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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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...
Redline received this article from the KOE a Marxist party in Greece Our friends in the KOE describe here the mounting crisis in Greece and tensions on the Turkish border. As desperate people flee from their homelands which have been ruined after decades of imperialist wars and interventions the people ...
As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messagesfrom different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...
. . April 3: Day 9 of living in lock-down… Another late-start to my work day. Everything is temporarily upended as clients are shuffled around so we can minimise our “bubble” by reducing the number of people we help. One of my colleagues has been removed from his clients; his ...
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 2: Day eight of living in lock-down… Today, my work day starts late. Our rosters and clients have been dramatically changed, lessening (theoretically) the number of people in our work “bubble”. If just one of us catches covid19 the impact could be considerable as Grey Base Hospital ...
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” Lenin Don’t we all know that feeling now.
Prospect Magazine alerted me to this particularly apt quote. It is a much more evocative quote than Hemingway’s “gradually then suddenly” which is also doing ...
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...
Brian Williamson1, Prof Nick Wilson2 (1Economic consultant, UK; 2University of Otago Wellington)In this blog, we outline how a win-win social contract could be forged to address the major dimensions of response to the COVID-19 pandemic when using a mitigation strategy: the particular need to protect older people from high ...
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...
No Free Society Without A Free And Functioning News Media: If we are to surrender our civil rights to the broader cause of defeating Covid-19, then foreign corporations must, likewise, surrender their right to inflict immense economic and cultural harm on New Zealanders simply because it improves their bottom line.I’M ...
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...
The swan politicians may be gliding on the water, occasionally snapping at one another. Meanwhile, as the Covid19 crisis illustrates, the officials are desperately paddling below providing the real locomotion. One of the most fatuous recent grandstanding comments (of about a week ago), adding to the public’s anxieties, was ...
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...
Today has felt surreal. I was all set to touch base online with my science communication students when a colleague shared the news that Bauer Media would be shutting down its publications immediately. The first link I saw implied it was Woman’s Weekly affected, and even that shocked me. But ...
Bogeymen, Real And Imagined: Is the number of psychopathic and sociopathic individuals in any given society truly as vanishingly small as we like to tell ourselves? Isn’t it more likely that the mass-shooters and serial-killers filling the headlines represent only the tip of a much, much larger iceberg of frightfulness? ...
Outgoing Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before the Epidemic Response Committee today, who asked him for the rules police are using to enforce the lockdown. He refused:Police Commissioner Mike Bush has admitted the advice given to Kiwis about what they're able to do during the lockdown hasn't been clear enough. ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of my cat, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a pretty flower. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 1: Day seven of living in lock-down… This morning I had a brief chat with one of my neighbours, “D” (social distance between us, a good three or four metres). I learned he had resigned from his previous job and had been hired by another company – ...
Funnily enough, my thought as I start this post is whether it will be well written enough. Or should that be well enough written? Because so much of what I know about good writing came from my two stints at The Listener, which this morning was shut down due to ...
With normal democratic procedures in abeyance, there were two ways to go. First, it was open for the government to dissolve itself and invite the National Party to join a ministry of national salvation. That would have lessened the democratic deficit of the times by having a team of rivals without ...
Dr Kirsty Ross Children and young people can respond differently in times of distress. This also varies by age and developmental stage, with younger children having more magical and imaginative thinking, and older children having more awareness and knowledge of the issues our communities are facing (which brings up ...
Hungary has been a virtual dictatorship for a decade now, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gradually eroded its democracy. But now, its official, with the passage of an indefinite emergency law allowing rule by decree:Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of coronavirus measures that includes jail terms for ...
While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in. They're planning a lot of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus, and have asked for proposals which can start the moment ...
It's my distraction, setting up tiny scenes to photograph. I've got stuck on the Babushka dolls for now. Something about their bubble shape. Something about their never changing, smiling features, suggesting persistent equanimity. Can we get through everything that is being thrown at us and keep at least a tiny ...
. . March 31: Day six of living in lock-down… This time I managed to sleep a little longer and the alarm woke me at the pre-set time: 6.55am. Then remembered I was working a later shift and could’ve slept in. Oh well, there are things to do at home. ...
Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ...
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some scrutiny.The poll is the fifth in a series commissioned ...
For almost a week now, every one of us who isn’t an essential worker has been confined to their bubble. We are allowed to go shopping for groceries, to visit the doctor, and to get a bit of exercise if we stay local. The reason we are doing this is ...
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...
In the absence of a vaccine or a cure for a deadly disease, staying home in your bubble is what you do, the concept is not new. To the best of my knowledge last time we did this in NZ was for polio, in the years before a vaccine came ...
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
This has been a terrible summer for Hector’s dolphins. The first indication was very low numbers of dolphin sightings during late spring and early summer. The Otago University Marine Mammal Research Team has carried out routine dolphin surveys at Banks Peninsula for more than 30 years. In all that time, ...
On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
The purpose of the lockdown is to save lives, by reducing the spread of covid-19. We won't know if its really working for another week, but given the devastation that will result if it doesn't - 14,000 dead is the optimistic scenario - its definitely worth trying. But pausing the ...
. . March 30: Day five of living in lock-down… Woke up still in darkness. Alarm hadn’t gone off. Turn to radio clock; it’s a few minutes after 6am… I lie there in the dark, waiting to drift off to sleep… but it ain’t happening. Clock ticks over to 6.55 ...
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... ‘Misinformation kills’: The link between coronavirus conspiracies and climate denialGrist / Rob Kim / Stringer / CSA Images Scientific ...
The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020Articles Linked to on FacebookSun, Mar 22, 2020In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
. . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Government has striven to provide calm, clear and consistent communication, including daily press conference updates from the Prime Minister. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
The New Zealand Government has made arrangements to charter a flight for New Zealanders stranded in Peru to depart the country, following agreement with the Chilean government to allow the necessary transit through Chile, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. “Like many travellers around the world at the moment, ...
Hospital preparations for COVID-19 are well advanced says Health Minister David Clark. “Hospitals across New Zealand are repurposing buildings and training staff to get ready for COVID-19 patients. This gives me confidence that we are well prepared for any potential increase in COVID-19 patients needing hospital level care,” said David ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
By RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern does not want New Zealand to be at level four for “a minute longer than needed”, but says there is no plan to lift it earlier than the planned four weeks. As New Zealand approaches the halfway point of the four-week lockdown, ...
Supercity Mayor Phil Goff says Auckland Airport is entitled to launch a major share issue even if it dilutes the council's own shareholding in a strategic asset Auckland Council will see its shareholding in the city's international airport diluted during a $1.2b equity raising initiative. Auckland International Airport shares traded at $7.20 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew McLachlan, Head of School and Dean of Pharmacy, University of Sydney Researchers testing the head lice drug Ivermectin as a possible treatment for COVID-19 have seen promising results in lab studies. But the research is in its early stages and the ...
In the Covid-19 crisis it seems like it's every country for itself, so where does that leave the European Union? Falling apart like the Roman Empire, says Oliver Hartwich We all know those newspaper segments which feature a previously famous person. And then we read these articles wondering why we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne This week’s Newspoll, conducted April 1-3 from a sample of 1,508 people, showed a huge boost in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s approval rating based on his leadership thus far in ...
Analysis: New Zealand has dedicated itself to going hard and going early against Covid-19. When compared with other countries, how did we do? When Jacinda Ardern announced a requirement for everyone entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days, she told the nation what New Zealand's strategy for the months ...
Covid-19 quickly put Vodafone NZ to the test, but CEO Jason Paris - working out of his son's bedroom - tells Rod Oram the telco is in good shape, with the crisis giving it the opportunity "to accelerate to our digital future" Vodafone New Zealand got an early start preparing ...
Inland Revenue (IR) will turn off its computer systems for seven days from this Thursday to implement the latest round of planned transformation changes. All phone and online services will be unavailable from 3pm on 9 April until 16 April. That ...
Taxis drivers working during lockdown are facing challenges to keep themselves and their passengers safe, and rideshare service drivers face extra problems. The Taxi Federation's John Hart says most companies are asking callers who request a taxi whether the travel is allowed under the lockdown rules. "If they don't meet ...
Auckland Airport is the latest big company to rush to strengthen its finances to counter the impact of the Covid-19 virus. The company is to raise more than $1.2 billion through a share issue to big institutional investors and existing shareholders, including the Auckland Council which has a 22 percent ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilan Noy, Professor and Chair in the Economics of Disasters, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Governments across the world have rolled out extensive financial packages to support individuals, businesses and large corporations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Equally, central ...
Pacific Media Watch From the second week of lockdown in New Zealand, to Covid-19 in the Pacific and an “authoritarianism creep” by governments in the Asia-Pacific region provided a fast-changing landscape on the Pacific Media Centre’s Southern Cross radio programme on 95bFM today. New Zealand had crossed the 1000-case ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is urging the Government to halt its non-essential legislative agenda, including the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Bill, until the worst of COVID-19 has passed. Taxpayers' Union spokesperson Islay ...
Fuel sales have dropped dramatically and stocks are building up, creating pressure on storage facilities globally and in New Zealand. Z Energy's chief executive Mike Bennetts told Morning Report that there are many storage tanks throughout the country and at the Marsden Point Oil Refinery. "The issue for us is more about ...
Join us for our eighth live Q&A session with Dr Ayesha Verrall, a senior lecturer at Otago University who specialises in infectious diseases. Ayesha Verrall is an infectious diseases physician and senior lecturer at Otago University's Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine (Wellington). Dr Verrall has been monitoring the spread and impact of Covid-19 ...
SkyCity has broken the law by sacking hundreds of workers as of today with no consultation or discussion. Salaried managers at SkyCity were told on Friday that their jobs would finish today. Their letter of notice states clearly that the decision has already ...
The latest in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersThese posts collate the most recent statistics and presents them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early ...
Mark Jennings writes on some of the good things to have come out of lockdown - and the tough times that lie ahead. We are well into our second week of lockdown and, for me, our old world already feels strangely remote. I’ve learned that working from home is fine, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sharpe, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Deakin University Some weeks ago, I got an email from a student who had returned to Northern Italy over Christmas to see family. Unable to return to Australia, they were in lockdown. The hospitals were filling ...
The Taranaki-Whanganui Conservation Board (TWCB) has welcomed its latest victory in a long-running court battle to prevent seabed mining off the Taranaki coast. The TWCB has been working with iwi, seafood and other environmental organisations to ...
If you’re a movie-lover but don’t feel like funnelling more money to a giant global corporation right now, good news: there are plenty of free – and legal – streaming options out there. You just have to know where to look.The number of people with access to linear television is ...
The face mask question is more complicated than it might at first seem, explains Siouxsie Wiles.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is only possible because of the support of members. If you can, please consider joining Spinoff Members here. Read Toby Morris’s new Side Eye comic, created with Siouxsie Wiles, here. ...
In times of economic uncertainty, good information can be an invaluable commodity. So we’ve been working on a way to channel it to you.For many people, knowing what to do in our radically changing economy is like trying to figure out what to do when the power in your house ...
3 April 2020: The Auditor-General has written to the chief executives of a range of public agencies about important governance matters to consider during the response to the pandemic. The contents of this letter are useful matters for all chief executives ...
Cries that coronavirus lockdown was interfering with “essential pest control” were scare-mongering not unlike supermarket panic buying says a hunting organisation the Sporting Hunters Outdoor Trust. The comment was in response to an Auckland University ...
The Chief High Court judge’s decision to step down has triggered a question bluntly expressed in a headline on Asian Invasion 2019 – What The Hell Is Going On In The New Zealand Judiciary? First, the blogger says, the judiciary was accepting debate sparked by a newly appointed Supreme Court ...
The daily growth in Covid-19 cases in New Zealand continues to slump as the number of tests carried out yesterday reached a record high, Marc Daalder reports The continuing stagnation in the number of new Covid-19 cases on Monday is encouraging, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said. Monday saw just 67 ...
Laura Jean McKay is hunkered down in Palmerston North but her much-hyped novel The Animals in That Country is out there in the world – earlier than expected, too, because it’s about a strange new flu. Two women stand close to each other in an aisle labelled CANS. They’re young, ...
She’s not a teacher or a fluent speaker – she just wants to practise with you. Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Today we’re making it count – from 0 to 1000!Most of us learned tahi, rua, toru, whā when ...
Human rights lawyer Kingsley Abbott warns that Kiwis should not be too complacent about the restrictions being placed upon them In New Zealand, swimming at the beach is prohibited, an activity so entrenched in the Kiwi psyche that for many it is like being asked to go without oxygen. The ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet ...
Gareth Morgan believes if current trends continue, the Government could "open the jail" in another week Each week we’re locked up imparts irreparable harm to the economy, people’s livelihoods and not least our health. We all know why it’s been necessary and the Government is to be congratulated for moving ...
The Reserve Bank will buy up local government bonds in a major move to support the smooth functioning of the market in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic The Reserve Bank has heeded the call of economists and the country's largest council to expand its multi-billion dollar asset-purchasing programme to include bonds issued by ...
Today President Trump again touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19, despite a lack of good evidence that it is safe or effective against the coronavirus. Here’s what we do know about the drug Trump calls a ‘game changer’.On Saturday the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use ...
Simon Bridges supports the start of discussions about a possible exit plan from level-4 restrictions, as long as the government remains focused on enforcing an effective lockdown. ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By Sri Krishnamurthi, self-isolating in Auckland under New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown as part of a Pacific Media Watch series. As New Zealand edges toward the third week of lockdown having passed 1000 cases threshold (1039) with 89 new cases, 12 clusters and one death on day ...
It’s a more complicated issue than simply whether one company should control the majority of the market, writes regulatory law expert Edward Willis.The closure of Bauer Media’s operations in New Zealand, along with many well-loved magazine titles, is devastating. The broad impact of the closure, coupled with the realisation that ...
Pacific Media Watch Authorities are cracking down to try and stop the spread of the coronavirus in Fiji, which already has 12 cases, reports TVNZ One News. Police have arrested more than 240 people in the last two days for breaching curfew. “This level of lawlessness is irresponsible, un-Fijian ...
‘When you reach for the exact same thing day after day, your grasp on everything else in the world loosens.’Read more Lockdown Letters hereAt the end of 2001, my brother JP and I picked cherries and thinned apples at an orchard just outside Blenheim. It was hot and tiring work ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin USA still far from worst. Chart by Keith Rankin. Looking at known cases of Covid19, as for Friday 3 April, we still see the dominance of the jetsetter enclaves – including the tax shelters of Europe. We also see the Norse ‘viking’ cluster of Norway, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand. Today’s contentPublic health strategy Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): How hard, how early? The numbers behind New Zealand’s quick lockdown David Fisher ...
Alex Casey talks to a physiotherapist about how we can all save our necks and backs from a world of pain while working from home during the lockdown. As we enter another week of lockdown, you might be starting to feel a new twinge at the nape of your neck, or ...
The country's three major IT groups have been left out of the loop by the Government in the race to speed up critical contact tracing of virus carriers. ...
America faces 'Pearl Harbour moment' this week; Trump still promoting anti-malaria drug; Irish PM to work as doctor as wellA million cases is so last week, huge doubt over data: A weekend is a long time for an exponential epidemic to do its mathematical work. Early today, New Zealand time, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suze Wilson, Senior Lecturer, Executive Development, Massey University Imagine, if you can, what it’s like to make decisions on which the lives of tens of thousands of other people depend. If you get things wrong, or delay deciding, they die. Your decisions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hewson, Professor and Chair, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Climate deniers have been hanging out for the United Nations’ next big summit to fail. In a sense, the coronavirus and its induced policy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide You’ve lost income because of the coronavirus crisis and finding it hard to pay the bills. What if you can’t pay your rent? The short answer, if you live in Australia, is that rules ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron Burton, Lecturer in Media Arts, University of Wollongong Being in isolation might be a great time to try something new. In this series, we get the basics on hobbies and activities to start while you’re spending more time at home. ...
The prime minister has pushed back on comments made by an Australian government minister telling New Zealanders to go home if they have no means of support. ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Safe harbour for directors; Virgin Australia shuts NZ base; Z Energy cancels dividend and talks to banks; Serko bounces on cost cutsSafe harbour: Company directors might be sleeping a little easier now that the Government has provided clarity around the issue of reckless trading or trading while insolvent. The ...
Covid 19 coronavirus: Foreign Minister Winston Peters says up to 100,000 foreign nationals may be heading home; and pressure on Government to bring forward capital projects as part of infrastructure injection. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Debate over leaving lockdown fires up, how the tax system could change after Covid-19, and concerns as cyclone bears down on Vanuatu.Over the last few days, a debate has started to fire up about leaving level four restrictions, and restarting some ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Queenstown author Jane Bloomfield on a writing compeition which unlocks kids' imaginations during the lockdown. Encouraging young minds to roam wild is what drives myself and nine other children’s authors to run the online story-writing competition, Fabostory. With the current lockdown in place, we invite writers aged 7–13 to unlock ...
The Global Financial Crisis badly hurt the employment prospects of young people about to enter the workforce. Roger Smyth writes that Covid-19 will have a deeper impact, and the Government needs to respond better this time. Recessions hit the young hardest. Employers stop recruiting. Those without qualifications and those without experience end ...
March 16, 2020 is a day that any share market investor is likely to remember for a long time. That’s the day that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index that tracks the top 30 companies listed on US stock exchanges, lost 2997 points, nearly 13 percent of its value. ...
The University of Otago's Patrick Boudreau explains how 'adventure psychology' can help you cope with self-isolation Imagine being halfway up a sheer vertical face of rock. Gripping ledges smaller than the width of your iPhone with the tips of your fingers and edge of your toes. If the rock gives ...
After 15 years on the world pro tennis circuit, Marina Erakovic is chasing a new dream in sports medicine and mentoring young tennis stars. Marina Erakovic can’t run anymore. She didn’t really like it anyway, but still, it’s a measure of the toll a 15-year career at the highest level of tennis has ...
Newsroom wanted to find out why so many small shops still don’t want us to use paywave. And the answer hasn’t changed - bank fees. Suddenly, surfaces are scary. Door handles, taps, light switches, lift buttons, eftpos machines. These days they aren't just useful inanimate objects we touch without a ...
Should all New Zealanders wear face masks in public to reduce the spread of Covid-19? Farah Hancock looks at the science. The success of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore in keeping Covid-19 levels low has seen a call for widespread mask-wearing. In the United States, the message from officials has ...
Scientists hope to seek evidence of the coronavirus, or its absence, in wastewater. Mirjam Guesgen explains.The fight against Covid-19 is headed for the sewers, with New Zealand scientists hoping to analyse wastewater samples for signs of the coronavirus.Tests would allow health authorities to see whether New Zealand’s elimination strategy has ...
Since the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment relaxed the rules around the supply of essential non-food items last week, more businesses are announcing that their online stores are up and running. Some things, however, are not what leaps to mind as ‘essential’.Under the new policy allowing essential non-food items ...
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it’s too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. At today’s media briefing, Ardern was reluctant to draw too many conclusions from ...
By Stefan Armbruster of SBS News in Brisbane Refugees and asylum seekers in Brisbane have begun daily protests urging for their release after doctors and human rights lawyers flagged fears that a repurposed hotel could become a coronavirus infection hotspot. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UN Human ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it's too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. ...
Sam Brooks, a lifelong Studio Ghibli fan, presents a guide to the Japanese studio’s animated films, including which ones to show your kids when.Just heard ‘Let It Go’ for the billionth time? Sick of those class-traitor dogs that make up the cast of Paw Patrol? Look no further than the ...
Alan Simmons co-leader of the NZ Outdoors Party says tensions are at breaking point around New Zealand. “I cannot keep up with the calls and messages from New Zealanders who are extremely stressed, distressed and frustrated by dramatic changes imposed ...
Open Mike 06/11/2018 
Last month I wrote my blog on covid-19 pointing out the in our pre Alert Level 4 days that a subject no one had heard here months ago was now dominating the media. An amazing feature of this crisis is how quickly it has swept every other issue aside worldwide. ...5 hours ago
Nick Wilson,1 Ayesha Verrall,1,2 Len Cook,3 Alistair Gray,3 Amanda Kvalsvig,1 Michael Baker,1 (1epidemiologists, 2infectious disease physician, 3statisticians) In this blog, we raise ideas for how New Zealand might optimise testing to both identify cases in the community as part of the COVID-19 elimination strategy, and to confirm when the virus ...5 hours ago
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... North Atlantic's capacity to absorb CO2 overestimated, study suggests Research into ocean’s plankton likely to lead to ...9 hours ago
The Treaty on Open Skies is one of the most effective mechanisms for preventing war curently in force. By letting countries make surveillance flights over each others' territory, it eliminates fears that they are secretly preparing for war. So naturally, the US is planning to withdraw from it: The Trump ...9 hours ago
. . April 5: Day eleven of living in lock-down… My one day of rest for the week, and an opportunity to mow my lawns – which I’d been delaying for about three weeks. (On the plus side, the damp micro-climate in my back yard yielded three lovely fresh mushrooms ...9 hours ago
Paul Connett is putting all his eggs in one basket. He says “you only have to read four studies” to find community after fluoridation harmful. Image credit: Fluoride Action Network newsletter. For part 1 of this series see Anti-fluoridation propaganda now relies on only four studies. 1: Bashash et al (2018). Paul Connett, ...12 hours ago
As far as anyone can say, New Zeaand still has a general election scheduled for September 19 this year. The election will be accompanied by two referenda, one of which will ask voters:Do you support the proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill?The official campaign period for the cannabis referendum begins ...12 hours ago
As the world economy slides rapidly towards deep recession there are growing calls for a Universal Benefit coming from some leftists and rightists. Now Finance Minister Grant Robertson is saying it is on the table. This article by a French party Workers Struggle provides analysis of various forms of universal ...1 day ago
This is the advice from the very top of the anti-fluoride movement – Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). Don’t worry about reading up on all the scientific information “You only have ... 1 day ago
Comfortably, in the very first round, with an impressive 56% of the votes.I wonder, did members of the Shadow Cabinet start tweeting their resignations during Starmer's victory speech, or is that only a trick the right pull?It is odd how all the talk of how the next leader "needs to ...1 day ago
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...2 days ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...3 days ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...4 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...4 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 5 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...6 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...6 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...1 week ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...1 week ago
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Government has striven to provide calm, clear and consistent communication, including daily press conference updates from the Prime Minister. ...1 day ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...3 days ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...2 weeks ago
The New Zealand Government has made arrangements to charter a flight for New Zealanders stranded in Peru to depart the country, following agreement with the Chilean government to allow the necessary transit through Chile, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. “Like many travellers around the world at the moment, ...5 hours ago
By RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern does not want New Zealand to be at level four for “a minute longer than needed”, but says there is no plan to lift it earlier than the planned four weeks. As New Zealand approaches the halfway point of the four-week lockdown, ...1 hour ago
Supercity Mayor Phil Goff says Auckland Airport is entitled to launch a major share issue even if it dilutes the council's own shareholding in a strategic asset Auckland Council will see its shareholding in the city's international airport diluted during a $1.2b equity raising initiative. Auckland International Airport shares traded at $7.20 ...1 hour ago
While Cabinet is discussing what's needed for NZ to return to alert level three, the PM's made it clear lockdown will run until 22 April. ...1 hour ago
In the Covid-19 crisis it seems like it's every country for itself, so where does that leave the European Union? Falling apart like the Roman Empire, says Oliver Hartwich We all know those newspaper segments which feature a previously famous person. And then we read these articles wondering why we ...3 hours ago
Analysis: New Zealand has dedicated itself to going hard and going early against Covid-19. When compared with other countries, how did we do? When Jacinda Ardern announced a requirement for everyone entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days, she told the nation what New Zealand's strategy for the months ...4 hours ago
Covid-19 quickly put Vodafone NZ to the test, but CEO Jason Paris - working out of his son's bedroom - tells Rod Oram the telco is in good shape, with the crisis giving it the opportunity "to accelerate to our digital future" Vodafone New Zealand got an early start preparing ...4 hours ago
Inland Revenue (IR) will turn off its computer systems for seven days from this Thursday to implement the latest round of planned transformation changes. All phone and online services will be unavailable from 3pm on 9 April until 16 April. That ...5 hours ago
Taxis drivers working during lockdown are facing challenges to keep themselves and their passengers safe, and rideshare service drivers face extra problems. The Taxi Federation's John Hart says most companies are asking callers who request a taxi whether the travel is allowed under the lockdown rules. "If they don't meet ...5 hours ago
Auckland Airport is the latest big company to rush to strengthen its finances to counter the impact of the Covid-19 virus. The company is to raise more than $1.2 billion through a share issue to big institutional investors and existing shareholders, including the Auckland Council which has a 22 percent ...5 hours ago
Fuel sales have dropped dramatically and stocks are building up, creating pressure on storage facilities globally and in New Zealand. Z Energy's chief executive Mike Bennetts told Morning Report that there are many storage tanks throughout the country and at the Marsden Point Oil Refinery. "The issue for us is more about ...5 hours ago
Join us for our eighth live Q&A session with Dr Ayesha Verrall, a senior lecturer at Otago University who specialises in infectious diseases. Ayesha Verrall is an infectious diseases physician and senior lecturer at Otago University's Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine (Wellington). Dr Verrall has been monitoring the spread and impact of Covid-19 ...5 hours ago
The latest in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersThese posts collate the most recent statistics and presents them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early ...6 hours ago
Mark Jennings writes on some of the good things to have come out of lockdown - and the tough times that lie ahead. We are well into our second week of lockdown and, for me, our old world already feels strangely remote. I’ve learned that working from home is fine, ...6 hours ago
The Chief High Court judge’s decision to step down has triggered a question bluntly expressed in a headline on Asian Invasion 2019 – What The Hell Is Going On In The New Zealand Judiciary? First, the blogger says, the judiciary was accepting debate sparked by a newly appointed Supreme Court ...7 hours ago
The daily growth in Covid-19 cases in New Zealand continues to slump as the number of tests carried out yesterday reached a record high, Marc Daalder reports The continuing stagnation in the number of new Covid-19 cases on Monday is encouraging, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said. Monday saw just 67 ...7 hours ago
Human rights lawyer Kingsley Abbott warns that Kiwis should not be too complacent about the restrictions being placed upon them In New Zealand, swimming at the beach is prohibited, an activity so entrenched in the Kiwi psyche that for many it is like being asked to go without oxygen. The ...8 hours ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet ...8 hours ago
The National Party leader Simon Bridges supports the start of discussions about a possible exit plan from level-4 restrictions. ...9 hours ago
Gareth Morgan believes if current trends continue, the Government could "open the jail" in another week Each week we’re locked up imparts irreparable harm to the economy, people’s livelihoods and not least our health. We all know why it’s been necessary and the Government is to be congratulated for moving ...9 hours ago
The Reserve Bank will buy up local government bonds in a major move to support the smooth functioning of the market in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic The Reserve Bank has heeded the call of economists and the country's largest council to expand its multi-billion dollar asset-purchasing programme to include bonds issued by ...9 hours ago
The country's three major IT groups have been left out of the loop by the Government in the race to speed up critical contact tracing of virus carriers. ...13 hours ago
America faces 'Pearl Harbour moment' this week; Trump still promoting anti-malaria drug; Irish PM to work as doctor as well A million cases is so last week, huge doubt over data: A weekend is a long time for an exponential epidemic to do its mathematical work. Early today, New Zealand time, ...13 hours ago
Cabinet ministers will today consider whether New Zealand is ready to come out of lockdown in another 16 days. ...13 hours ago
Safe harbour for directors; Virgin Australia shuts NZ base; Z Energy cancels dividend and talks to banks; Serko bounces on cost cuts Safe harbour: Company directors might be sleeping a little easier now that the Government has provided clarity around the issue of reckless trading or trading while insolvent. The ...14 hours ago
Covid 19 coronavirus: Foreign Minister Winston Peters says up to 100,000 foreign nationals may be heading home; and pressure on Government to bring forward capital projects as part of infrastructure injection. ...14 hours ago
Queenstown author Jane Bloomfield on a writing compeition which unlocks kids' imaginations during the lockdown. Encouraging young minds to roam wild is what drives myself and nine other children’s authors to run the online story-writing competition, Fabostory. With the current lockdown in place, we invite writers aged 7–13 to unlock ...15 hours ago
The Global Financial Crisis badly hurt the employment prospects of young people about to enter the workforce. Roger Smyth writes that Covid-19 will have a deeper impact, and the Government needs to respond better this time. Recessions hit the young hardest. Employers stop recruiting. Those without qualifications and those without experience end ...16 hours ago
March 16, 2020 is a day that any share market investor is likely to remember for a long time. That’s the day that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index that tracks the top 30 companies listed on US stock exchanges, lost 2997 points, nearly 13 percent of its value. ...16 hours ago
The University of Otago's Patrick Boudreau explains how 'adventure psychology' can help you cope with self-isolation Imagine being halfway up a sheer vertical face of rock. Gripping ledges smaller than the width of your iPhone with the tips of your fingers and edge of your toes. If the rock gives ...16 hours ago
After 15 years on the world pro tennis circuit, Marina Erakovic is chasing a new dream in sports medicine and mentoring young tennis stars. Marina Erakovic can’t run anymore. She didn’t really like it anyway, but still, it’s a measure of the toll a 15-year career at the highest level of tennis has ...16 hours ago
Newsroom wanted to find out why so many small shops still don’t want us to use paywave. And the answer hasn’t changed - bank fees. Suddenly, surfaces are scary. Door handles, taps, light switches, lift buttons, eftpos machines. These days they aren't just useful inanimate objects we touch without a ...16 hours ago
Should all New Zealanders wear face masks in public to reduce the spread of Covid-19? Farah Hancock looks at the science. The success of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore in keeping Covid-19 levels low has seen a call for widespread mask-wearing. In the United States, the message from officials has ...16 hours ago
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