(Oops slept in) Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
The proposal involves three main changes in statute for the Electricity Authority:
An amended objective: “to promote greater use of renewable energy including from distributed generation sources”,
An amended function: “to establish and administer a fair regime for small scale renewable distributed electricity generation power purchase agreements” and
An entirely new section 43 in the Electricity Industry Act detailing how this will be achieved. Including 10 year power purchase agreements and a price set by the Electricity Authority.
The fight against climate change will be the defining struggle of this age.
It is great to see that the Green Party is talking about practical actions that, (hopefully) will turn us away from fossil fuels, to renewable energy use.
Distributed small scale electricity generation will be part of the mix.
But Gareth has gone even further, attacking the big fossil fuel suppliers at their source, and the government, who are conspiring with Solid Energy and the banks, to keep us hooked on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, with a huge taxpayer subsidy for our country’s biggest coal company.
“The National Government need to take responsibility for their mismanagement of Solid Energy and cut their losses,” said Mr Hughes.
“The banks that made risky loans to Solid Energy need to bear the cost of their mistakes.
“Coal is not going to be the fuel of our future if we are to stabilise our climate.
“New Zealanders and Solid Energy workers need a just transition into more sustainable jobs – jobs that don’t fry the planet.
With these above statements Gareth and the Greens are well on the way to setting up climate change as a major defining election issue for the Greens, sharply differentiating themselves from both Labour and National, who both as well as having broad agreement on other issues of climate change, both support the bailout of Solid Energy, reinforceng and gauranteeing our iron bound addiction to fossil fuels at a time when we should be taking every opportunity to loosen its grip.
Jenny – you were proven yesterday to be a liar regarding Labour’s position and yet you still repeat the same hyperbole ad nauseum today?
One rule I work with is “Never trust an extremist” because they are never honest. Ever. No matter how “correct” the facts behind your argument may be (such as climate change being a real man made thing that’s going to impact over the next 100 years) you are completely misrepresenting the political situation in NZ in order to meet your other preconceptions.
IMO Labour will likely support Solid Energy’s continued existence, and retention as a full SOE. Not only are there many NZ jobs at stake, but also extensive technical and engineering knowledge plus a vital strategic energy source for the nation.
I have been trying to popularise for some, time now the scandal that is Rauauru Ma Raki.
1033 permanent jobs “blown away” in the renewable sector. What is remarkable about this project is that it is but a short commute from Huntly where many coal miners are losing their jobs.
All that is needed to restart this project and give all these laid off workers good jobs according to Wind Energy CEO Eric Pyle is the “right policy settings”, which I imagine would cost little in comparison to the current huge $100 million plus, (and more to come), bail out of Solid Energy.
The Nacts may cry crocodile tears about jobs being lost. But we know they don’t care for working people. The Bailout of Solid Energy is a blatant a case of Corporate Welfare as you can get. Nothing else. As Gareth Hughes says the government should “cut their losses”. What we should be asking CV is why we are covering the losses of the foreign owned Aussie banks?
I have been trying to popularise for some, time now the scandal that is Rauauru Ma Raki.
1033 permanent jobs “blown away” in the renewable sector.
None of these jobs exist. They were future “potential jobs”. You are proposing getting rid of higher paid jobs for jobs which do not exist yet, would take several years to reach a full payroll of staff, and likely pay much less than mining jobs.
As Gareth Hughes says the government should “cut their losses”. What we should be asking CV is why we are covering the losses of the foreign owned Aussie banks?
Who knows. Probably so they don’t take possession of the company and firesale it.
Bottom line is that your religious crusade is all about you Jenny, and very little else.
lprent – in my mind it is not laziness on her part but rather an admission that she is what I stated she is, an extremist. She is looking for evidence that supports her own initial conclusions and ignoring anything else that may *potentially* undermine that.
Jenny – I don’t really know what Labour’s position on the matter of Solid Energy is and, at the moment, I only really have the extra energy to continue being pissed off at National. I come to The Standard because the level of intelligent coverage here outstrips all other available sources but I keep seeing your screeds of outraged bullshit popping up everywhere and it rankles.
It’s difficult to argue with you on the “climate change is bad and we should be doing something about it” because I agree, climate change *is* bad and we *should* do something about it. When it comes to communicate about that *something* though you manage to go jump in to the deep end and shout a giant “fuck you” to anyone who isn’t willing to dive right in next to you. By doing so you alienate anyone who doesn’t share your personal belief and this is no way to build broad support for your position.
Hence why I felt the need this morning to call you on your extremist bullshit.
In my opinion, feel free to continue to post your extremist rhetoric here. It reminds me why I chose to escape association with similar people and why I will continue to.
…in my mind it is not laziness on her part but rather an admission that she is what I stated she is, an extremist.
I’d agree. But really she could be an extremist that looked things up rather her current habit of simply making things up. It has gotten to the point that whenever I read her comments then I treat it exactly like I would for some poor troll coming from Whaleoil or No Minister… I assume it is wrong or quoted completely out of context.
Her habit of usually not leaving links to those she is accusing reinforces that. It implies that she hasn’t used search either on this site or on google to actually find out anything about what she is talking about. As importantly it makes it harder for people to find out if she is sprouting crap or not.
Basically she acts like a modern-day Joseph Goebbels who in Nazi Germany had the role of making inflammatory and inaccurate memes as minister of propaganda. He also had the role of destroying the ability of people to check the veracity of those memes by destroying books that contradicted those memes published as books, pamphlets, speeches, etc…
There are some quite strong extremists (in my view) on this site. But you have to give them credibility because they usually leave links and reasoned argument. They also respond to people disagreeing with them rather than Jenny’s current passion for flying into boring rants and lying about what they said…
I like Gareth, and I vote Green, but he is a bit off about what this deal does. the banks won’t be too happy about this at all.
The shares they are getting do not pay dividends, and can only be sold back to the crown at the price they paid for them, when and if the crown ever wants to buy them.
Basically SE has had a lot of debt to the banks written off, 350M has been paid off by the crown, and the rest of the debt will be recovered if and when the crown buys back those shares.
The alternative is winding the company up. That doesn’t mean the mines close. It means a receiver tries to get as much value as possible out of SE’s assets, (that would be the mines and licenses to mine), as they can in order to pay back as much of the debt as they can.
Yes, great to see the moves by the Green Party on Solar Power, what such Regulation and Legislation will allow anyone with a mind to to become a power supplier the legal framework which will allow them to do so and presumably be able to sell the power generated at much the same rates as the present Electricity Cartel does,
From what the Green Party are saying it seems likely that those wishing to install solar power arrays will be able to, instead of having to also install very expensive battery systems, feed the power they generate straight into the retail system making such a system far more streamlined than what has presently been achieved,
In a Green future i can well see a large industry being built up around household solar arrays where the home-owner could add solar panels to their own system as they have spare funds to do so and where eventually households doing so would be supplying much of the countries daytime electricity needs,
It doesn’t take much to imagine the average workers solar paneling generating power by day into the grid while they are busy at work and thus creating enough credit for those doing so to have basically the free use of electricity while they are at home via the credits earned,
What is needed is work on a standardized design of such solar power systems with work being put into the efficacy of producing the whole systems here in New Zealand, which along with the installation and maintanence of will create clean green sustainable employment…
Yeah you may have a point, but, just for arguments sake, say an investment in Solar Thermal of a billion dollars generates X amount of power, this is owned either by Government or private companies, (with the threat of privatization if Government owned), and such electricity is then sold to the consumer at a profit,
Consider then IF the same billion dollars spent on household solar generation arrays on the roof of average homes produced the same X of power which is then sold by the householder via a binding agreement at a fair set price to the retailer, given that there is room on the average houses roof for one hell of an array of solar paneling it would not be inconceivable that the average house could generate and sell enough electricity during the day to make a households electricity usage all up basically free,
i am tho fascinated by the thought of having some very big magnifying glasses able to track around with the sun being able to direct beans of light to ‘a boiler’, thus creating steam and thus creating usable energy in a number of forms…
I wouldn’t preclude larger scale thermal plants, but I think that distributed installations for households, motels, hotels, schools, hospitals etc. would be (and in fact are) very workable.
For a typical household, a power bill saving of $50-$60 month would be quite significant.
Yesterday I praised Gareth Hughes and the Green Party for coming out and and strongly condemning the bailout of Solid Energy.
I asked why, almost a week later, there had been no post on The Standard by any author about the criminal and immoral Bailout of Solid Energy. karol kindly took the time to reply saying that, they were working on it.
“An author has been working on a draft of a solid energy post.”
I also asked yesterday why Labour had not commented on the bail out.
Qot pointed out to me something that I had missed, that Clayton Cosgrove for the Labour Party had actually come out in support of the bailout. With a cryptic comment that “the deal announced on Tuesday was too little too late.”
So I can understand why the mysterious Standard poster is haveing trouble trying to finish their agonised philosophical wrestling over their “draft Solid Energy post”, before most likely, finally deciding to leave it in the too hard basket.
[lprent: good thing that karol saw it before me. I’d have simply banned you for a week for trying to tell us how we should be running the site. ]
Almost certainly less than 15kg of carbon released, depending on how it is done. Sadly, I’ve just seen a notice that the man who self immolated in the US National Mall in Washington DC has died. Another milestone in the match of the plutocrats.
The solid energy post is a post that I am working on but I need to understand the intricacies of the recent announcements and get these right before I finish it.
You should also understand that the Standard bloggers are a disparate diffuse group of people who have things like jobs and lives. Posts and contributions are a totally voluntary thing. For me I am also in the middle of a local body election campaign so posts will be made
And your original comment was that Labour has stayed silent on the issue and as shown by QoT you are totally incorrect.
And your original comment was that Labour has stayed silent on the issue and as shown by QoT you are totally incorrect.
mickysavage
But you must admit mj that there is some confusion around where Labour sit on this issue, as evidenced by Zorr at at 9:33 am.
Hopefully you will be able to clear this up for us.
[lprent: Get off your lazy bigoted and obviously stupid arse and look it up. FFS it isn’t hard – read the press releases, they stream in the Feeds every day.
If you *ever* use this type of line again on either Labour, the Greens or even National without doing some research yourself.
To encourage you in this endeavour, I will take a page out of your book and assume you are guilty unless it is clear in the first paragraph that you have searched. And I will impose a 12 week ban if you do not show evidence of having looked for what you are asking for from political parties before accusing them. Everyone is welcome to point out what she missed… ]
So Jenny, the Labour Party did comment on the Solid Energy bailout, instead of posting even more bullshit here, an ”i was wrong with my assertion yesterday” would have been sufficient,
Perhaps you are a masochist and feel that when you do, after what seems huge effort on your part, get a spanking, you spend your time in purgatory nurturing along your view of having been ‘the victim’…
Posted yesterday… ” *Yes I did miss this. But that is not the same as being a “fucking liar” ”
I think Jenny is passionate about her cause and far less rude, abrasive, insulting and retarded as some commenters are in stating their positions.
I don’t see what she posts as a problem. Like anything (or anyone’s opinions) it can be ignored or dismissed without rancour or resorting to obscenities that make point scoring a hollow gesture.
I think you’re being incredibly charitable towards Jenny. She has had opportunity after opportunity to check her shit.
When she hated the Greens, it was daily postings on how “the Greens have been silent!!!!” and when she had multiple blog posts and press releases pointed out to her, her defence was “oh, well it’s not on the front page of their website”.
Now she hates Labour, so it’s daily postings on how “Labour have been silent!!!!!” and when multiple media statements are again pointed out to her, her defence is “well that’s not clear enough for me.”
The only reasonable conclusion for anyone to draw after this amount of time and a complete refusal to back up her statements is that Jenny is – and I’m so not ashamed to “resort to obscenties” – a fucking liar.
The only reasonable conclusion for anyone to draw after this amount of time and a complete refusal to back up her statements is that Jenny is – and I’m so not ashamed to “resort to obscenties” – a fucking liar.
Funny that you should mention Rob Gilchrist again Lynn. I had been thinking of this despicable individual since you tried to compare him to me in a nasty piece of character assassination.
That was an outright lie and made me kind of annoyed, especially as it was part of the kind of rethorical accusorial waffle that seems to be all that she can maintain these days.
Sure I compared her to Gilchrist because the previous comment from Murray Olsen responding to one from Pascal’s bookie was about cops and police spies acting like her in movements. But my comment was hardly comparing her to Rob Gilchrist because I think that she is mostly just a bit of a extremist nutter. Unfortunately Rob never acted like that or he’d have never have had as much penetration into a variety of movements as he did.
My disagreement with Pascal’s bookie was that you had to always be wary of any extremist credulous fools who couldn’t credibly explain how they get from their ideological position to actually being able to implement some of it. You don’t need to use the “cop” to think that people acting that way are dangerous to the movement and to those around them.
This was rather signalled by my first paragraph quoting Murray
..you have just made one of the most stupid and cowardly statements that it’s possible for an activist to make.
Wrong approach. Treat any activist going over the top with due caution and suspicion.
Basically like you, I just call people I consider to be misguided, unthinking, fools, idiots or liars just that with some reasons why. This allows others to make up their own minds.
Hell with QoT, I’ve even be known to do milder forms of it to her (and her to me – but of course i was *right* 😉 ). But I just disagree and I’m usually quite willing to explain why. It usually provokes some interesting discussion and much of the time falls into “agree to disagree”.
But Jenny these days mostly just accuses people who disagree with her of being some kind of traitor as she asks rhetorical questions and in my case lies about what I have previously said. Not a behaviour that I’m particularly tolerant on. And it is a pity that she doesn’t seem to have enough perspective to understand that people disagreeing with her is a good thing. It is when they don’t bother then she has lost her argument and audience.
I tend to take accusations of being police or government agents personally and seriously. I was accused of being an SIS agent back in the 80s, before I understood the dynamic of much of the left and that this has been a historical tactic of the 3rd International since at least 1926. It has been suggested here, by travellerev, that I could be a government agent, basically on the grounds that I was an admin of a Facebook page aimed against John Key and banned people who couldn’t get past the WTC, the Illuminati, and cut and pastes from Alex Jones sites. There is basically no reasonable defence against it, which is why I am so careful and make sure I have a hell of a lot of evidence before I would even raise such an issue.
For the record, Jenny has never rung any of my bells in this area. She comes across as more of an unreasoning fundamentalist who, even if she does have something worthwhile to say, says it in such a manner that she loses any potential audience pretty quickly.
By the standards of many here, I am undoubtedly an extreme Marxist, but I do my best to address people somewhere near the level they can identify with. My being right on any particular issue is actually not that important to me. Any latent ability I have to help people think outside their comfort zones is far more important. By the nature of this blog, we are potential leaders, not followers. We have a duty to check supposedly factual material when we post it, and I feel I have a duty to treat fellow contributors with respect until they prove to my satisfaction that they deserve otherwise. We also have a duty to challenge what we consider misinformation and diversion. I think Jenny and Penny Worth both act to divert issues, mainly via the style they use.
As always, I never claim infallibility in my politics, and not even always in my Physics, but I like to think that I can defend my positions without personal attacks. However, I am not above retaliating with a dose of passion when something is directed against me personality.
As far as the mechanics of this blog is concerned, they are not decided by me. If I object too strongly, I can always leave. Free speech to me on this blog means you don’t charge me to post, as long as I stay within the guidelines. If I ever set up my own blog, I would probably take a similar approach to my contributors, even though I doubt I’d have to take my socks off to count them.
PS The closest to my views are expressed by Red Rattler, although we use quite different styles of expression.
“I think you’re being incredibly charitable towards Jenny.”
Perhaps, but in truth, no more so than to most others.
Doesn’t mean I don’t see or feel your pain where other posters are concerned. Interestingly, just this week I’ve been guilted for not remembering commentators are real people and this isn’t just a blog, but a serious blog for the big boys and girls.
I should harden the fu*k up and just get on with it 😆
“I think Jenny is passionate about her cause and far less rude, abrasive, insulting and retarded as some commenters are in stating their positions.”
True, but most commenters are less rude than shes is. And it’s not rudeness, abrasiveness etc that is the problem with Jenny. It’s her tr0lling. Tr0lling isn’t even the right word, because I don’t think she does it intentionally. She just garners herself alot of negative attention because of how she posts and how she consequently behaves..
“I don’t see what she posts as a problem. Like anything (or anyone’s opinions) it can be ignored or dismissed without rancour or resorting to obscenities that make point scoring a hollow gesture.”
It’s true that I can ignore her. But why should I have to ignore the huge number of other people that stop commenting on other things in order to respond to her ‘inaccuracies’ and flamming? It’s the long threads of blah fucking blah that annoy me.
A report commissioned by the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a partnership of 20 developing countries threatened by climate change was released to the media in September 2012. The report concluded that:
More than 100 million people will die…
The causes of this mega-death were listed as:
….five million deaths occur each year from air pollution, hunger and disease as a result of climate change and carbon-intensive economies, and that toll would likely rise to six million a year by 2030 if current patterns of fossil fuel use continue.
More than 90 percent of those deaths will occur in developing countries….
Reuters LONDON Sept 26, 2012
“A combined climate-carbon crisis is estimated to claim 100 million lives between now and the end of the next decade,” the report said.
Well, I’m glad others have responded to Jenny today, because I’m in no mood for her constant attacks – made worse by being based on unreliable info/judgments.
As one included in the authors attacked for not posting on her chosen issue, I am more than pissed off. Very tired tonight after a day’s work and a particularly busy and stressful week. And I suspect that’s the same for many TS authors.
Jenny only needs to look to see how few new posts there have been in the last couple of days – on any topic. Under this government there are many crucial issues that need highlighting. Most of us post mostly on issues we know most about. Science and the economy are not my strengths – unless it’s about how they are represented in the MSM. It takes a fair amount of research for me to comment on such things.
Also, the strength of this site is in the discussions. Jenny doesn’t really seem to come here to engage in discussion. She mostly spends her time here in attack mode. She most often sounds to me like she’s on a soap box: haranguing people and talking down to us, and not taking much notice of any responses to her attacks.
Then when she breaks some basic TS rules (like not telling authors what to write) and gets banned for it, she starts complaining that her views on climate change are being censored. No matter how many times the reason for the bans are explained, and the evidence presented, she just seems to choose not to understand.
Why should I bother to read any more of Jenny’s comments?
I think you are exceptionally patient Karol. I’m sorry you have to put up with this shit. Despite what I said above to the Al1en, it’s ulitmately not so onerous for me to ignore Jenny or get over what she is doing because my input here is fairly uncommitted. But if I had been putting in the effort you have and had that degree of committment, I’d be spitting tacks by now.
Jenny is a very nice girls name…all the Jennys I have ever known have been nice , sweet, charming girls….
From wiki:
Jennifer is a feminine given name, a Cornish form of Gwenhwyfar[1] adopted into English during the 20th century.
It may mean “white fairy” (from Proto-Celtic *Uindo-seibrā “white phantom”). Despite the name’s similarity to the Old English words jenefer, genefer and jinifer, all of which were variants of Juniper used to describe the juniper tree,[2] there is no evidence that it comes from these.
Other meanings of Jenny:
An amazing, beautiful, caring, creative girl. She is the epitome of a goddess, and anyone would kill to have her. She can do anything she sets her mind to, and she’s wonderful.
A girl who acts like a true sister. She may not be blood line relatives, but she will care for you no matter what, even when hated she will love you. She tends to fall for the wrong type, but in the end she will never give up on someone she loves. She’s socially active but naughty at times.
Wow Chooky that Cornish name is really something. But I’ve gone off Jenny after Jenny Shipley. While the name has sweet connotations too often the owner doesn’t.
Greywarbler & the Allen…..smirk….well parents choose lovely names for their baby girls ….but they dont always turn out as expected…they could grow up to be a troll(ess) or a horrible old witch with nasty duplicitous designs and spells.
….yes Jenny Shipley is a Jenny I hadn’t thought of….you are very realistic greywarbler …adds a whole new complexion to the name Jenny….
…Now Gwenhwyfar is a very romantic name …maybe a better name to write songs about or have sweet dreams upon……not too many Gwenhwyfars around (down under) to spoil the illusion….
Hi Chooky I had a look at name meanings. My Mum was Gwendolyn and great greats came from Cornwall so I guess that was a connection with the name. I noticed that Gwenhwyfar is the Cornish, Welsh, Celtic? form of Guinevere. Gwen means white, holy, blessed and there are St Gwens.
There is a rich source of names in the Celtic directory. Maybe people could look there for a more personal name than following pop stars or adopting country’s names, Hello New Zealand how are you today – Austria, Australia to Zambia? A bit weird.
The Allen
I had to check on your irrelevant remark about an oggie so went to the Urban Dictionary for total irrelevance. You do learn something every day – sometimes two things!
Mmmm Cornish pasties, and i liked that idea of savoury one end and sweet the other. How practical – a two course meal in one.
Thanks, weka. Well, it’s also that there are authors here that post very knowledgeably about things like climate change (and economic issues) but Jenny still goes on about authors ignoring the topic. And it seems completely unrealistic to expect those kind of posts to be prepared every few days…. or even every week. But, anyway, as I comments before, we had a couple of very good ones on climate change last weekend.
To many issues, too much destructive NAct actions, so much needing to be done to take a positive new direction, so little time to post on all of them.
“To many issues, too much destructive NAct actions, so much needing to be done to take a positive new direction, so little time to post on all of them.”
It’s also the case that climate change is a global issue. There are hundreds of excellent websites from around the world dealing with climate change, the science behind it, etc. There aren’t nearly so many websites on the internet dealing with general NZ politics. Why should this site focus solely or mainly on climate change, when there are plenty of other sites that do it already?
And didn’t he add something to the effect “yes Matthew we all know you’re running a campaign against the living wage”. I think Susan Wood did a wee squeal at that one.
Hooton was trying on his old trick… taking control of the conversation and interrupting and talking over the top of his rival. Rod Oram wasn’t having it. Love to see him up against Hooton on the Monday morning RNZ political slot. Unfortunately he’s not a political commentator by profession which is a pity.
Oram is always a good listen to, i missed Q@A but always have a good listen to rod when He is on RadioNZ,
He tends to give a far fuller answer to any question of economics being discussed, usually giving the right-wing view an airing as well while pointing out why He thinks that is wrong and offering the alternatives…
Thanks Curtis. And others who raised the Q&A item. The Right claim huge job losses if Living Wage was begun. (Would it follow that if the Min Wage was dropped to say $5 an hour there would be wholesale increase in Employment?)
If Firms paid a Living Wage then maybe there would be an exodus from those firms paying Min Wage and those firms would have to compete by lifting wages up from the Min to match the Living wage to hang on to their staff.
Shame that Hooton wasn’t picked up on two claims he made – that NZ has the highest min wage in $ terms and the fourth highest min wage to average wage ratio in the OECD.
I’ll assume those claims are true. And so the question that needs answering is, is there any merit in having the highest min wage in absolute and comparative terms if you also have disproportionately large numbers of people only earning the min wage and employers receiving tax payers money to ‘take the edge off’ widespread and systemic poverty?
what’s that tactic where they come up with bullshit with such frequency that taking the time to correct anything simply gets one swamped with more bullshit, but trying to keep up simply leaves them to say “but you agreed earlier” and their bullshit unchallenged?
“Gish Gallop”. That sounds about right for Mr Hooten.
And for that matter the famous Campbell interview with John Key. Breathless Key Gallop to run over the top of any tricky questions and a dig or two at the honesty/integrity of John Campbell. If the cap fits…..
Country Minimum wage Annual Standard Hourly Percent of
(US$)[2] workweek (US$) GDP per
Australia A$16.37 per hour 33355 38 16.88 0.471
Luxembourg €1,921.03 per month 29611 40 14.24 0.253
Monaco €1,593.67 per month 25744 39 12.69 15.8%[106]
France €1,430.22 per month 22003 35 12.09 0.534
Belgium €1,501.82 per month 23104 38 11.69 0.503
San Marino €8.96 per hour 22400 37.5 11.49 0.389
New Zealand NZ$13.75 per hour 23252 40 11.18 0.555
Ireland €1,461.85 per month 22490 39 11.09 0.428
Netherlands €1,477.80 per month 22735 40 10.93 0.461
United Kingdom £6.31 per hour 19896 38.2 10.02 0.472
Canada C$9.95 to C$11.00 per hour 22766 44[40] 9.95 0.415
Sorry Phillip, have to disagree with you on this one. Rod did make some good points which any sensible, fair minded person would have to agree with but Hooton just carried on as if nothing had happened and always got the last word in – people tend to remember the last word. He just kept repeating his lines and there is no answer to that if you don’t have a killer blow up your sleeve so to speak. Hooton also ignored what the Australian CTU president had to say with regards to the minimum wage etc.
I noticed also there was no mention of the latest Roy Morgan poll, and a dig at Cunliffe for the gaffe about the young property investor finding it harder to buy his ‘first home’.
Though. Hooton’s continued talking made him look pretty shallow and waffley along side Oram. I don’t know how the majority of viewers would see it though.
To ALL sick, disabled and with incapacity for work – on WINZ benefits: Download and read the PDF submission to be found via this link, and READ IT, please!
Please DO take NOTE of this, which I tried to point out the other night, but it appears to have not been noticed by most, it is EXTREMELY important:
This affects ALL sick and disabled on BENEFITS: THERE are major changes happening, yet again, and it is highly worrying stuff!!!
MSD’s Principal Health Advisor Dr Bratt and his team seem to be preparing new ways of outsourcing Work Capability Assessments, to be done by selected professionals!
This smells too much like the “stench” that has been attached to the involvement of Atos Healthcare as the private assessor for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in the UK.
I have not heard or read anything about MSD’s plans in this direction yet, but it sounds extremely worrying, hence the serious concerns also, the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) expresses.
Something is being prepared to involve people to make assessments for WINZ, who are not even proper medical experts.
I will try to keep you posted, but this is a must read, and must be taken very seriously!
Hi Xtasy
IMHO This government fairly obviously intends to duplicate at least partly, the fascist treatment of beneficiaries in the U$K. A cruel and heartless attitude which has no justification for NZ, It is not the Kiwi way, but this government is led by a neoliberal puppet called Key and his opportunist collaborator Bennett.
johnm – I agree, but the brainwashing, distraction and whole bureaucratic agenda is so “perfected” now, Goebbles could not have done a better job, they are getting away with it, while most are scared into submission, lulled into misinformation and indifference, or simply lied to to a degree, they do not dare to question anything anymore.
We have fascism at work here, right now in NZ, but most do not realise it, as they think, hey this cannot be fascism, as that is much worse. Those will wake up too late to what is going on, and too many woke up too late in the 1930s and 1940s in Germany too!
Spurs have significant historic links with the jewish community and the Hammers were a bastion against fascism in the thirties, supporters of the club having shielded East End jews against the Black Shirts and succesfully opposed them in the battle of Cable Street.
The last time the clubs met a moronic minority of WHU fans disgraced the club and its traditions by using anti-Semitic chants and hissing to mimic gas chambers. Hopefully there won’t be a repeat tomorrow.
Well said Muzza, I could write a book on my experiences as a kid in the fifties how we were treated and looked after by the “adults” mainly dockers when we went to watch Millwall play at New Cross. Visited the pie & eel shop first for a bit of lunch, then got the underground to New Cross. A great afternoon for an east end kid that did not cost much. Millwall was always in the third division,but what the fuck we went there for the football(soccer)
Don’t watch hardly any sport these days, fucking sick of hearing team “A” with this sponsored shirt going to “take out” team “B” with that sponsored shirt playing on this sponsored ground. brought to you by such & such product on the fucking minute /half minute. Sport is now a load of fucking crap.
Hope you are right but WHU seem to have a core of knuckle dragging diehards determined to have fun ‘cmon guvnor ….you awwright then my son …..just havin a larf’ like when they play millwall.
lets hope millwalls current issues put them in a good mood and they behave.
Fingers crossed, TC. The Hammers have a proud history of anti-racism (even their hooligan crew, the ICF, were multi-racial) and the club were rightly mortified at last year’s events. However, there has been significant growth in the influence of neo-nazis in the East End, which may be reflected in the stands. Not much that can be done about it, but life bans would be a start.
Yes and the financial and football gap developed recently between the 2 isn’t helping with Joe Lewis’s billions backing Spurs onto the champions league so he can allegedly cash out the asset.
Whereas the more frugal streetwise Gold/Sullivan saw a club in need of their backing at West Ham after cashing up at Birmingham City and rescued it from an Icelandic meltdown.
The growing divide between the haves and have nots feeds all sorts of discontent.
Something is being prepared to involve people to make assessments for WINZ, who are not even proper medical experts.
Well who would be surprised? It’s bit like Charter Schools beings set up with teachers who are not teachers by profession. It’s all part of a culture/mindset that looks down on those considered inferior stock (unemployed people and sickness beneficiaries head the list) and who they deem to be only worthy of second class assistance.
It’s also part of a campaign to employ ‘yes men/women’ who they know will come up with the answers the government are wanting enforced. And on that note:
I saw recently that John Key looks like he is about to do another ‘Ian Fletcher’ only this time it’s the SIS. A new position of SIS deputy C.E.O has been created. The successful applicant will be spending most of his/her time attached to the PM’s office, and will be liasing with the SIS etc. on matters raised by the PM. Watch this space. Another mate about to be appointed to an highly sensitive position?
In Slippery the PM’s language i would consider that ”being attached to the PM’s Office and liasing with the SIS etc on matters raised by the PM” to mean ”people He wants the SIS to open a file on”….
Maybe Key’s got a Cousins, Aunts, Brothers, Sisters, Best Mate’s, number mysteriously on his phone, And it was, just an Accident that he bumped into him in town the other day..
Its quite clever from the nats, the more cronies they appoint, and stuff they break up, merge, realign, refocus etc makes a new govts job a shed load tougher with installed obstacles and broken structures.
I just had a good idea for better and more satisfying education for youngsters. Spend time on helping them with the basics plus teach them a variety of things. And then make the goal to help them find what they like doing and give them the chance to do more of it. And use that as a carrot and reward to get them through their basic learning in a capable manner. To use a current expression, the child then ‘owns’ his or her education.
There was an interview on radionz today on a place called the Corelli school which encourages children with artistic interests and will take them from an early age, and they also do educational subjects to Cambridge level. Parents said it was working out well for children who had been too shy, hadn’t the chance to flourish at school.
Now that would be a good educational experiment. And one that would be done principally to suit the children’s interests. Unlike what I heard educational scientists discuss this week about Christchurch. Apparently money saving and efficiency was not the basis for many of the school closures and amalgamations there, it was a desire to experiment with new processes. The ground zero effect after the earthquakes was to be the genesis of a new approach to education with of course the object of ‘better educational performance’ or such.
The fact that the children actually needed security, continuity, accessibility without lengthy travel and so on, didn’t come into the thinking of these highly educated, highly paid educational policy queens. From their royal height they pushed around the children of the poor so they could watch to see which maze they progressed through best.
There are no doubt some kings in the mix, but it seems to me post-women’s lib has enabled a great bunch of university trained middle class girls to become professional women with little interest or empathy with wider society beyond their own sculpted lives and suburbs.
Ok for those of you who were querying about it, I have fixed a timeout on the cookies that was showing up in W3 Total Cache. It was setting the timeout on cookies to 7200 seconds (about 2 hours). I have changed that to 1512000 seconds (~30 days).
This should prevent you from having re-enter your cookie values more often than that.
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
"Auckland City Mission: 10% of Kiwis experiencing food insecurity", RNZ, 16 October 2019:About half a million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to new research from the Auckland City Mission. Food insecurity, or food poverty, is defined as not having enough appropriate food. The City Mission said over the last ...
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...
There is plenty of evidence of the way the business mentality has permeated every level of society since the recrudescence of market liberalism 35 years ago. You only need to think of how citizens in need of help from their government, their state, their country, are now routinely described as ...
John MacCormickOver the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...
Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
After a brief dalliance with 'hard Revoke' it looks like the Lib Dems are changing ground on on Brexit, with leader Jo Swinson reverting to calling for a second referendum on Johnson's deal.The party has tabled an amendment to the Queen’s speech requesting that any deal brought back from Brussels ...
The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...
So, Judith Collins has done a Facebook rant about climate change, peddling the same shit National has been shovelling for the past twenty years: the impacts are overstated, there's no need to do anything about it, and its too hard anyway (oh, and its so unfair that people who peddle ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThere is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...
I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Last month, NZDF's shoddy coverup of what it knew about civilian casualties in Operation Burnham began to fall apart, with the revelation that a report on the matter, which NZDF claimed not to have, had been sitting in an NZDF safe for the past nine years. Yesterday, the man responsible ...
While many imagine that countries like the USA and Europe dominate space activities, in fact India is now a major player on this stage. It launches satellites for its own purposes and also commercially, and has constellations orbiting our planet and returning data of vital importance to that nation in ...
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...
An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy do people still think climate change isn’t real?David ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
What is language? We generally assume that it a facility unique to humans, allowing us to share what’s in and on our minds. We can tell of our plans, our past exploits, our knowledge. It also allows us to lie. And yet there are vast numbers of people we can’t ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...
The proposition that global warming driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a risk that needs to be dealt with has achieved a large measure of agreement among policymakers. The proposition that it has to be dealt with right now and at great cost has no such consensus.One point ...
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...
Twenty-five young people who represent the future of the Asia-New Zealand relationship have been acknowledged as ‘ones to watch’, by the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono. ...
The taboo that surrounds immigration and our refugee qouta, are two issues rising in New Zealand that need to start being given attention to challenge the fruit loops of the far left. ...
Winston Peters has been ordered to answer questions about whether he received a letter from MSD asking him to check details of his living arrangements, three years before discovering he'd been overpaid. ...
To celebrate 10 years since the start of New Zealand’s Next Top Model, our reality TV podcast The Real Pod is going to recap it week by week. Here are 10 of the most incredible revelations from the very first episode. 1) Colin Mathura-Jeffree was an emo kidThis was the moment ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Terrorism bill Lydia Lewis and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Security expert backs new terror law proposal ...
Occupiers of the disputed land at Ihumātao have been shut out of talks with the government about finding a resolution, saying they haven’t had any direct contact with ministers in more than a month, writes RNZ‘s Te Aniwa Hurihanganu and Meriana Johnsen.The Māori King announced in September mana whenua had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Fancourt, Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New England Feral cats are wreaking havoc on our native wildlife, eating more than a billion animals across Australia every year. But managing feral cats and reducing their impacts on our threatened species is challenging, ...
Later this month, the national commemoration of the New Zealand Wars, known as Te Pūtake o Te Riri, is to be held in Taranaki. Local community activist Vivian Hutchinson looks at how a history of conflict has shaped our sense of citizenship and describes how some people in Taranaki are ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jerry Zhou, Lecturer, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.Does chewing gum stay inside you for years? – Olivia, aged 12, Australia. Great question, Olivia! ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Elphick, Adjunct Research Fellow, Law School, University of Western Australia In March last year, Frances McDormand won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In her acceptance speech, she drew attention to the female nominees in the room and left them with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peggy Kern, Associate professor, University of Melbourne The Portal follows six individuals who undergo a personal transformation from trauma and struggle to calmness, self-acceptance, and compassion towards others. These personal changes are intertwined with contemplations about the broader struggles facing humanity and ...
Many hill country farmers could be locked into low-return agriculture by government policy, with little chance of breaking the cycle, according to the main meat producers' lobby, Beef + Lamb New Zealand. ...
The Southern DHB has apologised and pledged to change practices after a report into a young woman’s complaint about treatment which included being stripped naked and left unattended in seclusion for 12 hours. Here she tells her story.I’d forgotten the Health and Disability Commission was about to publish its report. ...
In the Chief Ombudsman’s latest Annual Report, contacts for advice increased 29 percent, while more use was being made of guidance material, including the 23 new or updated guides that were published in the 2018/19 year. ...
Fletcher's new offsite home manufacturing facility could be producing two homes a day within a couple of years. But for the moment this high-tech factory is underwhelming. ...
National's leader Simon Bridges says his party will pull its support for the new anti-terrorism legislation if the minister doesn't meet with them next week and start negotiating in good faith. ...
For the latest episode of On the Rag, notorious prude Alex Casey enlisted the help of sex toy expert and pleasure therapist Teddy Curle. It sounds a bit like ingredients for an avant-garde stir-fry recipe. Cauliflower. Kūmara. A jar of Vegemite. But what it actually is, sex toy expert Teddy Curle ...
It is deeply concerning that the state of our marine environment has not improved in the last three years. Resilient coasts and oceans are essential to New Zealanders' health and wealth, so urgent action is needed to address the decline. ...
Something’s crowning this Christmas, and it isn’t King Richard of Aldovia in his favourite tiara. Tara Ward looks at what Netflix’s new movie A Christmas Prince: A Royal Baby could mean for us all. Yesterday Netflix announced they’re about to give birth to the third instalment in the legendary series A Christmas ...
In a new initiative, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence is celebrating and recognising the careers of three Māori leaders and visionaries, who have a long history of bringing about major social change ...
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) has welcomed the publication by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ of Our Marine Environment 2019 , the latest in the reports on the state of our environment. The report is available here . ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Campbell Brown, CEO of PredictHQ.This week we talk to Campbell Brown, the CEO ...
The Government has today released its discussion paper ‘ Designing a Fair Pay Agreements System ’ providing detail of what proposed law for Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) could include. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Associate Professor in Sociology and Co-Director of The Policy Lab, University of Melbourne The polls were wrong in the last US and Australian federal elections. Hillary Clinton was favoured to win at a margin of 85% to Donald Trump’s 15%. ...
Today is World Ecolabel Day and to mark the occasion New Zealand’s premier ecolabel has released a study showing the powerful environmental effect of ecolabelled products. ...
Family First's continued fight against attempts by the government's Charities Registration Board to deregister them is set to continue in the Court of Appeal in Wellington next week (Tues & Wed 22-23 Oct). In a significant development, the Charity Law ...
The actions of New Zealanders on land are increasingly harming the ocean’s ability to sustain life. Alex Braae looks at a worrying new government paper on the marine environment.What’s all this then?A new report from the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ has sounded alarming warning about state of ...
Farmers for Positive Change (F4PC) congratulates environmental, recreation and public health groups for coming to a united position on the Government’s freshwater reform and finds significant areas of agreement with the Healthy Water, Healthy Future joint ...
In time for Auckland Artweek, Eloise Callister-Baker opens the door on a cluster of small Auckland art spaces, once off the beaten track and ephemeral, now finding cunning new ways to adapt and survive in the CBD property market. Auckland’s terrific documentor of art openings, Sait Akkirman of artdiary.co.nz, provides ...
Right to Life asks, why the Special Abortion Legislation Bill Committee is continuing to discriminate by refusing to hear the 2,740 submitters who have requested the right to make a ten minute oral submission on the highly contentious abortion Bill conceived ...
Winston Peters is calling on an old mate to give evidence in his landmark court case against government agencies over a leak of his personal superannuation details. ...
Government ministers are exulting over how the NZ economy is performing— and their own work in making it stronger. David Clark, standing in for Grant Robertson in Parliament on Tuesday, rejoiced at how solid the “underlying fundamentals of the NZ economy are”. He said the government accounts for the June ...
A campaign to ban the Forced Swim Test in New Zealand is in line with public opinion, according to a new survey commissioned by the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society (NZAVS) and SAFE. ...
Environment, health, recreation, and water infrastructure groups have come together to support four essential policies to save fresh water in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Public Health Association, Forest & Bird, Fish & Game New Zealand, Environmental ...
"So many of our children are being violently harmed. Their innocence stolen and their bodies used for the sexual gratification and financial gain of those involved in the dark world of paedophillia. These innocent children are voiceless; nobody ...
There must be consternation within the upper ranks of the Labour Party at the performance of some of the Ministers in the coalition government. Every time the government looks like making some positive progress, one or other of these errant Ministers can be ...
Responding to Massey University’s decision to cancel the upcoming ‘Feminism 2020’ event, Free Speech Coalition member Melissa Derby (who had been scheduled to speak at the event) says: ...
New Zealand First's youth wing is at odds with leader Winston Peters over pill-testing at festivals and is working to overturn the party's position. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Byron, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Wollongong I am in year 11 and I like to listen to music when I am studying, but my dad says that my brain is spending only half of its time studying and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philippa England, Senior Lecturer, Griffith Law School, Griffith University Good planning needs integrity, and public participation should play a role in that. But a row over a high-rise development proposed for suburban Brisbane shows what happens when the public feels left out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Mathmann, Lecturer (Assistant Professor), Queensland University of Technology When you wander down most supermarket aisles are you befuddled by too much choice? Do you feel overwhelmed when comparing new phone deals, insurance offers, energy provider plans? There’s a lot of research ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip C. Almond, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland In a speech in Albury last month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told his audience that he was praying for rain in drought-affected areas. “I pray for that ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Prefab housing factory opened amid huge need, worrying new measles developments, and public shows common sense on drug testing.A new factory has been opened to produce building materials, which if scaled up could have a significant impact on construction time ...
The Police Association says the Police Minister will be breaking his promise if he doesn't include staff turnover in the government's police staffing target. ...
Black Fern Vania Wolfgramm has been given a golden opportunity to learn from leaders in US sport, and in return, make a lasting contribution to Kiwi female athletes. ...
A symposium to mark the 50th anniversary of the formation of Halt All Racist Tours shook and changed our society, taking NZ into a new and different national and international consciousness. ...
When Hannah Yang complained about a racist clue in the daily paper, she was reminded of the prevalence of casual racism in New Zealand.I’d never seen a racist clue before.It happened in the morning when I sat down in our break room to look at the day’s cryptic crossword (yes, ...
The commentary around local election turnout is littered with misunderstanding. Yes, there’s a problem, but we should regard any suggestion of a single, simple solution with deep suspicion, writes local elections expert Julienne MolineauxThe Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming ...
Alex Casey talks to Henessey Griffiths, a 22 year-old Dunedin student who just finished her dissertation about one of Youtube’s most controversial stars. Content warning: this article contains mention of suicide, please take careYesterday afternoon in Dunedin, honours student Henessey Griffiths sent a tweet that was a year (or rather, five ...
The Transport Minister has released almost all of the letters he's received from Green MPs, but still refuses to release the letter from Julie Anne Genter that is now at the centre of an Ombudsman complaint. ...
Court documents have confirmed Winston Peters was sent a letter by officials four years into his seven-year overpayment of national superannuation asking him to check details he had supplied, including that he was 'single'. ...
Olympic sailors Blair Tuke and Peter Burling are throwing their weight behind a campaign encouraging New Zealander consumers and businesses to reduce their plastic pollution. ...
Open Mike 06/10/2013 
(Oops slept in) Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
Jo Swinson is doing even worse at this Being Sensible lark that I'd thought. I've just become aware of the following utterance
Today's IPCA report of police criminality: a police officer unalwfully tasered a fleeing suspect who posed no threat to anyone:The police watchdog has found an officer unlawfully tasered an Auckland man who broke his ankle jumping off a balcony to escape arrest. [...] To avoid arrest, the man jumped over ...12 hours ago
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...13 hours ago
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...15 hours ago
John MacCormick Over the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...15 hours ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz There is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...2 days ago
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...2 days ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...2 days ago
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...3 days ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...6 days ago
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...1 day ago
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...2 days ago
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...9 hours ago
Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...1 hour ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...2 hours ago
E tū members in cleaning and security are welcoming the Government’s call for consultation on the development of Fair Pay Agreements. ...5 hours ago
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...6 hours ago
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...6 hours ago
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Many hill country farmers could be locked into low-return agriculture by government policy, with little chance of breaking the cycle, according to the main meat producers' lobby, Beef + Lamb New Zealand. ...12 hours ago
Sky Television's shareholders have approved its deal to retain the Sanzaar rugby rights for an undisclosed sum, making it unconditional. ...12 hours ago
Fletcher's new offsite home manufacturing facility could be producing two homes a day within a couple of years. But for the moment this high-tech factory is underwhelming. ...13 hours ago
Principals nervously wait for the final outcomes of the biggest education system review in 30 years. ...19 hours ago
The Second Fleet was reactivated to patrol the Arctic. Only problem is, the fleet’s home is on the front lines of sea-level rise. ...21 hours ago
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What happens when an historic air base that used to be well out of Auckland finds the city has grown up around it? ...21 hours ago
Court documents have confirmed Winston Peters was sent a letter by officials four years into his seven-year overpayment of national superannuation asking him to check details he had supplied, including that he was 'single'. ...1 day ago
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Olympic sailors Blair Tuke and Peter Burling are throwing their weight behind a campaign encouraging New Zealander consumers and businesses to reduce their plastic pollution. ...1 day ago
“The Green Party launches clean energy proposals”
Good on Gareth Hughes.
The fight against climate change will be the defining struggle of this age.
It is great to see that the Green Party is talking about practical actions that, (hopefully) will turn us away from fossil fuels, to renewable energy use.
Distributed small scale electricity generation will be part of the mix.
But Gareth has gone even further, attacking the big fossil fuel suppliers at their source, and the government, who are conspiring with Solid Energy and the banks, to keep us hooked on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, with a huge taxpayer subsidy for our country’s biggest coal company.
With these above statements Gareth and the Greens are well on the way to setting up climate change as a major defining election issue for the Greens, sharply differentiating themselves from both Labour and National, who both as well as having broad agreement on other issues of climate change, both support the bailout of Solid Energy, reinforceng and gauranteeing our iron bound addiction to fossil fuels at a time when we should be taking every opportunity to loosen its grip.
Jenny – you were proven yesterday to be a liar regarding Labour’s position and yet you still repeat the same hyperbole ad nauseum today?
One rule I work with is “Never trust an extremist” because they are never honest. Ever. No matter how “correct” the facts behind your argument may be (such as climate change being a real man made thing that’s going to impact over the next 100 years) you are completely misrepresenting the political situation in NZ in order to meet your other preconceptions.
OK Zorr. Giving you the benefit of the doubt.What in your opinion is the Labour Party position on the multimillion dollar bailout of Solid Energy?
Does Labour support the Bailout?
Does Labour oppose the Bailout?
IMO Labour will likely support Solid Energy’s continued existence, and retention as a full SOE. Not only are there many NZ jobs at stake, but also extensive technical and engineering knowledge plus a vital strategic energy source for the nation.
What’s your proposed alternative Jenny?
I am glad you asked CV. Thank you.
I have been trying to popularise for some, time now the scandal that is Rauauru Ma Raki.
1033 permanent jobs “blown away” in the renewable sector. What is remarkable about this project is that it is but a short commute from Huntly where many coal miners are losing their jobs.
“Heartbreak for Huntly East miners”
All that is needed to restart this project and give all these laid off workers good jobs according to Wind Energy CEO Eric Pyle is the “right policy settings”, which I imagine would cost little in comparison to the current huge $100 million plus, (and more to come), bail out of Solid Energy.
The Nacts may cry crocodile tears about jobs being lost. But we know they don’t care for working people. The Bailout of Solid Energy is a blatant a case of Corporate Welfare as you can get. Nothing else. As Gareth Hughes says the government should “cut their losses”. What we should be asking CV is why we are covering the losses of the foreign owned Aussie banks?
None of these jobs exist. They were future “potential jobs”. You are proposing getting rid of higher paid jobs for jobs which do not exist yet, would take several years to reach a full payroll of staff, and likely pay much less than mining jobs.
Who knows. Probably so they don’t take possession of the company and firesale it.
Bottom line is that your religious crusade is all about you Jenny, and very little else.
Jenny, why don’t you go to the effort of reading their press releases. Or even to just ask them? Find the shadow minister..
Whining here about something that you can almost certainly just look up simply makes you look lazy
lprent – in my mind it is not laziness on her part but rather an admission that she is what I stated she is, an extremist. She is looking for evidence that supports her own initial conclusions and ignoring anything else that may *potentially* undermine that.
Jenny – I don’t really know what Labour’s position on the matter of Solid Energy is and, at the moment, I only really have the extra energy to continue being pissed off at National. I come to The Standard because the level of intelligent coverage here outstrips all other available sources but I keep seeing your screeds of outraged bullshit popping up everywhere and it rankles.
It’s difficult to argue with you on the “climate change is bad and we should be doing something about it” because I agree, climate change *is* bad and we *should* do something about it. When it comes to communicate about that *something* though you manage to go jump in to the deep end and shout a giant “fuck you” to anyone who isn’t willing to dive right in next to you. By doing so you alienate anyone who doesn’t share your personal belief and this is no way to build broad support for your position.
Hence why I felt the need this morning to call you on your extremist bullshit.
In my opinion, feel free to continue to post your extremist rhetoric here. It reminds me why I chose to escape association with similar people and why I will continue to.
I’d agree. But really she could be an extremist that looked things up rather her current habit of simply making things up. It has gotten to the point that whenever I read her comments then I treat it exactly like I would for some poor troll coming from Whaleoil or No Minister… I assume it is wrong or quoted completely out of context.
Her habit of usually not leaving links to those she is accusing reinforces that. It implies that she hasn’t used search either on this site or on google to actually find out anything about what she is talking about. As importantly it makes it harder for people to find out if she is sprouting crap or not.
Basically she acts like a modern-day Joseph Goebbels who in Nazi Germany had the role of making inflammatory and inaccurate memes as minister of propaganda. He also had the role of destroying the ability of people to check the veracity of those memes by destroying books that contradicted those memes published as books, pamphlets, speeches, etc…
There are some quite strong extremists (in my view) on this site. But you have to give them credibility because they usually leave links and reasoned argument. They also respond to people disagreeing with them rather than Jenny’s current passion for flying into boring rants and lying about what they said…
I like Gareth, and I vote Green, but he is a bit off about what this deal does. the banks won’t be too happy about this at all.
The shares they are getting do not pay dividends, and can only be sold back to the crown at the price they paid for them, when and if the crown ever wants to buy them.
Basically SE has had a lot of debt to the banks written off, 350M has been paid off by the crown, and the rest of the debt will be recovered if and when the crown buys back those shares.
The alternative is winding the company up. That doesn’t mean the mines close. It means a receiver tries to get as much value as possible out of SE’s assets, (that would be the mines and licenses to mine), as they can in order to pay back as much of the debt as they can.
In other words, the mines would be sold.
Yes, great to see the moves by the Green Party on Solar Power, what such Regulation and Legislation will allow anyone with a mind to to become a power supplier the legal framework which will allow them to do so and presumably be able to sell the power generated at much the same rates as the present Electricity Cartel does,
From what the Green Party are saying it seems likely that those wishing to install solar power arrays will be able to, instead of having to also install very expensive battery systems, feed the power they generate straight into the retail system making such a system far more streamlined than what has presently been achieved,
In a Green future i can well see a large industry being built up around household solar arrays where the home-owner could add solar panels to their own system as they have spare funds to do so and where eventually households doing so would be supplying much of the countries daytime electricity needs,
It doesn’t take much to imagine the average workers solar paneling generating power by day into the grid while they are busy at work and thus creating enough credit for those doing so to have basically the free use of electricity while they are at home via the credits earned,
What is needed is work on a standardized design of such solar power systems with work being put into the efficacy of producing the whole systems here in New Zealand, which along with the installation and maintanence of will create clean green sustainable employment…
Solar thermal is still the best use of sun power at this stage. I do hope that more focus is placed on that technology before long.
Yeah you may have a point, but, just for arguments sake, say an investment in Solar Thermal of a billion dollars generates X amount of power, this is owned either by Government or private companies, (with the threat of privatization if Government owned), and such electricity is then sold to the consumer at a profit,
Consider then IF the same billion dollars spent on household solar generation arrays on the roof of average homes produced the same X of power which is then sold by the householder via a binding agreement at a fair set price to the retailer, given that there is room on the average houses roof for one hell of an array of solar paneling it would not be inconceivable that the average house could generate and sell enough electricity during the day to make a households electricity usage all up basically free,
i am tho fascinated by the thought of having some very big magnifying glasses able to track around with the sun being able to direct beans of light to ‘a boiler’, thus creating steam and thus creating usable energy in a number of forms…
Lolz, BeaMs of light, only i know about the magic ‘beans of light’ and i aint telling you all…
I reckon household solar thermal needs to be considered. For most house holds a power saving of 25%-40% would be very realistic.
Ah here i was thinking you was thinking on large scale solar thermal, your thinking of solar heating of the hot water needs of a house only???…
I wouldn’t preclude larger scale thermal plants, but I think that distributed installations for households, motels, hotels, schools, hospitals etc. would be (and in fact are) very workable.
For a typical household, a power bill saving of $50-$60 month would be quite significant.
Solar energy is so mainstream now..
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/store/thurrock/solar_panels
Passive solar heating of houses is also possible reducing the need for heaters in winter.
And as expected very little costing information or any indication of how that energy is to be generated.
Hydro, sun, wind; the costs are very well understood as these are all established energy technologies in commercial use in NZ.
Yesterday I praised Gareth Hughes and the Green Party for coming out and and strongly condemning the bailout of Solid Energy.
I asked why, almost a week later, there had been no post on The Standard by any author about the criminal and immoral Bailout of Solid Energy. karol kindly took the time to reply saying that, they were working on it.
I also asked yesterday why Labour had not commented on the bail out.
Qot pointed out to me something that I had missed, that Clayton Cosgrove for the Labour Party had actually come out in support of the bailout. With a cryptic comment that “the deal announced on Tuesday was too little too late.”
So I can understand why the mysterious Standard poster is haveing trouble trying to finish their agonised philosophical wrestling over their “draft Solid Energy post”, before most likely, finally deciding to leave it in the too hard basket.
[lprent: good thing that karol saw it before me. I’d have simply banned you for a week for trying to tell us how we should be running the site. ]
Am I the only reader wondering how much carbon burning martyrs contribute to the atmosphere?
I dunno. But if you could harness energy from Jenny’s switching back and forth about who is selling out the planet, the problem could well be solved.
Almost certainly less than 15kg of carbon released, depending on how it is done. Sadly, I’ve just seen a notice that the man who self immolated in the US National Mall in Washington DC has died. Another milestone in the match of the plutocrats.
Jenny totally untrue.
The solid energy post is a post that I am working on but I need to understand the intricacies of the recent announcements and get these right before I finish it.
You should also understand that the Standard bloggers are a disparate diffuse group of people who have things like jobs and lives. Posts and contributions are a totally voluntary thing. For me I am also in the middle of a local body election campaign so posts will be made
And your original comment was that Labour has stayed silent on the issue and as shown by QoT you are totally incorrect.
But you must admit mj that there is some confusion around where Labour sit on this issue, as evidenced by Zorr at at 9:33 am.
Hopefully you will be able to clear this up for us.
[lprent: Get off your lazy bigoted and obviously stupid arse and look it up. FFS it isn’t hard – read the press releases, they stream in the Feeds every day.
If you *ever* use this type of line again on either Labour, the Greens or even National without doing some research yourself.
To encourage you in this endeavour, I will take a page out of your book and assume you are guilty unless it is clear in the first paragraph that you have searched. And I will impose a 12 week ban if you do not show evidence of having looked for what you are asking for from political parties before accusing them. Everyone is welcome to point out what she missed… ]
You must admit that you jump straight to conclusions, making declarative statements as fact, when they are not.
The question tho Jenny, is upon seeing the lack of Post’s by the Standards authors why did you not put in a ‘Guest Post’ if you were so concerned,
Yesterday’s little effort from you seemed to contain an attack upon the author’s for not having posted on your particular concern of the moment…
Your failure to just automatically make shit up and leap to extreme conclusions just shows you don’t really care about climate change 😉
So Jenny, the Labour Party did comment on the Solid Energy bailout, instead of posting even more bullshit here, an ”i was wrong with my assertion yesterday” would have been sufficient,
Perhaps you are a masochist and feel that when you do, after what seems huge effort on your part, get a spanking, you spend your time in purgatory nurturing along your view of having been ‘the victim’…
Posted yesterday… ” *Yes I did miss this. But that is not the same as being a “fucking liar” ”
I think Jenny is passionate about her cause and far less rude, abrasive, insulting and retarded as some commenters are in stating their positions.
I don’t see what she posts as a problem. Like anything (or anyone’s opinions) it can be ignored or dismissed without rancour or resorting to obscenities that make point scoring a hollow gesture.
I think you’re being incredibly charitable towards Jenny. She has had opportunity after opportunity to check her shit.
When she hated the Greens, it was daily postings on how “the Greens have been silent!!!!” and when she had multiple blog posts and press releases pointed out to her, her defence was “oh, well it’s not on the front page of their website”.
Now she hates Labour, so it’s daily postings on how “Labour have been silent!!!!!” and when multiple media statements are again pointed out to her, her defence is “well that’s not clear enough for me.”
The only reasonable conclusion for anyone to draw after this amount of time and a complete refusal to back up her statements is that Jenny is – and I’m so not ashamed to “resort to obscenties” – a fucking liar.
Amen to that. She said this:-
That was an outright lie and made me kind of annoyed, especially as it was part of the kind of rethorical accusorial waffle that seems to be all that she can maintain these days.
Sure I compared her to Gilchrist because the previous comment from Murray Olsen responding to one from Pascal’s bookie was about cops and police spies acting like her in movements. But my comment was hardly comparing her to Rob Gilchrist because I think that she is mostly just a bit of a extremist nutter. Unfortunately Rob never acted like that or he’d have never have had as much penetration into a variety of movements as he did.
My disagreement with Pascal’s bookie was that you had to always be wary of any extremist credulous fools who couldn’t credibly explain how they get from their ideological position to actually being able to implement some of it. You don’t need to use the “cop” to think that people acting that way are dangerous to the movement and to those around them.
This was rather signalled by my first paragraph quoting Murray
Basically like you, I just call people I consider to be misguided, unthinking, fools, idiots or liars just that with some reasons why. This allows others to make up their own minds.
Hell with QoT, I’ve even be known to do milder forms of it to her (and her to me – but of course i was *right* 😉 ). But I just disagree and I’m usually quite willing to explain why. It usually provokes some interesting discussion and much of the time falls into “agree to disagree”.
But Jenny these days mostly just accuses people who disagree with her of being some kind of traitor as she asks rhetorical questions and in my case lies about what I have previously said. Not a behaviour that I’m particularly tolerant on. And it is a pity that she doesn’t seem to have enough perspective to understand that people disagreeing with her is a good thing. It is when they don’t bother then she has lost her argument and audience.
Peace Out!
I tend to take accusations of being police or government agents personally and seriously. I was accused of being an SIS agent back in the 80s, before I understood the dynamic of much of the left and that this has been a historical tactic of the 3rd International since at least 1926. It has been suggested here, by travellerev, that I could be a government agent, basically on the grounds that I was an admin of a Facebook page aimed against John Key and banned people who couldn’t get past the WTC, the Illuminati, and cut and pastes from Alex Jones sites. There is basically no reasonable defence against it, which is why I am so careful and make sure I have a hell of a lot of evidence before I would even raise such an issue.
For the record, Jenny has never rung any of my bells in this area. She comes across as more of an unreasoning fundamentalist who, even if she does have something worthwhile to say, says it in such a manner that she loses any potential audience pretty quickly.
By the standards of many here, I am undoubtedly an extreme Marxist, but I do my best to address people somewhere near the level they can identify with. My being right on any particular issue is actually not that important to me. Any latent ability I have to help people think outside their comfort zones is far more important. By the nature of this blog, we are potential leaders, not followers. We have a duty to check supposedly factual material when we post it, and I feel I have a duty to treat fellow contributors with respect until they prove to my satisfaction that they deserve otherwise. We also have a duty to challenge what we consider misinformation and diversion. I think Jenny and Penny Worth both act to divert issues, mainly via the style they use.
As always, I never claim infallibility in my politics, and not even always in my Physics, but I like to think that I can defend my positions without personal attacks. However, I am not above retaliating with a dose of passion when something is directed against me personality.
As far as the mechanics of this blog is concerned, they are not decided by me. If I object too strongly, I can always leave. Free speech to me on this blog means you don’t charge me to post, as long as I stay within the guidelines. If I ever set up my own blog, I would probably take a similar approach to my contributors, even though I doubt I’d have to take my socks off to count them.
PS The closest to my views are expressed by Red Rattler, although we use quite different styles of expression.
“I think you’re being incredibly charitable towards Jenny.”
Perhaps, but in truth, no more so than to most others.
Doesn’t mean I don’t see or feel your pain where other posters are concerned. Interestingly, just this week I’ve been guilted for not remembering commentators are real people and this isn’t just a blog, but a serious blog for the big boys and girls.
I should harden the fu*k up and just get on with it 😆
Yep.
either love and let fly or Live and Let Die 😎
“I think Jenny is passionate about her cause and far less rude, abrasive, insulting and retarded as some commenters are in stating their positions.”
True, but most commenters are less rude than shes is. And it’s not rudeness, abrasiveness etc that is the problem with Jenny. It’s her tr0lling. Tr0lling isn’t even the right word, because I don’t think she does it intentionally. She just garners herself alot of negative attention because of how she posts and how she consequently behaves..
“I don’t see what she posts as a problem. Like anything (or anyone’s opinions) it can be ignored or dismissed without rancour or resorting to obscenities that make point scoring a hollow gesture.”
It’s true that I can ignore her. But why should I have to ignore the huge number of other people that stop commenting on other things in order to respond to her ‘inaccuracies’ and flamming? It’s the long threads of blah fucking blah that annoy me.
I was going to ignore my own post as the ultimate example of practice what I preach, but I couldn’t do it.
At least I only write short posts and piss off a handful at a time. 🙂
The Allen
You are exemplary and a shining example to us all. I write long posts sometimes but not always on the same subject. 😉
“You are exemplary and a shining example to us all”
:halo: 😆
A Voodoo Transistor
The Fuzz
read an online article; some chap from a reputable kiwi band is being swamped with orders for his hand-crafted fuzz boxes and effect pedals.
A lot of heat. Not much light.
Can we discuss the substantive issues now?
Is National’s bail out of Solid Energy Corporate Welfare, which only really benefits the foreign owned Aussie banks?
Is Gareth Hughes right in saying that the government should “cut their losses”
Is the Solid Energy bailout a breach of the letter and intent of the Majuro Declaration to which we are a signatory?
Would wind power projects like Rauauru Ma Raki employ as many, or more workers than the coal industry?
Is James Hansen correct when he says, “If we can’t stop coal it is all over for climate”?
Does the Labour Party support, or oppose the bailout of Solid Energy?
The voting public need to know
The stakes couldn’t be higher
The figures are chilling
A report commissioned by the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a partnership of 20 developing countries threatened by climate change was released to the media in September 2012. The report concluded that:
More than 100 million people will die…
The causes of this mega-death were listed as:
Millions of human beings will be sentenced to miserable lives and early deaths by our actions and inaction. Today.
We have to get it right.
Hopefully mickysavage will be able to clarify some of these issues in his post on the Bailout, when it comes out.
Hopefully you can respect the fact that you’ve been banned.
Your link says nothing of the sort. Go and read it again carefully.
You’re right. I misread it, and I apologise.
pity though
edit – whoops, I spake too soon 🙂
Well, I’m glad others have responded to Jenny today, because I’m in no mood for her constant attacks – made worse by being based on unreliable info/judgments.
As one included in the authors attacked for not posting on her chosen issue, I am more than pissed off. Very tired tonight after a day’s work and a particularly busy and stressful week. And I suspect that’s the same for many TS authors.
Jenny only needs to look to see how few new posts there have been in the last couple of days – on any topic. Under this government there are many crucial issues that need highlighting. Most of us post mostly on issues we know most about. Science and the economy are not my strengths – unless it’s about how they are represented in the MSM. It takes a fair amount of research for me to comment on such things.
Also, the strength of this site is in the discussions. Jenny doesn’t really seem to come here to engage in discussion. She mostly spends her time here in attack mode. She most often sounds to me like she’s on a soap box: haranguing people and talking down to us, and not taking much notice of any responses to her attacks.
Then when she breaks some basic TS rules (like not telling authors what to write) and gets banned for it, she starts complaining that her views on climate change are being censored. No matter how many times the reason for the bans are explained, and the evidence presented, she just seems to choose not to understand.
Why should I bother to read any more of Jenny’s comments?
It is really hard to know what Lynn is trying to do here.
Is Lynn trying to give me more notoriety than I have already, so that more people read me, is he secretly trying to help me, I am really not sure.
I think you are exceptionally patient Karol. I’m sorry you have to put up with this shit. Despite what I said above to the Al1en, it’s ulitmately not so onerous for me to ignore Jenny or get over what she is doing because my input here is fairly uncommitted. But if I had been putting in the effort you have and had that degree of committment, I’d be spitting tacks by now.
Jenny is a very nice girls name…all the Jennys I have ever known have been nice , sweet, charming girls….
From wiki:
Jennifer is a feminine given name, a Cornish form of Gwenhwyfar[1] adopted into English during the 20th century.
It may mean “white fairy” (from Proto-Celtic *Uindo-seibrā “white phantom”). Despite the name’s similarity to the Old English words jenefer, genefer and jinifer, all of which were variants of Juniper used to describe the juniper tree,[2] there is no evidence that it comes from these.
Other meanings of Jenny:
An amazing, beautiful, caring, creative girl. She is the epitome of a goddess, and anyone would kill to have her. She can do anything she sets her mind to, and she’s wonderful.
A girl who acts like a true sister. She may not be blood line relatives, but she will care for you no matter what, even when hated she will love you. She tends to fall for the wrong type, but in the end she will never give up on someone she loves. She’s socially active but naughty at times.
Wow Chooky that Cornish name is really something. But I’ve gone off Jenny after Jenny Shipley. While the name has sweet connotations too often the owner doesn’t.
All that Cornish talk, now I fancy an oggie.
Greywarbler & the Allen…..smirk….well parents choose lovely names for their baby girls ….but they dont always turn out as expected…they could grow up to be a troll(ess) or a horrible old witch with nasty duplicitous designs and spells.
….yes Jenny Shipley is a Jenny I hadn’t thought of….you are very realistic greywarbler …adds a whole new complexion to the name Jenny….
…Now Gwenhwyfar is a very romantic name …maybe a better name to write songs about or have sweet dreams upon……not too many Gwenhwyfars around (down under) to spoil the illusion….
Hi Chooky I had a look at name meanings. My Mum was Gwendolyn and great greats came from Cornwall so I guess that was a connection with the name. I noticed that Gwenhwyfar is the Cornish, Welsh, Celtic? form of Guinevere. Gwen means white, holy, blessed and there are St Gwens.
There is a rich source of names in the Celtic directory. Maybe people could look there for a more personal name than following pop stars or adopting country’s names, Hello New Zealand how are you today – Austria, Australia to Zambia? A bit weird.
@greywarbler….I love Welsh names and the sound of the language …not that I understand it…Gwendolyn is a great name!
The Allen
I had to check on your irrelevant remark about an oggie so went to the Urban Dictionary for total irrelevance. You do learn something every day – sometimes two things!
Mmmm Cornish pasties, and i liked that idea of savoury one end and sweet the other. How practical – a two course meal in one.
Thanks, weka. Well, it’s also that there are authors here that post very knowledgeably about things like climate change (and economic issues) but Jenny still goes on about authors ignoring the topic. And it seems completely unrealistic to expect those kind of posts to be prepared every few days…. or even every week. But, anyway, as I comments before, we had a couple of very good ones on climate change last weekend.
To many issues, too much destructive NAct actions, so much needing to be done to take a positive new direction, so little time to post on all of them.
“To many issues, too much destructive NAct actions, so much needing to be done to take a positive new direction, so little time to post on all of them.”
It’s also the case that climate change is a global issue. There are hundreds of excellent websites from around the world dealing with climate change, the science behind it, etc. There aren’t nearly so many websites on the internet dealing with general NZ politics. Why should this site focus solely or mainly on climate change, when there are plenty of other sites that do it already?
matthew hooten is getting his arse kicked all over the Q & A studio..by rod oram..on the topic of the living-wage..
..i am trying to write a review..but can’t stop laughing..
..it is a must-watch..
.and a fracturing of a long-pushed rightwing myth to justify paying workers shit-wages..
..bloody brilliant..!
..philip ure..
I did love the bit where Rod Oram Said “Matthew, listen for a moment, because you are not very good at that”
And didn’t he add something to the effect “yes Matthew we all know you’re running a campaign against the living wage”. I think Susan Wood did a wee squeal at that one.
Hooton was trying on his old trick… taking control of the conversation and interrupting and talking over the top of his rival. Rod Oram wasn’t having it. Love to see him up against Hooton on the Monday morning RNZ political slot. Unfortunately he’s not a political commentator by profession which is a pity.
Oram is always a good listen to, i missed Q@A but always have a good listen to rod when He is on RadioNZ,
He tends to give a far fuller answer to any question of economics being discussed, usually giving the right-wing view an airing as well while pointing out why He thinks that is wrong and offering the alternatives…
It’ll be there on demand, or You tube, Bad12.
Heres the link here
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/panel-living-wage-video-5600782
Thanks Curtis. And others who raised the Q&A item. The Right claim huge job losses if Living Wage was begun. (Would it follow that if the Min Wage was dropped to say $5 an hour there would be wholesale increase in Employment?)
If Firms paid a Living Wage then maybe there would be an exodus from those firms paying Min Wage and those firms would have to compete by lifting wages up from the Min to match the Living wage to hang on to their staff.
No but there would be a wholesale increase in poverty and the fortunes of the parasites would increase.
Shame that Hooton wasn’t picked up on two claims he made – that NZ has the highest min wage in $ terms and the fourth highest min wage to average wage ratio in the OECD.
I’ll assume those claims are true. And so the question that needs answering is, is there any merit in having the highest min wage in absolute and comparative terms if you also have disproportionately large numbers of people only earning the min wage and employers receiving tax payers money to ‘take the edge off’ widespread and systemic poverty?
Yeah, nah.
It appears at least one of those claims isn’t true.
Big surprise. Hooten’s a professional liar.
Well, yeah – it doesn’t surprise me that he was lying. But even his lies (accepted as accurate) could have been turned against him.
Anyways….
what’s that tactic where they come up with bullshit with such frequency that taking the time to correct anything simply gets one swamped with more bullshit, but trying to keep up simply leaves them to say “but you agreed earlier” and their bullshit unchallenged?
Ah – the Gish Gallop sounds like it.
Sounds like hootles tries to do that when he’s on air.
“Gish Gallop”. That sounds about right for Mr Hooten.
And for that matter the famous Campbell interview with John Key. Breathless Key Gallop to run over the top of any tricky questions and a dig or two at the honesty/integrity of John Campbell. If the cap fits…..
Country Minimum wage Annual Standard Hourly Percent of
(US$)[2] workweek (US$) GDP per
Australia A$16.37 per hour 33355 38 16.88 0.471
Luxembourg €1,921.03 per month 29611 40 14.24 0.253
Monaco €1,593.67 per month 25744 39 12.69 15.8%[106]
France €1,430.22 per month 22003 35 12.09 0.534
Belgium €1,501.82 per month 23104 38 11.69 0.503
San Marino €8.96 per hour 22400 37.5 11.49 0.389
New Zealand NZ$13.75 per hour 23252 40 11.18 0.555
Ireland €1,461.85 per month 22490 39 11.09 0.428
Netherlands €1,477.80 per month 22735 40 10.93 0.461
United Kingdom £6.31 per hour 19896 38.2 10.02 0.472
Canada C$9.95 to C$11.00 per hour 22766 44[40] 9.95 0.415
Sorry Phillip, have to disagree with you on this one. Rod did make some good points which any sensible, fair minded person would have to agree with but Hooton just carried on as if nothing had happened and always got the last word in – people tend to remember the last word. He just kept repeating his lines and there is no answer to that if you don’t have a killer blow up your sleeve so to speak. Hooton also ignored what the Australian CTU president had to say with regards to the minimum wage etc.
I noticed also there was no mention of the latest Roy Morgan poll, and a dig at Cunliffe for the gaffe about the young property investor finding it harder to buy his ‘first home’.
Though. Hooton’s continued talking made him look pretty shallow and waffley along side Oram. I don’t know how the majority of viewers would see it though.
Saw it as you did Karol. Interesting how virtually overnight a seeming asset can turn into a liability. Thank you Matthew thank you RNZ.
Hopefully the same effect will settle in for that emerging world leader global mover and shaker “Nooo Zeeerllind Praamm Ministirrr Jaaahn Keee”.
To ALL sick, disabled and with incapacity for work – on WINZ benefits: Download and read the PDF submission to be found via this link, and READ IT, please!
Please DO take NOTE of this, which I tried to point out the other night, but it appears to have not been noticed by most, it is EXTREMELY important:
This affects ALL sick and disabled on BENEFITS: THERE are major changes happening, yet again, and it is highly worrying stuff!!!
http://www.nzma.org.nz/sites/all/files/sub-WorkAbilityAssessments-Providers.pdf
MSD’s Principal Health Advisor Dr Bratt and his team seem to be preparing new ways of outsourcing Work Capability Assessments, to be done by selected professionals!
This smells too much like the “stench” that has been attached to the involvement of Atos Healthcare as the private assessor for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in the UK.
I have not heard or read anything about MSD’s plans in this direction yet, but it sounds extremely worrying, hence the serious concerns also, the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) expresses.
Something is being prepared to involve people to make assessments for WINZ, who are not even proper medical experts.
I will try to keep you posted, but this is a must read, and must be taken very seriously!
Hi Xtasy
IMHO This government fairly obviously intends to duplicate at least partly, the fascist treatment of beneficiaries in the U$K. A cruel and heartless attitude which has no justification for NZ, It is not the Kiwi way, but this government is led by a neoliberal puppet called Key and his opportunist collaborator Bennett.
johnm – I agree, but the brainwashing, distraction and whole bureaucratic agenda is so “perfected” now, Goebbles could not have done a better job, they are getting away with it, while most are scared into submission, lulled into misinformation and indifference, or simply lied to to a degree, they do not dare to question anything anymore.
We have fascism at work here, right now in NZ, but most do not realise it, as they think, hey this cannot be fascism, as that is much worse. Those will wake up too late to what is going on, and too many woke up too late in the 1930s and 1940s in Germany too!
Quite a sobering interview with West Ham United’s chairman David Gold ahead of the game against Spurs tomorrow. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/oct/05/west-ham-david-gold-fans-tottenham-hotspur
Spurs have significant historic links with the jewish community and the Hammers were a bastion against fascism in the thirties, supporters of the club having shielded East End jews against the Black Shirts and succesfully opposed them in the battle of Cable Street.
The last time the clubs met a moronic minority of WHU fans disgraced the club and its traditions by using anti-Semitic chants and hissing to mimic gas chambers. Hopefully there won’t be a repeat tomorrow.
And yet the Yid Army, have been threatened with possible arrest by the police, should they decide to continue using that particular expression!
Never underestimate the gutter level of football as an entity, and its support base!
The “game” was finished long ago, the day that FIFA/UEFA corrupted itself, which it is still doing on a daily basis, re Brazil/Qatar!
Watching “football men” like Platini rent their souls to the establishment, is all that is necessary to know about Big
BusinessSport!The average football fan clings to the entertainment factor, despite the fact their continued funding, ensures the death of their, beautiful game!
No argument from me, muz (tho I do think Spurs’ fan’s use of Yid is problematic). Ian Holloway is the Voice of Reason: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utb-coxjkK8
Well said Muzza, I could write a book on my experiences as a kid in the fifties how we were treated and looked after by the “adults” mainly dockers when we went to watch Millwall play at New Cross. Visited the pie & eel shop first for a bit of lunch, then got the underground to New Cross. A great afternoon for an east end kid that did not cost much. Millwall was always in the third division,but what the fuck we went there for the football(soccer)
Don’t watch hardly any sport these days, fucking sick of hearing team “A” with this sponsored shirt going to “take out” team “B” with that sponsored shirt playing on this sponsored ground. brought to you by such & such product on the fucking minute /half minute. Sport is now a load of fucking crap.
Hope you are right but WHU seem to have a core of knuckle dragging diehards determined to have fun ‘cmon guvnor ….you awwright then my son …..just havin a larf’ like when they play millwall.
lets hope millwalls current issues put them in a good mood and they behave.
Fingers crossed, TC. The Hammers have a proud history of anti-racism (even their hooligan crew, the ICF, were multi-racial) and the club were rightly mortified at last year’s events. However, there has been significant growth in the influence of neo-nazis in the East End, which may be reflected in the stands. Not much that can be done about it, but life bans would be a start.
There is also a polarising debate about whether Spur’s fans positive embracing of the ‘Y’ word is encouraging negative use among fans of other clubs: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/17/david-cameron-yid-really-is-race-hate-word
Yes and the financial and football gap developed recently between the 2 isn’t helping with Joe Lewis’s billions backing Spurs onto the champions league so he can allegedly cash out the asset.
Whereas the more frugal streetwise Gold/Sullivan saw a club in need of their backing at West Ham after cashing up at Birmingham City and rescued it from an Icelandic meltdown.
The growing divide between the haves and have nots feeds all sorts of discontent.
Well who would be surprised? It’s bit like Charter Schools beings set up with teachers who are not teachers by profession. It’s all part of a culture/mindset that looks down on those considered inferior stock (unemployed people and sickness beneficiaries head the list) and who they deem to be only worthy of second class assistance.
It’s also part of a campaign to employ ‘yes men/women’ who they know will come up with the answers the government are wanting enforced. And on that note:
I saw recently that John Key looks like he is about to do another ‘Ian Fletcher’ only this time it’s the SIS. A new position of SIS deputy C.E.O has been created. The successful applicant will be spending most of his/her time attached to the PM’s office, and will be liasing with the SIS etc. on matters raised by the PM. Watch this space. Another mate about to be appointed to an highly sensitive position?
In Slippery the PM’s language i would consider that ”being attached to the PM’s Office and liasing with the SIS etc on matters raised by the PM” to mean ”people He wants the SIS to open a file on”….
Here’s the link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11134454
This link does not state that the ‘spy master’ is based in the PM’s office, but I thought I read something, somewhere… along those lines.
Maybe Key’s got a Cousins, Aunts, Brothers, Sisters, Best Mate’s, number mysteriously on his phone, And it was, just an Accident that he bumped into him in town the other day..
Its quite clever from the nats, the more cronies they appoint, and stuff they break up, merge, realign, refocus etc makes a new govts job a shed load tougher with installed obstacles and broken structures.
That is why such **appointees** must be sacked…..
NEF (New Economics Foundation) in the UK release their latest (62 page) report: Distant Neighbours – Poverty and Inequality in Islington.
Might be good for a Sunday read, especially if you need something to counteract today’s opinion columns in the Herald.
I just had a good idea for better and more satisfying education for youngsters. Spend time on helping them with the basics plus teach them a variety of things. And then make the goal to help them find what they like doing and give them the chance to do more of it. And use that as a carrot and reward to get them through their basic learning in a capable manner. To use a current expression, the child then ‘owns’ his or her education.
There was an interview on radionz today on a place called the Corelli school which encourages children with artistic interests and will take them from an early age, and they also do educational subjects to Cambridge level. Parents said it was working out well for children who had been too shy, hadn’t the chance to flourish at school.
Now that would be a good educational experiment. And one that would be done principally to suit the children’s interests. Unlike what I heard educational scientists discuss this week about Christchurch. Apparently money saving and efficiency was not the basis for many of the school closures and amalgamations there, it was a desire to experiment with new processes. The ground zero effect after the earthquakes was to be the genesis of a new approach to education with of course the object of ‘better educational performance’ or such.
The fact that the children actually needed security, continuity, accessibility without lengthy travel and so on, didn’t come into the thinking of these highly educated, highly paid educational policy queens. From their royal height they pushed around the children of the poor so they could watch to see which maze they progressed through best.
There are no doubt some kings in the mix, but it seems to me post-women’s lib has enabled a great bunch of university trained middle class girls to become professional women with little interest or empathy with wider society beyond their own sculpted lives and suburbs.
Ok for those of you who were querying about it, I have fixed a timeout on the cookies that was showing up in W3 Total Cache. It was setting the timeout on cookies to 7200 seconds (about 2 hours). I have changed that to 1512000 seconds (~30 days).
This should prevent you from having re-enter your cookie values more often than that.
And drat it was on my side after all.
An honest sysop 🙂
🙂
Much appreciated Lynn, cheers.
cheers LP it’s been a right pain, thanks for sorting it.
I find the standard on android pretty unworkable now, no ‘reply’ or ‘edit’….PC/iPad sweet as.
While we’re on the subject of the user experience can I get the desktop/mobile theme switch at the top please
Get a mac or an iPhone 😀