The National Party has released a discussion document asking if benefits to solo mothers who refuse to vaccinate should be cut, but Mr Luxon's suggestion it go further to working for families is new….but apparently worth getting feedback from average kiwi's on..
The interview was as bad and as low brow, dumd and stupid as you could imagine, but it reminded me of a bit from this Think Big interview with Slavoj Žižek at about 10:30 into it…
Great clip Adrian. He spells it out. I think I got a fairly clear view before I started watching and listening to him (you can be in two minds sometimes), but he is right. We need to look at outcomes, without any labelling of left or right, any naming of political pathway, and what we are seeing is an unacceptable slide into nimbyism, selfishness, callousness, and obsession. There are fantasy views of what is going on that people shine on any unattractive facade, like using the world as a backscreen for a giant epic.
I think he is missing a point about local government and so on; I think that people need to wake up and take some responsibility for their local area, and come together with other local areas to form a viable plan for good systems and outcomes. This would run in parallel with the national and international stuff which we have so little input or control over. Too much talk about how things should be is where the activity goes, too little actual intelligent and far-seeing work. There needs to be fast decision-making, enabling things to be done as pilots within an agreed framework.
Our world has come to a crossroads. We can't drag ourselves along the same route with politicians spitting venom at each other, and hate for a majority of us while being paid large salaries to prevent anything happening that would help those most in need. They are like wearing leg irons, and even those wil goodwill are too heavy for us to move far. We are in need of new, good laws and practices that take us into the future, but the past want to hold onto their prize won in the blood and vileness of World War 2.
It is important for people who want to be both kind and practical to find each other, because nothing worthwhile is going to come from the rest of the democrats who want to leave the important stuff for the end of the meeting agenda; someone quoted once that if you wanted agreement at an average committee meeting to develop a nuclear bomb it should be a bland heading at the end of the agenda, after a discussion on whether the garden shed should be repositioned in a better spot where it would be over the cricket crease.
They will prefer to follow inadequate policies, or watch sport or let off firecrackers, which include the word that is likely to be the death knell of many! We will have so many complaints when they are banned. And we need to do it right away so there isn't another full Guy Fawkes, though there will be the regular letting them off individually and in groups on occasions for years. Perhaps there is a connection with our planet's birth called the Big Bang, and males of all ages carry a genetic memory!
They say " Without deep and lasting changes, the world is facing "untold human suffering" the study says."
what they shoud say however is this "
Without deep and lasting changes, the poor of this world are facing untold human suffering:" the study says. (and one could argue that they are already doing so).
while the 'poor' (currently) will (and are) suffering the most it is important to understand that the situation is not static and that it will change…and not slowly.
The 'wealthy' will not be immune until the very end as that wealth relies on interdependent systems to be of use.
Some women i know had great stories about payment and money options in germanyjust after the war and before the monetary reform in 1948. Prostitution- or fraternazation – got you food, cigarettes, booze etc etc etc. And these three things paid for everything else.
in a world without food, the last remaining body to be eaten is currency – and i bet you a dollar that the one eating will be people like Jarvanka (and their ilk and those like them) and the one being eaten is just some schmuck of the street who will not be missed by anyone. .
where is that money?…how do they access it?..as said the functioning systems have to remain operable for it to be of use…stranded assets cant be sold ….banks and sharemarkets collapse….distribution networks are easily disrupted (assuming theres something to distribute)…if the poor are unable to cope, who does the work?
Card houses dont slowly disintegrate…they collapse, and we have built one very unstable global house of cards
come on, you are not telling me you don't see how cigarettes, booze and food, sex, life stock ( animals / human) can be used at currency? I have one nubile 14 year old slave to sell for 5 cows and a horse ( i think in the bible they might even speak of that type of transaction often disguised on the idea of 'marriage / dowry/brideprice etc)
I pointed to Germany in the years of 1945 – 1948 in which the country was demonstrably destroyed, several families often shared one flat in fairly bombed out houses (each family a room, something that was also done in England / Holland / Italy / etc during the war), power, water supply was intermittently and ' the Reichsmark aka money' had no value. Guess what, you could pick potatoes at the farm and as payment you took home a bag of potatoes. You could sell yourself for some fags from the Ami's and use these to pay for goods at hte black market. Or like my mother did as a child with her siblings, pick cigarettes butts of the floor, take them home, clean them up and re-roll them for the elders in the family to smoke.
I find it really funny that in your doom/gloom scenario you leave out the fact that people are a. resilient and will to some degree adapt, b. that people trade and even if go far back in time have gone to great lenght and distances to bring goods to their people, c. there will always be a ruling class i.e. the strongest/fittest/ will survive. You can sell an hour or several of sex for a pound of bacon, you can then sell one half pound of bacon for flour, eggs, butter, and make bread, sell that for a week of rent in a hovel, etc etc etc. In fact some people already live life like that. We already have that in todays society, it is called survival sex and its a standard thing to do when homeless – especially when young and homeless.
As for work? ;Lol, the telephone answer drones of today will be meat. so will be most of the pencil pushers that serve no other reason then create paperwork that again serves no purpose other then billing you the customer out of your money. The ones that can create value with their hands, that can grow food, that can build, mend, fix, heal, etc will be however in great demand .
And yes, the ones with 'money' will be the last ones to diet.
Cause this is what humans do, we build, then we destroy and kill and then we will build again.
The world is changing, and we are not ….that is our biggest issue. If we would look a the changes to come and do something – rather then insist in doing a. nothing, or b. just something to pretend to be doing something – that would help this transition to a planet that will be hotter, more hostile etc we would probably end up fine.
But we are not doing this.
This is like parking in an illegal park and then complaining about the ticket one gets. Its not hte fault of the parking warden that the car was parked illegally so why blame him/her for the ticket.
And currently that is the collective of this planet, continuing to park illegally while moaning about parking tickets. When people collectively wake up to the realisation that they are too poor for parking tickets they will look for an alternative that works better but not a moment before.
so the wealthy will sell themselves and their children for some flour or bacon (as long as there remains some) and squat in an unserviced building (no power or running water) and theyre 'fine'…. I guess our interpretations of the word fine are at odds….Syria , Somalia and the like must be holiday resorts.
no, just to clarify as your reading comprehension is not functioning properly today
your children will be sold as meat to those that will be 'rich' when the endtimes of which you are so afraid of come to pass. Unless your decendency is the 'global elite of future times' then they get to buy someones children for what ever is needed in order to survive.
My comprehension fine and dont dispute any of that has happened or will happen again….my dispute is with your position that the
"The rich will be fine until the very end. "
You appear to miss the point the rich are only so as long as the current paradigm exists…remove the current paradigm (as CC will) and their wealth disappears
and again you seem to lack any imagination that 'money' as you think it is and will be can be replaced by anything that someone places value on. Or our 'current paradigm".
You can be the poorest bloke in the universe but if someone wanted to buy your daughter for what is 'money' you could sell her 🙂 And someone would have the 'money' to buy her. And that money may be printed paper, or it may be a bag of potatoes a cow and a goat or simply your life.
And he / she who has many goats and camels and water and what ever can be considered desirable will be considered rich.
And yes, the rich of today, will have land, they will have access to water on that land, they will be able to plant/grow etc etc etc.
The world will not end with us, as much as the world did not end in the thirty year war, or during ww 2 or such. The world will change, there will be rich there will be poor, and chances are that when that times comes you and i are both dead and thus among the lucky ones.
Maybe you need to watch some more of the dystopian movies that are to understand that money / current paradigm is what ever has value to the many (water, food, imo) and that can then used for trading and thus rich/poor will again and still exist.
So yes, the rich will be fine until the end, and the end will be much earlier for the poor then the rich. I suggest that you read the Stark from Ben Elton, he says things so much better then I.
Good luck ensuring the loyalty of that 'security' when the shit really hits the fan. People tend to eat each other when things get really grim, and a pantry full of plump, pampered rich folk would likely prove irresistible.
Some rich will get et, sure. But warlords arising in a time of strife are just another type of rich folk, and then they get called "knight" and "duke" and "king", and hundreds of years later their descendants are conventional rich folk. And they own guns and know where the food stores are buried, so people do what they say in times of strife, and if things get really bad they transition into a barter/thug economy and become warlords…
The grisly film Delicatessen with touches of the ironic, is a most unusual 1991 French production. Post-apocalyptic is what it is called. Getting some meat means knowing someone has been murdered. Who knows what humans would end up doing if we don't find a way to build a lasting rational society with ethics which will apply to all.
The rich will find before the end that they are not fine. We have seen how people go mad when they are corrupted, letting the poor die and animals and nature die, will corrupt them absolutely and the fine and wonderful souls of men, women and animals will all shrink.
People get desperate for some order, communion with other people with soul, and purpose in life that one person locked up in jail and in isolation wrote that watching the ants and cockroaches kept him sane.
It has been well established that the so called "war on drugs" was a catastrophic failure, but large segments of the right, even in this country still push it or something similar as a legitimate action for the state to pursue.
Bridges is now quite obviously going for the right wing 'populist' lane, I have noticed that his rhetoric has become more and more confrontational and base over the previous couple of months..and I guess he figures that with his shit poll numbers he hasn't got anything to lose.
Note the contrast with Judith, who is carefully downplaying the nasty streak that had her manufacture the title "Crusher", the better to compete with the unlovable Simon and presumably Jacinda.
Mind, while its easy to simply shake the head at the No Mates and No Ideas Party, this is a 'war' that is Labours/Green/NZFirst to loose.
Currently however it seems that when it comes to a realistic approach to drugs and their usage all we get is fake piety from the Greens _ No Gummibears for you, nothing from Labour, nothing from NZFirst and nothing but bullshit from National.
So maybe J.A could do something? Anything? you know, something?
The worse Bridges gets, the more Luxon will seem like a breath of fresh air by comparison, even if he is a religious weirdo. I'm sure it's all part of the 'strategy'.
Boris Johnson was on Monday night accused of presiding over a cover-up after it emerged that No 10 refused to clear the publication of a potentially incendiary report examining Russian infiltration in British politics, including the Conservative party.
Downing Street indicated on Monday that it would not allow a 50-page dossier from the intelligence and security committee to be published before the election, prompting a string of complaints over its suppression.
The committee’s chairman, Dominic Grieve, called the decision “jaw dropping”, saying no reason for the refusal had been given, while Labour and Scottish National party politicians accused No 10 of refusing to recognise the scale of Russian meddling.
Having voted for the enfant terrible as their leader and PM as a party what did these tories expect ! wah wah wah it's all your own fault.
Russian dosh has been buying influence in the UK since Putin came to power either by those in exile from him or Vlad's supporters. Those against him do however seem to have alot of fatal accidents.
As always follow the money……it'll end up in greedy tory hands, Lord Rees hedge funds etc.
Idiots – don't they know we have just signed a historic trade deal that will generate lots of profit for our exporters – we are sweeeeeet.
The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists.
“We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency,” it states. “To secure a sustainable future, we must change how we live. [This] entails major transformations in the ways our global society functions and interacts with natural ecosystems.”
There is no time to lose, the scientists say: “The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected. It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity.”
Indeed, I was wondering how J and the crew view increased international Trade deals with China with the need to, you know, keep the planet livable… ie the foolishness of trading environmentally suspect Dairy and Pine trees in return for disposable clothing, furniture and electronics…
After reading the fact test on Jacinda Aderns Achievements video. All I can say is great that our govt can spend all this money. But they are 🤬 this up in a big way.
eg Mental Heath I have a few friends who are observing large stress/anxiety issues with their children – Exam time with the stress that comes along with that. (This also ties in with Mike Kings heroic efforts in mental health.)With all this smile and nod stuff our leaders do when the cameras are on them, how about following this up with how those intended to benefit from their policies can access the services to receive help? See a counsellor – come back in the new year. For 1 of them they have already attempted the most sad response. Still no immediate help available, unless you can pay – then like cancer treatments is immediately available.
Oh dear, it seems that testimony from other witnesses has caused a key witness in the Ukraine thing to have " refreshed my recollection about certain conversations." and he felt the need to submit a three-page revision to his previous testimony.
Sondland told Congress that his memory was "refreshed" after reviewing the opening statements by Bill Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a former adviser to Trump on Russian and European affairs. Sondland's addendum also recounted a Sept. 1 meeting in Warsaw where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky raised his concerns to Mike Pence about the suspension of military aid. Sondland said he believed that withholding the $391 million in security assistance was "ill-advised," but claimed he didn't know "when, why or by whom the aid was suspended." The revelation comes after House committees leading the impeachment inquiry released transcripts of witness testimony by Sondland and Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine.
It is. But to prove perjury you have to prove lying, which requires proving intent to mislead. So if you can …ahem… proactively "correct the record" ahead of the posse coming looking for you, then it's going to be awfully hard to prove that intent. No matter how obviously you were rumbled before issuing that "correction".
I wouldn't know, I haven't been paying attention to the minutiae of what Twyford has or hasn't said. And I've no idea what that has to do with the topic of this thread, ie testimony about gross abuse of power by the US president.
But if I had to guess, based on your past behaviour, I'd guess you're making a claim based on completely ignoring context and stretching the meaning of what someone said waaaaaaay beyond what any normal person would understand to be the meaning of what was said. As well as likely pretending that something is monumentally important when in fact it is relatively trivial.
Unbeknownst to counsel and subsequent to this testimony, it was discovered and reported that the interest in Naftogaz was tied to an alleged scheme by Giuliani’s now indicted pals to make some serious corn off of toppling the straight shooters at Naftogaz. Oops.
the council election here in Middle NZ was literally bullshit, they were all indepent, no one had any religious believes before the election – then suddenly they turn pro life (pro forced birth, once born the child is on its own and better own a pair of boots with bootstraps in case pulling up is needed), all want to stop rates increases but all want to invest more into the community but not into social programmes that would address homelessness, mental illness, drug use, prostitution and such – that would be throwing pearls before swine.
and thus no one votes – be that for council or government – cause you would not have a clue who these clowns are and what they want other then maybe a slice of influence for themselves.
and btw, this is exactly why the shitshow in the us won, cause he was out and proud with his fucking around, his bullying, his not paying bills or taxes, his stiffing contractors, his stealing of children and loosing them, his racism, his cruelty and his sadism and such, and thus as his voters can attest today, They knew what they voted for and they liked it. Maybe this is something people running for public office should try a bit more, be honest and see if it works.
David Mac….just can’t see this. Votes are protected by both PIN and Password. Huge penalties could be prescribed for hacking.
You can compare online with the postal voting system we have now where I know for sure that some people vote on behalf of others. The idea is that online voting is ADDITIONAL to postal voting so many people would vote by post anyway.
Additional is good. You might be able to do a web form, many can't.
Basically, if you want to discuss usability, look to the last census. Not a complete disaster, but still fucks people around and denies us some important data because people didn't imagine putting it online could be a bad thing.
Hacking is the main problem, though. It doesn't have to be Wheedle-bad design to be hackable, and then nobody has any record of what the original votes were. Unlike paper ballots.
Fucksake, it's only the choice of who will be in government. It deserves a bit of effort from the voters.
A major difference compared to continuously live systems like banking is that if a problem occurs, the system can be "rolled back" and reconstructed from the last known correct state. Whereas as one-shot systems like voting or the census have to be correct the first time. But the nature of it being one-shot makes it harder to even detect when something is not right – because there's no recent performance history to compare against.
No, it also included the traditional door-knockers.
As for "making it easy", there's the old adage that security is a compromise between safety and ease of use. That's why you probably don't have a three-factor time-delay lock on your front door. But if you have a lot of stuff, you might have a deadbolt as well as a night latch.
What research have you read that suggests online voting significantly increases voter participation in younger age groups?
The hackers you detect are the ones who get caught – what about the rest? And you still think penalties matter (take that one up with rawshark).
The John Oliver show before the most recent one, he delved into the US voting machine situation. They do not connect to the internet per se. As Oliver pointed out, doesn't matter, for the sake of a clandestine plot, they're vunerable as.
Oliver makes light of the fact that his footage shows us how to take control of the motherboard in a voting machine and then footage of stockpiles of unattended, unprotected voting machines waiting to be shipped to the polling booths.
It's all misguided concerns, the dismissal of fabulous efficient tech…until the Kim.com party wins 82% of the vote.
US electronic voting systems and machines are notoriously poorly managed and insecure. This is probably not an indicative example of the concept being taken seriously.
Very little of the security concerns around online voting are about ensuring only legitimate voters actually cast the votes, which is what the mailed PIN and password is about.
Much of the objection to online voting is the possibility of electronic records getting fraudulently manipulated as they are being created or altered after creation, without leaving a traceable record. There have been enough instances of visibly malfunctioning electronic voting machines overseas that this isn't just a hypothetical. Hence the attraction of the permanent record created by paper ballots.
Ask an actual IT expert. The person running this site, lprent, would be a good start. All the actual IT experts I'm aware of that have expressed an opinion about online voting are strongly opposed to it, for those security reasons. (apart from those connected with companies trying to sell voting software)
Firstly, penalties are meaningless. State agents are out of jurisdiction, and freelance hackers think they're the smartest guys in the room and won't get caught (often they're correct).
"Systems can be put in place" is hand-waving. If it's online, it's a vulnerability. Not even banking systems are invulnerable.
There have been reports of electronic vote tampering in the USA already which have been documented and put on line. I may have taken a note of the links, haven't time to look for them, but people should start doing as much researching for themselves as they can. It does take time though.
Not as far as I am concerned. There are several obvious issues that anyone should be able to understand.. And these don't even cover the hacker issues that I wrote about last time.
Capacity. Just consider what happened with the last census in 2018. Done online. I know of at least 4 computer programmers, including me, who were unable to complete part of the census because the system didn't allow me to save. That was why that census has such major gaps.
This is a spike issue. All of a sudden a system goes from having virtually no use apart from artificial testing to falling over under real world loads. Happens all of the time in my network programming world. Another example was the live streaming of rugby by spark recently.
Hell – it has happened on this site in different elections.
Frequency. Elections come around about at best every year (presuming that the local councils, power boards and other electoral systems used the same systems – which is not a given).
So the most frequent analogy used of banking online systems is completely false. Those are systems running all of the time, being tinkered with, updated, and tuned all of the time. There is no comparison between a tuned all-the-time load system with a punctuated system of shortish peak loads (over days or weeks) and long quiesient periods in terms of reliability.
Server side technology. The frequency carries a separate issue – technology changes all of the time.
Nothing faster than networks and operating systems. On average all of these have multiple updates per day. The culmulative total of upgrades is such that every few years it is like testing for a new system
Assume that because of the punctuated usage, you're going to need some severe recertifications and testing on each usage and virtually all of the perceived cost advantages fall out of the window.
You either maintain a single increasingly obsolete system with increasing rare and very expensive developer and system support. This is the model used by voter machines in the US.
Or you have a massive upfront cost on each usage. Neither strategy lends itself to long term reliability. Because the world keeps discovering exploits all of the time for old systems.
Client side technology. FFS – sure there are standards out there. But which generation do you want to support? It isn't like the government pays for our gear…
I know of readers on here who use IE 8 on windows XP – something that hasn't been supported since god knows when (about 2010). I have seen people using PPC Macs with Safari – which I seem to remember stopped production in about 2007. One crazy person uses a Sparc workstation with firefox. I even tested that it worked ok earlier this year in a VM for my own curiosity. And I'm only getting a small selection of NZ voters.
Just think about that for a second. What you are imposing is effectively a property requirement to vote. Or you have to maintain expensive multiple voting systems.
etc… and as for..
But surely Andre systems can be put in place that stop tampering? With huge fines/imprisonment as penalties?
Isn't this just paranoia?
Who exactly do you think is technically capable in (say) the police force or electoral commission or even the intelligence community to detect and track down these miscreants?
FFS: The US intelligence community and companies can barely figure out by behaviour which groups were tampering with crucial systems and from what countries they were doing it from. Individuals from another country or even kiwis routed via the net anywhere in the world – even less so. The US capabilities are astronomical compared to compared to anything we have here.
Not to mention that we'd have to have them accessible to our justice system to even attempt a prosecution.
I hesitate to do this, but I pretty much reject all of this LPrent.
I think online voting should be given a go at Council level and if it works given a go at the GE.
If insoluble problems of security are identified by all means dump it, but the chronically low levels of voting and the obvious ease of voting online convince me this is worth the risk.
When ATMs were first intoduced into NZ @BeardedGit, the "instigators" – the managers and salesmen (as opposed to the "IT experts") were confident there were "systems put in place"
Then those instigators soon began wringing their hands and demanding that "something must be done".
From memory, some of the first ATMs were of the Diebold brand – the people that make voting machines, and hosted by Fletcher Challenge.
And then later, when managers opted for cheaper brands of ATMs other than IBM ones hosted on an IBM network, and supposedly entirely compatible, little things like leaving a receipt in a slot meant that transactions wouldn't be committed and the books didn't balance. (All "systems had been put in place").
Voting is far more important as far as I'm concerned than banks not fessing up to some of their losses due to fraudulent activity
I see more fires caused by Guy Fawkes Fireworks. Oz banned them decades ago when will be stop this unecessary destruction and protect people from themselves.
I watched some 'men' firing skyrockets over an old peoples home, when challenged they replied 'it's perfectly legal'…..see the problem here ?
After years of terrified animals, sulphurous stenches and nervous waits with the hose at hand, our fireworks mad neighbours have sold up and buggered off.
Well, lighting fireworks and burning shit down is a human right for all truly “manly men”…except where people do something about it.
An example: in the Far North on Karikari Peninsula, fireworks were a problem for years with even District Council total fire bans not impressing those that stock piled fireworks for occasions other than Nov. 5, nor controlled displays by the local Fire station. So for the last two years courtesy of the Northland Regional Council, a binding Firework Ban with penalties was instituted, and has worked pretty well so far because the overwhelming majority of residents not only support it, but help the Firefighters enforce it!
I was filling the car at the gas station last night while fireworks were whizzing gaily overhead. Clutching the dispenser in white-knuckled hands, I was thinking "Come on, damn you, pump faster!" I hate Guy Fawkes, and so does my cat.
Close all the windows, pull the curtains, turn the TV on loud even if you're not watching and the cat will think all the cracks and bangs are coming out of the TV. Operation Normal.
Ha yeah Anne, I Spotified 4 loud hours of the history of Glam Rock. Holly is accustomed to that environment and was none the wiser. Flashes behind the curtains and T-Rex belong together.
When I was 12, I adored the 5th of November. I miss being excited by fireworks. Must be a bit like a narcotics habit, endure a protracted addiction chasing a buzz as tasty as the first. My Mum loved them to the day she died. Catherine Wheels, they reminded her of galaxies.
It's probably time we grew up and found a way to get that fireworks buzz without burning family homes down.
I wonder if the NZ Navy out of Devonport could take the helm of something special over the Waitemata. A big co-ordinated display would be a hell teamwork builder…and morale. They have ammo that reaches a use-by date. The spectacle could be taken off-shore, the Waitemata doesn't burn.
I don't want to stop tipping my hat to the Guy that would dare to smuggle barrels of gun-powder beneath the benches. As committed activists go, Mr Fawkes takes the cake. Outrageous insane act on a land far from here…. Maybe our growing up involves embracing the Matariki stars instead.
20-25 years ago, Twinings (I think it was Twinings) financed a magnificent display on the Waitemata Harbour. They had three barges… one close to North Head, one opposite the Devonport ferry terminal and the third somewhere off the Viaduct Basin. They synced beautifully and I reckon it was the best display ever seen in Auckland.
There must have been around 50,000 to 100,000 onlookers from North Head through to the Harbour Bridge on both sides of the Harbour.
It's gonna be ever more fascinating watching the escalating squirming, evading, lying and reversals of positions previously held dear coming up over the next few months.
Grace Millane’s accused murderer has pleaded ‘rough sex gone wrong’ as his defence against guilt for her death. As I suspected would happen. We can’t let this become a thing in New Zealand. It’s licence to kill. I may not be able to stick around to argue about this topic as highly triggering but please look at the link if you care or have any concern about this important issue for women in ‘current year’. It’s real. It’s serious. It’s killing us.
they don't care, rape, sexual abuse, death at the hand of a partner they don't care. It must be something that happend because we did something to deserve it cause if we did not do something to deserve it then the men who killed these women must be fully responsible. And that can not be. Never ever. Thus nothing gets done, and the reputation of these dead women and their families must be smeared and other women must know and understand that if that happens to you its because you consented to it.
i am sorry, but nothing will ever happen to change that. Nothing.
That scenario doesn't just apply to the rape and killing of women which is at the most serious end of the spectrum. It also applies to other forms of attack on individual women whether it be physical or psychological bullying type behaviour. And you're right Sabine. It almost always gets brushed aside as something the victim supposedly did or said. We asked for it so… stop your moaning, it's your own fault.
BTW @greywarshark, things have re-appeared (in my case) – just on a different day than when posted.
Meanwhile, given Jacinda's attempts to clean up a sleezey, egotistical, misogynistic, exceptionalist oil slick that has the potential to taint everything around it, I'm reading up on tantric sex and dusting off my copy of the Karma Sutra.
It seems a little more ‘civilised’ than ordering a bit of porn on the taxpayers’ credit card
Edit
Well a gentleman can then go home and say to his wife of either gender:
'I am always true to you in my fashion, I'm always true to you darling in my way.'
And don't be too tough, we are talking about a human, being human. In the future it may be just a memory when we get to a stage where machines merge. (Your algorithm is so compatible with mine!)
There possibly will be cases of computer ‘promiscuity’ and some programs will become unstable.
Some good results from the Tuesday Elections in Virginia, Kentucky, – The Blue wave of 2018 continues which promises well for this time next year.
It’s not Election Day 2020 yet, but on Tuesday we got the next best thing.
Voters all over the country headed to polls to decide local and state elections. The headline-grabbing contest was Democrat Andy Beshear beating Republican incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin in the Kentucky governor’s race — a state President Donald Trump won by a whopping 30 percent in 2016. Some caveats:Bevin was among the most unpopular governors in the country, and other Republican leaders in the state outperformed him on Tuesday.
But Beshear’s win was stilla big loss for Trump, who campaigned in Kentucky just a day before the election, explicitlytying Bevin’s race to his own reputation. The results also showed that Democrats in Kentucky were fired up — Beshear outperformed the 2015 Democratic gubernatorial candidate in many areas of the state.
The other huge story was Virginia’s state legislature elections, where Democrats flipped both the state House and Senate, ensuring a trifecta with Gov. Ralph Northam (D) already in the governor’s mansion.
Virginia has been trending blue for years, but the fact that Democrats generated so much enthusiasm in an off-year where state legislature elections were the biggest thing on the ballot means the party is organized and enthusiastic, even for traditionally sleepier races.
Many of the questions going forward are going to be what this all means for Trump and Republicans in 2020. It’s not good news for them, for sure. If we learned one thing from Tuesday, it’s that Democrats are fired up — even in redder states.
But there’s a lot of other impacts that extend far beyond Trump.
That Virginia Dems winning all three levels of government sets up the possibility of finally ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment of the Constitution, as mentioned in the last "winner" in the Vox piece linked above.
However, that Vox piece misses a lot of details that will make it fascinating to watch, such as several states that ratified it some time ago have since attempted to rescind their ratification. But since it's never been tested, it's unknown whether the rescinding is valid.
Virginia Dems winning all three levels of government sets up the possibility of finally ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment of the Constitution,
Yeah true that – just keeping fingers crossed.
Meanwhile – in Pence's home town no less –
Democrats take control of Columbus City Council
Four years ago, local Democrats made a statement by winning two Columbus City Council seats. Tuesday, they reshaped the council in a way it hasn’t been in more than 30 years.
Four Democrats won seven of the city council seats up for grabs in the municipal election — the most the party has held at one time since 1983.
Jerone Wood (District 1) and Grace Kestler (at-large) unseated Republican incumbents. Elaine Wagner (District 2) and Tom Dell (at-large) were re-elected to second terms.
Not to mention that the ERA had a target date of something like 1982 for ratification (what idiot thought that was a good idea?). Probably means that a whole new round of ramifications.
tl;dr a whole bunch of court battles over whether states can rescind their ratification of constitutional amendment, likely arguments in both chambers of Congress over what needs to be passed again after previous deadlines expired. All battles featuring Repugs arguing women should be explicitly treated as second-class citizens.
Aotearoa natural products will become sort after commodities in the near future.
Why did the previous lot start selling hundreds of thousands South island crown lease land at dirt cheap prices A.
What I see is money being used once again to stop conservation so that the money men can carry on pillaging the Ross sea tooth fish that fishery will collapse unless its protected like most fishery hav. Orange Ruffy is a great example.
I think choosing kind words to describe the problem like emotionally confused instead of mental health will get a lot more people to come forward and admit they are having problems.
Data is not the holy grail unless it is reviewed by un biest sources it can be massaged to tell the story that the colabrator wants to use to influence people's opinions.
Consumerism is the Phenomenon that can be directly linked to all the carbon being pumped into our atmosphere.
This story is evedince that New Zealand is not as squeaky clean as most people believe.
White Silence: The tragic story of the Air Zealand jet that flew into Mt Erebus, killing all 257 people on board.
The crash of an Air New Zealand plane on Mt Erebus on 28 November 1979 was the country's deadliest disaster, and the investigation into it produced the now well-known phrase: "An orchestrated litany of lies".
What was the orchestrated litany of lies? Who was supposed to be lying? And why did the plane crash?
Some people know all about those things. But most of us don't. And really, we should.
Not just because it's our worst-ever disaster, or a major anniversary is upon us, but because too few people over the years have ever really, properly reckoned with them. And that has got us where we are today. Forty years on, with an unresolved mess.
The other thing that gets you is the circumstances of the crash: the plane just flew into the mountain. There was no mechanical failure, it wasn't caught in some polar storm, it just flew into the mountain. At 1500 feet. When the investigators listened to the cockpit voice recorder (black box) they were stunned to hear that in the final seconds before impact, none of the flight crew saw Erebus in front of them.
. The only people with any experience flying in Antarctica were flight engineer Gordon Brooks and the in-flight commentator Peter Mulgrew.
Mr Mulgrew was a mountaineer and an adventurer. He was part of the British Antarctic expedition in the 1950s and later lost both his feet to frostbite while climbing in the Himalayas. He wasn't initially rostered for the 28 November flight, but swapped with one of the other commentators – his friend, Sir Edmund Hillary.
White Silence: The bizarre Erebus burglary – 'hardly anything was missing'
Maria called the police. The burglary was strange for a few reasons: The power cut. How many burglars cut the power? Also, hardly anything was missing. A tape recorder was gone, a digital clock, some passports. But not Maria's jewellery, which was in the same drawer as the passports.
There was one more thing: a photo of her husband, Captain Jim Collins, torn to pieces, and placed back in the envelope where it was kept.
The more sinister theory was that the burglary was the work of New Zealand's SIS. In the four months since the crash, the Erebus disaster had taken on a life of its own.The safety record of DC10s had come under intense scrutiny. Since the first aircraft rolled off the production line in 1970 there had been no fewer than six crashes, claiming nearly 900 lives. Erebus was only the third-worst of them.
The SIS entered the theory because in 1980, Air New Zealand was entirely owned by the New Zealand government. An existential threat to the airline would be its problem.The shareholding minister was the Finance Minister, also the country's Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon. Muldoon also happened to be Minister for the SIS. RNZ's chief political
correspondent at the time, Richard Griffin, remembers some wild rumours circulating in the press gallery.
There was a lot of speculation…Robert Muldoon… was using the SIS illegally, but who would know.
Africa poised to lead way in global green revolution, says report
Continent is set for massive urbanisation but can avoid relying on fossil fuels, says IEA.
Africa is poised to lead the world’s cleanest economic revolution by using renewable energy sources to power a massive spread of urbanisation, says an IEA report.
The IEA, or International Energy Agency, predicts that solar energy will play a big role in supporting the continent’s growing population and industrialisation over the next 20 years.
The report forecasts that Africa’s appetite for energy will grow at double the rate of the global average in the coming decades as the continent overtakes China and India as the most populated region in the world.
Africa’s population is expected to grow to more than 2 billion people by 2040, a rise of 800 million from today or the population equivalent of the US and Europe combined, says the report. People are expected to turn to cities and towns at a rate never seen before, where the demand for new houses and infrastructure will ignite an energy-hungry industrial revolution.
Birol said: “Africa’s total contribution to cumulative global emissions from energy over the last 100 years is only 2%, which is half the emissions of Germany today. If everyone in Africa had access to energy this 2% will rise to just 3% – it’s still nothing. It’s peanuts compared to other countries in the world which are using fossil fuels such as coal for energy.
“But while Africa does not contribute to climate change the continent is on the frontline of its potential effects, including droughts. Africa is perhaps the most innocent continent in terms of its contributions to climate change, but they will be the victims
I have accused some companies of this and here I find facts to back up my accusations. The person on the spade whenua has decreased and bureaucracy has increased hence our Roads are not being built as effective efficiently as 40 years ago the tangata on the whenua are getting paid bugger all most of the wages going to management.
‘Parkinson’s Law’ took on a life of its own, forming the basis of several more essays and a book by Parkinson, leading to public lectures around the world.
But what fewer people know is that Parkinson’s original intent was not to take aim at old lady letter-writers or journalists like me, but at a different kind of inefficiency – the bureaucratisation of the British Civil Service. In his original essay he pointed out that although the number of navy ships decreased by two thirds, and personnel by a third, between 1914 and 1928, the number of bureaucrats had still ballooned by almost 6% a year. There were fewer people and less work to manage – but management was still expanding, and Parkinson argued that this was due to factors that were independent of naval operational needs.
One scholar who has taken a serious look at Parkinson’s Law is Stefan Thurner, a professor in Science of Complex Systems at the Medical University of Vienna. Thurner says he became interested in the concept when the faculty of medicine at the University of Vienna split into its own independent university in 2004. Within a couple years, he says, the Medical University of Vienna went from being run by 15 people to 100, while the number of scientists stayed about the same. “I wanted to understand what was going on there, and why my bureaucratic burden did not diminish – on the contrary it increased,” he says.
He happened to read Parkinson’s book around the same time and was inspired to turn it into a mathematical model that could be manipulated and tested, along with co-authors Peter Klimek and Rudolf Hanel. “Parkinson argued that if you have 6% growth rate of any administrative body, then sooner or later any company will die. They will have all their workforce in bureaucracy and none in production.
What Are the Top 5 Environmental Concerns for 2019?
1. Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the most complex and vital feature of our planet. It is essentially every living thing and ecosystem that makes up the environment. From the tallest giraffe to the smallest microorganism, everything plays an important role in the maintenance of our world.
But with the increase in global warming, pollution and deforestation, biodiversity is in danger. Billions of species are going or have gone extinct all over the world. Some scientists, in fact, are suggesting that we are in the beginning of a 6th mass extinction, posing issues for our planet and ourselves.
2. Water
Water pollution is a huge concern for us and our environment. Not only is polluted water a huge financial strain but is also killing both humans and marine life. With oil spills, an abundance of plastic waste and toxic chemicals entering our waterways, we’re damaging the most valuable resource our planet has to offer.
By educating people on the causes and effects of water pollution, we can work together to undo the damage humans have caused. Laws also need to change to make pollution tougher, consistently across national borders.
3. Deforestation
We need plants and trees to survive. They provide oxygen, food, water and medicine for everyone, all over the globe. But if deforestation continues at the rate it’s occurring, we won’t have much of the valuable forestry left.
With natural wildfires, illegal logging and the mass amount of timber being harvested for commercial use, our forests are decreasing at an alarming rate. As well as reducing our supply of oxygen, the loss of forests is contributing around 15% of our greenhouse gas emissions
All types of pollution, and environmental concerns, are interlinked and influence one another. So, to tackle one is to tackle them all. That’s why we need to work together, as a community, to reduce the impact that pollution is having on our environment.
5. Climate Change
As pointed out by a recent UN report, without ‘unprecedented changes’ in our actions and behaviour, our planet will suffer drastically from global warming in just 12 years. Greenhouses gases are the main cause of climate change, trapping in the sun’s heat and warming the surface of the earth.
An increased ocean temperature is affecting the sea life and ecosystems habituated there. The rise in global sea levels is shrinking our land, causing mass floods and freak weather incidents across the world. If we continue as we are, the world will suffer irreversibly
It looks like we are going to see some colourful Tawhirimate soon.
That's is cool Doc seed banking our native trees to protect them from mertalrust.
That just shows how backwards Australia laws are.
Big flooding in Britain that's Global warming feel sorry for Te tangata they have had repeated flooding of late.
War is for idiots peace is what makes a great Papatuanuku.
Cool that Nui tamariki are being taught how to swim with help from Aotearoa commissioner pool. My first swimming lesson was thrown in the deep I soon learned how to swim.
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
By Aisha Azeemah in Suva With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli ...
WHAT: Uber drivers are holding a rally outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington tomorrow, as the company begins its appeal against 2022’s Employment Court verdict (in a case taken jointly by FIRST Union and E tū) that four drivers were permanent ...
RNZ Pacific The Fiji Meteorological Service has a heavy rain warning still in place for the whole of the country after a weekend of flooding, although some floodwaters have receded. Flood and flash flood warnings and alerts are also in place, including a warning for all flash flood-prone areas, small ...
Responding to Grant Robertson’s recent admission on a Q+A with Jack Tame that his only regret from his time in office was that he didn’t take on more debt, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Alex Murphy, said: “Grant Robertson has now admitted that he ...
Comment: Re-elected Russian President Vladimir President has declared victory ahead of a fifth term in power, after an election that offered no credible alternative candidates. Following the death of his main opponent Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison last month, thousands of Russians followed Navalny’s plea to cast a symbolic ...
Every week that passes seems to tighten the fiscal noose for Christopher Luxon and co – a noose, moreover, of their own making.“Don’t tell me what you value: show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” This phrase, a favourite of US president Joe Biden’s, resonates ...
Analysis by Geoffrey Miller – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Geoffrey Miller. Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are ...
Auckland may be the largest city in Aotearoa, but it’s the small community-led organisations within it that make the city thrive. The Spinoff spoke to two council-funded organisations who are doing their bit.“Torrent.” That’s the word one 40-year resident of Dundale Avenue used to describe what became of the ...
Commenting on the introduction of the living wage for all employees and contractors at Kāpiti Coast District Council, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “The problem with blanket living-wage policies is that they ...
With the upcoming SailGP event in Ōtautahi/Christchurch looming, there is mounting apprehension regarding the safety of Hector's dolphins, an endangered species unique to New Zealand waters. The event, scheduled to take place in an area frequented by ...
RNZ Morning Report this morning
Bridges defends new recruit Christopher Luxon
The National Party has released a discussion document asking if benefits to solo mothers who refuse to vaccinate should be cut, but Mr Luxon's suggestion it go further to working for families is new….but apparently worth getting feedback from average kiwi's on..
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018720911/bridges-defends-new-recruit-christopher-luxon
The interview was as bad and as low brow, dumd and stupid as you could imagine, but it reminded me of a bit from this Think Big interview with Slavoj Žižek at about 10:30 into it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7JgfB8PaAk
Great clip Adrian. He spells it out. I think I got a fairly clear view before I started watching and listening to him (you can be in two minds sometimes), but he is right. We need to look at outcomes, without any labelling of left or right, any naming of political pathway, and what we are seeing is an unacceptable slide into nimbyism, selfishness, callousness, and obsession. There are fantasy views of what is going on that people shine on any unattractive facade, like using the world as a backscreen for a giant epic.
I think he is missing a point about local government and so on; I think that people need to wake up and take some responsibility for their local area, and come together with other local areas to form a viable plan for good systems and outcomes. This would run in parallel with the national and international stuff which we have so little input or control over. Too much talk about how things should be is where the activity goes, too little actual intelligent and far-seeing work. There needs to be fast decision-making, enabling things to be done as pilots within an agreed framework.
Our world has come to a crossroads. We can't drag ourselves along the same route with politicians spitting venom at each other, and hate for a majority of us while being paid large salaries to prevent anything happening that would help those most in need. They are like wearing leg irons, and even those wil goodwill are too heavy for us to move far. We are in need of new, good laws and practices that take us into the future, but the past want to hold onto their prize won in the blood and vileness of World War 2.
It is important for people who want to be both kind and practical to find each other, because nothing worthwhile is going to come from the rest of the democrats who want to leave the important stuff for the end of the meeting agenda; someone quoted once that if you wanted agreement at an average committee meeting to develop a nuclear bomb it should be a bland heading at the end of the agenda, after a discussion on whether the garden shed should be repositioned in a better spot where it would be over the cricket crease.
They will prefer to follow inadequate policies, or watch sport or let off firecrackers, which include the word that is likely to be the death knell of many! We will have so many complaints when they are banned. And we need to do it right away so there isn't another full Guy Fawkes, though there will be the regular letting them off individually and in groups on occasions for years. Perhaps there is a connection with our planet's birth called the Big Bang, and males of all ages carry a genetic memory!
"The study, based on 40 years of data on a range of measures, says governments are failing to address the crisis.
Without deep and lasting changes, the world is facing "untold human suffering" the study says."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/402621/climate-scientists-warn-of-untold-suffering-without-major-changes
They say " Without deep and lasting changes, the world is facing "untold human suffering" the study says."
what they shoud say however is this "
Without deep and lasting changes, the poor of this world are facing untold human suffering:" the study says. (and one could argue that they are already doing so).
The rich will be fine until the very end.
while the 'poor' (currently) will (and are) suffering the most it is important to understand that the situation is not static and that it will change…and not slowly.
The 'wealthy' will not be immune until the very end as that wealth relies on interdependent systems to be of use.
It will get to a point where paper money has no value at all.
Yep. With money they could buy into the high ground, buy in scarce food and buy security when faced with rebellion.
Mind you money might become worthless.
money – stones, pebbles, shells, gold, shiny trinkets, sex, food, cigarettes etc will always exist.
Some women i know had great stories about payment and money options in germanyjust after the war and before the monetary reform in 1948. Prostitution- or fraternazation – got you food, cigarettes, booze etc etc etc. And these three things paid for everything else.
in a world without food, the last remaining body to be eaten is currency – and i bet you a dollar that the one eating will be people like Jarvanka (and their ilk and those like them) and the one being eaten is just some schmuck of the street who will not be missed by anyone. .
where is that money?…how do they access it?..as said the functioning systems have to remain operable for it to be of use…stranded assets cant be sold ….banks and sharemarkets collapse….distribution networks are easily disrupted (assuming theres something to distribute)…if the poor are unable to cope, who does the work?
Card houses dont slowly disintegrate…they collapse, and we have built one very unstable global house of cards
come on, you are not telling me you don't see how cigarettes, booze and food, sex, life stock ( animals / human) can be used at currency? I have one nubile 14 year old slave to sell for 5 cows and a horse ( i think in the bible they might even speak of that type of transaction often disguised on the idea of 'marriage / dowry/brideprice etc)
I pointed to Germany in the years of 1945 – 1948 in which the country was demonstrably destroyed, several families often shared one flat in fairly bombed out houses (each family a room, something that was also done in England / Holland / Italy / etc during the war), power, water supply was intermittently and ' the Reichsmark aka money' had no value. Guess what, you could pick potatoes at the farm and as payment you took home a bag of potatoes. You could sell yourself for some fags from the Ami's and use these to pay for goods at hte black market. Or like my mother did as a child with her siblings, pick cigarettes butts of the floor, take them home, clean them up and re-roll them for the elders in the family to smoke.
I find it really funny that in your doom/gloom scenario you leave out the fact that people are a. resilient and will to some degree adapt, b. that people trade and even if go far back in time have gone to great lenght and distances to bring goods to their people, c. there will always be a ruling class i.e. the strongest/fittest/ will survive. You can sell an hour or several of sex for a pound of bacon, you can then sell one half pound of bacon for flour, eggs, butter, and make bread, sell that for a week of rent in a hovel, etc etc etc. In fact some people already live life like that. We already have that in todays society, it is called survival sex and its a standard thing to do when homeless – especially when young and homeless.
As for work? ;Lol, the telephone answer drones of today will be meat. so will be most of the pencil pushers that serve no other reason then create paperwork that again serves no purpose other then billing you the customer out of your money. The ones that can create value with their hands, that can grow food, that can build, mend, fix, heal, etc will be however in great demand .
And yes, the ones with 'money' will be the last ones to diet.
and thats your description of 'fine'?
yes. it is.
Cause this is what humans do, we build, then we destroy and kill and then we will build again.
The world is changing, and we are not ….that is our biggest issue. If we would look a the changes to come and do something – rather then insist in doing a. nothing, or b. just something to pretend to be doing something – that would help this transition to a planet that will be hotter, more hostile etc we would probably end up fine.
But we are not doing this.
This is like parking in an illegal park and then complaining about the ticket one gets. Its not hte fault of the parking warden that the car was parked illegally so why blame him/her for the ticket.
And currently that is the collective of this planet, continuing to park illegally while moaning about parking tickets. When people collectively wake up to the realisation that they are too poor for parking tickets they will look for an alternative that works better but not a moment before.
so the wealthy will sell themselves and their children for some flour or bacon (as long as there remains some) and squat in an unserviced building (no power or running water) and theyre 'fine'…. I guess our interpretations of the word fine are at odds….Syria , Somalia and the like must be holiday resorts.
no, just to clarify as your reading comprehension is not functioning properly today
your children will be sold as meat to those that will be 'rich' when the endtimes of which you are so afraid of come to pass. Unless your decendency is the 'global elite of future times' then they get to buy someones children for what ever is needed in order to survive.
A bit like this .https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTTKCDEIv7aY2tfbfm25ES8j14kZ1CBLlJzDHSIMLmhOqPiaVEI&s
and that was roughly about a hundred years ago.
or here a bit more recent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gBKaBzR8U0
🙂 See how easy that was. But i guess being scared of the bogey man and times without money is just so us.
My comprehension fine and dont dispute any of that has happened or will happen again….my dispute is with your position that the
"The rich will be fine until the very end. "
You appear to miss the point the rich are only so as long as the current paradigm exists…remove the current paradigm (as CC will) and their wealth disappears
and again you seem to lack any imagination that 'money' as you think it is and will be can be replaced by anything that someone places value on. Or our 'current paradigm".
You can be the poorest bloke in the universe but if someone wanted to buy your daughter for what is 'money' you could sell her 🙂 And someone would have the 'money' to buy her. And that money may be printed paper, or it may be a bag of potatoes a cow and a goat or simply your life.
And he / she who has many goats and camels and water and what ever can be considered desirable will be considered rich.
And yes, the rich of today, will have land, they will have access to water on that land, they will be able to plant/grow etc etc etc.
The world will not end with us, as much as the world did not end in the thirty year war, or during ww 2 or such. The world will change, there will be rich there will be poor, and chances are that when that times comes you and i are both dead and thus among the lucky ones.
Maybe you need to watch some more of the dystopian movies that are to understand that money / current paradigm is what ever has value to the many (water, food, imo) and that can then used for trading and thus rich/poor will again and still exist.
So yes, the rich will be fine until the end, and the end will be much earlier for the poor then the rich. I suggest that you read the Stark from Ben Elton, he says things so much better then I.
Good luck ensuring the loyalty of that 'security' when the shit really hits the fan. People tend to eat each other when things get really grim, and a pantry full of plump, pampered rich folk would likely prove irresistible.
I think Sabine is right. Climate change won't be the end of the rich, it will be the beginning of the Acme Sea Wall Corporation.
pretty much.
Some rich will get et, sure. But warlords arising in a time of strife are just another type of rich folk, and then they get called "knight" and "duke" and "king", and hundreds of years later their descendants are conventional rich folk. And they own guns and know where the food stores are buried, so people do what they say in times of strife, and if things get really bad they transition into a barter/thug economy and become warlords…
The grisly film Delicatessen with touches of the ironic, is a most unusual 1991 French production. Post-apocalyptic is what it is called. Getting some meat means knowing someone has been murdered. Who knows what humans would end up doing if we don't find a way to build a lasting rational society with ethics which will apply to all.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avuovbgoyxU
The rich will find before the end that they are not fine. We have seen how people go mad when they are corrupted, letting the poor die and animals and nature die, will corrupt them absolutely and the fine and wonderful souls of men, women and animals will all shrink.
People get desperate for some order, communion with other people with soul, and purpose in life that one person locked up in jail and in isolation wrote that watching the ants and cockroaches kept him sane.
The war on drugs is so much fun when it kills young female leaders by it's armed hard right proxies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp7eNrh11BY
It has been well established that the so called "war on drugs" was a catastrophic failure, but large segments of the right, even in this country still push it or something similar as a legitimate action for the state to pursue.
Bridges is now quite obviously going for the right wing 'populist' lane, I have noticed that his rhetoric has become more and more confrontational and base over the previous couple of months..and I guess he figures that with his shit poll numbers he hasn't got anything to lose.
Totally, his replacement is waiting in the Botany wings so he's going all out on the ranty dog whistling.
This allows the hollowmen to pitch up the 'fresh face/new way' memes when Luxon takes the head of the table.
CL is a more experienced corporate assassin than shonky so he’s got the calm assured trusting delivery down pat already.
Note the contrast with Judith, who is carefully downplaying the nasty streak that had her manufacture the title "Crusher", the better to compete with the unlovable Simon and presumably Jacinda.
Mind, while its easy to simply shake the head at the No Mates and No Ideas Party, this is a 'war' that is Labours/Green/NZFirst to loose.
Currently however it seems that when it comes to a realistic approach to drugs and their usage all we get is fake piety from the Greens _ No Gummibears for you, nothing from Labour, nothing from NZFirst and nothing but bullshit from National.
So maybe J.A could do something? Anything? you know, something?
The worse Bridges gets, the more Luxon will seem like a breath of fresh air by comparison, even if he is a religious weirdo. I'm sure it's all part of the 'strategy'.
A couple of days after Labour questioned Cummings past and its move on, nothing to be seen here.
https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1190821622527201281
Boris Johnson was on Monday night accused of presiding over a cover-up after it emerged that No 10 refused to clear the publication of a potentially incendiary report examining Russian infiltration in British politics, including the Conservative party.
Downing Street indicated on Monday that it would not allow a 50-page dossier from the intelligence and security committee to be published before the election, prompting a string of complaints over its suppression.
The committee’s chairman, Dominic Grieve, called the decision “jaw dropping”, saying no reason for the refusal had been given, while Labour and Scottish National party politicians accused No 10 of refusing to recognise the scale of Russian meddling.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/04/no-10-blocks-russia-eu-referendum-report-until-after-election?
Having voted for the enfant terrible as their leader and PM as a party what did these tories expect ! wah wah wah it's all your own fault.
Russian dosh has been buying influence in the UK since Putin came to power either by those in exile from him or Vlad's supporters. Those against him do however seem to have alot of fatal accidents.
As always follow the money……it'll end up in greedy tory hands, Lord Rees hedge funds etc.
£3.5m from Russian donors since 2010. £489,850 in the last year.
If only there was a clue about why they wouldn’t publish a report about Russian interference.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-russian-donors-have-stepped-tory-funding/
Caption contest?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIkqsXbVAAEjhML?format=jpg&name=large
or maybe…
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIlwSiUUEAAr82s?format=jpg&name=small
1st pic
"I'll raise your bid for the leadership with 2 free seats in business class, wherever, whenever you want."
2nd pic
Turn that smile upside down – Vote National.
Idiots – don't they know we have just signed a historic trade deal that will generate lots of profit for our exporters – we are sweeeeeet.
Indeed, I was wondering how J and the crew view increased international Trade deals with China with the need to, you know, keep the planet livable… ie the foolishness of trading environmentally suspect Dairy and Pine trees in return for disposable clothing, furniture and electronics…
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/01/30/wto-chief-denial-climate-impact-trade/
After reading the fact test on Jacinda Aderns Achievements video. All I can say is great that our govt can spend all this money. But they are 🤬 this up in a big way.
eg Mental Heath I have a few friends who are observing large stress/anxiety issues with their children – Exam time with the stress that comes along with that. (This also ties in with Mike Kings heroic efforts in mental health.)With all this smile and nod stuff our leaders do when the cameras are on them, how about following this up with how those intended to benefit from their policies can access the services to receive help? See a counsellor – come back in the new year. For 1 of them they have already attempted the most sad response. Still no immediate help available, unless you can pay – then like cancer treatments is immediately available.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/117008657/counsellors-unpaid-as-mike-kings-gumboot-fund-runs-out-of-cash
Oh dear, it seems that testimony from other witnesses has caused a key witness in the Ukraine thing to have " refreshed my recollection about certain conversations." and he felt the need to submit a three-page revision to his previous testimony.
https://www.salon.com/2019/11/05/gordon-sondland-changes-his-testimony-in-the-impeachment-inquiry-to-acknowledge-a-quid-pro-quo/
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/05/politics/gordon-sondland-kurt-volker-transcripts-impeachment-inquiry/index.html
Yeah – funny that.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/05/sondland-reverses-himself-on-ukraine-quid-pro-quo-000318
I thought lying to Congress was perjury?
… lying to Congress was perjury?
It is. But to prove perjury you have to prove lying, which requires proving intent to mislead. So if you can …ahem… proactively "correct the record" ahead of the posse coming looking for you, then it's going to be awfully hard to prove that intent. No matter how obviously you were rumbled before issuing that "correction".
So that is what Twyford was up to yesterday when he "corrected" an answer to a question.
He had been caught out lying and he doesn't want to end up before the Privileges Committee.
I wouldn't know, I haven't been paying attention to the minutiae of what Twyford has or hasn't said. And I've no idea what that has to do with the topic of this thread, ie testimony about gross abuse of power by the US president.
But if I had to guess, based on your past behaviour, I'd guess you're making a claim based on completely ignoring context and stretching the meaning of what someone said waaaaaaay beyond what any normal person would understand to be the meaning of what was said. As well as likely pretending that something is monumentally important when in fact it is relatively trivial.
Very subtle, Alwyn. Very subtle.
Yeah, there are corrections and corrections.
"Oh yes, sorry, my mistake, there is an elephant in the room. I should of looked harder."
Mr Hoarse is reading the transcript.
https://twitter.com/HoarseWisperer/status/1191791814765957120
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1191791814765957120.html
Oh sweet baby cheeses …
I just voted for the Central Lakes Trust on line. It took me less than 2 minutes.
You simply go to website and put in PIN and Password both of which you receive on the voting paper in the post.
SO EASY. This has to be the way to go for Council elections.
the council election here in Middle NZ was literally bullshit, they were all indepent, no one had any religious believes before the election – then suddenly they turn pro life (pro forced birth, once born the child is on its own and better own a pair of boots with bootstraps in case pulling up is needed), all want to stop rates increases but all want to invest more into the community but not into social programmes that would address homelessness, mental illness, drug use, prostitution and such – that would be throwing pearls before swine.
and thus no one votes – be that for council or government – cause you would not have a clue who these clowns are and what they want other then maybe a slice of influence for themselves.
and btw, this is exactly why the shitshow in the us won, cause he was out and proud with his fucking around, his bullying, his not paying bills or taxes, his stiffing contractors, his stealing of children and loosing them, his racism, his cruelty and his sadism and such, and thus as his voters can attest today, They knew what they voted for and they liked it. Maybe this is something people running for public office should try a bit more, be honest and see if it works.
lol try teaching my mum how to do it.
I can't get comfortable with online voting or voting machines. I think it places too much access to influence in the hands of skillful hackers.
Regardless of how secure, most big heists have a player on the inside.
David Mac….just can’t see this. Votes are protected by both PIN and Password. Huge penalties could be prescribed for hacking.
You can compare online with the postal voting system we have now where I know for sure that some people vote on behalf of others. The idea is that online voting is ADDITIONAL to postal voting so many people would vote by post anyway.
I'm 65 and it was a piece of cake McFlock.
Additional is good. You might be able to do a web form, many can't.
Basically, if you want to discuss usability, look to the last census. Not a complete disaster, but still fucks people around and denies us some important data because people didn't imagine putting it online could be a bad thing.
Hacking is the main problem, though. It doesn't have to be Wheedle-bad design to be hackable, and then nobody has any record of what the original votes were. Unlike paper ballots.
Fucksake, it's only the choice of who will be in government. It deserves a bit of effort from the voters.
Sorry but wrong and wrong and wrong.
The census was all online-it didn't permit postal responses. It was also much more complicated that voting-a poor comparison.
You have to make it easy for voters especially young voters who are much more likely to vote online. Democracy is worth the effort of making it easy.
Hacking is very unlikley to succeed undetected and can be handled by the correct systems and penalties.
A major difference compared to continuously live systems like banking is that if a problem occurs, the system can be "rolled back" and reconstructed from the last known correct state. Whereas as one-shot systems like voting or the census have to be correct the first time. But the nature of it being one-shot makes it harder to even detect when something is not right – because there's no recent performance history to compare against.
No, it also included the traditional door-knockers.
As for "making it easy", there's the old adage that security is a compromise between safety and ease of use. That's why you probably don't have a three-factor time-delay lock on your front door. But if you have a lot of stuff, you might have a deadbolt as well as a night latch.
What research have you read that suggests online voting significantly increases voter participation in younger age groups?
The hackers you detect are the ones who get caught – what about the rest? And you still think penalties matter (take that one up with rawshark).
The John Oliver show before the most recent one, he delved into the US voting machine situation. They do not connect to the internet per se. As Oliver pointed out, doesn't matter, for the sake of a clandestine plot, they're vunerable as.
Oliver makes light of the fact that his footage shows us how to take control of the motherboard in a voting machine and then footage of stockpiles of unattended, unprotected voting machines waiting to be shipped to the polling booths.
It's all misguided concerns, the dismissal of fabulous efficient tech…until the Kim.com party wins 82% of the vote.
US electronic voting systems and machines are notoriously poorly managed and insecure. This is probably not an indicative example of the concept being taken seriously.
Very little of the security concerns around online voting are about ensuring only legitimate voters actually cast the votes, which is what the mailed PIN and password is about.
Much of the objection to online voting is the possibility of electronic records getting fraudulently manipulated as they are being created or altered after creation, without leaving a traceable record. There have been enough instances of visibly malfunctioning electronic voting machines overseas that this isn't just a hypothetical. Hence the attraction of the permanent record created by paper ballots.
But surely Andre systems can be put in place that stop tampering? With huge fines/imprisonment as penalties?
Isn't this just paranoia?
Ask an actual IT expert. The person running this site, lprent, would be a good start. All the actual IT experts I'm aware of that have expressed an opinion about online voting are strongly opposed to it, for those security reasons. (apart from those connected with companies trying to sell voting software)
Nope.
Firstly, penalties are meaningless. State agents are out of jurisdiction, and freelance hackers think they're the smartest guys in the room and won't get caught (often they're correct).
"Systems can be put in place" is hand-waving. If it's online, it's a vulnerability. Not even banking systems are invulnerable.
There have been reports of electronic vote tampering in the USA already which have been documented and put on line. I may have taken a note of the links, haven't time to look for them, but people should start doing as much researching for themselves as they can. It does take time though.
Here's an actual IT expert's opinion on online voting.
https://thestandard.org.nz/online-voting-no-try-polling-booths/
There were lots of IT people on twitter saying no, don't do it, when the online voting issue was being discussed last month.
Not as far as I am concerned. There are several obvious issues that anyone should be able to understand.. And these don't even cover the hacker issues that I wrote about last time.
This is a spike issue. All of a sudden a system goes from having virtually no use apart from artificial testing to falling over under real world loads. Happens all of the time in my network programming world. Another example was the live streaming of rugby by spark recently.
Hell – it has happened on this site in different elections.
So the most frequent analogy used of banking online systems is completely false. Those are systems running all of the time, being tinkered with, updated, and tuned all of the time. There is no comparison between a tuned all-the-time load system with a punctuated system of shortish peak loads (over days or weeks) and long quiesient periods in terms of reliability.
Nothing faster than networks and operating systems. On average all of these have multiple updates per day. The culmulative total of upgrades is such that every few years it is like testing for a new system
Assume that because of the punctuated usage, you're going to need some severe recertifications and testing on each usage and virtually all of the perceived cost advantages fall out of the window.
You either maintain a single increasingly obsolete system with increasing rare and very expensive developer and system support. This is the model used by voter machines in the US.
Or you have a massive upfront cost on each usage. Neither strategy lends itself to long term reliability. Because the world keeps discovering exploits all of the time for old systems.
I know of readers on here who use IE 8 on windows XP – something that hasn't been supported since god knows when (about 2010). I have seen people using PPC Macs with Safari – which I seem to remember stopped production in about 2007. One crazy person uses a Sparc workstation with firefox. I even tested that it worked ok earlier this year in a VM for my own curiosity. And I'm only getting a small selection of NZ voters.
Just think about that for a second. What you are imposing is effectively a property requirement to vote. Or you have to maintain expensive multiple voting systems.
etc… and as for..
Who exactly do you think is technically capable in (say) the police force or electoral commission or even the intelligence community to detect and track down these miscreants?
FFS: The US intelligence community and companies can barely figure out by behaviour which groups were tampering with crucial systems and from what countries they were doing it from. Individuals from another country or even kiwis routed via the net anywhere in the world – even less so. The US capabilities are astronomical compared to compared to anything we have here.
Not to mention that we'd have to have them accessible to our justice system to even attempt a prosecution.
It isn't paranoid. It is just realistic.
I hesitate to do this, but I pretty much reject all of this LPrent.
I think online voting should be given a go at Council level and if it works given a go at the GE.
If insoluble problems of security are identified by all means dump it, but the chronically low levels of voting and the obvious ease of voting online convince me this is worth the risk.
When ATMs were first intoduced into NZ @BeardedGit, the "instigators" – the managers and salesmen (as opposed to the "IT experts") were confident there were "systems put in place"
Then those instigators soon began wringing their hands and demanding that "something must be done".
From memory, some of the first ATMs were of the Diebold brand – the people that make voting machines, and hosted by Fletcher Challenge.
And then later, when managers opted for cheaper brands of ATMs other than IBM ones hosted on an IBM network, and supposedly entirely compatible, little things like leaving a receipt in a slot meant that transactions wouldn't be committed and the books didn't balance. (All "systems had been put in place").
Voting is far more important as far as I'm concerned than banks not fessing up to some of their losses due to fraudulent activity
I see more fires caused by Guy Fawkes Fireworks. Oz banned them decades ago when will be stop this unecessary destruction and protect people from themselves.
I watched some 'men' firing skyrockets over an old peoples home, when challenged they replied 'it's perfectly legal'…..see the problem here ?
After years of terrified animals, sulphurous stenches and nervous waits with the hose at hand, our fireworks mad neighbours have sold up and buggered off.
Bliss.
Well, lighting fireworks and burning shit down is a human right for all truly “manly men”…except where people do something about it.
An example: in the Far North on Karikari Peninsula, fireworks were a problem for years with even District Council total fire bans not impressing those that stock piled fireworks for occasions other than Nov. 5, nor controlled displays by the local Fire station. So for the last two years courtesy of the Northland Regional Council, a binding Firework Ban with penalties was instituted, and has worked pretty well so far because the overwhelming majority of residents not only support it, but help the Firefighters enforce it!
I was filling the car at the gas station last night while fireworks were whizzing gaily overhead. Clutching the dispenser in white-knuckled hands, I was thinking "Come on, damn you, pump faster!" I hate Guy Fawkes, and so does my cat.
Close all the windows, pull the curtains, turn the TV on loud even if you're not watching and the cat will think all the cracks and bangs are coming out of the TV. Operation Normal.
Ha yeah Anne, I Spotified 4 loud hours of the history of Glam Rock. Holly is accustomed to that environment and was none the wiser. Flashes behind the curtains and T-Rex belong together.
When I was 12, I adored the 5th of November. I miss being excited by fireworks. Must be a bit like a narcotics habit, endure a protracted addiction chasing a buzz as tasty as the first. My Mum loved them to the day she died. Catherine Wheels, they reminded her of galaxies.
It's probably time we grew up and found a way to get that fireworks buzz without burning family homes down.
I wonder if the NZ Navy out of Devonport could take the helm of something special over the Waitemata. A big co-ordinated display would be a hell teamwork builder…and morale. They have ammo that reaches a use-by date. The spectacle could be taken off-shore, the Waitemata doesn't burn.
Ban them and do something better.
I don't want to stop tipping my hat to the Guy that would dare to smuggle barrels of gun-powder beneath the benches. As committed activists go, Mr Fawkes takes the cake. Outrageous insane act on a land far from here…. Maybe our growing up involves embracing the Matariki stars instead.
Ban them and do something better.
20-25 years ago, Twinings (I think it was Twinings) financed a magnificent display on the Waitemata Harbour. They had three barges… one close to North Head, one opposite the Devonport ferry terminal and the third somewhere off the Viaduct Basin. They synced beautifully and I reckon it was the best display ever seen in Auckland.
There must have been around 50,000 to 100,000 onlookers from North Head through to the Harbour Bridge on both sides of the Harbour.
Top Repug: 'Release the transcript!'
*transcript is released*
reporter: Reporter: “Do you plan on reading these transcripts that were released?”⁰
Graham: “No.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lindsey-graham-impeachment-transcripts-gordon-sondland_n_5dc1ed6ee4b0f5dcf8fcabe4
It's gonna be ever more fascinating watching the escalating squirming, evading, lying and reversals of positions previously held dear coming up over the next few months.
https://wecantconsenttothis.uk/
Grace Millane’s accused murderer has pleaded ‘rough sex gone wrong’ as his defence against guilt for her death. As I suspected would happen. We can’t let this become a thing in New Zealand. It’s licence to kill. I may not be able to stick around to argue about this topic as highly triggering but please look at the link if you care or have any concern about this important issue for women in ‘current year’. It’s real. It’s serious. It’s killing us.
I can't see anyone here arguing about it Compass Rose. Good on you for bringing the matter to TS readers' attention.
they don't care, rape, sexual abuse, death at the hand of a partner they don't care. It must be something that happend because we did something to deserve it cause if we did not do something to deserve it then the men who killed these women must be fully responsible. And that can not be. Never ever. Thus nothing gets done, and the reputation of these dead women and their families must be smeared and other women must know and understand that if that happens to you its because you consented to it.
i am sorry, but nothing will ever happen to change that. Nothing.
That scenario doesn't just apply to the rape and killing of women which is at the most serious end of the spectrum. It also applies to other forms of attack on individual women whether it be physical or psychological bullying type behaviour. And you're right Sabine. It almost always gets brushed aside as something the victim supposedly did or said. We asked for it so… stop your moaning, it's your own fault.
We'd need a judiciary not riddled with perverts wouldn't we.
something serious
something funny
so what you gonna do about it?
https://youtu.be/_JpH3Hud32w
What happens if big corporations regard dead passengers as externalities?
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50293927
Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system
BTW @greywarshark, things have re-appeared (in my case) – just on a different day than when posted.
Meanwhile, given Jacinda's attempts to clean up a sleezey, egotistical, misogynistic, exceptionalist oil slick that has the potential to taint everything around it, I'm reading up on tantric sex and dusting off my copy of the Karma Sutra.
It seems a little more ‘civilised’ than ordering a bit of porn on the taxpayers’ credit card
Edit
Well a gentleman can then go home and say to his wife of either gender:
'I am always true to you in my fashion, I'm always true to you darling in my way.'
And don't be too tough, we are talking about a human, being human. In the future it may be just a memory when we get to a stage where machines merge. (Your algorithm is so compatible with mine!)
There possibly will be cases of computer ‘promiscuity’ and some programs will become unstable.
Amazing what blowing holes in a Saudi oil facility can achieve.
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1191752174084210699
Some good results from the Tuesday Elections in Virginia, Kentucky, – The Blue wave of 2018 continues which promises well for this time next year.
https://www.vox.com/2019/11/5/20949741/winners-and-losers-election-night-2019
That Virginia Dems winning all three levels of government sets up the possibility of finally ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment of the Constitution, as mentioned in the last "winner" in the Vox piece linked above.
However, that Vox piece misses a lot of details that will make it fascinating to watch, such as several states that ratified it some time ago have since attempted to rescind their ratification. But since it's never been tested, it's unknown whether the rescinding is valid.
Yeah true that – just keeping fingers crossed.
Meanwhile – in Pence's home town no less –
http://www.therepublic.com/2019/11/05/democrats-take-control-of-columbus-city-council/
Not to mention that the ERA had a target date of something like 1982 for ratification (what idiot thought that was a good idea?). Probably means that a whole new round of ramifications.
The piece below from Amanda Marcotte at Salon covers some of what's likely to come.
https://www.salon.com/2019/11/06/phyllis-schlaflys-dead-but-the-equal-rights-amendment-may-come-back-to-life/
tl;dr a whole bunch of court battles over whether states can rescind their ratification of constitutional amendment, likely arguments in both chambers of Congress over what needs to be passed again after previous deadlines expired. All battles featuring Repugs arguing women should be explicitly treated as second-class citizens.
This Time piece and the wikipedia entry also have good info.
Kia Ora Breakfast.
Aotearoa natural products will become sort after commodities in the near future.
Why did the previous lot start selling hundreds of thousands South island crown lease land at dirt cheap prices A.
What I see is money being used once again to stop conservation so that the money men can carry on pillaging the Ross sea tooth fish that fishery will collapse unless its protected like most fishery hav. Orange Ruffy is a great example.
I think choosing kind words to describe the problem like emotionally confused instead of mental health will get a lot more people to come forward and admit they are having problems.
Data is not the holy grail unless it is reviewed by un biest sources it can be massaged to tell the story that the colabrator wants to use to influence people's opinions.
Consumerism is the Phenomenon that can be directly linked to all the carbon being pumped into our atmosphere.
Ka kite Ano
This story is evedince that New Zealand is not as squeaky clean as most people believe.
White Silence: The tragic story of the Air Zealand jet that flew into Mt Erebus, killing all 257 people on board.
The crash of an Air New Zealand plane on Mt Erebus on 28 November 1979 was the country's deadliest disaster, and the investigation into it produced the now well-known phrase: "An orchestrated litany of lies".
What was the orchestrated litany of lies? Who was supposed to be lying? And why did the plane crash?
Some people know all about those things. But most of us don't. And really, we should.
Not just because it's our worst-ever disaster, or a major anniversary is upon us, but because too few people over the years have ever really, properly reckoned with them. And that has got us where we are today. Forty years on, with an unresolved mess.
The other thing that gets you is the circumstances of the crash: the plane just flew into the mountain. There was no mechanical failure, it wasn't caught in some polar storm, it just flew into the mountain. At 1500 feet. When the investigators listened to the cockpit voice recorder (black box) they were stunned to hear that in the final seconds before impact, none of the flight crew saw Erebus in front of them.
. The only people with any experience flying in Antarctica were flight engineer Gordon Brooks and the in-flight commentator Peter Mulgrew.
Mr Mulgrew was a mountaineer and an adventurer. He was part of the British Antarctic expedition in the 1950s and later lost both his feet to frostbite while climbing in the Himalayas. He wasn't initially rostered for the 28 November flight, but swapped with one of the other commentators – his friend, Sir Edmund Hillary.
Ka kite Ano link below below.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/402799/white-silence-the-tragic-story-of-the-air-zealand-jet-that-flew-into-mt-erebus-killing-all-257-people-onboard
White Silence: The bizarre Erebus burglary – 'hardly anything was missing'
Maria called the police. The burglary was strange for a few reasons: The power cut. How many burglars cut the power? Also, hardly anything was missing. A tape recorder was gone, a digital clock, some passports. But not Maria's jewellery, which was in the same drawer as the passports.
There was one more thing: a photo of her husband, Captain Jim Collins, torn to pieces, and placed back in the envelope where it was kept.
The more sinister theory was that the burglary was the work of New Zealand's SIS. In the four months since the crash, the Erebus disaster had taken on a life of its own.The safety record of DC10s had come under intense scrutiny. Since the first aircraft rolled off the production line in 1970 there had been no fewer than six crashes, claiming nearly 900 lives. Erebus was only the third-worst of them.
The SIS entered the theory because in 1980, Air New Zealand was entirely owned by the New Zealand government. An existential threat to the airline would be its problem.The shareholding minister was the Finance Minister, also the country's Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon. Muldoon also happened to be Minister for the SIS. RNZ's chief political
correspondent at the time, Richard Griffin, remembers some wild rumours circulating in the press gallery.
There was a lot of speculation…Robert Muldoon… was using the SIS illegally, but who would know.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/116618310/white-silence-the-bizarre-erebus-burglary–hardly-anything-was-missing
https://youtu.be/g_D5vzqBVWo
Africa poised to lead way in global green revolution, says report
Continent is set for massive urbanisation but can avoid relying on fossil fuels, says IEA.
Africa is poised to lead the world’s cleanest economic revolution by using renewable energy sources to power a massive spread of urbanisation, says an IEA report.
The IEA, or International Energy Agency, predicts that solar energy will play a big role in supporting the continent’s growing population and industrialisation over the next 20 years.
The report forecasts that Africa’s appetite for energy will grow at double the rate of the global average in the coming decades as the continent overtakes China and India as the most populated region in the world.
Africa’s population is expected to grow to more than 2 billion people by 2040, a rise of 800 million from today or the population equivalent of the US and Europe combined, says the report. People are expected to turn to cities and towns at a rate never seen before, where the demand for new houses and infrastructure will ignite an energy-hungry industrial revolution.
Birol said: “Africa’s total contribution to cumulative global emissions from energy over the last 100 years is only 2%, which is half the emissions of Germany today. If everyone in Africa had access to energy this 2% will rise to just 3% – it’s still nothing. It’s peanuts compared to other countries in the world which are using fossil fuels such as coal for energy.
“But while Africa does not contribute to climate change the continent is on the frontline of its potential effects, including droughts. Africa is perhaps the most innocent continent in terms of its contributions to climate change, but they will be the victims
Kia Ora 1 News.
I know what it's like working 4 days straight.
People dumpling rubbish in our Awa is not on maybe the needs to be a 2 hours a week free dumping for the people less fortunate.
The Bush fire season is starting earlier and getting bigger in Australia and America let's hope not to much life is lost.
The British rocket car that's trying to break the land speed record looks highly technical.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Great to see Te Rangatahi Kapa Haka going Mana.
Hine it looks like they might learn to treat a Tangata Whenua Mana Wahine of your standing with more respect.
The Book on Tangata Whenua protest looks like it will be awesome there will be a lot of knowledge in it to.
Sonny is being rewarded for his Mana Mahi.
The Tangata Whenua Sports awards has heaps of great Stars this year congratulations to you all.
Ka kite Ano
I have accused some companies of this and here I find facts to back up my accusations. The person on the spade whenua has decreased and bureaucracy has increased hence our Roads are not being built as effective efficiently as 40 years ago the tangata on the whenua are getting paid bugger all most of the wages going to management.
‘Parkinson’s Law’ took on a life of its own, forming the basis of several more essays and a book by Parkinson, leading to public lectures around the world.
But what fewer people know is that Parkinson’s original intent was not to take aim at old lady letter-writers or journalists like me, but at a different kind of inefficiency – the bureaucratisation of the British Civil Service. In his original essay he pointed out that although the number of navy ships decreased by two thirds, and personnel by a third, between 1914 and 1928, the number of bureaucrats had still ballooned by almost 6% a year. There were fewer people and less work to manage – but management was still expanding, and Parkinson argued that this was due to factors that were independent of naval operational needs.
One scholar who has taken a serious look at Parkinson’s Law is Stefan Thurner, a professor in Science of Complex Systems at the Medical University of Vienna. Thurner says he became interested in the concept when the faculty of medicine at the University of Vienna split into its own independent university in 2004. Within a couple years, he says, the Medical University of Vienna went from being run by 15 people to 100, while the number of scientists stayed about the same. “I wanted to understand what was going on there, and why my bureaucratic burden did not diminish – on the contrary it increased,” he says.
He happened to read Parkinson’s book around the same time and was inspired to turn it into a mathematical model that could be manipulated and tested, along with co-authors Peter Klimek and Rudolf Hanel. “Parkinson argued that if you have 6% growth rate of any administrative body, then sooner or later any company will die. They will have all their workforce in bureaucracy and none in production.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191107-the-law-that-explains-why-you-cant-get-anything-done
To the post below because someone is playing games with my devices I have to make post like this.
We need a good clean environment to live and leave for our Mokopuna. If not all the movies about a apocalypse will come true.
What Are the Top 5 Environmental Concerns for 2019?
1. Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the most complex and vital feature of our planet. It is essentially every living thing and ecosystem that makes up the environment. From the tallest giraffe to the smallest microorganism, everything plays an important role in the maintenance of our world.
But with the increase in global warming, pollution and deforestation, biodiversity is in danger. Billions of species are going or have gone extinct all over the world. Some scientists, in fact, are suggesting that we are in the beginning of a 6th mass extinction, posing issues for our planet and ourselves.
2. Water
Water pollution is a huge concern for us and our environment. Not only is polluted water a huge financial strain but is also killing both humans and marine life. With oil spills, an abundance of plastic waste and toxic chemicals entering our waterways, we’re damaging the most valuable resource our planet has to offer.
By educating people on the causes and effects of water pollution, we can work together to undo the damage humans have caused. Laws also need to change to make pollution tougher, consistently across national borders.
3. Deforestation
We need plants and trees to survive. They provide oxygen, food, water and medicine for everyone, all over the globe. But if deforestation continues at the rate it’s occurring, we won’t have much of the valuable forestry left.
With natural wildfires, illegal logging and the mass amount of timber being harvested for commercial use, our forests are decreasing at an alarming rate. As well as reducing our supply of oxygen, the loss of forests is contributing around 15% of our greenhouse gas emissions
4. Pollution
Pollution is one of the primary causes of many of the other environmental concerns, including climate change and biodiversity. All 7 key types of pollution – air, water, soil, noise, radioactive, light and thermal – are affecting our environment.
All types of pollution, and environmental concerns, are interlinked and influence one another. So, to tackle one is to tackle them all. That’s why we need to work together, as a community, to reduce the impact that pollution is having on our environment.
5. Climate Change
As pointed out by a recent UN report, without ‘unprecedented changes’ in our actions and behaviour, our planet will suffer drastically from global warming in just 12 years. Greenhouses gases are the main cause of climate change, trapping in the sun’s heat and warming the surface of the earth.
An increased ocean temperature is affecting the sea life and ecosystems habituated there. The rise in global sea levels is shrinking our land, causing mass floods and freak weather incidents across the world. If we continue as we are, the world will suffer irreversibly
Ka kite Ano link below
Link to the above post.
https://www.envirotech-online.com/news/air-monitoring/6/breaking-news/what-are-the-top-5-environmental-concerns-for-2019/47579
Kia Ora 1 News.
It looks like we are going to see some colourful Tawhirimate soon.
That's is cool Doc seed banking our native trees to protect them from mertalrust.
That just shows how backwards Australia laws are.
Big flooding in Britain that's Global warming feel sorry for Te tangata they have had repeated flooding of late.
War is for idiots peace is what makes a great Papatuanuku.
Cool that Nui tamariki are being taught how to swim with help from Aotearoa commissioner pool. My first swimming lesson was thrown in the deep I soon learned how to swim.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Our old Tangata Whenua sites need to be taonga and kept in prestige condition for Te Mokopuna.
That's is cool that the fire service is checking and teaching te Marae and tangata about mitigating Ahi.
Congratulations to Te Young Maori for his invitation to the 21 Asia tech conference that can be a great mahi for Te Rangatahi.
Ka kite Ano
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU