Twenty-five neo mastiff crosses and bulldog crosses have been rounded up at a Northland property where a man was killed in a suspected mauling.
Exactly how many dogs were at the property to begin with was unclear, or whether they belong to the man who was killed, as they weren’t registered, he said.
I recall the uproar over Staffi dogs around 10 -15 years ago. The Staffordshire terrier is a fantastic little dog. Full of personality and affection. Easy to train and highly social. Its not the dogs, its their human owners who are the problem. A property with 25 large dogs roaming free and untrained… a recipe for disaster.
This looks like a breeder/horder situation that got out of hands. I am quite sorry for the bloke, but even sorrier for the dogs. They neither asked to be on that property nor did they ask for neglect and abuse.
Housesitter with a number of dogs, one of the dogs had a lot of puppies. The man who was killed didn’t own the dogs, they belonged to someone who was staying with him.
Probably not related. The feral dogs…an awful situation up here… and I was speaking with someone not long ago who was attacked and bitten whilst walking part of the Te Paki Coastal Track. She went out and purchased a .22, and will never tramp without it in future. Truly feral…cunning as shit house rats… and virtually impossible to trap and as hard to shoot. Poison has been suggested….and the rather bizarre and cruel idea to plant meat impregnated tampons with the view that the dogs will eat them and they'll expand in the throat and stomach. (This guy was serious.) The dogs will travel along Te Oneroa a Tohe and visit 'civilisation' via the access roads. One such road is very near to us and we watch our wee flock very carefully. Have had a couple of scares. Luckily our fencer, a local, put barbed wire atop the sheep netting to deter predators, four legged and two.
The tragedy out west was also too close to home for a mate of ours who is from there and until the details were released, things were a bit tense. Sounds like the guy was trying to get the owner of the dogs to move on…for obvious reasons. For the life of me I don't understand how anyone could afford to feed such massive dogs. You'd need a fairly good income.
I couldn't imagine being able to feed that many dogs either, although it's hard to tell how many were adult dogs. Maybe he was selling them and this paid for the food? But even the logistics of that much food on someone else's property when you're not set up for it. I guess if he was hunting that would help.
Horrendous for that family and community. The dog owner's life now irreversibly changed too. MSM don't seem to be saying anything about him, but I guess more details will follow.
"And animal control!" … in my experience of having had dogs in the past, animal control seems to keep their eyes on good responsible dog people, than those irresponsible people who allow their poor unregistered dogs to roam free, some unfortunately being seriously injured or killed on a road.
One example: In public an Animal Control Officer yelling, shouting and threatening an elderly retired couple and their dog who every morning very early, rain or shine, all seasons, would walk the local beach, cleaning up rubbish and taking it home to dispose of. The reason for the animal control officer's outburst … the dog was on the beach 20 minutes after the 9am curfew had passed, which as far as I know was a one off as far as the elderly couple were concerned! The elderly man tried to talk rationally to the animal control officer, who wouldn't listen and warned them to get their dog off the beach or they "will be impounded and them finded" I witnessed this event first and tried to explain to the ACO about the couple's regular early morning beach cleaning activities. I was told to mind my own business and move on! I reported the incident to the council. Their response? The animal control officer was doing his job!
A pity the ACOs don't do their job concerning feral animal owners!
So far there have been at least four sightings of packs of the dogs, with DoC closing the campsite and tracks to protect visitors to the region from the threat of being attacked.
"This is the first time that we've heard of aggressive behaviour to people," says Abraham Witana, acting operations manager of DoC Kaitai.
He said it now looks like the situation might be getting worse, with the latest sighting by a local driver last weekend.
"They saw a pack of six dogs and a small litter of puppies."
Baigent told The Project the dogs already slaughter our most treasured native birds.
"Once they get a taste for kiwi, dogs will go through and will take a lot of them. They'll systematically work their way through.
"They don't eat kiwi, they just love the thrill of the chase."
Today on The Detail, RNZ Northland reporter Nita Blake-Persen talks to Sharon Brettkelly about the war on feral dogs in the Far North.
"It boggles my mind that this is still able to happen in a country where we're striving for Predator Free Aotearoa, to have packs of feral dogs which are not only a threat obviously to wildlife but also to stock and potentially humans," she says.
Blake-Persen tells how campers and trampers at Cape Reinga earlier in the year spotted the packs of wild dogs loitering around.
"They were pretty freaked out. You don't expect to see wild dogs in New Zealand".
This week the East Asia Summit held this year in Cambodia, was attended by representatives of America, Russia and China – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and China Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Reporting on the East Asia Summit, RT the Russian official media outlet of the Russian Federation, quoted Sergei Lavrov on the world situation.
S.L.“Our American colleagues demonstrate permissiveness” for themselves in international affairs “every time they try to assert their dominance”
S.L.“The Americans have taken up a course of suppressing any independence,”
S.L.“understand the futility of a policy according to which you can just turn a blind eye to one situation, one crisis created by the US, and expect that everything will be more or less OK there,” S.L.
S.L.“They decided to turn Ukraine into a menace for Russia and for many years ignored the racist policies of the Kiev regime, which has been destroying everything Russian… they violated the principles of indivisible security, which they signed up for at the highest level and which they simply trampled upon,”
S.L.“Similarly, in the case of [US House speaker] Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, they [the Americans] ignored their own principles, which they proclaimed publicly,”
Echoing Lavrov's comments on Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi following comments were quoted by RT
W.Y, “a serious violation of the One China policy”
W.Y. “vulgar comedy,”
W.Y. “serious consequences”
W.Y. “a serious violation of the One China policy”
Referring to China's military exercises in reaction to Pelosi's visit.
Hitler did not invade Poland out of concern for the persecution of Poland's German speaking minority.
Putin did not invade Ukraine out of concern for the persecution of Ukraine's Russian speaking minority.
World War One was not fought because an Arch Duke was assassinated in Kosovo.
World War Three will not be fought because an old lady visited Taiwan.
The underlying cause of global conflict and world war is the same as the underlying cause of pollution and climate change. Infinite economic growth on a finite planet, is running up against the physical and man made borders of the planet.
So you suggest as economic growth is the driver of conflicts.Russia's military operation is a very rational undertaking, no different to the actions of many other nations.
Human beings are rational creatures, every thing we do has a reason, or rationale.
The rationale for climate change is economic growth. If we don't pollute. Our economic and political rivals will, and outcompete us.
The rationale for war is economic growth, if our economic growth is limited and constrained by their uni-polar domination of the globe, we will try to replace it with our multi-lateral domination of the globe. If necessary, with force.
You ask, is it rational?
Is poverty in the midst of immense wealth rational?
Maybe, maybe not. It depends on who you are asking.
Is increasing our carbon emissions year on year rational?
Is filling up our oceans with plastic rational?
Maybe, maybe not. But it is profitable.
Instead of asking if doing these things is rational. A better question might be; Is it right"
Is it right to engage in mass slaughter to achieve a multi-polar world?
The underlying cause of global conflict and world war is the same as the underlying cause of pollution and climate change. Infinite economic growth on a finite planet, is running up against the physical and man made borders of the planet.
Whilst the impossibility of infinite growth is undeniable, I don't think that this is the cause of world wars. Michael Hudson, for example, alludes to a conflict between opposing economic philosophies – not capitalism versus communism, but between rentier capitalism and productive capitalism. Hudson says:
"The New Cold War is dividing the world into two contrasting economic systems
NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine against Russia is the catalyst fracturing the world into two opposing spheres with incompatible economic philosophies. China, the country growing most rapidly, treats money and credit as a public utility allocated by government instead of letting the monopoly privilege of credit creation be privatized by banks, leading to them displacing government as economic and social planner. That monetary independence, relying on its own domestic money creation instead of borrowing U.S. electronic dollars, and denominating foreign trade and investment in its own currency instead of in dollars, is seen as an existential threat to America’s control of the global economy.
U.S. neoliberal doctrine calls for history to end by “freeing” the wealthy classes from a government strong enough to prevent the polarization of wealth, and ultimate decline and fall. Imposing trade and financial sanctions against Russia, Iran, Venezuela and other countries that resist U.S. diplomacy, and ultimately military confrontation, is how America intends to “spread democracy” by NATO from Ukraine to the China Seas.
The West, in its U.S. neoliberal iteration, seems to be repeating the pattern of Rome’s decline and fall. Concentrating wealth in the hands of the One Percent has always been the trajectory of Western civilization. It is a result of classical antiquity having taken a wrong track when Greece and Rome allowed the inexorable growth of debt, leading to the expropriation of much of the citizenry and reducing it to bondage to a land-owning creditor oligarchy. That is the dynamic built into the DNA of what is called the West and its “security of contracts” without any government oversight in the public interest. By stripping away prosperity at home, this dynamic requires a constant reaching out to extract an economic affluence (literally a “flowing in”) at the expense of colonies or debtor countries."
– make the first 25.000 earned tax free – that would be a great tax cut for low earners whilst it will be a little nothing for the very rich. I base this on the min cost of a rental in NZ.
– he could drop GST, give some high praises to his predecessors in N and simply state that the times are tough, and offer a lower GST or no GST on such things as electricity bills, water bills, doctor bills, school fund bills, food / school uniforms, public transport and fwiw, raise some revenue by increasing GST on say make up, booze, overseas travel, luxury cars, boats, planes – large and small etc etc etc
.
reducing expenditure
I am sure we can find money that is spend but has no results to show for and spending could be cut. Perks for Ministers could be cut. Housing allowances for Ministers could be cut. Wages for ministers could be cut. Less Propaganda Peddlers for NZTransport etc etc.
Investing
continue to invest in Health Care, Education, Infrastructure etc.
Fwiw, L could do this too, as could any other Party. That none of them actually do is the interesting part.
…and/or a Wealth Tax….by far the best way to redistribute wealth fairly and supported by the Green Party (and incidentally supported by thinking people like Parker in the current Labour government)
Which is where any proposal for a wealth tax comes unstuck. The truly wealthy will be able to structure their affairs to dodge it, lawyers and their ilk will have a field day, but the accidentally wealthy will end up having to sell their homes.
Ah yes – the 'vested interests' problem. A 20% quota of parliamentary representatives drawn from the ranks of the truly ‘poor' might be a temporary fix, at least until they had received their first few pay cheques.
Actually Sortition as a form of governance looks promising….though there would be I imagine quite a number who decline, much like jury selection….but it is certainly more likely to be truely representative.
Local government could be a trialling point but if it proved workable it could be applied at a national level….of the options I see available it is the one that appeals to me most (even though it may have some potential issues)…of course it is a pipe dream as it is not likely to occur short of absolute disaster, and probably not even then.
I think a WT can be written which is hard to get around, but I agree that with this government, which has been pathetic in relation to trusts which have been set up in there 1000's to avoid the 39% tax rate and for other reasons/avoidance (to claim Working for Families for instance), there is little hope of a rigorous WT regime eventuating.
Such a regime might well happen though if you Party Vote Green.
I am sure we can find money that is spend but has no results to show for and spending could be cut. Perks for Ministers could be cut. Housing allowances for Ministers could be cut. Wages for ministers could be cut. Less Propaganda Peddlers for NZTransport etc etc."
Great soundbites but the $ saved wouldn't even be a rounding error on a tiny part of government expenditure.
The perceived problem with tax cuts is that "rich pricks" get it too. You could eliminate this by having the tax free allowance followed by a higher (than now) tax rate.
So, using your 25k, a tax rate of 33% from then would mean someone on 70k would now pay 15k tax (compared to 14k now). So that would give a meaningful tax cut for low earners whilst not costing too much (by giving it to everyone). You could make the tax at 70k the same if the tax free level was set a a slightly higher 27,500 (and no-one under 70k would pay more tax). It still means less tax received by the govt, but probably a better way to target lower paid than other methods currently used (the current IRD payments, for example).
For the expenditure, fiddling with MPs allowances would make little difference. Taking 250k off them (so basically no salary) would save 30m a year, which would mean just 20 cents a week if passed on to 3m taxpayers.
Cutting wasteful expenses is worthwhile though, as the savings can be used in better ways – more nurses, teachers etc or just paying the existing ones better. But not tax cuts.
Yeah, but if you passed that 30 mil onto the tax payer via Mike King then you get a whole lot of mental healthcare counseling paid for which would be a much better return to the tax payer, but maybe that would demand creative thinking and that is not something i would expect a government doodaa to do. Think and creatively at that.
Of course you could send everyone 37 cents in a transaction that a bank might charge you a dollar + for. And i could totally see the doodaas on either side of the aisle talk about that just the way you do. LOL – Go figure.
You could also ensure that PAYE is paid directly to IRD on payday when the wages are paid to employees.
This would help stop employers stealing their workers money and identify earlier businesses in trouble. You could also stop large corporates having policies such as paying bills in 3-6 months so their smaller suppliers get paid to help their cashflow.
We lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax every year to failed businesses.
and we could make tax avoidance illegal with a few years of hard labour attached to it too. 🙂
there would be many many ways to address spending without having to actually cut services. Just start limiting excesses and willful wastage for a starter.
This is long(ish) and might get frowned-upon, but it's interesting 🙂
''For just as established religions assume the maleness of God, just as psychoanalysis and Freud assumed the maleness of libido, so have the social sciences- and in particular anthropology- assumed the generic maleness of human evolution. Both popular and academic anthropological writers have presented us with scenarios of human evolution that feature, almost exclusively, the adventures and inventions of man the hunter, man the tool maker, man the territorial maker, and so forth.
Woman is not comprehended as an evolutionary or evolutionizing creature. She is treated rather as an auxiliary to a male-dominated evolutionary process; she mothers him, she mates him, she cooks his dinner, she follows around after him picking up his loose rocks. He evolves. She follows. He revolutionizes. She adjusts. If the book jackets don’t give us pictures of female homo sapiens being dragged by their hair through 2 or 3 million years of he-man evolution, we are left to assume this was the situation.
This, despite the known fact that among contemporary and historic hunting-and-gathering people, as among our remote hunting-and-gathering ancestors, 75 to 80 percent of the group's subsistence comes from the women's food gathering activities. This, despite the known fact that the oldest tools used by contemporary hunter gatherers, and the oldest most primal tools ever found in ancient sites, were women's digging sticks. This, despite worldwide legends that cite women as the first users and domesticators of fire.
This, despite the known fact that women were the first potters, the first weavers, the first textile-dyers and hide-tanners, the first to gather and study medicinal plants- i.e., the first doctors- and on and on. Observing the linguistic interplay between mother and infants, mothers and children, and among work-groups of women, it is easy to speculate on the female contribution to the origin and elaboration of language. That the first time measurements ever made, the first formal calendars, were women's lunar markings on painted pebbles and carved sticks.
And it is thoroughly known that the only "God image" ever painted on rock, carved in stone, or sculpted in clay, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Neolithic- and that's roughly 30,000 years- was the image of a human female."
-"The Great Cosmic Mother", Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor
Interesting Robert. A close relative of mine is tied to a Church which lives on the father being the head of the house. Hilarious watching the wife quietly running the show while appearing to be subservient. Decision making is a lesson in lop-sided negotiation. And he still believes that men are superior.
Hate to break it to you heathen but in real life Catholic churches are mostly run by women. Priests are harder to find and often locums. In the non-Catholic structured churches it's disproportionately female in Ministry.
But yinno, carry on with the tired ignorant bullshit assumptions.
Male imagery had asserted dominance in Gobekle Tepe and quickly across most of the Turkish Upper Chalcolithic. Some dense combination of tax, fenced property, and the dense hierarchies required for urban living did it. Followed quickly by bureaucracy, organised armies, and then written language.
Spiritual nostalgia just ain't what it used to be.
everyone knows that women run things at that level Ad. Sane cultures are honest about it.
The quote in Robert's comment is about how male dominated societies such as ours tell the story of humanity, and how this erases women's culture. Victors write history. Patriarchy is only 5,000 years old though, so probably a blip we will recover from if we don't fry ourselves first.
Gobekle Tepe is one of a full region of tepe that are saying the same story, and it started at least as far back as 9,000 BC. You can't extract patriarchy, property rights and language.
yep, patriarchy didn't arise overnight, it was a process over time and multiple cultures.
Some say coming down from the trees in the first place was a mistake. But I think it's fair to say that once we started planting crops en masse, we need armies to protect the now settled farming cultures, and that meant controlling the means of human reproduction. It's still the basis of patriarchy now, only in civilised cultures we distance ourselves from this reality.
Women invented time, when we shifted from estrus to a menstrual cycle the same length of time as the moon phase. We also invented post-fertility when we developed menopause, this allowing the great cultural leaps forward for humans because grandmothers helped raise children and look after the tribe.
(of course, nature invented those things in women, but the point is poetically made).
Once women started menstruating cyclically instead of via estrus, for women time would have taken on an obvious, in your face meaning. Embodied, not abstract.
Of course there are natural cycles that affect many forms of life. I was pointing to one in particular.
let me put it another way. How females evolved biologically had a big impact on the evolution of human cultures and societies. Female fertility cycles are threaded all through human history and culture. It's just that men have been privileged by the patriarchal systems of recent millennia and thus understanding of those cycles and the roles they play has been distorted and/or rendered invisible. Just like in Sjoo and Mor's examples of technology.
So it's not just 'that's it'. It's that how women contribute and live in the world as females matters, to women, and to human societies. Being female isn't incidental, it's core.
No, you were claiming a specific epistemic privilege for women over men because of menstruation.
But I didn't. All I did was talk about women. Didn't say anything about men, nor did I imply anything. It's your philosophical framework that read something about privilege over men (a common problem in the patriarchy). As if it's just not possible for women to be important in their own right.
However, there was clearly a reproductive advantage in older women assisting with raising grandchildren (and/or as a repository of wisdom), since those genetic traits persisted. If there were no 'fitness' advantage, then the trait would not be universally expressed (if a woman lives long enough, she's going to go through menopause)
Grandmothers who were around and involved had more grandchildren…. How natural selection works.
Remember last year when Australia had all those Covid cases and deaths in Victoria and NSW and it seemed out of control compared with NZ? Well Australia now has less deaths per million than NZ-it has had Covid under better control than NZ for months now.
Actually for all intents and purposes we are currently at parity. 2/m isn't much of a difference. And Australia is at a very different point in their wave cycle – a lot more people died getting to where they are now compared to NZ.
You are entirely missing my point which is that NZ was much much better in terms of deaths/million months ago, but the trend of Covid deaths has been much worse in NZ than OZ over the last few months and there is no sign of this changing.
Take a look at the graphs in the website I referenced above.
I'm not missing your point, you're reading the data wrong. First, cumulative – overall we've lost a lot fewer people compared to Australia per capita, which if you will insist on making it a competition, is the important number. Second, their per capita numbers right now are going to be moving down because they are coming out of an infection wave. We're just hitting our second or third wave.
First, cumulative – overall we've lost a lot fewer people compared to Australia per capita…
That’s been true until now, but no longer. NZ has been rapidly overhauling Aussie's (cumulative total) 'Deaths/1M pop' metric. Wasn't expecting the switch to happen until the end of August, but, as BG correctly noted, it's happening now.
That is the infection rate which is not what I am talking about.
Case numbers are notoriously badly reported so the infection rate is highly unreliable. Death rates are more certain (in fact very certain) and so are far more reliable.
Up to 100,000 most of the half-starved North Korean soldiers could conscripts rumoured to be sent to bolster Vladimir Putin’s forces fighting Ukraine will head for the hills at the first opportunity they get according to Russian reports.
One can now self identigy as disabled and chronically ill? Can such a person be denied benefits if challenged on that self Id? And how do you quantify 'disabled' and 'chronically' ill. And then, why bother in the first place?
The ADCI Literary Prize for a work by an author who self-identifies as disabled or chronically ill. It must be fiction and must contain one or more characters that are disabled and/or living with chronic illness. D/L 31 Oct. https://t.co/zCrDIFJfPJ
There are people who do self ID as disabled who aren't disabled. I doubt this is what the Society of Authors means, but it's getting harder to tell. There's a still a taboo on self IDing into an ethnic group.
I posted this from twitter, it is them who are asking for 'self identified' disabled people. '
I am asking for someone to translate into easy english for me how someone self id's as disabled.
Maybe you need to explain your own thoughts to me.
a. why do you conflate this self id with that of men who want access to places for women ( again, i am excluding Transwomen/Transmen who transitioned from self id, to make my point clear).
b. why do you assume that i like you conflate this self ID with that of men who want access to places for women.
Being disabled is not a case of being born in the wrong the body, it is not a mental illness, it is not some passing body dysphoria, being disabled is medical, permanent, and makes navigating live quite a bit different and harder for those that have to live with disabilities and chronic pain.
I guess that this operates the other way, too, though. There are people (including, presumably, authors) who may have a 'disability' but do not self-identify as disabled.
I am asking for someone to translate into easy english for me how someone self id's as disabled.
As someone with an invisible disability, how I choose to relate to the world is often a choice. I can hide my disability. I can make it visible. In that there's something about identity. Not such a big thing for me but it matters because otherwise other people get to define me and my disability.
It's not Self ID so much as 'identify as' someone who has a disability (as Belladonna points out, not everyone does). It stops other people from determining what disability or a person's disability means. This matters because there's such a lot of bullshit in society around disability, prejudice, ignorance and so on. Including in institutions.
There are all sorts of problems with tying this to Self ID and I think them using the term self in the tweet is a bit mistake because it shifts it from identifying as, to being something akin to gender identity and then we have all the issues of disability fluidity and basically making shit up.
I have no uterus, thus can't have children. I could now identify as 'chronically ill' and in need of medication – hrt, and disabled as i can not have children.
I choose not to identify as such as i believe that 'disabled' and 'chronically ill' should be reserved for those that have medical issues that forced them to need different measures of support to manage society. I.e. wheel chair ramps, wider doors to shop entrances, disabled toilets, specific care, medical needs that outweigh mine and those similar to mine many many times. There is a difference between not being perfectly healthy and being chronically ill and disabled. (This comment does not relay in any way to you Weka and your health.)
One does not identify as 'chronically ill' one is, one can not opt out of this state. I can self id as a fertile women any day i will nevertheless never birth a child as i do not have the biological capacity for it. Again, it is biology vs imagination. In this case it is more of a state of 'telling us that you are chronically ill' so that we can accept your story. Surely a little bit more of gate keeping should be given, considering the prestige of these awards.
Mind in Mexico a court has argued in favor of 'self id' age. Maybe we are in clown world.
But the Court decided to rule in a general way on highly debatable anthropological and moral issues, such as the meaning of “identity” and the jurisdiction of our personal decisions when it comes to defining it. Topics on which there is no consensus even within the most specialized sectors.
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The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as part of its Aukus pact with the ...
Recently you might have heard of a person called Posie Parker and her visit to Aotearoa. Perhaps you’re not quite sure what it’s all about. So let’s start with who this person is, why their visit is controversial, and what on earth a TERF is.Posie Parker is the super villain ...
The chair of Parliament’s Select Committee looking at the Government’s resource management legislation wants the bills sent back for more public consultation. The proposal would effectively kill any chance of the bills making it into law before the election. Green MP, Eugenie Sage, stressing that she was speaking as ...
Open access notables The United States experienced some historical low temperature records during the just-concluded winter. It's a reminder that climate and weather are quite noisy; with regard to our warming climate,, as with a road ascending a mountain range we may steadily change our conditions but with lots of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The Nanny State has scored some wins (or claimed them) in the past day or two but it faltered when it came to protecting Kiwi citizens from being savaged by one woman armed with a sharp tongue. The wins are recorded by triumphant ministers on the ...
Sometimes you see your friends making the case so well on social media you think: just copy and share.On acceptance and decency, from Michèle A’CourtA notable thing about anti-trans people is they way they talk about transgender women and men as though they are strangers “over there” when in fact ...
Not that long ago, things were looking pretty good for climate change policy in Aotearoa. We finally had an ETS, and while it was full of pork and subsidies, it was delivering high and ever-rising carbon prices, sending a clear message to polluters to clean up or shut down. And ...
Comparing (and switching) electricity providers has become easier, but bundling power up with broadband and/or gas makes it more challenging. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā TL;DR: The new Consumer Advocacy Council set up as a result of the Labour Government’s Electricity Price Review in 2019 has called on either ...
Hokitika-based Westland Milk Products has put the heat on dairy giant Fonterra with a $120m profit turnaround in 2022, driven by record sales. Westland paid its suppliers a 10c premium above the forecast Fonterra price per kilo, contributing $535m to the West Coast and Canterbury economies. The dairy ...
* Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public ...
New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public office and becoming lobbyists and ...
This is a guest post by accessibility and sustainable transport advocate Tim Adriaansen It originally appeared here. A friend calls you and asks for your help. They tell you that while out and about nearby, they slipped over and landed arms-first. Now their wrist is swollen, hurting like ...
Floating offshore wind turbines offer incredible opportunities to capture powerful winds far out at sea. By unlocking this wind energy potential, they could be a key weapon in our arsenal in the fight against climate change. But how developed are these climate fighting clean energy giants? And why do I ...
Over the past two or three weeks, a procession of Maori iwi and hapu in a series of little-noticed appearances before two Select Committees have been asking for more say for Maori over resource management decisions along the co-governance lines of Three Waters. Their submissions and appearances run counter ...
The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue war crimes arrest warrants for the Russian President and the Russia Children Ombudsman may have been welcomed by the ideologically committed but otherwise seems to have been greeted with widespread cynicism (see Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants ...
Let’s say you’re clasping your drink at a wedding, or a 40th, or a King’s Birthday Weekend family reunion and Drunk Uncle Kevin has just got going.He’s in an expansive frame of mind because we’re finally rid of that silly girl. But he wants to ask an honest question about ...
National Party leader Christopher Luxon may be feeling glum about his poll ratings, but he could be tapping into a rich political vein in describing the current state of education as “alarming”. Luxon said educational achievement has been declining, with a recent NCEA pilot exposing just how far it has ...
Way Beyond Reform: Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have no more interest in remaining permanent members of “New Zealand’s” House of Representatives than did Lenin and Trotsky in remaining permanent members of Tsar Nicolas II’s “democratically-elected” Duma. Like the Bolsheviks, Te Pāti Māori is a party of revolutionaries – not reformists.THE CROWN ...
Buzz from the Beehive Auckland was wiped off the map, when Education Minister Jan Tinetti delivered her speech of welcome as host of the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers “here in Tāmaki Makaurau”. But – fair to say – a reference was made later in the speech to a ...
Morning mate, how you going?Well, I was watching the news last night and they announced this scientific report on Climate Change. But before they got to it they had a story about the new All Blacks coach.Sounds like important news. It’s a bit of a worry really.Yeah, they were talking ...
Always a bailout: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Government would fully guarantee all savers in all smaller US banks if needed. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: No wonder an entire generation of investors are used to ‘buying the dip’ and ‘holding on for dear life’. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ...
Wealthy vested interests have an oversized influence on political decisions in New Zealand. Partly that’s due to their use of corporate lobbyists. Fortunately, the influence lobbyists can have on decisions made by politicians is currently under scrutiny in Guyon Espiner’s in-depth series published by RNZ. Two of Espiner’s research exposés ...
Yesterday afternoon it rained and traffic around the region ground to a halt, once again highlighting why it is so important that our city gets on with improving the alternatives to driving. For additional irony, this happened on the same day the IPCC synthesis report landed, putting the focus on ...
The Beginning: Anti-Co-Governance agitator, Julian Batchelor, addresses the Dargaville stop of his travelling roadshow across New Zealand . Fascism almost always starts small. Sadly, it doesn’t always stay that way. Especially when the Left helps it to grow.THERE IS A DREADFUL LOGIC to the growth of fascism. To begin with, it ...
Hi,From an incredibly rainy day in Los Angeles, I just wanted to check in. I guess this is the day Trump may or may not end up in cuffs? I’m attempting a somewhat slower, less frenzied week. I’ve had Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record on non-stop, and it’s been a ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
RNZ has been shining their torch into corners where lobbyists lurk and asking such questions as: Do we like the look of this?and Is this as democratic as it could be?These are most certainly questions worth asking, and every bit as valid as, say:Are weshortchanged democratically by the way ...
RNZ has continued its look at the role of lobbyists by taking a closer look at the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Andrew Kirton. He used to work for liquor companies, opposing (among other things) a container refund scheme which would have required them to take responsibility for their own ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has left for Beijing for the first ministerial visit to China since 2019. Mahuta is to meet China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang where she might have to call on all the diplomatic skills at her command. Almost certainly she will face questions on what role ...
TL;DR:The Opportunities Party’s Leader Raf Manji is hopeful the party’s new Teal Card, a type of Gold card for under 30s, will be popular with students, and not just in his Ilam electorate where students make up more than a quarter of the voters and where Manji is confident ...
When I was a kid New Zealand was actually pretty green. We didn’t really have plastic. The fruit and veges came in a cardboard box, the meat was wrapped in paper, milk came in a glass bottle, and even rubbish sacks were made of paper. Today if you sit down ...
Looking back through the names of our Police Ministers down the years, the job has either been done by once or future party Bigfoots – Syd Holland, Richard Prebble, Juduth Collins, Chris Hipkins – or by far lesser lights like Keith Allen, Frank Gill, Ben Couch, Allen McCready, Clem Simich, ...
Chris Trotter writes – The Crown is a fickle friend. Any political movement deemed to be colourful but inconsequential is generally permitted to go about its business unmolested. The Crown’s media, RNZ and TVNZ, may even “celebrate” its existence (presumably as proof of Democracy’s broad-minded acceptance of diversity). ...
Four out of the five people who have held the top role of Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff since 2017 have been lobbyists. That’s a fact that should worry anyone who believes vested interests shouldn’t have a place at the centre of decision making. Chris Hipkins’ newly appointed Chief of ...
Feedback on Auckland Council’s draft 2023/24 budget closes on March 28th. You can read the consultation document here, and provide feedback here. Auckland Council is currently consulting on what is one of its most important ever Annual Plans – the ‘budget’ of what it will spend money on between July ...
by Molten Moira from Motueka If you want to be a woman let me tell you what to do Get a piece of paper and a biro tooWrite down your new identification And boom! You’re now a woman of this nationSpelled W O M A Na real trans woman that isAs opposed ...
Buzz from the Beehive New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti is hosting the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers for three days from today, welcoming Education Ministers and senior officials from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, and from Australia. Here’s hoping they have brought translators with them – or ...
Let’s say you’ve come all the way from His Majesty’s United Kingdom to share with the folk of Australia and New Zealand your antipathy towards certain other human beings. And let’s say you call yourself a women’s rights activist.And let’s say 99 out of 100 people who listen to you ...
James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
RNZ this morning has the first story another investigative series by Guyon Espiner, this time into political lobbying. The first story focuses on lobbying by government agencies, specifically transpower, Pharmac, and assorted universities, and how they use lobbyists to manipulate public opinion and gather intelligence on the Ministers who oversee ...
Nick Matzke writes – Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
James Shaw has again said the Greens would be better ‘in the tent’ with Labour than out, despite Labour’s policy bonfire last week torching much of what the Government was doing to reduce emissions. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Green Party has never been more popular than in some ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler Poor air quality is a long-standing problem in Los Angeles, where the first major outbreak of smog during World War II was so intense that some residents thought the city had been attacked by chemical weapons. Cars were eventually discovered ...
Yesterday I was reading an excellent newsletter from David Slack, and I started writing a comment “Sounds like some excellent genetic heritage…” and then I stopped.There was something about the phrase genetic heritage that stopped me in tracks. Is that a phrase I want to be saying? It’s kind of ...
Brian Easton writes – Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go ...
This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War. While it strongly opposed the US-led invasion, New Zealand’s then Labour-led government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark did deploy military engineers to try to help rebuild Iraq in mid-2003. With violence soaring, their 12-month deployment ended without being renewed ...
After seventy years, Auckland’s motorway network is finally finished. In July 1953 the first section of motorway in Auckland was opened between Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and Mt Wellington Highway. The final stage opens to traffic this week with the completion of the motorway part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project. Aucklanders ...
National’s appointment of Todd McClay as Agriculture spokesperson clearly signals that the party is in trouble with the farming vote. McClay was not an obvious choice, but he does have a record as a political scrapper. The party needs that because sources say it has been shedding farming votes ...
Rays of white light come flooding into my lounge, into my face from over the top of my neighbour’s hedge. I have to look away as the window of the conservatory is awash in light, as if you were driving towards the sun after a rain shower and suddenly blinded. ...
The columnists in Private Eye take pen names, so I have not the least idea who any of them are. But I greatly appreciate their expert insight, especially MD, who writes the medical column, offering informed and often damning critique of the UK health system and the politicians who keep ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 12, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 18, 2023. Story of the Week Guest post: What 13,500 citations reveal about the IPCC’s climate science report IPCC WG1 AR6 SPM Report Cover - Changing ...
Buzz from the Beehive The building of financial capability was brought into our considerations when Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced she had dipped into the government’s coffers for $3 million for “providers” to help people and families access community-based Building Financial Capability services. That wording suggests some ...
Do you ever come across something that makes you go Hmmmm?You mean like the song?No, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but I am now - thanks for that. I was thinking of things you read or hear that make you stop and go Hmmmm.Yeah, I know what you mean, ...
By the end of the week, the dramas over Stuart Nash overshadowed Hipkins’ policy bonfire. File photo: Lynn GrieveasonTLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and the political economy covered on The Kākā included:PM Chris Hipkins’ announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but ...
In response to Newshub and Amelia Wade’s obvious and ham-fisted attempt at a typical and predicted political hit job. As any politically aware reporter would know, any Cabinet subcommittee has a duty and obligation as a part of any government to respond to any UN declaration, in this case ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a ‘Fencible’ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
The Green Party has marked the National Party’s new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures you’ve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
We’re boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
“Cabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
The Green Party has today launched a submission guide to help Aucklanders give crucial input and prevent potentially disastrous Auckland Council budget proposals. ...
With calls growing for inquiries and action on bank profits, the Greens say the Government has all the information it needs to act now and put a levy on banks. ...
As large parts of Aotearoa recover from two of the worst climate disasters we have ever experienced, it would be a huge mistake for the Government to deprioritise climate action from future transport investments, the Green Party says. ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little has delivered the Crown apology to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua for its historic breaches of Te Tiriti of Waitangi today. The ceremony was held at Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton, hosted by Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua, with several hundred ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta has concluded her visit to China, the first by a New Zealand Foreign Minister since 2018. The Minister met her counterpart, newly appointed State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, who also hosted a working dinner. This was the first engagement between the two ...
World-class satellite positioning services that will support much safer search and rescue, boost precision farming, and help safety on construction sites through greater accuracy are a significant step closer today, says Land Information Minister Damien O’Connor. Damien O’Connor marked the start of construction on New Zealand’s first uplink centre for ...
Attorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges. Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...
A new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. “The Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,” ...
After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment. “National’s education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,” Education ...
People aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. “Seniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...
A cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to Māori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with Māori businesses, for the estimated ...
77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...
Deputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Tēnā koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...
$2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studios’ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Gore’s James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. “Our vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. “Over 1,200 young kiwis told ...
Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
E te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...
113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
The Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...
E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the country’s second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base at Ohakea today. “With two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Government’s historic investment in ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last month’s deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “The 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...
Migrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today. “Since becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...
Construction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. “This is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. “Ginny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,” Chris Hipkins said. “Ginny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...
Six further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...
Education Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of ākonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...
A vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and Taupō, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...
Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. “In a time of need, New Zealanders ...
The Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whānau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. “Demand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” Minister for ...
Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...
Fifteen ākonga Māori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The recipients include doctoral, masters’ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...
High Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...
The economy has continued to show its resilience despite today’s GDP figures showing a modest decline in the December quarter, leaving the Government well positioned to help New Zealanders face cost of living pressures in a challenging global environment. “The economy had grown strongly in the two quarters before this ...
Aucklanders now have more ways to get around as Transport Minister Michael Wood opened the direct State Highway 1 (SH1) to State Highway 18 (SH18) underpass today, marking the completion of the 48-kilometre Western Ring Route (WRR). “The Government is upgrading New Zealand’s transport system to make it safer, more ...
This section contains briefings received by incoming ministers following changes to Cabinet in January. Some information may have been withheld in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982. Where information has been withheld that is indicated within the document. ...
Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reaffirmed her commitment to working together with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate change and sustainability, at a meeting today, in Nadi. Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealand’s close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata ...
The Government is delivering a coastal shipping lifeline for businesses, residents and the primary sector in the cyclone-stricken regions of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan announced today. The Rangitata vessel has been chartered for an emergency coastal shipping route between Gisborne and Napier, with potential for ...
The Government will progress to the next stage of the NZ Battery Project, looking at the viability of pumped hydro as well as an alternative, multi-technology approach as part of the Government’s long term-plan to build a resilient, affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system in New Zealand, Energy and Resources ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff (right) is now the only non-Labor leader at federal or state level.Mick Tsikas/AAP When Dominic Perrottet gave a gracious concession speech after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Dean Lewins/AAPThis article was updated March 26. With 36% of enrolled voters counted in today’s New South Wales ...
Coated in two spices and ready in five minutes. Easy as.I first heard of marsala chicken when I moved to New Zealand as a 15-year-old. The dish confused me as it didn’t have any spices in it except for garlic. In my head I had confused it with the ...
Author Marty Smith writes from her home, the flood-damaged region of Hawke’s Bay, excavating the extraordinary facets of life amid a disaster.Wednesday 22 February 22, eight days after the flood.It’s easy to drive down Puketitiri Rd: diggers cleared silt and slips on the second day. Looters slide at ...
My trainer said she was happier than she’d ever been. I wanted that.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Illustrations by Note: This essay discusses and describes disordered eating. Please take care.Just 10 burpees to go.I threw myself against the carpet. ...
Bard Billot on the bumbling BaronRace for the Polls Baron Luxon speeds across the polar wastes aboard his electric blue jet sled “Titanic.” The sky is cloudless and the way is clear and the Baron is well in the lead. In his toasty warm fine mink cossack hat ...
Māori women are the backbone of the Warriors and always have been, writes Briar Pomana.Since before I can remember, my mum has been a Warriors fan. Her and other wāhine Māori I know are some of the staunchest supporters out and, in my opinion, are the true face of ...
Reports have described the protest held at Albert Park on Saturday as angry, chaotic and ugly. This attendee found it to be joyful, life-affirming and full of love.Climbing the stairs up to Saturday’s counter-rally where anti-trans activist Posie Parker was meant to speak, my husband and I were hit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Dean Lewins/AAP With 36% of enrolled voters counted in today’s New South Wales state election, the Poll Bludger’s results currently ...
A former entertainment mecca in the middle of Auckland is up for grabs. The problem? It’s been run into the ground. Have you got spare cash sitting around? Do you want to buy something grand, something special? How does a nine-storey complex covering 3,486 square metres in the middle of ...
Posey Parker appeared in Auckland today for a brief few moments, but it was clear that she was going to have a hard time being heard above thousands of people exercising their own right to free speech The streets of Auckland’s city centre were thick today with the noise of tubas, ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson was knocked to the ground by a motorcyclist who appeared to fail to stop at a pedestrian crossing after today's counter-protest against Posie Parker. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson was struck by a passing motorcycle this morning as she protested Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s rally event at Albert Park. Davidson was standing on Princes St holding a sign reading “trans solidarity” when a band of motorcyclists, there in support of Brian and Hannah Tamaki’s Vision NZ, ...
By Krishneel Nair in Suva“The most important thing from my perspective is a strategic partnership — a partnership where the media should not be seen as the enemy or a nuisance.” This was the view of the Communications Fiji Ltd news director and Fijian Media Association executive Vijay Narayan ...
The noise began long before Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (AKA Posie Parker) arrived. Despite an 11am scheduled start time to her planned rally to “speak for women”, the Albert Park rotunda was surrounded by 10.30. But the crowd was not there to see or hear her. A truck parked at the entrance ...
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Teacher unions have criticised National's curriculum plan, but the party was targeting concerned parents and his political opponent, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. ...
Don’t underestimate the significance of TVNZ’s new documentary series about Kai Kara-France, a fighter acclaimed on the world stage but still criminally underrated at home, writes Don Rowe. In 2015, when I first profiled Kai Kara-France for the now-defunct Mana magazine, he told me he’d never wanted to sign with ...
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When a big corporate is alarmed about possible law changes, it asks its well-connected lobbyist to intervene. A text message exchange between a Cabinet Minister and his lobbyist "mate" follows. ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend This week, it's What's Up With ADHD?, written by Mirjam Guesgen and published in North & South's April 2023 issue. You can find the full article, with illustrations by Rachel Salazar, in this month’s issue of North & South. Once a condition ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend This week, it's What's Up With ADHD?, written by Mirjam Guesgen and published in North & South's April 2023 issue. You can find the full article, with illustrations by Rachel Salazar, in this month’s issue of North & South. Once a condition ...
"He imagines the rattling windows of his bach": a sad seaside saga by Majella Cullinane Màiri watches him as he walks down the hill next to her house. The man appears gradually – first his head covered in a tweed cap and earphones, then the unkempt hair and beard, ...
"He imagines the rattling windows of his bach": a sad seaside saga by Majella Cullinane Màiri watches him as he walks down the hill next to her house. The man appears gradually – first his head covered in a tweed cap and earphones, then the unkempt hair and beard, ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how our top authors make a living writing books, the sky-high fares coming from independent taxi drivers, how the people of Muriwai are putting their lives back together post-Cyclone Gabrielle, why a Levin chocolate maker is ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how our top authors make a living writing books, the sky-high fares coming from independent taxi drivers, how the people of Muriwai are putting their lives back together post-Cyclone Gabrielle, why a Levin chocolate maker is ...
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Taking her her young family around the world as she rows is a key factor in Emma Twigg's decision to defend her Olympic single sculls title at next year's Paris Olympics. And, Andy Hay writes, the next Emma Twigg could be waiting in the wings at the Maadi Cup next week. ...
The Fijian Drua will need to start and finish well, while Moana Pasifika’s coach wants to see a full 80-minute performance this weekend as the two regional teams continue their Super Rugby Pacific campaigns. The Drua tackle the Highlanders in Dunedin today and Pasifika face the Hurricanes at Mt Smart ...
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By Arieta Vakasukawaqa in Suva Communications Fiji Ltd (CFL) chair William Parkinson has called for a repeal of Fiji’s Media Industry Development Act 2010 and more discussion on the proposed Media Ownership and Registration Bill 2023. He said this during a public consultation on the review of MIDA Act 2010 ...
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For over a decade, Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club has come under fire for denying entry to people wearing religious headwear. Despite the Human Rights Commission getting involved, it seems the rule remains unchanged.One of the definitions given by the Oxford dictionary for the word cosmopolitan is: “including people from many ...
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25 neo mastffs and bull dog crosses !. On one property. Yea, how the fuck was THAT not a problem?
And other feral dogs previously stalking Humans.
Yep , past time for a major cull. And Dog Control !!
Damn near breaks my heart to hear about good dogs (all dogs are good dogs) ending up like this because of feral men (most likely)
Currently typing this from bed which my two boys (staffi cross and doberman mastiff cross) have graciously allowed me to share
Not often I agree with Pucky, but he's right in this instance.
As Sherlock Holmes said: "You never find a bad dog in a good family!"
But, as usual, the dogs will pay the price for human abuse!
With you PR.
I recall the uproar over Staffi dogs around 10 -15 years ago. The Staffordshire terrier is a fantastic little dog. Full of personality and affection. Easy to train and highly social. Its not the dogs, its their human owners who are the problem. A property with 25 large dogs roaming free and untrained… a recipe for disaster.
This looks like a breeder/horder situation that got out of hands. I am quite sorry for the bloke, but even sorrier for the dogs. They neither asked to be on that property nor did they ask for neglect and abuse.
Housesitter with a number of dogs, one of the dogs had a lot of puppies. The man who was killed didn’t own the dogs, they belonged to someone who was staying with him.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/08/05/family-of-man-killed-say-he-was-attacked-by-friends-dogs/
I did not see that story yet.
Sad for everyone involved.
But this is then not a story of 'feral' dogs attacking a human and killing a human.
agreed. The man dying from the dog attack and the feral dogs are two separate incidents (not related as far as I can tell).
Probably not related. The feral dogs…an awful situation up here… and I was speaking with someone not long ago who was attacked and bitten whilst walking part of the Te Paki Coastal Track. She went out and purchased a .22, and will never tramp without it in future. Truly feral…cunning as shit house rats… and virtually impossible to trap and as hard to shoot. Poison has been suggested….and the rather bizarre and cruel idea to plant meat impregnated tampons with the view that the dogs will eat them and they'll expand in the throat and stomach. (This guy was serious.) The dogs will travel along Te Oneroa a Tohe and visit 'civilisation' via the access roads. One such road is very near to us and we watch our wee flock very carefully. Have had a couple of scares. Luckily our fencer, a local, put barbed wire atop the sheep netting to deter predators, four legged and two.
The tragedy out west was also too close to home for a mate of ours who is from there and until the details were released, things were a bit tense. Sounds like the guy was trying to get the owner of the dogs to move on…for obvious reasons. For the life of me I don't understand how anyone could afford to feed such massive dogs. You'd need a fairly good income.
I couldn't imagine being able to feed that many dogs either, although it's hard to tell how many were adult dogs. Maybe he was selling them and this paid for the food? But even the logistics of that much food on someone else's property when you're not set up for it. I guess if he was hunting that would help.
Horrendous for that family and community. The dog owner's life now irreversibly changed too. MSM don't seem to be saying anything about him, but I guess more details will follow.
"one of the dogs had a lot of puppies"
"Bitches", surely. One of the bitches 🙂
How many, is it known?
Birthing bodies is the correct term nowadays
I'm a cat person 😺
Robert,they tried that nonsense up here, DCC ;with female 'dogs' instead of,well you know bitches.
That was from,newly appointed Lawyers within said Org.
One of the dog sale sites for farm dogs kept getting banned on Facebook due to the word bitch being used , algorithms ain't so bright.
"And animal control!" … in my experience of having had dogs in the past, animal control seems to keep their eyes on good responsible dog people, than those irresponsible people who allow their poor unregistered dogs to roam free, some unfortunately being seriously injured or killed on a road.
One example: In public an Animal Control Officer yelling, shouting and threatening an elderly retired couple and their dog who every morning very early, rain or shine, all seasons, would walk the local beach, cleaning up rubbish and taking it home to dispose of. The reason for the animal control officer's outburst … the dog was on the beach 20 minutes after the 9am curfew had passed, which as far as I know was a one off as far as the elderly couple were concerned! The elderly man tried to talk rationally to the animal control officer, who wouldn't listen and warned them to get their dog off the beach or they "will be impounded and them finded" I witnessed this event first and tried to explain to the ACO about the couple's regular early morning beach cleaning activities. I was told to mind my own business and move on! I reported the incident to the council. Their response? The animal control officer was doing his job!
A pity the ACOs don't do their job concerning feral animal owners!
Easier to pick on the elderly with the friendly, trained dog instead of the aggressive ferals with the untrained dogs…
Brutal thumbnail from the media arm of the National Party.
The end of the runway is approaching for the airline pilot…
More like a few sweaty passengers grabbing the stick yelling , PULL UP PUUL UP
"…from the media arm of the National Party."
Don't you mean the team of $55m?
Anyway, the Bish hits back Fired-up Chris Bishop slams 'useless, incompetent' Labour, says National fully backs Christopher Luxon | Newshub.
Go the Bish :>
This week the East Asia Summit held this year in Cambodia, was attended by representatives of America, Russia and China – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and China Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Reporting on the East Asia Summit, RT the Russian official media outlet of the Russian Federation, quoted Sergei Lavrov on the world situation.
S.L.“Our American colleagues demonstrate permissiveness” for themselves in international affairs “every time they try to assert their dominance”
S.L.“The Americans have taken up a course of suppressing any independence,”
S.L.“understand the futility of a policy according to which you can just turn a blind eye to one situation, one crisis created by the US, and expect that everything will be more or less OK there,” S.L.
S.L.“They decided to turn Ukraine into a menace for Russia and for many years ignored the racist policies of the Kiev regime, which has been destroying everything Russian… they violated the principles of indivisible security, which they signed up for at the highest level and which they simply trampled upon,”
S.L.“Similarly, in the case of [US House speaker] Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, they [the Americans] ignored their own principles, which they proclaimed publicly,”
Echoing Lavrov's comments on Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi following comments were quoted by RT
W.Y, “a serious violation of the One China policy”
W.Y. “vulgar comedy,”
W.Y. “serious consequences”
W.Y. “a serious violation of the One China policy”
Referring to China's military exercises in reaction to Pelosi's visit.
Antony Blinken was quoted by R.T.
A.B. "There is no possible justification”
A.B. “cease these actions.”
https://www.rt.com/news/560313-lavrov-taiwan-us-blinken/
Hitler did not invade Poland out of concern for the persecution of Poland's German speaking minority.
Putin did not invade Ukraine out of concern for the persecution of Ukraine's Russian speaking minority.
World War One was not fought because an Arch Duke was assassinated in Kosovo.
World War Three will not be fought because an old lady visited Taiwan.
The underlying cause of global conflict and world war is the same as the underlying cause of pollution and climate change. Infinite economic growth on a finite planet, is running up against the physical and man made borders of the planet.
So you suggest as economic growth is the driver of conflicts.Russia's military operation is a very rational undertaking, no different to the actions of many other nations.
🙄
Human beings are rational creatures, every thing we do has a reason, or rationale.
The rationale for climate change is economic growth. If we don't pollute. Our economic and political rivals will, and outcompete us.
The rationale for war is economic growth, if our economic growth is limited and constrained by their uni-polar domination of the globe, we will try to replace it with our multi-lateral domination of the globe. If necessary, with force.
You ask, is it rational?
Is poverty in the midst of immense wealth rational?
Maybe, maybe not. It depends on who you are asking.
Is increasing our carbon emissions year on year rational?
Is filling up our oceans with plastic rational?
Maybe, maybe not. But it is profitable.
Instead of asking if doing these things is rational. A better question might be; Is it right"
Is it right to engage in mass slaughter to achieve a multi-polar world?
Is it right to engage in mass slaughter to achieve a multi-polar world?
We have a multi-polar world at present. Long may it last.
When we assess what is right' or wrong ,we should dispense with …double standards.
'According to The New York Times, over a five-year period US forces carried out more than 50,000 strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.'
US drone strikes killed thousands of civilians: report | News | DW | 19.12.2021
Now do newly obtained Kremlin documents reporting tens of thousands of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia and Syria.
//
'According to The New York Times, over a five-year period US forces carried out more than 50,000 strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.' Blazer
Blazer I don't need to assess if that is wrong. It is wrong.
But what are you saying Blazer, when Russia does the same thing?
Are you saying, because the US does it, it makes it OK for Russia to do it?
Be honest now
No,I was referring to…'double standards'.
The underlying cause of global conflict and world war is the same as the underlying cause of pollution and climate change. Infinite economic growth on a finite planet, is running up against the physical and man made borders of the planet.
Whilst the impossibility of infinite growth is undeniable, I don't think that this is the cause of world wars. Michael Hudson, for example, alludes to a conflict between opposing economic philosophies – not capitalism versus communism, but between rentier capitalism and productive capitalism. Hudson says:
"The New Cold War is dividing the world into two contrasting economic systems
NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine against Russia is the catalyst fracturing the world into two opposing spheres with incompatible economic philosophies. China, the country growing most rapidly, treats money and credit as a public utility allocated by government instead of letting the monopoly privilege of credit creation be privatized by banks, leading to them displacing government as economic and social planner. That monetary independence, relying on its own domestic money creation instead of borrowing U.S. electronic dollars, and denominating foreign trade and investment in its own currency instead of in dollars, is seen as an existential threat to America’s control of the global economy.
U.S. neoliberal doctrine calls for history to end by “freeing” the wealthy classes from a government strong enough to prevent the polarization of wealth, and ultimate decline and fall. Imposing trade and financial sanctions against Russia, Iran, Venezuela and other countries that resist U.S. diplomacy, and ultimately military confrontation, is how America intends to “spread democracy” by NATO from Ukraine to the China Seas.
The West, in its U.S. neoliberal iteration, seems to be repeating the pattern of Rome’s decline and fall. Concentrating wealth in the hands of the One Percent has always been the trajectory of Western civilization. It is a result of classical antiquity having taken a wrong track when Greece and Rome allowed the inexorable growth of debt, leading to the expropriation of much of the citizenry and reducing it to bondage to a land-owning creditor oligarchy. That is the dynamic built into the DNA of what is called the West and its “security of contracts” without any government oversight in the public interest. By stripping away prosperity at home, this dynamic requires a constant reaching out to extract an economic affluence (literally a “flowing in”) at the expense of colonies or debtor countries."
https://braveneweurope.com/michael-hudson-the-end-of-western-civilization
Hudson's summation is brilliant and needs a wider audience.
Nationals fiscal formula…
'Lend me your ear…New Zealand…I will increase spending on health,education and infrastructure,whilst giving tax cuts and reducing expenditure'.
Its 'Luxonomics'……stupid.
thing is if he were honest he could
tax cuts
– make the first 25.000 earned tax free – that would be a great tax cut for low earners whilst it will be a little nothing for the very rich. I base this on the min cost of a rental in NZ.
– he could drop GST, give some high praises to his predecessors in N and simply state that the times are tough, and offer a lower GST or no GST on such things as electricity bills, water bills, doctor bills, school fund bills, food / school uniforms, public transport and fwiw, raise some revenue by increasing GST on say make up, booze, overseas travel, luxury cars, boats, planes – large and small etc etc etc
.
reducing expenditure
I am sure we can find money that is spend but has no results to show for and spending could be cut. Perks for Ministers could be cut. Housing allowances for Ministers could be cut. Wages for ministers could be cut. Less Propaganda Peddlers for NZTransport etc etc.
Investing
continue to invest in Health Care, Education, Infrastructure etc.
Fwiw, L could do this too, as could any other Party. That none of them actually do is the interesting part.
Add a windfall tax, a capital gains tax and a financial transaction tax and it’s good to go
yep.
…and/or a Wealth Tax….by far the best way to redistribute wealth fairly and supported by the Green Party (and incidentally supported by thinking people like Parker in the current Labour government)
Which is where any proposal for a wealth tax comes unstuck. The truly wealthy will be able to structure their affairs to dodge it, lawyers and their ilk will have a field day, but the accidentally wealthy will end up having to sell their homes.
Is it possible to wean the truly wealthy off their addiction to tax dodging?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128814781/signs-suggest-the-rich-are-trying-to-dodge-new-tax–heres-whats-being-done-about-it
It can only be dodged easily enough if it is designed so….unfortunately those designing often have vested interests.
Ah yes – the 'vested interests' problem. A 20% quota of parliamentary representatives drawn from the ranks of the truly ‘poor' might be a temporary fix, at least until they had received their first few pay cheques.
Or the Irish model (of deliberative democracy) looks to have some potential…randomly selected citizens assemblies to assess expert advice
Democracy is founded on random selection called sortition in ancient Greece.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition
to ensure random selection,the Kleroterion was used.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleroterion
Actually Sortition as a form of governance looks promising….though there would be I imagine quite a number who decline, much like jury selection….but it is certainly more likely to be truely representative.
And bonus, the end of Party politics!
Thanks for that info. Worth a go in NZ – like empanelling a (big) jury.
It would be a better selection for local government,where local issues should dominate,rather then train fully paid professional politicians.
Local government could be a trialling point but if it proved workable it could be applied at a national level….of the options I see available it is the one that appeals to me most (even though it may have some potential issues)…of course it is a pipe dream as it is not likely to occur short of absolute disaster, and probably not even then.
I think a WT can be written which is hard to get around, but I agree that with this government, which has been pathetic in relation to trusts which have been set up in there 1000's to avoid the 39% tax rate and for other reasons/avoidance (to claim Working for Families for instance), there is little hope of a rigorous WT regime eventuating.
Such a regime might well happen though if you Party Vote Green.
I'll be party voting Green, their Wealth Tax advocacy being but one reason.
Good man…(and it should have been "their 1000's" above of course.)
Don't you mean an envy tax?
That would assume I need any more money which I don't.
Well said Sabine. What you have written above is largely something I can unusually agree with.
"reducing expenditure
I am sure we can find money that is spend but has no results to show for and spending could be cut. Perks for Ministers could be cut. Housing allowances for Ministers could be cut. Wages for ministers could be cut. Less Propaganda Peddlers for NZTransport etc etc."
Great soundbites but the $ saved wouldn't even be a rounding error on a tiny part of government expenditure.
Oh there are more soundbites to list, but its like with everything, if you save enough of the pennies it soon becomes money.
Or as an old saying goes, enough chickenshit piled up high makes a nice mountain of manure. – somewhat loosely translated.
The perceived problem with tax cuts is that "rich pricks" get it too. You could eliminate this by having the tax free allowance followed by a higher (than now) tax rate.
So, using your 25k, a tax rate of 33% from then would mean someone on 70k would now pay 15k tax (compared to 14k now). So that would give a meaningful tax cut for low earners whilst not costing too much (by giving it to everyone). You could make the tax at 70k the same if the tax free level was set a a slightly higher 27,500 (and no-one under 70k would pay more tax). It still means less tax received by the govt, but probably a better way to target lower paid than other methods currently used (the current IRD payments, for example).
For the expenditure, fiddling with MPs allowances would make little difference. Taking 250k off them (so basically no salary) would save 30m a year, which would mean just 20 cents a week if passed on to 3m taxpayers.
Cutting wasteful expenses is worthwhile though, as the savings can be used in better ways – more nurses, teachers etc or just paying the existing ones better. But not tax cuts.
Yeah, but if you passed that 30 mil onto the tax payer via Mike King then you get a whole lot of mental healthcare counseling paid for which would be a much better return to the tax payer, but maybe that would demand creative thinking and that is not something i would expect a government doodaa to do. Think and creatively at that.
Of course you could send everyone 37 cents in a transaction that a bank might charge you a dollar + for. And i could totally see the doodaas on either side of the aisle talk about that just the way you do. LOL – Go figure.
You could also ensure that PAYE is paid directly to IRD on payday when the wages are paid to employees.
This would help stop employers stealing their workers money and identify earlier businesses in trouble. You could also stop large corporates having policies such as paying bills in 3-6 months so their smaller suppliers get paid to help their cashflow.
We lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax every year to failed businesses.
agree on that one.
and we could make tax avoidance illegal with a few years of hard labour attached to it too. 🙂
there would be many many ways to address spending without having to actually cut services. Just start limiting excesses and willful wastage for a starter.
This is long(ish) and might get frowned-upon, but it's interesting 🙂
''For just as established religions assume the maleness of God, just as psychoanalysis and Freud assumed the maleness of libido, so have the social sciences- and in particular anthropology- assumed the generic maleness of human evolution. Both popular and academic anthropological writers have presented us with scenarios of human evolution that feature, almost exclusively, the adventures and inventions of man the hunter, man the tool maker, man the territorial maker, and so forth.
Woman is not comprehended as an evolutionary or evolutionizing creature. She is treated rather as an auxiliary to a male-dominated evolutionary process; she mothers him, she mates him, she cooks his dinner, she follows around after him picking up his loose rocks. He evolves. She follows. He revolutionizes. She adjusts. If the book jackets don’t give us pictures of female homo sapiens being dragged by their hair through 2 or 3 million years of he-man evolution, we are left to assume this was the situation.
This, despite the known fact that among contemporary and historic hunting-and-gathering people, as among our remote hunting-and-gathering ancestors, 75 to 80 percent of the group's subsistence comes from the women's food gathering activities. This, despite the known fact that the oldest tools used by contemporary hunter gatherers, and the oldest most primal tools ever found in ancient sites, were women's digging sticks. This, despite worldwide legends that cite women as the first users and domesticators of fire.
This, despite the known fact that women were the first potters, the first weavers, the first textile-dyers and hide-tanners, the first to gather and study medicinal plants- i.e., the first doctors- and on and on. Observing the linguistic interplay between mother and infants, mothers and children, and among work-groups of women, it is easy to speculate on the female contribution to the origin and elaboration of language. That the first time measurements ever made, the first formal calendars, were women's lunar markings on painted pebbles and carved sticks.
And it is thoroughly known that the only "God image" ever painted on rock, carved in stone, or sculpted in clay, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Neolithic- and that's roughly 30,000 years- was the image of a human female."
-"The Great Cosmic Mother", Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor
source link?
Here's a pdf of the complete text
Interesting Robert. A close relative of mine is tied to a Church which lives on the father being the head of the house. Hilarious watching the wife quietly running the show while appearing to be subservient. Decision making is a lesson in lop-sided negotiation. And he still believes that men are superior.
Hate to break it to you heathen but in real life Catholic churches are mostly run by women. Priests are harder to find and often locums. In the non-Catholic structured churches it's disproportionately female in Ministry.
But yinno, carry on with the tired ignorant bullshit assumptions.
Male imagery had asserted dominance in Gobekle Tepe and quickly across most of the Turkish Upper Chalcolithic. Some dense combination of tax, fenced property, and the dense hierarchies required for urban living did it. Followed quickly by bureaucracy, organised armies, and then written language.
Spiritual nostalgia just ain't what it used to be.
everyone knows that women run things at that level Ad. Sane cultures are honest about it.
The quote in Robert's comment is about how male dominated societies such as ours tell the story of humanity, and how this erases women's culture. Victors write history. Patriarchy is only 5,000 years old though, so probably a blip we will recover from if we don't fry ourselves first.
Gobekle Tepe is one of a full region of tepe that are saying the same story, and it started at least as far back as 9,000 BC. You can't extract patriarchy, property rights and language.
yep, patriarchy didn't arise overnight, it was a process over time and multiple cultures.
Some say coming down from the trees in the first place was a mistake. But I think it's fair to say that once we started planting crops en masse, we need armies to protect the now settled farming cultures, and that meant controlling the means of human reproduction. It's still the basis of patriarchy now, only in civilised cultures we distance ourselves from this reality.
Women invented time, when we shifted from estrus to a menstrual cycle the same length of time as the moon phase. We also invented post-fertility when we developed menopause, this allowing the great cultural leaps forward for humans because grandmothers helped raise children and look after the tribe.
(of course, nature invented those things in women, but the point is poetically made).
Birds react to day and night, month and season, year and generation. They did it well before even mammals arose.
So it's just wrong even poetically to claim the 'invention of time' for women.
Once women started menstruating cyclically instead of via estrus, for women time would have taken on an obvious, in your face meaning. Embodied, not abstract.
Of course there are natural cycles that affect many forms of life. I was pointing to one in particular.
No, you were claiming a specific epistemic privilege for women over men because of menstruation.
Time may well be gendered insofar as different cycles get registered, but that's it.
let me put it another way. How females evolved biologically had a big impact on the evolution of human cultures and societies. Female fertility cycles are threaded all through human history and culture. It's just that men have been privileged by the patriarchal systems of recent millennia and thus understanding of those cycles and the roles they play has been distorted and/or rendered invisible. Just like in Sjoo and Mor's examples of technology.
So it's not just 'that's it'. It's that how women contribute and live in the world as females matters, to women, and to human societies. Being female isn't incidental, it's core.
But I didn't. All I did was talk about women. Didn't say anything about men, nor did I imply anything. It's your philosophical framework that read something about privilege over men (a common problem in the patriarchy). As if it's just not possible for women to be important in their own right.
However, there was clearly a reproductive advantage in older women assisting with raising grandchildren (and/or as a repository of wisdom), since those genetic traits persisted. If there were no 'fitness' advantage, then the trait would not be universally expressed (if a woman lives long enough, she's going to go through menopause)
Grandmothers who were around and involved had more grandchildren…. How natural selection works.
Not sure why you started with however, this is exactly what I was pointing to.
The quote "nature invented these things".
Natural selections operates across a a suite of behaviours and variations which may be more or less adaptive. Nature doesn't invent.
not everyone expresses ideas so literally Belladonna.
Interesting – but the first gods were not necessarily anthropoid.
Remember last year when Australia had all those Covid cases and deaths in Victoria and NSW and it seemed out of control compared with NZ? Well Australia now has less deaths per million than NZ-it has had Covid under better control than NZ for months now.
NZ 472/m
Australia 470/m
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Actually for all intents and purposes we are currently at parity. 2/m isn't much of a difference. And Australia is at a very different point in their wave cycle – a lot more people died getting to where they are now compared to NZ.
You are entirely missing my point which is that NZ was much much better in terms of deaths/million months ago, but the trend of Covid deaths has been much worse in NZ than OZ over the last few months and there is no sign of this changing.
Take a look at the graphs in the website I referenced above.
I'm not missing your point, you're reading the data wrong. First, cumulative – overall we've lost a lot fewer people compared to Australia per capita, which if you will insist on making it a competition, is the important number. Second, their per capita numbers right now are going to be moving down because they are coming out of an infection wave. We're just hitting our second or third wave.
That’s been true until now, but no longer. NZ has been rapidly overhauling Aussie's (cumulative total) 'Deaths/1M pop' metric. Wasn't expecting the switch to happen until the end of August, but, as BG correctly noted, it's happening now.
Australia has an infection fatality rate of 1 per 785 cases,the NZ IFR is 1 in 1007.
That is the infection rate which is not what I am talking about.
Case numbers are notoriously badly reported so the infection rate is highly unreliable. Death rates are more certain (in fact very certain
) and so are far more reliable.
Comes in around what was forecast by Baker in 2020,an order of magnitude over the influenza IFR and consistent with an excess death mortality.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-mortality-p-scores-average-baseline?country=NZL~AUS
It's like two bald men, fighting over a comb!
It's a bit weird that you find the fact that Oz has handled Covid better than NZ unworthy of a sensible comment.
There's something wrong with these people.
Up to 100,000most of the half-starved North Koreansoldiers couldconscripts rumoured to be sent to bolster Vladimir Putin’s forces fighting Ukraine will head for the hills at the first opportunity they getaccording to Russian reports.ifi
https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/100000-north-korean-soldiers-could-be-sent-to-bolster-putins-forces-fighting-ukraine/news-story/1126782c8c5e6fe08a8ad2d9fa38dff0
Not if they only send troops with families back home…
100k-300k North Korean defectors would likely disagree.
I don't know that I'd defect if I had family in NK especially knowing what might happen to them
I guess there's always those who can
What???
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Luxon is expendable and he’ll be replaced if/when necessary because it’s all about the team winning, not the ‘captain’.
One can now self identigy as disabled and chronically ill? Can such a person be denied benefits if challenged on that self Id? And how do you quantify 'disabled' and 'chronically' ill. And then, why bother in the first place?
You are equating self ID'ing as disabled and chronically ill with self ID'ing as a woman, all for culture war purposes.
Have you thought this through?
how about you explain your own thinking.
There are people who do self ID as disabled who aren't disabled. I doubt this is what the Society of Authors means, but it's getting harder to tell. There's a still a taboo on self IDing into an ethnic group.
No, i think they made it to Self ID and then they threw everything and the bathwater out of the window.
identifying as disabled predates Self ID though, so I think it's more complicated than that.
i don't.
I posted this from twitter, it is them who are asking for 'self identified' disabled people. '
I am asking for someone to translate into easy english for me how someone self id's as disabled.
Maybe you need to explain your own thoughts to me.
a. why do you conflate this self id with that of men who want access to places for women ( again, i am excluding Transwomen/Transmen who transitioned from self id, to make my point clear).
b. why do you assume that i like you conflate this self ID with that of men who want access to places for women.
Being disabled is not a case of being born in the wrong the body, it is not a mental illness, it is not some passing body dysphoria, being disabled is medical, permanent, and makes navigating live quite a bit different and harder for those that have to live with disabilities and chronic pain.
So frankly, just for once, Do better.
I guess that this operates the other way, too, though. There are people (including, presumably, authors) who may have a 'disability' but do not self-identify as disabled.
As someone with an invisible disability, how I choose to relate to the world is often a choice. I can hide my disability. I can make it visible. In that there's something about identity. Not such a big thing for me but it matters because otherwise other people get to define me and my disability.
It's not Self ID so much as 'identify as' someone who has a disability (as Belladonna points out, not everyone does). It stops other people from determining what disability or a person's disability means. This matters because there's such a lot of bullshit in society around disability, prejudice, ignorance and so on. Including in institutions.
There are all sorts of problems with tying this to Self ID and I think them using the term self in the tweet is a bit mistake because it shifts it from identifying as, to being something akin to gender identity and then we have all the issues of disability fluidity and basically making shit up.
Sorry, not sure that is easy English.
I have no uterus, thus can't have children. I could now identify as 'chronically ill' and in need of medication – hrt, and disabled as i can not have children.
I choose not to identify as such as i believe that 'disabled' and 'chronically ill' should be reserved for those that have medical issues that forced them to need different measures of support to manage society. I.e. wheel chair ramps, wider doors to shop entrances, disabled toilets, specific care, medical needs that outweigh mine and those similar to mine many many times. There is a difference between not being perfectly healthy and being chronically ill and disabled. (This comment does not relay in any way to you Weka and your health.)
One does not identify as 'chronically ill' one is, one can not opt out of this state. I can self id as a fertile women any day i will nevertheless never birth a child as i do not have the biological capacity for it. Again, it is biology vs imagination. In this case it is more of a state of 'telling us that you are chronically ill' so that we can accept your story. Surely a little bit more of gate keeping should be given, considering the prestige of these awards.
Mind in Mexico a court has argued in favor of 'self id' age. Maybe we are in clown world.
Rather then call for self 'id writers with health issues they should just have called for writers with different abilities and chronic illnesses.