When US President Donald Trump suggested that US service members could open fire at the thousands of migrants currently on their way to the American border, he likely wanted to reach two audiences: voters demanding a hard-line stance on immigration and the migrants making their way through Mexico.
But his words were also heard much farther away from Washington: in Nigeria, where Trump has a higher approval rating than anywhere else in Africa. On Friday (local time), the Nigerian army took to Twitter to defend its decision open fire at Shiite protesters in the capital, Abuja – by citing Trump.
“Please Watch and Make your Deductions,” read the tweet, which included a video clip in which Trump says: “Anybody throwing stones, rocks … we will consider that a firearm because there is not much difference.”
Gun-carrying civilian groups and border vigilantes have heard a call to arms in US President Donald Trump’s warnings about threats to American security posed by caravans of Central American migrants moving through Mexico.
They’re packing coolers and tents, oiling rifles and tuning up aerial drones, with plans to form caravans of their own and trail American troops to the border.
“We’ll observe and report, and offer aid in any way we can,” said Shannon McGauley, a bail bondsman in the Dallas suburbs who is president of the Texas Minutemen. McGauley said he was preparing to head for the Rio Grande in coming days….
,,,,,,,The Rio Grande is less than a mile from Metz’s living room window, and a section of border wall crosses his property. He has watched for years as border-crossers ford the river and walk onto his land, their first step on American soil. The wall has slowed the flow significantly, he said, but between 50 and 100 people a day still cross through the farm next door.
He worries that the caravan, which includes many women and children, will surge through the area, but he doesn’t want armed vigilantes on his farm.
“The militia just needs to stay where they are,” said Metz, a Republican. “We don’t need fanatical people. We don’t need anybody here with guns. Why do they have guns? I have dealt with illegals for 30 years, and all of them have been scared, asking for help. The militias need to stay up north where they belong. We have no use for them here. They might shoot someone or hurt someone.”….
“James Shaw’s progress on our climate change goals, and with the ambition of New Zealand First in the mix, our plan to plant one billion trees is well under way – for those who don’t follow the tree counter as religiously as I do, we are up to 60.6 million”.
It was at least mentioned, fair enough to have missed it though.
And I guess we better ignore the fact that there are many people rather sceptical about the idea that the Emissions Trading Scheme is ever going to be the key to dealing with cataclysmic climate change.
And what exactly did Jacinda mean by “and with the ambition of New Zealand First in the mix”?.
“In the nineteenth century, there was no superannuation or sick leave or paid holidays. People fought so hard to win those rights and now we’re glibly throwing them away.”
“It’s time to bring employment law into the twenty-first century and ensure all employees, gig or salaried have flexible working opportunities, but also the same protections and benefits. This stops arbitrage of hard-won, and necessary, protections,”
“If you wouldn’t wear a T-shirt made in a sweatshop,” don’t take an Uber,
The last time I took a conventional taxi he charged $30 for a 10 minute drive. That’s 1 way Aotea Square to Westmere. The gig I did that night paid the princely sum of $40. The bus in was $2.20 (with student discount).
Then WINZ wanted all manner of paperwork as I, a student, earned fuck all. They added the $40 to an $80 teaching gig and penalized me for the lot refusing to discount travel expenses.
So it was not worth leaving the house if taxis were required.
I attended Tarun Mohanbhai’s Comedy festival show Uber Funny in May this year. It was about his journey to being, and experiences as, an uber driver. Sounded like a total rort on the operators and next to no responsibility for management.
Abandoning Uber wont help the drivers. Closer scrutiny and regulation might.
Uber is a great example of a few people getting very, very rich on the work of lots and lots of other people who don’t actually get enough from their hard work to even pay their way. It’s pure exploitation that sucks wealth and money out of the community while providing SFA.
This is why the capitalists love it so much.
Helping the drivers would be the government setting up similar software that NZ taxi drivers could use that paid for by taxes. This would have it so that the convenience is there for the customers but the drivers actually get to keep all their income rather than having most of it syphoned off to rich bludgers.
It’s way past time to bring employment law into the 21stC – we’re 18 bloody years in!
And one of the big issues to be dealt with is the way corporates and others try to outsource their responsibilities whilst being able to clip the ticket.
It’s taken a change in government for the Labour Inspectorate to get off its chuff and start to take it all seriously (albeit as under-resourced as it has been, although one of its managers was assuring us all that there were sufficient inspectors not long before the last election).
And at least we have some prepared to keep the pressure on:
Congratulations to Teuila Fuatai of Newsroom who is not going to let one instance of it all die: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/11/05/306076/chorus-speaks-out-on-migrant-exploitation and https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/10/08/269274/migrant-exploitation-and-the-true-cost-of-ufb
Then there’s the so-called “independent contractors” who are actually DEPENDENT courier drivers. The corporates have shunted their costs onto the subcontractor and bound them through contracts that should (if they are not already) be illegal.
Again, it’s all been working as designed over the past decade.
What we should be asking is
– how long is it going to be before the bloody big shakeup taht’s quite obviously necessary, and
– are the ticket clippers going to be held to account, or will it be another Wellington wet bus ticket approach which will simply result in quite a few being tempted to try it all on again
In regards to the truckies/couriers, John Campbell started looking at this just before he left RNZ.
It would be good if someone followed up on the traction gained.
A similar dodgy practice is construction firms having their apprentices as sub contractors.
We do @Patricia, and they shouldn’t need bloody stab proof vests
( https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/103790349/labour-inspectors-now-wearing-stabproof-vests-but-say-theyre-not-cops ). If ever there were signals that show what their priorities are/ere, that was one of them.
It took MoBIE a while to realise why nobody wanted to come forward to report cases of exploitation and immigration fraud as well.
Many still don’t want to, and its completely understandable why.
Yep @ gsays. I doubt John Campbell will leave it to die. And there are others who I think will try and keep it all alive. (Laura Toupu? from RNZ appears to have left and gone to New Shub, and there are others such as Michael Morrah, Gil Bonnett scattered around the place).
What we (lil ole yeah/nah Nu Zull) did was create a structure and policies which NORMALISED exploitation in the workplace. Passing on costs and driving down wages to small self-employed – often immigrants not entitled to any state benefits (income support, medical support, child care et al), and often so that the only way they could survive and recover from their indebtedness was to rip others off.
(I’ll try and find a link, but several weeks ago – either on NinetoNoon or Saturday, there was a review/author interview of a book I think – whereby an immigrant was confessing to sins he’d never have taken part in till he came here and tried to survive)
I know there are some in here that hold the view that we can’t save the world and that now we’ve created this situation, we should just boot ’em out and start again. My view is that if we don’t take responsibility for the past structure and policies we’re just setting ourselves up for it all to happen again, and as we do, we descend into the 3rd World.
And the worst part about it all is that once the indebted get themselves out of the shit (often through exploitative practices), they’re tempted towards the greedy, just like a lot of others.
NZ had a duty to properly resource agencies such as NZQA, and INZ, and the Labour Inspectorate, AND have them do their fucking job ethically and competently. The good thing is, there are signs they’re getting the message.
As we embraced the rogernomics, so can we formulate and embrace another revolution.
Especially with kindness as one of its central themes.
Sharing needs to be at the core too.
Get profit out of the money system, have the state issue $s.
Take the profit out of landlording.
Part of the frustration I sense here on TS is that with this government the key people and ingredients are in place.
Winnie who has said neo liberalism has failed and must go, a mother Premiere who has repeated kindness as a motto, and a populace young and old ready for radical change.
The Uber-economy f**ks us all: How “permalancers” and “sharer” gigs gut the middle class
The “sharing” economy sounds groovy: politically neutral, anti-consumerist. Wait until it comes for your job
They said education and hard work would set you free, maybe not …award winning qualified people are now scrabbling around to make ends meet as wages are no longer enough or secure enough to survive on …
‘Frederic Larson enjoyed a successful 30-year career as a staff photographer with the San Francisco Chronicle, during which time he won numerous awards, including being a Pulitzer Prize finalist. As Forbes reports, he was downsized during the recession, and needing income he “monetized his assets.” He turned his house into an Airbnb hotel and his spiffy Prius into a Lyft taxi. Now for 12 nights a month—40% of his life—he shutters himself in a rabbit hole inside his own home and showers at the local gym while complete strangers have the run of his place. This award-winning professional photographer has been turned into an innkeeper in his own home and a taxi driver in his own car.’
P>S> That seems to be the future of NZ, but be aware, a friend of mine from Eastern Europe once said there is saying in their country.
“we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us”
Might explain NZ productivity levels.
So is the government’s end game that our wages are so out of line with expenses, that a professional like a teacher does a 8 hour day, then goes home and does a few uber hours to make ends meet, while staying at friends while they rent out their house for a few extra dollars, just to pay for escalating power, housing, rates, insurance, water, food etc costs…. as their job no longer keeps pace with that.
Funny enough, polluting cruise ships are exempt from the paltry tourist taxes though, nice to be a multinational probably domiciled in a tax haven, and have the locals picking up the tab all the time!
And one of the big issues to be dealt with is the way corporates and others try to outsource their responsibilities whilst being able to clip the ticket.
Yes, the corporates and other businesses loved it when 20th century employment laws were taken back to the 19th century. National was, and is still trying, to take those laws even further back to produce more poverty so that the rich can be richer and more powerful.
Then there’s the so-called “independent contractors” who are actually DEPENDENT courier drivers. The corporates have shunted their costs onto the subcontractor and bound them through contracts that should (if they are not already) be illegal.
When I first went to Otago uni I looked for work at a labour temping agency. One of the clauses pretty much prevented me from even looking for work if I’d signed the contract as it prevented me from accepting work from any of the employers in the region who’d used the labour agency.
Completely against anything that could be considered a ‘free-labour market’ as it purposefully constrained what the employee could do.
“pretty much prevented me from even looking for work if I’d signed the contract”
This behavior is or was prevalent in a lot of comedy clubs in the UK 2000’s
Which went something along the lines of, if you do a gig here you can’t play other clubs within x time or x distance or both. Some of them probably still try this crap on. Like they think they own you if they hire you.
Looking at full time jobs today to see what it’s like. Many ask for people who are ‘flexible with hours’ – for ‘working weekends and overtime’. So not enough work or way too much is at their discretion really. They think they own your whole life. I’ve worked for A’holes like this they don’t give a shit about you or your own commitments. Flexibility means be my bitch. And the call for ‘flexibility’ is more common than not.
Employers whinge cos they can’t get good people. Anyone with half a clue, and the slightest choice, would reject that shit.
If you want good people be good people, you twats.
“If you want good people be good people, you twats”
Ae!
It probably still hasn’t dawned on the gNats yet though, or indeed one or two public servants who were angling to set up some kind of Peter Dutton type Border Force with spots on a Joolie Krusty reality TV show.
And Thompson and Clark are probably still pondering the size of their dicks in the realisation they weren’t as big as they imagined.
Deny Uber any IP protection for their apps etc. due to their bad behaviour.
Encourage the drivers to form driver-cooperatives and the like using the same technology.
Exploitative, globalised ticket-clipping because you happen to have invented some shitty little app is a grotesquely disproportionate reward.
National’s Nice Cop, Nasty Cop routine: Paula “Snitch” Bennett,
assisted by Sidekick Simon, goes after Jami-Lee Ross
Monday, Nov. 5, 2018
This is a real, unbowdlerized, transcript of that infamous conversation…..
JAMI-LEE ROSS: So it would be for medical reasons?
PAULA BENNETT: If THAT’s what you want. So you either—I think either medical or family’s your best option.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: Medical’s TRUU-U-UE.
SIMON BRIDGES: Yeah.
PAULA BENNETT: If that’s—
SIMON BRIDGES: Yeah. No that’s RIGHT. That’s RIGHT.
PAULA BENNETT: And—
SIMON BRIDGES: There’s no SHAME in that.
PAULA BENNETT: No. And it mee-e-eans that everyone will back OFF you too – the media and all that sort of stuff. Which I think’s important. …. Just SUCH the lightest option we possibly can in the light of what we’ve got in front of us. And it’s out of respect to the girls.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: You haven’t even TOLD me what I’ve supposedly done. I don’t even KNOW.
PAULA BENNETT: Simon told you ALL ABOUT the disloyalty stuff, Jami-Le-e-ee, and quite frankly if that was put to caucus, that would be enough.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: The stuff around harassing STAFF, which I reject, that is the worst, ‘cos, and I don’t even know what that IS.
PAULA BENNETT: Well you DO know what the disloyalty stuff is, and that’s been put to you really clearly, and if that was put to caucus, that would be enough.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: [exasperated sigh]
PAULA BENNETT: You know? We are trying to give you the LIGHTEST POSSIBLE, um, way out of this.
SIMON BRIDGES: ‘Cos when we’re finished, Jami-Lee, we can get through it. And you can get through it. And you can come out the other side if your attitude, um, after the time out is, is GOOD and POSITIVE, and you can be promoted again. …. I give you my one HUNDRED percent assurance that if you go with the statement along the lines we’ve talked about, I will NEVER badmouth you in relation to this – privately, publicly, in background, off the record in any way. I will do everything within my power to keep the things we talked about last week out of the public [inaudible]. I will do everything.
Hi Antoine, JLR has not become a darling in my eyes, but more a symptom of all that lies beneath in the National party. I am glad its surfacing through him. Again I am unsure of his motivations, what really happened with the women. (we have seen text evidence of behaviour from one of the women he had an affair with though.
I wish anyone suffering from a mental illness all the very best in their recovery.
Oh yes and I do have a small amount of sympathy for Bridges……………..just a very small amount.
Its too early to tell if JLR is a geniune whistle blower or just seeking revenge. Or maybe a bit of both
I believe it in your case but I think others are starting to see him as a martyr. Remember the enemy of your enemy is not your friend. Shades of Kim dot com
A.
Despite all the noise, numerous allegations and speculation…. from what I heard of the tape, JLR clearly sounded di/stressed!
And as MS rightly pointed out in his Post yesterday; “It is noteworthy that the allegations only came out publicly when National decided to counterattack after Ross’s stand up conference in Parliament.
Ross’s mental health was not a significant consideration for them at that time.” (or at anytime!)
Clearly Bridges and Bennett’s behaviour was totally abhorrent!
abhorrent
/əbˈhɒr(ə)nt/
adjective
inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant.
So OUR commons turned over so individuals can earn more profit. Water is our life and you farmer-capitalists are abusing that resource. Shame on them and the day of reckoning is coming, of that I have no doubt.
A controversial Mackenzie Basin high country station can now turn the irrigators on over a chunk of it – but the situation could have been different if it had applied for consents later, according to Environment Canterbury.
ECan put out a statement on Monday to announce Simons Pass Station could begin irrigating a portion of its land on either side of State Highway 8 in the Mackenzie Basin.
The area covers 700ha of the 9700ha station, but Simons Pass wants to irrigate up to 4500ha – and has the ECan-issued water consents required for that area…
… However, Greenpeace’s agriculture spokesperson Gen Toop said allowing the station to turn on the irrigators was a particularly bad decision because it granted consent without the station even undertaking a baseline ecological survey of the dryland area.
“The irrigators should never be allowed to be turned on,” Toop said.
“It’s an infuriating decision. What we see here is ECan not even following its own rules designed to minimise the impact of conversions in ecologically fragile environments. They’ve just ignored them.”
Toop said it was time for the Government to step in and provide stronger rules for land use in sensitive areas.
“Something has to be done. ECan has served the interest of the irrigation and dairy industries for the last eight years,” she said.
It makes me so angry that the demolition of ECan was done so easily and without undue reaction from we the people. And as Newsroom article says, “Doubts and fears sown in 2010 have bloomed into a concern that ECan is putting irrigation interests ahead of the environment.” https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/11/05/307965/council-caves-on-dairy-consent?preview=1
“The seeds were sown eight years ago, critics say. In 2010, the John Key-led Government sacked Canterbury’s regional councillors over “urgent problems with water management”.
David Parker, Minister for the Environment: For the sake of our rivers, our climate and the unique and precious Mackenzie country, I call on you to stop all new dairy conversions and intensification of existing livestock farming by making them both prohibited activities, effective immediately, in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater.
Yes, because saving the environment and the people while living sustainably is so very, very extreme.
National and other RWNJs tell us that we must live within our means while doing everything to prevent us living sustainably so as to boost profits for the capitalists.
As far as I can make out, the entire capitalist edifice that the politicians and most economists promote is complete bollocks. It’s all based upon false assumptions about human behaviour, drives and economics.
Notice Granny is still promoting the deal where rich individuals get free public land worth billions in return for a white elephant Stadium that nobody wants and the poorer folks have no access too aka paid events, even if they could afford the petrol to come into the city centre.
Note any buildings built on wharves cost 7 times more in maintenance, probably more these days.
So not only is there a white elephant Stadium that is being pushed as an agenda that nobody wants, but if it even got built, even BEFORE global warming, it is going to cost 7 times more at least to maintain than MT Eden.
So work harder people, Auckland council is going to need a lot more rates in the future, as we all know money is no object to them.
Auckland council might soon be running a city that has no teachers or Doctors or Police, but full of empty spec homes…and the working poor sleeping in the parks and cars..
But who cares, a few individuals have make a killing developing in MT Eden with free billion dollar land. Now that is capitalism!
Too true,
This council is fixated on every facility and business being in the CBD, at our expense. It is time that they reversed this philosophy and took the facility’s and jobs to the people in the form of satellite towns. It makes no sense to keep shifting people and goods into an ever increasingly populated area until it freezes from lack of maneuverability.
Also with our record of constructing leaky buildings any building at the mercy of the sea would appear to be an extremely risky venture
“Note any buildings built on wharves cost 7 times more in maintenance, probably more these days.”
This I find difficult to believe
“Stadium that nobody wants”
“pushed as an agenda that nobody wants”
While I don’t live in Auckland so care very little, I think you might be slightly thinking everyone else agrees with you and those you hang out with, when they probably don’t
Yes, Chris T you don’t live in Auckland and therefore have few insights into what people want here, and the last thing on anyone’s minds is wasting money on a white elephant stadium after all the other stupid ideas put upon us like the Supercity.
And yep do some checks and you will find wharf buildings cost 7x more in maintenance and that is before global warming and an idea to sink the stadium into the sea. Costs a lot more to maintain infrastructure underwater, go figure!
I think that a better idea for the Stadium is private practise own it, pay to build it, pay for the land and run it, independent of the council and pay for the maintenance off their ticket sales but we all know that won’t happen because the stadium is going to generate huge costs to the taxpayers and ratepayers and on going loses and private practise want the taxpayers to pay for it. Oh and don’t steal the harbour to do it.
A stadium is great for all those offshore luxury waterfront hotels, probably less fun for the residents of Auckland who live in the centre and a big headache for anyone struggling in Auckland, on a fixed income, or who have just been hit with a petrol tax and higher rates (or rents).
We have sewerage going into the harbour, massive congestion, housing inequity, full hospitals and schools, but the Stadium is where the granny headlines and the council is focused on.
Could stadiums be built in two stages? First get a roof-ready bunch of walls and facilities up, then add a roof – of some sort. In Wellington it would have to withstand regular strong winds. A retractable one then? A canvas one that wouldn’t be a huge loss if torn to ribbons and could be replaced? Something that wouldn’t turn into a flying weapon?
It’s ok. The caketin is what happens when you compromise and end up with something that doesn’t really suit anyone. Athletic Park was much better to watch footy at.
They should have built a rectangular stadium on the waterfront as 80% of sport played at the stadium is on a rectangular field. Then built a large stand at the Basin to increase capacity and there might have been some money leftover to start getting Light Rail to the Basin built.
I don’t think I caught a game at Athletic park. Although I have heard Keith Quinn recall the south stand move in one of the local breezes.
As an outsider, I probably couldn’t tell you how to get there.
Have seen several rugby games there, including Jonah’s last hurricanes game. There isn’t a bad seat in the house.
Coming from the provinces, it’s great.
Drive to Raumati, get on the train, day in Wellys, footy, then train back up the line then home.
I get there are impacts on rate bills, but with a bit of imagination this can be ameliorated. E.g. $1 a ticket for the first 5years goes to the stadium.
Perhaps they could sell the tickets out of the stadium, because there seems to be some fat in the prices ticketec, ticketmaster charge for their services.
It is a total lack of common sense to build yet another public building that will focus thousand of people into the smallest, narrowest part of New Zealand. An area already congested with other public buildings such as the university which already pulls 20,000 people into the same space.
For the same reason the port should not be developed any further either. The sea front of central Auckland should become a beautiful public recreational seafront for all to enjoy.
Get real !
I also totally disagree with the privatisation of the Auckland waterfront (I live in Auckland). And with the current approach to centralising all the city’s main events and corporate activities.
I love the idea of an Auckland version of Brisbane’s south bank as a people’s location for enjoying the waterfront.
Mother Agnes Mariam de la Croix wades into the Syria debate and talks about the phony White Helmets and Russia’s helpful contributions. Thank you Mother Superior.
Oh look, another apologist for the Assad regimes war crimes.
I've informed organizers of @STWuk that I will not participate in their conference if Mother Agnes is on the platform.— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) November 15, 2013
The AMP demutualised some decades ago. Now it is getting out of life insurance and other things and has sold much of its business to a ‘closed book ‘ investor that apparently will just manage the present policies.
Is NZ getting uninsurable? As Ryan asked is it the growing numbers of people who won’t die (of course she didn’t use such stark description), also the earthquake and other risks we face, make us hard to quantify for insurance businesses? There was a mention that we are the second riskiest country in the world.
Something mentioned was that young people are not taking out insurance. That would fit in with the lack of care that many take as they go blindly or optimistically on their way as can be noticed when crossing roads. No look right or left, just step out with your eyes on your Device and whoosh for real.
I’m thinking of hard times earlier when often unions formed welfare societies which have been declining in NZ. This is in line with the idea that we didn’t need these any more as we had a welfare state, and had trustable commitment from government to provide a helpful environment for all citizens and to extend this to those in need. ACC was started under this mindset. And as a rather somnolent accepting society, we have been slow to complain about a decline from this, slow to feel concern even outrage on behalf of other people being badly treated, and of course the decline spreads like a creeping bindweed.
Start looking at deliberately forming local groups that assist in a practical way that are funded from locals for locals, and let us start having education sessions on how to manage our society, making the point that Margaret Thatcher and her ilk were talking ideological BS when saying ‘there is no such thing as society’. Also how to protect ourselves, where needed, what our vision is. Because without that there won’t be time to form a vision, it will be just inadequate immediate disaster relief, and repeat.
Right with you on the local organising.
I assume it is an Amish way, insurance comes from community, someones house, barn burns down, the community rebuilds it.
Your mention of unions reminds me of what we have lost.
My father had a massive stroke at work. He didn’t recover.
Two men knocked on my mother’s door, gave her an envelope.
It was enough for Dads funeral expenses and a little bit more.
Gsays, yes communities where unions were strong helped in bad times. Often it was union money plus a “whip round” with the hat, to top it up. I have always wondered what was done for the families of those forestry workers killed on the job. No union no rights.
The Amish are a cult and it is always dangerous to look at cults as the way to go, though their integrated community helping each other is probably what we need. I understand rural people mid 20th century in some areas of NZ could be a good template for what we need now. Their communal barn raising practice is a good symbol of what could be accomplished with more friendly cohesion.
The Mafia grew cult-like out of a poverty stricken area. The Exclusive Brethren are an example of a tightly bound group, and perhaps some of the Maori gangs are also tightly bound.
But cults or gangs or clans are cohesive and want to hold together. The best ones look out for each other, and that is what i thought we had in NZ but apparently no. And it seems to me that once people get comfortable they get bound up in wealth and its enjoyment and the past of striving is dismissed as another world. So my simple ideas that people would put into community some of what they had and the more they had, the more they could and would give; that is the remainder of a child’s idea.
Community and commitment both start the same way, and are fixed in partnership. So we should keep talking about that, while the sleek predators look to see what they can get hold of and use up majorly for their own benefit.
The clever predator will offer some deal to the community, but they need to check out net gains and look for fish hooks. And sometimes those who would be the most beneficial get overlooked in favour of another idea group which looks better until you unpick it and see the tell-tale lack of commitment to all the people.
I know of two small communities that are organising in case TSHTF.
Asking my friend who is a senior chappie in one of them, ‘post ‘Shit going down’ will you greet a stranger with a hug or a gun?’
He responded that a gun would be the first step back towards this mess we are in now.
The best thing would be to start doing something now before the mess we are in now becomes overwhelming.
I keep being drawn back to John Wyndham’s journey in The Day of the Triffids in which he has the man go from his convalescence in hospital to a temporary sanctuary in a distant rural area, along with a sighted woman partner he rescued from a bunch of blind thugs, and the remaining child of two whose parents, and her brother had been killed by the dangerous triffids. Then with his partner and the teenage girl, they join with a blind pair whose farm they have found sanctuary on, and escape from a dictatorship that has assumed the role of government by the use of arms, outwitting them. They go to an island group that has formed a civilised community which can defend itself and manage to wipe out the triffids there.
But on the way he stops at a large farm that has tried to take in everyone who arrives and is having trouble helping and feeding everyone. A disease spreads quickly and all the able-bodied flee, leaving the man who is a newcomer. He finds a girl still alive who talks to him knowing she is dying and wishes him well. He helps when she asks him for some sleeping tablets and water so she can take her own life when she wishes. There isn’t much he can do as an individual, most others he comes across have joined into the armed dictatorship run by a few hard men using force. He travels on towards an area where he thinks his partner has gone, offers friendship to the girl and they go on with patient determination and wise decision making till they find his partner.
It is rather along the lines of some USA films being made about dislocated people, with zombies rather than triffids as a menace. In them there are problems of food, relationships, trust, guns, wariness and privation. To have food it takes at least a month to grow anything, and whether there is anything that can be utilised like wild plants, berries, meat and fish and simple medications (I believe dock plants are useful), keeping alive would be a problem. I would rather we gathered ourselves together now rather than have to face the hard situations forced on us when resources run out.
I feel that guns and revolution are a last resort. But that trying to be both kind and practical as a guideline will enable people to enjoy a limited life compared to what we have been used to. And we may be able to conserve some of the things we have, think of ways to manage things we can’t influence or control. And I think of Dylan Thomas – he’s enigmatic and so is our future. Rage against the dying of the night, will keep us appreciating each other and our wonderful world, so much taken for granted.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2cgcx-GJTQ
It doesn’t feel grim, as the protagonist manages to solve problems and becomes part of a band of strong-minded, capable, practical people as a little family and they have hope for the future, and are inventive as to how to manage. The young man is not a drug addict or alcoholic, and is able to plan and imagine the outcomes of different scenarios and is capable, a hard worker and kind, brave, honest and true. Too nice to be a human really. /sarc
A few years ago I saw Tama, Dilworth Karaka and Tama Lundon unplugged at the Whanagnui Opera house.
Their set list, harmonies and innate showmanship, Tama’s guitar antics, the opera house acoustics and the crowd made it probably the best show I’d been to since the pub rock events of my youth.
Did anyone consider Jane Pattison’s article NZ Herald on the NZ Labour Conference contrived.
My reaction was Jane wanted to “minimize any impact through faint praise and suggested problems”
Some aspects. “Locked down” “Empty seats” “No fanfare” “No mention of Helen Clarke” “Journalists not allowed to see divisions or blood on the floor during discussions” “One good idea approved by the people”
Jane did you go to the same conference as Micky and Te Reo Putake? You needed to remove your blue tinted glasses.
She’s used to the Nat’s either buying or threatening journalists in order to push a message. She’s used to overhyped X-factor/evangelical-sermon Nat party conferences.
She doesn’t know what to do in the absence of that.
I wasn’t there, but I did attend the famous 2012 conference and saw first hand the way the media distorted, lied and created a mountainous drama from tiny molehills. I saw them hounding and harassing MPs on both sides of the factional divide, and I even saw them hanging around outside the outer door of the men’s loo and pouncing on MPs as they emerged. They couldn’t even go and have a quiet pee.
After that performance is it any wonder they prefer to go into ‘lock-down’ when deliberating on policy matters and issues of the day.
Anne if the journalists had really been razor sharp they would have gone in and done their questioning as they stood side by side doing their business. So they could be said to show a little respect for their victims!
“Did anyone consider Jane Pattison’s article NZ Herald on the NZ Labour Conference contrived.”
???? Jane Patterson is Senior Political Editor for RNZ and does not write for NZ Herald. She does write for the Listener and their online site, Noted, but has not done so on the Conference as yet apparently.
I am not a great fan of Jane’s but personally I did not think her RNZ reports on the Conference were contrived. While they were not over the top “Ra Ra” reports, I thought they were reasonable and I could also not find the terms you quoted above in her articles on the Conference.
Apologies… RNZ not The Herald. My opinion was she was annoyed at being excluded from parts of the conference and wrote accordingly. Audrey did write a reasonable piece. Great picture of Jacinda Neve and Clarke.
Patricia
These phrases that you quoted did indeed seem to intend to diminish and
concentrate on the negative. Were they balanced by positives do you think?
These quoted comments have a weighted negativity about them. Some aspects. “Locked down” “Empty seats” “No fanfare” “No mention of Helen Clarke” “Journalists not allowed to see divisions or blood on the floor during discussions” “One good idea approved by the people”
Yes possibly I felt a little more up beat tenor would have been suitable, however, I must admit Jane was the only ? reporter to note the reaction to the 1080 protesters, that closed the doors when quote “hundreds were lined up”.
Apparently there was a death threat made. The PM discussed it later.
I was just reading a column by Chris Trotter in which he says the Labour Caucus no longer has to comply with the party manifesto after last weekend’s conference but he doesn’t give any links and I can’t find anything on Google. Does anyone have a suitable link about this?
Conference endorsed this change. It’s to allow for flexibility in coalition talks. It’s not a free pass to ignore the manifesto, rather it lets the leadership make practical compromises when forming a Government.
I suggest you do read it, as he deftly connects the event to the last LP conference in Dunedin 30 years ago. I’m often critical of his analyses but this essay lacks any flaw to pounce on, so 9/10. Didn’t see distortion but I’ll leave that judgment to others, here’s the relevant paragraph plus the prior to provide context (literary afficionados may find the shakespearean mythos subtext insufficiently subtle):
” What Harman doesn’t say is that the only reason such political legerdemain is even possible is because Jacinda Ardern is such an extraordinary electoral asset. Single-handed, she has resurrected Labour’s morale; refilled her coffers, boosted her membership, and filled her activist base with confidence and delight. Her “relentlessly positive” personality is like a powerful spotlight, illuminating brilliantly that little part of Labour’s stage upon which she sits and smiles. Meanwhile, in the darkness her brilliance does so much to render impenetrable, the party leadership does all within its power to render a genuine shift to the left impossible.”
“It is fitting, in a way, that the decision to free the caucus from its crucial constitutional obligation to uphold the party’s manifesto – its policy platform – was taken in Dunedin. Justified as a practical and necessary concession to the exigencies of MMP, it nevertheless severs the last of the ties that bind the parliamentary wing to the party organisation. The caucus is now officially “Corbyn proof”. Thirty years after stabbing her in the back, the centrists have finally summoned-up the courage to drive the dagger of pragmatism deep into Labour’s democratic-socialist heart.”
I guess Trotter’s going through the depressive part of his cycle.
True democracy can barely be practiced by contemporary parties. The ‘gotcha’ media hang on every word, and are as likely to go downtown on a policy discussion as the Exclusive Brethren were to sabotage Jeanette Fitzsimons awhile back.
Parties have to nut out policy in camera, not on camera, and the best that we can hope of them is a sincere effort to serve our interests, neither a simple kowtowing to the nonsensus of public opinion, nor an avid pursuit of possible funders.
An ideal democratic party will not follow public opinion, it will try to anticipate it, in the same way an astute business anticipates customer needs and desires. At this stage in the electoral cycle, while the horrors of National misrule are fresh in people’s minds, and the coalition have few or none of their own, it’s not so hard.
Let them lose touch with people though, and like entropy, the Gnats, in some form will be there, carrying out their role as decomposers, preparing the soil for the next round of growth.
I have no knowledge of the actual remit. However, I do agree with the general thrust of Trotter’s post.
My understanding is that Labour Party conference remits in the past, may or may not be picked up in total by the caucus. It does sound like this latest agreed party policy further severs the links between the policies agreed by rank and file members and the caucus.
I don’t agree with the way Trotter and Bradbury are dismissive of so-called “identity politics”. But I do agree with their latest posts in which they argue that the left needs a radical shift to re-instate solid left wing values and policies.
Bradbury argues that it is climate change that will derail incrementalism and the current middle class/centrist focus of the Green Party and Labour.
It’s too soon to tell with the Greens. They were knee-capped during the last election, and Davidson is still finding her feet as co-leader.
I don’t agree it is climate change alone that will derail centrist incrementalism, but it also the current state of effective disenfranchisement of those on low incomes, plus the radical sections of gender, LGBT+ and ethnic politics that will come to the fore.
I agree with Trotter’s summation:
Jacinda Ardern is such an extraordinary electoral asset. Single-handed, she has resurrected Labour’s morale; refilled her coffers, boosted her membership, and filled her activist base with confidence and delight. Her “relentlessly positive” personality is like a powerful spotlight, illuminating brilliantly that little part of Labour’s stage upon which she sits and smiles. Meanwhile, in the darkness her brilliance does so much to render impenetrable, the party leadership does all within its power to render a genuine shift to the left impossible.
Peruvian villagers face murder and intimidation from land traffickers
Invaders continue to seize land within the Chaparrí ecological reserve, one of Peru’s most biodiverse forests
“These killers, potential and actual, will be stopped only by real actions, not virtual ones,” reformist lawmaker Mustafa Nayyem wrote , saying the outpouring of condolences on social media wouldn’t be enough.
“Whether they will continue to drench us with acid, slaughter us in doorways, and shoot us in the back in our own country depends on how and what we do now,” Nayyem added.
In NZ high country foreign? land owner gets to use precious water without having satisfied guardian regulations so that he can irrigate unsuitable areas to make a quick buck while the milk rush is still on. Controlling body ECan is fairly relaxed, as it is still in the control of rich-list or easy-rider fascist interests who replaced locally elected civil government body.
Peru or New Zealand, enabling the phallic rise of the neo liberal man with capital accretion strengthening his mind and body all over the world will be our death knell.
David Seymour had his “Um, what can I say to get in the news today?” moment.
His, “Um, what would be a good populist issue to use” opportunity.
I remember the headlines he garnered when he went crook about John Key and Jonathan Coleman going to England for All Black games in 2015. His public stand, speaking out loud and long when Bill English defended the use of taxpayer dollars, was quite memorable.
For a Parliamentary Under-Secretary and Minister to be so outspoken was quite dramatic.
I made all that last stuff up. David Seymour is playing a pathetic parody of the principled. Again.
Yep the waste of time drongo has outed two troughing fatcats – waste of money – you guys have enough, and your perks and your pensions – pay it back and admit you just abused the priviledge WE, the people, gave you.
You would think would be an easy one, NZ public good and risks of aquifer outweigh Chinese majority owned private company getting more water but no… also raised point how consent can change use, but no come back as it was formally Kaputone Wool Scour and was unlikely to have used much of the water it was allocated.
reposted…
“Genevieve Robinson
Christchurch, New Zealand
NOV 5, 2018 —
ECan has received an application from Cloud Ocean Water to take water from their 180m bore.
Ecan is currently considering whether to notify the application.
The Christchurch City Council is concerned that the proposal will put the community water supply at risk.
Aotearoa Water Action is also concerned about the potential environmental effects.
AWA believes that if the application can be considered at all, it must be publicly notified – this is because the aquifer is already fully allocated, and because City Council testing shows the community water supply WILL be adversely affected, which is of huge public interest in the matter.
We believe that ECan needs to hear both the public’s views (including your views) and the evidence of additional experts.
AWA will be speaking at ECans meeting this Thursday, November 8, at 11am – so please add your comments below!
Let’s make sure the whole country gets to weigh in on this!”
Nestle has been doing it for years, they operate in poor areas/countries with few regulations…. or on indigenous people’s land… as being easier targets
“Luster lives in Flint, Michigan, and here, residents believe tap water is good for one thing: to flush the toilet.
“I don’t even water my plants with it,” she said.
Flint became synonymous with lead-poisoned water after government officials, looking to save money, switched the city’s water supply from Detroit city water to water from the corrosive Flint river.
Once the city had switched, the number of children with elevated lead exposure doubled; residents reported unexplained rashes and losing hair. An unpublished study recently found fetal deaths in Flint increased by 58% during the crisis.”
While Flint battles a water crisis, just two hours away the beverage giant pumps almost 100,000 times what an average Michigan resident uses into plastic bottles
Pretty sure that is the NZ designer top (and trousers) that JA wore on her trip to Paris to meet Macron earlier this year (April/May?) when she was about 7 – 8 months’ pregnant.
Today’s is: “I am done talking about Jami-Lee Ross”.
He is not going to talk about yesterday’s audio release and said everything yesterday, and people can now hear the tape and decide for themselves, and he won’t be talking about any other recordings … … …
[Repeat, repeat, repeat, and again, repeat. ]
Somehow, I don’t think people like Barry Soper will just accept that. Bridges may not want to talk about Ross, but in fact the real subject is Bridges and Bennett, and their fitness to be Leader and Deputy Leader of the National Party.
SImon Bridges is keen to point out his role in opposition in holding the government to account” even as he reworks the same questions on fuel taxes ad nauseam in Question TIme.
But he doesn’t seem to want to afford the same role to the media regarding his effectiveness as Leader of the Opposition and as the leader of a major party. His effectiveness has been reduced by disowning an MP, his party is less effective.
The media has a part in this, albeit uncomfortable or downright dangerous to his career as he might feel threatened.
How would he function as PM if this is his current tolerance of media interest?
I don’t even think Trump has managed to get caught on tape, selling donations and entry to MP’s for $100k and thinking 2 Chinese were better than 2 Indians.
They have shown themselves unfit for the job. Imagine the embarrassing nightmare if they were running the country – they make t.rump look like a brainiac.
With over half of New Zealand households cutting back on heating their homes in winter due to the high cost of heating, I was dismayed to hear new Kiwibuild homes won’t be fitted with solar power. Which leads one to ask has solar power for new state owned homes also been overlooked?
A common factor I noticed from reports of people being hospitalised due to cold and damp homes was they couldn’t afford to utilize the heating supplied.
Therefore, while these new homes may be better insulated thus cheaper to heat, one would expect the Government (especially with the Greens in there) would be doing the upmost to keep heating cost at a minimum. Meaning not only would homes be cheaper to heat but heating would also be cheaper to run.
So what do we know? We know we have to reduce energy demand. We know we have to move energy generation away from fossil and bio. We know that heat kills far more readily than cold does. We know the world is warming. Hmm.
Energy performance of Building regulations requirements
Mandatory standards that social housing providers have to achieve, often more ambitious than for the rest of the building stock for the global energy performance of new built dwellings are generally applied to all type of buildings.Thus, from 2020, all new buildings in the EU will have to be nearly zero. In most of the cases this means that not only homes will have to be extremely well insulated, but that they will have to compensate the energy for heating and hot water by using renewable energy or efficient systems like heat pumps.
I’m guessing they are referring to a net zero carbon footprint. But fck it. NZs just fine….NZ doesn’t need any new fangled means of energy generation. Global warming and climate change is “over there”…until it’s over here and some damned heatwave, or weather event accompanying a heatwave, knackers supply in one way or another (resulting in either brown outs or black outs) and people in housing only designed for a cooler 20th C are unable to cool themselves at night.
Mr Twyford told Newshub it’s too expensive at the moment. He says it could’ve added $15,000 in price to each home…
… According to My Solar Quotes New Zealand, the average price to install solar power is $9000.
Mr Twyford has kept the door open for solar in future…
…However, energy efficiency advice was provided in relation to design standards for the homes.
“We’re also at the moment looking at design standards for Kiwibuild that could mean that all Kiwibuild homes will have to be fitted for solar, wired up so that it would be really easy and cost free in the future to install solar panels…
… Despite the Green Party pushing for solar, co-leader Marama Davidson doesn’t seem too upset about it.
“The problem is the provision of solar panels might be better provided at a community collective level rather than an individual house level….
The government could even create a revenue stream for itself by allowing decent rates for power returned to the grid, and then collecting on any excess returned to the grid from HNZ properties. Put those profiteering power companies in their place and let all generators play on the grid.
Sadly the NZ government likes to clip the ticket and price gouge on power, hiding behind “market forces”. Yeah, right. Therefore little incentive to change to solar and not get that lucrative clip of the ticket. Instead they ‘give away’$500 payment to pretend they care . Meanwhile everyone, in particular those under 65 are being ripped off apart from corporate welfare to Tiwai Pt who get million dollar hand outs. Yes it all stems from the Natz, but Labour haven’t exactly been keen to address the power rip offs.
Which leads one to ask has solar power for new state owned homes also been overlooked?
Sounds like it. State houses should have maximum amount of solar PV and solar water heating on them. The people going in to them are in dire straights and so such things that reduce power usage should be mandatory really.
Yes no point making everyone have a heater, if nobody can afford to turn it on. Personally think it’s disgusting especially with all the outages that every new house is not designed to be fitted with solar. It is not an end game but a way for extra power to be generated with the increasing population and with increasing outages and disasters people can at least have some free power when they either can’t afford it or the power is off.
The power companies are talking about importing more oil and gas because the hydro lakes are down!
And NZ unlike the rest of the world they are trying to tax solar so the power companies can maintain their excessive profits and rip offs.
By the way…… does anyone know where @ Wayne is?
Normally he’d be on duty to counter some of the ‘scurrilous’ claims being made on this ‘hard left’ blogsite.
I suppose it is possible that he’s just realised the gNats left a couple of ‘young bucks’ in charge of the chicken coup, and they just shat everywhere.
And that the only thing worth trying to salvage is the manure that could be marketed as an aid to reconditioning the soil they’ve been dumping on for the past ten years.
Ah well, there ya go! That’s real dedication – was that yesterday you say?
Well he could be rehearsing his lines I ‘spose for his next gig on one of those panelistas on the weekend ‘incisive raisin affairs shows’ like New Shub Nayshun or Q+A. OR maybe he’s even slumming it with Jum Mora – I’ll have a listen.
And by the way, has anybody thought about poor old Krus Finalysin? I mean, there goes a rilly rilly decent man. A man that can truly empasoise with all his decent predecessors – loyal to the last man standing as well as to the Caci Clinic’s re-imaging efforts, and with an obvious lerv of leopard skin. WHAT a brick!
Perhaps he went to Japan to watch rugby? Or he has been meeting with his cronies since the year dot to watch the Melbourne races and drink up and talk up how great they are, how great Gnats are.
OMG LMAO lay on the floor kicking my feet upward whilst watching channel 86, and whilst planning how the fuck to get out of here
Maureen Pugh – list Neshnool M Poi, channeling Cilla Black.
Oh fuck! and now the square jawed Chris Penk in a beautiful blue ensemble with a matching spotted toi, and equipped with good intention, and possibly one of a gNatsi ‘good guy ‘ flag for the future (going forward), but with a tonne of Bennett and Bridges effluent immediately above ground.
Which is why your idols are in the state of panic they are now in.
They were never that ‘very’ nice.
Whether it was a Nafe (who’d never inhaled) travelling south stopping off at a Rangoli that’s been one of the most complicit in ripping off immigrants on the Ka Piti, or the next pretender to whatever you think is your self-entitled throne.
(Btw, I actually did due diligence on that Rangoli and there was a shitload of video that went with it, because the oicon John Koi went with it. It IS possible I could resurrect the video
But you know …… next (the next….. these days come thick and fast).
These days as I age, I can’t really be that fucked, because I’ve come to realise that arseholes usually get their just deserts in the end, although I’m up for an @ BM challenge at any time.
I really would like to know what the @ BM post was that I’m not now privy to, but I appreciate this site isn’t a dick measuring pissing contest
Shame you’re not up to putting your mouth where your dick is. I’d be happy to indulge though any time your wankness feels up to the challenge and bearing in mind I’m probably now knocking twice your age.
The Standard though is not the time nor place for this duel So suffice it to say I think you’re a wanker and you’ll resort to whatever softcock response you have in your armoury.
Oh how I would have loved to have been able to test your bullshit.
I you can think of a way – rest assured I’m up for it.
Unfortunately, the likes of you sometimes force people to challenge your wankery.
PLEASE – think of a way.
( I never thought I’d be saying all this, but things must when dickheads think they are prevailing )
ED
I don’t think Once was Tim or other regulars care too much about BM ans his slanted remarks. Just enjoy the show Ed and let the man be BM, or Bloody Morose as his friends call him.
Nothing like a crazy rant eh Tim. I’ve been talking about John Wyndham and his style of writing which he called logical fantasy. Recognising the fantasy, it is logical to let off steam now and then. You will never be as cute as a kitten rolling on its back with its feet in the air though.
I and I would suspect some other regular visitors but irregular posters don’t find him so amusing. A bitter nasty piece of work is a bitter, nasty piece of work.
He/she and a few others of their ilk are the reason I visit here less often.
What is it? When and how did it get there? Who is responsible?
Was it some negligent Kiwi forces armourer who took it home as a souvenir?
It looks expensive. How much is it worth?
There must have been at least one casualty. To do his job so poorly, (it must have been a he), the unnamed journalist covering this story must have died of boredom halfway through writing it up.
One of the ex-army lads will be along to put me right soon I guess, but I would think it is a dummy shell for a field artillery piece. Too small for most naval guns for a shell of that age. Maybe an 18 or 25 pounder?? Looks too old for the light howitzer they were using from the 70’s. Prepared to be corrected by those who know..
It looks to long and skinny for a 25pdr, it could be one of the following a 3.7inch AA, a 20pdr HE round from the old Centurion Tanks or 17pdr AT HE round. But from my understanding is that 17pdr AT gun never enter service in NZ Army, but some were sent out from the UK from testing and evaluation in the 50’s when the NZ Army was structure for fighting in the Middle East up until the late 50’s.
P.S I’ve a feeling it could be an 76mm HE round from the old M-41 Walker Bulldog Tank that was in service during the late 60’s until it was replaced by the CVR(T) Scorpion Tank. Which to was a backwards step as the M41 was still useful in SEA with it’s 76mm gunand it could punch its way through the Jungle at the time due to its weight. All we had to was upgrade the power pack and fire control systems.
Only Navy round I could think of could from the old Dido Class Anti Aircraft Cruisers from the 50’s to 60’s which were armed a 5.5inch semi automatic DP gun and again it look’s to long and skinny to be an 4.5inch HE round from the old Type 12 Frigates. I do know the rounds for the 5inch auto gun on the ANZAC Frigates is long skinny one and I hope it’s one of those or else there might be some please explain WTF going on. But it looks too old for one those by blueing and surface corrosion on the shell, anyway it’s an interesting find.
Were there any old ammunition depots near the find?
It looks far to big to be a 76mm (12 pounder) round (hard to tell though) And anyway, as far as I can recall the only time the RNZN operated 12 pounder (76mm) guns was in WW2 on the 13 Castle Class Minesweepers we had, but they were all out of Naval Service by 1946. Since the round conforms to NATO standard colour markings it is unlikely to be from the late 1940s!
The paint job on that round is deep bronze green – for HE type ammunition – and a white band indicating an illumination round.
Look at this image of a 4.5″ shell casing and note how the shape of the neck of the brass casing is the same –
Yeah I’m starting to think it’s either a 4.5 or possibly a 5.25 inch round since I’ve been pouring over my Naval books this afternoon that I use for build model ships.
The round 76mm gun on M41 Tank is long skinny one, I’m never to sure about what gets written up in the media these days and or what they put up on their news website.
Kia ora The Am Show I agree with Mark the Speaker and Jerry going on a working Holiday to Japan its hard work being a MP nit picking .
Cyber crime is a big issue for NZ I’m experiencing that every couple of weeks .
There you go Idris Elba is voted the world’s most handsome man Time’s are changing some will need a lot of tissues .
Mike some can see the big picture about the mid term elections in America unlike some who cannot see past there Ego’s.
Hone I don’t think some should encourage you to use those word’s on TV te mokopuna’s will be watching 3 of the 4 of my offspring don’t smoke and we never smoke in the same room or car with the mokopuna’s I say a advertising campaign on the bad effects on secondhand smoke and Alcohol .
Did you catch a Taxi to work yesterday.
Can’t you see we have a idiot behaving badly in the world media and it affects other idiots with small———the 1080 threat’s.
There are a few troll’s lined up for the poll today I new the stat’s will start correcting as the morning.
There you got I told everyone Wahine are more intelligent than man I seen it in my raising my children and my moko’s Equality is needed the schooling system does not teach te moko the the skill’s the children need to work out the best way to climb up there ladder’s of life .
Azees I told you the trump trolls have been waiting for your poll.
Eco Maori say’s Ka pai How Taylor Swift turned her Instagram into a get-out-the-vote fan page Americans get out and vote
American leg of her Reputation Tour at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Taylor Swift announced on Instagram for the first time ever who she’d be voting for: Democrats Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper.She’s among the most followed people on the social network, with more 112 million followers, link below Ka kite ano
This is what the media can do with a small story spin a mountain out of a mole hill
Jacinda did not say she received death threats this is just another cheating neo liberal capitalist play the actors who are making these treats are there puppets ka kite ano
link is below.
Kia ora Tekaea
its cool That Jacinda is at the Ratana 100 year commemoration ka pai.
Nanaia that is a good start to the Papakainga package $1.7 million .
Mark Dunajtsik has made a huge gift to te tangata a new hospital .
Haunui Waka back in Aotearoa from the Norfolk Islands good experiences for the young Wahine and Tane ka pai Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub The House was won by Democrats ka pai its not over say Bernie Sanders
Unemployment has dropped that’s cool to it’s lowest in ten years a bit of positive wairua from the new Coalition Goverment .
I had thought that would be the outcome off the Ross saga a vote for New Zealand First
You will always find someone to find a negative comment from someone anywhere the Ratana commemorations for 100 years and the Labour Party’s delivering to tangata whenua some have a very short memorie .
The weed debate well we know that making it illegal is a dumb and has failed.
Immunization is the best way to stop Meningococcal disease .
Ka kite ano P.S got distracted our offspring were picking up the mokopuna’s car after I fixed it
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild James & Wairangi
Thats a very good over 46 for 2020 cricket from Darryl T.
That good that the British League player has a 4 week ban and a small fine its better than nothing .
Lets hope the Football Ferns & there new Coach will get a good wairua going.
Ka kite ano
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Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Terry, Professor of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland The challenge of bringing the world’s best tennis players and support staff, about 1,200 people in all, from COVID-ravaged parts of the world to our almost pandemic-free shores was always going to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Browne, Research Fellow in International Urban Development, University of Melbourne The Victorian government has committed to removing 75 road/rail level crossings across Melbourne by 2025. That’s the fastest rate of removal in the city’s history. The scale of the investment — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Stevens, Lecturer in History, University of Waikato In a year of surprises, one of the more pleasant was the recent runaway viral popularity of 19th century sea shanties on TikTok. A collaborative global response to pandemic isolation, it saw singers and ...
The sudden departure of Graine Moss from her Chief Executive role at Oranga Tamariki is a vital first step in a sequence of changes that must take place at the Ministry according to a group of wahine Māori leaders. Dame Naida Glavish, Dame Tariana Turia, ...
A new poem from Dunedin poet Jenny Powell.Her uncle’s eyeShe introduced us to her uncle’s eye floating in a jar.Lost in an accident, he hadn’t wanted to lose it again. He left it to her in his will.We must have looked shocked. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I turn him to ...
The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is quitting, leaving behind an agency she’s admitted suffers from structural racism. Justin Giovannetti looks at the future of Oranga Tamariki.Grainne Moss’s tenure as head of Oranga Tamariki has been untenable since November when the government’s senior Māori minister wouldn’t express any confidence in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sainsbury, Senior Lecturer Composition, Australian National University Despite having different cultural backgrounds and experiences — Indigenous composers with an Indigenous mentor, and a pianist descended from Anglo-colonial history — it is nevertheless possible to create a project that can serve as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury With new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 detected around the world, and at New Zealand’s border, the risk of further level 3 or 4 lockdowns is increased if those viruses get into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Hogg, Lecturer in Psychology, Charles Sturt University Horse racing is an ethical hotbed in Australia. The Melbourne Cup alone has seen seven horses die after racing since 2013, and animal cruelty protesters have become a common feature at carnivals. The latest ...
Right now, our most fiery national debate is over whether New Zealanders were nice to the singer Amanda Palmer in a café. Desperate to restore peace in our nation, Hayden Donnell went in search of the truth.Joe Biden had barely finished calling for unity when Amanda Palmer posted a tweet ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut (Pushkin Press, $37)Maths, cyanide, suicide, gardening; ye ...
Wellington artist Estère isn’t just breaking boundaries, she’s dissecting them. Maddi Rowe spoke to her about her new album, Archetypes.“That’s the story of pelicans, they’ll stab themselves in the heart to feed their young.”Despite the somewhat dark subject matter, Estère Dalton’s eyes sparkle with fascination. We’ve met to discuss Archetypes, ...
Cycling advocates are welcoming new advice from the Transport Agency on safe cycling. "Cyclists hate it when drivers pass too close. That's scary and dangerous," said Patrick Morgan from Cycling Action Network. "So it's encouraging to see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tilman Ruff, Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne Today, many around the world will celebrate the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to enter into force in 50 years. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the creation of a Chief Executive role to lead the public service’s pay equity work, and the appointment of Grainne Moss to this position. "Unions and public service employers are currently working ...
The Council of Trade Unions is warning that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures out today illustrate that the cost of living is increasing disproportionately for those on lower incomes; resulting in the poor getting poorer. CTU Economist Craig ...
Why are there so many offensive comments on the New Zealand Police Facebook page and are they breaking the law? Janaye Henry investigates. New Zealand Police Facebook pages – there are a number of them, for different regional police districts around the country – are an interesting place to spend ...
Our guide to stopping procrastinating and actually (finally) getting on top of investing. Because there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you don’t know a single thing about it.In part one, we covered some of the basic things you need to know about investing – why do it? ...
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft acknowledges the huge effort and commitment of departing Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Grainne Moss and says her decision to resign today was principled. “The issues facing Oranga Tamariki are beyond individual ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. With Covid19, Italy shows the classic European pattern, with its early outbreak, substantial recovery thanks to lockdowns and other public health measures, and resurgence thanks to complacency ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW This year has already seen significant progress in the government’s commitment to establish a body – a “Voice” – that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say when the government ...
Northland farmer Derek Robinson was sentenced earlier today by the District Court in Whangarei for two offences of ill-treating animals at rodeo events. Mr Robinson was found guilty in November last year, following a defended hearing. The charges ...
Under fire Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will resign, effective February 28, Marc Daalder reports After four and a half years at the helm of child protection agency Oranga Tamariki, chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will be leaving the position at the end of ...
The Department of Internal Affairs and New Zealand Police acknowledge the sentencing of 36-year-old Aaron Joseph Hutton on charges relating to the possession of child sexual exploitation material, and entering into a dealing involving the sexual exploitation ...
Ngā Tāngata Microfinance (NTM) is calling for tougher penalties for those caught promoting pyramid schemes. Such business models are illegal under the Fair Trading Act 1986. This call comes after the Commerce Commission issued a ‘stop now’ notice ...
British High Commissioner to New Zealand Laura Clarke is calling on young women aged 17 to 25 to apply for the annual ‘Be British High Commissioner for the Day’ competition. The winner will have the opportunity to become an ‘honorary High Commissioner’, ...
The Māori Party is welcoming the resignation of Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss after sustained pressure from leading figures within the Māori Party. This resignation is the result of the continued strong pressure of the Māori Party ...
In a historic corner of Dunedin, startup culture is thriving. Catherine McGregor visited the city’s Warehouse Precinct to meet the people driving the movement. When Jason and Kate Lindsey bought the four storey building now known as Petridish, it was an absolute wreck. Once home to a thriving hat and textiles ...
Summer reissue: The Fold’s very first guest is back to tell Duncan Greive how she pulled off the media deal of the year.The chaotic couple of weeks which finally saw the end of the Stuff-NZME saga were riveting and strange, replete with stock exchange announcements, legal challenges and finally the ...
Chris Liddell has dropped his candidacy to become director-general of the Paris-based OECD. Without support from the Ardern government and vilified in the media as somehow being involved in the encouragement by Donald Trump of the Washington riots, he plainly saw he had little chance of crowning his stellar career ...
Tara Ward hands out her first impression roses as she dives deep into the sea of single men vying to win The Bachelorette NZ’s heart. While the world burns in a searing fireball of unpredictability, we can take comfort in the fact that some things never change. The heart still yearns, ...
People from all around New Zealand will be converging on the super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, on Saturday January 30th. ...
In its Thursday editorial the NZ Herald speaks an important truth: “Investment important to stay on track”. This won’t have startled its more literate readers but in its text it notes the strong result in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, which prompted Westpac to raise its forecast for dairy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Mark, Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Kyoritsu Women’s University With the spread of COVID-19 steadily worsening in Japan since the onset of winter — daily records for infections and deaths continue to be broken — the fate of the Tokyo Summer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Taylor, Early Career Research Leader, Emerging Viruses, Inflammation and Therapeutics Group, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University All eyes are on COVID-19 vaccines, with Australia’s first expected to be approved for use shortly. But their development in record time, without compromising ...
Yesterday’s government announcement on new state housing is a pathetic response to the biggest housing crisis in New Zealand since the 1940s. At a time when the country needs an industrial-scale state house building programme, the government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Obadiah Mulder, PhD Candidate in Computational Biology, University of Southern California Australia is in the midst of tropical cyclone season. As we write, a cyclone is forming off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, and earlier in the week Queenslanders were bracing for a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynette Vernon, School of Education – VC Research Fellow, Edith Cowan University When the holidays end, barring a fresh outbreak of COVID-19, teenagers across Australia will head back to school. Some will bounce out of bed well before the alarm goes off, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology Twenty years ago, on January 25 2001, a virtually unknown German supermarket chain quietly opened its first stores in Australia. The two stores – one in Sydney’s inner-west suburb of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney Bluey is easily the most successful Australian television show of the last decade. A record-breaking success for its local broadcaster the ABC, as well as production partners BBC Studios and Screen Australia, ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permissionIt will take $3 million to clean up 1 million litres of abandoned toxic waste from a property in Ruakaka - three times more than the last big chemical clean-up undertaken by government agencies A two-year mission to clean up 1 million ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The action Biden took on just his first afternoon in office demonstrates a radical shift in priority for the US when it comes to its efforts to combat the climate crisis. It could put more pressure on New Zealand to step up. ...
Ban Bomb Day event at the New Brighton Pier, 9am, on January 22nd, 2021 January 22nd, 2021, marks the first day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) Enters into Force and becomes international law. Aotearoa NZ is one of the ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve BrauniasFICTION 1 Tell Me Lies by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $29.99) Every January, there's a new best-selling crime thriller by the New Zealand-born author who lives in Melbourne. Pomare is ...
Our approach so far in trying to end what Dr Collin Tukuitonga describes as a 'racist' disease - rheumatic fever - has not worked. It's time we try something new, he writes. Acute rheumatic fever and the rheumatic heart disease it causes, long-known as a disease of poverty, is a blight on ...
New Zealand triple-code star, Anna Harrison, can't stop returning to the courts - whether it's netball or beach volleyball. She tells Ashley Stanley what keeps drawing her back. The day before Anna Harrison leaps back into netball, she will have one more hit-out at another of her favourite old sports ...
The lights are burning into the night at the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup base as they race to fix their damaged boat. And Suzanne McFadden discovers something surprising may emerge. Out of American Magic’s calamity may come opportunity - for even more speed. While the lights burn bright ...
New to sailing? With the Prada Cup resuming this weekend, here’s how to bluff your way into sounding like a pro. When I was 10, my mum made my brother and I join the local sailing club. It was a favourite pastime of families in Kerikeri, and my brother was actually ...
A formal complaint to the UN, signed by a NZ Muslim group, says France’s Islamophobic laws and policies are entrenching discrimination and breaching human rights laws. The Khadija Leadership Network has joined a global coalition of Muslim organisations to formally complain about the French government’s systemic entrenchment of Islamophobia and discrimination against ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and a lineup of incredibly successful New Zealand women as they confront their imposter syndrome once and for all. First published 20 October, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
With criticism from National piling on over the property market, the prime minister has detailed when the government will make housing announcements. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco Rizzi, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Western Australia Some Australians could be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine within weeks. Amid the continued spread of the virus and emergence of highly contagious variants, the federal government has accelerated the start of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy — a five-year plan for protecting our imperilled species and ecosystems — fizzled to an end last year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Lecturer, General Dentist & PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Baby teeth, or milk teeth, act like lighthouses to guide the adult ones to their correct destination. A baby tooth will become wobbly and fall out because the adult tooth ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Simon Coley, co-founder of All Good and Karma Drinks.Bananas are one of the ...
Tackling topics such as rugby and body image, Stuff’s latest podcast shines a much-needed light on Aotearoa’s complex relationship with masculinity, writes Trevor McKewen, author of the book Real Men Wear Black.I wasn’t sure what to think when two episodes of the new local podcast He’ll Be Right landed in ...
The Rainforest Alliance reveals that 68%* of Kiwis say the COVID-19 pandemic has made them more conscious about environmental and social sustainability issues. Seventy two percent* state that they have been trying to make more sustainable purchasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies, Curtin University The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has raised concerns that Australia’s proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code could fundamentally break the internet as we know it. His concerns ...
ANALYSIS:By Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path Two weeks after the storming of the US Capitol by the followers of his predecessor, in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Lecturer, Creative Writing & English Literature, University of Southern Queensland Described as “the world’s greatest storyteller”, Roald Dahl is frequently ranked as the best children’s author of all time by teachers, authors and librarians. However, the new film adaptation of ...
Peak housing body, Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA) welcomes the updated Public Housing Plan announced today by Minister Woods, and the commitment by this Government to fix New Zealand’s housing crisis. The 8,000 additional homes are a significant ...
Having recently walked much of the South Island stretch of Te Araroa, Kirsten O’Regan reflects on the magnificent landscapes and interesting characters she encountered along the way.On our 36th day of walking, we climb through the fire-blackened hills above Ohau, stopping to examine heat-disfigured trail markers. Fresh green shoots have ...
Miss Torta in central Auckland is putting the spotlight on a snack that’s commonplace in Mexico, but until now relatively unknown in New Zealand.You’ve heard of a torta, but what is it, exactly? Well, depending on the cuisine it can mean a flatbread, cake, tart, sweet pie, savoury pie or ...
Two of three ministerial statements from the Beehive have been released in the name of the PM over the past two days. The more important, insofar as it involves political action that will affect the wellbeing of significant numbers of Kiwis, was the release of the government’s Public Housing Plan ...
Careful Draco, this is a safe space, we can’t let people’s feelings be hurt
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
The Syrianisation of the World
Nigerian army defends shooting protesters by citing Trump’s migrant caravan remarks
Rick Noack – November 3, 2018
Armed American militias heed Trump and head south to confront caravan
Mary Lee Grant & Nick – November 5, 2018
…..or the original when America used to be great again
Just remember corporate media – just don’t mention climate change….then it’s not happening, is it?
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/108363183/get-your-fan-out-its-about-to-get-really-hot-parts-of-nz-could-reach-30c
Was there any mention, at the Labour Party conference?
Yes. Read the speech.
Was there any other mention, by anyone?
“James Shaw’s progress on our climate change goals, and with the ambition of New Zealand First in the mix, our plan to plant one billion trees is well under way – for those who don’t follow the tree counter as religiously as I do, we are up to 60.6 million”.
It was at least mentioned, fair enough to have missed it though.
And I guess we better ignore the fact that there are many people rather sceptical about the idea that the Emissions Trading Scheme is ever going to be the key to dealing with cataclysmic climate change.
And what exactly did Jacinda mean by “and with the ambition of New Zealand First in the mix”?.
“In the nineteenth century, there was no superannuation or sick leave or paid holidays. People fought so hard to win those rights and now we’re glibly throwing them away.”
“It’s time to bring employment law into the twenty-first century and ensure all employees, gig or salaried have flexible working opportunities, but also the same protections and benefits. This stops arbitrage of hard-won, and necessary, protections,”
“If you wouldn’t wear a T-shirt made in a sweatshop,” don’t take an Uber,
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12154870
Uber is fantastic!!!!! So much better than the old taxi model. Use it in the city all the time
Uber eats is sadly not out our way – but whenever travelling for work I use it most nights.
But I have no idea where my t-shirt comes from other than Rod and gun.
James without scruples? Surely not? (sarc)
Yes James we know you don’t care.
As long James get what James wants , he doesn’t care a hoot for others.
Sweatshop workers, Uber drivers, Child Labourers, …..
Of course, if James doesn’t get what he wants, he’ll throw a tantrum.
Pretty much because everything that he wants should be the price he wants to pay rather than what it actually costs.
This is the problem with believing that the price should be what you want to pay as told us by politicians and economists.
Lemme guess: when you’re not baiting low-self-control commenters here, you get your kicks shooting fish in a barrel.
LOL……..Rod & Gun (sic)!
busted
The last time I took a conventional taxi he charged $30 for a 10 minute drive. That’s 1 way Aotea Square to Westmere. The gig I did that night paid the princely sum of $40. The bus in was $2.20 (with student discount).
Then WINZ wanted all manner of paperwork as I, a student, earned fuck all. They added the $40 to an $80 teaching gig and penalized me for the lot refusing to discount travel expenses.
So it was not worth leaving the house if taxis were required.
I attended Tarun Mohanbhai’s Comedy festival show Uber Funny in May this year. It was about his journey to being, and experiences as, an uber driver. Sounded like a total rort on the operators and next to no responsibility for management.
Abandoning Uber wont help the drivers. Closer scrutiny and regulation might.
I’m not ‘abandoning ‘ them.
I just don’t use them.
Uber is a great example of a few people getting very, very rich on the work of lots and lots of other people who don’t actually get enough from their hard work to even pay their way. It’s pure exploitation that sucks wealth and money out of the community while providing SFA.
This is why the capitalists love it so much.
Helping the drivers would be the government setting up similar software that NZ taxi drivers could use that paid for by taxes. This would have it so that the convenience is there for the customers but the drivers actually get to keep all their income rather than having most of it syphoned off to rich bludgers.
It’s way past time to bring employment law into the 21stC – we’re 18 bloody years in!
And one of the big issues to be dealt with is the way corporates and others try to outsource their responsibilities whilst being able to clip the ticket.
It’s taken a change in government for the Labour Inspectorate to get off its chuff and start to take it all seriously (albeit as under-resourced as it has been, although one of its managers was assuring us all that there were sufficient inspectors not long before the last election).
And at least we have some prepared to keep the pressure on:
Congratulations to Teuila Fuatai of Newsroom who is not going to let one instance of it all die: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/11/05/306076/chorus-speaks-out-on-migrant-exploitation and https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/10/08/269274/migrant-exploitation-and-the-true-cost-of-ufb
Then there’s the so-called “independent contractors” who are actually DEPENDENT courier drivers. The corporates have shunted their costs onto the subcontractor and bound them through contracts that should (if they are not already) be illegal.
Again, it’s all been working as designed over the past decade.
What we should be asking is
– how long is it going to be before the bloody big shakeup taht’s quite obviously necessary, and
– are the ticket clippers going to be held to account, or will it be another Wellington wet bus ticket approach which will simply result in quite a few being tempted to try it all on again
In regards to the truckies/couriers, John Campbell started looking at this just before he left RNZ.
It would be good if someone followed up on the traction gained.
A similar dodgy practice is construction firms having their apprentices as sub contractors.
Businesses with all workers as subcontractors. We need more inspectors with teeth and the ability to enforce orders.
We do @Patricia, and they shouldn’t need bloody stab proof vests
( https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/103790349/labour-inspectors-now-wearing-stabproof-vests-but-say-theyre-not-cops ). If ever there were signals that show what their priorities are/ere, that was one of them.
It took MoBIE a while to realise why nobody wanted to come forward to report cases of exploitation and immigration fraud as well.
Many still don’t want to, and its completely understandable why.
Yep @ gsays. I doubt John Campbell will leave it to die. And there are others who I think will try and keep it all alive. (Laura Toupu? from RNZ appears to have left and gone to New Shub, and there are others such as Michael Morrah, Gil Bonnett scattered around the place).
What we (lil ole yeah/nah Nu Zull) did was create a structure and policies which NORMALISED exploitation in the workplace. Passing on costs and driving down wages to small self-employed – often immigrants not entitled to any state benefits (income support, medical support, child care et al), and often so that the only way they could survive and recover from their indebtedness was to rip others off.
(I’ll try and find a link, but several weeks ago – either on NinetoNoon or Saturday, there was a review/author interview of a book I think – whereby an immigrant was confessing to sins he’d never have taken part in till he came here and tried to survive)
I know there are some in here that hold the view that we can’t save the world and that now we’ve created this situation, we should just boot ’em out and start again. My view is that if we don’t take responsibility for the past structure and policies we’re just setting ourselves up for it all to happen again, and as we do, we descend into the 3rd World.
And the worst part about it all is that once the indebted get themselves out of the shit (often through exploitative practices), they’re tempted towards the greedy, just like a lot of others.
NZ had a duty to properly resource agencies such as NZQA, and INZ, and the Labour Inspectorate, AND have them do their fucking job ethically and competently. The good thing is, there are signs they’re getting the message.
As we embraced the rogernomics, so can we formulate and embrace another revolution.
Especially with kindness as one of its central themes.
Sharing needs to be at the core too.
Get profit out of the money system, have the state issue $s.
Take the profit out of landlording.
Part of the frustration I sense here on TS is that with this government the key people and ingredients are in place.
Winnie who has said neo liberalism has failed and must go, a mother Premiere who has repeated kindness as a motto, and a populace young and old ready for radical change.
The Uber-economy f**ks us all: How “permalancers” and “sharer” gigs gut the middle class
The “sharing” economy sounds groovy: politically neutral, anti-consumerist. Wait until it comes for your job
https://www.salon.com/2015/10/31/the_uber_economy_fks_us_all_how_permalancers_and_sharer_gigs_guts_the_middle_class/
They said education and hard work would set you free, maybe not …award winning qualified people are now scrabbling around to make ends meet as wages are no longer enough or secure enough to survive on …
‘Frederic Larson enjoyed a successful 30-year career as a staff photographer with the San Francisco Chronicle, during which time he won numerous awards, including being a Pulitzer Prize finalist. As Forbes reports, he was downsized during the recession, and needing income he “monetized his assets.” He turned his house into an Airbnb hotel and his spiffy Prius into a Lyft taxi. Now for 12 nights a month—40% of his life—he shutters himself in a rabbit hole inside his own home and showers at the local gym while complete strangers have the run of his place. This award-winning professional photographer has been turned into an innkeeper in his own home and a taxi driver in his own car.’
https://www.salon.com/2015/12/29/the_sharing_economy_partner/
P>S> That seems to be the future of NZ, but be aware, a friend of mine from Eastern Europe once said there is saying in their country.
“we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us”
Might explain NZ productivity levels.
So is the government’s end game that our wages are so out of line with expenses, that a professional like a teacher does a 8 hour day, then goes home and does a few uber hours to make ends meet, while staying at friends while they rent out their house for a few extra dollars, just to pay for escalating power, housing, rates, insurance, water, food etc costs…. as their job no longer keeps pace with that.
meanwhile our councils are increasing rates, extra charges and petrol taxes, while spending it on Stadiums and Billion dollar yacht races…? and extra charges, don’t forget they fully want to extract that share of that ‘shared’ economy https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/363069/airbnb-hosts-angered-by-auckland-council-s-bed-tax
Funny enough, polluting cruise ships are exempt from the paltry tourist taxes though, nice to be a multinational probably domiciled in a tax haven, and have the locals picking up the tab all the time!
Go figure that one out.
Yes, the corporates and other businesses loved it when 20th century employment laws were taken back to the 19th century. National was, and is still trying, to take those laws even further back to produce more poverty so that the rich can be richer and more powerful.
When I first went to Otago uni I looked for work at a labour temping agency. One of the clauses pretty much prevented me from even looking for work if I’d signed the contract as it prevented me from accepting work from any of the employers in the region who’d used the labour agency.
Completely against anything that could be considered a ‘free-labour market’ as it purposefully constrained what the employee could do.
“pretty much prevented me from even looking for work if I’d signed the contract”
This behavior is or was prevalent in a lot of comedy clubs in the UK 2000’s
Which went something along the lines of, if you do a gig here you can’t play other clubs within x time or x distance or both. Some of them probably still try this crap on. Like they think they own you if they hire you.
Looking at full time jobs today to see what it’s like. Many ask for people who are ‘flexible with hours’ – for ‘working weekends and overtime’. So not enough work or way too much is at their discretion really. They think they own your whole life. I’ve worked for A’holes like this they don’t give a shit about you or your own commitments. Flexibility means be my bitch. And the call for ‘flexibility’ is more common than not.
Employers whinge cos they can’t get good people. Anyone with half a clue, and the slightest choice, would reject that shit.
If you want good people be good people, you twats.
“If you want good people be good people, you twats”
Ae!
It probably still hasn’t dawned on the gNats yet though, or indeed one or two public servants who were angling to set up some kind of Peter Dutton type Border Force with spots on a Joolie Krusty reality TV show.
And Thompson and Clark are probably still pondering the size of their dicks in the realisation they weren’t as big as they imagined.
Deny Uber any IP protection for their apps etc. due to their bad behaviour.
Encourage the drivers to form driver-cooperatives and the like using the same technology.
Exploitative, globalised ticket-clipping because you happen to have invented some shitty little app is a grotesquely disproportionate reward.
+111
Uber is a great example of capitalism and it’s rentier MO.
National’s Nice Cop, Nasty Cop routine: Paula “Snitch” Bennett,
assisted by Sidekick Simon, goes after Jami-Lee Ross
Monday, Nov. 5, 2018
This is a real, unbowdlerized, transcript of that infamous conversation…..
JAMI-LEE ROSS: So it would be for medical reasons?
PAULA BENNETT: If THAT’s what you want. So you either—I think either medical or family’s your best option.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: Medical’s TRUU-U-UE.
SIMON BRIDGES: Yeah.
PAULA BENNETT: If that’s—
SIMON BRIDGES: Yeah. No that’s RIGHT. That’s RIGHT.
PAULA BENNETT: And—
SIMON BRIDGES: There’s no SHAME in that.
PAULA BENNETT: No. And it mee-e-eans that everyone will back OFF you too – the media and all that sort of stuff. Which I think’s important. …. Just SUCH the lightest option we possibly can in the light of what we’ve got in front of us. And it’s out of respect to the girls.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: You haven’t even TOLD me what I’ve supposedly done. I don’t even KNOW.
PAULA BENNETT: Simon told you ALL ABOUT the disloyalty stuff, Jami-Le-e-ee, and quite frankly if that was put to caucus, that would be enough.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: The stuff around harassing STAFF, which I reject, that is the worst, ‘cos, and I don’t even know what that IS.
PAULA BENNETT: Well you DO know what the disloyalty stuff is, and that’s been put to you really clearly, and if that was put to caucus, that would be enough.
JAMI-LEE ROSS: [exasperated sigh]
PAULA BENNETT: You know? We are trying to give you the LIGHTEST POSSIBLE, um, way out of this.
SIMON BRIDGES: ‘Cos when we’re finished, Jami-Lee, we can get through it. And you can get through it. And you can come out the other side if your attitude, um, after the time out is, is GOOD and POSITIVE, and you can be promoted again. …. I give you my one HUNDRED percent assurance that if you go with the statement along the lines we’ve talked about, I will NEVER badmouth you in relation to this – privately, publicly, in background, off the record in any way. I will do everything within my power to keep the things we talked about last week out of the public [inaudible]. I will do everything.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/11/new-leaked-recording-suggests-simon-bridges-paula-bennett-planned-jami-lee-ross-cover-up.html
Police wont press charges – why?
https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/108321403/horse-trainer-michael-breslin-sexually-assaulted-woman-but-penalty-not-tough-enough
A deep insight into mental illness by journalist Virginia Winder who talks about her journey with bipolar disorder.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/107864708/this-is-a-story-about-how-to-save-your-own-life
In this context, it is appropriate to quote from I Am a Strange Loop, a book by Douglas Hofstadter:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Strange_Loop
Thank you Incognito. Real food for thought. JLR has been used imo. He is fighting back.
I find it bizarre that JLR is becoming the new darling of the left
A.
Hi Antoine, JLR has not become a darling in my eyes, but more a symptom of all that lies beneath in the National party. I am glad its surfacing through him. Again I am unsure of his motivations, what really happened with the women. (we have seen text evidence of behaviour from one of the women he had an affair with though.
I wish anyone suffering from a mental illness all the very best in their recovery.
Oh yes and I do have a small amount of sympathy for Bridges……………..just a very small amount.
Its too early to tell if JLR is a geniune whistle blower or just seeking revenge. Or maybe a bit of both
No, not at all. Just used and abused.
This was to Antoine
I believe it in your case but I think others are starting to see him as a martyr. Remember the enemy of your enemy is not your friend. Shades of Kim dot com
A.
“I find it bizarre that JLR is becoming the new darling of the left”
Yep JLR is a delusional sleaze bag, It shows how one eyed many on the left are when suddenly they become a fanboy of low-lifes like Ross and Slater.
True Nastiman, but Pullya and Slick are major arseholes and would sell their grannies for organ transplants.
Oh, well JLR must be nice then
A.
Except that he hasn’t.
What he has shown is the corruption that is inherent in the National Party.
Despite all the noise, numerous allegations and speculation…. from what I heard of the tape, JLR clearly sounded di/stressed!
And as MS rightly pointed out in his Post yesterday; “It is noteworthy that the allegations only came out publicly when National decided to counterattack after Ross’s stand up conference in Parliament.
Ross’s mental health was not a significant consideration for them at that time.” (or at anytime!)
Clearly Bridges and Bennett’s behaviour was totally abhorrent!
abhorrent
/əbˈhɒr(ə)nt/
adjective
inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant.
synonyms: detestable, detested, hateful, hated, loathsome, loathed, despicable, despised, abominable, abominated, execrable, execrated, repellent, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, disgusting, distasteful, horrible, horrid, horrifying, awful, heinous, reprehensible, obnoxious, odious, nauseating, offensive, contemptible
Just like the 9 years of their tenure
As above!
Yes, I agree.
So OUR commons turned over so individuals can earn more profit. Water is our life and you farmer-capitalists are abusing that resource. Shame on them and the day of reckoning is coming, of that I have no doubt.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/108361446/greenpeace-lashes-out-at-infuriating-irrigation-decision-in-mackenzie
It makes me so angry that the demolition of ECan was done so easily and without undue reaction from we the people. And as Newsroom article says, “Doubts and fears sown in 2010 have bloomed into a concern that ECan is putting irrigation interests ahead of the environment.”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/11/05/307965/council-caves-on-dairy-consent?preview=1
IMO, the whole point of National’s canning of ECan was to put the interests of the irrigators above everyone else and the environment.
“The seeds were sown eight years ago, critics say. In 2010, the John Key-led Government sacked Canterbury’s regional councillors over “urgent problems with water management”.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/11/05/307965/council-caves-on-dairy-consent
snap!
But it could be worser …
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/105202179/ecan-elections-may-be-very-dangerous-if-extremists-elected-warns-farming-leader
But what if they elect farmer extremists?
Exactly!
Sign the PETITION; (its going Nuts!)
David Parker, Minister for the Environment: For the sake of our rivers, our climate and the unique and precious Mackenzie country, I call on you to stop all new dairy conversions and intensification of existing livestock farming by making them both prohibited activities, effective immediately, in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater.
https://act.greenpeace.org/page/23869/petition/1?locale=en-NZ&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=agriculture&utm_content=ecan+consent
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/108049548/Ng-i-Tahu-Farming-replaces-forestry-with-14-000-cows-at-Eyrewell
Yes, because saving the environment and the people while living sustainably is so very, very extreme.
National and other RWNJs tell us that we must live within our means while doing everything to prevent us living sustainably so as to boost profits for the capitalists.
https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2018/11/04/solow-on-the-non-existence-of-a-natural-rate-of-unemployment/
Robert Solow explains that NZs main economic policy initiative for several decades (the OCR and inflation targeting) is based on fiction.
As far as I can make out, the entire capitalist edifice that the politicians and most economists promote is complete bollocks. It’s all based upon false assumptions about human behaviour, drives and economics.
Notice Granny is still promoting the deal where rich individuals get free public land worth billions in return for a white elephant Stadium that nobody wants and the poorer folks have no access too aka paid events, even if they could afford the petrol to come into the city centre.
Note any buildings built on wharves cost 7 times more in maintenance, probably more these days.
So not only is there a white elephant Stadium that is being pushed as an agenda that nobody wants, but if it even got built, even BEFORE global warming, it is going to cost 7 times more at least to maintain than MT Eden.
So work harder people, Auckland council is going to need a lot more rates in the future, as we all know money is no object to them.
Auckland council might soon be running a city that has no teachers or Doctors or Police, but full of empty spec homes…and the working poor sleeping in the parks and cars..
But who cares, a few individuals have make a killing developing in MT Eden with free billion dollar land. Now that is capitalism!
Too true,
This council is fixated on every facility and business being in the CBD, at our expense. It is time that they reversed this philosophy and took the facility’s and jobs to the people in the form of satellite towns. It makes no sense to keep shifting people and goods into an ever increasingly populated area until it freezes from lack of maneuverability.
Also with our record of constructing leaky buildings any building at the mercy of the sea would appear to be an extremely risky venture
“Note any buildings built on wharves cost 7 times more in maintenance, probably more these days.”
This I find difficult to believe
“Stadium that nobody wants”
“pushed as an agenda that nobody wants”
While I don’t live in Auckland so care very little, I think you might be slightly thinking everyone else agrees with you and those you hang out with, when they probably don’t
Yes, Chris T you don’t live in Auckland and therefore have few insights into what people want here, and the last thing on anyone’s minds is wasting money on a white elephant stadium after all the other stupid ideas put upon us like the Supercity.
And yep do some checks and you will find wharf buildings cost 7x more in maintenance and that is before global warming and an idea to sink the stadium into the sea. Costs a lot more to maintain infrastructure underwater, go figure!
I think that a better idea for the Stadium is private practise own it, pay to build it, pay for the land and run it, independent of the council and pay for the maintenance off their ticket sales but we all know that won’t happen because the stadium is going to generate huge costs to the taxpayers and ratepayers and on going loses and private practise want the taxpayers to pay for it. Oh and don’t steal the harbour to do it.
A stadium is great for all those offshore luxury waterfront hotels, probably less fun for the residents of Auckland who live in the centre and a big headache for anyone struggling in Auckland, on a fixed income, or who have just been hit with a petrol tax and higher rates (or rents).
We have sewerage going into the harbour, massive congestion, housing inequity, full hospitals and schools, but the Stadium is where the granny headlines and the council is focused on.
Is an underwater stadium a good idea christy?
FWIW, the caketin in Wellys is a great regional asset.
Shoulda put a roof on it…
Did they thinh it needed a cap on the cost?
Could stadiums be built in two stages? First get a roof-ready bunch of walls and facilities up, then add a roof – of some sort. In Wellington it would have to withstand regular strong winds. A retractable one then? A canvas one that wouldn’t be a huge loss if torn to ribbons and could be replaced? Something that wouldn’t turn into a flying weapon?
Scrap the roof and everyone brings a raincoat?
It might come to that when TSHTF.
It’s ok. The caketin is what happens when you compromise and end up with something that doesn’t really suit anyone. Athletic Park was much better to watch footy at.
They should have built a rectangular stadium on the waterfront as 80% of sport played at the stadium is on a rectangular field. Then built a large stand at the Basin to increase capacity and there might have been some money leftover to start getting Light Rail to the Basin built.
I don’t think I caught a game at Athletic park. Although I have heard Keith Quinn recall the south stand move in one of the local breezes.
As an outsider, I probably couldn’t tell you how to get there.
Have seen several rugby games there, including Jonah’s last hurricanes game. There isn’t a bad seat in the house.
Coming from the provinces, it’s great.
Drive to Raumati, get on the train, day in Wellys, footy, then train back up the line then home.
I get there are impacts on rate bills, but with a bit of imagination this can be ameliorated. E.g. $1 a ticket for the first 5years goes to the stadium.
Perhaps they could sell the tickets out of the stadium, because there seems to be some fat in the prices ticketec, ticketmaster charge for their services.
It is a total lack of common sense to build yet another public building that will focus thousand of people into the smallest, narrowest part of New Zealand. An area already congested with other public buildings such as the university which already pulls 20,000 people into the same space.
For the same reason the port should not be developed any further either. The sea front of central Auckland should become a beautiful public recreational seafront for all to enjoy.
Get real !
Well it seems money does not buy brain power or common sense… apparently approx 50% of the rates money is spend on paying themselves…
Auckland Council wages bill nearing $1 billion
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12142579
Sounds like you channelling Penny’s bright ideas RIP.
Lived in Auckland for a number of years, including post and prior Americas Cup.
That new development proposed sounds epic. Am imagining a type of ‘south bank brisbane’, now that would be wonderful for Auckland city.
The Auckland waterfront should be developed for all to enjoy.
Build a stadium somewhere else.
I also totally disagree with the privatisation of the Auckland waterfront (I live in Auckland). And with the current approach to centralising all the city’s main events and corporate activities.
I love the idea of an Auckland version of Brisbane’s south bank as a people’s location for enjoying the waterfront.
Mother Agnes Mariam de la Croix wades into the Syria debate and talks about the phony White Helmets and Russia’s helpful contributions. Thank you Mother Superior.
Oh look, another apologist for the Assad regimes war crimes.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
?
A tweet from 2013 that came off the back of a campaign mounted by Pulse media – known liberal interventionists.
She withdrew from the conference. Jones later said he withdrew on the basis that Scahill had withdrawn.
Now, maybe Mother Agnes is the evil critter that Pulse Media say she is (conspiring in the murder of journalists and refugees). Or then again….
The AMP demutualised some decades ago. Now it is getting out of life insurance and other things and has sold much of its business to a ‘closed book ‘ investor that apparently will just manage the present policies.
Is NZ getting uninsurable? As Ryan asked is it the growing numbers of people who won’t die (of course she didn’t use such stark description), also the earthquake and other risks we face, make us hard to quantify for insurance businesses? There was a mention that we are the second riskiest country in the world.
I think this move will bring an important matter to our attention. All thinking people who visit this blog should listen to this interview and get a worms eye view of what is going on. Later we can aim for a birds eye view but we need to investigate the ground situation of insurance here and what we will need to do.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018669955/impact-of-amp-s-life-insurance-exit
Something mentioned was that young people are not taking out insurance. That would fit in with the lack of care that many take as they go blindly or optimistically on their way as can be noticed when crossing roads. No look right or left, just step out with your eyes on your Device and whoosh for real.
I’m thinking of hard times earlier when often unions formed welfare societies which have been declining in NZ. This is in line with the idea that we didn’t need these any more as we had a welfare state, and had trustable commitment from government to provide a helpful environment for all citizens and to extend this to those in need. ACC was started under this mindset. And as a rather somnolent accepting society, we have been slow to complain about a decline from this, slow to feel concern even outrage on behalf of other people being badly treated, and of course the decline spreads like a creeping bindweed.
Start looking at deliberately forming local groups that assist in a practical way that are funded from locals for locals, and let us start having education sessions on how to manage our society, making the point that Margaret Thatcher and her ilk were talking ideological BS when saying ‘there is no such thing as society’. Also how to protect ourselves, where needed, what our vision is. Because without that there won’t be time to form a vision, it will be just inadequate immediate disaster relief, and repeat.
Right with you on the local organising.
I assume it is an Amish way, insurance comes from community, someones house, barn burns down, the community rebuilds it.
Your mention of unions reminds me of what we have lost.
My father had a massive stroke at work. He didn’t recover.
Two men knocked on my mother’s door, gave her an envelope.
It was enough for Dads funeral expenses and a little bit more.
Gsays, yes communities where unions were strong helped in bad times. Often it was union money plus a “whip round” with the hat, to top it up. I have always wondered what was done for the families of those forestry workers killed on the job. No union no rights.
The Amish are a cult and it is always dangerous to look at cults as the way to go, though their integrated community helping each other is probably what we need. I understand rural people mid 20th century in some areas of NZ could be a good template for what we need now. Their communal barn raising practice is a good symbol of what could be accomplished with more friendly cohesion.
The Mafia grew cult-like out of a poverty stricken area. The Exclusive Brethren are an example of a tightly bound group, and perhaps some of the Maori gangs are also tightly bound.
But cults or gangs or clans are cohesive and want to hold together. The best ones look out for each other, and that is what i thought we had in NZ but apparently no. And it seems to me that once people get comfortable they get bound up in wealth and its enjoyment and the past of striving is dismissed as another world. So my simple ideas that people would put into community some of what they had and the more they had, the more they could and would give; that is the remainder of a child’s idea.
Community and commitment both start the same way, and are fixed in partnership. So we should keep talking about that, while the sleek predators look to see what they can get hold of and use up majorly for their own benefit.
The clever predator will offer some deal to the community, but they need to check out net gains and look for fish hooks. And sometimes those who would be the most beneficial get overlooked in favour of another idea group which looks better until you unpick it and see the tell-tale lack of commitment to all the people.
I know of two small communities that are organising in case TSHTF.
Asking my friend who is a senior chappie in one of them, ‘post ‘Shit going down’ will you greet a stranger with a hug or a gun?’
He responded that a gun would be the first step back towards this mess we are in now.
The best thing would be to start doing something now before the mess we are in now becomes overwhelming.
I keep being drawn back to John Wyndham’s journey in The Day of the Triffids in which he has the man go from his convalescence in hospital to a temporary sanctuary in a distant rural area, along with a sighted woman partner he rescued from a bunch of blind thugs, and the remaining child of two whose parents, and her brother had been killed by the dangerous triffids. Then with his partner and the teenage girl, they join with a blind pair whose farm they have found sanctuary on, and escape from a dictatorship that has assumed the role of government by the use of arms, outwitting them. They go to an island group that has formed a civilised community which can defend itself and manage to wipe out the triffids there.
But on the way he stops at a large farm that has tried to take in everyone who arrives and is having trouble helping and feeding everyone. A disease spreads quickly and all the able-bodied flee, leaving the man who is a newcomer. He finds a girl still alive who talks to him knowing she is dying and wishes him well. He helps when she asks him for some sleeping tablets and water so she can take her own life when she wishes. There isn’t much he can do as an individual, most others he comes across have joined into the armed dictatorship run by a few hard men using force. He travels on towards an area where he thinks his partner has gone, offers friendship to the girl and they go on with patient determination and wise decision making till they find his partner.
It is rather along the lines of some USA films being made about dislocated people, with zombies rather than triffids as a menace. In them there are problems of food, relationships, trust, guns, wariness and privation. To have food it takes at least a month to grow anything, and whether there is anything that can be utilised like wild plants, berries, meat and fish and simple medications (I believe dock plants are useful), keeping alive would be a problem. I would rather we gathered ourselves together now rather than have to face the hard situations forced on us when resources run out.
I feel that guns and revolution are a last resort. But that trying to be both kind and practical as a guideline will enable people to enjoy a limited life compared to what we have been used to. And we may be able to conserve some of the things we have, think of ways to manage things we can’t influence or control. And I think of Dylan Thomas – he’s enigmatic and so is our future. Rage against the dying of the night, will keep us appreciating each other and our wonderful world, so much taken for granted.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2cgcx-GJTQ
I have a vague memory of day of the triffids movie from my youth.
Your synopsis reminds me of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
A very grim affair.
It doesn’t feel grim, as the protagonist manages to solve problems and becomes part of a band of strong-minded, capable, practical people as a little family and they have hope for the future, and are inventive as to how to manage. The young man is not a drug addict or alcoholic, and is able to plan and imagine the outcomes of different scenarios and is capable, a hard worker and kind, brave, honest and true. Too nice to be a human really. /sarc
true.. happening in Island communities with Chinese money.
The community is the insurance.
But, of course, if it’s done that way then the capitalists can’t make a profit from doing nothing.
The wonderful Tama Renata has passed.
https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_news/MjA1MDU/Tears-shed-for-shredder-Renata
RIP Tama.
So evocative that tune.
So gut thumping that movie.
A few years ago I saw Tama, Dilworth Karaka and Tama Lundon unplugged at the Whanagnui Opera house.
Their set list, harmonies and innate showmanship, Tama’s guitar antics, the opera house acoustics and the crowd made it probably the best show I’d been to since the pub rock events of my youth.
joe90
It would be great if someone had recorded or videoed that. I wonder….
Did anyone consider Jane Pattison’s article NZ Herald on the NZ Labour Conference contrived.
My reaction was Jane wanted to “minimize any impact through faint praise and suggested problems”
Some aspects. “Locked down” “Empty seats” “No fanfare” “No mention of Helen Clarke” “Journalists not allowed to see divisions or blood on the floor during discussions” “One good idea approved by the people”
Jane did you go to the same conference as Micky and Te Reo Putake? You needed to remove your blue tinted glasses.
She’s used to the Nat’s either buying or threatening journalists in order to push a message. She’s used to overhyped X-factor/evangelical-sermon Nat party conferences.
She doesn’t know what to do in the absence of that.
I wasn’t there, but I did attend the famous 2012 conference and saw first hand the way the media distorted, lied and created a mountainous drama from tiny molehills. I saw them hounding and harassing MPs on both sides of the factional divide, and I even saw them hanging around outside the outer door of the men’s loo and pouncing on MPs as they emerged. They couldn’t even go and have a quiet pee.
After that performance is it any wonder they prefer to go into ‘lock-down’ when deliberating on policy matters and issues of the day.
Anne if the journalists had really been razor sharp they would have gone in and done their questioning as they stood side by side doing their business. So they could be said to show a little respect for their victims!
I think the male journos would understand trickle down theory and also the nature of slashing comments from males who cannot multi-task………..
Razor sharp mac1
Unfortunately half of them were female. 😐
Patricia, I read a little of Jane’s article and the headline and thought it was an attempt to make it look lackluster to say the least.
I take it nothing about queues of people who couldn’t get in for her speech????? Also thought Q and A did a very pedestrian report…………………………………….
Jane was the one who had a go at Marion Hobbs around the time of the Claire Curran affair…………….2+2 =
“Did anyone consider Jane Pattison’s article NZ Herald on the NZ Labour Conference contrived.”
???? Jane Patterson is Senior Political Editor for RNZ and does not write for NZ Herald. She does write for the Listener and their online site, Noted, but has not done so on the Conference as yet apparently.
I am not a great fan of Jane’s but personally I did not think her RNZ reports on the Conference were contrived. While they were not over the top “Ra Ra” reports, I thought they were reasonable and I could also not find the terms you quoted above in her articles on the Conference.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/370223/labour-party-conference-relatively-locked-down-low-key-affair
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/370182/600-new-support-roles-for-kids-with-special-needs-govt
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/370139/wellbeing-budget-to-give-mental-health-focus-it-deserves
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/370127/labour-s-president-says-national-s-sense-of-entitlement-on-display
Perhaps you have confused her with someone else?
Re NZ Herald, Audrey Young was their main reporter there, but again I did not think her reports were too bad, despite Young’s leanings.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12154399
IMO Tracey Watkins at Stuff also did not do too bad a job on reporting either.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/108349572/Jacinda-Arderns-message-to-the-party-faithful-we-can-t-do-it-all
Apologies… RNZ not The Herald. My opinion was she was annoyed at being excluded from parts of the conference and wrote accordingly. Audrey did write a reasonable piece. Great picture of Jacinda Neve and Clarke.
Patricia
These phrases that you quoted did indeed seem to intend to diminish and
concentrate on the negative. Were they balanced by positives do you think?
These quoted comments have a weighted negativity about them.
Some aspects. “Locked down” “Empty seats” “No fanfare” “No mention of Helen Clarke” “Journalists not allowed to see divisions or blood on the floor during discussions” “One good idea approved by the people”
Reading her article I think you are being over sensitive
The empty seats you have taken out of context. She talks about the 1080 protester risk being the cause, so not even a crtiticism
Helen Clark not being mentioned is note worthy as she is her mentor and the only other female Labour PM
Fan Fare and the blood bit aren’t even in the article on the web, so not sure what you were reading
Is it something different to this
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/370223/labour-party-conference-relatively-locked-down-low-key-affair
Yes possibly I felt a little more up beat tenor would have been suitable, however, I must admit Jane was the only ? reporter to note the reaction to the 1080 protesters, that closed the doors when quote “hundreds were lined up”.
Apparently there was a death threat made. The PM discussed it later.
I was just reading a column by Chris Trotter in which he says the Labour Caucus no longer has to comply with the party manifesto after last weekend’s conference but he doesn’t give any links and I can’t find anything on Google. Does anyone have a suitable link about this?
Conference endorsed this change. It’s to allow for flexibility in coalition talks. It’s not a free pass to ignore the manifesto, rather it lets the leadership make practical compromises when forming a Government.
So Trotter is exaggerating? again?
Not sure, haven’t read his article. It wasn’t controversial at conference and it would be a shame if Trotter is trying to distort the intention.
I suggest you do read it, as he deftly connects the event to the last LP conference in Dunedin 30 years ago. I’m often critical of his analyses but this essay lacks any flaw to pounce on, so 9/10. Didn’t see distortion but I’ll leave that judgment to others, here’s the relevant paragraph plus the prior to provide context (literary afficionados may find the shakespearean mythos subtext insufficiently subtle):
” What Harman doesn’t say is that the only reason such political legerdemain is even possible is because Jacinda Ardern is such an extraordinary electoral asset. Single-handed, she has resurrected Labour’s morale; refilled her coffers, boosted her membership, and filled her activist base with confidence and delight. Her “relentlessly positive” personality is like a powerful spotlight, illuminating brilliantly that little part of Labour’s stage upon which she sits and smiles. Meanwhile, in the darkness her brilliance does so much to render impenetrable, the party leadership does all within its power to render a genuine shift to the left impossible.”
“It is fitting, in a way, that the decision to free the caucus from its crucial constitutional obligation to uphold the party’s manifesto – its policy platform – was taken in Dunedin. Justified as a practical and necessary concession to the exigencies of MMP, it nevertheless severs the last of the ties that bind the parliamentary wing to the party organisation. The caucus is now officially “Corbyn proof”. Thirty years after stabbing her in the back, the centrists have finally summoned-up the courage to drive the dagger of pragmatism deep into Labour’s democratic-socialist heart.”
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2018/11/labours-dunedin-conference-returning-to.html
I guess Trotter’s going through the depressive part of his cycle.
True democracy can barely be practiced by contemporary parties. The ‘gotcha’ media hang on every word, and are as likely to go downtown on a policy discussion as the Exclusive Brethren were to sabotage Jeanette Fitzsimons awhile back.
Parties have to nut out policy in camera, not on camera, and the best that we can hope of them is a sincere effort to serve our interests, neither a simple kowtowing to the nonsensus of public opinion, nor an avid pursuit of possible funders.
An ideal democratic party will not follow public opinion, it will try to anticipate it, in the same way an astute business anticipates customer needs and desires. At this stage in the electoral cycle, while the horrors of National misrule are fresh in people’s minds, and the coalition have few or none of their own, it’s not so hard.
Let them lose touch with people though, and like entropy, the Gnats, in some form will be there, carrying out their role as decomposers, preparing the soil for the next round of growth.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/11/06/labours-dunedin-conference-returning-to-the-scene-of-the-crime/
thanks
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/11/06/labours-dunedin-conference-returning-to-the-scene-of-the-crime/
I have no knowledge of the actual remit. However, I do agree with the general thrust of Trotter’s post.
My understanding is that Labour Party conference remits in the past, may or may not be picked up in total by the caucus. It does sound like this latest agreed party policy further severs the links between the policies agreed by rank and file members and the caucus.
I don’t agree with the way Trotter and Bradbury are dismissive of so-called “identity politics”. But I do agree with their latest posts in which they argue that the left needs a radical shift to re-instate solid left wing values and policies.
Bradbury argues that it is climate change that will derail incrementalism and the current middle class/centrist focus of the Green Party and Labour.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/11/05/this-is-why-the-current-nz-political-spectrum-will-snap/
It’s too soon to tell with the Greens. They were knee-capped during the last election, and Davidson is still finding her feet as co-leader.
I don’t agree it is climate change alone that will derail centrist incrementalism, but it also the current state of effective disenfranchisement of those on low incomes, plus the radical sections of gender, LGBT+ and ethnic politics that will come to the fore.
I agree with Trotter’s summation:
“I was just reading a column by Chris Trotter in which he says the Labour Caucus no longer has to comply with the party manifesto…”
The Greens talked of doing similar at their last AGM, allowing their MPs more freedom to act without consulting members on every decision.
Ukraine activist Kateryna Handzyuk dies from acid attack
Campaigner’s death sparks protests and EU concern about violence against civil society
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/05/ukraine-activist-kateryna-handzyuk-dies-from-acid-attack
Peruvian villagers face murder and intimidation from land traffickers
Invaders continue to seize land within the Chaparrí ecological reserve, one of Peru’s most biodiverse forests
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/03/peruvian-villagers-face-and-intimidation-from-land-traffickers
“These killers, potential and actual, will be stopped only by real actions, not virtual ones,” reformist lawmaker Mustafa Nayyem wrote , saying the outpouring of condolences on social media wouldn’t be enough.
“Whether they will continue to drench us with acid, slaughter us in doorways, and shoot us in the back in our own country depends on how and what we do now,” Nayyem added.
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukrainian-activist-death-triggers-calls-for-ouster-of-law-enforcement-officials/29584083.html
The horrific acid attack that led to Handzyuk’s death is merely one of several dozen attacks against Ukrainian activists in the past year.
Re-upping this – another tragic story of a Ukrainian activist murdered while fighting for justice.
https://www.rferl.org/a/tragedy-on-sunshine-street/29318285.html
In NZ high country foreign? land owner gets to use precious water without having satisfied guardian regulations so that he can irrigate unsuitable areas to make a quick buck while the milk rush is still on. Controlling body ECan is fairly relaxed, as it is still in the control of rich-list or easy-rider fascist interests who replaced locally elected civil government body.
Peru or New Zealand, enabling the phallic rise of the neo liberal man with capital accretion strengthening his mind and body all over the world will be our death knell.
Well that is something that doesn’t happen often.
David Seymour says something I tend to agree with.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1811/S00042/mallard-brownlee-should-repay-cost-of-junket.htm
David Seymour had his “Um, what can I say to get in the news today?” moment.
His, “Um, what would be a good populist issue to use” opportunity.
I remember the headlines he garnered when he went crook about John Key and Jonathan Coleman going to England for All Black games in 2015. His public stand, speaking out loud and long when Bill English defended the use of taxpayer dollars, was quite memorable.
For a Parliamentary Under-Secretary and Minister to be so outspoken was quite dramatic.
I made all that last stuff up. David Seymour is playing a pathetic parody of the principled. Again.
Yep the waste of time drongo has outed two troughing fatcats – waste of money – you guys have enough, and your perks and your pensions – pay it back and admit you just abused the priviledge WE, the people, gave you.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/108389082/mps-attacked-for-watching-all-blacks-on-taxpayerfunded-trade-junket-to-japan
You would think would be an easy one, NZ public good and risks of aquifer outweigh Chinese majority owned private company getting more water but no… also raised point how consent can change use, but no come back as it was formally Kaputone Wool Scour and was unlikely to have used much of the water it was allocated.
reposted…
“Genevieve Robinson
Christchurch, New Zealand
NOV 5, 2018 —
ECan has received an application from Cloud Ocean Water to take water from their 180m bore.
Ecan is currently considering whether to notify the application.
The Christchurch City Council is concerned that the proposal will put the community water supply at risk.
Aotearoa Water Action is also concerned about the potential environmental effects.
AWA believes that if the application can be considered at all, it must be publicly notified – this is because the aquifer is already fully allocated, and because City Council testing shows the community water supply WILL be adversely affected, which is of huge public interest in the matter.
We believe that ECan needs to hear both the public’s views (including your views) and the evidence of additional experts.
AWA will be speaking at ECans meeting this Thursday, November 8, at 11am – so please add your comments below!
Let’s make sure the whole country gets to weigh in on this!”
It doesn’t matter if it’s the Chinese, English or Antarcticans – NO to taking our water I say.
Nestle has been doing it for years, they operate in poor areas/countries with few regulations…. or on indigenous people’s land… as being easier targets
“Luster lives in Flint, Michigan, and here, residents believe tap water is good for one thing: to flush the toilet.
“I don’t even water my plants with it,” she said.
Flint became synonymous with lead-poisoned water after government officials, looking to save money, switched the city’s water supply from Detroit city water to water from the corrosive Flint river.
Once the city had switched, the number of children with elevated lead exposure doubled; residents reported unexplained rashes and losing hair. An unpublished study recently found fetal deaths in Flint increased by 58% during the crisis.”
While Flint battles a water crisis, just two hours away the beverage giant pumps almost 100,000 times what an average Michigan resident uses into plastic bottles
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/29/nestle-pays-200-a-year-to-bottle-water-near-flint-where-water-is-undrinkable
“You would think would be an easy one, NZ public good and risks of aquifer outweigh Chinese majority owned private company getting more water but no…”
Could the impact of this (link below) be why the decision isn’t so easy?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/108379364/serious-storm-clouds-threaten-nz-democracy–report
And the big question on every ones mind…….
Will simon ask about fuel prices in question time today?
Or why is Iain Lees-Galloway still Minister of Immigration?
[Or should that be an “And/Or”?]
He certainly will not be talking about JLR… See 20 below. Not a happy chappy. LOLZ!
Just noticed Bridges has two questions to the PM today – Q1 and Q4. Both the usual
” Does she stand by all of her Government’s statements and actions?”
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/list-of-oral-questions/oral-questions-6-november-2018/
Also I see a certain female MP is in the House today after two weeks away. Must not name.
Lmao !!! V.V you called that one big time 🙂
Yes it was immigration and Iain.
Wonder if fuel will be Q4?
It’s like groundhog day again.
simon, nothing about fuel? Too much excitement out there about electric trains huh?
Meanwhile Jacinda’s blouse is gorgeous, kudos to the creators, beautiful sleeves, love the wide cuffs and cowl neck line.
Pretty sure that is the NZ designer top (and trousers) that JA wore on her trip to Paris to meet Macron earlier this year (April/May?) when she was about 7 – 8 months’ pregnant.
Yes – here is a link and photo.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/355269/ardern-hails-trade-vision-france-s-macron-to-visit-nz
And of course, I then needed to find who the designer was!
Here it is – Harman Grubiša .
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104309838/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-seeks-advice-on-designers-use-of-her-image-to-promote-brands
Hate to say it, I don’t actually like it. Too fussy for my taste but each to their own. Sorry ….
O.O Thanking you very much V.V.
It might not be your style of garment, but still you went out of your way to find the name of the fashion house, which is very much appreciated.
You are awesome V.V, thanks again.
Harman Grubiša, love, love your work ladies, keep it up.
Simon Bridges’ Daily Theme
Today’s is: “I am done talking about Jami-Lee Ross”.
He is not going to talk about yesterday’s audio release and said everything yesterday, and people can now hear the tape and decide for themselves, and he won’t be talking about any other recordings … … …
[Repeat, repeat, repeat, and again, repeat. ]
Somehow, I don’t think people like Barry Soper will just accept that. Bridges may not want to talk about Ross, but in fact the real subject is Bridges and Bennett, and their fitness to be Leader and Deputy Leader of the National Party.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/national-video/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503075&gal_cid=1503075&gallery_id=200274
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/108384318/simon-bridges-im-done-talking-about-jamilee-ross
SImon Bridges is keen to point out his role in opposition in holding the government to account” even as he reworks the same questions on fuel taxes ad nauseam in Question TIme.
But he doesn’t seem to want to afford the same role to the media regarding his effectiveness as Leader of the Opposition and as the leader of a major party. His effectiveness has been reduced by disowning an MP, his party is less effective.
The media has a part in this, albeit uncomfortable or downright dangerous to his career as he might feel threatened.
How would he function as PM if this is his current tolerance of media interest?
I don’t even think Trump has managed to get caught on tape, selling donations and entry to MP’s for $100k and thinking 2 Chinese were better than 2 Indians.
They have shown themselves unfit for the job. Imagine the embarrassing nightmare if they were running the country – they make t.rump look like a brainiac.
With over half of New Zealand households cutting back on heating their homes in winter due to the high cost of heating, I was dismayed to hear new Kiwibuild homes won’t be fitted with solar power. Which leads one to ask has solar power for new state owned homes also been overlooked?
A common factor I noticed from reports of people being hospitalised due to cold and damp homes was they couldn’t afford to utilize the heating supplied.
Therefore, while these new homes may be better insulated thus cheaper to heat, one would expect the Government (especially with the Greens in there) would be doing the upmost to keep heating cost at a minimum. Meaning not only would homes be cheaper to heat but heating would also be cheaper to run.
So what do we know? We know we have to reduce energy demand. We know we have to move energy generation away from fossil and bio. We know that heat kills far more readily than cold does. We know the world is warming. Hmm.
From the EU
Energy performance of Building regulations requirements
Mandatory standards that social housing providers have to achieve, often more ambitious than for the rest of the building stock for the global energy performance of new built dwellings are generally applied to all type of buildings.Thus, from 2020, all new buildings in the EU will have to be nearly zero. In most of the cases this means that not only homes will have to be extremely well insulated, but that they will have to compensate the energy for heating and hot water by using renewable energy or efficient systems like heat pumps.
I’m guessing they are referring to a net zero carbon footprint. But fck it. NZs just fine….NZ doesn’t need any new fangled means of energy generation. Global warming and climate change is “over there”…until it’s over here and some damned heatwave, or weather event accompanying a heatwave, knackers supply in one way or another (resulting in either brown outs or black outs) and people in housing only designed for a cooler 20th C are unable to cool themselves at night.
That’ll be fun.
Good article on it.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/10/solar-panels-weren-t-considered-for-kiwibuild.amp.html
Absolutely.
The government could even create a revenue stream for itself by allowing decent rates for power returned to the grid, and then collecting on any excess returned to the grid from HNZ properties. Put those profiteering power companies in their place and let all generators play on the grid.
Sadly the NZ government likes to clip the ticket and price gouge on power, hiding behind “market forces”. Yeah, right. Therefore little incentive to change to solar and not get that lucrative clip of the ticket. Instead they ‘give away’$500 payment to pretend they care . Meanwhile everyone, in particular those under 65 are being ripped off apart from corporate welfare to Tiwai Pt who get million dollar hand outs. Yes it all stems from the Natz, but Labour haven’t exactly been keen to address the power rip offs.
Sounds like it. State houses should have maximum amount of solar PV and solar water heating on them. The people going in to them are in dire straights and so such things that reduce power usage should be mandatory really.
Yes no point making everyone have a heater, if nobody can afford to turn it on. Personally think it’s disgusting especially with all the outages that every new house is not designed to be fitted with solar. It is not an end game but a way for extra power to be generated with the increasing population and with increasing outages and disasters people can at least have some free power when they either can’t afford it or the power is off.
The power companies are talking about importing more oil and gas because the hydro lakes are down!
And NZ unlike the rest of the world they are trying to tax solar so the power companies can maintain their excessive profits and rip offs.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/102708888/way-to-be-cleared-for-big-electricity-players-to-prey-on-lowincome-households
I tuned into Question Time to be again entertained by Paula Bennet’s facial contortions, but alas so far she has been subdued almost normal. Damn.
She has been very restrained for the last two weeks. Wonder why?
Xanax for the Natz?
By the way…… does anyone know where @ Wayne is?
Normally he’d be on duty to counter some of the ‘scurrilous’ claims being made on this ‘hard left’ blogsite.
I suppose it is possible that he’s just realised the gNats left a couple of ‘young bucks’ in charge of the chicken coup, and they just shat everywhere.
And that the only thing worth trying to salvage is the manure that could be marketed as an aid to reconditioning the soil they’ve been dumping on for the past ten years.
He did have something on TS yesterday I think.
Ah well, there ya go! That’s real dedication – was that yesterday you say?
Well he could be rehearsing his lines I ‘spose for his next gig on one of those panelistas on the weekend ‘incisive raisin affairs shows’ like New Shub Nayshun or Q+A. OR maybe he’s even slumming it with Jum Mora – I’ll have a listen.
And by the way, has anybody thought about poor old Krus Finalysin? I mean, there goes a rilly rilly decent man. A man that can truly empasoise with all his decent predecessors – loyal to the last man standing as well as to the Caci Clinic’s re-imaging efforts, and with an obvious lerv of leopard skin. WHAT a brick!
Perhaps he went to Japan to watch rugby? Or he has been meeting with his cronies since the year dot to watch the Melbourne races and drink up and talk up how great they are, how great Gnats are.
OMG LMAO lay on the floor kicking my feet upward whilst watching channel 86, and whilst planning how the fuck to get out of here
Maureen Pugh – list Neshnool M Poi, channeling Cilla Black.
Oh fuck! and now the square jawed Chris Penk in a beautiful blue ensemble with a matching spotted toi, and equipped with good intention, and possibly one of a gNatsi ‘good guy ‘ flag for the future (going forward), but with a tonne of Bennett and Bridges effluent immediately above ground.
How the Hell did it come to this!
[Deleted. You should know better – MS]
Is that necessary?
It’s the only conclusion I can come to, that post is really ticking all the unhinged/batshit crazy boxes.
Which is why your idols are in the state of panic they are now in.
They were never that ‘very’ nice.
Whether it was a Nafe (who’d never inhaled) travelling south stopping off at a Rangoli that’s been one of the most complicit in ripping off immigrants on the Ka Piti, or the next pretender to whatever you think is your self-entitled throne.
(Btw, I actually did due diligence on that Rangoli and there was a shitload of video that went with it, because the oicon John Koi went with it. It IS possible I could resurrect the video
But you know …… next (the next….. these days come thick and fast).
These days as I age, I can’t really be that fucked, because I’ve come to realise that arseholes usually get their just deserts in the end, although I’m up for an @ BM challenge at any time.
I really would like to know what the @ BM post was that I’m not now privy to, but I appreciate this site isn’t a dick measuring pissing contest
Don’t worry old fella, it was a rather mundane comment about you not taking your medication.
In these rather sensitive, sparkle pony dominated times obviously considered unacceptable, so was purged.
Shame you’re not up to putting your mouth where your dick is. I’d be happy to indulge though any time your wankness feels up to the challenge and bearing in mind I’m probably now knocking twice your age.
The Standard though is not the time nor place for this duel So suffice it to say I think you’re a wanker and you’ll resort to whatever softcock response you have in your armoury.
Oh how I would have loved to have been able to test your bullshit.
I you can think of a way – rest assured I’m up for it.
Unfortunately, the likes of you sometimes force people to challenge your wankery.
PLEASE – think of a way.
( I never thought I’d be saying all this, but things must when dickheads think they are prevailing )
> Shame you’re not up to putting your mouth where your dick is. I’d be happy to indulge
Please save it for the bedroom guys!
A.
ED
I don’t think Once was Tim or other regulars care too much about BM ans his slanted remarks. Just enjoy the show Ed and let the man be BM, or Bloody Morose as his friends call him.
Nothing like a crazy rant eh Tim. I’ve been talking about John Wyndham and his style of writing which he called logical fantasy. Recognising the fantasy, it is logical to let off steam now and then. You will never be as cute as a kitten rolling on its back with its feet in the air though.
Not as cute as racoons
Check out the cheeky little bastard at the 1-minute mark
I and I would suspect some other regular visitors but irregular posters don’t find him so amusing. A bitter nasty piece of work is a bitter, nasty piece of work.
He/she and a few others of their ilk are the reason I visit here less often.
Unfortunately @ BM – I missed your reply. I’d love to have been privy to it.
Don’t start us on privies. You know my humour can drop to low depths.
This must be the most unsatisfyingly slipshod and poorly reported news story of all time.
We sometimes gets stories of unexploded ordinance from the Land wars, which peaked my interest in this story.
Metre-long live naval shell found by contractors at a Te Puke address
Waikato Times, November 06 2018
This is not 19th C it looks more like a 20th C piece of ordinance.
However on earth did it get there? And When? Is it a World War II piece?
I am no expert but it looks more modern than that.
Whatever happened to the ABC of journalism, What When Why Who and how.
What is it? When and how did it get there? Who is responsible?
Was it some negligent Kiwi forces armourer who took it home as a souvenir?
It looks expensive. How much is it worth?
There must have been at least one casualty. To do his job so poorly, (it must have been a he), the unnamed journalist covering this story must have died of boredom halfway through writing it up.
One of the ex-army lads will be along to put me right soon I guess, but I would think it is a dummy shell for a field artillery piece. Too small for most naval guns for a shell of that age. Maybe an 18 or 25 pounder?? Looks too old for the light howitzer they were using from the 70’s. Prepared to be corrected by those who know..
3″ anti aircraft gun?
It looks to long and skinny for a 25pdr, it could be one of the following a 3.7inch AA, a 20pdr HE round from the old Centurion Tanks or 17pdr AT HE round. But from my understanding is that 17pdr AT gun never enter service in NZ Army, but some were sent out from the UK from testing and evaluation in the 50’s when the NZ Army was structure for fighting in the Middle East up until the late 50’s.
P.S I’ve a feeling it could be an 76mm HE round from the old M-41 Walker Bulldog Tank that was in service during the late 60’s until it was replaced by the CVR(T) Scorpion Tank. Which to was a backwards step as the M41 was still useful in SEA with it’s 76mm gunand it could punch its way through the Jungle at the time due to its weight. All we had to was upgrade the power pack and fire control systems.
Only Navy round I could think of could from the old Dido Class Anti Aircraft Cruisers from the 50’s to 60’s which were armed a 5.5inch semi automatic DP gun and again it look’s to long and skinny to be an 4.5inch HE round from the old Type 12 Frigates. I do know the rounds for the 5inch auto gun on the ANZAC Frigates is long skinny one and I hope it’s one of those or else there might be some please explain WTF going on. But it looks too old for one those by blueing and surface corrosion on the shell, anyway it’s an interesting find.
Were there any old ammunition depots near the find?
One of these? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_3-inch_20_cwt
If you use the bic pen in the picture as a reference I’d say it looks like a 3″ calibre or close to that.
You could be right IRT it being a 3inch round? It been a while since I’ve mucked around with Big Spud Guns such as these.
Here is the
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_3.7-inch_AA_gun
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_4.5_inch_Mk_I_%E2%80%93_V_naval_gun
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_5.25_inch_Mark_I_naval_gun
And the M41 Bulldog Tank https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M41_Walker_Bulldog
The 20pdr Gun
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance_QF_20-pounder
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance_QF_17-pounder and the the good old Centurion tank that became to be like “Granddads old axe” over the years.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_tank
The top 3 as they were used in Senior Service.
It looks far to big to be a 76mm (12 pounder) round (hard to tell though) And anyway, as far as I can recall the only time the RNZN operated 12 pounder (76mm) guns was in WW2 on the 13 Castle Class Minesweepers we had, but they were all out of Naval Service by 1946. Since the round conforms to NATO standard colour markings it is unlikely to be from the late 1940s!
The paint job on that round is deep bronze green – for HE type ammunition – and a white band indicating an illumination round.
Look at this image of a 4.5″ shell casing and note how the shape of the neck of the brass casing is the same –
http://www.deactivated-guns.co.uk/militaria/inert-rare-pre-falklands-war-british-navy-4-5-inch-practice-round/prod_6427.html
Therefore to me it looks like a 4.5″ Illumination round from a Type 12 or Leander class frigate.
Yeah I’m starting to think it’s either a 4.5 or possibly a 5.25 inch round since I’ve been pouring over my Naval books this afternoon that I use for build model ships.
The round 76mm gun on M41 Tank is long skinny one, I’m never to sure about what gets written up in the media these days and or what they put up on their news website.
Kia ora The Am Show I agree with Mark the Speaker and Jerry going on a working Holiday to Japan its hard work being a MP nit picking .
Cyber crime is a big issue for NZ I’m experiencing that every couple of weeks .
There you go Idris Elba is voted the world’s most handsome man Time’s are changing some will need a lot of tissues .
Mike some can see the big picture about the mid term elections in America unlike some who cannot see past there Ego’s.
Hone I don’t think some should encourage you to use those word’s on TV te mokopuna’s will be watching 3 of the 4 of my offspring don’t smoke and we never smoke in the same room or car with the mokopuna’s I say a advertising campaign on the bad effects on secondhand smoke and Alcohol .
Did you catch a Taxi to work yesterday.
Can’t you see we have a idiot behaving badly in the world media and it affects other idiots with small———the 1080 threat’s.
There are a few troll’s lined up for the poll today I new the stat’s will start correcting as the morning.
There you got I told everyone Wahine are more intelligent than man I seen it in my raising my children and my moko’s Equality is needed the schooling system does not teach te moko the the skill’s the children need to work out the best way to climb up there ladder’s of life .
Azees I told you the trump trolls have been waiting for your poll.
Ka kite ano
Eco Maori say’s Ka pai How Taylor Swift turned her Instagram into a get-out-the-vote fan page Americans get out and vote
American leg of her Reputation Tour at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Taylor Swift announced on Instagram for the first time ever who she’d be voting for: Democrats Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper.She’s among the most followed people on the social network, with more 112 million followers, link below Ka kite ano
.https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/06/politics/taylor-swift-instagram-gotv/index.html
Eco Maori Music for the minute.
There was a sunset rainbow in Washington on Election DayAs Washington, D.C. voters left polling places on Tuesday evening, they were treated to the unexpected view of a rainbow set against a scarlet sunset. Ka kite ano link below
https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/livestory/w_900/442b6648-0690-48be-a49e-f30b6bb299ed.jpg
Beyoncé endorses Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke: ‘When we are truly united we are unstoppable’ ka kite ano.Link below.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12156030
This is what the media can do with a small story spin a mountain out of a mole hill
Jacinda did not say she received death threats this is just another cheating neo liberal capitalist play the actors who are making these treats are there puppets ka kite ano
link is below.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/07/jacinda-ardern-receives-death-threat-as-pesticide-row-grows
Kia ora Tekaea
its cool That Jacinda is at the Ratana 100 year commemoration ka pai.
Nanaia that is a good start to the Papakainga package $1.7 million .
Mark Dunajtsik has made a huge gift to te tangata a new hospital .
Haunui Waka back in Aotearoa from the Norfolk Islands good experiences for the young Wahine and Tane ka pai Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub The House was won by Democrats ka pai its not over say Bernie Sanders
Unemployment has dropped that’s cool to it’s lowest in ten years a bit of positive wairua from the new Coalition Goverment .
I had thought that would be the outcome off the Ross saga a vote for New Zealand First
You will always find someone to find a negative comment from someone anywhere the Ratana commemorations for 100 years and the Labour Party’s delivering to tangata whenua some have a very short memorie .
The weed debate well we know that making it illegal is a dumb and has failed.
Immunization is the best way to stop Meningococcal disease .
Ka kite ano P.S got distracted our offspring were picking up the mokopuna’s car after I fixed it
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild James & Wairangi
Thats a very good over 46 for 2020 cricket from Darryl T.
That good that the British League player has a 4 week ban and a small fine its better than nothing .
Lets hope the Football Ferns & there new Coach will get a good wairua going.
Ka kite ano