...
Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the announcement today of three changes to the Arms Bill should be the start of a large-scale rewrite, or even eventual abandonment. ...
The failure of high-growth councils to supply enough infrastructure to support housing development has led to some serious social and economic problems, the NZ Productivity Commission states in a local government funding and financing report released today. ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that while the Budget Policy Statement 2020 promises to extend Budget 2019’s 'Wellbeing' framework and states "reducing child poverty and improving child wellbeing" as a priority, spending plans don’t ...
The National Party's new health platform includes $50 million a year for cancer drugs, a boost to Pharmac funding and the reintroduction of National Health Targets. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is lamenting the lack of courage shown in the Productivity Commission’s Local Government Funding Report, saying that while it makes many worthy recommendations, its play-it-safe-approach relegates the report ...
Wellington 12 December 2019: The Government’s announcement to future-proof New Zealand with a $12billion investment in infrastructure is a positive sign for the country’s future. ...
19-year-old Benee’s track ‘Glitter’ is climbing international charts thanks to being given a TikTok dance. How does that work? Josie Adams explains what a TikTok dance is, and how this social media app is the new MTV.Who is Benee?Benee has had a huge 2019, with the Aucklander riding sparkling pop ...
Newsroom has asked the district court to end a defamation action by business site NBR over a news story discussing NBR and ex National MP Steven Joyce. ...
Today, at a meeting of Auckland Council’s Governing Body, councillors voted unanimously for a series of resolutions that will require greater direct involvement in resolving the ongoing dispute between unions and NZ Bus from Auckland Transport and the Minister ...
Open mike 06/06/2019 
What other song could we play as the UK's political rule book gets torn up and thrown away?Video courtesy of YouTubeThis post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...3 hours ago
Legendary in my own mind, I mean. All times are NZ, which is an hour10.00am (NZ) There's about an hour to go until the exit poll is released. At that point, half of the British voting public will devastated, and the other half celebrating wildly. Unless everyone is simply confused.Turnout seems ...6 hours ago
If you want to study propagandist techniques, you are typically told to study Dictatorships. Not unfair, but what’s always been more interesting to me is so-called “democratic” countries and their broader information systems. Why? Because people opt for it, even as they decry “totalitarian regimes!”.. It’s quite an eye ...23 hours ago
Introducing legislation which shits on the public's right to know seems to have become a daily occurrence for this government. Today's example is the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill. The bill establishes a framework for the establishment of "special purpose vehicles" (SPVs) to hide debt from local government balance sheets ...1 day ago
Below is the longlist of words and phrases generated in the korero phase of Public Address Word of the Year 2019, with some editorial moderation. Now it's time to vote. As you'll doubtless be able to see, you get three ranked choices. Use your power wisely. Or frivolously, whatever.As usual, ...1 day ago
by Daphna Whitmore This week 800 unionised bus drivers in Auckland were suspended from work after they refused to collect fares as part of a campaign of industrial action. Drivers working for Auckland’s largest bus company NZ Bus are asking for more pay and better working conditions after being offered ...1 day ago
As details emerge about what unfolded on Whakaari / White Island two days ago, my thoughts go out to all the families affected by this terrible event. My thoughts are also with the first responders who worked in perilous circumstances to assist and protect those affected. Both local and ...1 day ago
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ... 3 days ago
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...6 days ago
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...6 days ago
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...1 week ago
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...2 weeks ago
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...2 weeks ago
Image credit: The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ... 2 weeks ago
New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s bill introducing a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its first reading in Parliament. Mr Ball said the new offence of "injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent" would target people who attacked paramedics, police, firefighters, and corrections ...2 days ago
We're rebuilding New Zealand - our transport network, our hospitals, our schools and more... After nine years of neglect there's a lot to fix - but we're getting on with the job. ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further support for Samoa’s longer term needs as it continues to respond to a devastating measles epidemic. “Samoa’s health system has experienced massive strain in the wake of the measles epidemic. The volume of patients needing care during this outbreak, and the number of ...51 mins ago
Three Otago institutions are teaming up to improve the future of rural health care. ...1 hour ago
The second and final report of Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora, the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group, contains nothing we didn’t know 30 years ago. Yet generations of politicians have ignored the same advice, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira.Between the 1950s and 1990s, New Zealand experienced seismic social, economic ...1 hour ago
Fuel company Z Energy has cut its earnings forecast for the year by 10 percent because of tougher competition and falling margins, and is forecasting a big cut in dividends. ...1 hour ago
House prices are on the rise again with record increases in 10 regions, but with fewer sales overall. ...1 hour ago
Liquidators of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia have travelled to the United States, to retrieve customers' information and certain crypto-assets. ...1 hour ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kath Albury, Professor of Media and Communication, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology Popular commentary on dating apps often associates their use with “risky” sex, harassment and poor mental health. But anyone who has used a dating app ...2 hours ago
Timing right to borrow our way to a stronger economy in 2020 The Government’s announcement of its intent to invest significantly in the county’s infrastructure could turbo charge an economic recovery that was already showing positive signs for ...2 hours ago
The Government’s homelessness program ‘ Housing First’ has expanded to the top of the South Island. ...3 hours ago
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. This was the declaration of the pigs who control the government in George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm – a tart comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but gives power and privileges ...4 hours ago
Winston Peters will back an NZME proposal to buy Stuff with a 'Kiwishare' guarantee the merged news company will keep regional news and separate websites for at least two years. ...7 hours ago
National wants all Kiwi kids running for 15 minutes a day; and Auckland Council stops issuing urgent property reports until the New Year. ...7 hours ago
National is vowing to bring back and expand health sector targets dropped by the current Government and mulling whether to scrap elected District Health Boards. ...7 hours ago
ACC admits it has fallen short in the way it has dealt with surgical mesh patients as a report into their experiences is released. ...7 hours ago
A high-risk mission to recover the bodies left behind after Monday's deadly eruption on Whakaari-White Island is now underway. ...9 hours ago
On Wednesday, the government announced a $12 billion infrastructure package. It turns out that scrapped National Party roading projects are back in consideration for funding under the scheme. ...9 hours ago
The infrastructure industry is pleased, but wants more detail. ...10 hours ago
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The media are complicit in Assange's torture and incarceration
Here is a very good piece on the subject of media accountability…
'Corporate Media Have Second Thoughts About Exiling Julian Assange From Journalism'
https://fair.org/home/corporate-media-have-second-thoughts-about-exiling-julian-assange-from-journalism/?awt_l=CnT3e&awt_m=hfxuQdFbXIR._TQ
It's getting worse for journalist's – the new Aussie govt is now in on the game of oppression.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-06/scott-morrison-questioned-on-press-freedom-after-afp-raids/11184058
I heard that the Oz police raid was done on their own bat. Thinking, police who answer to their own logic, to keep them free from government and political interference, isn't there a vacuum? One body full of self-righteousness and self-granted probity – isn't that like having another government body not answerable to the people. If it looks at a law and interprets it in an unintended way, is it then a rogue body within the polity?
Same with the Army. PM Helen Clark says publicly yes go to war but don't engage. just assist as back-up. And Army says Yeah right – a fibbing Tui moment.
And the police doing their own thing involving virtual manslaughter of naughty poor youngsters joyriding driving like they see on TV reality cop shows – excited and alarmed beyond brain control and killing themselves. Police fishing for drugs, raiding old women's homes to look for drugs which they might have to effectively kill themselves when needed. The drugs not for recreational use or to sell for mindless profit, but treated mindlessly the same by authority obeying a mindless government.
And behind this rather loose and murky entity is the overpowering large government that holds such firm reins on others theoretically sovereign nations that they can request our police to do their bidding. Wikileaks has exposed for real what has been whispered, and they hate the truth, they can't handle it. And everywhere it pops up through journalists releases, they will act and dispute, and delete and redact and punish.
Countries may not have control of their police because of some fine-thinking decree, but in the absence of over-arching local authority, another can step in as is apparently the case in Australia over Wikileaks publishing to the public's right to know.
I don't believe for a second the cops acted on their own initiative.
Yeah. Well that is something I think I heard. But things can change fast, so can apparent facts – just take out a letter and you get fats and fast. Minute difference and such a big effect. Probably got it wrong.
You heard that trusting statement from one Craig McMurtrie, who was interviewed this morning on RNZ National by Corin Dann. McMurtrie is the ABC's "editorial director", which means, of course, that he will have been heavily involved in shaping the ABC's demeaning, misleading, Government-friendly coverage of Assange's persecution over the last few years.
It will be interesting to see if the likes of McMurtrie have the integrity and the courage to defend the ABC's few decent journalists who are being targeted by the Government via its publicly funded goon squad.
McMurtrie and Dann this morning both used phrases like "chilling effect on journalism" and talked of the need to protect "whistle-blowers". McMurtrie several times expressed surprise that such state intimidation of journalists could occur "in a liberal democracy like Australia."
Not once did either McMurtrie or Dann mention the most famed Australian whistle-blower and journalist, Julian Assange.
Yes, that was a stunning exercise in wonderment. Assange has figuratively been slow-boiled alive since since 2010. Now those two goons have suddenly found that the pot they are in is starting to boil as well.
Between Trump's label of 'fake news' for any report he doesn't like, and the increasing state oppression of investigative journalists, whistle blowers, and leakers, it has never be more plain that certain actors are trying to shut the media down.
Of course, where the USA goes Australia follows and the article "Shooting the messengers" on the Inside Story blog outlines how far down the track that track the ALP has wandered over the ditch. That article, by the way, also seems to studiously avoid mention Assange.
That sounds as I would imagine. Watch and wait for the next exciting episode. Who needs fiction when you find so much interesting faction around. Nightly shows will be held with erudite, ironic and fluent thinkers where they guess the amount of truth in current news. Could be something like the one with Stephen Fry in UK.
Good for you gabster however what you believe has no relevance to the facts
Hasn't ever stopped you throwing your 'reckons' around like confetti wildebeest
confetti wildebeest – this blog is getting very colourful and ever more interesting to read, especially when it tells it like it is about b.w.l….d.
More Police Raids As War On Journalism Escalates Worldwide
June 05, 2019 "Information Clearing House" – The Australian Federal Police have conducted two raids on journalists and seized documents in purportedly unrelated incidents in the span of just two days.
Yesterday the AFP raided the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst, seeking information related to her investigative report last year which exposed the fact that the Australian government has been discussing the possibility of giving itself unprecedented powers to spy on its own citizens. Today they raided the Sydney headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corp, seizing information related to a 2017 investigative report on possible war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51724.htm
Police Raids in Australia as the War on Journalism escalates
Video: “Plutocracy V: Subterranean Fire”.
Subterranean Fire documents historically how the capitalist class have nefariously accumulated wealth and power for selfish purposes by depriving working people of dignity and rights.
Subterranean Fire details at the outset how strike actions and popular revolts were put down by corporations through their cronies, including police, private detectives, vigilantes, and even the National Guard. In the Homestead strike of 1892, after workers had defeated the Pinkerton agency’s private army, the National Guard was brought out.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51722.htm
Why they want to silence Assange permanently:
U.S. Congressman Admits His Marine Unit ‘Killed Probably Hundreds of Civilians’ in Iraq
June 05, 2019 "Information Clearing House" – Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) has come under fire after admitting during a podcast interview that his Marine Corps unit "killed probably hundreds of civilians" during the atrocity-laden First Battle of Fallujah in 2004.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51725.htm
Thanks John for yr efforts in regards the assault on journalism.
When will our Min of Education be honest regarding pay rates?
From June 2018 until June 2022 teachers pay increase 9.3%, inflation 8%, BUT it will not be until the 2021/2022 that teachers pay will be higher in real terms than it was in June 2018. And he thinks that is satisfactory for teacher pay to go backwards for all 3 years of this govts. term and that strike action is not warranted ?
Teachers should count themselves lucky. There are very large numbers of workers in this country who have had no meaningful wage rise in the past 10 years.
Kevin You represent backward-looking, yokel NZrs – making sure that the country never advances in any way by bringing up some negative statistic that undermines a case that somebody is making for improvements.
There is always somebody worse off than someone else near the bottom, but one advancing can result in others getting a trickle down effect. If wealthy there isn't the same, but teachers are not wealthy just rising a little in the pay scale to middle income and yet require great skills, and their work is getting more difficult. If you can't say anything helpful try not to say anything at all. I don't notice much from you except heaps of cold sludge.
Greysie shouldn't you now lecture yourself on insulting language in your selfcreated capacity of arbiter of appropriateness?
No. Thanks for doing so for me. What is your favoured term? Yokel, cold sludge? I thought they had a certain quaint ring.
Yesterday I was apparently displaying 'ageism' and 'ruralism'… methinks some doth protest too much.
A hick is a hick.
An old fart is an old fart.
A Yokel is a cross between a BDSM device and a painful Swiss singing style.
Cold sludge is a hospital meal, Tuesdays.
Good WtB. Very funny. I think Gabby was practising a delicate art of passing faux judgment to get a rise.
Such a basis for not supporting their claims, why should anyone get a pay rise. I think it is termed "Race to the Bottom"
I am one of those workers Kevin.
Because my wages have not had meaningful increases is no reason for denying the teacher's their claims.
(I'm not sure if there should be an apostrophe or certain where it should go. I know, not flash in a comment boosting teachers.)
Biased and Untrustworthy
According to "Who Funds Radio NZ"
"Radio New Zealand provides in depth, quality, impartial programmes that might otherwise not be available on commercial radio, or without public funding ."
What an untruth !
This is to say that Simon Bridges, The Head of the Undemocratic Wealthy Party in New Zealand gets to speak his incoherent nonsense on Radio New Zealand each week day. He has the run of the Studio. ! Bias upon Bias upon Bias.
He uses a segment called "Morning Report". Radio NZ's many reporters fawn over him – for they are members of his Undemocratic Wealthy Party in New Zealand.
They, the Reporters, have helped The Wealthy Party to bring about a horrendous attack on the normal citizens of New Zealand. Hundreds of Thousands of whom have no Housing, or who are paying rents to the amount of $500 weekly on very low wages.
Radio New Zealand is an Utter Scandal.
It is the plaything of very very Rich. It tramples over the poor day in day out.
We normal New Zealanders must take the Wealthy Undemocratic Party To the Highest Court in the Land.
With the Charge that they Have denied Food, to the Citizens of this Country; they Have denied Housing; They have charged outrageous Rents; they have paid very low wages. Let us take their Banks – to the same Courts.
Let us Get the Undemocratic filthy Wealthy National Mob – out of our Nation. ! Get Rid of Bias and inequality.
100% Tokoroa! You tell it as it is. 🙂
Thanks Johnm !
It is the way it is! It is so Cruel ! But Radio New Zealand keeps rubbing their wealthy noses into this Horrendous pain !
Agreed. I find it quite staggering how the Wealth Party ignores the plight of those less fortunate …
but, you know, self-justification is a sight to behold
Yes – Vto
They start by training their little girls in wealth. Then their little snobby Boys. Then they tell them not to mix with nasty poor children.
Then in a short time they don't even know how to spell Poverty. And they get taken away to get their Tits reshaped. Then Daddy has a chat with the Cops and his boy doesn't get shoved into prison – where he should be.
The Plod can't spell poverty.
You need to lay off the weed OT…lol
[Yes, that’s confusing. Can you please use a (slightly) different name (but not “James”)? Thanks – Incognito]
What? Another Jimmy!!!!!!
See my Moderation note @ 11:08 AM.
Well said OT. But it's not known as RNZ NATIONAL for nothing. Keep up the good work OT
NZTA's maps of their suggested "safe and appropriate speed" strongly suggests they have no fucking idea. Seriously, they suggest 100km/h as a safe and appropriate speeds for dangerous twisty high crash rate bits of road like the Desert Road from the Waihohonu Bridge through the Three Sisters through to the top of the long straight hill just south of Turangi, or SH1 beside Lake Taupo where there's the tight corners going around the bluffs, but suggest reducing parts of the Taupo bypass to 80km/h where it's limited access separate dual carriageways with median barriers.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12237693
Scroll down to the interactive map where it toggles between the posted speed limit and suggested safe and appropriate speed.
Lowering speed limits would be a hell of a good way to be a one term government IMHO
That map seems to bear no relation to reality whatsoever. Either that or they got it round the wrong way and the slider reveals the roads that aren't safe to drive at 100kph.
They're certainly correct that the risk of being killed in a crash would be much lower if people drove the highways at 60 – 70kph, but that's the same as it being correct that your risk of electrocution would be much lower if you turned off the mains switch in your house: it's true, but no-one in their right mind would do it.
I'm somewhat amused by their treatment of the Waterview Tunnels. When they were opened, there was a massive song and dance about why the speed limit through them had to be 80km/h, and there's speed cameras at the entrance and exit both directions. Yet their suggested "safe and appropriate speed" is 100.
But!… trip times… production… gdp….
Another reason why we need this rail injection. Less cars on road will mean less car crashes. And it doesn't have to spank the economy.
I hope this government gets nine years just so they can keep putting much-needed infrastructure spending into railways, but it's freight movements that will benefit. Passenger rail is never going to a popular means of inter-city travel as long as we have narrow-gauge rail, single-tracked. Fixing that will never be viable.
But you are allowed your e-bikes on trains for free. So you jump on the train and have personal transport at the other end. Personally, I love this concept.
It'll take some time for sure, we used to have an extensive rail network they were shutting lines down in the 70's and probably ever since.
It's what I was doing in the South Is in the 70's. Only my bike didn't have an 'e'. I have many fond memories of the NZR crews, more often than not they'd let me ride on top of the mail bags in the now vanished guard wagons for free. I think it was because I was too grubby to have anywhere near proper passengers!
And I'd get a cup of steaming hot tomato soup if I got dead lucky 🙂
+1 PM
We are repeating a similar gerfuffle to how it was when computers came in. Computers were known to be right so anything that came out of them must be genuflected to. Now it is alghorithms deciding and screening people from getting ACC treatment, and having to go at 80 on a perfect 120 km stretch of road because some bits of metal and wires in a container say so.
What about robot police eh. That'll be the next move, the police will enjoy running robots like Military Forces are sitting on swivel-chairs running armed forces doing maneouvres against real people and their homes.
This is serious, it is important that we don't all end up standing outside doors waiting for them to automatically open for us. And the frostbite when the electricity is down will be awful. The buzz before we collapse – if only our systems at home had informed us of this dangerous double tragedy, blizzards and non-opening doors. Oh what shall we do now, we can't phone home because the blizzards have knocked out the cellphones?
My birthday today. Fitting time to apologise to the people I've been aggressively arguing with over the past couple of days.
Tony, Peter, sorry. Gosman… lol.
And thank you to those commenters who talked me down rather than piled on.
Right or wrong I'm coming across angry a lot and it bothers me. It is amazing when mental health slips how emotions can take hold and your thinking ignores answers it has known for some time.
So I'm thinking I'm angry because x said this, and y thinks I'm that….
But anger is a secondary emotion. So what's going on?
I am profoundly sad. I am a clever bastard and I solve problems. With climate change I just feel utterly helpless and hopeless.
Acknowledging that I actually feel a bit better. Time for a birthday celebration of chest x rays and stool samples.
(oh yeah, health scare going on too).
Have a good day folks.
Be kind to yourself today mate – you have made it to here and that is a miracle in itself. Kia kaha
You sound like you are doing the best you can and you have good awareness of your emotional state – that is awesome.
Good on ya Bleeple, keep rolling… and don't worry I suffer the same at times, getting all pissed off and writing aggro things, the style of which is later regretted…
Life's a roller-coaster – you just gotta buckle up properly and hold on for the ride…
and Happy Birthday fulla
Have a happy birthday WTB!
Happy Birthday, WeTheBeeple. Being sad is ok – coming to terms with what is happening to our world is very hard, especially when it has to be acknowledged that we, as the 'little people' can't do much to change it. Be kind to yourself and try to find something to do on your special day that you enjoy in the midst of your medical dramas. Kia kaha
I wish you all the best WTB and know that you have the capacity for happiness despite it all
I've been wondering about ya, WTB. When someone's an exemplar, as you are in the realm of earth-care, it must be difficult to maintain high standards when venturing "off-site" into more mundane political fields where squabbling's the norm.
In any case, have a delightful birthday and regarding the stool sample; give 'em all you've got
With regards feeling sad; enjoy it while you can; sadness, especially when it's profound, is the gateway to Resolution and Growth. The alchemists said that deep darkness, charred and ruinous, is the prerequisite to the true growth that results in the state of whiteness and pure clarity; sounds like you're on your way
Happy birthday and all the very best WtB.
I know too, sometimes all the problems of the world just seem to press in and you feel like hitting out.
It's no help but I remember a saying told me by an old and experienced teacher:
"Remember, things are never that bad that they can't get worse!"
LOL – that was meant to make me feel better!
Wise words. When I look where I've been and where I am now I have much to be grateful for.
Thanks everyone I really appreciate the support. Got to venture off into this rainy day and I'm delaying, sitting here with the cat purring in my lap, all toasty and warm.
While I agree (Robert) that this process is part of healing/transformation, I do get overly frustrated with the three-steps forward, two-steps back pattern. But that's all typical human stuff?
As I get back on the road and my world broadens again the claustrophobic crowding of fears and anxiety will subside. Too much time in this chair.
Trying to work out a sustainable touring company. Tricky! Anyone got a spare 100K so I can get an EV with decent range.
It is my birthday after all
Trying to work out a sustainable touring company
Sorted.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/sports/equestrian/other/listing-2170752041.htm?rsqid=dd27fa47cfbf45c6b006f77fb50617ce-002
I love it! I can't imagine getting other comics on e-bikes.
Better dash, bus it is a coming.
Nissan Leaf currently has a 40Kw van model that will do 250-300 km depending on terrain. My partner's work vehicle is the older 24Kw that does around 112-130km and is upgrading soon.
There is a 7 seater on TradeMe for $37,850 but I suspect it is the low range version. My partner's boss is importing his directly from the UK. Sorry, can’t offer anything more substantive, especially since it is your birthday.
I appreciate the feedback! I got lucky. Last week(s) I took friends out to see comedy and a friend of a friend came too (new friend). So, ever the great host I filled him up with Jamiesons and introduced him to several 'stars'. Turns out his job is the importation and selling of EV's and he thinks I'm the bees knees.
My mate mentioned my situation and I just heard he might be keen on a sponsorship deal – which would work out great for him as I'd talk up the EV in every town.
We shall see, what a great twist of fate that that is who he was.
Always pays to be nice, I find it much easier in theory…
Great! Hope to see you (and an EV) in a town near me…
As I get back on the road and my world broadens again the claustrophobic crowding of fears and anxiety will subside.
This is absolutely true. Overthinking is a killer. I found this speaks to the problem directly:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/112265699/bad-memories-and-cringeworthy-mistakes-fester-for-insomniacs
By temperament I have the same challenge. When I was younger I confronted it tramping, climbing and generally getting off my arse and doing things that provoked anxiety but in a controlled fashion. That was transformational, I went from being a useless 14 yr old to a functioning adult at 24 yrs. Took a while but it worked.
Next big mistake was not being responsible for my own naivety and stupid mistakes. You WILL get fucked around with and people WILL do things that are unfair and malicious; I spent far too much of my life expecting them to be better and the world to be a fairer place, when the problem was my own weakness.
The next piece of the puzzle is one crucial word … competence. Don't mistake this for being smart. People like you and me have relied on our IQ to get us through life, but by itself this is never sufficient. It leaves us feeling like we never quite fulfilled our potential. Or to put it bluntly … the world is full of smart people who're losers.
Smart is a trap, it fills the mind with useless chatter, it paralyses action and it means we never reach the point where we become truly, innately competent. IQ is merely a constraining factor in success, not the root cause of it. Competence is knowledge turned into skill, they're related but not the same thing. Worst of all the mere knowledge of this is useless to you. Without volition, without purpose and will, it fails to become action. This is the secret to never giving up, it rewires the brain, it reveals the unsuspected folded within you. In this you have to be really tough on yourself.
And Happy Birthday mate …
Profound.
Happy birthday.
Best wishes for today, WTB.
I empathise with the angst, but remind myself that after all those tests and x-rays, amongst all the chaff, you seem to be surrounded by good people and green and growing things. I'll try and do the same.
Your posts often elevate and inform, and your propensity to being just human after all, is reassuring for me at least.
We the Bleeple….Happy birthday! We are birthday twins. So hope you have a great day too!
I was really moved by what you wrote a few days back about your life. I was unab to comment at the time due to technical problems that sometimes happen for me on this site.
Anyway Happy Birthday WTB
WtB Hope your birthday turns out nice. And remember there are 364 unbirthdays out there when good things and good wishes can turn up – nice surprises can abound not recognisably wrapped with bows on. Quote for the day: Life is a see-saw – up push, down fall, ready for the next day of …action, reflection, disappointment, recovery, completion, wonder, laughter, meeting of minds sweet, hopeful and ironic.
Happy Birthday Ankerrawshark, and many more.
Thanks Patricia, my Standard friend!
Happy birthday!
I got this mean ass bath bomb, and some nice sativa weed, and then I'll boost some blues through the amp, snacks, candles…
Happy Birthday to me too!
A little blues, and I mean blues with a capital B, for your birthday, WTB.
This one gets me through. No matter how bad and sad I might feel, this guy has it more………..
"Drak is the Night and Cold is the Ground" -Blind Willie Johnson.
Mmm, mmm, well well aaah aaah well well mmm mmm we-e-ell
Yay more blues. Check bottom of thread Bonamassa's coming over in September. (Christchurch only).
Thanks. I'm gonna turn this up LOUD so the neighbors can enjoy it too.
Thanks We the Bleeple…Glad you got some nice stuff and love the idea of blasting some blues through the amp!!!!
Many happy returns (wishes, not unwanted prezzies
).
As for sadness, I have found whenever I am aware of that emotion, allowing the mind to come to rest helps.
A simple breathing exercise may help.
That will colour your world. We are in the middle of biopsies and waiting with our son.
It tends to make one impatient with niggles and perceived moaners.
So, MANY HAPPY RETURNS WTB Cheers.
Happy Birthday WeTheBleeple! Sincerely!
I guess I am one of the people who argued with you over the last few days, but nothing personal. We all have different viewpoints but I am sure we all want the best result. And a little robust and challenging discussion can help us all in the end.
Have a great day and best of wishes for a positive outcome all round and for the year ahead!
Happy happy birthday.
Don't forget you said yourself a day or so ago (I think it was you) that after some days of feeling bad you have days of feeling fine and dandy. I know when feeling bad I think I will never not feel bad. But it's not true. Brains can be such dicks some times.
A shrink I know says to remind oneself to tell the brain some thoughts are simply not helpful.
" I know when feeling bad I think I will never not feel bad."
Yep you definitely understand. I appreciate the kind thoughts.
Happy birthday.
Are you coming across angry, or are you actually angry? Reading other people's comments is all about projection. If someone habitually uses the F word like punctuation rather than any real invective, others can infer anger when it was just a simple sentence 😉
Happy birthday to WTB on behalf of all rwnj👍
WTB (5) … I sincerely hope you had a wonderful day and may you celebrate many more 🙂
Take good care.
Hi – WeThePeeble (nifty tag!)
You know, a lot of us are wishing you well!
I don't how to do that, but I sure endorse it.
The thing I worked out – some time back – is that each of us is unique. Which is a helluva beaut thing! We are not a clone. We do things our way WTP. Which is what Nature wants. Variety; penetration, Wonder. Our way is best. Hang on to that. Good man.
By the way – you are next shout !
Thanks again everyone. Today I went to the wrong Hospital. Senility creeping in.
The editing software here is a nightmare to drop poetry into. It's godawful. Perhaps a selling point…
Five O + GST
The hairdresser couldn't make me any younger but she banished the neck fluff and beat the brows back into submission
Trimmed now I haul my aging frame out to a bench and strike conversation with Stan the homeless man
An amputee pigeon hobbles across the walkway in front of Prada "Kinda poetic" I point 'Meryl Steep wears that shit' says Stan "You mean the Devil?" We laugh "If the Devil turns up for a dress I'm'a kick him in the nuts" I say We laugh some more
I shake hands with Stan dropping a tenner in his palm then I walk the road
Twenty, forty, fifty dollars Smiling gap toothed faces
I've cheered myself up but I go all out Off to Lush for a perfumed bath bomb To Farmers for some pure wool socks and finally
A mince and cheese pie
Life is good.
(that was me attempting to get a format without large gaps in each line. Not worth the bother aye).
No, nay, never, No never no more, Will I play the wild rover, No, never, no more. Just keep on presenting poetry just like the above, or how it turns out WtB. You are wild and free, and great. Loved it all. Mince and cheese yeah. Who could ask for more.
Hi WTB. Have you ever had a look at Old Norse poetry. It's difficult because they used a circumlocutory device called kenning which takes some getting used to, but it can be very powerful. My favourite is one by Egil Skalla-Grimmsson called Sonnatorrek (loss of sons) It's a thousand years old. Probably not your thing but here it is: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/sonatorrek-loss-sons.html
I like it. It could almost have been written by some Celt today. Long, but.. no telly then.
By the format required, some of this (Skald work) might be considered 'viking doggerel' where the form relays events of the day.
Th English Dept at Uni did my head in they spent so much time discussing things that were not there and fawning over Jane Austen, no conjoint for me… Science all the way 😀
6th June.
Thanks joe90.
Resonant alright. Reminds me of Mark Knofler's style, but earthier and more folk oriented.
Touch of The Pogues going on as well. But yeah, I thought it was Knopfler singing at first.
Had to check in case he'd formed a new band.
No. The band is called Police Dog Hogan.
https://policedoghogan.com/
Only the best people.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/george-nader-arrested-child-pornography-charges-190604094946644.html
man that kushner is one strange dude – let's just say he doesn't photograph well imo – bit saurianish
I'm getting to feel very sorry for Mr Makhlouf – National have managed to screw him up. I hope not over. Vicious little buggers in National. I am told that 2,000 hits does not meet the usual status of denial-of-service. But it is certainly way out from normal. Who actually explained the case to him? Have Treasury been hoist on their own petard in looking for well-priced contracts for maintaining their IT needs, and got what they paid for?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/391303/power-play-makhlouf-s-future-in-question-as-ireland-piles-in
The sorry saga of hack-gate began about 6pm last Monday when a National Party staffer discovered parts of the government's Budget had been uploaded to the Treasury website.By 10am on Tuesday the Opposition had started drip-feeding details of the Wellbeing Budget – due to be released by the Finance Minister Grant Robertson on Thursday – to the media.,,, The National Party has for a week been calling for both Mr Makhlouf's and Mr Robertson's heads and has also demanded Mr Makhlouf at the least be stood down while the investigation is carried out.
How he's not been put on leave yet is quite baffling.
(I find it baffling how the local media can make judgments about someone being 'put on leave' over making a mistake like this very puzzling. A political journalist on a public body as Radionz calling for something that would have a destabilising effect of the government, unreasonably enhancing the minor mistake to a large misdemeanour is unsatisfactory.
Also Radionz have a number of times referred to the event as arising from simple searching. This also shows incorrect reporting. 2000 hits is not simple searching. It was using a public search option to a degree that normal public would be unaware of; a back-door way to manipulate the option to draw out more information than was intended to be available. It was a fault in the program and either known or found by manipulation then used to the full by working overtime to get the 2,000 hits.)
It would have been a long weary task but a sneaky and malign Opposition found it valuable and to its taste.
Scoop's take on it:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1906/S00009/lyndon-hood-better-analogies-for-national-pilfering-budget-data.htm
A denial of service attack just shuts websites down, it doesn't extract data.
The problem was with the search engine and the little samples of documents you get in the search results: you see a bit in front and a bit behind the search terms. So if you then search for those bits behind the original search, you can find the bits that come after them, and piece the whole document together that way. Those were the 2000 hits.
Debating whether that's a "hack" (conjuring images of spotty teens keyboard-mashing in basements to cool industrial soundtracks) is a distraction from the absolute fact that the people who extracted that data knew they should not be authorised to access the contents of budget documents in that way, yet still did so.
That's why the nats are pushing so hard on Makhlouf. Distract people from realising that what they did was illegal, and therefore that a police referral was appropriate.
To my mind it was a 'hack' alright. That is was a very easy hack technically is irrelevant. ALL hacks exploit some form of public domain vulnerability in a manner the owner of the site does not intend.
is a distraction from the absolute fact that the people who extracted that data knew they should not be authorised to access the contents of budget documents in that way, yet still did so
That is the critical and obvious point that most of the media seem determined to ignore. Totally agree with you on this one 🙂
You are obviously not well versed in IT based on your comments above. 2000 hits on the public search feature of an organisation in the time specified is not a lot at all.
From three different computers, often referring to the outputs of previous searches from those machines? When was the last time you searched a government site in that manner?
That's systemic, and intentional, and suspicious.
Yeah he knows, just parroting the same point over and over, but 2000 searches from 2-3 machines is a bit different than 2000 searches from 2000 machines, mmk?
Far more important is the discrepancy between the treasury forecast model of tax receipts being out by 2.3 billion.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/113285880/new-accounts-show-surplus-could-be-billions-larger-than-expected-in-budget
It doesn't matter if it was 2 hits or 20 billion, whoever was doing this knew damn well they were not allowed to access the Budget documents before it was released.
From that linked Stuff article:
… a National Party staffer discovered parts of the government's Budget had been uploaded to the Treasury website.
For fuck's sake, parts of the budget were not uploaded to the Treasury's web site, and that has been explained multiple times in various forums by people who know what they're talking about. Journalists should know better by now. The budget documents were indexed by the web site's search engine, which is not the same thing at all.
The mistake was somebody missing a config change they needed to make to a search engine. How that gets parlayed into something Gabriel Makhlouf and Grant Robertson should resign or be stood down for is beyond me. I notice Simon Bridges hasn't offered to resign for carrying out a data breach on a government agency, which sounds much more like a resignation offence to me.
"Broken promises" and "lies" are the words Ms Johnstone uses to describe her disappointment with the Labour government she's previously campaigned for after it failed to meaningfully boost funding to Pharmac in its latest budget.
"I was devastated," said Ms Johnstone, whose eight-year-old daughter Lucy featured on a Labour campaign advertisement during the last elections.
"David Clarke and Jacinda Ardern had all said they were going to improve cancer care and we believed it."
"I'd had friends who had never voted before who said, 'that's it, I'm enrolling and I'm going to vote' and who messaged me on the day 'I went and voted for you Claudine, I want to give you a chance.' So I feel like I've lied to them too, I've let them down."
Pharmac received just a $10 million increase in annual income over the next four years in the Wellbeing budget but that only results in a 1 percent lift.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/first-up/audio/2018698319/broken-promises-and-lies-people-like-me-don-t-matter-nz-breast-cancer-sufferer
It's too late now, these Kiwis have flown….but what about other voters who were foolish enough to believe the spin?
Those who were lied to by the current government will not necessarily vote National…they just won’t vote at all.
"Those who were lied to by the current government will not necessarily vote National…they just won’t vote at all"
..indeed, it will be interesting to see turn out next election. Certainly I can see, at best, large disaffected/disillusioned groups dragging their feet reluctantly to the voting booths…though I get the feeling Labours 'trump card*' is hoping that National stick with Bridges.
*Both a figurative and Literal pun at this time. And a strategy that didn't help the Democrats last election.
There is deep disillusionment out here in formerly Hopeful Land. The wounds from National's hard arsed years are still raw, and the Wellbeing Balm is not being spread evenly across all those who have done it tough for well over a decade.
Making the most vulnerable on benefits wait years for any appreciable relief is cruel and unforgivable and will hurt children and those who are unable to work through health and disability issues most.
On these pages there appears to be little appetite for supporting those calling for an increase in Pharmac's budget so New Zealanders are not looking enviously at their Aussie cousins while their lives slip way.
I read the comment then went to check an article in Ingenio which just arrived 'Fighting Cancer: Our Research Revolution'
It's mostly to do with immune therapy, and how they believe they may have cancer beat – eventually. Apparently our survival rate was 24% in 1972, and 57% today. Still not great but definitely better.
All this research they're doing is rather brilliant and so is the team. But at the end of the day it's still a pipeline to make new drugs that pharmaceutical companies get hold of. Then, all that taxpayer money and philanthropy given to them is converted to dollars for billionaires and screw you.
As I see it.
I only lasted a few months in medical (micro) biology as I realised they were after new drugs, and I was after eliminating the need for them.
The whole Big Pharma drug business model is self-perpetuating and monopolising in the sense that it is the only existing pipeline, i.e. they are the only game in town. Therefore, it is inevitable that sooner or later a new drug or treatment ends up with and in the hands of Big Pharma. They will recoup costs plus a healthy [pardon the pun] profit margin so that they keep their shareholders happy and can keep investing in the next blockbuster. They need to do this to stay in business or become the target of a hostile take-over or a ‘friendly’ merger or acquisition.
If this pattern can be broken, or bypassed rather, and I think it can, and much of the irrelevant ‘development costs’ be removed then overall costs will drop and more smaller (niche) players can enter the game.
Instead of bringing new drugs to market, it will be bringing new drugs to patients. A fundamental shift in thinking AKA a paradigm shift.
An example of a different model is the money the Government spends on combatting Kauri disease. It is not profit-driven but needs-driven. I’d like to to think that it can be done in other settings too!
I agree entirely Incognito.
In the meantime, it is the system we are stuck with..with Pharmac acting as gatekeeper.
While we await this fundamental paradigm shift what do we say (as taxpayers) to those who are having the funding cut for the drugs that work for their condition or cannot get funding for drugs that are working for others overseas with their condition?
Oh that's right….die or fuck off.
Thanks lprent
Note everyone Daily Review at No.15. Things looking up on the search side.
Yeah!! Joe Bonamassa's coming to town.
Details!
https://premier.ticketek.co.nz/Shows/Show.aspx?sh=JOEBONA19
Be wary of crooked ticket agents they're all over this already. Ticketeks allright, but they take too much cut off my shows 😀 They do a good job but.
Christchurch only, Wednesday 25th September.
Oh, and I got to add one of his latest songs it is hair stand on end awesome.
"Shut your mouf! Why don't you shut your mouf!?" —- Sad old git "Lord" Sugar doesn't like being confronted with his racist comments.
Piers Moron and that hideous, hectoring woman next to him are almost as nasty and ignorant as “Lord” Sugar….
Bloody hell bettered by piers? ffs – great to watch though ta – sugar was classic
It's a pleasure, marty. I love seeing these fools melt down in public. Sugar's simply a gross and disgusting creature—a repulsive mixture of two other elderly racists, Donald Trump and our own "Sir" Bob Jones—-and his performance was nothing more or less than you would expect.
Less edifying, of course, is to see Keith Olberman, who used to be a thoughtful and intelligent commentator, allow himself to degenerate into a deranged conspiracy theorist, barking madly about "Russian SCUM!!!!"…..
How efficient NZ business is effective on the ground?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12042757 1 May, 2018 10:30am
SkyCity convention centre faces further six-month delay…. the Auckland-based company told the Macquarie Investor Conference in Sydney today.
When Fletcher won the contract in October 2015, construction was predicted to start in late December that year and be finished in February 2019. However after *Fletcher ran into problems with cost blowouts, SkyCity said last year that the deadline had been pushed out to mid-2019.
SkyCity said today that its investment in the projects is expected to be in line with the original budget of about $703m, and it remains comfortable with the contractual arrangements. The construction contracts provide for liquidated damages, which should mitigate losses through delay, the company said….
The company said it has secured three major convention bookings since March, in addition to the six previously announced, and continues to work on numerous leads and opportunities. The 33,000sq m facility will be the largest purpose-built convention centre [Auckland NZ International Convention Centre] in the country.
*Remember that Fletcher shares are now owned by many overseas retirement trusts etc. So they have come to NZ grabbed all the contracts and spoiled the flow of our business to our companies, and then FU and don't keep to contract. Also Fletchers seem to be majorly building casinos, and convention centres round the country. So is that where the building resources and foreign investment (so good for NZ economy) is going?
from June 8, 2016 https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/job-losses-feared-auckland-convention-centre-steel-contract-goes-offshoreJob losses feared as Auckland convention centre steel contract goes offshore
"There is not doubt in my mind that local industry could deliver the required amount of steel and the required quality as well," said David Moore, Grayson Engineering chief executive. "We'd just like to say we're here, we're capable, we have the skill set."
While the steel companies accept international competition, they say it's ultimately workers here who are being let down.
The union Etu has slammed the steel contract decision.
"I think it's a national disgrace that we are not supporting our local manufacturers who employ local people on big local jobs," said Joe Gallagher of the union.
Our government also fails to recognise the assistance China gives her steel mills in financial terms as "subsidies", and so no tariffs or penalties are applied to imports.
Therefore any domestic steel manufacturers are often unable to compete or even match on product price.
Cinderella is sweet often but rather simple. She keeps hoping for a Prince with good heart and bags of money. Meantime she whiles away her days dreaming of pumpkins turning into carriages, but that only happens in fairy stories. That is about the summation of our intellectual expertise and likely outcome I fear.
Kia ora The Am Show.
Its good that the gun person face supprisson order been lifted people will see Hes a puppet .
scottmo is suppressing the media in Australia is it accommodation ?????????
Eco Maori says the Obamas keeping a public profile is awesome we need good people to show the Papatuanuku how good whanau behave there spotafi deal will help keep that Phenomenon going congratulations on the book.
Alcohol causes a lot of harm to our society it's the usual everything in moderation 2 to 3 in the evening not getting stuffed up by the stuff.
It's good that the teachers strike next week has been called off. Why get rid of Kiwibuild there are people under the bridge judy can't get that logic.
It cool that Aotearoa scientists are pioneering ruamoko earthquake monertying technology to save lives.
That's why he didn't sign the social media clauses set up in one way its good to see Rugby.
Tall people have a advantage in society us average height tangata are ok my sons give me stick because they are taller than me.
The weight problem is dietary we consume way too much sugar it should be only put in the petrol tanks when the price of carbon goes up it will force the price of sugar up and it will all be diverted to fuel hopefully.
Ka kite ano P.S nice photo shoot Amanda
Here you go Whanau this proves that the wealthy make OUR laws to suit their ideals .
I have heard a old saying you have to have poverty to keep the system going to keep wages low to keep the economy humming along YEA RIGHT what's wrong with everyone having enough money to have a happy healthy life now and in the future.
You see Whanau it's the 99.9 % tangata who make the system if we all champion equalty for all it will happen.
The Wealthy could gift half of their money to the poor and still have plenty to play with .
Inequality is unlikely to fall much in the future unless our attitudes turn unequivocally against it. Among other things, we will need to accept that how much people earn in the market is often not what they deserve, and that the tax they pay is not taking from what is rightfully theirs.
One crucial reason why we have done so little to reduce inequality in recent years is that we downplay the role of luck in achieving success. Parents teach their children that almost all goals are attainable if you try hard enough. This is a lie, but there is a good excuse for it: unless you try your best, many goals will definitely remain unreachable Inequality begets further inequality. As the top 1% grow richer, they have more incentive and more ability to enrich themselves further. They exert more and more influence on politics, from election-campaign funding to lobbying over particular rules and regulations. The result is a stream of policies that help them but are inefficient and wasteful. Leftwing critics have called it “socialism for the rich”. Even the billionaire investor Warren Buffett seems to agree: “There’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years and my class has won,
Ka kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2019/jun/06/socialism-for-the-rich-the-evils-of-bad-economics
It gives Eco Maori a sore face to see that our rangitahi are raising the awareness of climate changes being a huge threat to our future society's.
Public concern about the environment has soared to record levels in the UK since the visit of Greta Thunberg to parliament and the Extinction Rebellion protests in April.
The environment is now cited by people as the third most pressing issue facing the nation in tracking data from the polling company YouGov that began in 2010. Environment was ranked after Brexit and health, but is ahead of the economy, crime and immigration
Ka kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/05/greta-thunberg-effect-public-concern-over-environment-reaches-record-high
The Whole Papatuanuku need to follow in the footsteps of these good intellectuals whom can see that recycling everything we can so as not to over exploit mother earth's capacity
The smell in Natural Weigh, a zero-waste shop that opened a year ago in Crickhowell in mid-Wales, is lovely. The shop – filled with pasta, grains, seeds and dried fruit served from hoppers to avoid plastic packaging; washing-up liquid and laundry products that customers pump into their battered old squeezy bottles; fair-trade coffee and chocolate, plus an array of environmentally friendly products, such as bamboo toothbrush holders, plastic-free dental floss and vegan leather snack pouches – looks lovely. The little town itself, which prides itself on having the best high street in Britain, is lovely, too. I am captivated ka kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/21/the-zero-waste-revolution-how-a-new-wave-of-shops-could-end-excess-packaging
Congratulations for your win Lisa I agree we can not let the disruptors win they use racial issues any issues to stirs up the people emotions and lie next minute when they are in power the people are let down because everything farge promises is just lies to pull in the votes .I think that there should be a huge fine for Bullshiting pollies who are caught losing.
Peterborough byelection result: Labour scrapes past Brexit party to hold seat
Labour’s Lisa Forbes says result shows ‘the politics of division will never win’
Labour has held on to the marginal seat of Peterborough, defeating predictions that the contest could deliver a first byelection victory to Nigel Farage’s Brexit party.
Addressing her supporters early on Friday following the count, Labour candidate Lisa Forbes said: “Tonight’s result is significant because it shows that the politics of division will never win
Ka kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/07/peterborough-byelection-result-labour-sees-off-brexit-party-threat-to-hold-seat
Kia ora Newshub.
The tramper missing in the Tararua rangers hope he is found a live sounds like he is onto it fingers crossed.
It would be good to have cameras on all fishing boats to keep the fishermen honest and make them be extremely careful in areas where our endangered Maui dolphins resides.
A month rain in 24 hours the bad weather making havoc in America at the minute———–.
That is good luck the British motorbike rider who was impailed on a branch of the tree he crashed into on his bike.
The plastic fantastic roads being made using recycled plastic is awesome that is the correct attitude never giving in on your quest to recycle our waste . This is just the start in our recycle reuse SOCIETY.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora te ao Maori news.
Ka pai to te ao Maori news and Mr Black for championing the need for science room for the tamariki at that kurakopapa.
Mr Dews I agree we need to come up with new fishing techniques to stop the damage being dune to our endangered Maui dolphins.
Its is that Vanuatu got that hurricane last year it wreaked havoc on there coffee crop and plants 5 million from Aotearoa to help their Agricultural sector is very good.
It would be nice to see whare around all Marae I say we should structure mahi cottage industry around our Marae as well as houses we need to create our own mahi and money with the Marae mana the whanau won't let it fail.
Eco Maori is a fan of Ardijah and Pukuhohe Maori TV comedy series.
Ka kite ano P.S thanks
Kia ora Newshub Nation.
There are some farmers not being compliant on the environment laws for their property the few make the many look bad .
I agree we need to have more horticultural farming having policies and money to make that happen is cool
Its the old saying don't have to marry eggs in one basket we need to all Farm Organically also have to much exposure to China and dariy prices at the minute.
Alcohol needs to be restricted alcohol is a problem that has caused a lot of damage to tangata whenua Eco Maori say it's a gateway drug to harder DRUGS.
It should not be sold in food outlets supermarket keep the stuff out of sight of our Mokopuna.
I don't think that alcohol companies should be in school education tamariki about alcohol bad effects that's what the media job is .
Its hard for people with disabilities in our society's culture at the minute we need to value and respect our disadvantage tangata.
I agree the state making the disabled to keep producing duplicates of forms to apply for state funding when in most cases the person circumstance doesn't change how ridiculous.
Ka kite ana
Some Eco Maori music for the minute.
Eco Maori thinks that junk food is definitely causing food allergies I think that is what was wrong with my mokopuna a last year all the chemicals that are put into that stuff is amazing that the food companies can get away with it commercialism 1
A ballooning diet of junk food might be one of the factors fuelling a rise in food allergies, researchers have suggested.
Experts say they have seen a rise in food allergies in western countries, including the UK. While true prevalence can be tricky to determine, data published by NHS Digital shows episodes of anaphylactic shock in England due to adverse food reactions rose steadily from 1,362 in 2011-12 to 1,922 in 2016-17.
The culprit, some scientists have suggested, could be substances known as advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs.
AGEs occur naturally in the body, but they are found in high levels in highly processed foods, as well as other sources such as cooked meats. They form when sugars react with proteins or lipids. High levels of AGEs in the body, which it has been suggested can result from consuming AGE-rich foods, have previously been linked to a number of conditions including diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
Now a small study by researchers in Italy has shown that children with food allergies have higher levels of AGEs in their bodies than healthy children without allergies. Children with respiratory allergies showed no such differences. The team also found that children with higher levels of AGEs consumed more food containing such substances la kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/08/junk-food-rise-food-allergies-children
Outstanding effort Eco maori, thank you.
From the food study
“Canani said the team’s research using cells suggested AGEs might directly interact with with immune cells, and they also seemed to have a detrimental effect on the gut barrier.”
That (gut epithelial deterioration) aligns with other studies into various conditions associated with dietary problems including Coeliac’s and IBS.
Kia ora Newshub.
I decided to stay out of the Crusaders debate.
The housing shortage is dire it's bad that those people in Edgecome liveing in a tent 2 working but there are no suitable houses thanks shonky.
I say its very cool the walking tracks being closed so they can be up graded with board walls to minimize the spread of the Kauri die back disease in Auckland.
That's awesome NASA selling fairs to the space station that we're we have to go in the future. Its cool world health is it or highlighting all the plastic waste being washed into Tangaroa and our Awa
Ka kite ano
Kia ora te ao Maori news.
The skilled teachers shortage is another symptom of the last ten years of a government that ran the country cut budgets for core government services and gave the wealthy tax cuts.
The extra work for the people of Kai kohi planting trees is cool mahi is great for the wairua.
The sky tower challenge its cool that the aim is to tau toko mental health
Good short film made about Wahine monthly periods and Kuia menopause being short listed for a award.
Congratulations and good luck with your new song and single Pere
Ka kite ano