“contributes to a toxic environment for the left here with his incessant fault finding and attack posts against the left”
Very funny – or do you actually believe that?
I only occasionally post here. You and a few others frequently post here, creating a toxic environment of the left, attacking many people you judge to not be suitably left, or something.
You (collectively) deter far more people from voting left than i ever will, because they are not the right sort of left for you, not left enough, or just that you make an ill-informed judgement.
I first came to The Standard thinking it would be a good place to join in the rebuilding of Labour after Clark lost in 2008 and then departed Parliament. I was mistaken. This has been a toxic, small minded, dirty unwelcoming place.
There are good people here, and interesting comments at times, but it has been dominated by persistent petty regulars who burn off anyone deemed some sort of enemy.
It has changed, probably because more moderate centre-ish people have been driven away or can’t be bothered with the toxicity.
What is obvious now that, while there may be a few Labour try-hards, the dirty politics here is now dominated by non-Labour supporters like marty mars, OAB, Robert Guyton, who all regularly and persistently attack anyone deemed some sort of enemy.
It’s pathetic, and it’s counter productive. Even if there is some intent to drive off potential Labour voters that is cutting off your nose to spite your face, and certainly won’t encourage people to vote Green or Mana.
This is a toxic environment without me, I just pop in occasionally to see if anything has changed. Obviously not.
I’ve voted both Green and Labour, but I and I think many others who pass by here certainly wouldn’t encouraged to do so again by the bitter and twisted attack dweebs who dominate threads here.
Ardern and Davis have given the first sign in a decade that Labour may be able to climb back into prominence again. But it looks like they will struggle to get any help here with so much toxic self destruction further to the left going on.
If Labour supporters (and anyone genuinely wanting a change of government) want to do something positive to rebuild the party they should stand up more to the crap perpetuated by a few spoilers here.
thanks pete this is my response on the other thread
“This has been a toxic, small minded, dirty unwelcoming place.”
Is someone forcing your arm up your back and making you post anti left attack comments? No I didn’t think so – that’s all your own work peter – you’ve always been a moaner-fabricator since you started posting way back when you were a United Candidate for parliament. You haven’t changed one bit.
The Standard is a broad left wing space; it’s only to be expected that right wingers will face a headwind. We aren’t here to make it easy for their argument, nor let them derail what is important to us. And if they argue in bad faith or blatantly troll they routinely get hammered by moderation.
But without asking anyone to agree with PG’s style, his sometimes irritating passive-aggressiveness, or any of his political ideas … on this he has a point. There is really no justification for the snide mockery, reflexive hostility and mobbing that is too often dumped on anyone deemed ‘outsider’.
Only a fool counsels perfection; we’ll all fall short of ideal from time to time. But it’s plain that a handful of individuals are taking pleasure in baiting and abusing ‘non-lefties’, and getting away with it because their politics are so pure.
Well that just doesn’t stack up. You cannot demand justice, equity and fairness from others, while dishing out abuse yourself.
“But it’s plain that a handful of individuals are taking pleasure in baiting and abusing outsiders and getting away with it because their politics are so pure.”
I call rubbish on that. You have always pushed that line even after it has been disproved time and time again. sad.
“his sometimes irritating passive-aggressiveness” sometimes!
SOMETIMES????
We’re getting squabbly-as here – let’s blame Pete for that and move on to more productive pastures. Pete’s on holiday, The Greens are polling strongly, Jacinda’s leading Labour and Paula’s been assigned as advance guard for the attack – things are looking relentlessly positive! All we need now is for Todd Barclay to call on Metiria to resign.
Weka – Please be kind, the upcoming election needs a climate of understanding, building bridges and above all – finding common ground. We all have different views on different things. What is it that a social democrat would support in every situation?
Pete gets moderated for his behaviour not his views, as beigely abhorrent as they are. There’s lots of people I disagree with here who have different views, but 95% of the comments don’t even come close to touching my moderator radar.
Like all skilled trolls, Pete mixes together his trolling with his other commentary to make it seem more reasonable. I don’t have too much of a problem with people learning how to skate just under the moderation radar if they can be a net benefit to the site, but the load on moderators is getting higher the closer we get to the election (plus the post-election period is likely to be intense). I’d rather be writing posts or having fun, so there’s less leeway atm. If it makes my job easier to take out a known troll whose been banned multiple times before, and do that early in the day before he gets going, then that’s what I will do.
Besides, I was kind, he only got banned for a week (I was going to make it two then I halved it) 🙂
Hi Weka, fair enough, I did not question your judgement just wondered about why. As an sometimes visitor to this site I saw nothing offensive per se’ but I would certainly ask why Pete would think that people on this site will shoot down others. Perhaps I am not seeing what others see.
Thank you for your response.
That said, look what Pete said in the comments section of his own blog in response to disbelief at Jacinda’s popularity…(go figure!)
““Keep ignoring a phenomenon that is unfolding at your (or National’s) peril.
Unless the current momentum is changed the it looks likely the polling question will be how far into the 30s Labour rise to, and whether National can stay out of the 30s.”
“I’m not ‘buying into the hype’, I’m observing it. I haven’t seen anything like this sort of transformation before, nor this sort of excitement for a campaign before.
It’s happening. Don’t blame me for reporting it.”
“You’re failing to see the facts.
There is a very different vibe coming from the Labour and National camps. You try to talk it away as much as you like but it won’t make it disappear.
National have a major challenge to compete, and they are showing no sign of stepping up yet.
There’s seven weeks to go and things could still change dramatically again, but Labour have little to lose and a lot to gain, if National keep doing little they could lose.”
“Labour appear to have been forced into a very risky leader change but so far it has worked far better than anyone could have predicted.
But how things works is well known by campaign teams. If National don’t find a way of combating Labour’s momentum they could be in trouble.”
Yup. That seems to be the most likely reason for pete doubling-down on a response to a statement that marty mars had already apologised for in the original comment.
”Yes, we are an optimistic nation, but when you work at the coalface of politics and in the communities, as we do, we know and we see every single day that as a country we can do better than this.
”We can be better than this.”
”Relentless positivity will be amongst it and also a really clear vision for New Zealand.”
”I have a very clear view that we can be a much better country than this.”
Apple trees right now, but in the annual vegetables gardens; garlic and shallots are up and growing, peas and broad beans going in to trays in the glasshouse, bok choy and kale as seedlings into the open garden and pumpkins and corn into pottles for the warm window-sills inside of the house. It has been frrrrosty down here all week, though the coming 5 days are to be very warm by comparison, so those seeds will take off. Most of my garden work around now is propagating: cuttings and division of rhizomes and roots; horseradish, mints, elecampane, cardoon etc. I’m still cracking, soaking and planting-out hazelnuts, peach stones and almonds, en mass, preparing for the expansion of my orchard out into the whole wide world 🙂
Nice pics Robert (4). Thanks for sharing. Like to see more of the same posted.
Now I am going to pick your brains. In October we are moving south to central Otago (Cromwell to be exact) from Auckland and want to know what and what does not grow re vegetables. We have always had a productive vegetable garden in Auckland and would like to continue the same if we can at our southern home. Always had silverbeet, broccoli, pumpkins, green beans, bok choy, tomatoes as well as a varied herb garden. Have had conflicting opinions, telling us we can grow this, but can’t grow that, then told something else!
I’d appreciate what we are able to grow in the southern climate please if you don’t mind.
Cheers
Mary
The thing about Central is the late and early frosts. Put in a glasshouse and learn your microclimates. Lots of old school gardeners in that area who will give you very localised gardening advice. I have friends in various parts of Central who grow all the things you name, but opinions will vary on how long you can extend the growing season.
Hi Mary
The best investment you could make would be to buy a Star Garden Guide; they’ve just been reprinted from the original which was composed as a serial for the Star Newspaper back in the day by a gardener who knew his onions. It isn’t “organics-only” as I would wish, but very sound in its recommendations for what and when to plant. As well, you should/could subscribe to the NZ Gardener magazine and read their regular column from their man in Southland 🙂 Great pics accompanying that column as well. Also, there’s Get Growing, on-line, written, every third week, by that same gardener. In a nutshell, though, you’ll be able to grow everything you listed. Lots of sunshine in Cromwell. The soil will be different from what you’re accustomed to though.
Listened to Chris Martenson’s Peak Prosperity weekly news update.
Summary: talking about the loss of biodiversity in Maine or as Chris puts it watching life ebb away; also comments on the ongoing rallies in the stock market.
Oh yeah. During election season, we get more comments. The average comment size get larger as well. While there are a lot of short comments especially when the trolls reappear, everyone else seems to start writing small essays as a counterpoint.
Bit depressing seeing those outages due to cutouts in the CPUs protecting themselves from overheating kicking in on the early part of the month. 4th-12th on this chart. Especially on midweek on 9th when it was down for quite a few hours.
I had to do some shuffling of the machines and refitting of fans on the Saturday 12th. And again last weekend. It had a brief midday outage during the spike, and I had to tweak the fancontrol parameters again.
I really need to write a proper hysteresis routine for them so I can get a better balance between the noise of the fans in my quiet apartment (especially at night) and the need to stop the CPUs cutting off the system to protect themselves.
The 33k the day before was started with your “This is no ordinary election (f*ck the polls)” about the poll with the greens rise and Metiria’s aftershocks.
You should be able to see that google analytics on the dashboard – look under screen options if you can’t
I’d like to comment in the post Lefties on The Standard but I’m unsure about the criteria for participation.
The manoeuvring (incl. MOU) and rhetoric in the next 7 weeks will be aimed at changing the government in the first instance. Paradoxically, in my view, this muddies the more important overarching debate which is how we should move forward in this country and our society. This debate needs to be inclusive and balanced as possible and not hijacked & polarised as is usually the case.
There are two questions related to the criteria as set out:
1) Can I personally adhere to and meet these? In my own eyes rather than in your eyes, for example, if that makes any sense? I don’t think we need to dwell on this here as it is obviously personal.
2) I am not so comfortable, for want of a better word, with the label “left wing” and its associated narrative of (political) dualism. Hence my comment re. being inclusive but it goes deeper than that.
I realise it is an experiment here on TS and I think it is great to try new ways to move things forward. I am also hanging out for real constructive debate; it is rare, fragile, and too easily killed off – a bit like the flightless bird that is our national symbol. Maybe you’re right that it needs to start off in an enclosed and well-protected environment but how & when do we proceed with the ‘release into the wild’? BTW, I believe there have been (other) calls for a left wing ‘think tank’.
Lastly, and perhaps paradoxically, I take your comment as a compliment 🙂
44 south also mentioned that labels do not represent people very well https://thestandard.org.nz/lefties-on-the-standard/#comment-1363547 and I relate to this in ways that confuse me no end – does the label conform to the person or the other way round or both (or neither)?
The thing is we’re aiming for a better future although it remains poorly described. In my view, it will have to be radically different from status quo and thus it cannot be adequately described or defined (‘captured’) with current terminology and it most certainly cannot and won’t fit within the current dominant narratives – the future is open-ended and the associated language and meaning has yet to be developed or evolve.
A longwinded explanation which in no way detracts from your stellar efforts here on TS – I really mean this.
Does that mean there is no way for you to take part in the conversation in the other thread? Seems odd to let semantics deter good discussion. ‘Left wing’ is a just a shorthand to make my job as moderator easier.
I was thinking along similar lines.
If in doubt – try http://www.politicalcompass.org
And yes, these one size fits all “what’s your political bent” are a bit trite – but interesting..
For what it’s worth – I’m bang in the middle of the square of “libertarian/left”. So I suppose that does make me left? – although I have voted national in the past 🙂
MSM and modern technology tend to magnify & amplify all sorts of happenings, good and bad. This almost always comes at the expense of balance and context.
Recently, we have heard a few personal revelations (‘confessions’) and seen a few actions (‘sacrifices’) by politicians. Indeed, these were showing honesty & integrity. However, MSM and others have taken them out of proportion and used them to polarise opinion – the modus operandi of some; some claimed to have seen an Angel while others saw the Devil incarnate (Fallen Angel). There has never been a more powerful narrative and human construct than Good vs. Evil.
I think it’s quite telling that we appear to be so excited, surprised even, when moral virtues and positive values are on display. Why is this? We all value honesty & integrity and we all make personal sacrifices on a daily basis without giving it much thought, it seems.
I think it is time to recalibrate our expectations and corresponding judgements (!) of ourselves as well as of others and reaffirm the values we stand for. With the influence of (organised) religion waning in our society we should not lose sight of the whole of the value system that underpinned it – we cannot deny who we are. Similarly, the role of (moral) authority is disappearing and we now need to look at and in ourselves for guidance and direction.
Agreed. And with love getting a fresh airing by principals as schools grapple with student depression and suicide we are reminded that there are some simple qualities which if neglected leave us poorer regardless of external stimuli. Wordsworth knew about them when he wrote …..
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
My meandering monkey mind let me to search on Wordsworth & Buddhism and that unearthed a ‘treasure trove’.
I guess this might feel far-removed from current electioneering and reading of political ‘tea leaves’.
Increases in suicide and depression are clear signs that we’re heading down the wrong path and it is really good to hear that people are aware of this and doing something about it.
Globalisation: the rise and fall of an idea that swept the world
It’s not just a populist backlash – many economists who once swore by free trade have changed their minds, too. How had they got it so wrong? By Nikil Saval
A bit of history of Populism on Melvyn Bragg’s excellent In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what, in C19th America’s Gilded Age, was one of the most significant protest movements since the Civil War with repercussions well into C20th. Farmers in the South and Midwest felt ignored by the urban and industrial elites who were thriving as the farmers suffered droughts and low prices. The farmers were politically and physically isolated. As one man wrote on his abandoned farm, ‘two hundred and fifty miles to the nearest post office, one hundred miles to wood, twenty miles to water, six inches to Hell’. They formed the Populist or People’s Party to fight their cause, put up candidates for President, won several states and influenced policies. In the South, though, their appeal to black farmers stimulated their political rivals to suppress the black vote for decades and set black and poor white farmers against each other, tightening segregation. Aspects of the Populists ideas re-emerged effectively in Roosevelt’s New Deal, even if they are mainly remembered now, if at all, thanks to allegorical references in The Wizard of Oz.
Least we forget:
Today is Hiroshima Day
Spare a thought for the 140,000 innocent people who were killed in a moment of madness.
And wonder at the continued madness of the threat of it happening again.
. In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, author Eric Schlosser explains just how inefficient this early nuclear bomb was (skip to 11:13 in the recording).
In the case of Hiroshima, the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima was an incredibly crude and inefficient weapon. When it exploded, about 99 per cent of the uranium that was supposed to undergo this chain reaction, didn’t. It just blew apart in the air, and a very small percentage, maybe two per cent of the fissile material, actually detonated. And most of it just became other radioactive elements. [. . .] Now to imagine how small an amount that is, seven-tenths of a gram of uranium is about the size of a peppercorn. Seven-tenths of a gram weighs less than a dollar bill. So even though this weapon was unbelievably inefficient, and almost 99 per cent of the uranium had nothing to do with the destruction of Hiroshima, it was a catastrophic explosion.
Today marks the anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons – the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima by the United States, the only country in the world to ever use nuclear weapons (and on civilian targets). It’s also no coincidence that the atomic bomb was used on Japan and not Germany:
“It’s also no coincidence that the atomic bomb was used on Japan and not Germany”
It is probably also not a coincidence that the first atom bomb was not completed until AFTER the German state had been defeated and they had surrendered.
Just how could they have dropped a bomb that they didn’t actually have on Germany? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_%28nuclear_test%29
Unintended consequences of highly liberal marijuana laws; Marijuana company buys an entire Californian town. I’m sure it happens in Mexico regularly enough, but I’m not sure even Rothmans got that far with taking an entire town.
American Green will spend some $2.5 million in the next 18 months to rebuild Nipton into a stoner’s paradise, according to the company’s release. It plans to expand on the town’s small solar farm and aims to add “CBD and mineral baths, cannabis-product retail outposts, artists-in-residence programs, culinary events, and Bed-and-Breakfast lodging to complete the charming small town experience.”
Dunno if that’s an unintended consequence, really. It’s hardly unheard of in the US for a company to own a town – Disney has at least one community, and coal and steel companies occasionally owned the towns their workers lived in. Tennessee Ernie Ford sung about it.
Did my ears deceive me, did Jessica Mutch on todays Q and A really say in response to kelvin Davis and his criticism of national party hacks “On behalf of the National Party thats a bit unfair” her impartiality is transparent.
The panel was also slanted to the right, and pretty anti-Green Party generally.
Mike Williams said he was opposed to Turei’s old electorate enrollment thing because too many people had been doing that to gain extra votes in marginal electorates – but that’s totally not what Turei did.
Great to see Fitzsimons stepping up at a crucial point. I’ve often seen her on demonstrations in Auckland in recent times – still an activist. She mentored Turei initially, as I recall, when Turei became an MP.
did u no that if you are classed as Maori and have a criminal record you are not human because that is the way im being treated i tried dairyfarming for 13 years 11 years ago i was assitant manager on a 5000 cow farm we had 18 workers whom have all been displaced by imagrints i managed a farm for one farmer he had 7 workers on 4 farms they have all been repalaced by imagrints these farmers have no compasion for there workers as when you dairyfarm it is more than just a job if they fire you once calfing is over you have to move house iv had the cops called on me twice the first one lied and said i assalted them i went to court the judge was trying to encrouge me to plead gilty even my lawyer was not much help he did not encrouge me to plead not gilty cant have a europeen farmer to look like a lier i pleaeded not gilty i got off next time i was managing the worest farm in nz i was desperate for a job and house as my last boss hired imergrints i took the job the effluent system was a joke the cows were conditishon score av of 2 no shit she had taranaki gates the water was fucked i worked from dawn till dusk for 3 months to fix every thing up ie power the gates as a hungry cows were running the farm free range this farm is right next to the waikato river with a effluent system that was a joke fonterra new about farm because her partner worked for them after 3 months me and my son got the grass cover up to 2500 avrege the production was up 100% no lie my wife was razing the calfs she is a perfectionist healthy well looked after calfs the owner brought some of her calfs to my wifes calf shed they had scoures made my wifes calf sick they had a diseragrement she sacked us me my wife and 2 sons were working for her i was past the ninty day trial she still sacked me my wife did not get payed one of my sons did not get payed my daugter to she owed us all about 8 k i wondered why she had no numbers on her mail box this is why because when we went to the employment courts we could not get any thing trough becaues no one could find her to serve her the documents she was trained by the cop freind that she rang to kick us out of the house lucky my wife was there he jumped out of the cop car as if he was going to asalt me he yelled that we have been fired and had to leave imediately i replied that the house was like a rental an in the contrack we had 2 weeks to move it was dusk he backed off and went away i made a complaint the officer said that wallies had been in trouble before while we were moving to my daugthers house i got a ticket on a road were userly there are no cops he was waiting in the dark i tought nothing of it at the time but now it all ads up i went to wellington to work for Downers after 3 months on a loliepop sign i failed a drug test because i had started smoking weed agian because i was depressted i went to stay with my daugther i got a job relife managing for the first 2 weeks everything was good they liked my work cell count coming down treating lame cows ect one afternoon as i was driveing to work i noticed some guy pretending to read a paper in the boss driveway with a good view of the shed the cops think everyone has no brain the next day everyone was atcaing weard in the end they looked like i was the deviel 2 days before i was offered a full time job manageing a other farm they owned but not any more i notice that i allways had someone following me the police have told lies about me to all the farmers on kokako rd about me son boss acting strange i brought a lawn run in tauranga the cops have contacted all my clints lied to them i emailed the IPCA one of my clints is a judge after three weeks i asked if he could help me he said he would the next week he asked me if i had been arested yet no i said i made a complaint to the IPCA he looked into it the IPCA took up the case but 1 week later the judge said that i was just the lawn man nothing else you and your drugs. the police have put a spin on this the judge dismessed my services 3 weeks ago for no reason the police have lied to allmy nabours my bank staff acountant ect that is why i say if you are maori you have no human rights
the police are harressing me they are using bulling tackticks and have not aressted me there evdince is all lies they are not use to people with a brain
you no what they say a cop has impunity to do anything and the justice system is more worried about the polices image can not have the public no some cops are bad he trained the farm owner to avoied the employment law i tried to get a lawyer to sue for my human rights 4 times first interview they are going to help next they wont anser my call so i use a unlisted number and they anser and clam up
The cops name was not Wallies his name is Dickson just checked email that we sent in
a complaint and the farm is just out of Whakamaru The owner is Colleen Conolly her partner was Jamie Hovind. Never work for these muppets
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Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
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 iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
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I think it’s worth repeating this here, a response to marty mars:
“contributes to a toxic environment for the left here with his incessant fault finding and attack posts against the left”
Very funny – or do you actually believe that?
I only occasionally post here. You and a few others frequently post here, creating a toxic environment of the left, attacking many people you judge to not be suitably left, or something.
You (collectively) deter far more people from voting left than i ever will, because they are not the right sort of left for you, not left enough, or just that you make an ill-informed judgement.
I first came to The Standard thinking it would be a good place to join in the rebuilding of Labour after Clark lost in 2008 and then departed Parliament. I was mistaken. This has been a toxic, small minded, dirty unwelcoming place.
There are good people here, and interesting comments at times, but it has been dominated by persistent petty regulars who burn off anyone deemed some sort of enemy.
It has changed, probably because more moderate centre-ish people have been driven away or can’t be bothered with the toxicity.
What is obvious now that, while there may be a few Labour try-hards, the dirty politics here is now dominated by non-Labour supporters like marty mars, OAB, Robert Guyton, who all regularly and persistently attack anyone deemed some sort of enemy.
It’s pathetic, and it’s counter productive. Even if there is some intent to drive off potential Labour voters that is cutting off your nose to spite your face, and certainly won’t encourage people to vote Green or Mana.
This is a toxic environment without me, I just pop in occasionally to see if anything has changed. Obviously not.
I’ve voted both Green and Labour, but I and I think many others who pass by here certainly wouldn’t encouraged to do so again by the bitter and twisted attack dweebs who dominate threads here.
Ardern and Davis have given the first sign in a decade that Labour may be able to climb back into prominence again. But it looks like they will struggle to get any help here with so much toxic self destruction further to the left going on.
If Labour supporters (and anyone genuinely wanting a change of government) want to do something positive to rebuild the party they should stand up more to the crap perpetuated by a few spoilers here.
No. It wasn’t.
Yes dear
thanks pete this is my response on the other thread
“This has been a toxic, small minded, dirty unwelcoming place.”
Is someone forcing your arm up your back and making you post anti left attack comments? No I didn’t think so – that’s all your own work peter – you’ve always been a moaner-fabricator since you started posting way back when you were a United Candidate for parliament. You haven’t changed one bit.
The Standard is a broad left wing space; it’s only to be expected that right wingers will face a headwind. We aren’t here to make it easy for their argument, nor let them derail what is important to us. And if they argue in bad faith or blatantly troll they routinely get hammered by moderation.
But without asking anyone to agree with PG’s style, his sometimes irritating passive-aggressiveness, or any of his political ideas … on this he has a point. There is really no justification for the snide mockery, reflexive hostility and mobbing that is too often dumped on anyone deemed ‘outsider’.
Only a fool counsels perfection; we’ll all fall short of ideal from time to time. But it’s plain that a handful of individuals are taking pleasure in baiting and abusing ‘non-lefties’, and getting away with it because their politics are so pure.
Well that just doesn’t stack up. You cannot demand justice, equity and fairness from others, while dishing out abuse yourself.
“But it’s plain that a handful of individuals are taking pleasure in baiting and abusing outsiders and getting away with it because their politics are so pure.”
I call rubbish on that. You have always pushed that line even after it has been disproved time and time again. sad.
Yes dear.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06082017/#comment-1363452
means nothing – your point is?
“his sometimes irritating passive-aggressiveness”
sometimes!
SOMETIMES????
We’re getting squabbly-as here – let’s blame Pete for that and move on to more productive pastures. Pete’s on holiday, The Greens are polling strongly, Jacinda’s leading Labour and Paula’s been assigned as advance guard for the attack – things are looking relentlessly positive! All we need now is for Todd Barclay to call on Metiria to resign.
No. It wasn’t.
Pete gearing up his arch-trollery for the election I see. What a surprise.
From your post:
Your post, your rules obviously, but that seems a bit contradictory. As does your comment here.
[1 week ban. I don’t care how carefully you couch your trolling, you don’t get to criticise this author – weka]
Weka – Please be kind, the upcoming election needs a climate of understanding, building bridges and above all – finding common ground. We all have different views on different things. What is it that a social democrat would support in every situation?
Pete gets moderated for his behaviour not his views, as beigely abhorrent as they are. There’s lots of people I disagree with here who have different views, but 95% of the comments don’t even come close to touching my moderator radar.
Like all skilled trolls, Pete mixes together his trolling with his other commentary to make it seem more reasonable. I don’t have too much of a problem with people learning how to skate just under the moderation radar if they can be a net benefit to the site, but the load on moderators is getting higher the closer we get to the election (plus the post-election period is likely to be intense). I’d rather be writing posts or having fun, so there’s less leeway atm. If it makes my job easier to take out a known troll whose been banned multiple times before, and do that early in the day before he gets going, then that’s what I will do.
Besides, I was kind, he only got banned for a week (I was going to make it two then I halved it) 🙂
I thought your giving ol’ Pet the heave-ho was elegant, weka. I cried no tears at all.
Hi Weka, fair enough, I did not question your judgement just wondered about why. As an sometimes visitor to this site I saw nothing offensive per se’ but I would certainly ask why Pete would think that people on this site will shoot down others. Perhaps I am not seeing what others see.
Thank you for your response.
PG has a long history of boring the crap out of us with his presence of being even handed. When he is an authoritarian follower of the establishment.
You know when the thugs render their victim unconscious with a chloroform-soaked rag? Pete.
(And I reckon you meant “pretense”, KJT 🙂
Yes
In fairness to everyone concerned, I have to ask: is one week long enough? Seriously, that’s only 7 days.
🙂
That said, look what Pete said in the comments section of his own blog in response to disbelief at Jacinda’s popularity…(go figure!)
““Keep ignoring a phenomenon that is unfolding at your (or National’s) peril.
Unless the current momentum is changed the it looks likely the polling question will be how far into the 30s Labour rise to, and whether National can stay out of the 30s.”
“I’m not ‘buying into the hype’, I’m observing it. I haven’t seen anything like this sort of transformation before, nor this sort of excitement for a campaign before.
It’s happening. Don’t blame me for reporting it.”
“You’re failing to see the facts.
There is a very different vibe coming from the Labour and National camps. You try to talk it away as much as you like but it won’t make it disappear.
National have a major challenge to compete, and they are showing no sign of stepping up yet.
There’s seven weeks to go and things could still change dramatically again, but Labour have little to lose and a lot to gain, if National keep doing little they could lose.”
“Labour appear to have been forced into a very risky leader change but so far it has worked far better than anyone could have predicted.
But how things works is well known by campaign teams. If National don’t find a way of combating Labour’s momentum they could be in trouble.”
Thanks weka. I always scroll down past his comments. He is so fucking boring.
Well said, very concise.
arch-trollery.
Yup. That seems to be the most likely reason for pete doubling-down on a response to a statement that marty mars had already apologised for in the original comment.
A welcome switch to more positive politics:
Not just Labour, we will all benefit by a more positive approach to politics. I hope some of Ardern’s positivity rubs off on others.
RadioLive, in two minutes time, talking (positively) about what to plant in the almost-Spring vegetable garden.
What are you planting down south Robert?
Apple trees right now, but in the annual vegetables gardens; garlic and shallots are up and growing, peas and broad beans going in to trays in the glasshouse, bok choy and kale as seedlings into the open garden and pumpkins and corn into pottles for the warm window-sills inside of the house. It has been frrrrosty down here all week, though the coming 5 days are to be very warm by comparison, so those seeds will take off. Most of my garden work around now is propagating: cuttings and division of rhizomes and roots; horseradish, mints, elecampane, cardoon etc. I’m still cracking, soaking and planting-out hazelnuts, peach stones and almonds, en mass, preparing for the expansion of my orchard out into the whole wide world 🙂
Do you wait for last frost to plant out the broad beans, or just more warm days?
I’ve had some in for a while now; they don’t care about frosts. Don’t leave them too late.
I’ve posted two pretty photos on my blog; one scene from last evening and one from this morning. Someone might enjoy seeing them.
https://robertguyton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/08/evening-and-morning.html
Nice pics Robert (4). Thanks for sharing. Like to see more of the same posted.
Now I am going to pick your brains. In October we are moving south to central Otago (Cromwell to be exact) from Auckland and want to know what and what does not grow re vegetables. We have always had a productive vegetable garden in Auckland and would like to continue the same if we can at our southern home. Always had silverbeet, broccoli, pumpkins, green beans, bok choy, tomatoes as well as a varied herb garden. Have had conflicting opinions, telling us we can grow this, but can’t grow that, then told something else!
I’d appreciate what we are able to grow in the southern climate please if you don’t mind.
Cheers
Mary
The thing about Central is the late and early frosts. Put in a glasshouse and learn your microclimates. Lots of old school gardeners in that area who will give you very localised gardening advice. I have friends in various parts of Central who grow all the things you name, but opinions will vary on how long you can extend the growing season.
Better yet, plant a food forest 😀
Hi Mary
The best investment you could make would be to buy a Star Garden Guide; they’ve just been reprinted from the original which was composed as a serial for the Star Newspaper back in the day by a gardener who knew his onions. It isn’t “organics-only” as I would wish, but very sound in its recommendations for what and when to plant. As well, you should/could subscribe to the NZ Gardener magazine and read their regular column from their man in Southland 🙂 Great pics accompanying that column as well. Also, there’s Get Growing, on-line, written, every third week, by that same gardener. In a nutshell, though, you’ll be able to grow everything you listed. Lots of sunshine in Cromwell. The soil will be different from what you’re accustomed to though.
Weka (4.1.1) & Robert Guyton (4.1.2) … hey thanks for the useful info. Much appreciated.
It’s going to be a whole new ball game for us. However I look forward to some productive gardening in central Otago in the very near future 🙂
Listened to Chris Martenson’s Peak Prosperity weekly news update.
Summary: talking about the loss of biodiversity in Maine or as Chris puts it watching life ebb away; also comments on the ongoing rallies in the stock market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwiNKK-E27s
Oh it is election season. Waking up on a sunday morning to the sound of case fans winding up as the load goes on the server..
Well you can see the last 30 days yourself.
Updated:
Looks like the same at The Daily Blog as well at about half magnitude.
I notice it in the number of comments already on TS by the time I get up in the morning. Or the numbers commenting on Daily Review in the evenings.
Oh yeah. During election season, we get more comments. The average comment size get larger as well. While there are a lot of short comments especially when the trolls reappear, everyone else seems to start writing small essays as a counterpoint.
Bit depressing seeing those outages due to cutouts in the CPUs protecting themselves from overheating kicking in on the early part of the month. 4th-12th on this chart. Especially on midweek on 9th when it was down for quite a few hours.
I had to do some shuffling of the machines and refitting of fans on the Saturday 12th. And again last weekend. It had a brief midday outage during the spike, and I had to tweak the fancontrol parameters again.
I really need to write a proper hysteresis routine for them so I can get a better balance between the noise of the fans in my quiet apartment (especially at night) and the need to stop the CPUs cutting off the system to protect themselves.
What was the 40K spike about?
That was the Labour leader roll(over) of Little and its subsequent election of Jacinda at the start of the week.
Ah you’re becoming a hardened election season moderator. On the weekend it is very hard to remember the start of the week.
https://thestandard.org.nz/page/2/ look down until you see “Labour leadership meeting”.
The 33k the day before was started with your “This is no ordinary election (f*ck the polls)” about the poll with the greens rise and Metiria’s aftershocks.
You should be able to see that google analytics on the dashboard – look under screen options if you can’t
More on RNZ using Hooton as a commenter, and Hooton’s lie about Helen Clark.
https://twitter.com/Zagzigger2/status/893710919317954560
And Mediawatch – having a go at our short supply of long term professional pundits, from Trotter to Hooton – but special scathing mentions of Mike Hosking’s assembly line of reckons.
More diversity indeed … when all of them are white, middle-class, males.
That’s a hard listen for all the Hosking audio 😉
Sir John Key: “Helen abolished knighthoods, I reinstalled them”.
ABC interview 30th July 2017
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/sundayextra/2017-07-30/8749862?utm_source=sfmc
I’d like to comment in the post Lefties on The Standard but I’m unsure about the criteria for participation.
The manoeuvring (incl. MOU) and rhetoric in the next 7 weeks will be aimed at changing the government in the first instance. Paradoxically, in my view, this muddies the more important overarching debate which is how we should move forward in this country and our society. This debate needs to be inclusive and balanced as possible and not hijacked & polarised as is usually the case.
What was unclear about the criteria?
(you’re LW as far as I can tell, so go for it).
Hi weka,
I tend to overthink things – an understatement.
There are two questions related to the criteria as set out:
1) Can I personally adhere to and meet these? In my own eyes rather than in your eyes, for example, if that makes any sense? I don’t think we need to dwell on this here as it is obviously personal.
2) I am not so comfortable, for want of a better word, with the label “left wing” and its associated narrative of (political) dualism. Hence my comment re. being inclusive but it goes deeper than that.
I realise it is an experiment here on TS and I think it is great to try new ways to move things forward. I am also hanging out for real constructive debate; it is rare, fragile, and too easily killed off – a bit like the flightless bird that is our national symbol. Maybe you’re right that it needs to start off in an enclosed and well-protected environment but how & when do we proceed with the ‘release into the wild’? BTW, I believe there have been (other) calls for a left wing ‘think tank’.
Lastly, and perhaps paradoxically, I take your comment as a compliment 🙂
Would progressive rather than, or in addition to, left wing have made a difference?
No, not really, sorry.
44 south also mentioned that labels do not represent people very well https://thestandard.org.nz/lefties-on-the-standard/#comment-1363547 and I relate to this in ways that confuse me no end – does the label conform to the person or the other way round or both (or neither)?
Lately, I’ve been reading the comments by Carolyn_nth with great interest, e.g. this one referring to Sue Bradford https://thestandard.org.nz/messages-for-the-left/#comment-1363782
The thing is we’re aiming for a better future although it remains poorly described. In my view, it will have to be radically different from status quo and thus it cannot be adequately described or defined (‘captured’) with current terminology and it most certainly cannot and won’t fit within the current dominant narratives – the future is open-ended and the associated language and meaning has yet to be developed or evolve.
A longwinded explanation which in no way detracts from your stellar efforts here on TS – I really mean this.
Does that mean there is no way for you to take part in the conversation in the other thread? Seems odd to let semantics deter good discussion. ‘Left wing’ is a just a shorthand to make my job as moderator easier.
I was thinking along similar lines.
If in doubt – try http://www.politicalcompass.org
And yes, these one size fits all “what’s your political bent” are a bit trite – but interesting..
For what it’s worth – I’m bang in the middle of the square of “libertarian/left”. So I suppose that does make me left? – although I have voted national in the past 🙂
Yes, that makes you left 😉
You too, Labour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkYDFghWwOU&feature=youtu.be
MSM and modern technology tend to magnify & amplify all sorts of happenings, good and bad. This almost always comes at the expense of balance and context.
Recently, we have heard a few personal revelations (‘confessions’) and seen a few actions (‘sacrifices’) by politicians. Indeed, these were showing honesty & integrity. However, MSM and others have taken them out of proportion and used them to polarise opinion – the modus operandi of some; some claimed to have seen an Angel while others saw the Devil incarnate (Fallen Angel). There has never been a more powerful narrative and human construct than Good vs. Evil.
I think it’s quite telling that we appear to be so excited, surprised even, when moral virtues and positive values are on display. Why is this? We all value honesty & integrity and we all make personal sacrifices on a daily basis without giving it much thought, it seems.
I think it is time to recalibrate our expectations and corresponding judgements (!) of ourselves as well as of others and reaffirm the values we stand for. With the influence of (organised) religion waning in our society we should not lose sight of the whole of the value system that underpinned it – we cannot deny who we are. Similarly, the role of (moral) authority is disappearing and we now need to look at and in ourselves for guidance and direction.
Agreed. And with love getting a fresh airing by principals as schools grapple with student depression and suicide we are reminded that there are some simple qualities which if neglected leave us poorer regardless of external stimuli. Wordsworth knew about them when he wrote …..
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
Most interesting and very apt, thank you.
My meandering monkey mind let me to search on Wordsworth & Buddhism and that unearthed a ‘treasure trove’.
I guess this might feel far-removed from current electioneering and reading of political ‘tea leaves’.
Increases in suicide and depression are clear signs that we’re heading down the wrong path and it is really good to hear that people are aware of this and doing something about it.
Sunday reading from The Grauniad:
Globalisation: the rise and fall of an idea that swept the world
It’s not just a populist backlash – many economists who once swore by free trade have changed their minds, too. How had they got it so wrong? By Nikil Saval
Text version:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/14/globalisation-the-rise-and-fall-of-an-idea-that-swept-the-world
Podcast version:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2017/jul/31/globalisation-the-rise-and-fall-of-an-idea-that-swept-the-world-podcast
A bit of history of Populism on Melvyn Bragg’s excellent In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what, in C19th America’s Gilded Age, was one of the most significant protest movements since the Civil War with repercussions well into C20th. Farmers in the South and Midwest felt ignored by the urban and industrial elites who were thriving as the farmers suffered droughts and low prices. The farmers were politically and physically isolated. As one man wrote on his abandoned farm, ‘two hundred and fifty miles to the nearest post office, one hundred miles to wood, twenty miles to water, six inches to Hell’. They formed the Populist or People’s Party to fight their cause, put up candidates for President, won several states and influenced policies. In the South, though, their appeal to black farmers stimulated their political rivals to suppress the black vote for decades and set black and poor white farmers against each other, tightening segregation. Aspects of the Populists ideas re-emerged effectively in Roosevelt’s New Deal, even if they are mainly remembered now, if at all, thanks to allegorical references in The Wizard of Oz.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08tbf4g
Least we forget:
Today is Hiroshima Day
Spare a thought for the 140,000 innocent people who were killed in a moment of madness.
And wonder at the continued madness of the threat of it happening again.
A peppercorn.
.
In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, author Eric Schlosser explains just how inefficient this early nuclear bomb was (skip to 11:13 in the recording).
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/09/less-than-two-percent-of-the-hiroshima-bombs-uranium-actually-detonated/
72 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLjb2dEHhN4
Today marks the anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons – the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima by the United States, the only country in the world to ever use nuclear weapons (and on civilian targets). It’s also no coincidence that the atomic bomb was used on Japan and not Germany:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/the-pacific-war-racism-and-hiroshima/
“It’s also no coincidence that the atomic bomb was used on Japan and not Germany”
It is probably also not a coincidence that the first atom bomb was not completed until AFTER the German state had been defeated and they had surrendered.
Just how could they have dropped a bomb that they didn’t actually have on Germany?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_%28nuclear_test%29
Yes, Germany surrendered in May, and the first bomb was exploded in the Nevada desert in July… Bit of a problem there, PF
Unintended consequences of highly liberal marijuana laws; Marijuana company buys an entire Californian town. I’m sure it happens in Mexico regularly enough, but I’m not sure even Rothmans got that far with taking an entire town.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/marijuana-company-buys-nipton-california_us_5985e9bce4b041356ec00bbd?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
American Green will spend some $2.5 million in the next 18 months to rebuild Nipton into a stoner’s paradise, according to the company’s release. It plans to expand on the town’s small solar farm and aims to add “CBD and mineral baths, cannabis-product retail outposts, artists-in-residence programs, culinary events, and Bed-and-Breakfast lodging to complete the charming small town experience.”
Clearly the price was not too high.
Dunno if that’s an unintended consequence, really. It’s hardly unheard of in the US for a company to own a town – Disney has at least one community, and coal and steel companies occasionally owned the towns their workers lived in. Tennessee Ernie Ford sung about it.
Did my ears deceive me, did Jessica Mutch on todays Q and A really say in response to kelvin Davis and his criticism of national party hacks “On behalf of the National Party thats a bit unfair” her impartiality is transparent.
The panel was also slanted to the right, and pretty anti-Green Party generally.
Mike Williams said he was opposed to Turei’s old electorate enrollment thing because too many people had been doing that to gain extra votes in marginal electorates – but that’s totally not what Turei did.
Live Green Party environment Q & A between James Shaw and Jeanette Fitzimmons on FB 6.30pm tonight.
https://www.facebook.com/nzgreenparty/posts/10154615034241372:0
Great to see Fitzsimons stepping up at a crucial point. I’ve often seen her on demonstrations in Auckland in recent times – still an activist. She mentored Turei initially, as I recall, when Turei became an MP.
did u no that if you are classed as Maori and have a criminal record you are not human because that is the way im being treated i tried dairyfarming for 13 years 11 years ago i was assitant manager on a 5000 cow farm we had 18 workers whom have all been displaced by imagrints i managed a farm for one farmer he had 7 workers on 4 farms they have all been repalaced by imagrints these farmers have no compasion for there workers as when you dairyfarm it is more than just a job if they fire you once calfing is over you have to move house iv had the cops called on me twice the first one lied and said i assalted them i went to court the judge was trying to encrouge me to plead gilty even my lawyer was not much help he did not encrouge me to plead not gilty cant have a europeen farmer to look like a lier i pleaeded not gilty i got off next time i was managing the worest farm in nz i was desperate for a job and house as my last boss hired imergrints i took the job the effluent system was a joke the cows were conditishon score av of 2 no shit she had taranaki gates the water was fucked i worked from dawn till dusk for 3 months to fix every thing up ie power the gates as a hungry cows were running the farm free range this farm is right next to the waikato river with a effluent system that was a joke fonterra new about farm because her partner worked for them after 3 months me and my son got the grass cover up to 2500 avrege the production was up 100% no lie my wife was razing the calfs she is a perfectionist healthy well looked after calfs the owner brought some of her calfs to my wifes calf shed they had scoures made my wifes calf sick they had a diseragrement she sacked us me my wife and 2 sons were working for her i was past the ninty day trial she still sacked me my wife did not get payed one of my sons did not get payed my daugter to she owed us all about 8 k i wondered why she had no numbers on her mail box this is why because when we went to the employment courts we could not get any thing trough becaues no one could find her to serve her the documents she was trained by the cop freind that she rang to kick us out of the house lucky my wife was there he jumped out of the cop car as if he was going to asalt me he yelled that we have been fired and had to leave imediately i replied that the house was like a rental an in the contrack we had 2 weeks to move it was dusk he backed off and went away i made a complaint the officer said that wallies had been in trouble before while we were moving to my daugthers house i got a ticket on a road were userly there are no cops he was waiting in the dark i tought nothing of it at the time but now it all ads up i went to wellington to work for Downers after 3 months on a loliepop sign i failed a drug test because i had started smoking weed agian because i was depressted i went to stay with my daugther i got a job relife managing for the first 2 weeks everything was good they liked my work cell count coming down treating lame cows ect one afternoon as i was driveing to work i noticed some guy pretending to read a paper in the boss driveway with a good view of the shed the cops think everyone has no brain the next day everyone was atcaing weard in the end they looked like i was the deviel 2 days before i was offered a full time job manageing a other farm they owned but not any more i notice that i allways had someone following me the police have told lies about me to all the farmers on kokako rd about me son boss acting strange i brought a lawn run in tauranga the cops have contacted all my clints lied to them i emailed the IPCA one of my clints is a judge after three weeks i asked if he could help me he said he would the next week he asked me if i had been arested yet no i said i made a complaint to the IPCA he looked into it the IPCA took up the case but 1 week later the judge said that i was just the lawn man nothing else you and your drugs. the police have put a spin on this the judge dismessed my services 3 weeks ago for no reason the police have lied to allmy nabours my bank staff acountant ect that is why i say if you are maori you have no human rights
the police are harressing me they are using bulling tackticks and have not aressted me there evdince is all lies they are not use to people with a brain
it is all true a personal vandeter from a bad cop from Tokoroa
you no what they say a cop has impunity to do anything and the justice system is more worried about the polices image can not have the public no some cops are bad he trained the farm owner to avoied the employment law i tried to get a lawyer to sue for my human rights 4 times first interview they are going to help next they wont anser my call so i use a unlisted number and they anser and clam up
The cops name was not Wallies his name is Dickson just checked email that we sent in
a complaint and the farm is just out of Whakamaru The owner is Colleen Conolly her partner was Jamie Hovind. Never work for these muppets