Now the kings and there advisers in NZ are trying to figure out how this lucky uneducated half caste Maori has managed to get this huge internet attention and viewers and how did he figure out he has this attention. And they are trying to replicate
this to try and win this election. YEA RIGHT
For one thing I don’t Believe in LUCK I believe LUCK was invented by some corrupt person people to explain why they had more assets/food to some naive people when in reality the corrupt person was robbing the naive people BLIND.
So I’m not lucky.
I believe in FATE as it was fate that these assholes have been hounding me for so long it was fate that I ended in this place and time it is fate because of these assholes that I scoured the internet for corruptions and posted this information on this website It was fate that I found this website it is fate that Iprent made this wonderful website. It is fate that I took my granddaughter to the doctors and had a conversation with that Kenyan
Doctor and gave him my pseudo name and this website. It was fate that joe90 posted those links on Kenya on this web site so every one could see what I posted was true. So my views on the reality’s of our WORLD are real and original . So I thank all the good people on this site and around the WORLD for there contribution to our fight for a safe fair bright future for every thing in our WORLD
Well I will call it steve looks like what was thrown at him stop lying steve.
That’s the way Hillary and Jack put him in line the neo liberal cheat joyce is
Well it was the Wall Street Journal that compared Jacinda to Trump, on immigration
[lprent: If you want to make an bald assertion about a ‘fact’ – then provide a link or a description about how to find your source. This prevents fuckwits from supplying false facts. I read the WSJ most days and I never saw this. ]
Yeah well, the Muslim comparison is crap. But NZ Labour’s immigration policy is pretty fucked up.
At the time of its release I read it side by side with UKIPs immigration policy and that of UK Labour. Far too consistent with UKIP and a million miles away from U Labour. (A few people hereabouts didn’t appreciate the observations)
Seems I should have just compared it to to the UK Tories whose ideas around limiting low skilled immigrants is causing outrage in the UK if today’s headlines are accurate
So my indentured ancestors would have been buggered. Many of my forbears would not have got in under the new regime. It really does seem to be a pull the ladder up jack policy.
If Chinese (or any other ‘ese’) can come in and run our dairy farms better than New Zealanders (ie without paying their workers peanuts or poisoning town water supplies) then perhaps they should be allowed to.
It looks like free trade means best quality is exported and we get the old fish fried with chip plus a half eaten one coz that’s the level of consumer quality. All the best, fish, meat, milk, fruit, etc goes off shore, and then some, average q uaility, leaving the worst still sellable at world prices by under paid staff who half eat a chip in order to get a feed yet still throw it in with the purchase. Key came into office, opened the doors to dotcomers, English learning students, lowers food quality, mine inspection, diary conversions, there is not one aspect of Keys leadership that has not eroded life in nz… …well okay broadband but that was already… …insulation… ..that was a greens overflow policy…. but the bulk of living standards have fallen and they raised GST too.
Are you sure? Lately I’ve been seriously wondering about who and what you stand for, and who has been tickling your man-fanny. Lately, It appears there’s been a serious lean to the “right”, where your balls are tickled just enough to question your supposedly left leaning values, and your foreskin is in competition with that pompous git that should have an ‘H’ branded on his forehead. Maybe you’ll get what you wish for, but the downside is it’ll come with an ‘H’s proclamation on who it is that should be euthanased.
Actually life for a cow in an open paddock system is not a bed of roses. no shelter, cold wet ground, rain, snow frosts.Long walks on rough gravelled tracks on sore feet because of standing in wet ground, heavy udders swinging, frequently trod on causing horrendous often life treatening injuries. Trying to maintain body weight while producing milk on a grass diet with accompanying explosive diarrhoea.
Dairy cows do better in an enclosed housing system, they adapt well, the revulsion comes from urbanised New Zealanders with a romantic view of how an animal should live.Housing animals makes it easier to control their diet and effulent,no manure trampled into the ground, no leaching of nitrates, composted manure and bedding returned to the soil at a time when heavy rain will not leach it into aquifers or water ways.Potentially a win win situation for cow and the environment.
Absolutely agree that paddocks are cruel environments for animals that naturally live in wooded/forested environments. But then, so is an “enclosed housing system”.
Actually, I doubt if there’s a way to farm animals that doesn’t involve a measure of cruelty. But y’know, we could be much less cruel and far more thoughtful. (But then, why have trees taking up the ground space of potential economic units, hm? 👿 )
Not sure why you think rich people who aren’t Kiwis would be any less greedy than NZers. The responsibility for the wellbeing of NZers and the land here is the governments. It’s not rocket science. Put in good environmental protections and resources into R and D for regenag. Put in good employment law that protects workers rights, and resources that support R and D for ethical business.
The biggest hurdle there, apart from values, is the business models based on perpetual growth. We’re at the limits of growth now, so those models have to exploit people and the earth, because that’s the only way they can now keep growing. Instead we need steady state business models. They exist, which begs the question of why we’re not using them. As far as I can tell that’s down to ignorance, greed, and the need to create. Only the last one is an asset and it could be redirected.
Exactly its ecomonics 101 and the law of diminishing returns combined with greed where a ‘reasonable rate of return’ is ditched for ever increasing profits.
Its cause and effect, newtons third law, with the environment, workers, quality etc amongst those who bear the effect ever increasing profits cause.
Eventually capitalism breaks down as the resources are finite.
That’s why “the practices and rules they’re familiar with” can go take a hike if those practices and rules are inferior to what workers have fought for (at least, those that remain after 30 years of Liberal assault).
Please! Granny Herald. I couldn’t give a fuck about whether Tony Street has a “She-Mullet”, or whether Mike fucks chickens.
If either were to stand for election as our political representatives, I might take a little more notice. Members of a 4th Estate they ain’t. Members of the Legends-in-their-own-Minds Club they are.
Probably the best thing they could do IS ekshully to stand for office. As for those that profess their membership to a MSM 4th Estate, I understand your fear. Don’t try and blame others however for your fuckup – the spin won’t count no matter how many lattes, G&Ts you’ll go without and missed mortgage payments with your wifeys still at home.
Christ! – How did it come to this I sometimes ask. All I can come up with is greed (and in the case of some of them – flatulence)
One wonders how many Super Storms the Gulf states will have to endure before their voters will wake up to the realisation that Global Warming is real and coming to get them. These voters consistently vote for representatives who are paid toadies of the Fossil Fuel cartel. I have little sympathy for them – the science has been clear for years – but either through greed and self interest, or simply wilful ignorance, they have ignored the early warnings of Katrina, and Sandy, and daily flooding in downtown Miami, and continually voted into office, Climate Change denialists, who have obfuscated and delayed for decades, not only US action on reducing GHG emissions, but also Global action. Now they have the ultimate idiot in charge – one wishes them everything they have coming to them.
Well, fossil fuel extraction is quite a large part of Gulf state economies. So I expect wilful ignorance to continue for quite a while yet, since so many paychecks depend on it. Probably up until the point renewables get so cheap there’s no more point in extracting dino-juice from places like offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
Yep I understand that – however just because they want a job doesn’t give them the right to fuck the whole world – because that is what they have done for the past 20+ years.
The US has never been able to go to a Climate Conference in good faith, because the Senate Reps dominated by McConnell et al (himself heavily funded around $1.9m US by the Fossil Fuel industry) would simply vote down any proposal to which the US agreed.
It’ll be hard to avoid schadenfreude when those economies start feeling the pressure from the switch to renewables. Probably at about the same time that climate change really starts to bite hard there. I won’t shed any tears about Russia and other petro-states feeling the economic pain either.
But it will be billions of people across south asia and in africa that will really pay the price.
Wow. Hurricane #Irma is now expected to *exceed* the theoretical maximum intensity for a storm in its environment. Redefining the rules. https://t.co/e4hPjQt159— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 5, 2017
With minimum central pressure of 916 mb & winds of 185 MPH, Irma is stronger than Cat 5 San Felipe (929mb/160mph) which destroyed PR in 1928 https://t.co/WiVpeRFswI— John Morales (@JohnMoralesNBC6) September 6, 2017
Yep 93% of it goes into the oceans – and its not going to go away any time soon.
Just transfer from one form (heat in oceans) to another (wind) and (water vapour).
I used to use the analogy of heating up a pan of water on a stove. You add energy (heat) the water starts to move faster and faster until it boils.
This is what I was getting at in my original comment Andre – I wonder if some of them will finally fess up and say – “Sorry we were wrong – these storms are unprecedented, and are the result of Global Warming, and maybe it is because humans have been adding GHG at an alarming rate, and maybe the quantum physicists were right when they said GHG’s trapped black body radiation.”
🙁 not good – as always the Islands will wear the brunt. Cuba – the nation with one of the least Carbon footprints – is also going to experience the full force. As always those who are the least culpable are the ones who pay the price.
Will be thinking of your nephew and others in the days ahead.
“Jonathan Coleman said National would increase elective surgeries over the next four years to 200,000 a year.”
Wow. that’s impressive. Increase from what?
McFlock
Merely maintaining the status quo would be a decrease unless the population were also static or declining. Which isn’t the case, and furthermore; not only is the population increasing, but so is the average age (with associated health needs) along with the boomer bulge. The kind of operations being performed is also important (from your link):
when you take out eye injections, skin lesion removals, and other surgeries that could have been performed outside of hospitals… despite a growing population, [health boards] performed fewer surgeries compared with the previous year.
“and bill’s given us 170,000 new jobs…”
They keep on saying that but to balance that we have to take off the 169,999 jobs that have disappeared or been reclassified. But it looks good; unless you are one of the ones who can’t get a job.
Here we go – BEWARE BEWARE Federated Farmers pulling on their Brethren cardies and leading the scaremongering this time round:
“Let’s tax this. What are we in for, Labour?
Source: Federated Farmers
—
On the cusp of the election, voters are still in the dark about what taxes they
might be hit with if Labour is part of the next government.
A tax (“royalty”) on water is confirmed. But Jacinda Ardern has refused to rule out
a capital gains tax, a land value tax, and an asset and wealth tax – other than to
say the family home is exempt.
“For Labour to say they’re not able to be more explicit about what they have in mind
until they have recommendations from the yet-to-be-named members of a tax panel is
something of a cop-out, and certainly doesn’t help voters,” Federated Farmers
Vice-President Andrew Hoggard says.
For farmers, their home and surrounding land also happens to be their business and
livelihood. “Even if an exemption applied to the farmhouse, they’ll cop it from new
taxes far more than their urban cousins.”
The prospect of a land tax in particular is alarming to the rural sector, in that it
would have a severe impact on land extensive businesses and others that are
so-called ‘asset rich and income poor’.
The last time a land tax was considered (2010), the agricultural taxable land base
was $105 billion, meaning a 0.5% land tax would cost farmers $525 million per annum
– a massive hit on the sector, and thus on regional economies and rural towns.
“Farmers already pay whacking rates bills in many parts of the country, often
disproportionate to the services they are delivered or actually use,” Mr Hoggard
said.
“Labour delivered more detailed information on their water tax proposal when pushed
into it by Federated Farmers, Irrigation NZ and other groups.
“Voters deserve more details on Labour’s preferences for other taxes before they go
to the polls.”
ENDS
For more information contact:
Andrew Hoggard, Federated Farmers of NZ Vice-President
Phone: 027 230 7363
Simon Edwards | Communications Advisor, Federated Farmers
Email: sedwards@fedfarm.org.nz, Mobile: +64 (0)21 408 672
I don’t seem to recall the farmers being concerned with all the detrimental effects of all reforms that benefited them. In fact, they seem to have been getting it all their own way since forever.
I think it’s time they stopped whinging and got on with doing the right thing for society.
We all no that bills brother was head of that outfit a couple of years ago .
So the English strings are still on the puppets that lead that outfit and what a coincidence that federated farmers got a good spokes person just before the election.
Well I don’t believe in coincidences as there is usually something sinister that causes those coincidences .
Now I have nothing against farmers that are compliant with our rules to protected our environment.
Is it a coincident that Willy Leferink was on 7 sharp tonight to smooth it over for federated farmers propaganda .
Now i will say it again Jacinda is not going to over tax any industry as thats fucken stupid and Jacinda would not be were she is if she was fucken stupid.
So the labour party is not neo liberals so they are not going to look you people in the face and lie.
They are going tailor there taxes so everyone is paying there fair shear so our country can function in a economically and environmentally sustainable way Cemmon.
Hope my actions did not cause you to much trouble Iprent apologies if It did.
Any effort to even put modest restrictions on farming activities that are detrimental to the environment are looked upon by FF as Stalinist agriculture collectivization, with fears of Ardern sending truckloads of armed agriculture commissars to every family farm in New Zealand to seize at gunpoint.
This drivel goes for six and a half minutes. Here’s a transcript of the first 4 minutes and 23 seconds….
MORA: Ah, Megan Whelan, Story of the Day! MEGAN WHELAN: So Google has released, ahhmmm, its most searched “How To” questions globally, ahhh, which gives us an insight into the things that people struggle with day to day. So the most searched How-To question globally—does anyone want to take a guess? MORA: Oh look. Go on, have a go.
Silence….
MEGAN WHELAN: Anyone? PETER FA’AFIU: No you’re good. MORA: No, all right— VICTORIA STEWART: No, no. MORA: It is hard, it’s hard, it’s hard, actually. MEGAN WHELAN: I thought it would have been something like “How to cook rice”, or something like that. MORA: Oh yeah. VICTORIA STEWART: Ohh yeah. MEGAN WHELAN: Um, that is sort of second. “How to tie a tie”—- MORA:[with mock dismissiveness] No-o! VICTORIA STEWART: Ahhhhh… MEGAN WHELAN: Which I find fascinating! Because not all of the population has to do it, but apparently it’s a thing that those people who do, frequently forget. MORA:[affecting a tone of incredulity] “How to tie a tie” is number ONE!?!? MEGAN WHELAN: “How to tie a tie” is number one! It’s the most searched “How To” question in the world. Ah, “How to kiss” is in second place. MORA: Ahhh! MEGAN WHELAN: Which makes me worry a little bit about the future of humanity. MORA: Ha! VICTORIA STEWART: Ha ha! MEGAN WHELAN: As does number three, which is “How to get pregnant”. MORA: Yes! VICTORIA STEWART: Ooh goodness. PETER FA’AFIU:[snickering] Kkk-k-k-k! MEGAN WHELAN: Number four: “How to lose weight.” MORA: Yeah. PETER FA’AFIU: Oh yeah. MORA: I would’ve thought that’d be RIGHT up the top. MEGAN WHELAN: “How to draw”. MORA: “How to DRAAWW”? MEGAN WHELAN: “How to make money.” VICTORIA STEWART: Ha ha. MEGAN WHELAN: Ha ha. And then sort of “How to cook rice”—“how to make pancakes”. MORA:[very softly, in a tone of bemused wonderment] Pancakes. VICTORIA STEWART: “How to write a cover letter” AND “How to cook French toast.” Ahhhmmm…. MORA: What?!?!? VICTORIA STEWART: Followed by “How to lose belly fat”. Ah, so, ho, we’re very worried about losing weight but also having good breakfasts! MORA: What a STRANGE list! MEGAN WHELAN: Isn’t that a strange list! PETER FA’AFIU: Just trying to figure out how many of those I’ve, uh, ha ha ha ha! MORA: Okay, you can tie a tie. PETER FA’AFIU: Pancakes, yeah. Tie…. MORA: Pancakes? You know how to make money? PETER FA’AFIU: Yeah. MORA: Do you know how to write a cover letter? PETER FA’AFIU: Yes. MORA: Ahh, do you know how to lose fat around your tummy? PETER FA’AFIU: No. MORA: Okay. I won’t ask you the REST! PETER FA’AFIU: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I know how to kiss. I know how to kiss. MEGAN WHELAN: So Simon Rogers, Google’s data editor, one of the things he mentioned is that these “How To” searches have increased a hundred and forty per cent—so more than doubled—since two thousand and FOUR, and MUCH of that interest is directed at how to sort of FIX things, so oftentimes it’s how to fix a lightbulb or replace your window or fix your washing-machine or even the toilet. So I had a look at Google Trends, ahhh, which is how you can search some of this stuff yourself, for New Zealand for the past twelve months— MORA: Aah! MEGAN WHELAN: So related searches, our ones, so this is not the exact data that THAT list is, the global list is, ‘cos it’s not broken down in the same way, but searching “How To” and getting related searches for that for New Zealand, we searched “How to draw”, “How to screenshot”— MORA: Oh yeah. MEGAN WHELAN: And someone has texted in to say that when THEY searched it, they got the auto complete, so often when you google something “how to” it will fill in the sentence for you? They got “How to make SLIME”, which is number THREE in New Zealand. We also searched “How to make slime without borax”, which seems a VERY specific thing—- PETER FA’AFIU: A ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! MEGAN WHELAN: “How to proNOUNCE” is number four—- MORA: “How to pronounce”? MEGAN WHELAN: “How to pronounce”. So, presumably, there is another word following that one. “How to lose weight”, “How to make money”, “How to tie a tie”, then that’s the slime without borax. How to-o-o-o-o-o, oh, er, break a —I can’t read my own HANDWRITING!—I think it was something like “break an iPhone”? Ummmmmm—- VICTORIA STEWART: Easily—- MEGAN WHELAN: Ha ha ha ha! VICTORIA STEWART:—is the way I think of that. Drop it! MEGAN WHELAN: Ha ha. And then, LASTLY, in our New Zealand related searches taught you “How to delete Instagram accounts”. I’m a little bit worried what New Zealanders have been doing on their Instagram accounts that they feel the need to delete them! PETER FA’AFIU: Hyunhh, hyunnhh. MORA: Yeah, exactly. MEGAN WHELAN: Yeahhhh! MORA: The slime thing will be children, ‘cos our twins make slime. MEGAN WHELAN: Yes! PETER FA’AFIU: Same. For me. MEGAN WHELAN: Has that been quite a thing in the last twelve months? MORA: Yeah it has recently. Yeah. MEGAN WHELAN: Right. MORA: So THAT’ll be a current thing, the slime thing. I didn’t know, they don’t know about the borax. MEGAN WHELAN: Yeahhh. MORA: So, we search for the most trivial things as well, don’t we. VICTORIA STEWART: Yes. I think a lot of this is about the sentence construction? So you might find that people searching for recipes aren’t searching—so for me, I wouldn’t google “How to cook pancakes”, I would google “Pancake recipe”— PETER FA’AFIU: Mmmm. VICTORIA STEWART: “EASY pancake recipes”. Ha ha! MEGAN WHELAN: Yeah. Or something like that. Or a specific pancake recipe, which is my favorite pancake recipe, but, errr, so, but I might search “How to tie a tie”, ‘cos that sentence makes more sense than “pancake recipe.” Yeah. MORA: Okay, but, there’s um, very little of, uh, “How can I be nicer?” or “What is the meaning of life?” or those [with mock sententiousness] profound questions…. MEGAN WHELAN: “How can I be nicer?” Okaaayyy….
At that point, I reached the point of maximum disgust, and could take no more of this drivel. The inanity, the determined triviality of this chatter, the complete and utter contempt for the listeners are bad enough, but what really angered me was that last statement by Jim Mora. His suggestion that he cares about “profound questions” is disproven by the subject matter and the tenor of the discussions on his show. And as for “How can I be nicer?”—well, let’s have a look at a few instances of how “nice” Jim Mora is….
Excellent piece by Gordon Campbell that neatly counters Nationals scare tactics…should be required reading before entering the polling booth
‘Its not a new thing. Remember when John Key used to describe Working For Families as “communism by stealth”? Now WFF is core National policy. And Kiwisaver? (Key : “It won’t work. It’s a glorified Christmas Club.”) Now, Kiwisaver too is core National policy. Remember when climate change was just a fanciful notion of those wacky, scary Greens? Now National’s deputy is proudly proclaiming National’s commitment to the Paris agreement.”
i’ve spent a bit of time thinking about the legacy the last labour party left and what the nats legacy is (thinking positive as even the nats can’t be totally useless )
labour ; kiwisaver ,kiwibank . wwf (still would prefer proper wages) ,cullin fund,
china fta.
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When Labour was running for election, Jacinda Ardern famously said that climate change was "my generation's nuclear free moment". The implication was that her government would take the problem seriously, and act swiftly to reduce emissions. The reality:New Zealand will emit a million more tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020 ...
James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change ...
by Philip Ferguson Exit polls are showing a three-way virtual tie between the main parties in the south of Ireland. Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are all on just over 22%. FG on 22.4, SF on 22.3, FF on 22.2. Exit polls indicate that over 30% of 18-24 ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 2, 2020 through Sat, Feb 8, 2020 Editor's Pick New Report Details How Fossil Fuel Industry's Climate Destruction Also Exacerbates Human Rights Abuses"Even in the face of the ...
In a previous post I described briefly when and how the Starlink satellite chains – recent launches by Space-X in a scheme to bring 5G internet connectivity to the whole globe – could be seen from New Zealand with the naked eye. Here I provide an update and predictions for ...
Keeping The Faith: This Government’s broad, new, heavily moderated, progressive faith does not require a prime minister with the powers of a medieval pope. Jacinda’s regime has no need of subterranean torture chambers to ensure compliance. A gift for diplomacy and the ability to inspire her fellow human-beings is all ...
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...
Tonight’s news suggests the coronavirus outbreak may have originated from pangolins. Details are very sketchy, almost nothing at all beyond a claim of high similarity. My impression is this claim comes from a press release by South China Agricultural University. Initial discussion online suggests this is a more likely candidate ...
by Susanne Kemp The Fire and Emergency service (FENZ) has recently asked firefighters in Auckland Areas 3, 4 and 5 to take on an additional duty that has rather ominous implications. Namely, to collect names and addresses of everyone on the premises of fires they attend. The firefighters’ union, the ...
Part of the story of the Nazis' rise to power in Germany was the willingness of mainstream right-wing parties to work with them to keep out the left. Because of this, one of the fundamental rules of postwar German politics has been "do not work with Nazis". As a result, ...
There has long been a truism in public broadcasting: don't mess with Concert FM. The theory was that although the station has been in a long-term audience decline, and that audience is steadily ageing out, it has powerful establishment support – and any threat to it would provoke a fury.As ...
This is a re-post from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The heat absorbed in Earth’s oceans reached a new record in 2019, found a recent study published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. Despite the fact that this has been the case for almost every year over the past decade, this information ...
We are confronted with the spectre of Simon Bridges making clear he cannot, will not, trust Winston Peters – the oft-cited “King Maker” in New Zealand politics.Supporters are lauding it as a master stroke, naturally, because in their eyes, it prevents him being the tail that wags the dog. ...
by Don Franks Under a government claiming empathy with the fine arts, Radio New Zealand ( RNZ) is poised to cut back its classical music station, RNZ Concert. The plan is replacing it on FM radio with music “for a younger audience” as part of a new multimedia music brand. ...
More Thwaites This past week we heard disturbing news about Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier. Helping to fill in the longer term history of Thwaites' behavior and especially helpful in interpreting results of the recent drilling project and what it may say about the future of this unstable mass of ice is Revealing the ...
Inaccuracies are very common in scientific paper abstracts. Image credit:Science in the Abstract: Don’t Judge a Study by its Cover I have come to accept anti-fluoride campaigners will never stop cherry-picking research and findings ...
“The scene is set, the players met…”. And what players they are in this farce of an Election coming up in the United States this year. There is a multi-faceted anger in the broader situation the world finds itself in, in which the false promises of so-called “moderates” find themselves ...
A few years ago, a company lowballed a contract to dispose of toxic waste from the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. So, they dumped it in a disused paper mill in Mataura, then went into liquidation - effectively dumping the problem on local councils. The waste is dangerous - it releases ...
Unhappy with the demonisation of Iran in Western media, I was fortunate to have the Australian Institute of International Affairs invite me to write an alternative analysis for their on-line journal Australian Outlook. I did, and they serialised it into two parts. The essays are short, so I did not ...
Over on The Good Society, Max Rashbrooke suggests that its time to start directly taxing wealth:A wealth tax would be levied on net wealth – that is, the value of people’s assets once their debts have been subtracted. Such a tax would be highly redistributive. Levied at 1% on wealth ...
The quarterly labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has dropped to 4%. There are now 111,000 unemployed - 15,000 fewer than when Labour took office. Its not the performance we had under Clark (when unemployment was ~3.3%), but its still a reasonable improvement over prevailing conditions under National. ...
Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick Wilson, Louise Delany, Prof Richard Edwards, Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanThe current national measles epidemic in New Zealand is amongst the largest we have experienced in the last 40 years. It can be linked to the problems created by long-term erosion and fragmentation of national public health ...
I’m about to start teaching science communication to tertiary students, which is equally hilarious and terrifying to me. (Hi to my students who have Googled me and found this post.) I loved English at high school, but we spent most of our time reading The Outsiders, discussing the differences between metaphors and ...
Space-X has started launching its Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit with a plan to use some tens of thousands of these to deliver 5G wifi to the whole globe. Chains of these satellites can be seen in the evening or before-dawn skies, through the sunlight they scatter. Here I provide ...
New Zealand was the first country to decriminalise prostitution and it was promoted as a progressive move. Yet survivors of the sex trade say that pimps and johns are emboldened operating within the law, and that the women are treated more like a piece of property to be used and ...
An obscene 12 percent pay jump for already overpaid CEOs last year reveals a willful ignorance from much of corporate New Zealand to the on-going harm inequality is causing the very society they live in, said Peter Malcolm, spokesperson for the income equality project Closing the Gap. In its annual ...
One thing I remember about the interview I did with Rex Halliday for Planet magazine in 1992 was a couple of times being on the verge of tears.Rex was reflecting on the community effort that went into the second Hero party at the old Princes Wharf building – and the ...
Something you don't see: Malawi's constitutional court has annulled fraudulent elections and ordered new ones:Judges in Malawi have annulled last year’s elections and called for a new ballot within 150 days. In a landmark judgment that experts hailed as a step forward for democracy, the country’s constitutional court found that ...
Our Scibloggers have been providing updates on the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. This page will be updated as more posts are published. 3 February 2020 Coronavirus ‘infodemic’ The WHO has called the coronavirus outbreak an ‘infodemic’, with information spreading rapidly – and sometimes incorrectly – online. Sarah-Jane O’ConnorLately, in Science 2 ...
If you haven’t watched Newsroom’s video showing Oranga Tamariki staff attempting to uplift a newborn baby yet you should do so. Although it's not the worst case as far as interventions go, it’s certainly not a good look for the Government. Because of this controversy there’s been a plethora of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler As one result of modern farming practices that strip organic matter from the ground, between 20 and 60% of the carbon once stored in the world’s agricultural soils has been lost. Putting it back – a process known as carbon ...
Lately, my morning routine includes opening up our work email and checking the latest World Health Organization coronavirus situation report. It’s sobering to see the numbers increasing so rapidly – about 2,500 new confirmed cases every day and about 45 reported deaths. But I’m also reminded of the stark contrast ...
by Don Franks If you haven’t been to see it, “Just Mercy” is a hell of a movie. It’s based on African American lawyer Bryan Stevenson’s book of the same name, about his struggles to reverse death sentences in Alabama. The film version homes in on one particular case, a ...
India is the world's largest democracy. But under prime minister Narendra Modi it has become increasingly undemocratic, with police increasingly stifling dissent. And now that has reached its nadir with a group of school children questioned and their teachers arrested for sedition for staging a play which criticised government policy:Days ...
Last year, Newsroom exposed Oranga Tamariki's kidnapping of Māori children, with graphic video of the organisations efforts to "uplift" a newborn baby from its mother. The public reacted with revulsion, and multiple inquiries were launched. Now one of them - by the Whānau Ora Commissioning agency - has recommended that ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Scientists alarmed to discover warm water at "vital point" beneath Antarctica's "doomsday glacier" ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Today, our Government announced the biggest infrastructure investment in a generation.We’re investing $12 billion to upgrade and build rail, roads, schools and hospitals across the country – modernising our infrastructure, preparing for climate change and helping to future-proof our economy.Find out everything you need to know about the ...
Hon. Ron Mark, Minister of Defence Minister of Defence Ron Mark met with United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper today. “This was an excellent opportunity to meet with one of our closest security partners,” Ron Mark said. “The main focus of the meeting was to discuss challenges that New ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
Clear requirements for ensuring customers are treated fairly by banks, insurers and other financial service providers are included in new financial conduct legislation that passed its first reading today. “The recent reviews, by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, into the conduct of banks and ...
Applications are now open for the fifth round of the Regional Culture and Heritage Fund Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Grant Robertson announced today. “I am delighted to open this year’s fund which has some $7 million available to support performing arts venues, galleries, museums and whare ...
The Minister of Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta today congratulated Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu on her appointment as the next President of the Law Commission. “Amokura Kawharu will be a standout in her new role, leading in an innovative and forward looking approach to the law reform process. She will ...
Auckland University legal academic Amokura Kawharu has been appointed as the next President of the Law Commission, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Associate Professor Kawharu will take up her new appointment on 11 May 2020. “I would like to congratulate Associate Professor Kawharu on her appointment,” Andrew ...
A programme for employers to help them engage effectively with younger employees was launched today by Minister of Employment, Willie Jackson. The Youth Ready Employer Programme contains a range of on-line templates that employers can easily access to help with employing and retaining young people in their businesses. The programme ...
Budget 2020 will be delivered on Thursday 14 May, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “This year’s Budget will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also preparing the economy for the future. “Those challenges and opportunities cannot be resolved in one budget, ...
I move, That this House place on record its appreciation and thanks for the devoted and distinguished service to New Zealand by the late Rt Hon Michael Kenneth Moore, member of the Order of New Zealand, a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, an Honorary Member of the ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Northland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on our farmers and growers and additional support ...
The Minister of Police says an operation to smash a trans national drug smuggling ring today will make a significant impact on the methamphetamine trade fuelling harm in our communities. Police have announced 10 arrests and the seizure of up to five million dollars’ worth of illicit drugs after an ...
The Government’s books are in a strong position to withstand global headwinds, with the accounts in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the six months to December. The operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) was above ...
Race courses can improve safety with this year’s second round of funding from the Racing Safety Development Fund. Minister for Racing Winston Peters has announced the second funding round of 2019/20 is open with $347,875 available for distribution. “The racing industry is integral to the economic and social fabric of ...
The Government is committing $300,000 to fund research to update behavioural information to make sure HIV and STI prevention services are targeted appropriately in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson made the announcement at today’s Big Gay Out in Auckland. “There is much talk about ...
The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has announced work will begin on a business case to assess the viability of forming a new public media entity. “The Government must ensure New Zealanders have a strong independent public media service for decades to come, which means ensuring public ...
Minister of Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare announced today that the Government will contribute $100,000 to the Southland regional Mayoral Relief Fund, to support communities impacted by the recent flooding in Southland. Mr Henare says this week’s flooding has caused significant disruption to communities in the lower South Island. ...
Heritage buildings throughout New Zealand will benefit from the $1.1 million in Heritage EQUIP funding grants announced today. “These grants for seismic strengthening projects help private building owners get the advice they need to start building work or to get the work completed,” Grant Robertson says. “Timaru’s Grosvenor Hotel has ...
A new survey has found New Zealand’s game development sector has grown beyond expectations and is on track to becoming a billion dollar industry in 2025, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford says. “New Zealand’s interactive media sector grew by 42 per cent in last financial year to $203.4 million, according ...
Te Tii, the lower marae at Waitangi, is among more than 70 marae now connected to broadband internet thanks to the Provincial Growth Fund’s marae connectivity scheme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said today. In February 2019, the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) allocated $21 million to connect rural towns ...
The West Coast has had a funding injection of over $1.2 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika today. The PGF projects announced are: $800,000 to Development West Coast for a Grey District Regional Digital Hub ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has declared an adverse event for the Southland and Otago regions, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers. “Widespread flooding has resulted in severe disruption, with many people evacuated from their homes and many farms being affected by flood waters. It’s putting pressure on our farmers, ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a funeral service for former Labour Prime Minister the Rt Hon Mike Moore, ONZ, AO. A public service will be held on Friday 14 February at 2pm at Dilworth School senior campus, 2 Erin Street, Epsom, Auckland. “The service will be a celebration of ...
Today’s news of low unemployment, rising wages and record numbers of Maori in work shows the economy is in good shape and that the Government is delivering better outcomes across New Zealand. “The Coalition Government has overseen a strong economy. Our investments in infrastructure, our focus on lifting wages of ...
Opening of Waitangi Museum Te Rau Aroha 9.30am, 5 February 2020 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] Good morning, Let us start with important acknowledgements. First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service ...
The government has agreed to help crayfish exporters to minimise the impact of trade disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak in China. Between 150 and 180 tonnes of live rock lobster are currently held in New Zealand in pots and tanks, at sea and on land, after export orders were ...
Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor is travelling to Southland today. The region is in a state of local emergency following widespread flooding. “I’m heading down there to support response and recovery efforts and meet with the locals”, he said. “A lot of people have been evacuated from their homes, have suffered ...
Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, acknowledges the duty and sacrifice of Māori who served in New Zealand’s armed forces, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. The museum, whose construction was funded by the Government’s Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), was officially opened today at ...
More top-performing students can now be recognised with one of New Zealand’s most prestigious secondary school awards, in changes announced by Education Minister Chris Hipkins today. “Changes to New Zealand Scholarship awards will allow more young people to be acknowledged for their significant academic achievements,” Chris Hipkins said. “Up to ...
E nga iwi e pae nei ki runga o Waitangi Karanga mai, mihi mai. Nga aitua o te tau kua hipa, koutou e Ta Hek, e Pita, e Piri, e Mike, Koutou Katoa, Harae atu ra. Tenei te Whakarongo atu nei ki nga kupu korero. Kei aku rangatira e hui ...
***Check against delivery*** Tēnā koutou katoa. Acknowledgements to the many Heads of Mission gathered this evening. It is good to see so many nations represented here to share in this 180th commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Welcome, especially to those for whom this is your first ...
The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been speaking with her Australian counterpart about options to evacuate New Zealanders stuck on a cruise ship, quarantined in Japan. ...
Government seeks power to seize reins over electricity industry; and property investors to blame for NZ's high house prices, not lack of supply, researcher says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bénédicte Cenki-Tok, Associate professor at Montpellier University, EU H2020 MSCA visiting researcher, University of Sydney As the world shifts away from fossil fuels, we will need to produce enormous numbers of wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles and batteries. Demand for the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Salisbury, Research Associate, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland With cries of “Quexit!” still echoing faintly in our ears, Queenslanders head towards a state election in October. For many, interest lies in whether federal Labor’s poor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susanne Becken, Professor of Sustainable Tourism and Director, Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University If you’re a traveller who cares about reducing your carbon footprint, are some airlines better to fly with than others? Several of the world’s major airlines have announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan University Every year, the Australian Taxation Office releases a report that includes the highest earning occupations in Australia. These are mostly in the medical, legal and financial sectors. This information is commonly used ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hal Pawson, Professor of Housing Research and Policy, and Associate Director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Despite two years of housing market cooling in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia stayed near the top of the global unaffordability league in 2019. And with prices ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Diane Kraal, Senior Lecturer, Business Law and Taxation Dept, Monash Business School, Monash University So worried is the government about the meagre income it is getting from gas during the middle of Australia’s biggest gas export boom that it asked an independent ...
NZ's effective policy of tempting guest workers here with the chance of permanent residency and then quietly withdrawing that chance has become a damaging economic addiction that is mean and fraudulent, Bernard Hickey argues. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Bridges gives signal of tax cuts, police under pressure over family violence problem, and condemnation rains down over Peters scandal.Expect plenty of news today about National’s economic manifesto to take into the next election. From Simon Bridges’ appearance on Q+A yesterday (welcome back ...
A "surreptitious" conspiracy to introduce special NZ gold kiwifruit plants into China could cost a Chinese-born local grower $15m for breaches of intellectual property laws. ...
Maia Wilson is being tipped as the next Maria Folau in the Silver Ferns shooting circle, but she wants to stamp her own unique footprint on netball history. ...
Dental decay is NZ's most common chronic disease, yet it is not covered by the health system. Cat McLennan explains why we should introduce free dental care for adults. ...
Winston Peters was once the one who could plausibly rail against the self-interest of the establishment. Today that seems laughable, So where are the real critics offering reform, asks Danyl Mclauchlan. Politics is messy. It’s chaotic; most things happen for complex combinations of reasons and these are not always obvious, ...
The conversation around how we prepare for coronavirus here needs to be guided by a sense of our common humanity, write Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew Moore, Ayesha Verrall of the University of Otago’s Department of Public Health.Borders have been closed, arrivals from Wuhan are in quarantine, and New Zealanders ...
Pretty much everything has a breaking point. The only questions are where, when and how. Might it be coming soon with climate change policy? This week there was disarray in the Australian Liberal and National party coalition over the costs of climate change policy. This was one of the issues ...
Ex-tropical cyclone Uesi is due to reach the west of the South Island this afternoon, bringing further pain to flood-hit Southland. Here’s what you need to know.Ex-tropical, you say. What on earth does that mean? A tropical cyclone, which is a low-pressure system that forms over warm waters in the tropics, ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand has confirmed anti-poverty campaigner Ricardo Menendez March as their candidate for Maungakiekie in this general election. Ricardo Menendez March has been working as the Coordinator for Auckland Action Against Poverty, ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, a bunch of us have a hoon on Burger King’s new chip butty.The United Kingdom’s contributions to world cuisine, like its contributions to the world in general (Morris dancing, Piers Morgan, colonialism etc), are ...
Emily Writes reviews the now infamous orgasm episode of the even more infamous Netflix show The Goop Lab.It was four days after the fourth person asked me to review the orgasm episode of Netflix’s The Goop Lab that I finally sat down to watch it.I don’t like Gwyneth Paltrow but ...
Beige and on-trend? Not for this poet. Paula Harris gives some real-life, applicable decor advice.Last night I was procrastinating and avoiding working on some poem revisions, because being a poet means that when you have other things to do, you write a poem, and when you have a poem to ...
Have we reached peak smartphone? Henry Burrell reviews the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, an engineering marvel which all but highlights how few ways there are to improve phones in 2020.In the age of smartphones, notifications and constant communication, you might wish for a simpler time when the old flip phone ...
By Hans Nicholas Jong in Jakarta Experts have warned that a slate of sweeping deregulation planned by the Indonesian government could prove disastrous for the environment and create even more conflicts over land and resources. The administration of President Joko Widodo is preparing to submit to Parliament two bills ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.Does money buy policy in New Zealand politics and government? Based on the ongoing political finance scandal involving New Zealand First, which comes hot on the heels of the Serious Fraud Office charging four people in relation to donations to the National Party, New Zealanders have every ...
It’s an unprecedented level of excitement in the US for a New Zealand novel. It’s also very sudden. The hype for The Absolute Book, published by Victoria University Press in September last year, took off with a hiss and a roar after Dan Kois’s ...
Taxpayers were called on to cough up $87,994 million in the 2019 Budget, accounting for much of the $120,984m which the Treasury estimated would be collected in government revenue this financial year. In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said: So, today in this first Wellbeing Budget, we are ...
The State Housing Action Network (SHAN) is deeply disappointed that the Government’s recently announced Aotearoa Homelessness Action Plan fails to provide for increases in the state housing stock which are essential for addressing the homelessness crisis. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Norris, Associate Professor, Programme Director (Composition), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington After a week-long controversy, New Zealand’s public broadcaster Radio New Zealand (RNZ) has withdrawn a proposal to axe its classical music station RNZ Concert. But despite the ...
Serena Bentley writes on an illuminating survey in Auckland and Christchurch of the work of a daring modernist artist deserving of wider attention.Cigarette in hand, Dame Louise Henderson stares straight down the barrel of the camera. Her gaze is magnetic. So begins this exhibition, a partnership between Christchurch and Auckland ...
A secretive group excavating a cave near Huntly believe it’s filled with a race of pre-Polynesian giants’ skeletons, but iwi and archaeologists have serious concerns, reports RNZ’s Susan Strongman.Archaeologists say a group of people tunnelling into the side of a country road in search of a race of pre-Polynesian giants’ ...
Friends, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and season five of our beloved Outlander is finally here.Droughtlander is done for another year, and while we might be shrivelled husks of our former selves, the first episode of our favourite time-travelling drama quenched our thirst with a ginger tsunami of ...
The cancellation of this weekend’s Lantern Festival isn’t the only knock-on effect from the novel coronavirus outbreak to reach Auckland, with the city’s Chinese restaurants reporting a decline in custom.The ban on inbound travel from China combined with overly cautious local diners avoiding their establishments has hit Auckland Chinese restaurateurs ...
"The man I had liked became the man I knew I would detest for a long time": a short story from the new collection by a master of the form, Vincent O'Sullivan. ...
A special national event happened yesterday in Epsom, Auckland. A remarkable life of national and global success was recognised from all points on the political spectrum. Tim Murphy was there. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The secretary of the Prime Minister’s department, Phil Gaetjens, has criticised “significant shortcomings” in Bridget McKenzie’s decision-making in the sports rorts affair, while outlining his argument that her allocation of grants was not politically biased. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The secretary of the Prime Minister’s department, Phil Gaetjens, has criticised “significant shortcomings” in Bridget McKenzie’s decision-making in the sports rorts affair, while outlining his argument that her allocation of grants was not politically biased. ...
By Lian Buan in Manila A Philippines court has issued arrest warrants against former senator Antonio Trillanes IV and 10 other people for conspiracy to commit sedition, the court confirmed. The branch clerk of Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) Branch 138 confirmed today that the warrants had been ...
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To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before was the Netflix hit of 2018, but the sequel feels designed to replicate the success of the original without half as much heart, writes Sam Brooks.Despite the bevy of Oscar nominations for Netflix at the recent Academy Awards, there’s still a stigma around a ...
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This post by TOM FREWEN is one of two being published on Point of Order today on the restructuring of state broadcasting and the fate of RNZ’s Concert programme. Tom is a journalist and broadcaster who has worked for both commercial and publicly funded media. He reported on the NZ House ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Hardy, Honorary Lecturer, Arts & Social Sciences, UNSW What’s in a name? A lot when it comes to disease outbreaks, according to the recent communication from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the previously named coronavirus, now to be known as ...
This has always been about highlighting the harm and impact that racist language has, both now and historically. It is important for us all to remember that language and articles of this nature, whether intentional or not, can and do cause hurt. ...
Think Big was both bold move to stimulate the economy and a debt disaster. Two Cents' Worth examines the legacy of Think Big in the light of the new government's $12 billion spend-up announcement. ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the government’s announcement it will invest $300 million in transitional housing, and says union members will want to make the plan a success. The campaign for housing justice is a key priority of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Grenfell, Director of Health and Biosecurity, CSIRO The World Health Organisation said this week it may be 18 months before a vaccine against the coronavirus is publicly available. Let’s explore why, even with global efforts, it might take this long. China ...
ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa welcomes the Abortion Legislation Select Committee’s report, released today. The select committee made a few significant changes to the bill. “A section had been added creating a positive duty on the part of the Minister ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has presented its report on the Abortion Legislation Bill to the House. A copy of the report is available here. The bill seeks to have abortion services provided like other health services. The committee has recommended, ...
The NZX says its full year result reflects the stellar performance of the capital markets over the past year, with momentum expected to drive growth in the coming year. ...
At the highest gathering place of New Zealand sport, UFC champion and sportsman of the year Israel Adesanya delivered the message he has long been destined to give, writes Scotty Stevenson.I met Don Rowe in a Hamilton toilet. At the time I was editing a sports magazine and he was ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20)Before the Dishes Get DoneBefore the Marmite Gets ...
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The journalists union, E tū is seeking an assurance from New Zealand First on behalf of its journalist members, that it is not involved in tracking journalists as they go about their work. Reports that coalition member New Zealand First took photographs ...
By Global Voices A backlash against China’s official response to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has left local officials and the central government scrambling to offset responsibility. While the central government has accused local officials of being “inefficient,” the local government has reminded the public it is blocked from sharing ...
Open Mike 06/09/2017 
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Now the kings and there advisers in NZ are trying to figure out how this lucky uneducated half caste Maori has managed to get this huge internet attention and viewers and how did he figure out he has this attention. And they are trying to replicate
this to try and win this election. YEA RIGHT
For one thing I don’t Believe in LUCK I believe LUCK was invented by some corrupt person people to explain why they had more assets/food to some naive people when in reality the corrupt person was robbing the naive people BLIND.
So I’m not lucky.
I believe in FATE as it was fate that these assholes have been hounding me for so long it was fate that I ended in this place and time it is fate because of these assholes that I scoured the internet for corruptions and posted this information on this website It was fate that I found this website it is fate that Iprent made this wonderful website. It is fate that I took my granddaughter to the doctors and had a conversation with that Kenyan
Doctor and gave him my pseudo name and this website. It was fate that joe90 posted those links on Kenya on this web site so every one could see what I posted was true. So my views on the reality’s of our WORLD are real and original . So I thank all the good people on this site and around the WORLD for there contribution to our fight for a safe fair bright future for every thing in our WORLD
Well I will call it steve looks like what was thrown at him stop lying steve.
That’s the way Hillary and Jack put him in line the neo liberal cheat joyce is
We were told by our PM that 60% of tenants get support from the Accomodation Supplement, so I infer that 60% of landlords have their “investment” incomes toped up by the government. Think of that next time Andrew King from the Property Investors Assoc espouses why any change in a govt policy and we get his standard scaremongering of increase in rents. And if rents should rise does that not mean that the govt will be paying these increases and not the tenant ?
In a healthy growing economy should not wage increases reduced the need for Accomodation Supplements NOT for Nat to increase this ?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/95651463/insulation-standards-fewer-capital-gains-may-combine-to-hit-tenants-in-the-pocket
https://www.landlords.co.nz/article/6245/nzpif-opposes-wellington-rental-wof
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/labour-housing-policy-flawed-federation-says
JDS watch #1, first in what will be a long series:
– Farrar is now comparing Jacinda to Trump.
Well it was the Wall Street Journal that compared Jacinda to Trump, on immigration
[lprent: If you want to make an bald assertion about a ‘fact’ – then provide a link or a description about how to find your source. This prevents fuckwits from supplying false facts. I read the WSJ most days and I never saw this. ]
A tweet from the Wall Street Journal, which was not even fact checked.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96519787/wall-street-journal-compares-labour-leader-jacinda-ardern-to-donald-trump
Desperate stuff from Tory idiots.
Yeah well, the Muslim comparison is crap. But NZ Labour’s immigration policy is pretty fucked up.
At the time of its release I read it side by side with UKIPs immigration policy and that of UK Labour. Far too consistent with UKIP and a million miles away from U Labour. (A few people hereabouts didn’t appreciate the observations)
Seems I should have just compared it to to the UK Tories whose ideas around limiting low skilled immigrants is causing outrage in the UK if today’s headlines are accurate
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/05/leaked-document-reveals-uk-brexit-plan-to-deter-eu-immigrants.
So my indentured ancestors would have been buggered. Many of my forbears would not have got in under the new regime. It really does seem to be a pull the ladder up jack policy.
http://www.labour.org.nz/immigration
Trotter, quoted in the Wall Street Journal says that he “disagreed with the Wall Street Journal comparison”.
Give it up, Dirk.
If Chinese (or any other ‘ese’) can come in and run our dairy farms better than New Zealanders (ie without paying their workers peanuts or poisoning town water supplies) then perhaps they should be allowed to.
I don’t think NZers want to see cows in crates, not being allowed to walk around a fucking paddock. That was intended by at least one Chinese group.
Better is such a subjective term.
Such ‘operations’ already exist in NZ. My understanding is it’s in order to produce ‘marbled’ beef.
It looks like free trade means best quality is exported and we get the old fish fried with chip plus a half eaten one coz that’s the level of consumer quality. All the best, fish, meat, milk, fruit, etc goes off shore, and then some, average q uaility, leaving the worst still sellable at world prices by under paid staff who half eat a chip in order to get a feed yet still throw it in with the purchase. Key came into office, opened the doors to dotcomers, English learning students, lowers food quality, mine inspection, diary conversions, there is not one aspect of Keys leadership that has not eroded life in nz… …well okay broadband but that was already… …insulation… ..that was a greens overflow policy…. but the bulk of living standards have fallen and they raised GST too.
FarrowFresh and Moore Wilson’s still have the good stuff.
Are you sure? Lately I’ve been seriously wondering about who and what you stand for, and who has been tickling your man-fanny. Lately, It appears there’s been a serious lean to the “right”, where your balls are tickled just enough to question your supposedly left leaning values, and your foreskin is in competition with that pompous git that should have an ‘H’ branded on his forehead. Maybe you’ll get what you wish for, but the downside is it’ll come with an ‘H’s proclamation on who it is that should be euthanased.
I’m sure.
Since you’re not used to dealing with complex positioning, let me be clear that im not interested in your online abuse.
Do not ever respond to me again.
Actually life for a cow in an open paddock system is not a bed of roses. no shelter, cold wet ground, rain, snow frosts.Long walks on rough gravelled tracks on sore feet because of standing in wet ground, heavy udders swinging, frequently trod on causing horrendous often life treatening injuries. Trying to maintain body weight while producing milk on a grass diet with accompanying explosive diarrhoea.
Dairy cows do better in an enclosed housing system, they adapt well, the revulsion comes from urbanised New Zealanders with a romantic view of how an animal should live.Housing animals makes it easier to control their diet and effulent,no manure trampled into the ground, no leaching of nitrates, composted manure and bedding returned to the soil at a time when heavy rain will not leach it into aquifers or water ways.Potentially a win win situation for cow and the environment.
Absolutely agree that paddocks are cruel environments for animals that naturally live in wooded/forested environments. But then, so is an “enclosed housing system”.
Actually, I doubt if there’s a way to farm animals that doesn’t involve a measure of cruelty. But y’know, we could be much less cruel and far more thoughtful. (But then, why have trees taking up the ground space of potential economic units, hm? 👿 )
Not sure why you think rich people who aren’t Kiwis would be any less greedy than NZers. The responsibility for the wellbeing of NZers and the land here is the governments. It’s not rocket science. Put in good environmental protections and resources into R and D for regenag. Put in good employment law that protects workers rights, and resources that support R and D for ethical business.
The biggest hurdle there, apart from values, is the business models based on perpetual growth. We’re at the limits of growth now, so those models have to exploit people and the earth, because that’s the only way they can now keep growing. Instead we need steady state business models. They exist, which begs the question of why we’re not using them. As far as I can tell that’s down to ignorance, greed, and the need to create. Only the last one is an asset and it could be redirected.
Exactly its ecomonics 101 and the law of diminishing returns combined with greed where a ‘reasonable rate of return’ is ditched for ever increasing profits.
Its cause and effect, newtons third law, with the environment, workers, quality etc amongst those who bear the effect ever increasing profits cause.
Eventually capitalism breaks down as the resources are finite.
And if they feel culturally safer employing compatriots and applying the employment practices and rules they’re familiar with, then why not.
Workers died to win whatever rights we have.
That’s why “the practices and rules they’re familiar with” can go take a hike if those practices and rules are inferior to what workers have fought for (at least, those that remain after 30 years of Liberal assault).
+ 100 to Bill and Weka
They can’t. We really do seem to be the best at farming. Which is probably why China allows Fonterra to have farms in China.
Yes Obama is calling out that neo liberal dick head that is why Obama is on my list of people I admire
and aspire to.
Please! Granny Herald. I couldn’t give a fuck about whether Tony Street has a “She-Mullet”, or whether Mike fucks chickens.
If either were to stand for election as our political representatives, I might take a little more notice. Members of a 4th Estate they ain’t. Members of the Legends-in-their-own-Minds Club they are.
Probably the best thing they could do IS ekshully to stand for office. As for those that profess their membership to a MSM 4th Estate, I understand your fear. Don’t try and blame others however for your fuckup – the spin won’t count no matter how many lattes, G&Ts you’ll go without and missed mortgage payments with your wifeys still at home.
Christ! – How did it come to this I sometimes ask. All I can come up with is greed (and in the case of some of them – flatulence)
One wonders how many Super Storms the Gulf states will have to endure before their voters will wake up to the realisation that Global Warming is real and coming to get them. These voters consistently vote for representatives who are paid toadies of the Fossil Fuel cartel. I have little sympathy for them – the science has been clear for years – but either through greed and self interest, or simply wilful ignorance, they have ignored the early warnings of Katrina, and Sandy, and daily flooding in downtown Miami, and continually voted into office, Climate Change denialists, who have obfuscated and delayed for decades, not only US action on reducing GHG emissions, but also Global action. Now they have the ultimate idiot in charge – one wishes them everything they have coming to them.
Well, fossil fuel extraction is quite a large part of Gulf state economies. So I expect wilful ignorance to continue for quite a while yet, since so many paychecks depend on it. Probably up until the point renewables get so cheap there’s no more point in extracting dino-juice from places like offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
Yep I understand that – however just because they want a job doesn’t give them the right to fuck the whole world – because that is what they have done for the past 20+ years.
The US has never been able to go to a Climate Conference in good faith, because the Senate Reps dominated by McConnell et al (himself heavily funded around $1.9m US by the Fossil Fuel industry) would simply vote down any proposal to which the US agreed.
It’ll be hard to avoid schadenfreude when those economies start feeling the pressure from the switch to renewables. Probably at about the same time that climate change really starts to bite hard there. I won’t shed any tears about Russia and other petro-states feeling the economic pain either.
But it will be billions of people across south asia and in africa that will really pay the price.
Here is a list of the Senators and their most recent funding by Fossil Fuel industry:
http://www.iflscience.com/environment/republicans-urged-trump-exit-paris-funded-fossil-fuel-companies/
Off the chart.
There is no category 6… Seem like they might have to add one.
Yep – and its heading straight for the Gulf States clipping Southern Florida on the way.
FEMA is expected to run out of money this week as Hurricane Irma approaches. The Disaster Relief Fund has just $1.01 billion on hand, less than half of the $2.14 billion that was there last Thursday morning – a spend rate of $9.3 million an hour.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-05/fema-is-almost-out-of-money-as-hurricane-irma-threatens-florida
All that missing heat.
http://firsthandweather.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/sst.png
Yep 93% of it goes into the oceans – and its not going to go away any time soon.
Just transfer from one form (heat in oceans) to another (wind) and (water vapour).
I used to use the analogy of heating up a pan of water on a stove. You add energy (heat) the water starts to move faster and faster until it boils.
“Mother of All Storms” by Barnes is starting to look a little less like fiction and a little more like science.
This is what I was getting at in my original comment Andre – I wonder if some of them will finally fess up and say – “Sorry we were wrong – these storms are unprecedented, and are the result of Global Warming, and maybe it is because humans have been adding GHG at an alarming rate, and maybe the quantum physicists were right when they said GHG’s trapped black body radiation.”
I find it touching that you seem to think southern repugs might retain even a vestigial sense of shame and responsibility.
With a nephew living and working in the Turks and Caicos Islands, this is all getting a bit worrisome.
🙁 not good – as always the Islands will wear the brunt. Cuba – the nation with one of the least Carbon footprints – is also going to experience the full force. As always those who are the least culpable are the ones who pay the price.
Will be thinking of your nephew and others in the days ahead.
My question is simple, is it because they are Muslims, is that we are not talking about it?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/02/rohingya-fleeing-myanmar-tales-ethnic-cleansing
Probably not.
/search/Rohingya+/?search_comments=true
Thanks joe90, that makes me feel a little better.
Not completely, because no one commented on your post *sigh*
The Karen aren’t regularly commented about, either.
Much happening in Chechnya or North Ossetia lately? Everyone happy in North Korea? Eritrea?
Lots of places in the world where people are being shat on in large numbers.
Joyce isn’t the only one being caught lying with dodgy figures.
Our Minister of Health, Jonathan Coleman, has been caught promising to raise elective surgery numbers to a level he claimed we achieved last year.
“Jonathan Coleman said National would increase elective surgeries over the next four years to 200,000 a year.”
Wow. that’s impressive. Increase from what?
” Last year, we planned to deliver 186,000 surgeries; we actually delivered 200,000.“
The National party: calling the status quo an increase.
McFlock
Merely maintaining the status quo would be a decrease unless the population were also static or declining. Which isn’t the case, and furthermore; not only is the population increasing, but so is the average age (with associated health needs) along with the boomer bulge. The kind of operations being performed is also important (from your link):
nah, it’s an increase, Coleman said so. And Joyce spotted $11b hole in Labour’s budget, and bill’s given us 170,000 new jobs…/sarc 🙁
“and bill’s given us 170,000 new jobs…”
They keep on saying that but to balance that we have to take off the 169,999 jobs that have disappeared or been reclassified. But it looks good; unless you are one of the ones who can’t get a job.
Yeah, but they ain’t rich so national doesn’t care.
Ardern’s anger at Trump comparison will push English off TVNZ front slot, which takes English’s policy announcement to 2nd slot.
Mean play but good game.
Here we go – BEWARE BEWARE Federated Farmers pulling on their Brethren cardies and leading the scaremongering this time round:
“Let’s tax this. What are we in for, Labour?
Source: Federated Farmers
—
On the cusp of the election, voters are still in the dark about what taxes they
might be hit with if Labour is part of the next government.
A tax (“royalty”) on water is confirmed. But Jacinda Ardern has refused to rule out
a capital gains tax, a land value tax, and an asset and wealth tax – other than to
say the family home is exempt.
“For Labour to say they’re not able to be more explicit about what they have in mind
until they have recommendations from the yet-to-be-named members of a tax panel is
something of a cop-out, and certainly doesn’t help voters,” Federated Farmers
Vice-President Andrew Hoggard says.
For farmers, their home and surrounding land also happens to be their business and
livelihood. “Even if an exemption applied to the farmhouse, they’ll cop it from new
taxes far more than their urban cousins.”
The prospect of a land tax in particular is alarming to the rural sector, in that it
would have a severe impact on land extensive businesses and others that are
so-called ‘asset rich and income poor’.
The last time a land tax was considered (2010), the agricultural taxable land base
was $105 billion, meaning a 0.5% land tax would cost farmers $525 million per annum
– a massive hit on the sector, and thus on regional economies and rural towns.
“Farmers already pay whacking rates bills in many parts of the country, often
disproportionate to the services they are delivered or actually use,” Mr Hoggard
said.
“Labour delivered more detailed information on their water tax proposal when pushed
into it by Federated Farmers, Irrigation NZ and other groups.
“Voters deserve more details on Labour’s preferences for other taxes before they go
to the polls.”
ENDS
For more information contact:
Andrew Hoggard, Federated Farmers of NZ Vice-President
Phone: 027 230 7363
Simon Edwards | Communications Advisor, Federated Farmers
Email: sedwards@fedfarm.org.nz, Mobile: +64 (0)21 408 672
Should Labour get in, they choose which lobbyists they ever see. Passes revoked, frozen out, no invites or facetime, no policy initiatives.
Standard stuff for The Terrace.
I don’t seem to recall the farmers being concerned with all the detrimental effects of all reforms that benefited them. In fact, they seem to have been getting it all their own way since forever.
I think it’s time they stopped whinging and got on with doing the right thing for society.
I’m meeting with them on Friday. I’ll pass on your view, Draco, if you wish 🙂
Go for it.
We all no that bills brother was head of that outfit a couple of years ago .
So the English strings are still on the puppets that lead that outfit and what a coincidence that federated farmers got a good spokes person just before the election.
Well I don’t believe in coincidences as there is usually something sinister that causes those coincidences .
Now I have nothing against farmers that are compliant with our rules to protected our environment.
Is it a coincident that Willy Leferink was on 7 sharp tonight to smooth it over for federated farmers propaganda .
Now i will say it again Jacinda is not going to over tax any industry as thats fucken stupid and Jacinda would not be were she is if she was fucken stupid.
So the labour party is not neo liberals so they are not going to look you people in the face and lie.
They are going tailor there taxes so everyone is paying there fair shear so our country can function in a economically and environmentally sustainable way Cemmon.
Hope my actions did not cause you to much trouble Iprent apologies if It did.
Fonterra will have to get more value for there products man I bet they wish they brought Nestle when they had the chance .
Any effort to even put modest restrictions on farming activities that are detrimental to the environment are looked upon by FF as Stalinist agriculture collectivization, with fears of Ardern sending truckloads of armed agriculture commissars to every family farm in New Zealand to seize at gunpoint.
NewstalkZB is shallow, trivial, and nasty radio.
But is it any worse than Jim Mora’s light chat show?
The Panel preshow, RNZ National, Tuesday 5 September 2017
Jim Mora, Peter Fa’afiu, Victoria Stewart, Megan Whelan
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/201857382/the-panel-pre-show-for-5-september-2017
This drivel goes for six and a half minutes. Here’s a transcript of the first 4 minutes and 23 seconds….
MORA: Ah, Megan Whelan, Story of the Day!
MEGAN WHELAN: So Google has released, ahhmmm, its most searched “How To” questions globally, ahhh, which gives us an insight into the things that people struggle with day to day. So the most searched How-To question globally—does anyone want to take a guess?
MORA: Oh look. Go on, have a go.
Silence….
MEGAN WHELAN: Anyone?
PETER FA’AFIU: No you’re good.
MORA: No, all right—
VICTORIA STEWART: No, no.
MORA: It is hard, it’s hard, it’s hard, actually.
MEGAN WHELAN: I thought it would have been something like “How to cook rice”, or something like that.
MORA: Oh yeah.
VICTORIA STEWART: Ohh yeah.
MEGAN WHELAN: Um, that is sort of second. “How to tie a tie”—-
MORA: [with mock dismissiveness] No-o!
VICTORIA STEWART: Ahhhhh…
MEGAN WHELAN: Which I find fascinating! Because not all of the population has to do it, but apparently it’s a thing that those people who do, frequently forget.
MORA: [affecting a tone of incredulity] “How to tie a tie” is number ONE!?!?
MEGAN WHELAN: “How to tie a tie” is number one! It’s the most searched “How To” question in the world. Ah, “How to kiss” is in second place.
MORA: Ahhh!
MEGAN WHELAN: Which makes me worry a little bit about the future of humanity.
MORA: Ha!
VICTORIA STEWART: Ha ha!
MEGAN WHELAN: As does number three, which is “How to get pregnant”.
MORA: Yes!
VICTORIA STEWART: Ooh goodness.
PETER FA’AFIU: [snickering] Kkk-k-k-k!
MEGAN WHELAN: Number four: “How to lose weight.”
MORA: Yeah.
PETER FA’AFIU: Oh yeah.
MORA: I would’ve thought that’d be RIGHT up the top.
MEGAN WHELAN: “How to draw”.
MORA: “How to DRAAWW”?
MEGAN WHELAN: “How to make money.”
VICTORIA STEWART: Ha ha.
MEGAN WHELAN: Ha ha. And then sort of “How to cook rice”—“how to make pancakes”.
MORA: [very softly, in a tone of bemused wonderment] Pancakes.
VICTORIA STEWART: “How to write a cover letter” AND “How to cook French toast.” Ahhhmmm….
MORA: What?!?!?
VICTORIA STEWART: Followed by “How to lose belly fat”. Ah, so, ho, we’re very worried about losing weight but also having good breakfasts!
MORA: What a STRANGE list!
MEGAN WHELAN: Isn’t that a strange list!
PETER FA’AFIU: Just trying to figure out how many of those I’ve, uh, ha ha ha ha!
MORA: Okay, you can tie a tie.
PETER FA’AFIU: Pancakes, yeah. Tie….
MORA: Pancakes? You know how to make money?
PETER FA’AFIU: Yeah.
MORA: Do you know how to write a cover letter?
PETER FA’AFIU: Yes.
MORA: Ahh, do you know how to lose fat around your tummy?
PETER FA’AFIU: No.
MORA: Okay. I won’t ask you the REST!
PETER FA’AFIU: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I know how to kiss. I know how to kiss.
MEGAN WHELAN: So Simon Rogers, Google’s data editor, one of the things he mentioned is that these “How To” searches have increased a hundred and forty per cent—so more than doubled—since two thousand and FOUR, and MUCH of that interest is directed at how to sort of FIX things, so oftentimes it’s how to fix a lightbulb or replace your window or fix your washing-machine or even the toilet. So I had a look at Google Trends, ahhh, which is how you can search some of this stuff yourself, for New Zealand for the past twelve months—
MORA: Aah!
MEGAN WHELAN: So related searches, our ones, so this is not the exact data that THAT list is, the global list is, ‘cos it’s not broken down in the same way, but searching “How To” and getting related searches for that for New Zealand, we searched “How to draw”, “How to screenshot”—
MORA: Oh yeah.
MEGAN WHELAN: And someone has texted in to say that when THEY searched it, they got the auto complete, so often when you google something “how to” it will fill in the sentence for you? They got “How to make SLIME”, which is number THREE in New Zealand. We also searched “How to make slime without borax”, which seems a VERY specific thing—-
PETER FA’AFIU: A ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
MEGAN WHELAN: “How to proNOUNCE” is number four—-
MORA: “How to pronounce”?
MEGAN WHELAN: “How to pronounce”. So, presumably, there is another word following that one. “How to lose weight”, “How to make money”, “How to tie a tie”, then that’s the slime without borax. How to-o-o-o-o-o, oh, er, break a —I can’t read my own HANDWRITING!—I think it was something like “break an iPhone”? Ummmmmm—-
VICTORIA STEWART: Easily—-
MEGAN WHELAN: Ha ha ha ha!
VICTORIA STEWART:—is the way I think of that. Drop it!
MEGAN WHELAN: Ha ha. And then, LASTLY, in our New Zealand related searches taught you “How to delete Instagram accounts”. I’m a little bit worried what New Zealanders have been doing on their Instagram accounts that they feel the need to delete them!
PETER FA’AFIU: Hyunhh, hyunnhh.
MORA: Yeah, exactly.
MEGAN WHELAN: Yeahhhh!
MORA: The slime thing will be children, ‘cos our twins make slime.
MEGAN WHELAN: Yes!
PETER FA’AFIU: Same. For me.
MEGAN WHELAN: Has that been quite a thing in the last twelve months?
MORA: Yeah it has recently. Yeah.
MEGAN WHELAN: Right.
MORA: So THAT’ll be a current thing, the slime thing. I didn’t know, they don’t know about the borax.
MEGAN WHELAN: Yeahhh.
MORA: So, we search for the most trivial things as well, don’t we.
VICTORIA STEWART: Yes. I think a lot of this is about the sentence construction? So you might find that people searching for recipes aren’t searching—so for me, I wouldn’t google “How to cook pancakes”, I would google “Pancake recipe”—
PETER FA’AFIU: Mmmm.
VICTORIA STEWART: “EASY pancake recipes”. Ha ha!
MEGAN WHELAN: Yeah. Or something like that. Or a specific pancake recipe, which is my favorite pancake recipe, but, errr, so, but I might search “How to tie a tie”, ‘cos that sentence makes more sense than “pancake recipe.” Yeah.
MORA: Okay, but, there’s um, very little of, uh, “How can I be nicer?” or “What is the meaning of life?” or those [with mock sententiousness] profound questions….
MEGAN WHELAN: “How can I be nicer?” Okaaayyy….
At that point, I reached the point of maximum disgust, and could take no more of this drivel. The inanity, the determined triviality of this chatter, the complete and utter contempt for the listeners are bad enough, but what really angered me was that last statement by Jim Mora. His suggestion that he cares about “profound questions” is disproven by the subject matter and the tenor of the discussions on his show. And as for “How can I be nicer?”—well, let’s have a look at a few instances of how “nice” Jim Mora is….
Excellent piece by Gordon Campbell that neatly counters Nationals scare tactics…should be required reading before entering the polling booth
‘Its not a new thing. Remember when John Key used to describe Working For Families as “communism by stealth”? Now WFF is core National policy. And Kiwisaver? (Key : “It won’t work. It’s a glorified Christmas Club.”) Now, Kiwisaver too is core National policy. Remember when climate change was just a fanciful notion of those wacky, scary Greens? Now National’s deputy is proudly proclaiming National’s commitment to the Paris agreement.”
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2017/09/06/gordon-campbell-on-nationals-fake-news-onslaught/#more-4932
i’ve spent a bit of time thinking about the legacy the last labour party left and what the nats legacy is (thinking positive as even the nats can’t be totally useless )
labour ; kiwisaver ,kiwibank . wwf (still would prefer proper wages) ,cullin fund,
china fta.
nats ; seriously i got nothing ,