For the good of our nation, Winston Peters needs to be memorialised.
In Parliament with just a few breaks since 1978, he should be sat down and given a proper Celebrity Roast.
Something akin to the final scene of The Wire in which a good but errant cop is laid flat in front of a bar with all his peers old and older, all his enemies, all his friends, all his lovers, all his whanau, all the lawyers he's shafted, all the judges he's just fucked over in the press, all the MPs and Ministers and Prime Ministers he's stabbed in the front and the back and the side, all the reporters that he's spat at to their faces as the nation watched with abandoned glee, all the civil servants who year after year wiped his ass with our cash until he could finally shit no more, and story after story and drink after drink they all recall how he did it, how he got them all, the best lies he ever told, the crimes he never quite nailed, the conspiracies true and should've-been-true from Think Big's Alusuisse to The Winebox to PGF, in short how he was to his core Natural Born Politician, the only one we'v really had since Holyoake, the sum total of his 'hit' files on people are read out and laughed at…
and at the same time as this is happening he is gently tapped of all his fluid and embalmed, so that he can be aid flat on the gun carriage and pulled with 22 black horses down The Terrace and Featherstone Street as people throw black carnations and red roses across his path … but he's still perfectly conscious so that he can enjoy it and repudiate all the concurrent press coverage to their faces …
… and then his head can be gently removed and mounted on a mahogany base to be displayed, with eyes ever-watching, right above the Speakers' Chair, something like a horse.
Wonderful news to start the day. A friend worked at this pharmacy, it was the most abusive workplace she has even been in. It lead to mental health issues for her.
The former owners of a Nelson pharmacy have been hit with almost $400,000 in penalties for price fixing.
"The summary of facts said the pharmacy explained to customers the $1 charge was to draw attention to the under-funding of prescription medicines and to put pressure on the health board to adequately fund them to ensure the pharmacies' survival."
And who do you reckon Hebberd and Wright will support in the upcoming election? Probably the same people that increased prescription charges fro $3 – $5 and who made an art form out of underfunding the health sector during their reign of terror.
Apart from bad employment practices and the fact that the pharmacies all agreed to making a protest charge, the $400,000 is excessive for an extra $1. I suppose that will pay for the CEOs salary at COCO, (I should cocoa! for the English readers), or might stretch for him or her and the Misery of Health (as Rosemary calls them) or the CEO of the DHB who I think may be the one making such a good job of running the Southland/Otago HB.
Now COCO can look at AirNZ and see if they should be charged big quids for holding urgently needed refunds back in a predatory manner.
UMR poll:
– Labour 54% (down marginally from 55% in April)
– ational 30% (up marginally from 29% in April)
– NZ First 5% (down from 6%)
– Greens 4% (down from 5%)
– ACT may be 2.5%
Preferred Prime Minister:
– Jacinda Ardern 65% (no change)
– Todd Muller 13% (Bridges 7% in April)
The poll of 1211 voters was taken from May 26 to June 1 and has a margin of error of +/-3%.
Another very good result for Labour and Ardern but they appear to have peaked.
This isn’t very good for National again, but it suggests the slide may have ended.
And considering a muddled first week and uninspiring second week I don’t think it’s bad for Muller, he at least got about double Bridges last UMR result.
We’re in an unprecedented situation health-wise, socially, politically and economically. It is most likely the Labour-National gap will close a bit at least as we get closer to the election.
I has miskeyed the Naame on the first one and it disappeared so I reposted the comment later. You can delete the first one (no comments on it) if you want to tidy up.
I don’t think it’s bad for Muller, he at least got about double Bridges last UMR result.
No surprise … I was pretty much expecting him to debut around the early to mid teens.
Given the ever-increasing importance of leadership attributes in determining voting behaviour … a new Opposition Leader really needs to be debuting in the 20s or 30s in the Preferred PM stakes and to appear at least reasonably competitive with the PM if they're to have any chance of victory.
Unfortunately UMR have only very recently started to measure Preferred PM ratings … in the past they restricted leadership measures to Favourability only … but here are new Oppo Leader debuts in the Colmar Brunton Preferred PMs this century:
if pugh, or any living human, had replaced simon, their preferred p.m. rating would be about where toddlers is. most nats still dont know anything about toddler ,or his policies, but will vote or a turkey in gumboots, if it wears a nat sticker.
Party Vote Green, tactically or if you are a wavering Labour/Green voter is the message there. Tribal Labour support for the sake of it makes no sense.
We may end up with Act 6 Nats 39 Labour 43 NZF 4.9 GR 4.9 wasted 2.2
Prime Minister Mullet in an ACT/NAT coalition of 61 seats
You mean vote for a party that allowed police free entry into our property. The party that has to swallow dead rats (willingly). Little comment regarding police using AI. And giving the Nats their questions at QT. All to be part of THE govt team, without really BEINg in the team
If they had voted against the Bill, what would have happened next?
I mean, there is a conversation to be had about how MMP *should function, but people saying the Greens should just vote against everything they don't like would stall govt and no-one explains what would happen next given Labour also have to negotiate Bills with NZF, their primary partner who has Ministers inside cabinet.
I really wish people would explain how they think this works, instead of just slagging off a party for making the best of a shitty situation. Doubly so in a conversation about tactical voting, because if the Greens get more MPs this time they will have more chance at swaying Labour.
NZ1st appear to be able to maintain their identity and keep to their principles, Where is the line in the sand that The Greens will not cross? for me this appears to me a moving target.
Are some saying that to be part of the establishment that there are many rats to be swallowed, and what "payback" is there for the Greens ? – I don't see Labour or NZ1 digesting rats. Just saying 🤓
Winston First were in a position to negotiate a coalition agreement containing more latitude and more lollies than the Greens were offered, including seats at the cabinet table.
Politics is the art of the possible. Purity is for those of us sitting on the outside wringing our hands.
I'm going to address the issues you raise there Herodotus, but first I want to point out that you didn't answer the question. If the Greens voted against the Bill, what would have happened next?
What would have happened is the Greens would have started a nationwide debate.
A nationwide debate on anything is what the Greens at 4.7%-5.1% desperately need.
The Greens sure sucked it up and voted for the two-tier welfare payments. And then came out the next day and complained. Trying to start a nationwide debate.
But then Labour would have responded that they've delivered:
– The $5.5 billion Families Package in 2018 which established the Winter Energy and Best Start payments, as well as boosting Working for Families tax credits.
– Indexed main benefits to wage growth from April 2020, meaning benefit payments rise in line with wages – rather than inflation.
NZ1st appear to be able to maintain their identity and keep to their principles,…
Yes, and it's hard for me to understand how this is still so poorly understood given that NZF have been in parliament since the early 90s, and Peters has been fucking with MMP since its introduction. Not trying to be rude, there is a lot I still don't understand about how parliament and government works in NZ. Here's what I understand about this though,
Centrist small parties have institutional power that small parties on the left and right don't. NZF is able to play National and Labour off each other in order to get policy gains. They also had slightly more votes and one more MP than the Greens in 2017.
Labour couldn't govern with the GP alone, it had to do a deal with NZF if it wanted to form government. NZF held the balance of power, because if Labour wouldn't deal with them, they could just support a Nat govt instead. This option isn't available to the GP.
Labour also needed the GP to form govt, but the option for the GP was to support a Lab govt or allow a Nat one. Obviously this is a lot less tenable for a left wing party than a centrist one.
There are some bottom lines, which I'll address below, but I don't see NZF holding the balance of power being one of them. What else should have made the GP not give Confidence and Supply in 2017 and thus given Nat a 4th term? I can't think of any. So this is an institutional power that the Greens hold, but it's a very different power than what NZF have.
Add to that is that the GP practice political ethics. They're not going to bring down a govt over policy unless there is a critical issue of principles.
…Where is the line in the sand that The Greens will not cross? for me this appears to me a moving target.
My understanding of the GP position is that they won't compromise on principles but they will compromise on policy. This is what Sacha is talking about. All parties have to compromise, and in this case that includes Lab and NZF. How much they compromise depends on two things. What kind of institutional power they have, and how they use that power. The Greens aren't in govt for power, they're there for change, and working with other parties is a good way of effecting that. A big part of that is maintaining good working relationships with the parties they depend upon on this issue but also future issues.
Are some saying that to be part of the establishment that there are many rats to be swallowed, and what "payback" is there for the Greens ? – I don't see Labour or NZ1 digesting rats. Just saying
The big problem I see is that the negotiations around Bills are done in secret. I think they should be public. I think NZers should be able to see who is supporting what, and who is blocking what. Atm we can't see what gains the GP have made that NZF or Labour wouldn't have done anyway, but we can make some educated guesses based on the policy platforms of all parties before the election.
Climate is the obvious one. We have a more progressive climate policy than if it had been L/NZF alone.
If you really want to dig into, I would expect that the Select Committee process would likewise show the differences between the parties and then the outcomes would show who made gains for their own policies. This includes the covid Bill, which I understand the Greens argued for changes to.
Even Act has more dignity than to argue about how being an out-there party makes it hard. Act finds the way to make change – which they have done this term with tiny numbers. They will be rewarded for it.
You want to get above 5% go out and fight for it.
Failing that go win a seat and stop whining about how everyone's so mean and no one else has principles.
Your example is totally ridiculous, ACT only exist in parliament because of a deal between them and National, we are all aware of that. ACT represent ideology and policies that the National party want but may not want to campaign on. If your rhetoric is representative of how Labour views the Greens then it's even more clear how different their situation is from your example.
You Green supporters seem about as capable of holding their Green MPs for their performance which is at marginal survival as white evangelicals do to Donald Trump. That's shown by you reacting like a scolded cat to some advice that's applicable to any marginal party.
Act have got the electoral deal that the Greens may well need to stay afloat. Take a lesson and do a deal.
Even Act has more dignity than to argue about how being an out-there party makes it hard. Act finds the way to make change – which they have done this term with tiny numbers. They will be rewarded for it.
You want to get above 5% go out and fight for it.
Failing that go win a seat and stop whining about how everyone's so mean and no one else has principles.
For a guy whose smart about many things including lots of politics, you have a pretty outstanding blindspot on this.
My post wasn't about special pleading, it was simply describing how parties on the edges don't have the same institutional power as those in the middle, so that H could understand the context of what he was expecting and why it's unlikely to happen.
To me this is self-evident, whatever failings the Greens have, by all means explain how I am wrong on this point. Centrist parties can do things that parties on the edge can't. And you know, I'm still waiting for the actual explanation of the people that dump on the Greens on how macho politics from the left of Labour would work. Won't hold my breath though, you do seem to have an ongoing grievance about something to do with the Greens so I don't expect any useful discussion about how governments function.
You try and use ACT as an example of something in all that, but ACT are only in parliament because they do a deal with Nat to have a seat. Instead of opening a conversation about the usefulness or not of Lab and the Greens doing electorate deals, you suggest that ACT are somehow more parliamentarily virutous /massive eyeroll.
Your implication is that the Greens haven't achieved anything, but obviously they have. Maybe they haven't lived up to your expectations, which would be really fucking weird given how much you seem to hate them. No idea what that is about, maybe it's just too much that Labour have to rely on them and you are afraid that it will cost the left the election.
Bugger me why people think dumping on the Greens will improve things, but I guess there are still plenty of lefties out there that think bashing is an incentive. SSDD for NZ after all.
What would happen next ?… Extending that then, The Greens are totally subservient to Labour because they cannot go against their govt.
If there is a partnership then shouldn't Labour be seen tacitly in "giving" the Greens over the last 2.5 years some wins.
From my perspective we see NZ1 standing up as the sole bastion of "Common Sense". Sure Peters pays the game, at many times at a Kindy level and it STILL works. e.g. Fishing at home to gain profile, standing to move to level 1. Saying that there are plenty in politics that are clueless at the most basic of levels.
Is there a reason you won't engage with the question?
Extending that then, The Greens are totally subservient to Labour because they cannot go against their govt.
I'm curious where you get your information about the Greens from. I've seen them going against Labour policy a number of times recently.
If there is a partnership then shouldn't Labour be seen tacitly in "giving" the Greens over the last 2.5 years some wins.
They have. Maybe do some research.
I'm so sick of these conversations. If people want the Greens to do something, then explain how. Otherwise it just comes across as moaning. Personally I think the Greens' weak points are more about their strategy, and their social media work. But we will see how they go in the election campaign.
You mean vote for a party that allowed police free entry into our property.
Are you suggesting voting for one of the other parties that allowed it? Also, are you suggesting that the Greens shouldn't have become part of the government?
Stop the tag wrestling Ad. We don't have time for things to gradually work out – the world is coming to an end and the sky is falling. Times are almost fitting into the stories of children's nursery rhymes – so unbelievable.
Put up or shut up. Don't put down any well meaning Party, put a whoopee cushion under them, and when it farts say 'Look what happens when you sit down, stand up grow good, and get moving like there's no tomorrow'. There may not be – it may come but look completely different than what was expected.
Now children children! If you can't behave nicely to each other, I'm afraid I'm going to have to separate you!
Ad: You go and stand in the purple corner! (Or is it mauve?)
Hero: You're over there in the black, and woe betide if you turn around while you're wearing that ridiculous dunce's hat (Talking about bloody principle and all – especially when Shane the Retail politician has got 'em all up for sale and is negotiating the price of the next bauble for Winnie)
@Grey: Come with me and and we'll go and do the dishes together
As pointed out in that Herald/ODT link, the UMR poll is only part of the story. But we also know National's private polling is bad, because Muller is refusing to share it with the caucus. If it was 35%+ they'd be spinning it like crazy.
I gave up following the issue a while back but I'd be grateful if someone who is considerably considerably better informed than I could tell me about the intricacies of it all. And that's because I'm no longer interested in anything mathmatic and I'm considerably considerably richer than they, and really – why should I give a fuck – I'm in my comfy little nest at the moment, until such time as it all goes tits up!
Does it still mean that people who've been magnanimously granted one of these loans will pay no more than 100% on the principle? The 0.8% per day compounded and all such. Seems wonderful eh? A can of baked beans in watered down tomato sauce might only eventually cost $5 or 6.
And if there is someone who could tell me whether the ultimate incremental pragmatist, kicker-of-the-can-down-the-road is going to monitor everything in this space, just as he has over other of his responsibilites – not the least of which is the state of our media.
As the Tangerine Turkey often says: "It's tremendous. We'll see what happens" and second tier bennies really should be grateful eh? IF they show enough personal responsibility, have the ambition and determination to break free of their circumstance, they could become a Minister of the Crown – it's in their hands
It appears that President Loathe in the Time of Corona has sent a can of his dayglo spraytan to his personal Nosferatu, but instead of using halved ping-pong balls to protect his eyes when applying it, he's used a mask over his mouth. (See the kindergarten tit-for-tat with Piers Morgan starting at 6:30).
Good fkn riddance. Cops who run away at the first whiff of accountability – everyone is better off without them. Hopefully this sets the ball rolling and we'll see a lot more of it.
It's still a step in the right direction when thugs quit an explicit Thug Division, simply because the risk of being held accountable has gone from zero to very small. Net result should still be a reduction in police thuggery.
As far as the Greens/ NZ Police Association thing goes, it strikes me as a bit misdirected and ott from all sides. In particular, one clear message from the George Floyd murder is that death and violence from police can happen even without use of weapons. A point which seems to have been missed in the current posturing from both sides.
Also Greens, given the role Facebook has in seriously fucking up political discourse worldwide, what's up with making us go to Facebook to find material you're publishing? Put it directly on your own site.
Edit
This piles anxiety on top of deeply troublingwhen thinking of how far NZ police behaviour will descend into punitive attacks when they decide to trial new policing methods which might turn out to become routine. Gordon Campbell at Scoop has amassed some relevant background information.
For instance : Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer now facing murder and manslaughter charges for killing Floyd had been the subject of 18 prior complaints. These included his participation in the 2006 killing of a Native American called Wayne Reyes, who had been pulled over by Police in connection with an assault on his girlfriend. In the space of four seconds, Chauvin and five fellow officers poured 43 rounds into the cab of Reyes’ truck, 23 of which hit Reyes.
Tou Thao, one of three other officers present while Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck had been the subject of six prior complaints, including participation in a 2017 Police attack on Lamar Ferguson, a black man out walking with his pregnant girlfriend. Ferguson was left hospitalised with broken teeth and other injuries. While the city of Minneapolis eventually made a $25,000 payout to Ferguson, the officers responsible continued in service.
The man-child is completely tone deaf, and with this latest episode of insensibility one wonders if he can be any more despicable. But his daily scraping of the bottom of the barrel reveals he a character of immense vileness.
Trump started by reading from a script but then launched into his usual unbelievable tirade. Stick to a script Donald. You are less than no public speaker.
The massage is so relaxing – as soon as I hear Trump's dulcet tones I fall asleep. Some might find Trump educational, but he just teaches us bad habits; I advise to flee before your brain turns to mush.
Reminds me of Groucho Marx's jibe at television being educational. "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."
I thought this was very timely given the world today and With a Kiwi influence and for some to take time an search Blair Peach abkost kiwiw name one history https://youtu.be/NxD3whUUz30
Who was Blair Peach ? For those who don't know it is good to know your history of what has gone before us at s time like this. Those older SHOULD know, especially visitors to this site and the link to this song of protest.
Never underestimate the covidity of the repug base.
One third of Americans used bleach or other household disinfectants “in non-recommended high risk practices” in attempts to reduce the spread of the deadly coronavirus, a new CDC survey finds.
Among the non-recommended practices were using “bleach on food products, applying household cleaning and disinfectant products to skin, and inhaling or ingesting cleaners and disinfectants,” the CDC says, as The Daily Beast reports.
If NZ First gets 4.8% of the party vote they are gone. NZ First gets 4.8% of the party vote and wins Northland they have a presence.
Could NZF be in the driver's seat again? It's possible. I think anyone expecting Labour to poll 50+% and National >30% is in dreamland. The most likely result is both of those parties in the 40s.
Please stop wasting our time and stick to your user handle, thanks. If you have technical difficulties, e.g. with accessing TS, commenting, or replying to comments, please ask and we (i.e. lprent) will do our best when we have time.
The tRump shit-magnet attracts the world's worst people.
Back in March, at the very beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, popular QAnon "citizen journalist" Greg Rubini started pushing the narrative that the novel coronavirus was created by the Deep State, in cahoots with Dr. Anthony Fauci, for the purposes of ruining the Trump economy. It was not the first absurd theory he had imagineered and put forth as the truth. The claim, among others, was picked up by OAN "journalist," granddaughter of fake psychic Allene "I've got the answers, call now" Cunningham, and author of one million non-existent young adult detective novels for girls who who hate feminism, Chanel Rion.
Rion, at the time, described Rubini as "a citizen investigator and monitored source amongst a certain set in the DC intelligence community."
Later, in May, Rion would pick up another of his claims — one that the Obama administration had enlisted foreign intelligence to spy on the Trump campaign — and, during a press briefing, ask Kayleigh McEneny, "So to what extent was [former CIA director] John Brennan involved with that?
[…]
This incident set off investigations into Rion's past by outlets like the Daily Mail, which "exclusively" revealed stunning truths about her past that were reported here on Wonkette back in January of 2018 and by me, on Twitter, in February of that same year.
Now a Buzzfeed investigation into Rubini/Palusa's past reveals that his entire life has been just a massive series of lies and delusions of grandeur.
Palusa, it turns out, is from Triesta, a seaport in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeast Italy, although his last known area of residence was in Tuscany. Right now he claims to be a "Strategy Advisor at /classified/," but has also worked in design:
A new Trump appointee to the United States’ foreign aid agency has a history of online posts denouncing liberal democracy and has said that the country is in the clutches of a “homo-empire” that pushes a “tyrannical LGBT agenda.”
In one post, Merritt Corrigan, who recently took up a position as deputy White House liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development, wrote: “Liberal democracy is little more than a front for the war being waged against us by those who fundamentally despise not only our way of life, but life itself.”
Corrigan’s new position in the Trump administration, confirmed by two officials, has not been previously reported.
Corrigan previously worked for the Hungarian Embassy in the United States and tweeted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is “the shining champion of Western civilization,” Politico reported last year. An embassy spokesman, Béla Gedeon, said Corrigan left her position there in mid-April.
For weeks, India's relatively low Covid-19 numbers had baffled experts. Despite the dense population, disease and underfunded public hospitals, there was no deluge of infections or fatalities.
Although India has the sixth highest number of cases, it is 12th in fatalities, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University. Low testing rates explained the former, but not the latter. The hope – which also encouraged the government to lift the lockdown – was that most of India's undetected infections would not be severe enough to require hospitalisation.
An article in the New York Times covered an important detail those with blood type A have the most severe cases – twice as likely to need oxygen and ventialtion. Apparently their stronger immune response causes inflammation.
Whereas Europe/UK/USA and Japan have 40% blood type A – India has only 20%. China has 27% around the world average. The Polynesians have a higher rate than thre Europeans. Just as well our area is largely free of it.
Don't want to sound trivial, but an article in today's Herald said that it seemed that bald men were more susceptible to serious pneumonia Covid problems than men who had retained their head of hair. Is baldness related to blood group?
Scholar Gary Saul Morson sees disturbing parallels between Russia before the Revolution and contemporary America
[…]
The similarities between this week’s riots and the Los Angeles riots of 1992 are obvious. Both were occasioned by appalling video images, and both divided the nation along partisan and ideological lines. The differences between the two events, however, are more revealing. The violence in 1992 came after a court verdict; the beating and arrest of Rodney King had happened more than a year before. This year’s riots came within days of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis officers. The riots of 1992 were mostly confined to poor and working-class areas of Los Angeles. This week saw mayhem all over America, and in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere the rioters targeted wealthy streets and neighborhoods.
But perhaps the most striking difference is the rationalization, and sometimes full-throated defense, of violence from left-wing elites: the glorification of havoc, the vilification of cops and their middle-class admirers, highfalutin defenses of vandalism. The sense of revolution and class warfare was everywhere this week: the cognoscenti and underclass arrayed against the petty bourgeois shop owners; the elite and those they claim to represent against everybody else.
Gary Saul Morson says he has no special insight regarding police actions and the death of George Floyd. But he does have a provocative thesis about America’s current political moment: “To me it’s astonishingly like late 19th-, early 20th-century Russia, when basically the entire educated class felt you simply had to be against the regime or some sort of revolutionary.”
In America, and even more so on Twitter, there’s a whiff of China’s Cultural Revolution in the air.
[…]
In the mid-1960s Mao Zedong, suspicious of those around him, wary of the moves of erstwhile Soviet allies, damaged by a disastrous famine his policies had caused, surveyed the scene and decided it was time for a little mayhem. The problem wasn’t his disastrous ideology, it was, he wrote, “feudal forces full of hatred towards socialism . . . stirring up trouble, sabotaging socialist productive forces.” The party had been “infiltrated” by pragmatists and revisionists. He wrote—it is the epigraph of Frank Dikötter’s “The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History, 1962-1976”—“Who are our friends? Who are our enemies? That is the main question of the revolution.”
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
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For the good of our nation, Winston Peters needs to be memorialised.
In Parliament with just a few breaks since 1978, he should be sat down and given a proper Celebrity Roast.
Something akin to the final scene of The Wire in which a good but errant cop is laid flat in front of a bar with all his peers old and older, all his enemies, all his friends, all his lovers, all his whanau, all the lawyers he's shafted, all the judges he's just fucked over in the press, all the MPs and Ministers and Prime Ministers he's stabbed in the front and the back and the side, all the reporters that he's spat at to their faces as the nation watched with abandoned glee, all the civil servants who year after year wiped his ass with our cash until he could finally shit no more, and story after story and drink after drink they all recall how he did it, how he got them all, the best lies he ever told, the crimes he never quite nailed, the conspiracies true and should've-been-true from Think Big's Alusuisse to The Winebox to PGF, in short how he was to his core Natural Born Politician, the only one we'v really had since Holyoake, the sum total of his 'hit' files on people are read out and laughed at…
and at the same time as this is happening he is gently tapped of all his fluid and embalmed, so that he can be aid flat on the gun carriage and pulled with 22 black horses down The Terrace and Featherstone Street as people throw black carnations and red roses across his path … but he's still perfectly conscious so that he can enjoy it and repudiate all the concurrent press coverage to their faces …
… and then his head can be gently removed and mounted on a mahogany base to be displayed, with eyes ever-watching, right above the Speakers' Chair, something like a horse.
I think we all owe him that.
Possibly a bit premature to discuss stuffing and mounting him while he's still getting regular top-ups of his smoke-and-pickling marinade?
Just 3 months to go.
Wonderful news to start the day. A friend worked at this pharmacy, it was the most abusive workplace she has even been in. It lead to mental health issues for her.
Karma
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/121721644/former-nelson-pharmacy-owners-penalised-394000-for-price-fixing
Great!
"The summary of facts said the pharmacy explained to customers the $1 charge was to draw attention to the under-funding of prescription medicines and to put pressure on the health board to adequately fund them to ensure the pharmacies' survival."
And who do you reckon Hebberd and Wright will support in the upcoming election? Probably the same people that increased prescription charges fro $3 – $5 and who made an art form out of underfunding the health sector during their reign of terror.
Apart from bad employment practices and the fact that the pharmacies all agreed to making a protest charge, the $400,000 is excessive for an extra $1. I suppose that will pay for the CEOs salary at COCO, (I should cocoa! for the English readers), or might stretch for him or her and the Misery of Health (as Rosemary calls them) or the CEO of the DHB who I think may be the one making such a good job of running the Southland/Otago HB.
Now COCO can look at AirNZ and see if they should be charged big quids for holding urgently needed refunds back in a predatory manner.
UMR poll:
– Labour 54% (down marginally from 55% in April)
– ational 30% (up marginally from 29% in April)
– NZ First 5% (down from 6%)
– Greens 4% (down from 5%)
– ACT may be 2.5%
Preferred Prime Minister:
– Jacinda Ardern 65% (no change)
– Todd Muller 13% (Bridges 7% in April)
The poll of 1211 voters was taken from May 26 to June 1 and has a margin of error of +/-3%.
Another very good result for Labour and Ardern but they appear to have peaked.
This isn’t very good for National again, but it suggests the slide may have ended.
And considering a muddled first week and uninspiring second week I don’t think it’s bad for Muller, he at least got about double Bridges last UMR result.
We’re in an unprecedented situation health-wise, socially, politically and economically. It is most likely the Labour-National gap will close a bit at least as we get closer to the election.
Source ODT/NZ Herald
" It is most likely the Labour-National gap will close a bit at least"
A bit? Good prediction and good news for the Left!
Why the duplicate comment?
He is fishing for responses.
It is deliberate.
A cynical and unkind comment, IMO, and as it turns out, incorrect too.
Sorry. My bad.
I has miskeyed the Naame on the first one and it disappeared so I reposted the comment later. You can delete the first one (no comments on it) if you want to tidy up.
Thanks, no problem. I’ve tidied up.
No surprise … I was pretty much expecting him to debut around the early to mid teens.
Given the ever-increasing importance of leadership attributes in determining voting behaviour … a new Opposition Leader really needs to be debuting in the 20s or 30s in the Preferred PM stakes and to appear at least reasonably competitive with the PM if they're to have any chance of victory.
Unfortunately UMR have only very recently started to measure Preferred PM ratings … in the past they restricted leadership measures to Favourability only … but here are new Oppo Leader debuts in the Colmar Brunton Preferred PMs this century:
Initial Preferred PM rating for each new Leader:
First, the 2 successful new Oppo Leaders:
Key 27%
Ardern 30%
Second, the unsuccessful in chronological order:
English 21%
Brash 15%
Goff 6%
Shearer 11%
Cunliffe 12%
Little 12%
Bridges 10%
Muller 13% (UMR … other Leaders CB)
I wonder where Luxon will debut
Let’s not play silly games here … I think we all know Maureen Pugh will be the next Leader of the National Party.
Fair comment, and my apologies.
According to simon shes atleast as capable as him and muller
so now Bridges is no longer leader, he is on point again?
Do you recall what bridges said about pugh in those tapes?
No, but I was being sarcastic.
To BW, Oh that is very good.
Indeed. The only thing missing from her C.V. is that she doesn't appear to have had any experience as a real estate saleswoman
if pugh, or any living human, had replaced simon, their preferred p.m. rating would be about where toddlers is. most nats still dont know anything about toddler ,or his policies, but will vote or a turkey in gumboots, if it wears a nat sticker.
Goff really was a stand-out.
Party Vote Green, tactically or if you are a wavering Labour/Green voter is the message there. Tribal Labour support for the sake of it makes no sense.
We may end up with Act 6 Nats 39 Labour 43 NZF 4.9 GR 4.9 wasted 2.2
Prime Minister Mullet in an ACT/NAT coalition of 61 seats
You mean vote for a party that allowed police free entry into our property. The party that has to swallow dead rats (willingly). Little comment regarding police using AI. And giving the Nats their questions at QT. All to be part of THE govt team, without really BEINg in the team
If they had voted against the Bill, what would have happened next?
I mean, there is a conversation to be had about how MMP *should function, but people saying the Greens should just vote against everything they don't like would stall govt and no-one explains what would happen next given Labour also have to negotiate Bills with NZF, their primary partner who has Ministers inside cabinet.
I really wish people would explain how they think this works, instead of just slagging off a party for making the best of a shitty situation. Doubly so in a conversation about tactical voting, because if the Greens get more MPs this time they will have more chance at swaying Labour.
Amazed at the number of people who seem to think that decreasing the Green vote is the best way to get movement on environmental issues …
Blows my mind every single time. Likewise social justice, or economics, or most things.
Seems like many people still vote according to their personal feelings rather than tactically.
NZ1st appear to be able to maintain their identity and keep to their principles, Where is the line in the sand that The Greens will not cross? for me this appears to me a moving target.
Are some saying that to be part of the establishment that there are many rats to be swallowed, and what "payback" is there for the Greens ? – I don't see Labour or NZ1 digesting rats. Just saying 🤓
Winston First were in a position to negotiate a coalition agreement containing more latitude and more lollies than the Greens were offered, including seats at the cabinet table.
Politics is the art of the possible. Purity is for those of us sitting on the outside wringing our hands.
I'm going to address the issues you raise there Herodotus, but first I want to point out that you didn't answer the question. If the Greens voted against the Bill, what would have happened next?
What would have happened is the Greens would have started a nationwide debate.
A nationwide debate on anything is what the Greens at 4.7%-5.1% desperately need.
The Greens sure sucked it up and voted for the two-tier welfare payments. And then came out the next day and complained. Trying to start a nationwide debate.
But then Labour would have responded that they've delivered:
– The $5.5 billion Families Package in 2018 which established the Winter Energy and Best Start payments, as well as boosting Working for Families tax credits.
– Indexed main benefits to wage growth from April 2020, meaning benefit payments rise in line with wages – rather than inflation.
– Increased most benefits, in its initial Covid-19 economic rescue package, by $25 a week and doubled this year's Winter Energy Payment.
and of course
– Dropped $15billion to keep everyone's jobs going over the last few months – through to October.
So the debate is there if the Greens really want it.
But hell the Greens need a big fat media platform. Guns. Crime. Welfare. Trees. Water. Climate. Anything will do right now.
Head for 5% like they want it.
If only they could buy one..
ah well, pity I didn't read this comment before the Greens should act like ACT one.
I am curious how this scenario would play out. I'll have a proper read of this in the morning, thank fuck someone finally put up some actual strategy.
Yes, and it's hard for me to understand how this is still so poorly understood given that NZF have been in parliament since the early 90s, and Peters has been fucking with MMP since its introduction. Not trying to be rude, there is a lot I still don't understand about how parliament and government works in NZ. Here's what I understand about this though,
Centrist small parties have institutional power that small parties on the left and right don't. NZF is able to play National and Labour off each other in order to get policy gains. They also had slightly more votes and one more MP than the Greens in 2017.
Labour couldn't govern with the GP alone, it had to do a deal with NZF if it wanted to form government. NZF held the balance of power, because if Labour wouldn't deal with them, they could just support a Nat govt instead. This option isn't available to the GP.
Labour also needed the GP to form govt, but the option for the GP was to support a Lab govt or allow a Nat one. Obviously this is a lot less tenable for a left wing party than a centrist one.
There are some bottom lines, which I'll address below, but I don't see NZF holding the balance of power being one of them. What else should have made the GP not give Confidence and Supply in 2017 and thus given Nat a 4th term? I can't think of any. So this is an institutional power that the Greens hold, but it's a very different power than what NZF have.
Add to that is that the GP practice political ethics. They're not going to bring down a govt over policy unless there is a critical issue of principles.
My understanding of the GP position is that they won't compromise on principles but they will compromise on policy. This is what Sacha is talking about. All parties have to compromise, and in this case that includes Lab and NZF. How much they compromise depends on two things. What kind of institutional power they have, and how they use that power. The Greens aren't in govt for power, they're there for change, and working with other parties is a good way of effecting that. A big part of that is maintaining good working relationships with the parties they depend upon on this issue but also future issues.
The big problem I see is that the negotiations around Bills are done in secret. I think they should be public. I think NZers should be able to see who is supporting what, and who is blocking what. Atm we can't see what gains the GP have made that NZF or Labour wouldn't have done anyway, but we can make some educated guesses based on the policy platforms of all parties before the election.
Climate is the obvious one. We have a more progressive climate policy than if it had been L/NZF alone.
If you really want to dig into, I would expect that the Select Committee process would likewise show the differences between the parties and then the outcomes would show who made gains for their own policies. This includes the covid Bill, which I understand the Greens argued for changes to.
What a load of ridiculous special pleading.
Even Act has more dignity than to argue about how being an out-there party makes it hard. Act finds the way to make change – which they have done this term with tiny numbers. They will be rewarded for it.
You want to get above 5% go out and fight for it.
Failing that go win a seat and stop whining about how everyone's so mean and no one else has principles.
Why are you so hostile? Serious question.
Your example is totally ridiculous, ACT only exist in parliament because of a deal between them and National, we are all aware of that. ACT represent ideology and policies that the National party want but may not want to campaign on. If your rhetoric is representative of how Labour views the Greens then it's even more clear how different their situation is from your example.
You Green supporters seem about as capable of holding their Green MPs for their performance which is at marginal survival as white evangelicals do to Donald Trump. That's shown by you reacting like a scolded cat to some advice that's applicable to any marginal party.
Act have got the electoral deal that the Greens may well need to stay afloat. Take a lesson and do a deal.
The Greens need to survive. On their own merits.
Your characterisation of both my reaction and your 'advice' is inaccurate.
Again I ask, why are you so hostile?
Act is consistently given more media space than the Greens. It would be interesting to hear why you think that happens.
For a guy whose smart about many things including lots of politics, you have a pretty outstanding blindspot on this.
My post wasn't about special pleading, it was simply describing how parties on the edges don't have the same institutional power as those in the middle, so that H could understand the context of what he was expecting and why it's unlikely to happen.
To me this is self-evident, whatever failings the Greens have, by all means explain how I am wrong on this point. Centrist parties can do things that parties on the edge can't. And you know, I'm still waiting for the actual explanation of the people that dump on the Greens on how macho politics from the left of Labour would work. Won't hold my breath though, you do seem to have an ongoing grievance about something to do with the Greens so I don't expect any useful discussion about how governments function.
You try and use ACT as an example of something in all that, but ACT are only in parliament because they do a deal with Nat to have a seat. Instead of opening a conversation about the usefulness or not of Lab and the Greens doing electorate deals, you suggest that ACT are somehow more parliamentarily virutous /massive eyeroll.
Your implication is that the Greens haven't achieved anything, but obviously they have. Maybe they haven't lived up to your expectations, which would be really fucking weird given how much you seem to hate them. No idea what that is about, maybe it's just too much that Labour have to rely on them and you are afraid that it will cost the left the election.
Bugger me why people think dumping on the Greens will improve things, but I guess there are still plenty of lefties out there that think bashing is an incentive. SSDD for NZ after all.
What would happen next ?… Extending that then, The Greens are totally subservient to Labour because they cannot go against their govt.
If there is a partnership then shouldn't Labour be seen tacitly in "giving" the Greens over the last 2.5 years some wins.
From my perspective we see NZ1 standing up as the sole bastion of "Common Sense". Sure Peters pays the game, at many times at a Kindy level and it STILL works. e.g. Fishing at home to gain profile, standing to move to level 1. Saying that there are plenty in politics that are clueless at the most basic of levels.
Is there a reason you won't engage with the question?
I'm curious where you get your information about the Greens from. I've seen them going against Labour policy a number of times recently.
They have. Maybe do some research.
I'm so sick of these conversations. If people want the Greens to do something, then explain how. Otherwise it just comes across as moaning. Personally I think the Greens' weak points are more about their strategy, and their social media work. But we will see how they go in the election campaign.
Are you suggesting voting for one of the other parties that allowed it? Also, are you suggesting that the Greens shouldn't have become part of the government?
Maybe they should just sit the next term out.
Might be good for them.
Stop the tag wrestling Ad. We don't have time for things to gradually work out – the world is coming to an end and the sky is falling. Times are almost fitting into the stories of children's nursery rhymes – so unbelievable.
Put up or shut up. Don't put down any well meaning Party, put a whoopee cushion under them, and when it farts say 'Look what happens when you sit down, stand up grow good, and get moving like there's no tomorrow'. There may not be – it may come but look completely different than what was expected.
Now children children! If you can't behave nicely to each other, I'm afraid I'm going to have to separate you!
Ad: You go and stand in the purple corner! (Or is it mauve?)
Hero: You're over there in the black, and woe betide if you turn around while you're wearing that ridiculous dunce's hat (Talking about bloody principle and all – especially when Shane the Retail politician has got 'em all up for sale and is negotiating the price of the next bauble for Winnie)
@Grey: Come with me and and we'll go and do the dishes together
As pointed out in that Herald/ODT link, the UMR poll is only part of the story. But we also know National's private polling is bad, because Muller is refusing to share it with the caucus. If it was 35%+ they'd be spinning it like crazy.
Wow!- https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/05/870833518/black-lives-matter-plaza-across-from-white-house-is-christened-by-d-c-leaders There's amazing footage of the painted road too.
Time someone painted something similar down Hawera's High Street.
Thank the Heavens for small mercies eh?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/418394/people-are-drowning-in-debt-crackdown-on-loan-sharks-welcomed
I gave up following the issue a while back but I'd be grateful if someone who is considerably considerably better informed than I could tell me about the intricacies of it all. And that's because I'm no longer interested in anything mathmatic and I'm considerably considerably richer than they, and really – why should I give a fuck – I'm in my comfy little nest at the moment, until such time as it all goes tits up!
Does it still mean that people who've been magnanimously granted one of these loans will pay no more than 100% on the principle? The 0.8% per day compounded and all such. Seems wonderful eh? A can of baked beans in watered down tomato sauce might only eventually cost $5 or 6.
And if there is someone who could tell me whether the ultimate incremental pragmatist, kicker-of-the-can-down-the-road is going to monitor everything in this space, just as he has over other of his responsibilites – not the least of which is the state of our media.
As the Tangerine Turkey often says: "It's tremendous. We'll see what happens" and second tier bennies really should be grateful eh? IF they show enough personal responsibility, have the ambition and determination to break free of their circumstance, they could become a Minister of the Crown – it's in their hands
Usually I find Jimmy Kimmel a bit ho-hum, but this one's got its moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB6xszdzBEQ
It appears that President Loathe in the Time of Corona has sent a can of his dayglo spraytan to his personal Nosferatu, but instead of using halved ping-pong balls to protect his eyes when applying it, he's used a mask over his mouth. (See the kindergarten tit-for-tat with Piers Morgan starting at 6:30).
Good fkn riddance. Cops who run away at the first whiff of accountability – everyone is better off without them. Hopefully this sets the ball rolling and we'll see a lot more of it.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/buffalo-police-emergency-response-team-resign_n_5eda99e1c5b6ba25316d970a
They have only thrown their toys out of the cot to support their fellow thugs – still employed.
Of course NZ's own police union would never get on the wrong side of justice like that..
https://twitter.com/devlincolle/status/1268790859111100416
It's still a step in the right direction when thugs quit an explicit Thug Division, simply because the risk of being held accountable has gone from zero to very small. Net result should still be a reduction in police thuggery.
As far as the Greens/ NZ Police Association thing goes, it strikes me as a bit misdirected and ott from all sides. In particular, one clear message from the George Floyd murder is that death and violence from police can happen even without use of weapons. A point which seems to have been missed in the current posturing from both sides.
Also Greens, given the role Facebook has in seriously fucking up political discourse worldwide, what's up with making us go to Facebook to find material you're publishing? Put it directly on your own site.
https://www.greens.org.nz/greens_urge_police_to_rule_out_armed_police_patrols_following_george_floyd_s_death
Dunno, seems pretty straightforward..
https://twitter.com/saniac/status/1269027471074054144
Edit
This piles anxiety on top of deeply troubling when thinking of how far NZ police behaviour will descend into punitive attacks when they decide to trial new policing methods which might turn out to become routine. Gordon Campbell at Scoop has amassed some relevant background information.
http://werewolf.co.nz/2020/06/gordon-campbell-on-the-george-floyd-protests/
For instance : Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer now facing murder and manslaughter charges for killing Floyd had been the subject of 18 prior complaints. These included his participation in the 2006 killing of a Native American called Wayne Reyes, who had been pulled over by Police in connection with an assault on his girlfriend. In the space of four seconds, Chauvin and five fellow officers poured 43 rounds into the cab of Reyes’ truck, 23 of which hit Reyes.
Tou Thao, one of three other officers present while Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck had been the subject of six prior complaints, including participation in a 2017 Police attack on Lamar Ferguson, a black man out walking with his pregnant girlfriend. Ferguson was left hospitalised with broken teeth and other injuries. While the city of Minneapolis eventually made a $25,000 payout to Ferguson, the officers responsible continued in service.
Similar story with the killing in March of Brianna Taylor, a 26 year old emergency nurse who was shot eight times in the course of a night-time police raid on her apartment in Louisville Kentucky :
wt…
https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1268918953902059520
Why white evangelicals love their mango messiah, explained:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUxidwN4YPc
The man-child is completely tone deaf, and with this latest episode of insensibility one wonders if he can be any more despicable. But his daily scraping of the bottom of the barrel reveals he a character of immense vileness.
The bottom of the barrel gave up after token resistance years ago: he's now blasting into bedrock in his daily quest to go ever lower.
Yep Here we go.
'……one wonders if he can be any more despicable. '
I’m sure he’ll exceed everyones’ expectations.
Trump started by reading from a script but then launched into his usual unbelievable tirade. Stick to a script Donald. You are less than no public speaker.
Oh, come on! He’s the greatest public onanator. His skills are wasted bigly on Twitter, let’s be honest.
Yes, his superb strokes of rhetorical onantation skillfully create a powerful and compelling massage.
The massage is so relaxing – as soon as I hear Trump's dulcet tones I fall asleep. Some might find Trump educational, but he just teaches us bad habits; I advise to flee before your brain turns to mush.
Reminds me of Groucho Marx's jibe at television being educational. "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."
I thought this was very timely given the world today and With a Kiwi influence and for some to take time an search Blair Peach abkost kiwiw name one history
https://youtu.be/NxD3whUUz30
Who was Blair Peach ? For those who don't know it is good to know your history of what has gone before us at s time like this. Those older SHOULD know, especially visitors to this site and the link to this song of protest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxD3whUUz30
Never underestimate the covidity of the repug base.
One third of Americans used bleach or other household disinfectants “in non-recommended high risk practices” in attempts to reduce the spread of the deadly coronavirus, a new CDC survey finds.
Among the non-recommended practices were using “bleach on food products, applying household cleaning and disinfectant products to skin, and inhaling or ingesting cleaners and disinfectants,” the CDC says, as The Daily Beast reports.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/one-out-of-three-americans-used-bleach-in-non-recommended-high-risk-practices-to-battle-coronavirus-cdc-report/?
Or faux news talking heads.
https://twitter.com/laralogan/status/1268932728210194432
15 – 0 – 1
Nice looking numbers, hopefully the 1 gets over it soon & 0 stays 0.
In aid of cooperation perhaps it will become 1501. Much healthier.
Shane Jones standing in Northland is no surprise. But it's certainly news to discover that this is tipped to decide the election. It turns out …
Reporter has been living in a cave since February.
Note the link to an obsolete poll, in the opening sentence. Weird.
Cant help but wonder if bridges was rolled purely because nzf is nationals only path back to power.
National’s position on NZF has not changed, yet. I believe Nikki Kaye said so this morning.
If NZ First gets 4.8% of the party vote they are gone. NZ First gets 4.8% of the party vote and wins Northland they have a presence.
Could NZF be in the driver's seat again? It's possible. I think anyone expecting Labour to poll 50+% and National >30% is in dreamland. The most likely result is both of those parties in the 40s.
@ Observer Tokoroa:
You are currently banned for one month (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02-06-2020/#comment-1717411).
Lprent sent you an e-mail about you user names (https://thestandard.org.nz/todd-muller-is-no-jacinda-ardern/#comment-1714989), all 22 of them (https://thestandard.org.nz/todd-muller-is-no-jacinda-ardern/#comment-1715032 and https://thestandard.org.nz/internal-post-may-june-2020/#comment-1715007).
Please stop wasting our time and stick to your user handle, thanks. If you have technical difficulties, e.g. with accessing TS, commenting, or replying to comments, please ask and we (i.e. lprent) will do our best when we have time.
The tRump shit-magnet attracts the world's worst people.
Back in March, at the very beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, popular QAnon "citizen journalist" Greg Rubini started pushing the narrative that the novel coronavirus was created by the Deep State, in cahoots with Dr. Anthony Fauci, for the purposes of ruining the Trump economy. It was not the first absurd theory he had imagineered and put forth as the truth. The claim, among others, was picked up by OAN "journalist," granddaughter of fake psychic Allene "I've got the answers, call now" Cunningham, and author of one million non-existent young adult detective novels for girls who who hate feminism, Chanel Rion.
Rion, at the time, described Rubini as "a citizen investigator and monitored source amongst a certain set in the DC intelligence community."
Later, in May, Rion would pick up another of his claims — one that the Obama administration had enlisted foreign intelligence to spy on the Trump campaign — and, during a press briefing, ask Kayleigh McEneny, "So to what extent was [former CIA director] John Brennan involved with that?
[…]
This incident set off investigations into Rion's past by outlets like the Daily Mail, which "exclusively" revealed stunning truths about her past that were reported here on Wonkette back in January of 2018 and by me, on Twitter, in February of that same year.
Now a Buzzfeed investigation into Rubini/Palusa's past reveals that his entire life has been just a massive series of lies and delusions of grandeur.
Palusa, it turns out, is from Triesta, a seaport in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeast Italy, although his last known area of residence was in Tuscany. Right now he claims to be a "Strategy Advisor at /classified/," but has also worked in design:
https://www.wonkette.com/what-a-prominent-qanon-promoter-doesnt-have-insider-knowledge-is-just-some-dude-from-italy-no
More shit.
A new Trump appointee to the United States’ foreign aid agency has a history of online posts denouncing liberal democracy and has said that the country is in the clutches of a “homo-empire” that pushes a “tyrannical LGBT agenda.”
In one post, Merritt Corrigan, who recently took up a position as deputy White House liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development, wrote: “Liberal democracy is little more than a front for the war being waged against us by those who fundamentally despise not only our way of life, but life itself.”
Corrigan’s new position in the Trump administration, confirmed by two officials, has not been previously reported.
Corrigan previously worked for the Hungarian Embassy in the United States and tweeted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is “the shining champion of Western civilization,” Politico reported last year. An embassy spokesman, Béla Gedeon, said Corrigan left her position there in mid-April.
https://www.propublica.org/article/new-trump-appointee-to-foreign-aid-agency-has-denounced-liberal-democracy-and-our-homo-empire
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52946508
An article in the New York Times covered an important detail those with blood type A have the most severe cases – twice as likely to need oxygen and ventialtion. Apparently their stronger immune response causes inflammation.
Whereas Europe/UK/USA and Japan have 40% blood type A – India has only 20%. China has 27% around the world average. The Polynesians have a higher rate than thre Europeans. Just as well our area is largely free of it.
Don't want to sound trivial, but an article in today's Herald said that it seemed that bald men were more susceptible to serious pneumonia Covid problems than men who had retained their head of hair. Is baldness related to blood group?
WSJ writers get their Red Scare/Yellow Peril on.
Violent Protest and the Intelligentsia
Scholar Gary Saul Morson sees disturbing parallels between Russia before the Revolution and contemporary America
[…]
The similarities between this week’s riots and the Los Angeles riots of 1992 are obvious. Both were occasioned by appalling video images, and both divided the nation along partisan and ideological lines. The differences between the two events, however, are more revealing. The violence in 1992 came after a court verdict; the beating and arrest of Rodney King had happened more than a year before. This year’s riots came within days of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis officers. The riots of 1992 were mostly confined to poor and working-class areas of Los Angeles. This week saw mayhem all over America, and in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere the rioters targeted wealthy streets and neighborhoods.
But perhaps the most striking difference is the rationalization, and sometimes full-throated defense, of violence from left-wing elites: the glorification of havoc, the vilification of cops and their middle-class admirers, highfalutin defenses of vandalism. The sense of revolution and class warfare was everywhere this week: the cognoscenti and underclass arrayed against the petty bourgeois shop owners; the elite and those they claim to represent against everybody else.
Gary Saul Morson says he has no special insight regarding police actions and the death of George Floyd. But he does have a provocative thesis about America’s current political moment: “To me it’s astonishingly like late 19th-, early 20th-century Russia, when basically the entire educated class felt you simply had to be against the regime or some sort of revolutionary.”
http://archive.li/e3ig7
Get Ready for the Struggle Session
In America, and even more so on Twitter, there’s a whiff of China’s Cultural Revolution in the air.
[…]
In the mid-1960s Mao Zedong, suspicious of those around him, wary of the moves of erstwhile Soviet allies, damaged by a disastrous famine his policies had caused, surveyed the scene and decided it was time for a little mayhem. The problem wasn’t his disastrous ideology, it was, he wrote, “feudal forces full of hatred towards socialism . . . stirring up trouble, sabotaging socialist productive forces.” The party had been “infiltrated” by pragmatists and revisionists. He wrote—it is the epigraph of Frank Dikötter’s “The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History, 1962-1976”—“Who are our friends? Who are our enemies? That is the main question of the revolution.”
http://archive.li/8kioe
I guess the red scare talking point has been circulated.
https://twitter.com/NikkiMcR/status/1269057926200778753
Far too much politics and far too little of ideals on the people's side. The latter always has to be far first. The Right has naked power.