Life can be so unfair. Ask any toddler or child and they’ll tell you, passionately and with a earnestness that few adults can match.
When we grow up and become discerning adults with sound judgement we realise that good looks matter and that life still is unfair.
But not all is lost, it seems. Once we get past the first 2 crucial seconds for making a first impression and we get to know the other person, appearances take a step back:
If all of this sounds exhausting, the good news is the halo effect mostly applies to strangers, and loses its shine over time. Once you’ve proven your worth in person, the arbitrary physical cues don’t matter as much, and you can let it all hang out a bit more.
We tell students to work hard, go to uni, get a (real) degree, get a (real) job, work hard and you’ll have a (real) career and life will be sweet (as).
Somewhere between uni and landing that first career-defining job it becomes clear that it doesn’t matter what you know but that it’s (more) important whom you know.
So, we tell young ambitious people to build networks (no, Tinder doesn’t count) and use these to their advantage.
Once in the job we tell ambitious young colleagues that hard work is not enough to get promoted. It is not what you know or whom you know. No, it’s who knows you. In other words, we tell the career-minded that they need to be noticed in order to get promoted. We tell them to blow their own trumpet and embark on an orgy of narcissistic self-embellishment.
And then, after a fine long rewarding career that has been marked by personal development and growth, you can tell your grandchildren that life is unfair, passionately and with a earnestness that few toddlers or children can match 😉
I’ve often wondered if we’re rebellious in our teens because we felt betrayed by our peers. Most of us are brought up to be respectful of others, to not lie cheat or steal. It’s in our teenage years when we discover adults are everything we’re taught not to be, not really a surprise the young rebel when you look at it that way.
True. It’s only when you really become self-aware and take a good hard look at the world around you as a young adult that you realise how full of shit a lot of adults are. All those long years spent being told what not to do, only to realise everyone does exactly that all day long every day. The hypocrisy is mind-blowing. I proactively advise my teenagers that many adults are fucking charlatans and that respecting someone purely because they happen to be older than you is a steaming crock of shit. Respect is earned, not bestowed on you by virtue of your advanced years.
We tell students to work hard, go to uni, get a (real) degree, get a (real) job, work hard and you’ll have a (real) career and life will be sweet (as).
Hey, that was what I was told when young – didn’t work out that way though.
Somewhere between uni and landing that first career-defining job it becomes clear that it doesn’t matter what you know but that it’s (more) important whom you know.
Yep and WINZ has the figures to prove it. Most job placings are about who you know and not what you know.
Once in the job we tell ambitious young colleagues that hard work is not enough to get promoted. It is not what you know or whom you know. No, it’s who knows you. In other words, we tell the career-minded that they need to be noticed in order to get promoted. We tell them to blow their own trumpet and embark on an orgy of narcissistic self-embellishment.
Not my experience Draco, I new fk all people and came from very working class background, went to non event school etc, what I have learnt many people seek to externalise all their problems and failings, never taking accountability and often fail to realise the common factor in most of thier issues is themselves Saying that some people do just have bad luck
Oh Incognito…….the sadness of the circularity you depict……..”an orgy of narcissistic self-embellishment”…….very wry. Moreover, alarmingly accurate. The example which springs to mind at once……the regularity with which same name next generation individuals are glowingly hailed in the legal profession. Doors opened and pathways oftentimes quite gratuitously conferred by doorkeepers “who know you”.
The implied justification is that it’s all about DNA. Which in reality stands for “Do Not Ask” established Power not to reflexively perpetuate itself.
The neo-fashist right or alt-right for “free speech”? yeah… nah.
12 “far right” people in masks (one a Trump mask) attacked a London socialist bookshop. This is a chilling development. And why we don’t want them bringing their bile here.
The Independent reports that they chanted fashist songs, threatened bookshop staff, threw some books around, videoed it and uploaded it online:
The far-right group filmed their actions before swiftly deleting the video from their YouTube channel, however a copy was saved and uploaded again on the channel Far-Right Watch.
It shows protestors screaming abuse, tearing up signs on display in the shop, and brandishing books with titles they disapprove of.
“They attempted to intimidate staff and customers and to destroy books and materials.
…
The attackers also made threats to return to “show what they can do”.
…
“The normalisation of far right politics is already leading to chaos and vandalism on our streets. Fascist thugs attacking book shops is the logical conclusion to a political movement which rejects facts and experts,” said David Lammy, also a Labour MP.
Watched ‘Sunday’ last night, mum was over and knew nothing about s&m so it was interesting watching it with her. Thought it was fair coverage airing both view points.
Mum clued me up, smart lady my mum 🙂 She was laughing and aghast at the same time lolz. She explained to me that there were many great developed civilisations across the planet while the europeans were still being cave men. Such as the ancient egyptians. And with a masters in sociology, she has studied such things extensively, I really appreciate her knowledge on such topics. Then the IQ debate was brought up, far out mum was laughing hard by then.
I did discover that when I asked questions via the youtube and s&m channel, their supporters get really aggressive, was told to kill myself. Was thinking.. ok then that’s going to win me over. Super amusing.
Still puzzled as to why they would choose to come here in the first place, but then I remembered we live in an incredible country, of course people want to visit no matter their views.
Look at her now. A 23 year old with the skin of a new born baby and perfect features. Have a look at her in 30 years time – if she makes it. She will be a thin lipped old hag with sagging skin and red rimmed eyes and no-one will want to have a bar of her. Anyone with her beliefs and lifestyle is not going to stay looking young for long. Karma will get her years before it starts on the rest of us.
Sorry, Anne, but a few weeks ago I saw a photo of Lauren and her father, mother and sister – possibly on Twitter – on her father’s birthday. It was hard to tell her mother from Lauren and her sister. Actually a very normal happy middle class white family type photo – think there was also a dog or two.
I am not about to try to find it again – but from memory it may have been on her Twitter account befor she and Molyneux et al arrived in Australia, so about three or four weeks ago.
Hey Gosman….Will do a copy paste of one instance. Will refer to people as them and me for it….excuse the length of it lolz.
THEM: Prime Minister of ew Zealand. A woman–Jacinda Ardern. Women destroy society
ME: And women give birth, you wouldn’t be here without us. Wait, are women destroying society by giving birth to people like yourself? Ahhhh now I get where you are coming from. Could birth control for men be the answer?
THEM: You’re a brainwashed moron. Sad!
THEM: You see, women would not have been able to give birth without men. YOU wouldn’t be here without us (men) either. No one would, and no one is denying women’s high worth in a society. But women’s brains are completely different from men’s brains, and work and prioritize things differently from men. Things like emotions over facts, feelings over logic etc, are feminine traits in nature. If these traits are commonplace in politics, policies put into place will put more emphasis on people FEELING good, rather than it ACTUALLY being helpful or useful for the common people.
ME: Science has now debunked that narrative……Brains cannot be categorised into female and male, according to the first study to look at sex differences in the whole brain. The mix of male and female features in the brain suggests that stereotypical gender assumptions, such as women are better at multi-tasking and men will earn more money, are redundant.
THEM: Women always put the left parties in power
THEM: You also wouldn’t be able to turn on a light enjoy clean running water have a modern roof over your head or be able to eat if it were not for men. Your welcome.
THEM: Incorrect. Those MRI scans didn’t take into account both macro and micro neurological functions in endometamorphoses and metabolic functions; both are vital for distinguishing both male and female anatomy on a neurological level. Let’s not forget those physical anatomical private parts as a key to distinguishing.
Note…then i went onto google to find out more about the above
THEM: Rubbish, male and female brains are wired neurologically differently to produce different behavioral patterns. That is not even taking into account differences in the endocrine system. Not sure where you are getting your science but it is rubbish
ME: What are neurological functions in endometamorphoses for humans? Where could one learn more about it?
THEM: You’re a complete moron, go kill yourself.
ME: The endocrine system is about the control and release of hormones in the body and related brain messages, such as producing breast milk, or sweating. That’s about the physical body being different, it is not about males or females having different brains, just different bodies, which as a result send different messages to the brain.
THEM: I’m sorry but giving birth and incubating is a biological function. Just like taking a shit. You get no credit for that.
Still puzzled as to why they would choose to come here in the first place,
It’s not just NZ – they are on an international recruiting drive – I guess to Brit ex-colonies. They are particularly focusing on Aussie as fertile ground for their views and for fund raising, but adding Auckland into the schedule.
Unfortunately, it’s not over. Nigel Farage, of the UKIP party is doing the Aus-Auckland speaking tour next, and he is a pro-Brit, anti-“immigrant” far righter; then Pauline Hanson is planning a visit.
PS: Your mum sounds very smart and onto it, Cinny. Unfortunately, the TVNZ reporters, if they were truly doing their job, would’ve pointed out the fallacies of what S&M were saying.
Holy smoke Batman, Hanson is coming, dang. I wonder if all these alt rights are coming here to drum up support for national? Personally I’m not so sure that approach will work in NZ.
Yesah Carolyn, my mum is awesome, I’m very lucky indeed.
Good one. Yes their alt right arguments are childishly simplistic and idiotic. No better than propaganda really. And they don’t like the cold steel of facts, as you found out via their YouTube. Be safe cos they attract truly awful people to their cause and internet toxic scum can spill.
Hopefully. As I said yesterday, I have been wondering whether they were still here – and lo and behold, just 30 minutes or so ago, Molyneux tweeted this:
In a continued display of New Zealand’s endless hospitality, I was stopped and harassed by airport security for no apparent reason while leaving the country. Stay classy New Zealand!
Whether Southern is with him or not is not clear, no Tweets from her since yesterday.
Dave Pellowe, the Australian organiser of their tour appears to be back in Australia since about Sat and concentrating on other interests – catchup retweeting lots of other things and only one or two re the S&M show. EG apparently he is a strong Christian Pro-Lifer …
Caolan Robertson, the young (23 year old) twit that runs around videoing everything on his phone who was interviewed by Paddy Gower – as “an agent for Ms Southern” re the Powerhouse change of mind – is based in London SW3 (Chelsea) not Canada. Not clear whether he has left but yesterday he was madly tweeting insulting tweets re Gower. Caolan (pronounced Kay-Lin) is a bestie (aka leech) of Stephen Lennon aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – better known as Tommy Robinson. Built up quite a dubious reputation in his short young life after a cloistered private school upbringing in London by Irish parents.
[A bit of information you all were waiting for – Molyneux was actually born in Ireland, not Canada. Ireland saw sense early on.]
Molyneux has tweeted three more tweets since the one above – two are retweets of Robertson’s tweets dissing Gower. Poor Paddy. He’s pretty hopeless but doesn’t deserve that.
The third tweet is priceless – a selfie (or did LS take it?) of Molyneux holding a book in the bookshop entitled “Are you smarter than a chimpanzee?” by Ben Ambridge. In your case, Moly, the answer is a definite NO.
Dan Satherley on Newshub has now picked up on and written an article about Molyneux’ s “Critical Message” * on YouTube yesterday which I posted on yesterday on Open Mike. * a new title for begging for money.
I rather like Satherley’s turn of phrase through much of his article. His degree of cynicism seems to be close to mine when I watched it. A few tastes – or rather most of it minus videos and photos.
Mr Molyneux has now taken to YouTube, uploading a 12-minute video which oscillates between decrying the “demonic mob” that got their show cancelled, and asking for supporters to “like, subscribe and share” – and give him money.
“We lost a venue. Hundreds and hundreds of people who had come a long way and were very passionate to hear this conversation, to engage in what Lauren and I were going to discuss, we lost the venue and that’s costly. It’s very expensive, and I need your help,” he said, staring directly into the camera in a sparse room with white walls. “I would really, really appreciate it.”
He said the funding is necessary for him to keep speaking out against the “encroaching mob and horde of mindless violence the left seems to want to unleash on the failing remnants of civilisation”.
Without more money, Mr Molyneux fears “self-contempt, self-hatred and possibly incarceration or death itself”, because “that’s what happens when the left gains power”.
He then took a shot at Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who at the weekend said Kiwis were “hostile” to Mr Molyneux’s views.
“The Prime Minister was the head of a youth socialist organisation not a decade ago, so that’s what you get.”
Ms Ardern was indeed elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth in 2008, but since becoming Prime Minister in 2017 is yet to sentence anyone to “incarceration or death” based on their political views. [My Bold]
Mr Molyneux’s beliefs include that people of different races have different levels of intelligence – a view which has been widely rejected by geneticists.
Ms Southern’s most famous for trying to prevent the rescue of migrants on overloaded boats at risk of sinking in the Mediterranean Sea.
Mr Molyneux says unless “free speech” is kept alive, “we are going to end up with bayonets pointed at each other’s hearts”.
“I am trying with all of my might and all of my rhetoric and all of my energy and efforts to stop the war that is coming. This feral escalation of abuse and violence and threats and deplatforming is going to escalate into war. History is very clear on this point.
“I don’t know if the left knows how much it’s going to escalate, I don’t know if they want it, I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I’m telling you, it’s coming.” [Again my bold . LOL]
“I don’t know what the hell is going on”. He told the truth!! Okay, one swallow does not make a summer.
“I am trying with all of my might and all of my rhetoric and all of my energy and efforts to stop the war that is coming.” I suspect psychologists would diagnosis a hero complex at this point. He doesn’t explain how he knows a war is coming. A significant lapse. Why not claim he’s psychic? Or a prophet?
The video is not quite up to an Oscar nomination level but actually quite a laugh to watch particularly that section – or taking a different approach, a lesson in how to beg for money. 12 Mins long, but easy to skip through.
Dennis, your comment made me smile, he probably likes to think he is a prophet.
Now his supporters are now calling for arms, and bragging about their weapons stash to deal with the ‘violent left’. From where I’m standing they are the ones suggesting the violence in the first place.
marty, Molyneux claims to be a professional of sorts in psychological matters himself and he is married to a practising psychological therapist, Christina Papadopoulos – that is when she is not being disciplined by the Canadian professional board for malpractice (in conjunction with him).
Cinny I find if you going to do youtube be aware that most yanks who are on those pages are sexist, spiteful and full of hate. My response is either OTT on the love and hugs thing which pisses them off, or ask them sexually loaded questions, which they can’t handle. It rough and tumble world on youtube – you have to be prepared.
Adam, you are so correct. Was thinking before that I probably need to lose my female name and female looking avatar if I ever venture there again.
Did learn they do seem to go a bit psycho if you don’t get angry. Yes they don’t like women, crikey does that make them all gay. ROFL. I need to keep my cheeky side in check 🙂
Cheeky with love comments and hug comments winds them up the best. I use to go to certain sites, now gone, just to wind them up with love bombs 🙂 Or quotes from the bible that talk about the poor and love, they hate that as well. Especially if you don’t say where it’s from – you can led them on, and then say their not christians – watch the train wreck when you pull that one. But, just never mention your a Catholic if you are, they have a special place full of hate for Catholics.
To be fair Cinny I can’t really see the big issue here
All Southern was debating is merits of multiculturalism not saying I agree with her but is the debate so scary, on this topic I thought tv 1 was not impartial, she never got to explain her belief, and I am sure she was going to go down ethic ghettos, integration failure places like France , Germany uk etc
likewise the iq issue, again cut off very quickly , he waas quoting averages not individually as is the case for all social science, think prisons stats, likewise these stats that reflect US army enlistments so extensive data Why not debate the stats, ie whites where not on top, is iq a valid construct anyway, what we he intending to coney in these stats then judge accordingly
Overall I felt pretty dissapointrd with tv 1 effort I left no more enlightened than I at the start of show On western civilisation. We are talking what judo Christian ethics, Roman law, Greek democracy and the enlightenmen has created western civilisation today m, it’s pretty impressive, not to dis other civilisation s I don’t think they come close, just a view
Barry Soper has excelled himself. Yes, that hard-as-baked crust journo with the red rimmed eyes (see my 5.1) and the jaundiced ears saw a documentary last night and in the process found his long lost empathy for others less privileged than himself.
“Long may it last”
I wouldn’t bank on it @ Anne, and I’ll resist the link provided.
I wouldn’t have described him as a journo though. You must be feeling charitable.
More like one of those bad smells all plastered with Old Spice that hangs around members of the 4th Estate’s Press Gallery/Gang hoping to be taken seriously one day on the basis of his longevity and trophy woif.
In those olden days, they were referred to as ‘hacks’ for good reason
OnceWasTim is really missing out and obviously has not realised the subject – the dearly missed Celia Lashlie (1953 – 2015).
I really want to see that documentary. There was an excellent interview on Nine to Noon last Thursday pre the Film Festival launch of the documentary in Wellington. Here is the link to the 23 min audio, and the summary of the interview with Amanda Millar:
A new documentary about Celia Lashlie is screening as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival. The passionate social justice advocate, researcher, author, former prison officer and much loved parenting commentator on Nine to Noon died just over three years ago after – weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The feature length documentary is directed by her friend, journalist Amanda Millar, who interviewed Celia in her final days.
23 minutes of well worth listening. I did not realise how much I missed Celia’s voice, She was unique in more ways than one.
I’ll more than likely stumble on it anyway without the help of Barry Bloody Soper, but thanks – you’ve piqued my interest
There’s just no way I can take Bazza or his gorgeous wife seriously having come across him in a past life in the eastern suburbs
I understand having similarly come across him in a past life in the Wellington beltway. I am also wary about clicking links if I don’t know who or what it is about.
The desperate vermilion hamster is worried and he has increased everything. Expect big fireworks soon as the net tightens – watch out countries of the world.
“PGG Wrightson has agreed to sell its seed and grain business to Danish cooperative DLF Seeds for $421 million in cash and $18 of debt repayment, and signalled it may return up to $292 million to its shareholders.”
Yeah, it’s why I stopped using neo, and just call it liberalism these days. As for colonisation, it does feel a lot like version 2.0 when stuff like this goes off shore.
It started in 1825 under the New Zealand Company and has never stopped. The only material difference between then and today is that the country of origin of the corporate colonisation is no longer just Britain and the natives of New Zealand getting shafted are no longer just brown-skinned.
“signalled it may return up to $292 million to its shareholders.” – that is, we can’t think of anything to do with the money so we’re passing it on. Geniuses.
Twelve men invaded the shop … destroying displays, wrecking books and chanting Alt-right slogans. One was wearing a [US President] Donald Trump mask,” the central London store said in a Facebook post.
“They attempted to intimidate staff and customers and to destroy books and materials. Fortunately no one was hurt. We will not let this happen! Never Again!”
Great interview with Barrett Brown,about the rise of the power of the state to shut down the media. If you have the time, I was doing house work. 27 minutes long.
second that adam i didnt need an excuse to watch it though i was just avoiding the housework if anything !Mighty scary future we are all rushing toward
99% of NSW in drought, farms and their produce on the brink and ‘ no amount of money from the Federal government is going to solve that’…..spring and summer still to come.
Get away from it all on a cheap flight to Bali….maybe Fiji would be better at the moment.
Would love to see massive warehouses of indoor hydroponic gardens. With the climate changing so much, at least food wouldn’t be so weather dependent. Must be horrid for the farmers at present. Time to diversify and evolve.
Thing about hydroponics is it still requires water even though considerably less, and infrastructure that is every bit as susceptible to adverse weather….it is well past time to admit we are in serious strife.
All the water used for irrigating the crops is piped from the Spencer Gulf and converted into fresh water using a thermal desalination unit.
Mr Simkins has spent more than two decades running tomato greenhouses in Europe and North America and says the desalinated water is first-class.
“It’s almost the perfect water,” he said.
“You’re taking all the salt out of it, there’s no disease aspects, it’s very pure and then we’re able to enhance it with the nutrition that the plants require.”
Yes and thanks to that muppet Kennett when he privatised the water so they had to mothball it after they built it and the same happened up in SE Queensland, but for a different set of reasons aka we were saving more water than what was being used, recycling waste water and pumping it back into the dams and the drought broke aka the Brisbane floods.
Desalination is expensive. Although the price tag varies by region and is often obscured by corporate underestimates and government subsidies, it is more often two to four times as costly as traditional options.
Which is probably true if using fossil fuels. Probably not with ones that are solar powered.
Desalination is bad for the environment and human health. The by-products of desalination include coagulalants, bisulfates, and chlorines. When concentrated waste is dumped into the ocean as it is with desalination, it is harmful to marine life and environments. Furthermore, power plants’ intake mechanisms, which are often teamed with desalination plants, kill at least 3.4 billion fish and other marine organisms annually.
In the examples I used the water was going to be pure with no other chemicals in it and the power station was part of the farm. Proper design of the inlet can prevent damage to fish (although I’m not going to hold my breath about a private commercial operation doing that as it will be expensive to produce and Maintain).
Desalted water also puts drinking water supplies at risk because seawater contains chemicals such as boron, that freshwater does not. Boron, only 50 to 70 percent of which is removed through the desalination process
They found that boron begins to evaporate from solution at a temperature of around 55°C. As the temperature applied to the systems increased, the amount of boron evaporated from seawater also increased. “But even though boron is volatile at high temperatures, both desalination technologies were effective in reducing its concentrations in desalinated water to below the Saudi standard of 0.5mg/l, even at seawater temperatures exceeding 100°C,” says Alpatova.
Desalination contributes to global warming and requires large amounts of energy.
Solar powered remember.
Desalination turns water into a commodity.
It’s not desalination that does that but capitalism and the profit drive.
Yeah, I think that article is worth ignoring for being simply wrong.
“The move falls in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which is based on diversifying its economy away from oil and gas. And with desalination and residential cooling set as the two largest uses of power, and desalinated water demand expected to double in the next decade, experts say that it is more profitable for the country to sell oil and gas while using alternative resources, such as nuclear, for water desalination.”
“Nuclear power is one of the options in the power mix that could also contain wind energy and solar, but these systems cannot take over the major role in the power mix. Moreover, these are also somehow much more vulnerable to damage, like sabotage, and even the effects of climate change.”
So renewables cannot meet the demand, 16 nuclear power stations mooted (all pumping heat into the ocean) for Saudi Arabia alone and we know how quickly they are designed and constructed (not to mention the growing sand shortage worldwide)…not
and then…..
“And studies have shown that the Gulf will only get saltier in the future. Raed Bashitialshaaer, a water resources engineer at Sweden’s Lund University, says that the growth of desalination plants in the region is happening far faster than his own estimated.”
So many of these ‘saviour’ solutions ignore the scale required and the impact at scale…..never mind the resources and timeframes involved…as Kevin Anderson says, we cant build our way out of this
Yes, will have to admit the the ME isn’t the best place to do it. Too many people and not enough water flow. Or, to put it another way, the ME is fucked.
I think you’ll find that it won’t apply quite so much to Australia with the worlds oceans surrounding them. Of course, that will be dependent upon if they only try to keep themselves going and not trying to export it all. Unfortunately, they’ll probably try exporting it for the money.
Still, there are many concerns that need to be looked at but these simply shouldn’t be thrown away because of one area where it simply won’t work.
And thats the point isnt it?…one region suffers a water/food shortage and the population (or a significant proportion of) moves and exacerbates the problem in other resource stressed regions…a domino effect.
I’ve been saying that for quite awhile with regards to climate change and refugees that will end up coming here and we will have to stop them. There’s no way that NZ could support any more than what we have now once the climate turns.
Great to see NZForest and Bird signing an MOU with Landcorp (PAMU) on researching, implementing and promoting agricultural practices that protect the natural world.
“At Pāmu, we’ve spent 130 years getting to know nature.
We are Kaitiaki – guardians – of nature. ”
Yeah nah.
Māori are kaitiaki and everything culturally that that means. Your group may be stewards, guardians, protectors or whatever but imo you can never be kaitiaki because that concept has cultural aspects which you can never reach.
Māori were the biggest destroyers of native life on this land of ours eliminating about 50% of the forest before the Europeans even got here. That’s true of almost all indigenous peoples around the world.
There was another paper I read recently, that spoke about the use of fire to clear vegetation, and suggested that it was used so that regeneration would occur, as opposed to the clearance of forests for agriculture. But I can’t find it. The one above is a good read though.
Forest and Bird have done a number of odd things of late, of which swallowing the koolaid on 1080 is not the most reassuring.
We do indeed need some cooperation between environmental and agricultural interests, but the areas of greatest need do not seem to be being addressed and we must be wary of invidious compromises.
Planting of trees on unstable slopes. Migration corridors. Steiner gravity water aerator/purifiers. Shelter belts and shade trees. Riparian planting.
Of course these are mostly required by the monocultural approach of previous farming models, so that at best they improve the current environment rather than restoring an ideal. They are still worthwhile however.
It does complicate issues like the Mackenzie however – however unsuitable intensive dairy may be with its unsustainable water demands, the tussock lands were in many cases geologically recently covered with broadleaf forest, and some restoration of that would tend to increase the diversity and robustness of the area, so the tussock is not necessarily the state to prefer, however much it may have become iconic of the area.
Thanks Stuart – my point, vaguely hinted at, was that the sorts of practices you list are responses to the harm caused by agriculture; agriculture can only protect, in a very small way, the natural world from…itself.
We are its destroyers, its replicators, and its generators.
We are also its guardians.
Pamu are not proposing tree forests.
They are proposing lower-harm and high value commercial agriculture.
And they are now working in concert as one of our largest state-run businesses with our largest conservation organization.
The Aussies have had 7 years of drought in some areas. Australians are talking “Climate Change” openly now. Although they are used to droughts, and burn offs are a way of life, the fact that this drought involves all states bar parts of Western Australia, has shaken the lucky country’s confidence.
As in California, the water tables are at all time lows, and winter temperatures are up to 7 deg higher than usual in some areas. They are dreading summer, fearful the seasonal rains will fail.
Many farmers have reached the end of their financial emotional and physical tethers. The larger outfits are now pressuring Government as all their “safety measures” are exhausted. Smaller outfits are trying to keep key stock and their land. A grant of $8000 per person on a farm each 6 months is paying for limited feedstuff, and they can claim “Job start”…. if their assets are not too high!!
It is sad and very grim. We are told food shortages and high prices are certain.
Lamb is A$40.00 a kilo right now, and wool is coming back into fashion. Those involved in cattle are not coping so well, as they require far more in water resources.
You know it is bad when politicians don’t point score over it too much.
And you can add (or subtract) the reduced yields from UK, Europe. Nth America to that….probably others that I havnt noticed in the past couple of weeks
Not sure if you have been following the ABC’s Landline while you have in Oz. This current Big Dry and why it has effected almost every farming community in particular those that don’t get effective by drought is because winter weather pattern has changed.
Since the start of the Big Dry, the weather boffins have noticed the usual high pressure systems which trends to stay up round the Northern part of Australia during winter are now a lot further South and covering most of Australia now. This led to the failure of the winter rains in the southern states which is now leading to all sorts of problems from livestock, winter and summer crops failing and the shortage of feed for livestock.
With these high pressure pushing even further south the usual winter rains are being push even further south hitting Tassie or worst missing Tassie altogether and hitting the West Coast/ Southern part of NZ. This year in the Northern Australian we are starting to notice a our build up weather system before the Wet Season kicks in around the December has arrived two mths early than normal as we usually expect to this type of weather around the end of September or the middle of October.
Just look at how people on the Standard responded to the Southern and Molyneux controversy here. There was a huge amount of publicity generated. Trump has a very similar style and you think the Media reported it more because the Democrats told them to?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Last night on open mike I posted (32) a quote from “Who we are and how we got here: ancient DNA and the new science of the human past” by Harvard Professor of Genetics, David Reich. He asserted that the “long-held view about race has been proven wrong”.
I’m inclined to read this as invalidating any possible scientific basis for races, but we should await the emergence of a consensus of relevant experts. Aged 44, Reich graduated “BA in physics from Harvard University and a PhD in zoology from the University of Oxford”. He writes “I played an important role in the analyses that proved interbreeding between Neanderthals and some modern humans”. The term modern has a technical meaning to archaeologists (& geneticists) – he’s not referring to our normal meaning of modern.
Chapter 11 is entitled “The Genomics of Race and Identity”. Here’s a sample: “Compared to most academics, the politics of genome bloggers tend to the right… The Eurogenes blog spills over with sometimes as many as a thousand comments in response to postings on the charged topic of which ancient peoples spread Indo-European languages… The genome bloggers take pleasure in pointing out contradictions between the politically-correct messages academics often give about the indistinguishability of traits across populations and their papers showing that this is not the way the science is heading.”
Tell the truth or kowtow to the brain police? Scientists don’t get taught how to handle the interface between ethics and morality as part of their education. Understandable that they obfuscate. Truth hurts.
Had interesting chat with journo about the need for media systems to respond to the evidence that there is no ‘neutral’ way to present info & neither do people receive it neutrally. The rational weighter model, the neutral balance is a fiction based on the ideal of people 1/
2/Much like those in science believing they can present research neutrally, when all language frames a position whether you are aware or not, & all people filter it through the values & beliefs they have-if you draw on existing cultural narratives that is how info is framed…
3/so a ‘neutral platform’ to racist people is not neutral. Racism is a strong cultural narrative in western cultures. Unless clearly framed in the values & beliefs that reject racism then ‘neutral’ presentation of these people is de facto support of them & ideas. #amatteroffact
4/much like a neutral platform of climate change science opens the door for people to filter it through unhelpful values & beliefs, or indeed any research that needs strong collective action. You can read more about these ideas in my book
Yes, her concept of neutrality seems unworkable. During the decade I spent in the TVNZ newsroom, I was often evaluating how the journos & reporters were framing their stories to achieve balance. Usually it seemed reasonable enough but sometimes gross imbalance was obvious & made me angry. Their rule would have required them to give Hitler equal time during WWII.
What works better is to give credit where due, give both sides a share of the story so the viewer can weigh the pros & cons. So my disgust with our media mishandling of the Canadians is because it gave me no evidence upon which to evaluate their actual beliefs & opinions. Media who don’t inform people are a waste of time.
The question of balance is only one aspect. On TV news the message conveyed is also about how the story and views are framed – how people are filmed, how it’s edited, etc.
Also, “balance” suggests there are always 2 main sides of an issue and that they exist around a fixed centre. It’s important,a s you say, to be able to evaluate the evidence. And following the evidence can be as important as any half-arsed attempt at balance.
Sue Abel did research at TV One – observing how Maori were represented in the news. She concluded that bias crept in, partly because of the time pressure the newsrooms were operating under. So journalists, editors, etc just resorted to the same sorts of representations they used or had seen in the past, without a lot of reflection.
In these notes, she also points out that the notion of “balance” is a pakeha concept.
I don’t know what you mean by Berentson-Shaw’s concept of neutrality is unworkable. She’s saying that neutrality is not totally possible. So, it’s important for journalists to be aware that they will always be framing their writing in ways that are not totally neutral.
Also, journalists cannot predict how people will read their stories. So, again, they need to be explicit about the points they are making. It’s also why a news organisation should have journalists who come from a different perspective.
Scientists are not necessarily great communicators. But journalists reporting on research often don’t report it very well. And science journalism can be particularly poor. They just tend to take a main idea from the research, and lose the nuances and/or critique the methodologies or weaknesses in the research.
Often journalists don’t get enough time to really get to grips with a research topic these days. And news organisations have not helped the situation by focusing too much on infotainment,ratings and click bait – creates short attention spans.
There are few problems with P8 and it’s why I prefer the Japanese P1 over the P8, but selecting the P1 would’ve left us as the first overseas user and given what has happened with the NH90’s, Project Protector (aka the two OPV’s and the Canterbury), the up armoured LOV’s (which were quietly retired last yr and throughout this yr) they obviously judged the risk as being first overseas user to be not worth the risk given NZG, MoD and NZDF track record of late I can’t really blame them.
So what the main issues-
It’s a part of the US Special Projects Program ( F22, F35 JSF, Joint Rivet/ Air Seeker, Reaper aka UAV’s both Armed and unarmed etc).
Weight: Max Takeoff weight (MTOW)
Doubts over its Fatigue life aka the wings
Mission support systems,
The use of UAV’s to support the P8 on certain mission profiles to get the best out of P8 and the
dropping ASW ordnance from high attitude
The P8 being a part of the Special Project Program is going leave the NZG, MoD and the NZDF in knots, a) because of the Security that comes the P8 weather it’s passive or actived during non warlike or warlike or peace time operations, b) the US hold all the IP rights or any upgrades, replacement parts have to through the US. So what does this mean? Well we would have to pay top dollar as we can’t do what we have done to the P3’s of the last 10-15yrs etc IRT upgrades, deep level maintenance will more likely to be done by Boeing Australia not Safe Air as is the case atm. The Poms are finding this out the hard way already as some of the mission support systems on the Nimrod R1’s or R2 and the defunct MR4 Project had were in fact far better than US supplied ones.
So long term funding for upgrades is going to be an issue for sure given NZG track record for Defence funding.
Weight has pretty much dogged the P8 since the start in particular it’s all up MTOW. Half the cost of the P8s that NZ is buying is tried up building new infrastructure at Ohakea because of the MTOW as the runway at RNZAF base Auckland is short and the other reasons is the mandated security requirements of the P8 as required the US. The weight issue is going to be a major factor in where P8 can operate from within NZ and the Pacific Region in certain seasons.
Since the start of the P8 program Boeing has been a bit coy about the overall fatigue test IRT the wings and wing box as P8 wasn’t meant to do low flying from the start and since some of the mission and ordnance systems haven’t worked all that well at higher altitudes. This inturn has meant Boeing has spent time and money redesigning the wings etc, reduce the fatigue failure on the wings and wing box which has added a weight and range penalty as most wings are designed to flex within limits but low level flying this reduces the overall fatigue life of the wings etc. if you are ever flying to Wellington on a rough day have a look at how much wing movement there is.
The Mission Support Systems have been problematic as ASW and Anti Surface Warfare has been by tradition a low to medium level affair. But the USN and Boeing have taken a leap in faith of new technologies which hasn’t sorted of work, but incorporating UVA’s and Increment 1 systems include persistent anti-submarine warfare capabilities and an integrated sensor suite; in 2016, Increment 2 upgrades will add multi-static active coherent acoustics, an automated identification system, and high-altitude anti-submarine weapons.Increment 3 in 2020 shall enable “net-enabled anti-surface warfare”. This should be sorted out by the time NZ gets its first P8 as this wee problem has stuffed its range, time on station and fuel burn as it move fro me Hi to Low and to Hi etc.
Incorporating the use of UAV’s has allowed those limitations on certain missions to be overcome, but without it has led to some issues as the P8 has to then go low level which then effects range, TOS and fuel burn performance etc. To really get the best out of the P8 you really need to invest into UAV’s, but also they have issues as well and insuring that both RNZN ships and deployed NZ Army formations down to a tactical level are able to process data received from the P8 as it’s a truly a Joint Multi Mission Platform if all the bells and whistles are working and that’s a big if IRT NZG funding towards Defence in the past.
Now this should’ve been obvious to the muppets at Boeing that trying to drop a ASW weapon from a great height wasn’t to work from the start! At the moment to conduct ASW Warfare they have to go back to basics ie back to 250ft to 300ft off the deck (which btw out of all the tac flying I’ve of done, flying at 200ft – 250ft off the deck on 3 engines in P3 beats any show ride especially if you chasing something). Because of this obvious limitation this really bugged up a number problems already addressed and the long term effects are unknown or base on assumptions especially if Boeing has fudge the fatigue numbers. Boeing is hoping to have one sorted by the time the P8 enters RNZAF and if it doesn’t then any savings it was hoping achieved are well in truly kick into touch.
Is this right Aircraft for NZG, MoD and RNZAF? Well it’s depends on ones POV, if the NZG keeps maintaining P8 with regular updates/ upgrades then yes, if I was a on UN Chap 4-7 Mission with my troops in contact giving me a feed on what’s going on and able to me to support me with offence support if required then yes. NZ is a Maritime dependent and without secure Sea Lanes Of Communications then NZ economic wealth and overall it’s economy will suffer if it goes pear shape as the P8 a Maritime Platform then yes.
But if the NZG can’t be stuffed at maintaining the P8 like they usually do with the rest of Defence then don’t buy it. Like all Defences purchases there are pros and cons with the added factor of how much risk that you are prepared to accept or don’t accept which is really the $64 billion question rather like guessing this weeks Lotto or Powerball numbers.
Wisdom tooth Shearer wrenched out. Incisor Cunliffe prised out of our jaw, Goff reefed out and ‘you little beauty’ Little relinquished the top tooth role. What a bloody heart wrenching sweat soaked journey it has been.
The National party are just setting out on this journey.
Good morning The Am Show Duncan your word about our business confidence are a bit over the top business will be fine they will have to get use to minor tweaks that Labour are doing to the business environment the economy will grow fine don’t stress there is more money in the economy under a Labour lead government .
SME make over %97 of business in Aotearoa so its logical to support small exporters why should big business get all the toko these SME have more scope to grow ect.
Pharmac is a good model that keep’s the cost of meds low so more people can get there meds at a lower cost. With out it OUR health cost would blow out and end up like others were common people have to sell the house when they break a legg I’m sure more people break a leg than get caner .
Those big Drug companys would love for us to change Pharmac so they can bleed us dry did you see that Guy ramp up prices by %600 we don’t want to go there.
Pharmac mite need a tweek here and there but not a total change Pharmac is a organization that works really well for common people and tangata whenua The capitalist believe that Pharmac should be scraped they want to bleed more mone from tangata this is one thing we did not change for the capitalist in the 80’s .
What about that plant we have criminalized that helps cancer suffers with there pain we could be making laws that help with pain cheap as but we would rather import it at huge cost thats the law that needs logical attention .
Ka kite ano P.S Paddy good work lately
Many thanks to the Business that are reviewing there plastic wastes Ka pai that’s how Kiwi’s behave we were just lead in the wrong direction for a wee while Ka kite ano P.S ACC
Accident Compensation Corporation is another organization the neo capitalist want to scrap this is a good model that’ we kept from the 80s that provides for the common tangata and the wealthy it just need’s a few tweeks
There you go 17 a year old Kiwi Auckland teenager has been crowned the world’s Microsoft PowerPoint champion.
Fifteen-year-old Tristan Mona, an Avondale College student, beat more than 760,000 competitors from over 100 countries in a timed and graded exam to recreate a presentation put together by Certiport and Microsoft.
Since February he has been practising his PowerPoint skills 24 hours per week – around three hours per day, and undertaking 70 practice tests.
Students enter the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship to prove their master skills in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Ka pai mokopuna Kia kaha
Ka kite ano link is below
Many thanks to the Labour lead Coalition Goverment for putting more mone into electric vehicle transport Ka kite ano P.S the other outfit put all there eggs into carbon fools link below
These people who have the silver spoon in there mouths don’t like the truth about how there ancestors were lieing cheats and they did not conquer OUR tangata whenua tipuna .
They Lied once again making out there were a superior culture than they used this bullshit image they had caste of them selves to steal more land .
Any one with a brain knows money is not as valuable as property .
With inflation at 3% the way it works is your mone value goes down by 3% a year
Mean while whenua goes up by 15% a year can any one spot the problem.
Eco Maori would say keep your mone give my whenua back after all we are te tangata whenua with no whenua.Burn money its gone burn whenua it grows more crops next year
Yes I see foreign people come to Aotearoa and in 20 years they are set for life and there children .The thing is they have diffrent life styls to us kiwis there food and life stile is cheap and they save all there mone there white m8 will hire them before they hire a maori
he will give them a loan before Maori and the white person will be happy because the foreign person puts him up on a pedestal yes sir no sir there is no way this Maori is going to do that.
Have your heard that old joke you have a Irish Chinese Dutch and Maori in a bar the cops arrive there is a scuffle between the Maori and the Dutch guys the police arrest the Maori chuck him in there car they go back into the bar and ask the Chinese and Irish men were is the bar man we want to ask him what charges we can lay on that thieving Maori .
They say you got the bar man in your car it was the Dutch man you let go who we saw stealing drinks is that funny not when this kind of prejudice behavior keeps stuffing up your future A . Eco Maori see this all the time Ka kite ano
Link below
Good evening Newshub I’m not even going to waste my valuable time on gone brash.
Yes Tova O Brian I agree with your opinion we all know the capitalist think they are always correct Eco thinks te mone does something strange to there brain.
Thats the way Piri te tangata whenua will appreciate your apology that’s good move on now E hoa .
Yaa Our Nurse have come to a agreement with the health boards that’s a positive for all kiwis.
Ka kite ano P.S Ingrid it was fine and sunny this morning and next minute it rained on there heads some will know who that is for
The Crowd Goes Wild James and Mulls I new Joseph Parker would hang his gloves up Ka pai.
I remember when Phil Gule was running around the paddock playing Leauge back in
the day
Wairangi had a good yarn with Steve Kearney fingers crossed they can get past that Maori tane in Australia
Good to see te whaine Rugby getting more promotions with mone and the media
James you have to keep a sharp eye on Mulls Ka kite ano P,S he should know what Eco on about I see quite good
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
The Treaty Principles Bill submission hearings continue at Parliament today with a range of submitters expected including councils, iwi, community organisations and individuals. ...
It’s become of one of Christchurch’s most famous landmarks online, but why? Alex Casey steps through the portal of the brutalist Timezone. Ask anyone what Christchurch’s most iconic building is and you might expect to hear some of the dusty old classics like the Cathedral, or the Town Hall, or ...
New Zealand’s alignment with the White House is further underscored by its refusal to oppose Trump’s sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC). ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is a serious blow to the soft power of the United States and disastrous for many poor countries ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet Hoek, Professor in Public Health, University of Otago Shutterstock/Aliaksandr Barouski New Zealand’s smokefree law was hailed around the world for creating a smokefree generation that would have lifelong protection from smoking’s harms. The smokefree generation would have ended sales of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By George Disney, Research Fellow, Social Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne Edwin Tan/Getty Images When the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was established in 2013, one of its driving aims was to make disability services and support systems fairer. However, our new ...
The resignation of the director general of health is the latest departure in what Labour is calling a ‘purge’ of health leadership. Another day, another health resignation It’s a dangerous time to be a top health executive. On Friday, Dr Diana Sarfati announced her resignation as director general of health ...
Labour and the Greens say the government should focus spending on tourism infrastructure like tracks, toilets and protection of nature instead of more advertising. ...
Hundreds of people called the former prime minister vile and dehumanising things online. Internet safety agencies did nothing - then called in the lawyers. ...
Hundreds of people called the former prime minister vile and dehumanising things online. Internet safety agencies did nothing - then called in the lawyers. ...
After a morning spent calf marking, Flock Hill Station manager Richard Hill headed up Bridge Hill – about 100km from Christchurch on the way to the West Coast – to check on a fire near the station’s boundary.It was December 5 last year, and the Craigieburn area had experienced three ...
It can’t be much of a surprise that a relatively inexperienced Act MP, handed the workplace relations portfolio, doesn’t want to entertain the country’s biggest union in her office.But it still astonishes the head of that union, the CTU’s president, Richard Wagstaff.After all, he’s met regularly with ministers of all ...
Late 21st century Christchurch will be unrecognisable when compared with Christchurch today.Flooding will prompt retreat from all eastern and many northern suburbs. These areas, together with land near the Heathcote and Avon Rivers, are in a fifty-year flood zone. Fifty-year floods can happen more than once every fifty years; there ...
Is humanising a mountain the path to real transformation, or does it signal the need for a cultural paradigm shift in the operating system? Recently, a family member shared their delight at the news of Taranaki Maunga becoming a legal person.Of course, I was pleased for the eight Taranaki ...
Why New Zealanders donate money and who they give it to – and how tools like Givealittle are changing the giving landscape.Is New Zealand really a generous country? It’s difficult to quantify. Giving to registered charities can be counted through tax returns, but giving to overseas causes, giving money ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 17 February appeared first on Newsroom. ...
As the four Findlay siblings run out on the hockey turf, dressed in black with the silver fern, they take the drive and determination of their late mum with them.Emma Findlay is a Black Stick defender, on her way to Chile on Monday to play for the New Zealand women ...
COMMENTARY:By Paul G Buchanan Here is a scenario, but first a broad brush-painted historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With the unembarrassed audacity parties show as an election nears, the government has stolen the opposition’s policy to ban foreign investors buying established homes. Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil have announced ...
The Jewish Council’s proposals are divisive, contrary to New Zealand’s human rights framework, and ignore the rights of other ethnic minorities in Aotearoa. ...
"This is shocking, and astounding," says Augusta Macassey-Pickard, spokesperson for the group. "We knew that this process was rushed, and flawed, but this is another level of compromised." ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific presenter/Bulletin editor Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark maintains that Cook Islands, a realm of New Zealand, should have consulted Wellington before signing a “partnership” deal with China. “[Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown] seems to have signed behind the backs of his own ...
COMMENTARY:By Saige England Mediawatch on RNZ today strongly criticised Stuff and YouTube among other media for using Israeli propaganda’s “Outbrain” service. Outbrain is a company founded by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) military and its technology can be tracked back to a wealthy entrepreneur, which in this case could ...
Luxon said protesters linked to Destiny Church "went too far" by disrupting Pride events in Auckland, while church leader Brian Tamaki said he told protesters, "I want you to storm the library they're in." ...
Hundreds of engineers are losing their jobs and leaving our shores due to infrastructure project delays, creating "significant" risk to our nation's development, says the head of New Zealand's engineering body. ...
Remember Hiroshima.
x
Life can be so unfair. Ask any toddler or child and they’ll tell you, passionately and with a earnestness that few adults can match.
When we grow up and become discerning adults with sound judgement we realise that good looks matter and that life still is unfair.
But not all is lost, it seems. Once we get past the first 2 crucial seconds for making a first impression and we get to know the other person, appearances take a step back:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/105979422/budget-buster-the-hotness-pay-gap
We tell students to work hard, go to uni, get a (real) degree, get a (real) job, work hard and you’ll have a (real) career and life will be sweet (as).
Somewhere between uni and landing that first career-defining job it becomes clear that it doesn’t matter what you know but that it’s (more) important whom you know.
So, we tell young ambitious people to build networks (no, Tinder doesn’t count) and use these to their advantage.
Once in the job we tell ambitious young colleagues that hard work is not enough to get promoted. It is not what you know or whom you know. No, it’s who knows you. In other words, we tell the career-minded that they need to be noticed in order to get promoted. We tell them to blow their own trumpet and embark on an orgy of narcissistic self-embellishment.
And then, after a fine long rewarding career that has been marked by personal development and growth, you can tell your grandchildren that life is unfair, passionately and with a earnestness that few toddlers or children can match 😉
I’ve often wondered if we’re rebellious in our teens because we felt betrayed by our peers. Most of us are brought up to be respectful of others, to not lie cheat or steal. It’s in our teenage years when we discover adults are everything we’re taught not to be, not really a surprise the young rebel when you look at it that way.
True. It’s only when you really become self-aware and take a good hard look at the world around you as a young adult that you realise how full of shit a lot of adults are. All those long years spent being told what not to do, only to realise everyone does exactly that all day long every day. The hypocrisy is mind-blowing. I proactively advise my teenagers that many adults are fucking charlatans and that respecting someone purely because they happen to be older than you is a steaming crock of shit. Respect is earned, not bestowed on you by virtue of your advanced years.
And the rich demand respect because they’re rich. Unfortunately, a lot of people actually believe them hence why we see so many voting National.
Hey, that was what I was told when young – didn’t work out that way though.
Yep and WINZ has the figures to prove it. Most job placings are about who you know and not what you know.
And that’s how we end up with brown-nosers.
Not my experience Draco, I new fk all people and came from very working class background, went to non event school etc, what I have learnt many people seek to externalise all their problems and failings, never taking accountability and often fail to realise the common factor in most of thier issues is themselves Saying that some people do just have bad luck
It’s a percentage game.
There was a time the study/work hard myth was mostly true here. Now it’s mostly untrue – social mobility is mostly negative.
you experience = anecdote with no foundation in reality.
On the other hand WINZ has figures showing that more than 70% of jobs are awarded based upon who people know.
Oh Incognito…….the sadness of the circularity you depict……..”an orgy of narcissistic self-embellishment”…….very wry. Moreover, alarmingly accurate. The example which springs to mind at once……the regularity with which same name next generation individuals are glowingly hailed in the legal profession. Doors opened and pathways oftentimes quite gratuitously conferred by doorkeepers “who know you”.
The implied justification is that it’s all about DNA. Which in reality stands for “Do Not Ask” established Power not to reflexively perpetuate itself.
The neo-fashist right or alt-right for “free speech”? yeah… nah.
12 “far right” people in masks (one a Trump mask) attacked a London socialist bookshop. This is a chilling development. And why we don’t want them bringing their bile here.
The Independent reports that they chanted fashist songs, threatened bookshop staff, threw some books around, videoed it and uploaded it online:
Al Jazeera reports:
Ah, so we’re seeing the return of book burning. IIRC, the last time that was popular was in Nazi Germany.
Of course, the RWNJs have been banning books they don’t like for a long time.
Watched ‘Sunday’ last night, mum was over and knew nothing about s&m so it was interesting watching it with her. Thought it was fair coverage airing both view points.
Mum clued me up, smart lady my mum 🙂 She was laughing and aghast at the same time lolz. She explained to me that there were many great developed civilisations across the planet while the europeans were still being cave men. Such as the ancient egyptians. And with a masters in sociology, she has studied such things extensively, I really appreciate her knowledge on such topics. Then the IQ debate was brought up, far out mum was laughing hard by then.
I did discover that when I asked questions via the youtube and s&m channel, their supporters get really aggressive, was told to kill myself. Was thinking.. ok then that’s going to win me over. Super amusing.
Still puzzled as to why they would choose to come here in the first place, but then I remembered we live in an incredible country, of course people want to visit no matter their views.
Glad that circus is over.
Tell you what Cinny:
Look at her now. A 23 year old with the skin of a new born baby and perfect features. Have a look at her in 30 years time – if she makes it. She will be a thin lipped old hag with sagging skin and red rimmed eyes and no-one will want to have a bar of her. Anyone with her beliefs and lifestyle is not going to stay looking young for long. Karma will get her years before it starts on the rest of us.
Sorry, Anne, but a few weeks ago I saw a photo of Lauren and her father, mother and sister – possibly on Twitter – on her father’s birthday. It was hard to tell her mother from Lauren and her sister. Actually a very normal happy middle class white family type photo – think there was also a dog or two.
I am not about to try to find it again – but from memory it may have been on her Twitter account befor she and Molyneux et al arrived in Australia, so about three or four weeks ago.
https://twitter.com/Lauren_Southern?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
So you’re saying people only listen to her because of her looks?
Have a look at some Blaire White youtube clips and see what you think of her then
What question/s did you adk that you got an aggressive response to?
They S&M fan brigade are aggressive towards left wingers generally on that channel, without anyone asking questions.
S&M wind them up by playing victim, and spinning their misinformation.
You are quite possibly right but that still doesn’t answer my querry about what questions were asked.
Why dont you just look?
Report back your thoughts – should be interesting.
Hey Gosman….Will do a copy paste of one instance. Will refer to people as them and me for it….excuse the length of it lolz.
THEM: Prime Minister of ew Zealand. A woman–Jacinda Ardern. Women destroy society
ME: And women give birth, you wouldn’t be here without us. Wait, are women destroying society by giving birth to people like yourself? Ahhhh now I get where you are coming from. Could birth control for men be the answer?
THEM: You’re a brainwashed moron. Sad!
THEM: You see, women would not have been able to give birth without men. YOU wouldn’t be here without us (men) either. No one would, and no one is denying women’s high worth in a society. But women’s brains are completely different from men’s brains, and work and prioritize things differently from men. Things like emotions over facts, feelings over logic etc, are feminine traits in nature. If these traits are commonplace in politics, policies put into place will put more emphasis on people FEELING good, rather than it ACTUALLY being helpful or useful for the common people.
ME: Science has now debunked that narrative……Brains cannot be categorised into female and male, according to the first study to look at sex differences in the whole brain. The mix of male and female features in the brain suggests that stereotypical gender assumptions, such as women are better at multi-tasking and men will earn more money, are redundant.
THEM: Women always put the left parties in power
THEM: You also wouldn’t be able to turn on a light enjoy clean running water have a modern roof over your head or be able to eat if it were not for men. Your welcome.
THEM: Incorrect. Those MRI scans didn’t take into account both macro and micro neurological functions in endometamorphoses and metabolic functions; both are vital for distinguishing both male and female anatomy on a neurological level. Let’s not forget those physical anatomical private parts as a key to distinguishing.
Note…then i went onto google to find out more about the above
THEM: Rubbish, male and female brains are wired neurologically differently to produce different behavioral patterns. That is not even taking into account differences in the endocrine system. Not sure where you are getting your science but it is rubbish
ME: What are neurological functions in endometamorphoses for humans? Where could one learn more about it?
THEM: You’re a complete moron, go kill yourself.
ME: The endocrine system is about the control and release of hormones in the body and related brain messages, such as producing breast milk, or sweating. That’s about the physical body being different, it is not about males or females having different brains, just different bodies, which as a result send different messages to the brain.
THEM: I’m sorry but giving birth and incubating is a biological function. Just like taking a shit. You get no credit for that.
Still puzzled as to why they would choose to come here in the first place,
It’s not just NZ – they are on an international recruiting drive – I guess to Brit ex-colonies. They are particularly focusing on Aussie as fertile ground for their views and for fund raising, but adding Auckland into the schedule.
Unfortunately, it’s not over. Nigel Farage, of the UKIP party is doing the Aus-Auckland speaking tour next, and he is a pro-Brit, anti-“immigrant” far righter; then Pauline Hanson is planning a visit.
PS: Your mum sounds very smart and onto it, Cinny. Unfortunately, the TVNZ reporters, if they were truly doing their job, would’ve pointed out the fallacies of what S&M were saying.
Yes they are well funded hate merchants – the big knobs at the top of society more conflict and hate to generate more money.
Holy smoke Batman, Hanson is coming, dang. I wonder if all these alt rights are coming here to drum up support for national? Personally I’m not so sure that approach will work in NZ.
Yesah Carolyn, my mum is awesome, I’m very lucky indeed.
Good one. Yes their alt right arguments are childishly simplistic and idiotic. No better than propaganda really. And they don’t like the cold steel of facts, as you found out via their YouTube. Be safe cos they attract truly awful people to their cause and internet toxic scum can spill.
“Glad that circus is over.”
Hopefully. As I said yesterday, I have been wondering whether they were still here – and lo and behold, just 30 minutes or so ago, Molyneux tweeted this:
Whether Southern is with him or not is not clear, no Tweets from her since yesterday.
Dave Pellowe, the Australian organiser of their tour appears to be back in Australia since about Sat and concentrating on other interests – catchup retweeting lots of other things and only one or two re the S&M show. EG apparently he is a strong Christian Pro-Lifer …
Caolan Robertson, the young (23 year old) twit that runs around videoing everything on his phone who was interviewed by Paddy Gower – as “an agent for Ms Southern” re the Powerhouse change of mind – is based in London SW3 (Chelsea) not Canada. Not clear whether he has left but yesterday he was madly tweeting insulting tweets re Gower. Caolan (pronounced Kay-Lin) is a bestie (aka leech) of Stephen Lennon aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – better known as Tommy Robinson. Built up quite a dubious reputation in his short young life after a cloistered private school upbringing in London by Irish parents.
[A bit of information you all were waiting for – Molyneux was actually born in Ireland, not Canada. Ireland saw sense early on.]
Molyneux has tweeted three more tweets since the one above – two are retweets of Robertson’s tweets dissing Gower. Poor Paddy. He’s pretty hopeless but doesn’t deserve that.
The third tweet is priceless – a selfie (or did LS take it?) of Molyneux holding a book in the bookshop entitled “Are you smarter than a chimpanzee?” by Ben Ambridge. In your case, Moly, the answer is a definite NO.
https://twitter.com/StefanMolyneux/status/1026233276824993793
“
Dan Satherley on Newshub has now picked up on and written an article about Molyneux’ s “Critical Message” * on YouTube yesterday which I posted on yesterday on Open Mike. * a new title for begging for money.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/08/stefan-molyneux-warns-war-is-coming-asks-for-likes-shares-and-money.html
I rather like Satherley’s turn of phrase through much of his article. His degree of cynicism seems to be close to mine when I watched it. A few tastes – or rather most of it minus videos and photos.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on”. He told the truth!! Okay, one swallow does not make a summer.
“I am trying with all of my might and all of my rhetoric and all of my energy and efforts to stop the war that is coming.” I suspect psychologists would diagnosis a hero complex at this point. He doesn’t explain how he knows a war is coming. A significant lapse. Why not claim he’s psychic? Or a prophet?
The video is not quite up to an Oscar nomination level but actually quite a laugh to watch particularly that section – or taking a different approach, a lesson in how to beg for money. 12 Mins long, but easy to skip through.
I won’t relink but the link is in my comment here
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-05-08-2018/#comment-1510199
Dennis, your comment made me smile, he probably likes to think he is a prophet.
Now his supporters are now calling for arms, and bragging about their weapons stash to deal with the ‘violent left’. From where I’m standing they are the ones suggesting the violence in the first place.
He read it in the entrails of a goat.
LMFAO !!!!
Wait – I’ve seen this before…
Yep this is the real guy – self loathing, self contempt and self hatred.
Sad that some people are so lost. I hope he gets the professional, not $$$, help he needs.
marty, Molyneux claims to be a professional of sorts in psychological matters himself and he is married to a practising psychological therapist, Christina Papadopoulos – that is when she is not being disciplined by the Canadian professional board for malpractice (in conjunction with him).
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/controversial-podcaster-listened-in-on-therapist-wife-and-clients-lawsuit-alleges/article22158708/
Lots more if you google him and/or his wife – eg here https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=stefan+Molyneux+wife&rlz=1C1LDJZ_enNZ499&oq=stefan+Molyneux+wife&aqs=chrome..69i57.20727j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Quite enjoyed flicking through this one.
http://www.fdrliberated.com/the-day-joe-rogan-discovered-the-real-stefan-molyneux/
Another one who found that starting a cult can make you rich. They have just left the “religious part out.
Cinny I find if you going to do youtube be aware that most yanks who are on those pages are sexist, spiteful and full of hate. My response is either OTT on the love and hugs thing which pisses them off, or ask them sexually loaded questions, which they can’t handle. It rough and tumble world on youtube – you have to be prepared.
Adam, you are so correct. Was thinking before that I probably need to lose my female name and female looking avatar if I ever venture there again.
Did learn they do seem to go a bit psycho if you don’t get angry. Yes they don’t like women, crikey does that make them all gay. ROFL. I need to keep my cheeky side in check 🙂
Cheeky with love comments and hug comments winds them up the best. I use to go to certain sites, now gone, just to wind them up with love bombs 🙂 Or quotes from the bible that talk about the poor and love, they hate that as well. Especially if you don’t say where it’s from – you can led them on, and then say their not christians – watch the train wreck when you pull that one. But, just never mention your a Catholic if you are, they have a special place full of hate for Catholics.
Good tips Sir 🙂 Was wondering which brand of christianity they are pro/anti, thanks for the heads up re catholics. Love how you roll.
A lot of them subscribe to Prosperity theology, a vial set of ideas. No better than the indulgence trade.
For a start on the topic the wiki page is not to bad. Gives you some pointers on how they think, plus the criticism section is well written.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology
“Money lenders in the temple”.
To be fair Cinny I can’t really see the big issue here
All Southern was debating is merits of multiculturalism not saying I agree with her but is the debate so scary, on this topic I thought tv 1 was not impartial, she never got to explain her belief, and I am sure she was going to go down ethic ghettos, integration failure places like France , Germany uk etc
likewise the iq issue, again cut off very quickly , he waas quoting averages not individually as is the case for all social science, think prisons stats, likewise these stats that reflect US army enlistments so extensive data Why not debate the stats, ie whites where not on top, is iq a valid construct anyway, what we he intending to coney in these stats then judge accordingly
Overall I felt pretty dissapointrd with tv 1 effort I left no more enlightened than I at the start of show On western civilisation. We are talking what judo Christian ethics, Roman law, Greek democracy and the enlightenmen has created western civilisation today m, it’s pretty impressive, not to dis other civilisation s I don’t think they come close, just a view
Barry Soper has excelled himself. Yes, that hard-as-baked crust journo with the red rimmed eyes (see my 5.1) and the jaundiced ears saw a documentary last night and in the process found his long lost empathy for others less privileged than himself.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12101706
Long may it last.
“Long may it last”
I wouldn’t bank on it @ Anne, and I’ll resist the link provided.
I wouldn’t have described him as a journo though. You must be feeling charitable.
More like one of those bad smells all plastered with Old Spice that hangs around members of the 4th Estate’s Press Gallery/Gang hoping to be taken seriously one day on the basis of his longevity and trophy woif.
In those olden days, they were referred to as ‘hacks’ for good reason
OnceWasTim is really missing out and obviously has not realised the subject – the dearly missed Celia Lashlie (1953 – 2015).
I really want to see that documentary. There was an excellent interview on Nine to Noon last Thursday pre the Film Festival launch of the documentary in Wellington. Here is the link to the 23 min audio, and the summary of the interview with Amanda Millar:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018656307/celia-lashlie-her-life-s-work-and-last-days
23 minutes of well worth listening. I did not realise how much I missed Celia’s voice, She was unique in more ways than one.
RNZ also has a really good archive of Celia’s interviews etc over the years here:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/collections/celia-lashie
I’ll more than likely stumble on it anyway without the help of Barry Bloody Soper, but thanks – you’ve piqued my interest
There’s just no way I can take Bazza or his gorgeous wife seriously having come across him in a past life in the eastern suburbs
I understand having similarly come across him in a past life in the Wellington beltway. I am also wary about clicking links if I don’t know who or what it is about.
Do say more ..
The desperate vermilion hamster is worried and he has increased everything. Expect big fireworks soon as the net tightens – watch out countries of the world.
“The frequency of the president’s mistruths has picked up, as well. The Washington Post Fact Checker found last week that Trump has now made 4,229 false or misleading claims so far in his presidency – an average of nearly 7.6 such claims per day, and an increase of 978 in just two months.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/donald-trumps-america/106031468/trump-at-a-precarious-moment-in-his-presidency-privately-brooding-and-publicly-roaring
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/363412/trump-says-son-sought-info-on-clinton-from-russians
Globalisation as we speak?
“PGG Wrightson has agreed to sell its seed and grain business to Danish cooperative DLF Seeds for $421 million in cash and $18 of debt repayment, and signalled it may return up to $292 million to its shareholders.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12101889
Neo-colonisation
Thank the gods you didn’t use that misleading, although correct, term liberalism. Can’t stand that shit 😊
Yeah, it’s why I stopped using neo, and just call it liberalism these days. As for colonisation, it does feel a lot like version 2.0 when stuff like this goes off shore.
It started in 1825 under the New Zealand Company and has never stopped. The only material difference between then and today is that the country of origin of the corporate colonisation is no longer just Britain and the natives of New Zealand getting shafted are no longer just brown-skinned.
“signalled it may return up to $292 million to its shareholders.” – that is, we can’t think of anything to do with the money so we’re passing it on. Geniuses.
Ah, more bludging by those that don’t work on the hard workers of NZ.
Yup screw the long term strategic control of our supply side issues there’s cash to be had today.
Chump change to them and thanks for playing PGW.
“Never again”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2018/08/uk-bookstore-attacked-mask-wearing-fascists-180805133004016.html
Great interview with Barrett Brown,about the rise of the power of the state to shut down the media. If you have the time, I was doing house work. 27 minutes long.
second that adam i didnt need an excuse to watch it though i was just avoiding the housework if anything !Mighty scary future we are all rushing toward
99% of NSW in drought, farms and their produce on the brink and ‘ no amount of money from the Federal government is going to solve that’…..spring and summer still to come.
Get away from it all on a cheap flight to Bali….maybe Fiji would be better at the moment.
Would love to see massive warehouses of indoor hydroponic gardens. With the climate changing so much, at least food wouldn’t be so weather dependent. Must be horrid for the farmers at present. Time to diversify and evolve.
Thing about hydroponics is it still requires water even though considerably less, and infrastructure that is every bit as susceptible to adverse weather….it is well past time to admit we are in serious strife.
Hydroponics removes plants from their Mother, Papatuanuku ; can’t be good, surely?
That would depend upon how it’s done. Where they get the resources to feed the plants from and where those resources go after use.
I dont know if its necessarily ‘bad’ but I seriously doubt its a viable replacement
https://cleantechnica.com/2015/01/22/worlds-largest-solar-powered-desalination-plant-under-way/
http://www.ecosmagazine.com/?act=view_file&file_id=EC134p4.pdf
This one is the most interesting:
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/ocean-desalination-no-solution-water-shortages
If memory serves Melbourne are building a massive plant at the moment off the back of their own water issues from previous years
Yes and thanks to that muppet Kennett when he privatised the water so they had to mothball it after they built it and the same happened up in SE Queensland, but for a different set of reasons aka we were saving more water than what was being used, recycling waste water and pumping it back into the dams and the drought broke aka the Brisbane floods.
sounds like its running now…at some cost m both financially and environmentally’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Desalination_Plant
I was only down in that shit hole Melbourne for 3yrs from 2009 thank god.
Which is probably true if using fossil fuels. Probably not with ones that are solar powered.
In the examples I used the water was going to be pure with no other chemicals in it and the power station was part of the farm. Proper design of the inlet can prevent damage to fish (although I’m not going to hold my breath about a private commercial operation doing that as it will be expensive to produce and Maintain).
Which just seems to be wrong:
Solar powered remember.
It’s not desalination that does that but capitalism and the profit drive.
Yeah, I think that article is worth ignoring for being simply wrong.
You are getting ahead of yourself Draco
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/ocean-desalination-no-solution-water-shortages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Paterson_Desalination_Plant
Wishing wont solve this …and with the time/resource constraints nor will technology.
dismiss all the articles you like…were fucked
oops…wrong link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Paterson_Desalination_Plant
Did you have a point there?
You haven’t addressed anything I said.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1351311/saudi-arabia
“The move falls in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which is based on diversifying its economy away from oil and gas. And with desalination and residential cooling set as the two largest uses of power, and desalinated water demand expected to double in the next decade, experts say that it is more profitable for the country to sell oil and gas while using alternative resources, such as nuclear, for water desalination.”
“Nuclear power is one of the options in the power mix that could also contain wind energy and solar, but these systems cannot take over the major role in the power mix. Moreover, these are also somehow much more vulnerable to damage, like sabotage, and even the effects of climate change.”
So renewables cannot meet the demand, 16 nuclear power stations mooted (all pumping heat into the ocean) for Saudi Arabia alone and we know how quickly they are designed and constructed (not to mention the growing sand shortage worldwide)…not
and then…..
“And studies have shown that the Gulf will only get saltier in the future. Raed Bashitialshaaer, a water resources engineer at Sweden’s Lund University, says that the growth of desalination plants in the region is happening far faster than his own estimated.”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/sep/29/peak-salt-is-the-desalination-dream-over-for-the-gulf-states
So many of these ‘saviour’ solutions ignore the scale required and the impact at scale…..never mind the resources and timeframes involved…as Kevin Anderson says, we cant build our way out of this
Yes, will have to admit the the ME isn’t the best place to do it. Too many people and not enough water flow. Or, to put it another way, the ME is fucked.
I think you’ll find that it won’t apply quite so much to Australia with the worlds oceans surrounding them. Of course, that will be dependent upon if they only try to keep themselves going and not trying to export it all. Unfortunately, they’ll probably try exporting it for the money.
Still, there are many concerns that need to be looked at but these simply shouldn’t be thrown away because of one area where it simply won’t work.
And thats the point isnt it?…one region suffers a water/food shortage and the population (or a significant proportion of) moves and exacerbates the problem in other resource stressed regions…a domino effect.
If the ME is fucked then ultimately we all are.
I’ve been saying that for quite awhile with regards to climate change and refugees that will end up coming here and we will have to stop them. There’s no way that NZ could support any more than what we have now once the climate turns.
Great to see NZForest and Bird signing an MOU with Landcorp (PAMU) on researching, implementing and promoting agricultural practices that protect the natural world.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1808/S00063/forest-bird-and-pamu-announce-new-collaboration.htm
I hope it helps the environment.
I looked at pamu and got to this bit
“At Pāmu, we’ve spent 130 years getting to know nature.
We are Kaitiaki – guardians – of nature. ”
Yeah nah.
Māori are kaitiaki and everything culturally that that means. Your group may be stewards, guardians, protectors or whatever but imo you can never be kaitiaki because that concept has cultural aspects which you can never reach.
Māori were the biggest destroyers of native life on this land of ours eliminating about 50% of the forest before the Europeans even got here. That’s true of almost all indigenous peoples around the world.
So what?
So Māori don’t get to claim being the only people who have kaitiaki over NZ natural health. They really don’t have that tradition, that culture.
You don’t know what kaitiakitanga means I think. And that’s okay cos most don’t but it relates to mana.
Interesting link about fire and Māori if you care to read it: Māori Fire Use and the Southern Landscape
There was another paper I read recently, that spoke about the use of fire to clear vegetation, and suggested that it was used so that regeneration would occur, as opposed to the clearance of forests for agriculture. But I can’t find it. The one above is a good read though.
Marty. I have heard Maori, many times refer to DOC and other Pakeha as Kaitiaki. Not sure that all agree with you.
Yeah I know but it is strange to attribute personal qualities to organisations imo
Agree. Part of the adoption of Te Reo into NZ English??
Forest and Bird have done a number of odd things of late, of which swallowing the koolaid on 1080 is not the most reassuring.
We do indeed need some cooperation between environmental and agricultural interests, but the areas of greatest need do not seem to be being addressed and we must be wary of invidious compromises.
Which agricultural practices protect the natural world; can you describe one?
Planting of trees on unstable slopes. Migration corridors. Steiner gravity water aerator/purifiers. Shelter belts and shade trees. Riparian planting.
Of course these are mostly required by the monocultural approach of previous farming models, so that at best they improve the current environment rather than restoring an ideal. They are still worthwhile however.
It does complicate issues like the Mackenzie however – however unsuitable intensive dairy may be with its unsustainable water demands, the tussock lands were in many cases geologically recently covered with broadleaf forest, and some restoration of that would tend to increase the diversity and robustness of the area, so the tussock is not necessarily the state to prefer, however much it may have become iconic of the area.
Thanks Stuart – my point, vaguely hinted at, was that the sorts of practices you list are responses to the harm caused by agriculture; agriculture can only protect, in a very small way, the natural world from…itself.
We are the natural world Robert.
We dominate it, and have done for a while.
We are its destroyers, its replicators, and its generators.
We are also its guardians.
Pamu are not proposing tree forests.
They are proposing lower-harm and high value commercial agriculture.
And they are now working in concert as one of our largest state-run businesses with our largest conservation organization.
The Aussies have had 7 years of drought in some areas. Australians are talking “Climate Change” openly now. Although they are used to droughts, and burn offs are a way of life, the fact that this drought involves all states bar parts of Western Australia, has shaken the lucky country’s confidence.
As in California, the water tables are at all time lows, and winter temperatures are up to 7 deg higher than usual in some areas. They are dreading summer, fearful the seasonal rains will fail.
Many farmers have reached the end of their financial emotional and physical tethers. The larger outfits are now pressuring Government as all their “safety measures” are exhausted. Smaller outfits are trying to keep key stock and their land. A grant of $8000 per person on a farm each 6 months is paying for limited feedstuff, and they can claim “Job start”…. if their assets are not too high!!
It is sad and very grim. We are told food shortages and high prices are certain.
Lamb is A$40.00 a kilo right now, and wool is coming back into fashion. Those involved in cattle are not coping so well, as they require far more in water resources.
You know it is bad when politicians don’t point score over it too much.
And you can add (or subtract) the reduced yields from UK, Europe. Nth America to that….probably others that I havnt noticed in the past couple of weeks
Not sure if you have been following the ABC’s Landline while you have in Oz. This current Big Dry and why it has effected almost every farming community in particular those that don’t get effective by drought is because winter weather pattern has changed.
Since the start of the Big Dry, the weather boffins have noticed the usual high pressure systems which trends to stay up round the Northern part of Australia during winter are now a lot further South and covering most of Australia now. This led to the failure of the winter rains in the southern states which is now leading to all sorts of problems from livestock, winter and summer crops failing and the shortage of feed for livestock.
With these high pressure pushing even further south the usual winter rains are being push even further south hitting Tassie or worst missing Tassie altogether and hitting the West Coast/ Southern part of NZ. This year in the Northern Australian we are starting to notice a our build up weather system before the Wet Season kicks in around the December has arrived two mths early than normal as we usually expect to this type of weather around the end of September or the middle of October.
With Australia’s already existing artesian salination nightmare, I suspect high water use agriculture is not going to last for long.
Yes, especially for those Southern States in the Murray Darling river basin.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12101966
“Fletcher Tabuteau, the deputy leader of New Zealand First, comes from Waiteti Marae in Ngongotaha near Rotorua, of which Haumaha is the chairman.
They are both Ngāti Ngāraranui and Tabuteau referred to Haumaha as a member of his whānau in his maiden speech to Parliament in 2014.
Tabuteau’s uncle Tommy Gear – a close friend of Winston Peters – is a trustee of the Ngāti Ngāraranui Hapu Trust along with Haumaha.”
Its looking murkier and murkier
A shocker – two Māori related!!! What nek? fish mostly swim.
Nothing to see here, move along
You do know how 2 Degrees gets it’s name right?
We could probably see the exact same situation in National or any party for that matter.
Terrible things happening over there
“Saudi Arabia freezes Canada trade ties, recalls envoy”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45079682
Just look at how people on the Standard responded to the Southern and Molyneux controversy here. There was a huge amount of publicity generated. Trump has a very similar style and you think the Media reported it more because the Democrats told them to?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
There was a huge range of opinion expressed on this blog over aspects of Southern and Molyneux’s attempted speaking engagement.
That, and neither Molyneux nor Southern were political candidates contesting a selection process for a political party.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign team decided to (their words) “tell the press to take them [the pied piper candidates] seriously“.
Unless you believe that political parties have no media influence, then that gets taken at face value.
Oh. And trolling. Not going to go down well with me today Gosman.
It just doesn’t stop ffs!
This http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2018/08/just-wrong.html
and this https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/363428/immigration-nz-forced-to-address-privacy-concerns-with-realme
and this : The process of repressing public sector remuneration (except at the top) has been going on for three decades ( in https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/%E2%80%98business-opinion%E2%80%99-is-falling-does-it-matter )
All in the space of 24 hours
Last night on open mike I posted (32) a quote from “Who we are and how we got here: ancient DNA and the new science of the human past” by Harvard Professor of Genetics, David Reich. He asserted that the “long-held view about race has been proven wrong”.
I’m inclined to read this as invalidating any possible scientific basis for races, but we should await the emergence of a consensus of relevant experts. Aged 44, Reich graduated “BA in physics from Harvard University and a PhD in zoology from the University of Oxford”. He writes “I played an important role in the analyses that proved interbreeding between Neanderthals and some modern humans”. The term modern has a technical meaning to archaeologists (& geneticists) – he’s not referring to our normal meaning of modern.
Chapter 11 is entitled “The Genomics of Race and Identity”. Here’s a sample: “Compared to most academics, the politics of genome bloggers tend to the right… The Eurogenes blog spills over with sometimes as many as a thousand comments in response to postings on the charged topic of which ancient peoples spread Indo-European languages… The genome bloggers take pleasure in pointing out contradictions between the politically-correct messages academics often give about the indistinguishability of traits across populations and their papers showing that this is not the way the science is heading.”
Tell the truth or kowtow to the brain police? Scientists don’t get taught how to handle the interface between ethics and morality as part of their education. Understandable that they obfuscate. Truth hurts.
Reminds me of a Twitter thread by Jesse Berentson-Shaw about her latest book last night:
Yes, her concept of neutrality seems unworkable. During the decade I spent in the TVNZ newsroom, I was often evaluating how the journos & reporters were framing their stories to achieve balance. Usually it seemed reasonable enough but sometimes gross imbalance was obvious & made me angry. Their rule would have required them to give Hitler equal time during WWII.
What works better is to give credit where due, give both sides a share of the story so the viewer can weigh the pros & cons. So my disgust with our media mishandling of the Canadians is because it gave me no evidence upon which to evaluate their actual beliefs & opinions. Media who don’t inform people are a waste of time.
The question of balance is only one aspect. On TV news the message conveyed is also about how the story and views are framed – how people are filmed, how it’s edited, etc.
Also, “balance” suggests there are always 2 main sides of an issue and that they exist around a fixed centre. It’s important,a s you say, to be able to evaluate the evidence. And following the evidence can be as important as any half-arsed attempt at balance.
Sue Abel did research at TV One – observing how Maori were represented in the news. She concluded that bias crept in, partly because of the time pressure the newsrooms were operating under. So journalists, editors, etc just resorted to the same sorts of representations they used or had seen in the past, without a lot of reflection.
I see some of Sue’s lecture notes are on the NZ Herald site (2010)
In these notes, she also points out that the notion of “balance” is a pakeha concept.
I don’t know what you mean by Berentson-Shaw’s concept of neutrality is unworkable. She’s saying that neutrality is not totally possible. So, it’s important for journalists to be aware that they will always be framing their writing in ways that are not totally neutral.
Also, journalists cannot predict how people will read their stories. So, again, they need to be explicit about the points they are making. It’s also why a news organisation should have journalists who come from a different perspective.
Scientists are not necessarily great communicators. But journalists reporting on research often don’t report it very well. And science journalism can be particularly poor. They just tend to take a main idea from the research, and lose the nuances and/or critique the methodologies or weaknesses in the research.
Often journalists don’t get enough time to really get to grips with a research topic these days. And news organisations have not helped the situation by focusing too much on infotainment,ratings and click bait – creates short attention spans.
Mike Smith ask me question a while back and my apologies for a late reply to your question which was back around the 25th of July I think?
Anyway here’s the link https://thestandard.org.nz/brexiting-the-eu/#comment-1506480 for anyone who wants to read back.
There are few problems with P8 and it’s why I prefer the Japanese P1 over the P8, but selecting the P1 would’ve left us as the first overseas user and given what has happened with the NH90’s, Project Protector (aka the two OPV’s and the Canterbury), the up armoured LOV’s (which were quietly retired last yr and throughout this yr) they obviously judged the risk as being first overseas user to be not worth the risk given NZG, MoD and NZDF track record of late I can’t really blame them.
So what the main issues-
It’s a part of the US Special Projects Program ( F22, F35 JSF, Joint Rivet/ Air Seeker, Reaper aka UAV’s both Armed and unarmed etc).
Weight: Max Takeoff weight (MTOW)
Doubts over its Fatigue life aka the wings
Mission support systems,
The use of UAV’s to support the P8 on certain mission profiles to get the best out of P8 and the
dropping ASW ordnance from high attitude
The P8 being a part of the Special Project Program is going leave the NZG, MoD and the NZDF in knots, a) because of the Security that comes the P8 weather it’s passive or actived during non warlike or warlike or peace time operations, b) the US hold all the IP rights or any upgrades, replacement parts have to through the US. So what does this mean? Well we would have to pay top dollar as we can’t do what we have done to the P3’s of the last 10-15yrs etc IRT upgrades, deep level maintenance will more likely to be done by Boeing Australia not Safe Air as is the case atm. The Poms are finding this out the hard way already as some of the mission support systems on the Nimrod R1’s or R2 and the defunct MR4 Project had were in fact far better than US supplied ones.
So long term funding for upgrades is going to be an issue for sure given NZG track record for Defence funding.
Weight has pretty much dogged the P8 since the start in particular it’s all up MTOW. Half the cost of the P8s that NZ is buying is tried up building new infrastructure at Ohakea because of the MTOW as the runway at RNZAF base Auckland is short and the other reasons is the mandated security requirements of the P8 as required the US. The weight issue is going to be a major factor in where P8 can operate from within NZ and the Pacific Region in certain seasons.
Since the start of the P8 program Boeing has been a bit coy about the overall fatigue test IRT the wings and wing box as P8 wasn’t meant to do low flying from the start and since some of the mission and ordnance systems haven’t worked all that well at higher altitudes. This inturn has meant Boeing has spent time and money redesigning the wings etc, reduce the fatigue failure on the wings and wing box which has added a weight and range penalty as most wings are designed to flex within limits but low level flying this reduces the overall fatigue life of the wings etc. if you are ever flying to Wellington on a rough day have a look at how much wing movement there is.
The Mission Support Systems have been problematic as ASW and Anti Surface Warfare has been by tradition a low to medium level affair. But the USN and Boeing have taken a leap in faith of new technologies which hasn’t sorted of work, but incorporating UVA’s and Increment 1 systems include persistent anti-submarine warfare capabilities and an integrated sensor suite; in 2016, Increment 2 upgrades will add multi-static active coherent acoustics, an automated identification system, and high-altitude anti-submarine weapons.Increment 3 in 2020 shall enable “net-enabled anti-surface warfare”. This should be sorted out by the time NZ gets its first P8 as this wee problem has stuffed its range, time on station and fuel burn as it move fro me Hi to Low and to Hi etc.
Incorporating the use of UAV’s has allowed those limitations on certain missions to be overcome, but without it has led to some issues as the P8 has to then go low level which then effects range, TOS and fuel burn performance etc. To really get the best out of the P8 you really need to invest into UAV’s, but also they have issues as well and insuring that both RNZN ships and deployed NZ Army formations down to a tactical level are able to process data received from the P8 as it’s a truly a Joint Multi Mission Platform if all the bells and whistles are working and that’s a big if IRT NZG funding towards Defence in the past.
Now this should’ve been obvious to the muppets at Boeing that trying to drop a ASW weapon from a great height wasn’t to work from the start! At the moment to conduct ASW Warfare they have to go back to basics ie back to 250ft to 300ft off the deck (which btw out of all the tac flying I’ve of done, flying at 200ft – 250ft off the deck on 3 engines in P3 beats any show ride especially if you chasing something). Because of this obvious limitation this really bugged up a number problems already addressed and the long term effects are unknown or base on assumptions especially if Boeing has fudge the fatigue numbers. Boeing is hoping to have one sorted by the time the P8 enters RNZAF and if it doesn’t then any savings it was hoping achieved are well in truly kick into touch.
Is this right Aircraft for NZG, MoD and RNZAF? Well it’s depends on ones POV, if the NZG keeps maintaining P8 with regular updates/ upgrades then yes, if I was a on UN Chap 4-7 Mission with my troops in contact giving me a feed on what’s going on and able to me to support me with offence support if required then yes. NZ is a Maritime dependent and without secure Sea Lanes Of Communications then NZ economic wealth and overall it’s economy will suffer if it goes pear shape as the P8 a Maritime Platform then yes.
But if the NZG can’t be stuffed at maintaining the P8 like they usually do with the rest of Defence then don’t buy it. Like all Defences purchases there are pros and cons with the added factor of how much risk that you are prepared to accept or don’t accept which is really the $64 billion question rather like guessing this weeks Lotto or Powerball numbers.
It was like having teeth extracted.
Wisdom tooth Shearer wrenched out. Incisor Cunliffe prised out of our jaw, Goff reefed out and ‘you little beauty’ Little relinquished the top tooth role. What a bloody heart wrenching sweat soaked journey it has been.
The National party are just setting out on this journey.
Good morning The Am Show Duncan your word about our business confidence are a bit over the top business will be fine they will have to get use to minor tweaks that Labour are doing to the business environment the economy will grow fine don’t stress there is more money in the economy under a Labour lead government .
SME make over %97 of business in Aotearoa so its logical to support small exporters why should big business get all the toko these SME have more scope to grow ect.
Pharmac is a good model that keep’s the cost of meds low so more people can get there meds at a lower cost. With out it OUR health cost would blow out and end up like others were common people have to sell the house when they break a legg I’m sure more people break a leg than get caner .
Those big Drug companys would love for us to change Pharmac so they can bleed us dry did you see that Guy ramp up prices by %600 we don’t want to go there.
Pharmac mite need a tweek here and there but not a total change Pharmac is a organization that works really well for common people and tangata whenua The capitalist believe that Pharmac should be scraped they want to bleed more mone from tangata this is one thing we did not change for the capitalist in the 80’s .
What about that plant we have criminalized that helps cancer suffers with there pain we could be making laws that help with pain cheap as but we would rather import it at huge cost thats the law that needs logical attention .
Ka kite ano P.S Paddy good work lately
Many thanks to the Business that are reviewing there plastic wastes Ka pai that’s how Kiwi’s behave we were just lead in the wrong direction for a wee while Ka kite ano P.S ACC
Accident Compensation Corporation is another organization the neo capitalist want to scrap this is a good model that’ we kept from the 80s that provides for the common tangata and the wealthy it just need’s a few tweeks
There you go 17 a year old Kiwi Auckland teenager has been crowned the world’s Microsoft PowerPoint champion.
Fifteen-year-old Tristan Mona, an Avondale College student, beat more than 760,000 competitors from over 100 countries in a timed and graded exam to recreate a presentation put together by Certiport and Microsoft.
Since February he has been practising his PowerPoint skills 24 hours per week – around three hours per day, and undertaking 70 practice tests.
Students enter the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship to prove their master skills in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Ka pai mokopuna Kia kaha
Ka kite ano link is below
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12101951
Many thanks to the Labour lead Coalition Goverment for putting more mone into electric vehicle transport Ka kite ano P.S the other outfit put all there eggs into carbon fools link below
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12102623
These people who have the silver spoon in there mouths don’t like the truth about how there ancestors were lieing cheats and they did not conquer OUR tangata whenua tipuna .
They Lied once again making out there were a superior culture than they used this bullshit image they had caste of them selves to steal more land .
Any one with a brain knows money is not as valuable as property .
With inflation at 3% the way it works is your mone value goes down by 3% a year
Mean while whenua goes up by 15% a year can any one spot the problem.
Eco Maori would say keep your mone give my whenua back after all we are te tangata whenua with no whenua.Burn money its gone burn whenua it grows more crops next year
Yes I see foreign people come to Aotearoa and in 20 years they are set for life and there children .The thing is they have diffrent life styls to us kiwis there food and life stile is cheap and they save all there mone there white m8 will hire them before they hire a maori
he will give them a loan before Maori and the white person will be happy because the foreign person puts him up on a pedestal yes sir no sir there is no way this Maori is going to do that.
Have your heard that old joke you have a Irish Chinese Dutch and Maori in a bar the cops arrive there is a scuffle between the Maori and the Dutch guys the police arrest the Maori chuck him in there car they go back into the bar and ask the Chinese and Irish men were is the bar man we want to ask him what charges we can lay on that thieving Maori .
They say you got the bar man in your car it was the Dutch man you let go who we saw stealing drinks is that funny not when this kind of prejudice behavior keeps stuffing up your future A . Eco Maori see this all the time Ka kite ano
Link below
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105477615/do-treaty-of-waitangi-settlements-lead-to-better-social-outcomes-and-should-they P.S If the bank had given me that loan 30 years ago I had saved $20 k the house was $90 k its worth $600 k now me and my whano would have been set up to
Good evening Newshub I’m not even going to waste my valuable time on gone brash.
Yes Tova O Brian I agree with your opinion we all know the capitalist think they are always correct Eco thinks te mone does something strange to there brain.
Thats the way Piri te tangata whenua will appreciate your apology that’s good move on now E hoa .
Yaa Our Nurse have come to a agreement with the health boards that’s a positive for all kiwis.
Ka kite ano P.S Ingrid it was fine and sunny this morning and next minute it rained on there heads some will know who that is for
The Crowd Goes Wild James and Mulls I new Joseph Parker would hang his gloves up Ka pai.
I remember when Phil Gule was running around the paddock playing Leauge back in
the day
Wairangi had a good yarn with Steve Kearney fingers crossed they can get past that Maori tane in Australia
Good to see te whaine Rugby getting more promotions with mone and the media
James you have to keep a sharp eye on Mulls Ka kite ano P,S he should know what Eco on about I see quite good