…throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.
“In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein people of low ability suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their cognitive ability as greater than it is.”
I don’t think he’s sufficiently mentally sophisticated for Dunning-Kruger to even be relevant. He’s pure impulsive reaction to the stimulus of the moment – someone questions his smarts, he has to react bashing back with how smart he is. For Dunning-Kruger to be relevant, there would have to be some actual deliberation about the topic at hand and that seems to be entirely absent.
i wish i could get some dunning kruger, it’s a real draw back knowing ones limitations , hell with a bit of dunning kruger i could probably rise to middle management .
Yesterday James wrote a stupid and insulting post where he insulted posters here …. as well as Gerald Hope, the bereaved father of Olivia Hope …. and a lot of other New Zealanders
In this thread I give a hat-tip to Psycho Milt for posting up … ““In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein people of low ability suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their cognitive ability as greater than it is.” …. This was the research I hazily recalled.
I could not be bothered doing a internet search for a troll such as James …. even with his needling and projection of his own dishonesty or stupidity onto me.
James ….. ” I remember the results of a study (also without a citation) that showed the more stupid a person they go insult the original comment and change the topic – without proving a shred of anything to disprove the original comment made.
speaking of “wank wank” “…..
I can not help but wonder whether there is a ‘troll effect ‘ wherein trolls believe other posters are as dishonest and malevolent as themselves.
Like the Herald, James brought back unhappy memories for the families.
Them – for profit, which is despicable.
I have no idea why James brought the topic up, but he stooped to a new low that day.
Well why didn’t you simply write something along the lines of … ‘ I find this interesting but it probably won’t sway the doubters’ …. or something like that.
It was your ‘Dunning–Kruger’ “no doubt” and “nutters” statements of fact that crossed the line and made it into a trolls post.
Bloody poor form ….. especially towards Gerald Hope ….. who would know more about the case than rude punters on the internet.
And while Ed thought that you, james, had stooped to a new low ….. I think you did that when you were decrying ‘leftie’ posters for pointing out the higher rates and increase of suicide that cruel and punitive national/ rightwing / tory policies cause…..
You really are quite happy in not giving a fuck about a lot of things …
Reason
What I find the most repulsive about James is the fact he comes on this site and brags about his rich, privileged life.
Were he to read some of the most poignant contributions from some posters, he would be aware that quite a few of our posters have real challenges they face in life.
But no.
There is not a shred of empathy.
6 days ago I said I would never press reply to James again.
This is now the last time I refer to a troll’s comments.
These are paid disrupters who will continue to land on these shores.
Danegeld only encouraged the Vikings.
I have sympathies those with real issues. No time for people who are just bitter and envious posters who hate people who they perceive to be better off.
As for the paid meme that you have pushed so so many times and always failed to backup – I’ll add it to the list of Ed’s lies.
Should your warning not say “warning – author is not part of our wee echo chamber and may think differently therefore please heed this trigger warning”
James. this is funny!! That writer is always angry about something or other in her articles, which are generally shallow. Often she pontificates.
She fails to realise the “rage” is a symptom of the feelings being expressed by the general population towards opinionated uncaring comments by often well to do people
How dare we not accept their opinions as facts!! How pushy and stupid of us!! We should know their opinions are superior, therefore true. Yeah right!!
Rage builds over time. It is caused by unrelenting attacks. Attacks meant to deminish.
Memes repeated over and over. She says her friend made a mistake about the “Lipstick on a pig” comment …. No!! She and 98% of the populace felt outraged at that!!
Rage can lead to revolutions!! Luckily ours led to a Coalition government instead.
Her examples are selectively picked, and show little understanding of underlying context. As usual.
“As for your “rage” there are pockets – but the majority of people are quite normal and happy.”
Interesting definition of normal there – rageless – out of pocket – unhappy.
It is normal to have resistance when your values are constantly being eroded by processes beyond your control. Sometimes that manifests as outrage.
Having once been a resident of Wellington’s Eastern suburbs; and familiar with the antics of some members who claim membership of the 4th Estate (even Bill Ralston does that sometimes); and someone who had a close relative confiding in me the relationship of a husband as a ‘daddy figure’ – I could make a prediction.
Pretty sure HdPA will outlive me though, so I won’t be around to see the result.
In the meantime, the best that can be done is to donate to Women’s Refuge because there goes a person that’ll be in need sometime in the future
Actually they are generally not paid that much at all. Pointing out the highest paid is a poor example. But generally reporters are non on huge salaries
It’s ok to be outraged, Heather du Plessis-Allen.
Even if your own life is comfortable, others are not.
Your articles could be about writing truth to power.
Something to be outraged about #1
‘‘New Zealand has the worst rate of family and intimate-partner violence in the world. Eighty per cent of incidents go unreported — so what we know of family violence in our community is barely the tip of the iceberg.’
I said what I said deliberty, it’s the reality of debating with people standing too close to the elephant. James and others do it all the time.
That said, if your going to be trotting out alt-right memes, I’m going to call you a loser. Simple, really. It’s not abuse, it’s just a statement of position.
It’s ok to be outraged, Heather du Plessis-Allen.
Even if your own life is comfortable, others are not.
Some people don’t have it good.
Your articles could be about writing truth to power.
Like Alison Mau.
Something to be outraged about #2
‘Alison Mau: Don’t waste your breath excusing the Rhythm and Vines groper.
: It’s heartbreaking to think that young women taking part in one of summer’s great pleasures – hanging out with mates at a festival – cannot do so safely, whatever they choose to do with their boobs. It’s heartbreaking to see the feeble-minded, rape-apologist abuse that 20-year-old Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller has faced since she was assaulted at Rhythm and Vines a week ago.
Actually, scrub that. It’s not heartbreaking. Too late for that. Our hearts have been breaking over this shiz for generations. Thanks to the revelations of 2017; the Weinstein monster and Louis CK’s uninvited masturbation and all the many, many others, we’re all bloody furious.
It’s enraging, not heartbreaking. You can see, hear and feel this among women young and old on social media and in interviews on mainstream platforms. It’s in the words of the organisers of Times Up, the campaign formed by Hollywood women that promises to help women from lower paying industries get justice in sexual harassment cases‘
I have already warned OUR Mighty All Blacks about what I see that is going on in OUR World media I think the way to combat this is to get everyone asoseated with the AB to sign a confilct of intrset contract .Kia kaha
I do too.
…. and have you noticed? With apologies to an Edmonds cook book – the harder they (our sporting oikons) rise, the harder they fall.
Awe ,,,, shame eh?
I better turn on Skoi New Australia to see who the latest is
That applies to you James. Self-knowledge – lacking – tragic!
Psychological projection I think. Just lie down on this couch and tell us about yourself and your concerns. No on second thoughts don’t!
The Babylonian Talmud (500 AD) notes the human tendency toward projection and warns against it: “Do not taunt your neighbour with the blemish you yourself have.”[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
Caught? Nah, mate, Richie showed them how not to get caught . Doesn’t mean they’re clean though, does it and the word is, they’re filthy with it! You reckon there’s no substance to the claim 🙂
Sit down and read Alison Mau carefully James. And then read HDA. There’s no comparison. They both were published today. One is written by a very intelligent woman of considerable substance. The other is shallow and adds very little of consequence to the harassment debate.
You set out at ‘3’ to enrage the already enraged on this site. You succeeded, but this time you got it wrong. I wonder if you have the guts to ‘apologise’ as the gentleman in Mau’s article did?
We need more outraged not less.
”The anger window is open.”
From the article.
‘They came together in anger, says co-chair of the Nike Foundation Maria Eitel, not because they wanted to “whine, or complain, or tell a story or bemoan. They came together because they intended to act. There was almost a ferociousness to it.”
As far back as early November – and doesn’t THAT seem like eons ago – Rebecca Traister wrote in New York Magazine that “the anger window is open”.
“This is ’70s-style, organic, mass, radical rage, exploding in unpredictable directions,” she wrote.’
You and HDP confuse enkratês with virtue – a cheap trick. There is a place for anger, especially in a country as ravaged by corruption and neoliberal misgovernance as NZ.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old Soper should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
It’s ok to be outraged, Heather du Plessis-Allen.
Even if your own life is comfortable, others are not.
Some animals don’t have it good.
Your articles could be about writing truth to power.
Like Holly Button and Matt Walker.
Something to be outraged about #3
Animal cruelty at rodeos
‘A call to action from the Animal Justice League New Zealand resulted in approximately 60 people taking part in a demonstration outside Canterbury Rodeo today.
“The turnout was greater than anticipated, which shows just how quickly people are learning about rodeo cruelty and agree that the government should implement a full ban on rodeos in NZ,” said a member of the group.
“People from town and country united, to send a clear message to organisers and attendees that New Zealanders are sick of animal abuse being touted as entertainment,” Animal Justice League NZ Spokesperson Holly Button.’
Mr Walker said the president of the Canterbury Rodeo Club, Jono Reed, then came over and in front of about eight security staff told him they did not want any filming that would cast rodeo in a negative light.
“Is that really acceptable? [I told him] it seems like you’re trying to censor out unbiased and independent filming from the event,” he said.‘
It’s ok to be outraged, Heather du Plessis-Allen.
Even if your own life is comfortable, others are not.
Our environment doesn’t have it good.
Your articles could be about writing truth to power.
Like Peter Anderson
Something to be outraged about #4
The state of our waterways
‘In 2009, 70 percent of bathing sites were suitable for public recreation. Today, that figure has dropped to 58 percent.
Peter Anderson of Forest and Bird said land intensification is a significant cause of the water quality crisis.
“The level of intensification has got in front of the ability to manage the environmental impacts from that intensification. Canterbury is at the forefront of it,” he said.
Mid-Canterbury crop and dairy farmer Ian Mackenzie said the government’s plan to end irrigation loans is the wrong answer. He said that as well as boosting grass growth, irrigation can also dilute polluting nitrates in the urine from livestock through techniques such as managed aquifer recharging.
However, Mr Anderson said that doesn’t address the underlying problem which is that we have too many cows.
“There’s no treatment of the effluent of cows. We need to think differently if we’re going to try reduce the impact of land intensification.”
How about we stop responding to a smug troll who is (ironically) simply looking to provoke outrage?
This is a really interesting and though-provoking article about the end of life/assisted dying bill, using the experiences and opinions of a guy with Motor Neuron Disease who says that 10 years ago he would have opted for death but now he treasures every moment of life. He feels the bill discriminates against the disabled, implying their lives are worth less than the able-bodied. Worth thinking about.
How about we think for a minute before posting so all points that want to be made, especially the same one, can be contained in one outing instead of being strewn down the page like rant man dribble.
I fail to see why calling people’s attention to those four issues requires you to cut ‘n’ paste huge screeds of other peoples’ work while adding little of your own.
Yeah, it’s much more complex than many arguing for (or against) it acknowledge. I do think it’s a discussion worth having, but I also think that the bill as it stands is rather loose, and I have to say the article I linked to above gives a great example illustrating one of the problems embedded within it. Who would have argued that this guy wasn’t “of sound mind” or aware of the outcome of his decision 10 years ago (when he did actually try to take his own life)? And yet he’s glad of the years he’s had since then and now finds joy in his life as it is, wanting it to continue for as long as it can.
On the one hand I think people ought to be able to choose, and on the other I think it’s inappropriate to formalise it so long as massive health inequality persists.
In the past year, we have had many of the same conversations with the same sources Wolff used. We won’t betray them, or put on the record what was off. But, we can say that the following lines from the book ring unambiguously true:
How Trump processes (and resists) information:
“It was during Trump’s early intelligence briefings … that alarm signals first went off among his new campaign staff: he seemed to lack the ability to take in third-party information.”
“Or maybe he lacked the interest; whichever, he seemed almost phobic about having formal demands on his attention.”
“Trump didn’t read. He didn’t really even skim. … [H]e could read headlines and articles about himself, or at least headlines on articles about himself, and the gossip squibs on the New York Post‘s Page Six.”
“Some … concluded that he didn’t read because he just didn’t have to, and that in fact this was one of his key attributes as a populist. He was postliterate — total television.”
“[H]e trusted his own expertise — no matter how paltry or irrelevant — more than anyone else’s. What’s more, he had an extremely short attention span, even when he thought you were worthy of attention.”
Suddenly, though, in the wake of this book, we get a thread that is clearly neither him nor someone tweeting presidentially. This is someone pretending to be him, trying to sound like Trump and not doing a very good job.
…
Some giveaways are the word “playbook” (arguably way above Trump’s level of sophistication) and the grasp of history that the reference to Reagan requires; also the use of punctuation throughout the thread;
…
also the phrase “at that” used correctly at the end of the last stanza, as it were — a rhetorical flourish that, alas, is again way above his own actual facility with language.
Wasn’t there a thing during the election where someone noticed that the deranged tweets came from an android and the more sane tweets came from an iphone?
President Trump will keep successfully delivering for his base and for the Republican donors until late 2020 at least.
Wolfe’s effect is simply to confirm the new standard that a President needs to achieve to remain in power.
So far he has delivered precisely:
– Huge tax cuts for businesses and for individuals
– Roll back soft marijuana laws
– Roll back transgender rights in the military
– Drill for oil into the arctic and any part of the seabed you like
– Full repudiation of the mainstream media
– Massive funding support for the military
– Strangulation of Obamacare
– Locked up the Supreme Court for many years
– Halved refugee quota and massive immigration crackdown from terrorist-harbouring states
– Repudiation of intelligence and justice structures within Washington – which is his version of “draining he swamp”.
– Put the shits up North Korea’s leadership so much that fresh dialogue has broken out between North and South Korea for the first time in many years.
– Shifted the balance of power in the Middle East with a few largely symbolic moves
He said what he was going to do beforehand, and he is doing it.
Now, all he has to do in the next three years is make a start on his great barrier wall, and he is a nomination lock for the Republican ticket.
I don’t like him, but if I were a Republican I would be calling him The Milkman.
Odd line in a movie: was watching a recording of the 2007 movie “The Brave One” – strange movie – not very good and still haven’t finished watching it.
But it has this odd line in the movie – could now be seen as incitement to assassination? Foster plays a vigilante killer in New York city, killing “bad” people. here she’s in a life while people are talking about the unknown killer.
Some of us on thestandard site are wondering why all of a sudden there is no more articles reporting the Climatic changed weather events that has just been hammering OUR beautiful Country .
I say that NZMEDIA is being influenced by the long tentacles of that country that just pulled out of the Paris climate change pact. Not just NZMEDIA the WORLDS Media is being influenced by this administration which is run by billionaires they let there $$$$$$$$$ influence there choices and not logic and this is why they are running a campaign to block as many articles as they can that even mentions climate change .
There is usually a couple of articles on the Guardian about events like this unusual climatic changed weather that has hit New Zealand and at least one on these sites Euro news Niki Asian news . I have scour our Worlds media for articles about climate change for years under the Obama administration there was heaps of data on climate change not now.
Here is a link showing how our New Zealand Media has slid down OUR Worlds ranking on freedom of speech. and ICE Lands fines for business that do not pay there lady s the same as men mhttps://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjymJfUg8TYAhULx7wKHYiqD28QFgg-MAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.massey.ac.nz%2Fmassey%2Fabout-massey%2Fnews%2Farticle.cfm%3Fmnarticle_uuid%3DF1B6840E-9487-95EF-D57E-3DD68DC4A4AB&usg=AOvVaw0FBRyqW7bHGqQqFvhMgbIden.
Many thanks to those intelligent STARS for the Tautoko of OUR LORDYS choice of not going to Israel .
PS Lordy don;t worry to much about the bad publicity that you are getting from FOX NEWS as all they are doing in reality is adding to your Mana . Ka kite ano
eco maori, there’s a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page here on The Standard that can help you insert links without having to have those big long site addresses showing. It’s a bit hard to get used to at first, but I taught myself by having two version of TS open at once, with the FAQ page sitting there for me to look at when needed. Here’s a link to the page. Good luck if you decide to use it.
eco maori
If you get stuck just say and we will advise. Was confused by it myself – as seeing to be difficult to control the links and just have a term highlighted instead. Then, got it, easy peasy.
3. James, please realise, we do not share your blithe view of the world, and mostly we do not rate Heather or her husband’s views very highly.
So you have had your excitement for the day by quoting her, and getting responses. We know you are here James. Glad to confirm it. (Oh, and we personally are not rich, but neither are we poor, so there is no agenda as you put it.)
Had Heather written a thoughtful piece about road rage, or as Ed suggested family violence, then we could discuss the underlying reasons in both cases.
However, as usual Heather was trite superficial and selective in writing about rage.
Her friend may not be feeling so friendly right now, having her opinions and feelings so used.
The other day you accused someone here of being part of an “echo chamber” yet you quote Heather as a support for your views. Oh, the irony!!
I think if there is anything to be learned from this episode it is that its of paramount importance for everybody to *stop* replying to James at the top of the thread. Best to keep that top of mind I would say.
Reports that Jim Anderton has died. If so, we’ve lost one of the good ones.
Edit:
“Today I am a little lost for words. Jim was a huge influence on my life and someone who I will miss a great deal. There will be lot of words said about his political achievements but today I am thinking of a kind, compassionate and giving man. A man I am proud to have known and call a friend.”
From my generation, I loved the work that you did forming the Ministry of Economic Development, rolling out a new framework of public sector coherence with the Growth and Innovation Framework, and rolling out regional economic development that really gave hope and delivery to dozens of communities right across New Zealand. And did it, unusually for the left, with sound business experience behind you.
Others will remember the cataclysmic fights on the floor of Labour Party conferences back in the day – a bit early for me.
Still others will remember the work for the people of Wigram electorate and of Christchurch more generally.
Awesome to see a life well lived in service to others.
‘From now on, The Daily Blog will be naming all storms hitting NZ by the names of MPs who are doing sweet bugger all and by the NZ Corporations exacerbating climate change.’
I’m on the verge of giving up on The Standard because many here continue to feed the troll. You’re being gamed and yet you continue to respond to James.
He is not genuine and his purpose is simply to inflame, obscure, abuse and divert yet you continue to indulge him.
Why? He’s not very bright but seems smarter than many here who continue to be willing to let him undermine discussion.
Please, if you care about rigorous, open debate, ignore him. Otherwise he and others like him, win.
I heartily agree – I’m fed up with conversations being derailed because some people don’t seem to be able to resist taking the bait – it’s potentially ruining a valuable and informative site
That is why they come on to these sites “PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS”, BM was having a Field Day yesterday I think it was ?
They are actually paid by the Right Wingers/Neoliberals to derail discussions on sites like these and influence peoples thinking, WAKE UP DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS, just ignore their comments.
The reason I asked the question is very simple.
I happen to know that golf course. It is a Public course, just like Chamberlain Park in Auckland. It can be played by anyone at all and it is cheap.
As of the date of that photo the Green fees for 18 holes would have been $18.00 US. That is equivalent to $25.00 NZ.
To play 18 holes at Chamberlain park today would cost you $28.00. In other words it is cheaper than the best known Public course in Auckland. Now do you really think that they are clearly rich, which was your assumption, just because they were playing golf?
Do you somehow think that only rich people play golf? That seems an awfully bold assumption doesn’t it?
I repeat. How do you know, or even think, that they are “three rich white men”.
Golf: green fees, clubs, carts, snappy gloves, maybe even spikey shoes
Football: Ball. Open space. Maybe spikey shoes, if your open space is grass.
And appealing to your experience as an internationally-travelling golfer sort of supports the assumption that golfers, as a general rule, sure aren’t poor.
And I thought you were a truly sensible intelligent gentleman.
Still, anyone who loves a fine cigar cannot be all bad.
Actually I have never played the course. I have a close friend, now living in New Zealand, who lived there and played the course regularly. He had always told me, at great length, about how good a course it was and how cheap it was to play there.
I should possibly have put the word “of” between “know” and “that ” in the second sentence. It would then have read “know of that golf course”
He was the one who rang me and told me that a picture of the place was in the Listener.
I do play golf though. You do need clubs but they last for 20 years. You don’t really need a glove but if you do you can get one for $10 or so. You don’t need a cart. A hand pulled trolley will do and if you only want a half set or so you can carry the bag. You do need shoes but they don’t have to be spiked. In fact most clubs ban spiked shoes these days.
Golf is actually quite a cheap sport in New Zealand and in many other parts of the world. I met a person in Scotland a few years ago who lived in St Andrews. He, a person over 65, could play unlimited rounds on all the St Andrews courses for 150 pounds a year! That included about 5 courses, including the holy-of-holies, “The Old Course”. I could have wept.
Don’t even consider playing in Japan of course.
No. Don’t try and defend Ed. He made a bull-shit comment based on an obsession about white male people in the US and a total lack of knowledge about his subject.
I’m sure that, when he reads how silly his interpretation of the photo was, that he will come back and tell us that he regrets those foolish assumptions and there was nothing to justify his claim.
How is my comment about the golf bad?
I have not replied to James for 6 days despite continuous provocation.
Are there other solutions to ridding this site of such sniping comments?
Is ignoring the only solution?
If you take an average day, you’ll see nearly 50% of Open Mike taken up by smarmy and unpleasant comments made by these people.
If they are paid, they will come whatever, won’t they?
How does the Daily Blog deal with them as they rarely appear there.
Hi Ed You kept at it and spurred me on to take a healthy break but I’m back in the chocs, but in a controlled way.
I think that the mods could decide that we take a democratic decision on who is a troll, and give them bans when they are pushing their luck. Or limit them somehow to three a day. Others get bans, CV vanished, Pete George likewise. It just needs a change in the rules. There can be so much criticism of what regular interested commenters say, and yet the trolls dance in and out interfering with the flow of discussion and sometimes destroying it.
Let’s do it TS. You could announce that you think someone is a troll and if someone can find anything worthwhile to set against that then they get another chance perhaps (depends who it is – I think we know the habits of those who regularly come here).
I have been irritated for ages and it is good to see others becoming vocal. There are those who are so combative or didactic that they cannot stop themselves replying and on and on it goes – it’s time consuming when the blog is working as it should and there is lots of discussion and different views, and that is what makes it worthwhile and I think valuable to NZ as a whole, which has had a drought of political discussion for most people, for many decades. But I’m not going to put the time in if we are just getting people flitting about with froth and spittle and sly digs. And they watch amused as they manipulate the moderators to tell us regulars off. Bah.
So don’t let us lose the valuable thing for want of some firm rules. It’s a problem I have noticed in groups that are people’s initiatives – they want to be open and welcoming and some will have pet interests and people they want to be kind to or something. They won’t do their gardening – judicious pruning to keep the thing healthy.
‘Let’s do it TS. You could announce that you think someone is a troll and if someone can find anything worthwhile to set against that then they get another chance perhaps (depends who it is – I think we know the habits of those who regularly come here).’
The muppet sandflys were swarming today I have a warning for the public these particular sandflys are transmitters and carriers of a very nasty virus this virus is not deadly but you are stuffed when you get it.
It is called idiotitouselfrighteousbigotitesgullibleites that s the scientific terminology for this virus.
The symptoms are started when one is flashed with a shiny object one suffer from gullibility the other symptoms only surface after six months with out treatment they turns you into a Idiot self righteous bigots so be warned stay clear of these sandflys and if you cannot keep them away use plenty of insect repellent and use a mosquito net. ana to kai . The sandflys caused a incident on the road today it looked like no one was hurt just a mess it was just before Pyes Pa school I never harm anyone I respect everything so don t put the blame on me ka pai
One of the post I put out yesterday checked the move the sandflys and the trolls were trying to pull .I wonder what bulshit spinning lines they are going to come up with next.??????? . Kia Kaha
There is nothing more mind destroying that ignoring people. Freezing them out by not acknowledging they even exist. Just ignore the trolls, they are just pesky irritants. Just carry on the dialogue and leave them to their musings – in the end they will get fed up with communicating with themselves and nobody else. It will bore them and they will wander away and piss somebody else off elsewhere. This site doesn’t need them.
I was told once years ago, if somebody is irritating you or causing you psychological harm then just walk away from them, give them away, shrug them off. There is no cure for what they offer so give them up. It works.
Another record – not in a good way.
I was listening to Dr Kevin Anderson the other day.
It’s looking more and more like we’re heading for catastrophic climate change.
‘It was 47.1 degrees Celsius in one part of Sydney, Australia on Sunday afternoon.
Penrith sweltered under what was the highest temperature ever recorded in the Greater Sydney region, on a day of baking heat that saw international tennis cancelled and residents flock to the beach in droves.
The observation station, to the west of Sydney towards the Blue Mountains, reached 47.1 degrees just before 2pm.’
I learnt several things from this interesting article:
1. The article claims New Zealand is the most deforested country in the world. Hope that is wrong – or that’s another depressing statistic about our environment.
2. Our use of toxic weed killers is getting into our waterways.
3. European and British tourists see themselves as ‘greener’ than us.
4. We produce little organic food.
5. Europe and the UK have stricter laws about the use of glyphosate thanks.
Some thoughts and questions ……
I wonder if that affects our cancer rates.
The charities who raise money for cancer don’t/won’t broach any such subject as they are dependent on corporate money.
Is New Zealand the most deregulated state in the OECD apart from the failed Trumpian reality states of Umrica?
Blue-leaved wattle, boneseed, cathedral bells, Chilean rhubarb. climbing spindleberry, pinus contorta, wilding pines, several varieties of barberry, evergreen buckthorn, heather, old mans beard, Asiatic and giant knotweed, California bulrush, purple loosestrife, African feather grass, Chinese pennisetum, nassella tussock, and woolly nightshade are just a few of the more 300 invasive and production pest plant species in the Whanganui – Rangitikei region.
Some species have run rampant for more than a century because of a lack of viable control methods and other, later, arrivals have taken hold in a way nobody could have imagined.
Do you really think the people trying to eradicate these pests are all gung-ho about how they go about their task. They’re not. They’re well qualified realists facing facts; if these species aren’t eradicated all we’ll be left with is vast swathes of dead, strangled native flora, jiggered, grow-nothing pastures/arable land and waterways choked to death by aquatic pests.
oh bullshit
Foreign weeds only get a foothold on disturbed land and the margins of bush ,as does muehlenbeckia for that matter.The idea that mature bush can be overrun by foreign plants is ridiculous.
The article ED was referring to pointed out the use of Glyphosate to clear hillsides for pasture.That kind of wholesale poisoning when mechanical means are available is ecological madness
And waterways are successfully cleared in many parts of NZ by the use of white carp, who don’t breed in NZ waters, are totally vegetarian so don’t compete with native species to any degree, and dont muddy the bottom of lakes.
Glyphosate is like the Final Solution, and its overuse leads to plant resistance, just like antibiotic overuse has led to superbugs.
We do need to get smarter, and some things we just have to live with .For instance, regarding wilding pines as carbon sequesters, which may have greater value than sheep
Thanks for all that information Francesca.
I always worry when people use the expression TINA ( there is no alternative).
It was the term used by Thatcher to force through the neoliberal laws in Britain in the 80s. I therefore distrust the expression a lot !
I was also quite taken aback by the tone joe90 used in answering my straightforward question. ‘ do you really think?”
Anyway, it is good to hear there are alternatives and depressing to realise we are not using them.
The idea that mature bush can be overrun by foreign plants is ridiculous
You’ve not seen the jasminum polyanthum in the Moeawatea, have you.
to clear hillsides for pasture
The Parapara spraying is in preparation for the planting of hillside retention and forestry.
.For instance, regarding wilding pines as carbon sequesters,
Local tramping club members have been dedicating their weekends to eradicating wilding pinus contorta on the central plateau tussock country for more than fifty years, and along comes a know nothing.
Yes they have, as if that tussock country is a natural phenomenon, and the original cover and its not. I suggest carbon sequestration has far better value.
#1 Yep, my understanding is that we’ve got less than 5% of our pre-European forest cover remaining. Too late go digging for a source, but I think I got that from F&B. Not sure if that includes the DOC estate.
Happy to be corrected, but try and find a good stand of remnant bush in Southland, Canterbury Taranaki or King Country. They were solid bush pre-European
Or you (and anyone else who believes the things you repeat) might be satisfied by someone telling you they were going to implement forest cover of 20% of pre-settlement levels and you wouldn’t realise that meant felling another 9.6%.
Southland? Fiordland National Park? That’s a good stand. That said, I’ve long despaired at the clearances – pasture grasses are our most devastating invasive weeds. Hoofed animals the worst threat to forests.
Around 1000 AD, before humans arrived in New Zealand, forest covered more than 80% of the land. The only areas without tall forests were the upper slopes of high mountains and the driest regions of Central Otago. When Māori arrived, about 1250–1300 AD, they burnt large tracts of forest, mainly on the coasts and eastern sides of the two main islands. By the time European settlement began, around 1840, some 6.7 million hectares of forest had been destroyed and was replaced by short grassland, shrubland and fern land. Between 1840 and 2000, another 8 million hectares were cleared, mostly lowland or easily accessible conifer–broadleaf forest.
By 2000 New Zealand had only 6.2 million hectares of native forest. Most of it was on mountainous land and was dominated by southern beech.
So, the percentage of pre-settlement forest remaining is:
I nearly posted that article yesterday Ed…it being a topic close to my home….literally.
What did I learn about agrichemical use in New Zealand after shit got real in the sky over our house back in 2010?
1)We use, as a nation, a shit ton of various pesticides both domestically and commercially. And because we use so many, some pests are developing resistance so folk increase the concentration and use a shit ton more.
2) Most people assume that these chemicals are ‘safe’ else they would not have been approved for use. Most folk trust that ERMA/EPA are there to protect the environment upon which we all depend.
3) I learned that these Hazardous Substances are approved for use providing the instructions on the Label and the Material Safety Data Sheet are followed.
I’ve spoken to a Regional Council enforcement officer who did not know about either of these legal documents. Never mind the average Joe Blow who wanders down to Bunnings and grabs a squirty bottle of Bugs and Fungus BeGone from the gardening section containing carbedazim and chlorpyriphos …if Joe read the MSDS (he wouldn’t though because Bunning’ s, despite it being a Legal Requirement, would’nt have one available) he might decide that death by diarrhea doesn’t sound too good and use the old dishwash instead.
4) I also learned that and Approved Handler’s certificate (which qualifies a person to use many of these agrichemicals can be obtained via the internet….and many Approved Handlers would not know a HSNO classification if it bit them in the bum….or that Enforcement twit from the Regional Council.
5) I also learned that there are something like 20 different Acts pertaining to the use of agrichmeicals, so you’d think that those who use said chemicals would be held to account by some official from some government department if they failed to meet their legal obligations for safe use. What is everyone’s responsibility is no-ones.
6)I also learned that when push comes to shove it is the Regional Council with its powers under the Resource Management Act who theoretically man the Hotline if one feel that said Discharge into the Air has had an adverse effect on one’s land, crops and water supply…not to mention people on the ground inside what is the spray zone since the the chopper came over your property and dumped a hazardous substance on said land, crops and water supply.
7) I also learned that the Regional Council can simply choose not to do any investigation whatsoever…even ignoring their own Regional Plan’s Idiot Guide to investigating complaints of off target application of agrichemicals.
8) I thought I invented the term Agrichemical Trespass…because that’s exactly what it was…but to my utter dismay I discovered that no…there was once, back in the heady days of New Zealand parliamentary history before Labour completely sold its soul (and National never had one to lose)….actually an Agricultural Chemical Trespass Bill… sponsored by Jill White and then Nanaia Mahuta. In 2000.
and …”Now, after three years in the ballot system the Bill has been drawn and was to be introduced into Parliament sometime in September. But Labour caved in to the nozzleheads. Pressure exerted by ERMA and Steve Vaughan from MfE caused Environment Minister Marion Hobbs to “persuade” Nanaia Mahuta to withdraw the Bill, on the promise of a full review of spray drift (how many does that make in the last ten years?). ”
….but lets not get too excited because none of the recommendations actually bore edible fruit…so to speak.
BUT….one can, by Law, defend one’s land, crops, water supply and persons if one feels that trespass in occurring….providing one does not land any blows.
And I have that in writing from the Judge. 😉
(Oh…best not get me started on cancer etc…I could go on for hours…and possibly break TS with links to dozens and dozens of peer reviewed research papers that should make our Environmental Protection Authority and our Ministry of Health ban about a dozen real nasty bastards from use. But no…maybe another time… 🙂 )
Thank you
Your comments are very informative, educational ( for me) and depressing.
They reinforce my thoughts about NZ being a Wild West outlaw country – not in a good way.
One day I’d love to discuss cancer and (IMO) the charities failure to deal with the issue. IMO they are now part of the problem.
“One day I’d love to discuss cancer and (IMO) the charities failure to deal with the issue. IMO they are now part of the problem.”
Because they got my partner’s name while he was in hospital fighting for his life after chemo for Leukaemia, the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation put him on their ‘give us money’ mailing list. Because they refused to answer our inquiry about what research was being done in NZ on occupation and exposures and various types of leukaemia we biff their envelopes straight in the bin.
I’m not sure I fully understood your comment(s) so please bear with me.
My guess is that the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation simply doesn’t know what kind of research is being undertaken in NZ. There is no central comprehensive database of (all) medical research in NZ and there are also many different sources of funding of which charities are just (!) one. (NB there are, of course, centrally collected and analysed patient stats in NZ albeit collected through the various DHBs) For technical questions and the likes they often would (and should) have to consult experts and those are always overcommitted with patient time, etc.
NZ is a small nation and obviously relies heavily on research from overseas. I think that from a clinical point of view research is predominantly focussed on (curative) treatment (and palliative care) and treatment options and this immediate focus moves to early detection & diagnosis as the next priority. From a scientist’s point of view the focus appears to be more on understanding the mechanism of disease that could (ultimately) lead to better treatments. The effects of occupational exposure and its association with the development of cancer may be relegated to a level of lower priority and/or less interest; it may be more relevant to regulatory agencies such as OSH and ACC in NZ but to my knowledge these institutions don’t fund research. This is a little ironic as prevention is better than cure. This is not a NZ thing but a global observation and/or phenomenon.
The NZ Cancer Society puts a lot of emphasis (and money!) on prevention and reducing cancer risk and has been trying really hard to get the important messages out to the general public (incl. schools and EC centres). For example: https://auckland-northland.cancernz.org.nz/reducing-cancer-risk/
Much research from Europe…with Odds Ratios for some types of pesticides that make even a statistically challenged person such as myself sit up and think.
Despite a poster in the haematology clinic listing pesticide exposure as a possible cause of some leukaemias we got zero interest from the medicos when we named the pesticide my partner had had extraordinary exposure to….a chemical which was designed to be a spindle toxin…interfering with rapidly dividing cells…including human lymphocytes at frighteningly low concentrations.
which clearly states…”Undoubtedly, these benzimidazole compounds
will become useful as experimental tools in the
study of microtubule structure and function in
cells. Their use, however, in agriculture as fungicides
and, quantitatively on a minor scale, in veterinary
medicine, should be reconsidered from the
point of view of their mechanism of action. Interference
of MBC with nuclear division in mammalian
cells has been found to occur in vitro (27, 59,
67) and in vivo (59, 67). This implies a potential
genetic risk for man. The toxicology and genetic
effects of benzimidazole compounds have recently
been reviewed by Seiler (59). We agree with him
that the use of pesticides with this type of action
should be restricted.”
And yet, we still, here in Godzone, allow this shit to be loaded into helicopters and sprayed with no controls or regulatory enforcement whatsoever.
And it may be of interest to look into other uses of carbendazim…(2-methyl benzimidazole carbamate)….like replacing formaldehyde for protecting goods from rotting in transit…(it can’t be detected…)
I’ll gladly help, if I can, but this is getting quite specific & technical for OM/TS. That said, OM might be a little like the news-cycle, i.e. short-lived and I think (hope!) it’ll be o.k. to use this space & forum for now; we can go offline if necessary.
I am/was not familiar with the stuff that you linked to and it would require a lot of time & effort to really get into this and review it properly. However, it appears to be a topic that is and has been on your mind so I’ll give it a shot anyway 😉 [it’s rather long; my apologies beforehand]
I noticed that a few papers that you linked to were quite old and science does move on, sometimes very fast. When looking at a paper in PubMed I often look at whether it has been cited in/by other PubMed Central articles (RH side of the screen). Another option to use is LinkOut – more resources beneath the Abstract on the PubMed screen.
The ACC Review (Issue 38) was published over 10 years ago and was “[A] distillation of best practice reflecting ACC’s current position” at the time. As such, it used some data that are now quite dated/out of date, e.g. the New Zealand incidence rates of leukaemia were from 2002 (ref. #6). More recent stats give slightly lower numbers and there has not been an increase in the rate of leukaemia or NHL over 10 years (2006-2015) (https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/new-cancer-registrations-2015-final.xlsx; published 14 Dec 2017). The wording in the ACC Review is careful and although associations between occupational exposures (to known risk factors) and haematological cancers have been observed “the results have been inconsistent”.
Any treating haematologist will be focussing, first and foremost, on diagnosis, treatment, and management of the disease and (much) less so on any possibly association with an occupational origin/cause.
Leukaemia and occupation: a New Zealand Cancer Registry-based case-control Study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18953052). This study was published in 2009. It reported associations between occupation/industry and adult leukaemia but did not show any association let alone a causative link with a specific occupational exposure.
High risk occupations for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in New Zealand: case-control study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18032530). A very similar paper as far as I can tell published a year earlier. Interestingly, one of the citing PubMed Central articles was a much more recent one:
Occupation and Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Its Subtypes: A Pooled Analysis from the InterLymph Consortium (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26340796); published in 2016. Again, the conclusions are cautious and tentative without pointing to an (occupational) exposure to a specific chemical:
CONCLUSIONS: Our pooled analysis of 10 international studies adds to evidence suggesting that farming, hairdressing, and textile industry-related exposures may contribute to NHL risk. Associations with women’s hairdresser and textile occupations may be specific for certain NHL subtypes. [my italics]
Pesticides and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1394159). Published in 1992 this paper reviews other even older studies and again just showed that the rising incidence of NHL coincided with a rise in the use of pesticides, particularly of a certain class of herbicides prior to and during that time period. It appears to ignore that there usually is a (long) lag between exposure and the manifestation of cancer. Again, one of the citing articles is quite telling:
Prospective cohort studies are perceived by many as the strongest epidemiologic design. It allows updating of information on exposure and other factors, collection of biologic samples before disease diagnosis for biomarker studies, assessment of effect modification by genes, lifestyle, and other occupational exposures, and evaluation of a wide range of health outcomes. Increased use of prospective cohorts would be beneficial in identifying hazardous exposures in the workplace. Occupational epidemiologists should seek opportunities to initiate prospective cohorts to investigate high priority, occupational exposures. [my italics]
Evaluation of thresholds for benomyl- and carbendazim-induced aneuploidy in cultured human lymphocytes using fluorescence in situ hybridization (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10633176); published in 2000. This study looked at cells in the laboratory and showed that these two related agricultural fungicides caused changes in the number of chromosomes in the white blood cells. However, it did not show that the compounds also caused haematological cancers. In fact, one of the citing articles is on a similar/related compound of the same class of benzimidazoles that showed that its active metabolite also caused changes in the number and structure of chromosomes in cells in the lab as well as in treated animals. The last sentence of the Abstract is quite telling:
Based on the lack of carcinogenicity of this class of benzimidazoles and the intended short-term dosing, it is unlikely that flubendazole treatment will pose a carcinogenic risk to patients. [my italics]
Genotoxicity of flubendazole and its metabolites in vitro and the impact of a new formulation on in vivo aneugenicity (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26443851); published in 2016.
I’d better leave it at this to avoid raising the ire of the TS powers that be 😉
For further technical questions and assistance you could try and contact Associate Professor Andrea ‘t Mannetje, for example; her contact details are available online.
Incognito…firstly, I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I am seeking help of any sort…I’m not.
With all due respect, Incognito, you could be anyone….an academic, an analytical chemist, a politician or a plant protection product peddler….
And while you seem to be keen to reassure me that there is no solid scientific proof of chemical ‘A’ being linked to disease ‘B’ and this is why (presumably) these chemicals are still in widespread use and I shouldn’t be too concerned….I recall medical professionals (but not actual doctors) sidling up to me and whispering that they simply knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that some agrichemicals cause some leukaemias. Even the densest nurse (the one who just did her job and asked no questions and never went beyond the boundaries of her limited training) surprised me one day by telling me how much she’d learned about farming and horticulture just chatting to her chemo patients.
You quote from the abstract for the Bentley paper….did you read the entire paper? Very interesting…and even more so because this research was funded by du Pont..who held the patent for benomyl and carbendazim. I say held…not now, its anyone’s…and since then most developed nations have effectively banned the widespread use of both benomyl and carbendazim… but not here, ’cause we’re special.
And I notice you didn’t mention the truly ancient paper from 1977 I linked to.
That wee gem…https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2110979/pdf/jc721174.pdf I found in the references for a Ministry of Health Food Safety paper justifying the MRL for carbendazim (2-methyl benzimidazole carbamate MBC) being set at 10 times higher than in Europe.
Rips my undies that I can’t link to it…but the writer of the paper had also zoomed in on a few supporting words in the abstract and introduction…and clearly failed to read through to the “Interference
of MBC with nuclear division in mammalian cells has been found to occur in vitro (27, 59,67) and in vivo (59, 67). This implies a potential
genetic risk for man. The toxicology and genetic effects of benzimidazole compounds have recently been reviewed by Seiler (59). We agree with him that the use of pesticides with this type of action should be restricted.” bit.
So…on we go, same as always, spraying nasty chemicals with gay abandon and implying that those with concerns about the potential adverse effects on humans and other organisms are uneducated tinfoilhatwearers.
Here in Godzone it is considered perfectly acceptable for one person to contaminate another person’s land, food crops, water supply and family with a hazardous substance.
First of all I’d like to apologise for the misunderstanding and for possibly coming across as patronising. It was my genuine intention to help.
Indeed, I could be anyone and my pen name here on TS is deliberate so that people can only judge me on my writings and nothing more and nothing else.
Now I have put a bit of time into reading the material and thinking about it I’d like to share my views, also on the off chance that others stumble on this thread. My views are a little divergent from yours 😉
You have probably heard the platitude that science is never settled and this is certainly true for medical science. I personally cringe when I hear somebody stating something with absolute certainty, particularly in the context of science, and most definitely in the context of cancer. In a similar vein, science cannot and must not ‘say it’s o.k.’; it creates and tests knowledge and establishes its boundaries, presents data & information, and simulates & predicts real and/or virtual situations and/or scenarios with associated probabilities (statistics; boundaries). As with all human endeavours, science is not perfect or flawless; in the ideal case at a given time, it’s our best attempt at understanding & explaining stuff – it is fallible though.
Yes, I did read the Bentley paper. I could point out the limitations of this paper for the extrapolation to living organisms from living cells in culture in the lab. The point is that the two mitotic spindle inhibitors (i.e. benomyl and its active metabolite carbendazim) don’t directly interact with DNA but bind to a protein called tubulin (NB very effective anti-cancer drugs are tubulin binders/inhibitors, e.g. Taxol/Paclitaxel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paclitaxel). As indeed expected, this causes changes in number and structure of chromosomes when cells divide (NB white blood cells don’t divide (in blood); it’s the stem cells in the bone marrow that undergo cell division that ultimately produce the (fully differentiated) blood cells). However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that these compounds also cause cancer and due to the lack of any strong supporting evidence they are classified as possible carcinogens. The authors concluded:
In conclusion, the results of this study and the studies of Elhajouji et al. [21, 27] demonstrate that the induction of aneuploidy by mitotic spindle inhibitors exhibits a characteristic dose–response pattern which includes a threshold. The shape of the dose–response curve is similar to that of a ligand-receptor mediated mechanism of action, in this case, the binding to tubulin and the inhibition of microtubule function. Only when the critical threshold concentration is reached and a sufficient number of spindle fibers are affected is aneuploidy induced. Therefore concentrations below the threshold are expected to have no biologically adverse effect.
I did not mention the paper from 1977 because it’s indeed “truly ancient” and because my comment was already getting very long (same again this time …). Based on their knowledge & understanding at the time (in 1976) they stated an (informed) opinion but not a fact!
“It contains shed loads of data on carbendazim, e.g. “[A]ll benomyl registrations were voluntarily cancelled by registrants, effective in January 2002.” and “[S]ince 2014 benomyl is no longer able to be manufactured in or imported into NZ.” (pg. 106 bottom).”
Methinks you are being just a tad deceitful there Incognito…while Benomyl was used in some older formulations, benomyl rapidly degrades to release carbendazim.
Carbendazim is the active ingredient, it is a known mutagen and is most damaging to rapidly dividing cells thus harmful to growing fungi (until they develop resistance), cancer cells, (has been seriously considered, but collateral damage would be expected), sperm production in mammals, immune system function in mammals and birds(even at low concentrations) and foetal growth.
Back to your cherry picked quote…carbendazim is the active ingredient in a number of agrichemical products still manufactured and sold in New Zealand.
Also interesting to compare NZ MRLs for carbendazim to those of the European Union.
Anyone other than Incognito who is bored enough to be following this conversation should really check out those Maximum Residue Limits….some of ours are set at ten times higher than the EU.
One major and quite possibly the main reason why benomyl usage stopped, worldwide, was the fact that the target organisms (i.e. fungi) rapidly developed resistance to it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benomyl).
I thought it was interesting to read that NZ had also stopped benomyl usage as such and thought you’d be interested too; I don’t think this amounts to being “being just a tad deceitful” 🙁
Benzimidazole fungicides include benomyl, carbendazim, fuberidazole, thiabendazole, thiophanate and thiophanate-methyl. They all generate MBC (methyl benzimidazol carbamate), either as the principal active ingredient, or as a breakdown compound formed on mixing with water. [my italics]
I agree that carbendazim has many biological effects but it does not act directly on DNA and there is currently not enough evidence for a causative link to the development of cancer in humans, which is the reason why it (still) is classified as a possible human carcinogen. In addition, because its primary action is through interfering with tubulin, there is a safe dose below which no biological effects are (can be) observed, the so-called threshold (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dose%E2%80%93response_relationship). This is different from ionizing radiation, for example, which has a direct damaging effect on DNA and therefore has no safe dose or threshold (although this is a controversial topic, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis).
I did not “cherry pick[ed] [a] quote” and actually cited & quoted (with links!) a number of quite long and complicated technical documents; they all are freely accessible via the internet for your or anybody’s perusal. I started to engage with this material (and you!) only a few days ago and I have no personal interest in this other than a (intellectual) curiosity (and a somewhat misguided wish to ‘help’).
You mentioned before (@ 10 January 2018 at 12:01 am) “a Ministry of Health Food Safety paper justifying the MRL for carbendazim (2-methyl benzimidazole carbamate MBC) being set at 10 times higher than in Europe” and I provided a link; was that the paper you were referring to? If so, could you please point to the “justifying” section? I note that many of European MRLs are set at the detection limit of ca. 0.1 mg/kg.
We do eat shedloads of haricot beans. Usually from a can and in tomato(ish) sauce.
But really, they complement each other – I actually had beef stir fry with a five bean mix a few days ago. I’m at one extreme – had a dietician who managed to get me out of the habit of eating a roast, just the roast, nothing else, on a plate – but if I’d replaced the beef with just another bean, it would have been quite unnice.
Same here, lots of canned beans but I haven’t looked back since I cottoned on to Geeta’s, a great, high turnover supplier of dried beans/dahls and all things deliciously aromatic.
This article touches on it.
Simple statistics and probability tell us that.
‘But a downward turn lies somewhere ahead, be it a recession, slump or, God forbid, crash. A necessary part of the energy of economic cycles comes from the ebbing of each wave.
History suggests that the next recession is not far off.
The current expansion, though relatively weak, has been steady since June 2009, making this the third-longest upward climb on record.’
And then there are all the economic and political factors that will trigger a collapse. Of the crises proffered below, I think Chiina’s Debt bubble will be straw that breaks the camel’s back.
And if it is that, NZ will be hit hard.
A dairy industry laden with debt will buckle.
‘. It’s not hard to imagine shocks that could trigger a drop.
Democrats could win control of the House and ignite an impeachment crisis.
Mueller’s investigation could take an unsettling turn.
The Federal Reserve could raise interest rates faster than the economy can digest them.
Or the opposite: The Fed could move too slowly and smoldering inflation could catch fire.
China’s debt bubble could burst.
North Korea could erupt.
Or the very real threat, dreaded by Trump’s own economic advisers: The president could deliver on his trade war threats.’
If a recession is coming to the States, it’s likely to be driven primarily by the Republican Party slashing public spending.
That said, I have as much expertise on these matters as Drehle, which is to say none at all.
Any chance you could start using “blockquote” to make it easier to determine which parts of your comments are cut ‘n’ paste and which are your comment? It’d be the polite thing to do.
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In mid-April, as New Zealand entered its fourth week of alert level 4, the Prime Minister warned us not to make comparisons with other countries over our Covid-19 pandemic response. This extraordinary advice came after Simon Bridges had urged the government to adopt a less-stringent lockdown similar to those in ...
Wales has lowered the voting age to 16: 16 and 17 year olds can now officially vote in Wales for Senedd elections. Votes at 16 & 17 come into force on Monday, as part of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020. Next year’s Senedd elections will ...
The government announced more changes to the ETS today, including to the emissions budget for 2021 - 2025. The overall budget for that period will stay at 354 million tons of CO2-equivalent. But the ETS component of that - stockpile reduction, free allocation, and credits to be auctioned - budget ...
The new National Party leader, Todd Muller, had been at pains to portray himself as a solid, serious, safe pair of hands, in contrast to the increasingly Trumpian leanings of Simon Bridges, who Muller deposed in a leadership coup last Friday. But after an uneventful, if uninspiring, first press conference, ...
Minneapolis Police StationIf you’ve been keeping an eye on recent events in the United States, you’ll likely understand why there’s so much anger on the streets at the moment. Not only did police officers murder another black man; it is patently obvious that authorities initially attempted to cover up George ...
Becoming the leader of a political party is a bit like having a baby. Not so much the screaming and sleepless nights, as the fact that you’ve waited and hope and planned for something and it’s finally here. And when that wonderful gift finally arrives, you want to be ready, ...
The US appears to be headed towards what Antonio Gramsci and other Italian political theorists call an “organic crisis of the State.” It involves the simultaneous and compounded fractures of economy, society and politics, which together constitute a tipping point in a nation’s history. Social contradictions are exacerbated, class and ...
Like the rest of the world, I have been aghast at what I have seen of, and read and heard about, what is happening currently in the United States. It seems incredible that a once great country should be suffering the worst effects and the highest number of deaths worldwide ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week...
Climate concerns as Siberia experiences record-breaking heatHeat wave sparks concerns about devastating wildfire season and melting permafrost.Satellite ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 24 through Sat, May 30, 2020Editor's ChoiceAntarctic Ocean Reveals New Signs of Rapid Melt of Ancient Ice, Clues About Future Sea Level RiseA study of seafloor ripples ...
It’s almost painful to watch. Let’s be honest, maybe a pleasure too, in some quarters, but painful nonetheless. Because the fact is, for a democracy to function properly, any sitting Government does need honest and proper Opposition so that it doesn’t get ahead of itself. That’s what we should ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk A banner on the International Energy Agency website spells it out in bold font: “The global oil industry is experiencing a shock like no other in its history.” As the response to the coronavirus pandemic upends the lives of billions of ...
The ownership of newspapers and televison channels is in turmoil, and they want to redisorganise public broadcasting. *Three years ago, I expressed concern in a column about the future of the (traditional) media. Nothing has happened since to reduce the concern. It was based on an earlier column which ...
Australia's High Court has ruled that the "palace letters" between the queen and then-Governor-General John Kerr are public records rather than private papers: Historian Jenny Hocking has won her High Court bid to access the letters exchanged between then governor-general Sir John Kerr and the Queen around the time of ...
SATURDAY MAY 30Six60: Live at Western Springs 2020 (TVNZ 1, 8.45pm). Remember live concerts? The day will come again, friends, when we will be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in an uncomfortable sweaty venue with people we don’t know. It will happen. Sometimes the sound of concerts drifts over to the ...
New Zealand and its prime minister Jacinda Ardern have received international attention and praise, rightly so, for decisive leadership, clear communication and scientific management of the coronavirus pandemic. Observers point out that the nation has been through multiple crises under Ardern’s leadership – such as the Christchurch terrorist attack and ...
…a lot of things unrelated to the pandemic were happening. Relatively little attention was given to some major events on the global stage, so I thought I would do a quick recap of some of the high (or low) -lights, starting with something familiar. The common theme throughout is human ...
Labour's talk of gutting the RMA to push through "shovel ready" projects to boost employment after the pandemic predictably has every half-arsed pipe-dream crawling out of the woodwork demanding special treatment. Today, it's the West Coast inbreds, who are demanding a host of laws be rescinded so they can dig ...
"I can't breathe, Mama. I'm dying." - Last words of George Floyd.LOOK HARD at this image. Think about what it depicts. Ask yourself how one human-being could behave so brutally when so many eye-witnesses – and very soon millions of people online around the world – were there to watch ...
Since the government announced its pandemic wage subsidy, there have been regular stories about companies taking it and then sacking or refusing to pay their workers - essentially committing fraud. But how often does this happen? The Minister just doesn't want to know: Government ministers are not receiving up to ...
"You call that a conservative?Nah, this is a conservative!" New Zealanders are in the market for a quiet and reassuring small-c conservative political centrist. The critical question, however, is which politician is currently playing that role? Who has mastered the art of relaxed, informal and intimate political communication? Who ...
I’VE OFTEN WONDERED if South African immigrants passing through towns like Kerikeri and Kaikohe ever wonder how we do it. In their homeland, through the bitter years of Apartheid, keeping the races segregated required pass laws, Alsatian dogs, tear gas, rubber bullets and, all-too-often, live rounds. Not here. Not in ...
Below is the list of gender-critical material which appeared on Redline from July 31, 2019 to September 30, 2019. Sports categories must be by sex, not gender identity Queer theory glossary Woke misogyny and homophobia: a gay critique of trans ideology Another unfortunate experiment? New Zealand’s transgender health policy and ...
Smart Energy Europe: A Plan to provide 100% of ALL ENERGY using Renewable Energy to EuropeIntroductionAll Energy renewable energy systems are often commented on here at Skeptical Science. Many comments suggest that it will be difficult, expensive or impossible to use renewable energy to power the world. To ...
The government released its Action for Healthy Waterways package today, ostensibly with the goal of cleaning up our rivers and making them swimmable within a generation. Doing that, of course, requires confronting the cow in the room: the dairy industry which causes most of the pollution. But while they've imposed ...
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.nzI would like to know if New Zealand’s carbon emissions ...
Simon Lamb, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Timothy Stern, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonBack in the 1970s, scientists came up with a revolutionary idea about how Earth’s deep interior works. They proposed it is slowly churning like a lava lamp, with buoyant ...
Remember KiwiBuild? Previously the government's flagship policy, it was supposed to build thousands of new homes every year for kiwi families. But instead of flooding the market, we've got a pathetic dribble: The Government's former flagship housing policy is so far behind schedule it will take more than 400 years ...
Don Franks Now Covid-19 restrictions allow gatherings of a hundred, an urgent hui needs calling. A special conference of the Council of Trade Unions. Today, workers face the greatest attack on employment, pay and conditions since the depression, we need a strong united union voice. As it stands now, organised ...
George Henderson New Zealand schools have introduced a climate change resource that suggests children “eat less meat and dairy”, even though teachers will not know how much meat or dairy any child in their care has eaten. Opinion pieces in the papers have called for the reduction of meat and ...
Questioning the number of district health boards in New Zealand has got to the extent that “too many DHBs” has become a perceived truth requiring no further elaboration. It is rarely challenged by policy advisers, academics, and journalists. But when one drills down further it becomes clear that the number ...
The emergence of a new National party leader, seemingly out of nowhere, has – not surprisingly – raised a number of questions as to who Todd Mulller actually is and what makes him tick. He has been an MP for some time but seems to have hidden his light under ...
Costa Rica has become the first country in Central America to recognise same-sex marriage: The first same-sex weddings have taken place in Costa Rica, the first Central American country to equalise its marriage legislation. A lesbian couple became the first to tie the knot in a ceremony that took ...
There's a new twist in the Winston Peters secret donation story. It appears that a significant chunk of NZ First's secret laundered donations goes straight into the pockets of the people administering the scheme: Tens of thousands in donor's funds given to the New Zealand First Foundation were spent paying ...
Is Todd Muller the Ned Flanders of the National Party? This is how he’s been characterised by political commentator Gordon Campbell, who suggests the change in leadership is, in Simpsons terms, akin to swapping the scary and cruel Monty Burns for Homer Simpson’s compassionate but conservative neighbour. There’s almost a ...
We all know that many so-called journalists and political commentators in New Zealand work directly or indirectly for political parties or for certain political factions. This was obviously the case when pundit for hire Matthew Hooton launched a campaign against then National Party leader, Simon Bridges, over their numerous polling ...
Let's Roll! The easy victory over a Bridges-led National Party which the Left had every cause to anticipate just a few days ago is no longer in the offing. Our enemy’s position has changed. His numbers are swelling. A rapid thrust to the left, followed by an audacious outflanking manoeuvre ...
New National Party leader Todd Muller has been interviewed about his policies, and has promised to restart offshore fossil fuel exploration if elected: The Bay of Plenty MP rolled former leader Simon Bridges last week, but says the party has not changed its stance on previous promises. "That is ...
Anyone who keeps an eye on evidence around cannabis and public health will be familiar with the Christchurch Health and Development Study. It's one of two local longitudinal studies frequently cited with respect to cannabis and youth development. But in a new article in the New Zealand Medical Journal, it is ...
In the age of covid we are Jacinda’s team of five million, except for some. There has rarely been a more blatant case of discrimination against beneficiaries than Grant Robertson’s announcement yesterday that people who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus will receive weekly payments of $490 per week for 12 weeks and $250 per week for part time ...
It was 75 years ago this month that Germany surrendered and the Allies celebrated VE (Victory in Europe) Day. Millions of people around the world had been killed and many more injured or captured. It was an end to war not just for Europeans, but their allies too, in countries across Africa. But its impact is ...
Well, we are out of lockdown, essentially. I did end up getting the wage subsidy while we were on levels 3 and 4 but I would have been fine if we didn’t. The first day of level 2, the Thursday, the office opened again for the people who weren’t able ...
Watching Todd Muller make his first speech as the newly minted Leader of the Opposition after Simon Bridges’ defenestration on Friday brought to mind a headmaster addressing a school assembly. He showed no particular desire to ingratiate himself with his audience although the occasional flash of self-deprecating humour indicated a ...
The government has announced another income support scheme for people affected by the economic aftershocks of the pandemic: a $490 a week tax-free payment for the newly unemployed, which you can get even if you have a working partner. Which is great, because its supporting people who need help, but ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced two diplomatic appointments: New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India and Consul-General to Hong Kong. “As New Zealand recovers from COVID-19, our diplomatic and trade networks are more important than ever. That is ...
We started the week by announcing free apprenticeships to support Kiwis into work and to help get New Zealand moving again - and we ended the week by extending the wage subsidy to 40,000 more businesses, helping to protect businesses and workers alike. ...
We’re confident in the ability of Kiwi businesses to succeed in the face of COVID-19, and our Government is committed to doing our bit to enable that success. Kiwi businesses have always been innovative and resilient, and the COVID-19 pandemic has proven this yet again. Many businesses are finding new, creative ...
New Zealand First is pleased to release the names of its first tranche of candidates for the 2020 election. The includes all sitting New Zealand First Members of Parliament except Clayton Mitchell MP who earlier today announced he will not be seeking re-election. In alphabetical order they are: MP ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Tauranga New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell has decided not to seek re-election in this year’s General Election. “After serious consideration and discussion with my family, I have decided to pursue other passions in my life and spend a lot ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has announced that new Lockheed Martin Super Hercules aircraft would replace the outdated and costly 1960s Hercules fleet. The $1.521b project will include a flight simulator for staff training and other supporting infrastructure. "This fleet will ensure the Defence Force can continue to support New Zealand's ...
The Green Party is urging the New Zealand Police to rule out the use of Armed Response Teams, following their recent trial in communities around Aotearoa. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has described Labour's original COVID-19 commercial rent dispute proposal as "poorly targeted". Justice Minister Andrew Little hasannounced a temporary law changeto force commercial landlords and renters to consider COVID-19 in disputes over rent issues, almost two months after the Government first floated the idea. But ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First acknowledges that some small businesses have been struggling to meet fixed costs due to the loss of revenue by COVID-19. We also know some businesses are at greater risk of insolvency when they cannot come to a reasonable ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First is disappointed that the removal of the spousal deductions has had to be delayed by the Ministry fo Social Development, due to COVID19 workload pressures. “New Zealand First has always stood for fairness when it comes to superannuation ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First On the steps of Parliament today the Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters received a petition from registered nurse Anna Maria Coervers, requesting an amendment to the Protection for First Responders Bill which will ensure the legislation also include registered ...
It's been a busy seven days as we start to rebuild New Zealand together. From delivering extra support for small businesses, to investing in our artists and arts organisations, to cutting red tape on home DIY projects, we're rolling out our plan to get the economy and New Zealand moving ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says alert level 2 restrictions have to be discussed during today's Cabinet meeting. Thousands gathered across the country, including at Parliament, yesterday forBlack Lives Matter marcheswhere social distancing and mass gathering rules were flouted. Mr Peters said the breaching of Alert Level 2 rules at ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State Owned Enterprises KiwiRail’s Northland rail upgrade steps up another gear today and will help Northland recover from the impacts of COVID-19, State Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters says. The Government is investing $204.5 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to ...
“Today and every day we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family, friends and community who feel pain and fear about his untimely death at the hands of Minneapolis police”, said Green Party Co-leader and Māori Development spokesperson Marama Davidson. ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation The West Coast forests of Mount Te Kinga at Kotuku Whakaoho/Lake Brunner are the latest predator free project to receive Government funding, announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
The Green Party says major freshwater reforms announced today provide the strongest ever protections of our waterways, to help ensure the next generation can swim in the rivers of Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party has begun the process for a Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation, which has been exposed during COVID-19 as an under-regulated sector that straddles students with unfair debt. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Hon Dr David Clark, Minister of Health Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, and Health Minister David Clark today announced a COVID-19 vaccine strategy, ...
Budget 2020 is about rebuilding together, supporting jobs, getting business moving and the books back into the black. It’s an integral part of our COVID-19 economic response, and our plan to grow our economy and get New Zealand moving again.Here’s a quick look at the five top things you ...
The Green Party is pleased to reveal its candidate list for the upcoming election. With a mix of familiar faces and fresh new talent, this exceptional group of candidates are ready to lead the Greens back into Government. ...
The Coalition Government has approved $206 million in essential upgrades at Ōhakea Air Base. Defence Minister Ron Mark said the money would be spent on improving old infrastructure. He said safety issues would be addressed, as well as upgrades to taxiways, accommodation and fresh, storm and waste water systems. "This ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First “I am not persisting with this case just for myself, but for all people who have had their privacy breached. Privacy of information is a cornerstone of our country’s democracy. Without it our society truly faces a bleak future. We now ...
Hon Tracey Martin, Minister for ChildrenA major increase in funding and availability of support will improve the incomes and reduce the pressure on 14,000 caregivers looking after more than 22,000 children.Children’s Minister Tracey Martin says that caregivers – all those looking after someone else’s children both in and ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones has introduced a Bill to Parliament that he says will "force more transparency, integrity and respect" for the domestic wood-processing sector through the registration of log traders and practice standards. The Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill had its first reading in ...
This summer presents a great opportunity for New Zealanders to get out into nature with bookings on Great Walks for 2020/21 set to open next week, says Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. Bookings for the Great Walks will open between 9 and 11 June, excluding Milford and Routeburn tracks which ...
Extra 40,000 businesses to be eligible for wage subsidy extension Small business cashflow support application period extended The Government is today announcing further support for businesses that continue to be affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic, as the broader economy becomes one of the most open in the world following ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed five Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Super Hercules transport aircraft will be purchased to replace the existing fleet, Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “Last year, Cabinet selected these aircraft as the preferred option to replace the current Hercules fleet. Procurement of the Super Hercules has been ...
New public housing that will save tenants money in energy bills, and provide warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes, is setting the standard for the Government’s future public housing programme, Housing Minister Megan Woods said. Dr Woods opened the new Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities complex, which has a ...
The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage is celebrating World Environment Day with an announcement of a major step towards Wairarapa Moana being recognised as an internationally significant wetland. “Wairarapa Moana is an ecosystem of 10,000 hectares of wetland and open water that provides a home for indigenous fish, birds and ...
A new-look Police graduation ceremony to take account of COVID19 health rules has marked the completion of training for 57 new constables. Police Minister Stuart Nash attended this afternoon's ceremony, where officers of Recruit Wing 337 were formally sworn in at the Royal New Zealand Police College without the normal support of ...
Mobile traders and truck shops must adhere to responsible lending requirements Interest rate cap on high-cost loans Lenders prohibited from offering further credit to an applicant who has taken two high-cost loans in the past 90 days The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi, has signalled an end ...
94% of firms say wage subsidy had positive impact on cashflow 62% of firms say support helped to manage non-wage costs like rent A survey of business that have received the Government’s wage subsidy show it has played a significant role in saving jobs, and freed up cash flow to ...
New legislation introduced to Parliament today will support growth and assist businesses on the road to economic recovery, said Revenue Minister Stuart Nash. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2020-21, Feasibility Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Bill proposes that businesses can get tax deductions for ‘feasibility expenditure’ on new investments,” said Mr ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson has welcomed the first release of funds from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced as part of Budget 2020. Sport NZ has announced that $4.6 million in funding will go to the Wellington Phoenix, NZ Warriors, Super Rugby teams and the ANZ Premiership ...
An iconic New Zealand tourism attraction and the country’s 31 Regional Tourism Organisations are the first recipients of support from the $400 million Tourism Sector Recovery Plan, to help position the sector for recovery from COVID-19, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. The plan includes a Strategic Tourism Assets Protection ...
The Government will legislate to ensure businesses that suffered as a result of the COVID-19 response will get help to resolve disputes over commercial rent issues, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. A temporary amendment to the Property Law Act will insert a clause in commercial leases requiring a fair ...
The Minister for Small Business says new data from Xero highlights the urgency of prompt payment practices to small and medium enterprises as we move into economic recovery. Last month Government ministers wrote to significant private enterprises and the banking industry to request they join efforts by government agencies to ...
Young people in Waikato will be the first to have free access to period products in schools in another step to support children and young people in poverty,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. During term 3, the Ministry of Education will begin providing free period products to schools following the ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash has issued the following statement in response to charges filed against three Police officers this morning in the New Plymouth District Court. “Any incident involving a loss of life in Police custody is taken very seriously. The charges today reflect the gravity of the ...
$196 million for Crown Research Institutes $150 million for R&D loan scheme $33 million for Māori research and development opportunities $12 million for the Nationally Significant Collections and Databases $10 million to help maintain in-house capability at Callaghan Innovation New Zealand’s entrepreneurs, innovators and crown researchers will benefit from a ...
Further temporary changes to NCEA and University Entrance (UE) will support senior secondary school students whose teaching and learning have been disrupted by COVID-19. “The wellbeing of students and teachers is a priority. As we are all aware, COVID-19 has created massive disruption to the school system, and the Government ...
Minister for Racing Winston Peters today announced that the terms for the directors of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) have been extended to 30 June 2021. Due to the COVID-19 crisis the transition period has been extended to ensure that the Racing Industry Bill can complete its progress through ...
The deadline for landlords to include detailed information in their tenancy agreements about how their property meets the Healthy Homes Standards, so tenants can see the home they are renting is compliant, has been extended from 1 July 2020 to 1 December 2020. The Healthy Homes Standards became law on 1 July 2019. The Standards are ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little today announced details of further appointments to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. “I am pleased to announce Paula Rose QSO OStJ as Deputy Chief Commissioner for a term of five years commencing on 15 June 2020,” said Andrew Little. “I am also pleased to announce the ...
The Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) will pay costs of learners of all ages to undertake vocational education and training The fund will target support for areas of study and training that will give learners better employment prospects as New Zealand recovers from COVID-19 Apprentices working in all industries ...
The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will finally start to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas pollution as it was originally intended to, because of changes announced today by the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw. The changes include a limit on the total emissions allowed within the ETS, rules to ensure ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List provides an abundance of examples that Pacific people’s leadership capability is unquestionable in Aotearoa. “The work and the individuals we acknowledge this year highlights the kind of visionary examples and dedicated community leadership that we need ...
The Government is backing a new $27 million project aimed at boosting sustainable horticulture production and New Zealand’s COVID-19 recovery efforts, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Our horticulture sector has long been one of New Zealand’s export star performers, contributing around $6 billion a year to our economy. During and ...
Applications have opened for 2021 Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships, which will support more Māori and women to pursue careers in forestry science, says Forestry Minister Shane Jones. “I’m delighted Te Uru Rākau is offering Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships for the third year running. These ...
The Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List once again highlights the dedication by many to looking after our native plants and wildlife, including incredible work to restore the populations of critically endangered birds says Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. Anne Richardson of Hororata has been made an Officer of the New ...
The Government will invest $10 million from the One Billion Trees Fund for large-scale planting to provide jobs in communities and improve the environment, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and Forestry Minister Shane Jones have announced. New, more flexible funding criteria for applications will help up to 10 catchment groups plant ...
Organisations that support women are invited to apply to a new $1,000,000 fund as part of the Government’s COVID-19 response. “We know women, and organisations that support women, have been affected by COVID-19. This new money will ensure funding for groups that support women and women’s rights,” said Minister for ...
Healthier waterways are front and centre in a new project involving more than 300 King Country sheep, beef and dairy farmers. The Government is investing $844,000 in King Country River Care, a group that helps farmers to lift freshwater quality and farming practice, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “Yesterday ...
A major funding package for libraries will allow them to play a far greater role in supporting their communities and people seeking jobs as part of the economic recovery from COVID-19. “Budget 2020 contains over $60 million of funding to protect library services and to protect jobs,” says Internal Affairs ...
A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package in a crucial economic boost to support the ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has welcomed the First Reading of a Bill that will make legislative changes to further improve the veterans’ support system. The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill No 2, which will amend the Veterans’ Support Act 2014, passed First Reading today. The bill addresses a number of ...
Views sought on Order in Council to help fast track the reinstatement of the Christ Church Cathedral The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Poto Williams, will be seeking public written comment, following Cabinet approving the drafting of an Order in Council aimed at fast-tracking the reinstatement of the ...
The law setting out New Zealanders’ basic civil and human rights is today one step towards being strengthened following the first reading of a Bill that requires Parliament to take action if a court says a statute undermines those rights. At present, a senior court can issue a ‘declaration of ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today reiterated the deep concern of the New Zealand Government following confirmation by China’s National People’s Congress of national security legislation relating to Hong Kong. “New Zealand shares the international community’s significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand ...
Thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and heritage organisations have been given much-needed support to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern announced today. “The cultural sector was amongst the worst hit by the global pandemic,” Jacinda ...
Key New Zealand assets will be better protected from being sold to overseas owners in a way contrary to the national interest, with the passage of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Bill. The Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament today, also cuts unnecessary red tape to help attract ...
Setting higher health standards at swimming spots Requiring urban waterways to be cleaned up and new protections for urban streams Putting controls on higher-risk farm practices such as winter grazing and feed lots Setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other measures of waterway health Ensuring ...
The Government is on the verge of reaching its target of state sector boards and committees made up of at least 50 percent women, says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa. For the first time, the Government stocktake measures the number of Māori, ...
Wrapping everyone in a blanket of love, whakapapa and mauri for Matariki is the brave, exuberant and generous fabric art of Maungarongo Te Kawa, writes Amanda Thompson.E te AtuaNau enei rau harakeke he taongaTukuna ki a matouKia tika o matou mahiKo Papatuanuku e takoto neiTuturu WhakamauaKia tina, tinaHui eTaiki e.‘Karakia ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. ...
One press statement from the Beehive yesterday sounded more like advertising – or a barker’s pitch – than a Government announcement. Another advised of two diplomatic appointment, one of them – has the woman who landed the post done something wrong? – to protest-troubled and politically volatile Hong Kong. And ...
It’s not often that someone graduates from university one year and becomes a senior economist commentating on national media the next. George Driver investigates the meteoric rise of the high-flying Brad Olsen.Google “senior economist Brad Olsen” and you’ll find him quoted in no fewer than 167 articles in the past ...
As public sentiment turned against Uber Eats, a new local operation emerged promising a more ethical alternative to help New Zealand’s struggling hospitality industry. But now Eat Local NZ has suspended trading after falling out with its Australian partner Mr Yum. So what happened?A dispute between local hospitality platform Eat ...
By Budi Sutrisno in Jakarta As the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died while being arrested in the United States, sparks a global outcry, Indonesian rights advocates and young people have stepped forward to remind fellow citizens that racism has long been an issue at home as ...
Edward Cullen became a vampire to survive the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. Now a new Twilight novel looms and Laura Surynt, a New Zealander living in the UK, wants to live forever too. As I lay in bed this morning watching Instagram stories, Tayi Tibble told my reluctant little Capricorn ...
Over the lockdown period, thousands of people joined a Facebook group dedicated to remembering the nightlife of inner-city Auckland. Its creator Simon Grigg explains why it touched a chord in lockdown.Within a few days of The Lost Nightlife of Inner-city Auckland Facebook page accidentally going live on May 12, we ...
Throughout Anglo colonial states there is a constant habit of defining people who aren’t white as a problem, writes Aaron Smale in this personal essay. It was a balmy summer evening in the capital and cops were standing over a young brown man. I was walking down Courtenay Place on ...
"The countdown clock ticks 2, then 1, then the prime minister raises her drink": dystopia, by Ōtautahi writer Laura Borrowdale. You stand in the centre of the room, and around you, the guests seem to swirl and blend into one. There’s a mouth, gaping and red, filled with laughter. A ...
Martin Luther King Jr said in 1963: “America has given the Black people a bad cheque, a cheque which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’." Six generations of egregious police violence later, the sentiment out of which those bad cheques were born could be shifting. In the wake of egregious police violence, ...
WATCH: In a candid interview on Sky Sport, Dame Susan Devoy talks on her concern for rising sports stars, the state of NZ squash, and the spectre of racism. Dame Susan Devoy is proudly still “a little terrier who fights for the underdog”. “I have been doing it all my life and ...
Of the huge funding boost coming for early childhood education, Playcentre has been left with just the crumbs, writes Kate Barber. Amidst all the celebration of the $430m funding boost for early childhood education (ECE) announced in this year’s budget, little attention was paid to the plight of Playcentre. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vikrant Minhas, PhD candidate, University of Adelaide Although bacteria are single-celled and microscopically small, they still need energy to survive, just like us. One of the most efficient ways of acquiring energy for bacteria is through sweet, soluble carbohydrates: sugars. In fact, ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie Three cartoonists had especially poignant takes on the tragic and toxic political aftermath of martyr George Floyd’s brutal killing under the knee of a white American policeman in Minneapolis last week. The Boston Globe’s Christopher Weyant featured a split frame contrasting a red-capped “Make ...
Are central bankers jealous that epidemiologists are the rock stars of the current crisis?There is talk that both the British and New Zealand central banks might institute negative interest rates as part of the policy response to the Covid shock. While Sweden’s central bank ended its five year experiment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Monika Sarder, Senior Strategic Analyst, Monash University Algorithmic decision-making has enormous potential to do good. From identifying priority areas for first response after an earthquake hits, to identifying those at risk of COVID-19 within minutes, their application has proven hugely beneficial. But ...
LISTEN: This week's Extra Time podcast discusses racism in sport and the role of athletes and organisations in making a stand for good. Former Silver Fern and Black Fern Louisa Wall believes today's sports stars must have a social conscience and stand up against discrimination and divisiveness. Sport and politics, once ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Thomas, Associate professor, Flinders University We have seen ten days of protests in the United States over the death of George Floyd. While thousands of people have gathered to express their outrage peacefully, some demonstrations have been marred by vandalism and ...
40 percent of millennials have one, and an increasing number of GenXers and Baby Boomers do too. Two Cents' Worth delves into the world of side hustles. ...
Auckland writer Caroline Barron has a terrific book out today called Ripiro Beach: A Memoir of Life After Near Death. Here, she writes about the memoirs that have been a balm, a lesson, or both. Throughout my life, I’ve sought solace between the covers of books, particularly memoirs. There, I’ve learnt ...
An exclusive interview with Steve McSteverson about his traumatic and tragic ordeal this week.Many New Zealanders are struggling with the news that a children’s book not commissioned or authorised by Jacinda Ardern was advertised in a newsletter for children’s books. This horrific attack on New Zealanders whose ears are permanently ...
Air New Zealand staff are dismayed and angered at the company’s announcement to cut a further $150 million from their wage bill. On Friday, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Greg Foran, made the announcement to employees, who are still ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr. Bodean Hedwards, Lecturer, Monash University This week the leaders of India and Australia reaffirmed their mutual interest in closer diplomatic and economic ties. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during their long-delayed Thursday “virtual summit”: ...
The Herald reported this morning that MediaWorks was on the verge of selling its TV assets to US TV giant Discovery – but an internal email and senior source suggest the story may have been premature.A senior MediaWorks source has emphatically denied a report in the NZ Herald that a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gery Karantzas, Associate professor in Social Psychology / Relationship Science, Deakin University Life in lockdown has been tough on many relationships. But negotiating the transition back to “normal” as restrictions continue to lift could also be a challenge for couples. So what ...
A slight bounce in the economy is brightening the outlook as the country heads into the winter months, Radio NZ reports. Retail spending is up and NZ shares rose on Thursday for a third day running. Key indicators have led some economists to point to a faster recovery than expected. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Adelaide HomeBuilder is a good idea gone bad. It is possibly the most complex and least equitable program the government could have devised to deliver construction jobs. It gives $25,000 to people who already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Keller, Professor of Cognitive Science, Western Sydney University The coronavirus pandemic has silenced the world’s concert halls and opera theatres. Organisations specialising in live performance face an existential crisis under current restrictions on social gatherings, with up to 75% of people ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson, wearing his Sport and Recreation ministerial hat, can show he can be a big spender and draw voters’ attention to his largess each time he dispenses money from the funds under his control – or the control of an agency within his ministerial bailiwick. Yesterday he ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan University Scott Morrison wants to overhaul the skills workforce to ensure a better post-COVID-19 recovery. But there may not be enough people with the necessary skills to do so. And travel restrictions, which ...
As we transition out of a Covid-focused world and prepare for what comes next, New Zealand’s ICT industry is gearing towards growth.From app development helping track the Covid-19 virus to website engineering keeping businesses in touch and online, ICT knowledge has been crucial to keeping New Zealand working over the ...
Analysis: As New Zealand eases restrictions, it no longer has international precedent to look towards and must decide on its own how to reopen the economy while reducing the risk of a second wave of infections, Marc Daalder reports While most of the country eagerly awaits a likely move to ...
Ten days is too long. That from insurance claimant advocate, Ali Jones. EQC has today made contact with homeowners via email after accidentally releasing confidential details of 8000 insurance claims on May 26. Jones says although she has not received ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Penguin Classics, $24)Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. The other day, ...
Simon Day discovers how the voluntary carbon market allows both individuals and companies to offset their emissions at the same time as investing in native forest regeneration.When Celia Wade-Brown sold her first batch of carbon credits earned from the native forest on her Wairarapa farm, she had two customers: Z ...
Simon Day discovers how the voluntary carbon market allows both individuals and companies to offset their emissions at the same time as investing in native forest regeneration.When Celia Wade-Brown sold her first batch of carbon credits earned from the native forest on her Wairarapa farm, she had two customers: Z ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin. The conversation around the 2020 covid19 pandemic has been widely framed as ‘health versus the economy’. It has been quite political, with people leaning to the left emphasising ‘health’, and people leaning to the right emphasising ‘the economy’. A couple of weeks ago ...
Sam Brooks pays tribute to Alex Rider, and the new TV series that (finally) captures the spirit of the books.“What if James Bond was a teenager?”The concept for Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series is so simple but so brilliant. There’s a reason why the franchise has managed to sustain 12 ...
Analysis - The PM resists pressure to move immediately to level 1, Winston Peters' tactics play into the hands of the Opposition and the government at last works out a commercial rent solution, writes Peter Wilson. ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By COHAFrom Washington DC Federal charges against the four protectors of the Venezuelan Embassy, who defended the building in Washington DC against violent opposition crowds for several weeks between April 10 and May 16 of 2019, were completely dropped in a case that ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By COHA Editorial TeamFrom Washington DC The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) joins the Black Alliance for Peace[1] and other pro-democracy organizations throughout the world in calling for the United Nations to address the systemic violations of human rights by the police and ...
Being shot by police had a profound, transformational effect on Rob Mokaraka’s life in more ways than you’d expect. A new documentary, airing on Māori TV at 7.30pm on Sunday, explores the work he’s done to heal his own mind and to ensure nobody has to go through the same ...
Human rights watchdog TAPOL has condemned the demand by Indonesian prosecutors seeking 17 and five years imprisonment for West Papuan activists Buchtar Tabuni and Irwanus Uropmabin. On June 2, the Jayapura District Prosecutor’s Office issued 33 pages containing charges against the defendant Irwanus Uropmabin. In the document, the Public Prosecutor ...
The arrival of Dan Carter is far from the first time the ever-struggling Auckland team has hoped to turn around its fortunes with a star signing, writes Jamie Wall.New Zealand rugby Twitter is a generally desolate place, especially lately given that there’s been nothing to talk about ever since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Senior Lecturer in New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity US President Donald Trump delivered an address this week in which he threatened military action on the nation. Then he walked to the nearby St John’s Episcopal Church ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University Why do we burp? We sometimes also burp before meals, why does this happen? — Ahaana, age 7 That is a really interesting question, Ahaana! There ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Bell-James, Associate Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland After years of litigation, Australia’s highest court will today make a major decision on the fate of the controversial proposed expansion to the New Acland Coal mine in Queensland. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Williams, Associate Professor in Urban Ecology and Urban Horticulture, University of Melbourne Tomorrow is the first World Green Roof Day. Cities around the world will celebrate the well-documented environmental, economic and social benefits of green roofs. New ground-level green spaces are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Senior Lecturer, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Robodebt isn’t the only measure the government should consider withdrawing. Late last Friday, after a long press conference from the prime minister which avoided any mention of the topic, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Harvard University’s Alberto Alesina died suddenly of a heart attack on May 23. He was 63. His long-time colleague and friend Larry Summers wrote that before him, “there was no academic field of political economy. Today, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University What keeps democracies together? As America burns, Brazilians die and Europe braces for another wave of the coronavirus, the question assumes an alarming immediacy. If the answer is complicated in one way, it is ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Millions of dollars divvied up by Sport NZ, MSD’s problem with wrongly denied payments grows, and internal coalition battles emerge in time for election.It’s Friday, and there hasn’t been a lot of it recently, so we’re going to start with ...
The Government picks Waitomo caves as 'strategic tourism asset' and grants $4m to Tourism Holdings, boosting shares another 7.8 percent. Facebook staff and alumni revolt over Zuckerberg's inaction on Trump ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan NZ bestseller list and described by ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias.NON-FICTION 1 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55) 2 Stop Surviving Start Fighting by Jazz Thornton (Penguin Random House, $38) 3 So Delish! by Simone Anderson ...
Anomalies in the policy for superannuitants with overseas pensions are an indictment on the justice process in New Zealand, write Susan St John and Dr Claire Dale Along with many others, the Retirement Policy and Research Centre has worked assiduously for more than a decade to alert the public, policy-makers ...
A new study indicates native plants, despite their tendency to grow more slowly than exotic species like Pinus Radiata, are better at storing carbon in the soil for longer periods of time. ...
Systemic white violence against black Americans is alive and well, and it's white violence that sustains white supremacy Current scenes from the United States are both familiar and shocking. George Floyd’s life being brutally snuffed out by Minneapolis police, followed by peaceful protests of Floyd’s murder as well as legitimate ...
The US isn't the only country with a broken criminal justice system that works to criminalise and destroy the lives of black and brown families. Dylan Asafo puts forward two ways NZ could lead in dismantling systems of white supremacy. If you were to imagine a society without racial oppression, ...
The British Tribe Next Door attracted over 60 complaints of racist themes from viewers when it first aired in the UK. Now TVNZ is streaming it on its OnDemand service attracting concerns from members of Aotearoa’s African community and a letter from race relations commissioner Meng Foon.When The British Tribe ...
When approached by The Spinoff Jeanette Wilson denied having told participants in an online session that the product ‘lined the lungs’, despite clear evidence to the contrary.The Covid-19 crisis has sparked misinformation in every corner of the world. In New Zealand, a “psychic healer” whose fixations read like a conspiracy ...
The union movement launched a push earlier this week to double the legal minimum of sick leave from five days a year to 10. Is a change likely?What’s all this then?In light of the recent global pandemic putting the focus on health in the workplace, unions have called for changes ...
An African American pastor from George Floyd's community gives The Detail a special insight into what's happening there - and gives us hope for the future. “Nobody in America wants to be a racist.” David Hill is a pastor in the Third Ward neighbourhood of Houston where George Floyd grew ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When Ken Wyatt, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, last week effectively pronounced dead the prospect of a referendum on indigenous recognition being put to the people this parliamentary term, the demise of his hoped-for timetable ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Morrison government will significantly strengthen its scrutiny of foreign investment to protect sensitive national security technology and information and further ring fence the nation’s critical infrastructure. It will insert a new “national security test” ...
Open Mike 07/01/2018 
The 60 Years of New Zealand Television celebrations, such as they were, seemed to rely heavily on the classics: here we go again with Lynn of Tawa, A Week of It and the Country Calendar spoofs. Wonderful highlights of our televisual past, to be sure, but after hearing Paul Holmes’ ...2 hours ago
The Two Americas Collide: You gotta love the Americans marching for George Floyd and the fragile promises of the US Constitution. But, you also gotta keep your eye on the pale rider in the White House, and understand that behind him Hell follows.THE FRAGILITY of democracy’s promise is becoming clearer ...9 hours ago
Oliver Twist, famously asked for ‘more’. He did not challenge the system of workhouses – Dickens did – nor the authority of Beadle Bumble. He was only nine. I am often struck how critics of the current income maintenance system are like Oliver Twist. They ask for more, but they ...22 hours ago
New Zealand’s history as a sheep-farming nation means the command “Get in behind!” has long had a particular resonance — but not usually for journalists. However, in late March, as panic over the coronavirus pandemic surged around the world, Dr Gavin Ellis — former editor-in-chief of the NZ Herald — ...23 hours ago
When the New Zealand Police started using Armed Response Teams - gangs of heavily-armed police cruising Māori-Pacifica neighbourhoods in juiced-up gun-trucks - they told us it was a "trial". But it turns out that those armed police - who were mainly doing traffic stops and bail checks, rather than the ...1 day ago
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The Trump administration, after less than one full first term, has every likelihood of being adjudged the most anti-climate, anti-science, and anti-environment executive branch in U.S. history. With numerous high-level Trump nominees having cut their teeth as lobbyists with major polluting industries, the administration ...1 day ago
Another study comparing effect in children from nonendemic areas (Dagang) and endemic fluorosis area (Jinghai) about 80km apart in the Tianjin area of China. Hardly sampling the same population. Anti-fluoride campaigners still use studies from ... 2 days ago
George Thomson, Nick Wilson, Richard Edwards This blog discusses the passing of the Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Act last week. We briefly review some lessons from this legislation’s long journey and explore future smokefree possibilities in Aotearoa / New Zealand. A law ...2 days ago
Bernard Hickey is one of New Zealand’s leading financial journalists. His latest article, published by Newsroom, lays bare the cruel treatment of hundreds of thousands of workers stranded since the lockdown. Our Prime Minister is lauded overseas for her compassion, but her Cabinet is refusing to properly support tens of ...3 days ago
For a good part of my adult life I have studied civil-military relations. I have studied authoritarian and democratic variants, and I have studied them across countries and regions. I have also worked in and with several US security agencies and have lectured on the theme at a number of ...3 days ago
by The Spark “The system is broken”—the words of a young black man in Minneapolis watching flames destroy a police precinct demonstrators had torched. Broken? Yes, it is! What else could you say about a system whose police for nine minutes casually knelt on a black man’s neck, watching until ...4 days ago
Minneapolis Police StationIf you’ve been keeping an eye on recent events in the United States, you’ll likely understand why there’s so much anger on the streets at the moment. Not only did police officers murder another black man; it is patently obvious that authorities initially attempted to cover up George ...4 days ago
Like the rest of the world, I have been aghast at what I have seen of, and read and heard about, what is happening currently in the United States. It seems incredible that a once great country should be suffering the worst effects and the highest number of deaths worldwide ...5 days ago
Image credit: Writing an Article vs. Writing a Blog Post: What’s the Difference? I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is ... 5 days ago
It’s almost painful to watch. Let’s be honest, maybe a pleasure too, in some quarters, but painful nonetheless. Because the fact is, for a democracy to function properly, any sitting Government does need honest and proper Opposition so that it doesn’t get ahead of itself. That’s what we should ...1 week ago
Well, we are out of lockdown, essentially. I did end up getting the wage subsidy while we were on levels 3 and 4 but I would have been fine if we didn’t. The first day of level 2, the Thursday, the office opened again for the people who weren’t able ...2 weeks ago
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced two diplomatic appointments: New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India and Consul-General to Hong Kong. “As New Zealand recovers from COVID-19, our diplomatic and trade networks are more important than ever. That is ...1 day ago
We started the week by announcing free apprenticeships to support Kiwis into work and to help get New Zealand moving again - and we ended the week by extending the wage subsidy to 40,000 more businesses, helping to protect businesses and workers alike. ...1 day ago
The Green Party is urging the New Zealand Police to rule out the use of Armed Response Teams, following their recent trial in communities around Aotearoa. ...1 day ago
This summer presents a great opportunity for New Zealanders to get out into nature with bookings on Great Walks for 2020/21 set to open next week, says Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. Bookings for the Great Walks will open between 9 and 11 June, excluding Milford and Routeburn tracks which ...12 hours ago
The New Zealand First list MP Shane Jones is to stand for the seat of Northland at the election. ...2 hours ago
Wrapping everyone in a blanket of love, whakapapa and mauri for Matariki is the brave, exuberant and generous fabric art of Maungarongo Te Kawa, writes Amanda Thompson.E te AtuaNau enei rau harakeke he taongaTukuna ki a matouKia tika o matou mahiKo Papatuanuku e takoto neiTuturu WhakamauaKia tina, tinaHui eTaiki e.‘Karakia ...3 hours ago
One press statement from the Beehive yesterday sounded more like advertising – or a barker’s pitch – than a Government announcement. Another advised of two diplomatic appointment, one of them – has the woman who landed the post done something wrong? – to protest-troubled and politically volatile Hong Kong. And ...5 hours ago
By Budi Sutrisno in Jakarta As the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died while being arrested in the United States, sparks a global outcry, Indonesian rights advocates and young people have stepped forward to remind fellow citizens that racism has long been an issue at home as ...7 hours ago
Throughout Anglo colonial states there is a constant habit of defining people who aren’t white as a problem, writes Aaron Smale in this personal essay. It was a balmy summer evening in the capital and cops were standing over a young brown man. I was walking down Courtenay Place on ...11 hours ago
"The countdown clock ticks 2, then 1, then the prime minister raises her drink": dystopia, by Ōtautahi writer Laura Borrowdale. You stand in the centre of the room, and around you, the guests seem to swirl and blend into one. There’s a mouth, gaping and red, filled with laughter. A ...11 hours ago
Martin Luther King Jr said in 1963: “America has given the Black people a bad cheque, a cheque which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’." Six generations of egregious police violence later, the sentiment out of which those bad cheques were born could be shifting. In the wake of egregious police violence, ...12 hours ago
WATCH: In a candid interview on Sky Sport, Dame Susan Devoy talks on her concern for rising sports stars, the state of NZ squash, and the spectre of racism. Dame Susan Devoy is proudly still “a little terrier who fights for the underdog”. “I have been doing it all my life and ...12 hours ago
Are central bankers jealous that epidemiologists are the rock stars of the current crisis? There is talk that both the British and New Zealand central banks might institute negative interest rates as part of the policy response to the Covid shock. While Sweden’s central bank ended its five year experiment ...21 hours ago
LISTEN: This week's Extra Time podcast discusses racism in sport and the role of athletes and organisations in making a stand for good. Former Silver Fern and Black Fern Louisa Wall believes today's sports stars must have a social conscience and stand up against discrimination and divisiveness. Sport and politics, once ...1 day ago
40 percent of millennials have one, and an increasing number of GenXers and Baby Boomers do too. Two Cents' Worth delves into the world of side hustles. ...1 day ago
Air New Zealand staff are dismayed and angered at the company’s announcement to cut a further $150 million from their wage bill. On Friday, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Greg Foran, made the announcement to employees, who are still ...1 day ago
A slight bounce in the economy is brightening the outlook as the country heads into the winter months, Radio NZ reports. Retail spending is up and NZ shares rose on Thursday for a third day running. Key indicators have led some economists to point to a faster recovery than expected. ...1 day ago
Analysis: As New Zealand eases restrictions, it no longer has international precedent to look towards and must decide on its own how to reopen the economy while reducing the risk of a second wave of infections, Marc Daalder reports While most of the country eagerly awaits a likely move to ...1 day ago
The Government picks Waitomo caves as 'strategic tourism asset' and grants $4m to Tourism Holdings, boosting shares another 7.8 percent. Facebook staff and alumni revolt over Zuckerberg's inaction on Trump ...1 day ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan NZ bestseller list and described by ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias. NON-FICTION 1 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55) 2 Stop Surviving Start Fighting by Jazz Thornton (Penguin Random House, $38) 3 So Delish! by Simone Anderson ...1 day ago
Anomalies in the policy for superannuitants with overseas pensions are an indictment on the justice process in New Zealand, write Susan St John and Dr Claire Dale Along with many others, the Retirement Policy and Research Centre has worked assiduously for more than a decade to alert the public, policy-makers ...1 day ago
A new study indicates native plants, despite their tendency to grow more slowly than exotic species like Pinus Radiata, are better at storing carbon in the soil for longer periods of time. ...1 day ago
NZTA is allegedly exploring options for its $1b road to be built with a different set of builders. ...1 day ago
Systemic white violence against black Americans is alive and well, and it's white violence that sustains white supremacy Current scenes from the United States are both familiar and shocking. George Floyd’s life being brutally snuffed out by Minneapolis police, followed by peaceful protests of Floyd’s murder as well as legitimate ...1 day ago
The US isn't the only country with a broken criminal justice system that works to criminalise and destroy the lives of black and brown families. Dylan Asafo puts forward two ways NZ could lead in dismantling systems of white supremacy. If you were to imagine a society without racial oppression, ...1 day ago
An African American pastor from George Floyd's community gives The Detail a special insight into what's happening there - and gives us hope for the future. “Nobody in America wants to be a racist.” David Hill is a pastor in the Third Ward neighbourhood of Houston where George Floyd grew ...2 days ago
Richard Nixon: I am not a crook !
Donald Trump: I am a very stable genius !
It seems to me that ‘explaining’ is losing.
It’s almost painful to watch:
…throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.
“In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein people of low ability suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their cognitive ability as greater than it is.”
I don’t think he’s sufficiently mentally sophisticated for Dunning-Kruger to even be relevant. He’s pure impulsive reaction to the stimulus of the moment – someone questions his smarts, he has to react bashing back with how smart he is. For Dunning-Kruger to be relevant, there would have to be some actual deliberation about the topic at hand and that seems to be entirely absent.
I guess the offer to the stable genius remains open.
http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/354718-mensa-offers-to-host-iq-test-for-trump-and-tillerson
i wish i could get some dunning kruger, it’s a real draw back knowing ones limitations , hell with a bit of dunning kruger i could probably rise to middle management .
@ Stunned Mullet (1) … both liars!
If there are green people reading this please search and watch Dane Wiggington on YouTube.
We are approximately seven years away from total ozone collapse.
And yet the reports show that the ozone is repairing and the situation is improving.
Although a search for said individual without the youtube bit may help you decide how much time you want to spend watching those videos …
Read this in the herald this morning. It’s like she wrote it for some of the posters here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11969362
Yes, because right wingers never get outraged about anything at all 🙄
Yesterday James wrote a stupid and insulting post where he insulted posters here …. as well as Gerald Hope, the bereaved father of Olivia Hope …. and a lot of other New Zealanders
In this thread I give a hat-tip to Psycho Milt for posting up … ““In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein people of low ability suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their cognitive ability as greater than it is.” …. This was the research I hazily recalled.
I could not be bothered doing a internet search for a troll such as James …. even with his needling and projection of his own dishonesty or stupidity onto me.
James ….. ” I remember the results of a study (also without a citation) that showed the more stupid a person they go insult the original comment and change the topic – without proving a shred of anything to disprove the original comment made.
speaking of “wank wank” “…..
I can not help but wonder whether there is a ‘troll effect ‘ wherein trolls believe other posters are as dishonest and malevolent as themselves.
Do you think this way James ??????
Like the Herald, James brought back unhappy memories for the families.
Them – for profit, which is despicable.
I have no idea why James brought the topic up, but he stooped to a new low that day.
I doubt that they read this blog.
And I was simply commenting on news of the day in open mike.
I thought it interesting.
Well why didn’t you simply write something along the lines of … ‘ I find this interesting but it probably won’t sway the doubters’ …. or something like that.
It was your ‘Dunning–Kruger’ “no doubt” and “nutters” statements of fact that crossed the line and made it into a trolls post.
Bloody poor form ….. especially towards Gerald Hope ….. who would know more about the case than rude punters on the internet.
And while Ed thought that you, james, had stooped to a new low ….. I think you did that when you were decrying ‘leftie’ posters for pointing out the higher rates and increase of suicide that cruel and punitive national/ rightwing / tory policies cause…..
You really are quite happy in not giving a fuck about a lot of things …
Reason
What I find the most repulsive about James is the fact he comes on this site and brags about his rich, privileged life.
Were he to read some of the most poignant contributions from some posters, he would be aware that quite a few of our posters have real challenges they face in life.
But no.
There is not a shred of empathy.
6 days ago I said I would never press reply to James again.
This is now the last time I refer to a troll’s comments.
These are paid disrupters who will continue to land on these shores.
Danegeld only encouraged the Vikings.
I have sympathies those with real issues. No time for people who are just bitter and envious posters who hate people who they perceive to be better off.
As for the paid meme that you have pushed so so many times and always failed to backup – I’ll add it to the list of Ed’s lies.
Warning, link is to Heather du Plessis Allen.
Meant to be reply to James at 3.
She should take her own advice which is not to get picky,angry etc at the smallest indiscretions …
Talk about a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Should your warning not say “warning – author is not part of our wee echo chamber and may think differently therefore please heed this trigger warning”
Heather du Plessis Allen can be relied upon to bring to the nation’s attention whatever issue de jour is troubling her superannuated hubby.
James. this is funny!! That writer is always angry about something or other in her articles, which are generally shallow. Often she pontificates.
She fails to realise the “rage” is a symptom of the feelings being expressed by the general population towards opinionated uncaring comments by often well to do people
How dare we not accept their opinions as facts!! How pushy and stupid of us!! We should know their opinions are superior, therefore true. Yeah right!!
Rage builds over time. It is caused by unrelenting attacks. Attacks meant to deminish.
Memes repeated over and over. She says her friend made a mistake about the “Lipstick on a pig” comment …. No!! She and 98% of the populace felt outraged at that!!
Rage can lead to revolutions!! Luckily ours led to a Coalition government instead.
Are you folk having trouble working out the reply button this morning?
Your comment about “well to do” people gives away your agenda.
As for your “rage” there are pockets – but the majority of people are quite normal and happy.
Her examples are selectively picked, and show little understanding of underlying context. As usual.
“As for your “rage” there are pockets – but the majority of people are quite normal and happy.”
Interesting definition of normal there – rageless – out of pocket – unhappy.
It is normal to have resistance when your values are constantly being eroded by processes beyond your control. Sometimes that manifests as outrage.
Having once been a resident of Wellington’s Eastern suburbs; and familiar with the antics of some members who claim membership of the 4th Estate (even Bill Ralston does that sometimes); and someone who had a close relative confiding in me the relationship of a husband as a ‘daddy figure’ – I could make a prediction.
Pretty sure HdPA will outlive me though, so I won’t be around to see the result.
In the meantime, the best that can be done is to donate to Women’s Refuge because there goes a person that’ll be in need sometime in the future
Wow
Wow is right. What a disgusting post.
No James, most reporters are “well to do” they are not in the lower income bracket, especially Hoskings and others, ie Morgan.
Actually they are generally not paid that much at all. Pointing out the highest paid is a poor example. But generally reporters are non on huge salaries
Heather is not poorly paid.
You stated “most reporters are “well to do” – and im pointing out that MOST are not.
pointing out some of the highest profiles ones in NZ makes a stupid argument.
It’s ok to be outraged, Heather du Plessis-Allen.
Even if your own life is comfortable, others are not.
Your articles could be about writing truth to power.
Something to be outraged about #1
‘‘New Zealand has the worst rate of family and intimate-partner violence in the world. Eighty per cent of incidents go unreported — so what we know of family violence in our community is barely the tip of the iceberg.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11970679
It’s good netiquette to use the reply button when not replying to me.
I think the point is that some people are continuously outraged over everything. It’s all part of the snowflake mentality.
If you stop being bitter and outraged over everything you will see how good we have it.
“It’s all part of the snowflake mentality. “
These buzzwords such as “snowflake” used without further explanation, are for the intellectually lazy.
The use of ‘snowflake’ just shows the person to be the alt-right loser we all thought they were.
What does use of ‘alt-right’ indicate?
Thanks for the Gosman One Two – here a couple of links to help you understand the words and their meaning.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/alt-right
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Alt-right
Not so hard to use a dictionary here a link to one of those.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/
You called another commentator ‘an alt-right loser’ for using the term, ‘snowflake’
And you can’t see the irony of your actions?…
Adam, your comments here are most often solid, and you take plenty of abuse for your views, and sticking with them..
Don’t give in to dishing out abuse, lowering yourself to levels of others…
I said what I said deliberty, it’s the reality of debating with people standing too close to the elephant. James and others do it all the time.
That said, if your going to be trotting out alt-right memes, I’m going to call you a loser. Simple, really. It’s not abuse, it’s just a statement of position.
And post your edit.
Somethings are ok to be outraged about.
Somethings are not.
Partner abuse – outrage.
A good steak vs a turnip as a base of a meal – shouldn’t outrage.
Problem is some people (Ed) cannot tell the difference and run around being offended by everything and everyone (who has more than them)
who made you the arbiter of outrage? And where were your outraged comments about Tony Veitch the partner abuser?
You can look them up. But confident I didn’t support vetich.
And not outraged. Disgusted yes. And believe he should have gone to jail for what he did.
I looked up posts under the Veitch tag, and couldn’t see you anywhere. Where was your “outrage” or “disgust”, not your “lack of support”?
Tesla could be the first electric car manufacturer to go broke.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11970656
Tony Stark goes all Icarus.
Check that share price out: so much heat, so few good fundamentals.
Once he’s finished the swan dive, someone like Ford, Amazon or Alphabet to scoop up the remains and do something useful with them.
Best watch those Lithium-exposed stocks as well.
It’s ok to be outraged, Heather du Plessis-Allen.
Even if your own life is comfortable, others are not.
Some people don’t have it good.
Your articles could be about writing truth to power.
Like Alison Mau.
Something to be outraged about #2
‘Alison Mau: Don’t waste your breath excusing the Rhythm and Vines groper.
: It’s heartbreaking to think that young women taking part in one of summer’s great pleasures – hanging out with mates at a festival – cannot do so safely, whatever they choose to do with their boobs. It’s heartbreaking to see the feeble-minded, rape-apologist abuse that 20-year-old Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller has faced since she was assaulted at Rhythm and Vines a week ago.
Actually, scrub that. It’s not heartbreaking. Too late for that. Our hearts have been breaking over this shiz for generations. Thanks to the revelations of 2017; the Weinstein monster and Louis CK’s uninvited masturbation and all the many, many others, we’re all bloody furious.
It’s enraging, not heartbreaking. You can see, hear and feel this among women young and old on social media and in interviews on mainstream platforms. It’s in the words of the organisers of Times Up, the campaign formed by Hollywood women that promises to help women from lower paying industries get justice in sexual harassment cases‘
https://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/life/100328136/alison-mau-dont-waste-your-breath-excusing-the-rhythm-and-vines-groper
You are literally running around the Internet looking for things to be outraged about. That would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.
Whataya reckon about those coked-up All Blacks! Outrageous!
I prefer them coked up.
Gives a good snort to their Haka.
I have already warned OUR Mighty All Blacks about what I see that is going on in OUR World media I think the way to combat this is to get everyone asoseated with the AB to sign a confilct of intrset contract .Kia kaha
PS I put my ECO MAORI signs back on my truck 2 weeks ago .
Ana to kai
Ad
Lol
I do too.
…. and have you noticed? With apologies to an Edmonds cook book – the harder they (our sporting oikons) rise, the harder they fall.
Awe ,,,, shame eh?
I better turn on Skoi New Australia to see who the latest is
Linked to an issue at 6, the All Blacks have been in the news for domestic violence.
Joking about their abuse of drugs is no laughing matter. When these sports players get drunk, some of them hit their partners.
Thugby.
New Zealand’s game.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11717666
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/8578164/All-Black-Julian-Savea-charged-with-assault
That applies to you James. Self-knowledge – lacking – tragic!
Psychological projection I think. Just lie down on this couch and tell us about yourself and your concerns. No on second thoughts don’t!
The Babylonian Talmud (500 AD) notes the human tendency toward projection and warns against it: “Do not taunt your neighbour with the blemish you yourself have.”[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
Hmmm, perhaps this is the reason why AB scrums often collapse near the side-line: the white line 🤔
Edit: Easily fixed with a ‘white line test’ 😉
Well they’re young (mostly), supremely fit, spare time and excess cash so its not surprising
Since you make the comment – show me just one current all black team member who has been caught taking coke ?
Caught? Nah, mate, Richie showed them how not to get caught . Doesn’t mean they’re clean though, does it and the word is, they’re filthy with it! You reckon there’s no substance to the claim 🙂
I prefer some evidence before I state as a fact – of which you have none.
But to clarify – are you stating as a fact that Richie McCaw showed other All Blacks how not to get caught taking cocaine?
You sound quite outraged at the suggestion.
Not really. I think it more pathetic.
Its just sad that someone would try to make such allegations against somebody (and a high profile person at that) with zero evidence.
Yep pretty stupid stuff, especially from an elected councillor.
The only thing I can think of is that Guyton’s been hitting the nettle wine a bit too much.
At least that’s anecdotal evidence that you think.
😆
High dudgeon indeed. Go fuck yourself, James.
Sit down and read Alison Mau carefully James. And then read HDA. There’s no comparison. They both were published today. One is written by a very intelligent woman of considerable substance. The other is shallow and adds very little of consequence to the harassment debate.
You set out at ‘3’ to enrage the already enraged on this site. You succeeded, but this time you got it wrong. I wonder if you have the guts to ‘apologise’ as the gentleman in Mau’s article did?
We need more outraged not less.
”The anger window is open.”
From the article.
‘They came together in anger, says co-chair of the Nike Foundation Maria Eitel, not because they wanted to “whine, or complain, or tell a story or bemoan. They came together because they intended to act. There was almost a ferociousness to it.”
As far back as early November – and doesn’t THAT seem like eons ago – Rebecca Traister wrote in New York Magazine that “the anger window is open”.
“This is ’70s-style, organic, mass, radical rage, exploding in unpredictable directions,” she wrote.’
This one sums up the outrage mentality that HDA was writing about perfectly.
You and HDP confuse enkratês with virtue – a cheap trick. There is a place for anger, especially in a country as ravaged by corruption and neoliberal misgovernance as NZ.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old Soper should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
It’s ok to be outraged, Heather du Plessis-Allen.
Even if your own life is comfortable, others are not.
Some animals don’t have it good.
Your articles could be about writing truth to power.
Like Holly Button and Matt Walker.
Something to be outraged about #3
Animal cruelty at rodeos
‘A call to action from the Animal Justice League New Zealand resulted in approximately 60 people taking part in a demonstration outside Canterbury Rodeo today.
“The turnout was greater than anticipated, which shows just how quickly people are learning about rodeo cruelty and agree that the government should implement a full ban on rodeos in NZ,” said a member of the group.
“People from town and country united, to send a clear message to organisers and attendees that New Zealanders are sick of animal abuse being touted as entertainment,” Animal Justice League NZ Spokesperson Holly Button.’
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1801/S00111/protestors-take-a-stand-against-rodeo-cruelty.htm
Mr Walker said the president of the Canterbury Rodeo Club, Jono Reed, then came over and in front of about eight security staff told him they did not want any filming that would cast rodeo in a negative light.
“Is that really acceptable? [I told him] it seems like you’re trying to censor out unbiased and independent filming from the event,” he said.‘
‘http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347590/activist-trespassed-from-rodeo
It’s ok to be outraged, Heather du Plessis-Allen.
Even if your own life is comfortable, others are not.
Our environment doesn’t have it good.
Your articles could be about writing truth to power.
Like Peter Anderson
Something to be outraged about #4
The state of our waterways
‘In 2009, 70 percent of bathing sites were suitable for public recreation. Today, that figure has dropped to 58 percent.
Peter Anderson of Forest and Bird said land intensification is a significant cause of the water quality crisis.
“The level of intensification has got in front of the ability to manage the environmental impacts from that intensification. Canterbury is at the forefront of it,” he said.
Mid-Canterbury crop and dairy farmer Ian Mackenzie said the government’s plan to end irrigation loans is the wrong answer. He said that as well as boosting grass growth, irrigation can also dilute polluting nitrates in the urine from livestock through techniques such as managed aquifer recharging.
However, Mr Anderson said that doesn’t address the underlying problem which is that we have too many cows.
“There’s no treatment of the effluent of cows. We need to think differently if we’re going to try reduce the impact of land intensification.”
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/outspoken/audio/2018627863/outspoken-canterbury-water
How about we stop responding to a smug troll who is (ironically) simply looking to provoke outrage?
This is a really interesting and though-provoking article about the end of life/assisted dying bill, using the experiences and opinions of a guy with Motor Neuron Disease who says that 10 years ago he would have opted for death but now he treasures every moment of life. He feels the bill discriminates against the disabled, implying their lives are worth less than the able-bodied. Worth thinking about.
How about we think for a minute before posting so all points that want to be made, especially the same one, can be contained in one outing instead of being strewn down the page like rant man dribble.
Tedious. 🙄
4 separate points actually.
All that should provoke outrage.
And all worthy of debate.
One thing they’re not is tedious.
The 4 separate points
Domestic violence
Sexual abuse
Rodeos
Waterways
Same point, four examples, should have been in one post.
It makes your outrage like a meme generator stuck on ego boost.
Show some courtesy, Paul, and think a bit before hitting submit.
I fail to see why calling people’s attention to those four issues requires you to cut ‘n’ paste huge screeds of other peoples’ work while adding little of your own.
Almost everything I read on the subject makes me change my position at least twice.
Yeah, it’s much more complex than many arguing for (or against) it acknowledge. I do think it’s a discussion worth having, but I also think that the bill as it stands is rather loose, and I have to say the article I linked to above gives a great example illustrating one of the problems embedded within it. Who would have argued that this guy wasn’t “of sound mind” or aware of the outcome of his decision 10 years ago (when he did actually try to take his own life)? And yet he’s glad of the years he’s had since then and now finds joy in his life as it is, wanting it to continue for as long as it can.
On the one hand I think people ought to be able to choose, and on the other I think it’s inappropriate to formalise it so long as massive health inequality persists.
Little wonder his base adores him.
In the past year, we have had many of the same conversations with the same sources Wolff used. We won’t betray them, or put on the record what was off. But, we can say that the following lines from the book ring unambiguously true:
How Trump processes (and resists) information:
https://www.axios.com/the-wolff-lines-on-trump-that-ring-unambiguously-true-2522675021.html
Some Trumpology on twitter today: the art of tweeting like Trump….or not.
Mimi Kramer thread, includes:
Jeet Heer thread
Wasn’t there a thing during the election where someone noticed that the deranged tweets came from an android and the more sane tweets came from an iphone?
So now the iphone users have hired a mimic…
President Trump will keep successfully delivering for his base and for the Republican donors until late 2020 at least.
Wolfe’s effect is simply to confirm the new standard that a President needs to achieve to remain in power.
So far he has delivered precisely:
– Huge tax cuts for businesses and for individuals
– Roll back soft marijuana laws
– Roll back transgender rights in the military
– Drill for oil into the arctic and any part of the seabed you like
– Full repudiation of the mainstream media
– Massive funding support for the military
– Strangulation of Obamacare
– Locked up the Supreme Court for many years
– Halved refugee quota and massive immigration crackdown from terrorist-harbouring states
– Repudiation of intelligence and justice structures within Washington – which is his version of “draining he swamp”.
– Put the shits up North Korea’s leadership so much that fresh dialogue has broken out between North and South Korea for the first time in many years.
– Shifted the balance of power in the Middle East with a few largely symbolic moves
He said what he was going to do beforehand, and he is doing it.
Now, all he has to do in the next three years is make a start on his great barrier wall, and he is a nomination lock for the Republican ticket.
I don’t like him, but if I were a Republican I would be calling him The Milkman.
Odd line in a movie: was watching a recording of the 2007 movie “The Brave One” – strange movie – not very good and still haven’t finished watching it.
But it has this odd line in the movie – could now be seen as incitement to assassination? Foster plays a vigilante killer in New York city, killing “bad” people. here she’s in a life while people are talking about the unknown killer.
Some of us on thestandard site are wondering why all of a sudden there is no more articles reporting the Climatic changed weather events that has just been hammering OUR beautiful Country .
I say that NZMEDIA is being influenced by the long tentacles of that country that just pulled out of the Paris climate change pact. Not just NZMEDIA the WORLDS Media is being influenced by this administration which is run by billionaires they let there $$$$$$$$$ influence there choices and not logic and this is why they are running a campaign to block as many articles as they can that even mentions climate change .
There is usually a couple of articles on the Guardian about events like this unusual climatic changed weather that has hit New Zealand and at least one on these sites Euro news Niki Asian news . I have scour our Worlds media for articles about climate change for years under the Obama administration there was heaps of data on climate change not now.
Here is a link showing how our New Zealand Media has slid down OUR Worlds ranking on freedom of speech. and ICE Lands fines for business that do not pay there lady s the same as men mhttps://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjymJfUg8TYAhULx7wKHYiqD28QFgg-MAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.massey.ac.nz%2Fmassey%2Fabout-massey%2Fnews%2Farticle.cfm%3Fmnarticle_uuid%3DF1B6840E-9487-95EF-D57E-3DD68DC4A4AB&usg=AOvVaw0FBRyqW7bHGqQqFvhMgbIden.
Many thanks to those intelligent STARS for the Tautoko of OUR LORDYS choice of not going to Israel .
PS Lordy don;t worry to much about the bad publicity that you are getting from FOX NEWS as all they are doing in reality is adding to your Mana . Ka kite ano
https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjymJfUg8TYAhULx7wKHYiqD28QFgg-MAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.massey.ac.nz%2Fmassey%2Fabout-massey%2Fnews%2Farticle.cfm%3Fmnarticle_uuid%3DF1B6840E-9487-95EF-D57E-3DD68DC4A4AB&usg=AOvVaw0FBRyqW7bHGqQqFvhMgbId
freedom of speech
https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwixs4qGlMTYAhVEG5QKHdKPBaEQFggyMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fbusiness%2Fnews%2Ficeland-gender-pay-gap-illegal-men-pay-more-women-income-salary-earn-a8139141.html&usg=AOvVaw3DvD2dhYpcc2CN7vyulvJC
I am teaching my self how to post links please have patients while I learn this skill. As I m self taught in most of the things I have learned
Ka pai
eco maori, there’s a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page here on The Standard that can help you insert links without having to have those big long site addresses showing. It’s a bit hard to get used to at first, but I taught myself by having two version of TS open at once, with the FAQ page sitting there for me to look at when needed. Here’s a link to the page. Good luck if you decide to use it.
eco maori
If you get stuck just say and we will advise. Was confused by it myself – as seeing to be difficult to control the links and just have a term highlighted instead. Then, got it, easy peasy.
thanks for the tip red blooded Ka pai
3. James, please realise, we do not share your blithe view of the world, and mostly we do not rate Heather or her husband’s views very highly.
So you have had your excitement for the day by quoting her, and getting responses. We know you are here James. Glad to confirm it. (Oh, and we personally are not rich, but neither are we poor, so there is no agenda as you put it.)
Had Heather written a thoughtful piece about road rage, or as Ed suggested family violence, then we could discuss the underlying reasons in both cases.
However, as usual Heather was trite superficial and selective in writing about rage.
Her friend may not be feeling so friendly right now, having her opinions and feelings so used.
The other day you accused someone here of being part of an “echo chamber” yet you quote Heather as a support for your views. Oh, the irony!!
I think if there is anything to be learned from this episode it is that its of paramount importance for everybody to *stop* replying to James at the top of the thread. Best to keep that top of mind I would say.
Or Nic, just ban james….his bbq is on fire.
Ire-onic oik outraged about outrage.
Has anyone else noticed plants confusing the seasons? We have plants 6+ weeks early, but few bees as yet. Not the usual Rotorua pattern.
Apricots were really early this year.
This may have already been alluded to on this site, but it takes the cake:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/05/republican-senators-christopher-steele-investigation-chuck-grassley-lindsey-graham
Like snotty nosed brats in a playground they play the legal version of a fist fight cos someone pimped on them so… we’s is gonna teach em a lesson.
The mighty totara has fallen… We’ll miss you Jim.
Reports that Jim Anderton has died. If so, we’ve lost one of the good ones.
Edit:
“Today I am a little lost for words. Jim was a huge influence on my life and someone who I will miss a great deal. There will be lot of words said about his political achievements but today I am thinking of a kind, compassionate and giving man. A man I am proud to have known and call a friend.”
Megan Woods MP
Rest In Peace comrade. You made a difference.
From my generation, I loved the work that you did forming the Ministry of Economic Development, rolling out a new framework of public sector coherence with the Growth and Innovation Framework, and rolling out regional economic development that really gave hope and delivery to dozens of communities right across New Zealand. And did it, unusually for the left, with sound business experience behind you.
Others will remember the cataclysmic fights on the floor of Labour Party conferences back in the day – a bit early for me.
Still others will remember the work for the people of Wigram electorate and of Christchurch more generally.
Awesome to see a life well lived in service to others.
Jim you were and are an inspiration.
There’s a post up about Anderton. A great loss.
18:51 minutes long, Abby Martin investigates the murders of social leaders, union organizers and indigenous activists in Colombia.
Brilliant idea.
‘From now on, The Daily Blog will be naming all storms hitting NZ by the names of MPs who are doing sweet bugger all and by the NZ Corporations exacerbating climate change.’
There is a photo in the Listener this week ( on page 2 and on page 23) which sums up the world so well in 2017.
In the background, a massive forest fire burns.
In the foreground, seemingly unperturbed by the conflagration, three rich white men continue to play golf on their well watered golf course.
The photo is a metaphor for the world today.
Anyone else see it?
Can you explain just how you know they are “rich”?
Fixed it for you…
In the foreground, seemingly unperturbed by the conflagration, three
richnot-poor white men continue to play golf on their well watered golf course.lol nice
Ed just assumes.
It’s a jealousy thing s/he has.
I’m on the verge of giving up on The Standard because many here continue to feed the troll. You’re being gamed and yet you continue to respond to James.
He is not genuine and his purpose is simply to inflame, obscure, abuse and divert yet you continue to indulge him.
Why? He’s not very bright but seems smarter than many here who continue to be willing to let him undermine discussion.
Please, if you care about rigorous, open debate, ignore him. Otherwise he and others like him, win.
I heartily agree – I’m fed up with conversations being derailed because some people don’t seem to be able to resist taking the bait – it’s potentially ruining a valuable and informative site
That is why they come on to these sites “PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS”, BM was having a Field Day yesterday I think it was ?
They are actually paid by the Right Wingers/Neoliberals to derail discussions on sites like these and influence peoples thinking, WAKE UP DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS, just ignore their comments.
Let’s look at this thread (24)
I made an observation about a photo in the Listener.
That was ok, wasn’t it?
The reason I asked the question is very simple.
I happen to know that golf course. It is a Public course, just like Chamberlain Park in Auckland. It can be played by anyone at all and it is cheap.
As of the date of that photo the Green fees for 18 holes would have been $18.00 US. That is equivalent to $25.00 NZ.
To play 18 holes at Chamberlain park today would cost you $28.00. In other words it is cheaper than the best known Public course in Auckland. Now do you really think that they are clearly rich, which was your assumption, just because they were playing golf?
Do you somehow think that only rich people play golf? That seems an awfully bold assumption doesn’t it?
I repeat. How do you know, or even think, that they are “three rich white men”.
Golf: green fees, clubs, carts, snappy gloves, maybe even spikey shoes
Football: Ball. Open space. Maybe spikey shoes, if your open space is grass.
And appealing to your experience as an internationally-travelling golfer sort of supports the assumption that golfers, as a general rule, sure aren’t poor.
And I thought you were a truly sensible intelligent gentleman.
Still, anyone who loves a fine cigar cannot be all bad.
Actually I have never played the course. I have a close friend, now living in New Zealand, who lived there and played the course regularly. He had always told me, at great length, about how good a course it was and how cheap it was to play there.
I should possibly have put the word “of” between “know” and “that ” in the second sentence. It would then have read “know of that golf course”
He was the one who rang me and told me that a picture of the place was in the Listener.
I do play golf though. You do need clubs but they last for 20 years. You don’t really need a glove but if you do you can get one for $10 or so. You don’t need a cart. A hand pulled trolley will do and if you only want a half set or so you can carry the bag. You do need shoes but they don’t have to be spiked. In fact most clubs ban spiked shoes these days.
Golf is actually quite a cheap sport in New Zealand and in many other parts of the world. I met a person in Scotland a few years ago who lived in St Andrews. He, a person over 65, could play unlimited rounds on all the St Andrews courses for 150 pounds a year! That included about 5 courses, including the holy-of-holies, “The Old Course”. I could have wept.
Don’t even consider playing in Japan of course.
No. Don’t try and defend Ed. He made a bull-shit comment based on an obsession about white male people in the US and a total lack of knowledge about his subject.
I’m sure that, when he reads how silly his interpretation of the photo was, that he will come back and tell us that he regrets those foolish assumptions and there was nothing to justify his claim.
Yes, I believe that all those amounts are trivial to you.
Jimmy. I bet you $1000 that I’m. It paid to post here. Care to back up your “actually” statement ?
How is my comment about the golf bad?
I have not replied to James for 6 days despite continuous provocation.
Are there other solutions to ridding this site of such sniping comments?
Is ignoring the only solution?
If you take an average day, you’ll see nearly 50% of Open Mike taken up by smarmy and unpleasant comments made by these people.
If they are paid, they will come whatever, won’t they?
How does the Daily Blog deal with them as they rarely appear there.
Hi Ed You kept at it and spurred me on to take a healthy break but I’m back in the chocs, but in a controlled way.
I think that the mods could decide that we take a democratic decision on who is a troll, and give them bans when they are pushing their luck. Or limit them somehow to three a day. Others get bans, CV vanished, Pete George likewise. It just needs a change in the rules. There can be so much criticism of what regular interested commenters say, and yet the trolls dance in and out interfering with the flow of discussion and sometimes destroying it.
Let’s do it TS. You could announce that you think someone is a troll and if someone can find anything worthwhile to set against that then they get another chance perhaps (depends who it is – I think we know the habits of those who regularly come here).
I have been irritated for ages and it is good to see others becoming vocal. There are those who are so combative or didactic that they cannot stop themselves replying and on and on it goes – it’s time consuming when the blog is working as it should and there is lots of discussion and different views, and that is what makes it worthwhile and I think valuable to NZ as a whole, which has had a drought of political discussion for most people, for many decades. But I’m not going to put the time in if we are just getting people flitting about with froth and spittle and sly digs. And they watch amused as they manipulate the moderators to tell us regulars off. Bah.
So don’t let us lose the valuable thing for want of some firm rules. It’s a problem I have noticed in groups that are people’s initiatives – they want to be open and welcoming and some will have pet interests and people they want to be kind to or something. They won’t do their gardening – judicious pruning to keep the thing healthy.
‘Let’s do it TS. You could announce that you think someone is a troll and if someone can find anything worthwhile to set against that then they get another chance perhaps (depends who it is – I think we know the habits of those who regularly come here).’
I second your motion.
The muppet sandflys were swarming today I have a warning for the public these particular sandflys are transmitters and carriers of a very nasty virus this virus is not deadly but you are stuffed when you get it.
It is called idiotitouselfrighteousbigotitesgullibleites that s the scientific terminology for this virus.
The symptoms are started when one is flashed with a shiny object one suffer from gullibility the other symptoms only surface after six months with out treatment they turns you into a Idiot self righteous bigots so be warned stay clear of these sandflys and if you cannot keep them away use plenty of insect repellent and use a mosquito net. ana to kai . The sandflys caused a incident on the road today it looked like no one was hurt just a mess it was just before Pyes Pa school I never harm anyone I respect everything so don t put the blame on me ka pai
One of the post I put out yesterday checked the move the sandflys and the trolls were trying to pull .I wonder what bulshit spinning lines they are going to come up with next.??????? . Kia Kaha
Sandflies.
Nice metaphor.
There is nothing more mind destroying that ignoring people. Freezing them out by not acknowledging they even exist. Just ignore the trolls, they are just pesky irritants. Just carry on the dialogue and leave them to their musings – in the end they will get fed up with communicating with themselves and nobody else. It will bore them and they will wander away and piss somebody else off elsewhere. This site doesn’t need them.
I was told once years ago, if somebody is irritating you or causing you psychological harm then just walk away from them, give them away, shrug them off. There is no cure for what they offer so give them up. It works.
Sydney today
47 degrees.
Another record – not in a good way.
I was listening to Dr Kevin Anderson the other day.
It’s looking more and more like we’re heading for catastrophic climate change.
‘It was 47.1 degrees Celsius in one part of Sydney, Australia on Sunday afternoon.
Penrith sweltered under what was the highest temperature ever recorded in the Greater Sydney region, on a day of baking heat that saw international tennis cancelled and residents flock to the beach in droves.
The observation station, to the west of Sydney towards the Blue Mountains, reached 47.1 degrees just before 2pm.’
https://i.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/100383638/sydney-sizzles-through-its-hottest-day-on-record
Here is Kevin Anderson.
Makes for sober viewing.
A simple way you can make a positive step in the world and reduce your plastic footprint.
Use your own cup when ordering a takeaway coffee.
‘The UK throws away 2.5 billion paper coffee cups every year, with just one in 400 estimated to be recycled..’
I wonder what our numbers look like….
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/latte-levy-plastic-pollution-waste-coffee-shops-cups-a8144236.html
I learnt several things from this interesting article:
1. The article claims New Zealand is the most deforested country in the world. Hope that is wrong – or that’s another depressing statistic about our environment.
2. Our use of toxic weed killers is getting into our waterways.
3. European and British tourists see themselves as ‘greener’ than us.
4. We produce little organic food.
5. Europe and the UK have stricter laws about the use of glyphosate thanks.
Some thoughts and questions ……
I wonder if that affects our cancer rates.
The charities who raise money for cancer don’t/won’t broach any such subject as they are dependent on corporate money.
Is New Zealand the most deregulated state in the OECD apart from the failed Trumpian reality states of Umrica?
Are we the Alabama of the Pacific?
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/farming/tourists-shocked-nz-herbicide-use
Blue-leaved wattle, boneseed, cathedral bells, Chilean rhubarb. climbing spindleberry, pinus contorta, wilding pines, several varieties of barberry, evergreen buckthorn, heather, old mans beard, Asiatic and giant knotweed, California bulrush, purple loosestrife, African feather grass, Chinese pennisetum, nassella tussock, and woolly nightshade are just a few of the more 300 invasive and production pest plant species in the Whanganui – Rangitikei region.
TINA.
Aren’t there less devastating poisons than this?
Some species have run rampant for more than a century because of a lack of viable control methods and other, later, arrivals have taken hold in a way nobody could have imagined.
Do you really think the people trying to eradicate these pests are all gung-ho about how they go about their task. They’re not. They’re well qualified realists facing facts; if these species aren’t eradicated all we’ll be left with is vast swathes of dead, strangled native flora, jiggered, grow-nothing pastures/arable land and waterways choked to death by aquatic pests.
oh bullshit
Foreign weeds only get a foothold on disturbed land and the margins of bush ,as does muehlenbeckia for that matter.The idea that mature bush can be overrun by foreign plants is ridiculous.
The article ED was referring to pointed out the use of Glyphosate to clear hillsides for pasture.That kind of wholesale poisoning when mechanical means are available is ecological madness
And waterways are successfully cleared in many parts of NZ by the use of white carp, who don’t breed in NZ waters, are totally vegetarian so don’t compete with native species to any degree, and dont muddy the bottom of lakes.
Glyphosate is like the Final Solution, and its overuse leads to plant resistance, just like antibiotic overuse has led to superbugs.
We do need to get smarter, and some things we just have to live with .For instance, regarding wilding pines as carbon sequesters, which may have greater value than sheep
Thanks for all that information Francesca.
I always worry when people use the expression TINA ( there is no alternative).
It was the term used by Thatcher to force through the neoliberal laws in Britain in the 80s. I therefore distrust the expression a lot !
I was also quite taken aback by the tone joe90 used in answering my straightforward question. ‘ do you really think?”
Anyway, it is good to hear there are alternatives and depressing to realise we are not using them.
You’ve not seen the jasminum polyanthum in the Moeawatea, have you.
The Parapara spraying is in preparation for the planting of hillside retention and forestry.
Local tramping club members have been dedicating their weekends to eradicating wilding pinus contorta on the central plateau tussock country for more than fifty years, and along comes a know nothing.
Yes they have, as if that tussock country is a natural phenomenon, and the original cover and its not. I suggest carbon sequestration has far better value.
Joe90 is very aggressive in discussion.
We’re talking about the central North Island’s high plateau.
Of course tussock is a natural phenomenon,
As much as humans are part of nature I suppose
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0028825X.1994.10410471
No matter what its end designation , glyphosate shouldnt be the default answer when other means are available.
#1 Yep, my understanding is that we’ve got less than 5% of our pre-European forest cover remaining. Too late go digging for a source, but I think I got that from F&B. Not sure if that includes the DOC estate.
Happy to be corrected, but try and find a good stand of remnant bush in Southland, Canterbury Taranaki or King Country. They were solid bush pre-European
Thank you
A sad statistic.
Before you go believing and then repeating it everywhere, get the facts straight.
Or you (and anyone else who believes the things you repeat) might be satisfied by someone telling you they were going to implement forest cover of 20% of pre-settlement levels and you wouldn’t realise that meant felling another 9.6%.
Southland? Fiordland National Park? That’s a good stand. That said, I’ve long despaired at the clearances – pasture grasses are our most devastating invasive weeds. Hoofed animals the worst threat to forests.
‘Hoofed animals the worst threat to forests.‘
and waterways
This from Te Ara:
So, the percentage of pre-settlement forest remaining is:
6.2/(6.2+6.7+8) x 100 = 29.6%
I nearly posted that article yesterday Ed…it being a topic close to my home….literally.
What did I learn about agrichemical use in New Zealand after shit got real in the sky over our house back in 2010?
1)We use, as a nation, a shit ton of various pesticides both domestically and commercially. And because we use so many, some pests are developing resistance so folk increase the concentration and use a shit ton more.
2) Most people assume that these chemicals are ‘safe’ else they would not have been approved for use. Most folk trust that ERMA/EPA are there to protect the environment upon which we all depend.
3) I learned that these Hazardous Substances are approved for use providing the instructions on the Label and the Material Safety Data Sheet are followed.
I’ve spoken to a Regional Council enforcement officer who did not know about either of these legal documents. Never mind the average Joe Blow who wanders down to Bunnings and grabs a squirty bottle of Bugs and Fungus BeGone from the gardening section containing carbedazim and chlorpyriphos …if Joe read the MSDS (he wouldn’t though because Bunning’ s, despite it being a Legal Requirement, would’nt have one available) he might decide that death by diarrhea doesn’t sound too good and use the old dishwash instead.
4) I also learned that and Approved Handler’s certificate (which qualifies a person to use many of these agrichemicals can be obtained via the internet….and many Approved Handlers would not know a HSNO classification if it bit them in the bum….or that Enforcement twit from the Regional Council.
5) I also learned that there are something like 20 different Acts pertaining to the use of agrichmeicals, so you’d think that those who use said chemicals would be held to account by some official from some government department if they failed to meet their legal obligations for safe use. What is everyone’s responsibility is no-ones.
6)I also learned that when push comes to shove it is the Regional Council with its powers under the Resource Management Act who theoretically man the Hotline if one feel that said Discharge into the Air has had an adverse effect on one’s land, crops and water supply…not to mention people on the ground inside what is the spray zone since the the chopper came over your property and dumped a hazardous substance on said land, crops and water supply.
7) I also learned that the Regional Council can simply choose not to do any investigation whatsoever…even ignoring their own Regional Plan’s Idiot Guide to investigating complaints of off target application of agrichemicals.
8) I thought I invented the term Agrichemical Trespass…because that’s exactly what it was…but to my utter dismay I discovered that no…there was once, back in the heady days of New Zealand parliamentary history before Labour completely sold its soul (and National never had one to lose)….actually an Agricultural Chemical Trespass Bill… sponsored by Jill White and then Nanaia Mahuta. In 2000.
http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_bill/actb2000541317/
and …”Now, after three years in the ballot system the Bill has been drawn and was to be introduced into Parliament sometime in September. But Labour caved in to the nozzleheads. Pressure exerted by ERMA and Steve Vaughan from MfE caused Environment Minister Marion Hobbs to “persuade” Nanaia Mahuta to withdraw the Bill, on the promise of a full review of spray drift (how many does that make in the last ten years?). ”
The same article states that the Green s adopted the Bill but I’ve not heard a dicky birds about it since….https://organicnz.org.nz/magazine-articles/pesticide-report/
They did, as promised, set up ATMAC…which produced this…https://www.mfe.govt.nz/sites/default/files/agrichemical-trespass-mac-report-nov02_0.pdf
….but lets not get too excited because none of the recommendations actually bore edible fruit…so to speak.
BUT….one can, by Law, defend one’s land, crops, water supply and persons if one feels that trespass in occurring….providing one does not land any blows.
And I have that in writing from the Judge. 😉
(Oh…best not get me started on cancer etc…I could go on for hours…and possibly break TS with links to dozens and dozens of peer reviewed research papers that should make our Environmental Protection Authority and our Ministry of Health ban about a dozen real nasty bastards from use. But no…maybe another time… 🙂 )
Thank you
Your comments are very informative, educational ( for me) and depressing.
They reinforce my thoughts about NZ being a Wild West outlaw country – not in a good way.
One day I’d love to discuss cancer and (IMO) the charities failure to deal with the issue. IMO they are now part of the problem.
“…and depressing.”
Mate…you have no idea.
Tell me another day.
“One day I’d love to discuss cancer and (IMO) the charities failure to deal with the issue. IMO they are now part of the problem.”
Because they got my partner’s name while he was in hospital fighting for his life after chemo for Leukaemia, the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation put him on their ‘give us money’ mailing list. Because they refused to answer our inquiry about what research was being done in NZ on occupation and exposures and various types of leukaemia we biff their envelopes straight in the bin.
Ditto with breast, bowel and prostate cancer….
There are no $$$ in prevention.
So sorry to hear that Rosemary
Hi Rosemary,
I’m sorry to hear about your partner.
I’m not sure I fully understood your comment(s) so please bear with me.
My guess is that the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation simply doesn’t know what kind of research is being undertaken in NZ. There is no central comprehensive database of (all) medical research in NZ and there are also many different sources of funding of which charities are just (!) one. (NB there are, of course, centrally collected and analysed patient stats in NZ albeit collected through the various DHBs) For technical questions and the likes they often would (and should) have to consult experts and those are always overcommitted with patient time, etc.
NZ is a small nation and obviously relies heavily on research from overseas. I think that from a clinical point of view research is predominantly focussed on (curative) treatment (and palliative care) and treatment options and this immediate focus moves to early detection & diagnosis as the next priority. From a scientist’s point of view the focus appears to be more on understanding the mechanism of disease that could (ultimately) lead to better treatments. The effects of occupational exposure and its association with the development of cancer may be relegated to a level of lower priority and/or less interest; it may be more relevant to regulatory agencies such as OSH and ACC in NZ but to my knowledge these institutions don’t fund research. This is a little ironic as prevention is better than cure. This is not a NZ thing but a global observation and/or phenomenon.
The NZ Cancer Society puts a lot of emphasis (and money!) on prevention and reducing cancer risk and has been trying really hard to get the important messages out to the general public (incl. schools and EC centres). For example: https://auckland-northland.cancernz.org.nz/reducing-cancer-risk/
For quite a few cancers the main/major possible causes and risk factors are fairly well understood now. For example, obesity is associated with increased risk of a number of cancers (e.g. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/obesity/obesity-fact-sheet#q3). Indeed, many cancers share common causes but some have quite specific ones. Unfortunately, it is much less clear what causes leukaemia. The story is actually very complex; you may have heard about the controversial study early last year that purportedly concluded that cancer is mainly down to ‘bad luck’ – here’s a good write-up about it: http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2017/03/24/reports-that-cancer-is-mainly-bad-luck-make-a-complicated-story-a-bit-too-simple/.
I hope this addressed your comment(s) and provided some useful info for you and/or others here on TS.
Greetings Incognito, and thanks for your response.
You might be familiar with this….
“Leukaemia and occupation: a New Zealand Cancer Registry-based case-control Study.”
McLean D , et al https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18953052
and this….https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18032530
“High risk occupations for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in New Zealand: case-control study.”
Mannetje A
and this…”Pesticides and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”
Blair,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1394159
….and those are just a few garnered from Pubmed…
Much research from Europe…with Odds Ratios for some types of pesticides that make even a statistically challenged person such as myself sit up and think.
this nugget…. http://hazelarmstronglaw.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Occupational-causes-of-malignant-neoplasms-of-lymphatic-and-haematopoietic-tissue.pdf…. is really interesting since it was originally published by ACC. ACC’s new website has not heard of it…but luckily for us this lawyer had saved it.
Despite a poster in the haematology clinic listing pesticide exposure as a possible cause of some leukaemias we got zero interest from the medicos when we named the pesticide my partner had had extraordinary exposure to….a chemical which was designed to be a spindle toxin…interfering with rapidly dividing cells…including human lymphocytes at frighteningly low concentrations.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10633176
Evaluation of thresholds for benomyl- and carbendazim-induced aneuploidy in cultured human lymphocytes using fluorescence in situ hybridization.
Bentley KS
(Just one of many published papers on this pesticide…like this one dating back to 1977..https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2110979/pdf/jc721174.pdf
which clearly states…”Undoubtedly, these benzimidazole compounds
will become useful as experimental tools in the
study of microtubule structure and function in
cells. Their use, however, in agriculture as fungicides
and, quantitatively on a minor scale, in veterinary
medicine, should be reconsidered from the
point of view of their mechanism of action. Interference
of MBC with nuclear division in mammalian
cells has been found to occur in vitro (27, 59,
67) and in vivo (59, 67). This implies a potential
genetic risk for man. The toxicology and genetic
effects of benzimidazole compounds have recently
been reviewed by Seiler (59). We agree with him
that the use of pesticides with this type of action
should be restricted.”
And yet, we still, here in Godzone, allow this shit to be loaded into helicopters and sprayed with no controls or regulatory enforcement whatsoever.
And it may be of interest to look into other uses of carbendazim…(2-methyl benzimidazole carbamate)….like replacing formaldehyde for protecting goods from rotting in transit…(it can’t be detected…)
Ah, good times.
Hi Rosemary,
I’ll gladly help, if I can, but this is getting quite specific & technical for OM/TS. That said, OM might be a little like the news-cycle, i.e. short-lived and I think (hope!) it’ll be o.k. to use this space & forum for now; we can go offline if necessary.
I am/was not familiar with the stuff that you linked to and it would require a lot of time & effort to really get into this and review it properly. However, it appears to be a topic that is and has been on your mind so I’ll give it a shot anyway 😉 [it’s rather long; my apologies beforehand]
I noticed that a few papers that you linked to were quite old and science does move on, sometimes very fast. When looking at a paper in PubMed I often look at whether it has been cited in/by other PubMed Central articles (RH side of the screen). Another option to use is LinkOut – more resources beneath the Abstract on the PubMed screen.
The ACC Review (Issue 38) was published over 10 years ago and was “[A] distillation of best practice reflecting ACC’s current position” at the time. As such, it used some data that are now quite dated/out of date, e.g. the New Zealand incidence rates of leukaemia were from 2002 (ref. #6). More recent stats give slightly lower numbers and there has not been an increase in the rate of leukaemia or NHL over 10 years (2006-2015) (https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/new-cancer-registrations-2015-final.xlsx; published 14 Dec 2017). The wording in the ACC Review is careful and although associations between occupational exposures (to known risk factors) and haematological cancers have been observed “the results have been inconsistent”.
Any treating haematologist will be focussing, first and foremost, on diagnosis, treatment, and management of the disease and (much) less so on any possibly association with an occupational origin/cause.
Leukaemia and occupation: a New Zealand Cancer Registry-based case-control Study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18953052). This study was published in 2009. It reported associations between occupation/industry and adult leukaemia but did not show any association let alone a causative link with a specific occupational exposure.
High risk occupations for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in New Zealand: case-control study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18032530). A very similar paper as far as I can tell published a year earlier. Interestingly, one of the citing PubMed Central articles was a much more recent one:
Occupation and Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Its Subtypes: A Pooled Analysis from the InterLymph Consortium (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26340796); published in 2016. Again, the conclusions are cautious and tentative without pointing to an (occupational) exposure to a specific chemical:
Pesticides and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1394159). Published in 1992 this paper reviews other even older studies and again just showed that the rising incidence of NHL coincided with a rise in the use of pesticides, particularly of a certain class of herbicides prior to and during that time period. It appears to ignore that there usually is a (long) lag between exposure and the manifestation of cancer. Again, one of the citing articles is quite telling:
Investing in prospective cohorts for etiologic study of occupational exposures (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25603935); published in 2015.
From the Abstract:
Evaluation of thresholds for benomyl- and carbendazim-induced aneuploidy in cultured human lymphocytes using fluorescence in situ hybridization (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10633176); published in 2000. This study looked at cells in the laboratory and showed that these two related agricultural fungicides caused changes in the number of chromosomes in the white blood cells. However, it did not show that the compounds also caused haematological cancers. In fact, one of the citing articles is on a similar/related compound of the same class of benzimidazoles that showed that its active metabolite also caused changes in the number and structure of chromosomes in cells in the lab as well as in treated animals. The last sentence of the Abstract is quite telling:
Genotoxicity of flubendazole and its metabolites in vitro and the impact of a new formulation on in vivo aneugenicity (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26443851); published in 2016.
I’d better leave it at this to avoid raising the ire of the TS powers that be 😉
For further technical questions and assistance you could try and contact Associate Professor Andrea ‘t Mannetje, for example; her contact details are available online.
Incognito…firstly, I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I am seeking help of any sort…I’m not.
With all due respect, Incognito, you could be anyone….an academic, an analytical chemist, a politician or a plant protection product peddler….
And while you seem to be keen to reassure me that there is no solid scientific proof of chemical ‘A’ being linked to disease ‘B’ and this is why (presumably) these chemicals are still in widespread use and I shouldn’t be too concerned….I recall medical professionals (but not actual doctors) sidling up to me and whispering that they simply knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that some agrichemicals cause some leukaemias. Even the densest nurse (the one who just did her job and asked no questions and never went beyond the boundaries of her limited training) surprised me one day by telling me how much she’d learned about farming and horticulture just chatting to her chemo patients.
You quote from the abstract for the Bentley paper….did you read the entire paper? Very interesting…and even more so because this research was funded by du Pont..who held the patent for benomyl and carbendazim. I say held…not now, its anyone’s…and since then most developed nations have effectively banned the widespread use of both benomyl and carbendazim… but not here, ’cause we’re special.
And I notice you didn’t mention the truly ancient paper from 1977 I linked to.
That wee gem…https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2110979/pdf/jc721174.pdf I found in the references for a Ministry of Health Food Safety paper justifying the MRL for carbendazim (2-methyl benzimidazole carbamate MBC) being set at 10 times higher than in Europe.
Rips my undies that I can’t link to it…but the writer of the paper had also zoomed in on a few supporting words in the abstract and introduction…and clearly failed to read through to the “Interference
of MBC with nuclear division in mammalian cells has been found to occur in vitro (27, 59,67) and in vivo (59, 67). This implies a potential
genetic risk for man. The toxicology and genetic effects of benzimidazole compounds have recently been reviewed by Seiler (59). We agree with him that the use of pesticides with this type of action should be restricted.” bit.
So…on we go, same as always, spraying nasty chemicals with gay abandon and implying that those with concerns about the potential adverse effects on humans and other organisms are uneducated tinfoilhatwearers.
Here in Godzone it is considered perfectly acceptable for one person to contaminate another person’s land, food crops, water supply and family with a hazardous substance.
Because Science says it’s OK.
Phew! I’ll sleep well tonight.
Thanks, Incognito.
Hi Rosemary,
First of all I’d like to apologise for the misunderstanding and for possibly coming across as patronising. It was my genuine intention to help.
Indeed, I could be anyone and my pen name here on TS is deliberate so that people can only judge me on my writings and nothing more and nothing else.
Now I have put a bit of time into reading the material and thinking about it I’d like to share my views, also on the off chance that others stumble on this thread. My views are a little divergent from yours 😉
You have probably heard the platitude that science is never settled and this is certainly true for medical science. I personally cringe when I hear somebody stating something with absolute certainty, particularly in the context of science, and most definitely in the context of cancer. In a similar vein, science cannot and must not ‘say it’s o.k.’; it creates and tests knowledge and establishes its boundaries, presents data & information, and simulates & predicts real and/or virtual situations and/or scenarios with associated probabilities (statistics; boundaries). As with all human endeavours, science is not perfect or flawless; in the ideal case at a given time, it’s our best attempt at understanding & explaining stuff – it is fallible though.
Yes, I did read the Bentley paper. I could point out the limitations of this paper for the extrapolation to living organisms from living cells in culture in the lab. The point is that the two mitotic spindle inhibitors (i.e. benomyl and its active metabolite carbendazim) don’t directly interact with DNA but bind to a protein called tubulin (NB very effective anti-cancer drugs are tubulin binders/inhibitors, e.g. Taxol/Paclitaxel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paclitaxel). As indeed expected, this causes changes in number and structure of chromosomes when cells divide (NB white blood cells don’t divide (in blood); it’s the stem cells in the bone marrow that undergo cell division that ultimately produce the (fully differentiated) blood cells). However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that these compounds also cause cancer and due to the lack of any strong supporting evidence they are classified as possible carcinogens. The authors concluded:
I did not mention the paper from 1977 because it’s indeed “truly ancient” and because my comment was already getting very long (same again this time …). Based on their knowledge & understanding at the time (in 1976) they stated an (informed) opinion but not a fact!
I believe the following links to that Ministry of Health Food Safety paper that caused you to shred your undies: http://www.moh.govt.nz/notebook/nbbooks.nsf/0/A5111CB953FDC9D9CC256C45000F5AE4/$file/Benomyl%20residues%202000.pdf.
Since you mentioned “water supply” you may also be interested in the following document (1309 pages!), which is one of the Datasheets for the Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality Management for New Zealand: https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/datasheet_2.3_pesticides_sept_2017.doc. It contains shed loads of data on carbendazim, e.g. “[A]ll benomyl registrations were voluntarily cancelled by registrants, effective in January 2002.” and “[S]ince 2014 benomyl is no longer able to be manufactured in or imported into NZ.” (pg. 106 bottom).
Should you be concerned? Yes. Should you lose sleep? No, not in my opinion.
“It contains shed loads of data on carbendazim, e.g. “[A]ll benomyl registrations were voluntarily cancelled by registrants, effective in January 2002.” and “[S]ince 2014 benomyl is no longer able to be manufactured in or imported into NZ.” (pg. 106 bottom).”
Methinks you are being just a tad deceitful there Incognito…while Benomyl was used in some older formulations, benomyl rapidly degrades to release carbendazim.
Carbendazim is the active ingredient, it is a known mutagen and is most damaging to rapidly dividing cells thus harmful to growing fungi (until they develop resistance), cancer cells, (has been seriously considered, but collateral damage would be expected), sperm production in mammals, immune system function in mammals and birds(even at low concentrations) and foetal growth.
Back to your cherry picked quote…carbendazim is the active ingredient in a number of agrichemical products still manufactured and sold in New Zealand.
Also interesting to compare NZ MRLs for carbendazim to those of the European Union.
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/19550-maximum-residue-levels-for-agricultural-compounds
http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/pesticides/eu-pesticides-database/public/?event=pesticide.residue.CurrentMRL&language=EN
Anyone other than Incognito who is bored enough to be following this conversation should really check out those Maximum Residue Limits….some of ours are set at ten times higher than the EU.
Its been a heap of fun Incognito…
Hi Rosemary,
One major and quite possibly the main reason why benomyl usage stopped, worldwide, was the fact that the target organisms (i.e. fungi) rapidly developed resistance to it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benomyl).
I thought it was interesting to read that NZ had also stopped benomyl usage as such and thought you’d be interested too; I don’t think this amounts to being “being just a tad deceitful” 🙁
I’m aware that carbendazim is the active metabolite of benomyl. In fact, I mentioned it twice in my comments above. Also, on pg. 613 (https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/datasheet_2.3_pesticides_sept_2017.doc):
I agree that carbendazim has many biological effects but it does not act directly on DNA and there is currently not enough evidence for a causative link to the development of cancer in humans, which is the reason why it (still) is classified as a possible human carcinogen. In addition, because its primary action is through interfering with tubulin, there is a safe dose below which no biological effects are (can be) observed, the so-called threshold (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dose%E2%80%93response_relationship). This is different from ionizing radiation, for example, which has a direct damaging effect on DNA and therefore has no safe dose or threshold (although this is a controversial topic, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis).
I did not “cherry pick[ed] [a] quote” and actually cited & quoted (with links!) a number of quite long and complicated technical documents; they all are freely accessible via the internet for your or anybody’s perusal. I started to engage with this material (and you!) only a few days ago and I have no personal interest in this other than a (intellectual) curiosity (and a somewhat misguided wish to ‘help’).
You mentioned before (@ 10 January 2018 at 12:01 am) “a Ministry of Health Food Safety paper justifying the MRL for carbendazim (2-methyl benzimidazole carbamate MBC) being set at 10 times higher than in Europe” and I provided a link; was that the paper you were referring to? If so, could you please point to the “justifying” section? I note that many of European MRLs are set at the detection limit of ca. 0.1 mg/kg.
100 grams of black beans vs 100 grams of beef
Black Beans win on all three rounds
Round 1 Price
Round 2 Nutrition
‘Black Beans
130 Calories
21g Protein
0g Total Fat
0g Saturated Fat
0mg Cholesterol
8g Fibre
2.9mg Iron
Ground Beef
270 Calories
26g Protean
18g Total Fat
7g Saturated Fat
80mg Cholesterol
0g Fibre
2.3mg Iron
Round 3 Sustainability
Water Used per Gram of Protein
Black Bean: 5.0 Gallons
Beef: 29.6 Gallons
Greenhouse Gas Emissions in CO2 per kg produced
Black Bean: 0.56kg
Beef: 15kg
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2e28c8_0cef004ae4df46dca90dea89386ab27c.jpg/v1/fill/w_649,h_433,al_c,lg_1,q_80/2e28c8_0cef004ae4df46dca90dea89386ab27c.jpg
http://www.veggielad.com/features/black-beans-vs-beef-clash-of-the-titans-guest-post/
yeah nah. NZ local beef vs black beans imported from China, I bet the figures for both climate and water are different when measured properly.
Fair point.
That was a UK article I discovered.
Don’t take it too hard.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
Friedrich Schiller.
Thanks for the generosity of your comment
I operate under the assumption that I am stupid and ignorant and so is everyone else.
A wise approach
‘Wisdom is not truth’
Suzie Creamcheese.
I operate under the same assumption.
Round 4 – taste. Subjective I know – but I guess most Kiwis would prefer a beautiful steak than a cup of black beans however served.
That’s why we sell tons of beef and import not many black beans.
I don’t think so. Both can be cooked well or badly. The reason we eat steak and not black beans is cultural and historical.
We do eat shedloads of haricot beans. Usually from a can and in tomato(ish) sauce.
But really, they complement each other – I actually had beef stir fry with a five bean mix a few days ago. I’m at one extreme – had a dietician who managed to get me out of the habit of eating a roast, just the roast, nothing else, on a plate – but if I’d replaced the beef with just another bean, it would have been quite unnice.
Same here, lots of canned beans but I haven’t looked back since I cottoned on to Geeta’s, a great, high turnover supplier of dried beans/dahls and all things deliciously aromatic.
Fish and Game have commissioned an opinion poll about the issues New Zealand are most concerned about.
Some of the results
On a positive note
75 percent of which said they were extremely or very concerned about the pollution of waterways.
Also
77 % of those surveyed said they were extremely or very concerned about the cost of living
Worryingly /depressingly
39 % of those surveyed are not concerned about climate change.
32 % of those surveyed are not concerned about child poverty.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347617/water-pollution-rising-concern-for-nzers-poll
A crash is coming this year.
This article touches on it.
Simple statistics and probability tell us that.
‘But a downward turn lies somewhere ahead, be it a recession, slump or, God forbid, crash. A necessary part of the energy of economic cycles comes from the ebbing of each wave.
History suggests that the next recession is not far off.
The current expansion, though relatively weak, has been steady since June 2009, making this the third-longest upward climb on record.’
And then there are all the economic and political factors that will trigger a collapse. Of the crises proffered below, I think Chiina’s Debt bubble will be straw that breaks the camel’s back.
And if it is that, NZ will be hit hard.
A dairy industry laden with debt will buckle.
‘. It’s not hard to imagine shocks that could trigger a drop.
Democrats could win control of the House and ignite an impeachment crisis.
Mueller’s investigation could take an unsettling turn.
The Federal Reserve could raise interest rates faster than the economy can digest them.
Or the opposite: The Fed could move too slowly and smoldering inflation could catch fire.
China’s debt bubble could burst.
North Korea could erupt.
Or the very real threat, dreaded by Trump’s own economic advisers: The president could deliver on his trade war threats.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11971082
If a recession is coming to the States, it’s likely to be driven primarily by the Republican Party slashing public spending.
That said, I have as much expertise on these matters as Drehle, which is to say none at all.