…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.
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.
What can we make of where National’s current leader Simon Bridges and the Party’s reliable water carrier Paula Bennett are taking their campaign to “win back the Treasury benches”? Going by the often petulant tone he has adopted, and the frequent histrionics of the most ardent supporters: going nowhere, and ...
by Daphna Whitmore It is surprising how rarely the authorities take an evolutionary perspective when dealing with health crises, such as the latest coronavirus spread. They talk about viruses mutating but that is a frequent occurrence, and they treat mutation as though it were equivalent to evolution. A mutation is ...
For over a decade, Heathrow airport has been wanting to add a third runway, to increase air traffic. Its been vigorously opposed by people concerned about the environmental impact. And now, its been ruled illegal on climate change grounds:Plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport have been ruled illegal ...
Many readers will probably have read this RNZ article (or heard the related interview), or seen calls for consultation on the Ministry of Education’s suggested changes to the number of subjects – and achievement standards – on offer to year 11 students. I’ve been following (& participating, where I ...
Method In Our Madness? When a liberal-democratic society encounters racism its first impulse is to shut it down – not interrogate it. But, is this wise? Is it reasonable to assume that a phenomenon as powerful, pernicious and persistent as racism is entirely without purpose? Surely, there must be, as Shakespeare puts it: ...
Here is the speech that Maya Forstater gave at the Woman’s Place UK Women’s Liberation 2020 conference at UCL on February 1st In a recent newsletter she wrote: it was an amazing day (and brilliant to meet so many people in real life). I talked about what makes people and ...
NZ First portrays itself as an anti-establishment party, standing up for "the little guy" (always a guy) against Big Auckland Money and its tool-parties. But it turns out that its secret slush fund is funded by the very people it claims to oppose:Stuff can reveal a longer list of donors ...
Peter TalleyI really don’t envy Jacinda Ardern’s position as Prime Minister of New Zealand. She’s probably got the hardest job in the country. Not only does she have to ensure her own MPs are behaving properly, she has to negotiate with Winston Peters and other NZ First MPs who seem ...
Will She, Or Won't She? Jacinda’s white vestments may look impressive on the cover of the international edition of TIME magazine, but every day Labour’s relationship with Winston Peters and NZ First continues, her ability to go on wearing them back home in New Zealand – without exciting derision – diminishes.IT WAS ...
BAMS survey of 2018 extreme weather The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has published a collection of articles examining unusually extreme weather events of 2018 and connections of those to climate change. These investigations are listed separately below but thanks to the generosity of AMS appear free for ...
Less than two months after China told the WHO there was a problem, a lot has happened. Sadly, deaths, confirmed cases and countries affected are increasing every day. However, on a scientific and medical level, what is going on to contain, cure and prevent this new disease is truly inspirational. ...
From 2015 to 2019 the NSA ran a program of mass surveillance of Americans' domestic communications. It was intrusive, totalitarian, and a collosal waste of money:A National Security Agency system that analyzed logs of Americans’ domestic phone calls and text messages cost $100 million from 2015 to 2019, but yielded ...
I must say that it’s at loggerheads with the inclusive and free society we want to create in New Zealand that one of our largest media outlets, MediaWorks, would allow Hannah Tamaki to perform on their show, Dancing With The Stars.Hannah Tamaki and her husband Brian are after all well-known ...
The media is reporting that an Auckland man has been charged with terrorism. Unfortunately, that's all we know, because all details have been suppressed. Who are they? What are they alleged to have done? Its all secret. There may be good reason for some of this (e.g. protection of the ...
Dr David ChagnéNew Zealand is involved in a US$12.8 million USDA grant to improve the quality of blueberry and cranberry. The four-year project, led by North Carolina State University, is part of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative, which funds multi-year, multi-institutional collaborative ...
The Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book is now available! The book uses cartoons, humor, and critical thinking to expose how and why some people reject climate science. It's now available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other book outlets. If you're near the DC area, you're very welcome to ...
by the Council of Disobedient Women When Moana Maniapoto recently lamented that Rachel Stewart was no longer writing for the Herald, political commentator Morgan Godfery was quick to brag on Twitter, like a schoolyard bully, how proud he was of “driving Rachel Stewart from the Herald”. What a contrast Morgan ...
You’re probably aware that the Achievement Standards used to assess senior school students’ learning are being reviewed. Science is one of the ‘pilot’ subjects in this process, where a ‘Subject Expert Group’ has developed 4 draft Science standards¹ (a significant step away from the current 30+, and a response to ...
John MacCormickTo succeed in an unpredictable and changing world, adaptability is the key. Let’s be chameleons. Technology continues to change people’s jobs and work environments. But change so far is not as fast and extensive as some pundits claim. Nor is it as fast and extensive as it needs ...
It seems we can’t even get through a week these days without the National Party's leader, Simon Bridges, making some sort of silly announcement about a policy that doesn’t actually exist.Usually concerning Bridges’ gut instinct and the undoing of whatever the Government has recently announced, National’s reactionary opinions and uncosted ...
Oh look! NZ First's secret slush fund was laundering donations from Talley's:One of the country's biggest fishing companies, Talley's, and its managing director donated nearly $27,000 to the New Zealand First Foundation, which has been bankrolling the New Zealand First Party. The foundation received $26,950 from seafood giant Talley's and ...
Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards, Andrew Waa, Nick Wilson, George ThomsonMinister Jenny Salesa announced the Government’s long-awaited Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill on Sunday 23 February. The Bill contains some important provisions as it works to strike a balance between ensuring regulated products are available to ...
Surprisingly enough, one could argue (as I often do) that the day inserted into a leap year is not that we label 29th February, but actually the 24th of February. Here I explain why, briefly. Almost everyone assumes that the day added into February in a leap year is the ...
If you haven’t watched Newsroom’s video showing Oranga Tamariki staff attempting to uplift a newborn baby yet you should do so. Although it's not the worst case as far as interventions go, it’s certainly not a good look for the Government. Because of this controversy there’s been a plethora of ...
Genesis Energy is planning to build the country's biggest PV solar farm:Power generator and retailer Genesis Energy says it is in advanced discussions to build New Zealand's biggest solar farm in northern Waikato. The company, which earlier reported a 15 per cent decline in operating earnings to $167.2 million, said ...
Transport is our second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Any credible effort to reduce emissions to net-zero has to target it. So what is the government doing? Subsidising some of the dirtiest, most inefficient vehicles on the roads:New Zealand's favourite cars - double cab utes - are largely exempt ...
You’ve really got to wonder what the NZ First Party was thinking and drinking last Friday? Not only did they hamstring the Greens by halting one of their main environmental policies, the electric vehicle fee-bate scheme, a policy that the public was led to believe was a done deal…but they ...
High Risk Call: Insensitive though it may seem to even pose the question: how will the electorate respond to what the Prime Minister’s opponents will undoubtedly characterise as an attack on New Zealanders’ freedom of speech? At more than twelve month’s remove from the terrible events of 15 March 2019, ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Climate change leads to more violence against women, girlsRape, domestic violence, forced marriages: A new ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 16, 2020 through Sat, Feb 22, 2020 Editor's Pick JP Morgan economists warn climate crisis is threat to human raceLeaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says ...
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...
OMV's exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin has failed to find oil. Good. Firstly, because we can't afford to burn the oil and gas we've already found, so there's just no point looking for more. And secondly, because offshore, deep-water drilling poses a risk of an environmental catastrophe, which ...
The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
The eastern Bay of Plenty town of Ōpōtiki is getting a new harbour, which will create 1,850 new jobs in the region, in a new round of regional services funding announced by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones. Ōpōtiki's harbour is currently unusable by most ships, but it will receive ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First Law and Order spokesman Darroch Ball has submitted the ‘Sentencing (Priority of Interests in Sentencing) Amendment Bill’ – a Members Bill which introduces a new overarching ‘priority and weighting provision’ that courts must follow when sentencing ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, New Zealand First Deputy Leader A total delivery of 2,000 new Police Officers has been achieved. New Zealand First Deputy Leader, Fletcher Tabuteau attended the latest police graduation of Recruit Wing 335 in Porirua today. Mr Tabuteau said, “Increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one of ...
Taupō District mayor David Trewavas has welcomed today’s announcement from regional economic development minister Shane Jones outlining $5.87m of funding for the re-development of the Taupō Airport. The bulk of the investment ($5 million) will come from the Provincial Growth Fund, while the rest will be from the New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has defended multi-million dollar provincial growth fund money for Northland water storage. The New Zealand First leader, along with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones, were recently in Dargaville to announce up to $12.745 million PGF funding top-up for water storage initiatives in the ...
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...
Kids learn better with a full stomach. That's why we launched our Lunches in Schools programme, which is already providing free and healthy school lunches to thousands of children so they can focus on what's important - learning. ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Finance, Fletcher Tabuteau has welcomed Statistics New Zealand’s latest report as a timely reminder of the value that this Coalition Government brings to every day New Zealanders: “This Coalition Government has meant a ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
It’s my pleasure to be in Sydney today for our annual meeting, Prime Minister. It’s fair to say that since we last met, tragedy and disaster have befallen our two countries. They say that in moments of that nature, the true character of an individual comes to the fore. I ...
Travel restrictions introduced for Iran from today No exemptions for students from China to enter the country Increased health staff presence at international airports The Government has announced a suite of new actions as it steps up its response to the rapidly changing global spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. This ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Waikato and South Auckland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support for farmers and growers. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on ...
The Crown accounts are in a strong position to weather any economic uncertainty as a result of coronavirus, with the books in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the seven months to January. The operating balance before ...
Supporting New Zealand to make most of digital and data driven technologies will be the focus of a new Digital Council that begins its work today. Minister for Government Digital Services, Kris Faafoi, and Minister of Statistics, James Shaw, have confirmed the group of experts chosen to advise the Government ...
Safety and climate change resilience are behind South Island regional roading projects that are being brought forward as part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. As part of the NZ Upgrade, $300 million was allocated for regional investment opportunities. “I’m pleased to ...
Digital and air connectivity in Fiordland are getting a big boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. As part of the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme announced in January, $300 million was allocated for regional investment opportunities, to be administered by the Provincial Development Unit. “I’m pleased ...
West Coast ports and roads will benefit from an investment of $18.6 million to improve safety and resilience and enable future economic growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The $12 billion NZ Upgrade Programme announced last month allocated $300 million for regional investment opportunities, to be administered ...
Regional roading projects that will improve safety and resilience are being brought forward as part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. As part of the NZ Upgrade, $300 million was allocated for regional investment opportunities. “I spend a lot of time in ...
The Eastern Bay of Plenty will finally get the harbour development it has wanted for decades, thanks to a $79.4 million central Government investment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. This game-changing project will revitalise the township of Ōpōtiki and the wider Eastern Bay of Plenty, creating hundreds ...
Regional New Zealand will be a hive of activity in the coming months as the New Zealand Upgrade Programme delivers on its promise to modernise our infrastructure, prepare for climate change and help grow our economy. As part of the $12 billion NZ Upgrade Programme announced by the Government last ...
A milestone has been reached with the graduation of more than 2,000 new Police officers since the Coalition Government took office in October 2017. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation today of Wing 335 marks a surge of 2,023 new officers, and coincides with some significant breakthroughs against organised ...
Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, and the Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, have welcomed a new cyber security qualification as a step towards countering cyber threats and keeping New Zealanders safe. Attending the launch of the new Level 6 Diploma of Cyber Security at Auckland’s Unitec Institute ...
Government Ministers today celebrated 20 years of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park/ Ko te Pataka kai o Tikapa Moana/ Te Moananui a Toi, and recognise there is much to celebrate and so much more to do to give nature a helping hand. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said “New Zealanders care deeply about nature.I want to ...
Prepared remarks on coronavirus by Finance Minister Grant Robertson to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and Massey University. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, The topic of this speech is the Budget 2020 priorities. But, given the considerable interest that I imagine is in the room about COVID-19 coronavirus, I do ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Ni sa bula vinaka. Namaste Thank you Shamima, Hon. Minister Vuniwaqa, community leaders and Women’s Crisis Centre staff for your warm welcome. It’s an honour and privilege to officially ...
The Government has released a comprehensive response to ensuring New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump. This follows the Commerce Commission fuel market study which found motorists were paying more than they should for petrol and includes: Fuel Market Bill drafting, to pass mid-year Industry consultation in ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma Tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula vinaka As-salaam alaikum It is a privilege to be here today. Thank you for welcoming us to your house of prayer. Thank you for your warmth. Thank you for greeting ...
Taupō Airport is to be upgraded and expanded through a $5.9 million Government funding boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Taupō Airport is the gateway to the Central North Island. It is essential for both keeping local people and businesses connected, but also to bring more people ...
The Minister of Housing Megan Woods has confirmed the Government is working with Rotorua Lakes District Council and Te Arawa for the second place-based assessment to better understand the housing and urban issues affecting the city. “Every New Zealander has a right to a warm, safe and secure place to ...
19 new community homes (in addition to 14 opened in December) delivered in Takanini, Auckland 500 people housed by CORT Housing Trust by end of March 2,290 new public housing homes delivered in Auckland (November 2017 – December 2019). Another nineteen new public housing homes are being delivered in Auckland, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker met today with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss ways to strengthen ties between New Zealand and India. “India is a priority relationship for New Zealand. We share common democratic traditions, growing two-way trade, extensive people-to-people links, ...
Speech to the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) Delhi, India Wednesday 26 February 2020 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] The Indo-Pacific: from principles to partnerships Distinguished guests, good afternoon and thank you for your invitation. It is good to be here at a time where New Zealand needs less of an introduction than ...
Tihei mauri ora Te Whare e tu nei Te Papa e takoto Tēnā korua No reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula Vinaka It is a real pleasure to be here today, and to have the honour of addressing you all. If you’ll indulge me I’m ...
Improved air quality to support better health and environmental wellbeing is the focus of proposed amendments to air quality regulations, says the Associate Minister for the Environment, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. “Although our air quality is good in most places, during winter certain places have spikes in air pollution, mainly from ...
The remote eastern Bay of Plenty community of Raukokere will receive a Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $10.6 million for a water storage facility, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “This is great news for the rural community. The landowner, Te Whānau a Maruhaeremuri Hapū Trust, will use ...
The Lake Ōkaro lakebed has transferred to Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis joined Te Arawa at Te Papaiōuru Marae in Rotorua to celebrate the reinstatement of Te Arawa Lakes Trust as a key decision maker over the bed ...
New legislation is being proposed which aims to reduce the stress and financial hardship caused by late payments to small businesses. The Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash is considering stricter rules around payment practices between businesses. “Late payments from large organisations to smaller suppliers can be crippling for these ...
A new partnership programme between the New Zealand Police and Fiji Police will focus on combatting transnational organised crime and enhancing investigative skills, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on the first day of her visit to Fiji. The programme will see: · New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama met today in Suva, and renewed their commitment to continue to strengthen Fiji-New Zealand relations on a foundation of shared values and equal partnership. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the kinship between Fijians and New Zealanders, one that has endured over ...
A $19.9 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund will help develop essential infrastructure for an industrial hub in the Bay of Plenty town of Kawerau, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “The funding will go to three projects to further develop the Putauaki Trust Industrial Hub, an industrial ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.3 million on a roading package for Mahia that will lead to greater and wider economic benefits for the region and beyond, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at an event in Mahia today. The $8.3 million announced consists of: $7 ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed new reporting showing the Coalition Government is on track to meet its child poverty targets, with 18,400 children lifted out of poverty as a result of the Families Package. Stats NZ has released the first set of comprehensive child poverty statistics since the Government ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today announced that Bikes in Schools facilities have been rolled out to 20,000 more kiwi kids under this Government. She made the announcement at the opening of a new bike track at Henderson North School in Auckland. “Bikes in Schools facilities give kids ...
Benefit settings rise in line with wages as of 1 April Main benefits will increase by over 3 percent, instead of 1.66 percent, on 1 April with the Government’s decision to annually adjust benefit rates to increases in the average wage. The Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, said ...
Strengthening New Zealand’s political and business ties with India will be the focus of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker’s visit to India this week. The Ministers are co-leading a high level business delegation to India to support increased people and economic engagement ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio continues to champion for greater Pacific participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers with the announcement of the Toloa Awards, with 8 recipients of the Toloa Community Fund and 13 Toloa Tertiary Scholarships. “The Toloa Programme encourages more Pacific peoples ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...
The endangered toroa/Antipodean albatross has new international protection for its 100,000km annual migration, thanks to collaborative efforts led by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Today, 130 countries agreed to strictly protect Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild ...
No sales to under-18-year-olds No advertising and sponsorship of vaping products and e-cigarettes No vaping or smokeless tobacco in smokefree areas Regulates vaping product safety comprehensively, - including devices, flavours and ingredients Ensure vaping products are available for those who want to quit smoking Vaping regulation that balances ...
Yesterday New Zealand confirmed the first known case of Covid-19 in the country. As the virus approaches global pandemic status, what progress is being made in developing a vaccine? Siouxsie Wiles explains where we’re at, and how the vaccines work.The race to find a vaccine for Covid-19 is under way, ...
By RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed today that a suspected case of Covid-19 coronavirus has tested positive in New Zealand. Ardern said the person was in their 60s, and was a citizen of New Zealand who had recently travelled from Iran via Bali. The person had previously ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Happy February 29! It doesn’t come round very often, so make sure you enjoy it. But why do we have these extra days? Well, if we didn’t, the seasons would gradually move around the ...
New Zealand Pompe Network Allyson Lock, MNZM An open letter to New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern “Know us by our deeds”. This was the headline next to your picture on the cover of Time Magazine, for all the world to see. I saw it. I’m ...
Analysis: The government faces economic strife and uncertainty as the coronavirus continues to spread, four men charged in National's donations case plead not guilty, and more revelations about NZ First's "slush fund". ...
New Zealand’s first case of COVID-19 has just been confirmed. Here’s what we know so far.What’s the latest?Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed New Zealand’s first case of COVID-19 coronavirus. New Zealand is the 48th country to have a confirmed case of the virus. What do we know about the patient?The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Review: Leviathan, directed by Yaron Lifschitz. Circa in collaboration with Co:3 Australia, MAXIMA Circus and CircusWA for Perth Festival. As the audience takes their seats, two feet poke out from beneath the curtain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Bailey, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland If you’re hot and sticky even before your daily commute, you might ask why you sweat so much. Sweating is usually the body’s way of stopping you overheating. But for some people, sweating becomes ...
At a tense press conference in Sydney, the New Zealand prime minister has just issued a stark challenge to Australia over its treatment of NZ citizens. Here’s what she said. We appreciate that many Kiwis have taken up the opportunity to live and work in Australia – many more than has ...
New Zealand has widened, not narrowed, its coronavirus travel ban despite universities pleading for an exemption for international students The Government has extended its coronavirus-related travel restrictions to include Iran, while resisting calls from universities to provide an exemption for international students from China. Health officials will also monitor an ...
The Serious Fraud Office has today received a referral from NZ Police in relation to Phil Goff’s election expenses. The SFO will be assessing the matter and has no further comment at this time. ...
The series, a collaboration between Spinoff Members and Verb Wellington, kicks off with a discussion on politics and the media. As all right thinking people know, there are a mere 204 days until the general election. To get in the mood, we’re launching a new series of live events. And not ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20)What are you even up to, Auckland.2 Eleanor ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson insists NZ is in a strong position to weather the fallout from coronavirus, even though Australia has declared it a pandemic. He underlines the Crown accounts are buoyant, the fundamentals of the economy are strong and careful management has seen the economy continue to grow in ...
On the heels of the arrival of The Outsider on NEON, Jean Sergent explores how screen adaptations of Stephen King’s work are able to take on a life of their own. Stephen King, the 72 year old horror author from Portland, has a better work ethic than you or I and ...
Iwi are too reliant on investments in property and primary industries, restricting returns for their members, according to a new report. The annual Iwi Investment Report by consulting firm TDB Advisory, showed the country's eight largest iwi with a collective $9 billion worth of assets, had weak growth in the ...
Announcing a package of regional capital projects worth about $190 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones mentioned climate change. He said Regional New Zealand “will be a hive of activity in the coming months as the New Zealand Upgrade Programme delivers on its promise to modernise our infrastructure, prepare ...
The people of India have been holding mass protests all over India ever since the anti Muslim and anti working class Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was enacted into law on 12 December 2019. The state has made many attempts to suppress the rising ...
New Zealand consumer confidence remains high, according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index. The index was down just one point on last month to 122. "Consumers are feeling pretty happy with their lot at the moment - the lifting housing market is making homeowners feel richer, job opportunities are ...
Jacinda Ardern has described difficult conversations with Australia as being "gnarly'' - but says the trans-Tasman relationship is strong enough to get through them. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentPolitical donations Yvette McCullough (RNZ): Transparency International warns need for political funding reform is urgent Gordon Campbell: On where the ...
Continued strong demand for chicken, burgers and tacos has resulted in another strong year for Restaurant Brands. The fast food operator's net profit for the year ended December fell nearly 16 percent to $30.1m, but that was for a 44-week period, versus the year earlier's 52-week period. That company changed ...
The New Zealand share market opened lower on Friday, following a sixth day of world market losses as investors respond to the economic threat of coronavirus. The NZX benchmark top 50 index opened down 1.5 percent, after last night's 0.9 percent fall. The benchmark top 50 Index has fallen more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maggie Tonkin, Senior Lecturer, English and Creative Writing, University of Adelaide Review: Dance Nation, directed by Imara Savage. State Theatre Company South Australia and Belvoir for the Adelaide Festival Dance is at the heart of playwright Clare Barron’s Dance Nation, from the ...
The Government’s response to new revelations that one of the country’s biggest fishing companies, Talley’s, and its managing director has donated tens of thousands of undisclosed dollars to the New Zealand First Foundation is unacceptable. “The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan talks with Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher about the week in politics, including the implementation of an emergency plan to tackle the spread of coronavirus, the major parties’ policies on climate change, national security ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University On Churchill Island, southeast of Melbourne, small cone-shaped, shallow holes (digs) puncture the grass. They’re widespread, and reveal moist soil below ...
The University of Auckland's Tim Dare examines what SkyCity's 'de-platforming' of controversial speaker Peter Singer might mean for free speech In work first appearing in the late 1970s, Princeton Philosophy Professor Peter Singer argued that in a limited range of circumstances parents ought to be able to ask doctors to end ...
By Stefan Armbruster of SBS News in Brisbane Thousands of New Zealanders who are denied disability support are hoping Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will take the issue up with her counterpart Scott Morrison when they meet today. Despite paying taxes and the NDIS levy, New Zealanders who have come ...
The Maori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta and her Australian counterpart have met in Sydney and formally agreed to share ideas on how to better support each country's indegineous people ...
Apparently you have a vacancy on your programme after Kanoa Lloyd decided she didn’t “need to see a homophobic Pasodoble or a xenophobic Cha Cha.” Now, we have to admit we don’t know what a Pasodoble is. But we do know xenophobia when we see ...
Public services are increasingly migrating to the internet, but as the government prioritises digital interaction many of the people who need those services the most are left behind, according to a new report. Pita, an elderly gentleman, received a letter from the IRD that claimed he hadn’t paid his tax obligations ...
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila Philippines Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has dismissed comments by Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go that “politics” is behind the filing of a proposed concurrent resolution calling on regulators to temporarily allow television giant ABS-CBN to operate as Congress deliberates on its ...
The Serious Fraud Office has received a referral from NZ Police in relation to Lianne Dalziel’s election expenses. The SFO will be assessing the matter and has no further comment at this time. ...
Employers are encouraged to sign up for Road Safety Week 2020 (4-10 May), and join hundreds of communities, schools and organisations running activities to raise awareness of road safety issues. Brake, the road safety charity, which coordinates the event, ...
A poem by US National Youth Poet Laureate Kara Jackson.i woke up and the day caught me in its mouth like a strand of yarni am usefulthe motivation for a scarf, maybe some stitch started to be finishedi will make up someone’sheat i will be a fireso intricate it can be worn i ...
The euthanasia debate took an unusual turn this week when Vision NZ, the political party associated with the Destiny Church, made an unexpected policy announcement. It appeared that Vision NZ supported voluntary euthanasia, but just for one person, co-host of TV3’s The Project, Kanoa Lloyd. The now former campaign manager ...
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has today announced the findings of an inquiry into how Budget-sensitive material was accessed at the Treasury. The inquiry, led by Ms Jenn Bestwick, was launched by the Commission at the request of the Treasury ...
A scathing report into the accidental release of sensitive Budget 2019 information by the Treasury has found poor procurement processes and governance failures by senior leadership were to blame for security flaws in its website not being identified earlier The inquiry into the accidental release of Budget 2019 information prior ...
The Port of Tauranga's first half result is flat, despite a drop in cargo handled through the country's biggest port. The port company's net profit dropped 1.4 percent to $48.3 million in the six months to December, but was otherwise flat after accounting for a tax adjustment of $0.6m. Revenue ...
For those mothers who gave birth by non-elective Caesarean section, feelings of sadness – even of failure – can be overwhelming, writes Janice Sharan.I’m sitting next to my 15-month-old. He’s sleeping peacefully, his mop of dark hair damp with sweat, lips pursed and his chest rising and falling as he ...
Today is the last day Kiwibank will accept cheques, and its customers will no longer be able to make a payment by cheque. Inland Revenue and ACC will also follow suit on 1 March. The number of cheques has been going down by about 20 percent year-on-year and last year ...
Television New Zealand has reported a strong increase in first half profit, driven up by an increase in advertising revenue. The state-owned broadcaster made a net profit of $15.8 million in the six months to December, beating the year earlier by $5m or 47 percent. "Strong ratings performance for our ...
Air New Zealand has launched its latest safety video that moves away from celebrity appearances to push an environmental message on New Zealand's endangered native birds. The video A Journey to Safety takes a different approach from the widely criticised video of two years ago - called a 'weird mish-mash' ...
A report into how sensitive documents were accessed by the National Party before last year's Budget has found Treasury governance, oversight and risk management processes fell short. ...
In the lead up to Children’s Day in New Zealand on Sunday 1 March, The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) Aotearoa NZ President Dr Jeff Brown says the wellbeing of children and their whānau must remain a priority for all of society, not only ...
A Kiwi firm is trialling a mobile device and app that could test for Covid-19 in hospitals, schools, factories and homes anywhere in the world within 40 minutes No-one wishes harm on anyone, but sometimes a crisis is also an opportunity to quickly develop new technologies and systems to solve ...
Ahead of the forthcoming public meeting on Monday 2 March regarding the Newlands Volunteer Fire Brigade former Ohariu MP Hon Peter Dunne is extending his best wishes to all those involved in the current campaign to keep the station open. "Although ...
Sure, the new wave of RTDs might have cool labels and no carbs or whatever, but for Sam Brooks, none come close to the perfection held within that little yellow can.RTDs are coming back, if they were ever really gone. I remember the halcyon days of getting drunk off Purple ...
The ongoing strike by NorthTec tutors steps up a notch today with a public rally. For two weeks the members of Te Hautū Kahurangi | New Zealand Tertiary Education Union have been on strike. The action has meant not completing attendance registers; ...
The cut price fuel retailer, Waitomo says the Government’s proposed changes to the fuel market will mean customers will be able to see if they are getting fleeced. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will use today’s meeting with counterpart Scott Morrison in Sydney to tell him his Government is deporting Australian criminals to New Zealand. ...
Coronavirus: Finance Minister Grant Robertson - NZ in shadow of the biggest economic uncertainty in recent times; and A2 Milk result: Net profit leaps 21% on China sales. ...
Thousands of Kiwis are expected to attend the March for Life in Auckland this Saturday (29 February). With Parliament just days away from voting on a Bill to liberalise abortion-up-to-birth in New Zealand those marching will be making a public stand ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Tormey, Professor of Politics, University of Bristol Of the many issues thrown up by Brexit, one of the most pressing is the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom. Brexit was in large measure a revolt by a certain section of English ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Gibney, NHMRC early career fellow, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity While countries around the globe have been taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, it has now been reported in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee Baumgartner, Professor of Fisheries and River Management, Institute for Land, Water, and Society, Charles Sturt University As this summer draws to a close, it marks just over a year since successive fish death events at Menindee in Lower Darling River made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Every January Larry Fink, the head of the world’s largest funds manager, BlackRock, sends a letter to the chief executives of major public companies. This year’s letter focused on climate risk. “Climate change has become a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Davis, Professor of Finance, University of Melbourne The government’s financial system inquiry, on which I sat, reported five years ago. It recommended that the creators of financial products be subject to a design and distribution obligation (DDO), which would mean the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andy Simionato, Lecturer, RMIT University Books are always transforming. The book we hold today has arrived through a number of materials (clay, papyrus, parchment, paper, pixels) and forms (tablet, scroll, codex, kindle). The book can be a tool for communication, reading, entertainment, ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Ardern gets diplomatic, fuel market legislation released, and police pinged over employment records breach.There hasn’t really been much coverage of it in The Bulletin, but it’s worth looking back at quite an important diplomatic week for the PM. She has been ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias.Fiction 1 The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press, $35) ReadingRoom broke the storydetailing how Knox’s novel was fought over by US publishers in a ...
Sky Sport News presenters Kate King and Goran Paladin deliver the latest news of Kiwi sporting women at home and around the globe. *WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE* Hurdler Portia Bing has reinvented herself in a bid to make the Tokyo Olympics and take another step towards putting last year's disqualification at ...
Embarrassingly for the Department of Conservation, a scheduled ministerial announcement last year was postponed. David Williams reports A much-delayed project to better protect the Mackenzie Basin’s stunning landscapes and bolster biodiversity has a new boss. In the 2018 Budget, Conservation and Lands Minister Eugenie Sage announced $2.6 million to find ...
Trying to reduce drownings - and bring on a new generation of surfers - the Wave Warriors teach kids from low-decile schools water safety wrapped in a surf lesson. Eight-year-old Athena Talavai is less than half the height of the surfboard she’s expected to stand on, and probably only a quarter of the weight. She ...
The decision to give Ihumātao the highest heritage listing available sends a strong signal to the Government and Auckland Council, write Dr Frances Hancock and Nicola Short Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) has upgraded the heritage listing of the Ōtuataua Stonefields Reserve and included adjacent and long-contested land at ...
If Simon Bridges manages to pull off an election victory, his next headache will be choosing his Cabinet from a somewhat uninspiring line-up, writes Peter Dunne Every election year there is a call to use the election as a chance to refresh Parliament and get rid of at least some ...
An anonymous Department of Conservation staff member, who wishes to be known only as the Carefree Vigilante, provides a handy guide to dealing with menstruation, and menstrual products, in the wild.This post was first published on the Department of Conservation blog.I’ve got six or seven rational fears and about 900 ...
Open Mike 07/01/2018 
What can we make of where National’s current leader Simon Bridges and the Party’s reliable water carrier Paula Bennett are taking their campaign to “win back the Treasury benches”? Going by the often petulant tone he has adopted, and the frequent histrionics of the most ardent supporters: going nowhere, and ...10 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore It is surprising how rarely the authorities take an evolutionary perspective when dealing with health crises, such as the latest coronavirus spread. They talk about viruses mutating but that is a frequent occurrence, and they treat mutation as though it were equivalent to evolution. A mutation is ...10 hours ago
With sincere apologies to Martin Niemöller ...12 hours ago
For over a decade, Heathrow airport has been wanting to add a third runway, to increase air traffic. Its been vigorously opposed by people concerned about the environmental impact. And now, its been ruled illegal on climate change grounds:Plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport have been ruled illegal ...14 hours ago
Many readers will probably have read this RNZ article (or heard the related interview), or seen calls for consultation on the Ministry of Education’s suggested changes to the number of subjects – and achievement standards – on offer to year 11 students. I’ve been following (& participating, where I ...18 hours ago
Method In Our Madness? When a liberal-democratic society encounters racism its first impulse is to shut it down – not interrogate it. But, is this wise? Is it reasonable to assume that a phenomenon as powerful, pernicious and persistent as racism is entirely without purpose? Surely, there must be, as Shakespeare puts it: ...21 hours ago
A New Hope from the National Party leader ...2 days ago
2 days ago
BAMS survey of 2018 extreme weather The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has published a collection of articles examining unusually extreme weather events of 2018 and connections of those to climate change. These investigations are listed separately below but thanks to the generosity of AMS appear free for ...2 days ago
Fans are outraged at the prospect of Destiny Church pastor Hannah Tamaki joining the Black Caps ...3 days ago
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...7 days ago
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...1 week ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...2 weeks ago
The eastern Bay of Plenty town of Ōpōtiki is getting a new harbour, which will create 1,850 new jobs in the region, in a new round of regional services funding announced by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones. Ōpōtiki's harbour is currently unusable by most ships, but it will receive ...17 hours ago
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...3 days ago
It’s my pleasure to be in Sydney today for our annual meeting, Prime Minister. It’s fair to say that since we last met, tragedy and disaster have befallen our two countries. They say that in moments of that nature, the true character of an individual comes to the fore. I ...12 hours ago
Yesterday New Zealand confirmed the first known case of Covid-19 in the country. As the virus approaches global pandemic status, what progress is being made in developing a vaccine? Siouxsie Wiles explains where we’re at, and how the vaccines work.The race to find a vaccine for Covid-19 is under way, ...5 hours ago
By RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed today that a suspected case of Covid-19 coronavirus has tested positive in New Zealand. Ardern said the person was in their 60s, and was a citizen of New Zealand who had recently travelled from Iran via Bali. The person had previously ...8 hours ago
New Zealand Pompe Network Allyson Lock, MNZM An open letter to New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern “Know us by our deeds”. This was the headline next to your picture on the cover of Time Magazine, for all the world to see. I saw it. I’m ...9 hours ago
Analysis: The government faces economic strife and uncertainty as the coronavirus continues to spread, four men charged in National's donations case plead not guilty, and more revelations about NZ First's "slush fund". ...10 hours ago
A gun safety expert says a firearm registry is the most important gun control measure NZ does not yet have. ...12 hours ago
New Zealand has widened, not narrowed, its coronavirus travel ban despite universities pleading for an exemption for international students The Government has extended its coronavirus-related travel restrictions to include Iran, while resisting calls from universities to provide an exemption for international students from China. Health officials will also monitor an ...12 hours ago
How clever technology that gives people access to their wages every day might help keep people from out-of-control debt. ...13 hours ago
Finance Minister Grant Robertson insists NZ is in a strong position to weather the fallout from coronavirus, even though Australia has declared it a pandemic. He underlines the Crown accounts are buoyant, the fundamentals of the economy are strong and careful management has seen the economy continue to grow in ...14 hours ago
Iwi are too reliant on investments in property and primary industries, restricting returns for their members, according to a new report. The annual Iwi Investment Report by consulting firm TDB Advisory, showed the country's eight largest iwi with a collective $9 billion worth of assets, had weak growth in the ...14 hours ago
Announcing a package of regional capital projects worth about $190 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones mentioned climate change. He said Regional New Zealand “will be a hive of activity in the coming months as the New Zealand Upgrade Programme delivers on its promise to modernise our infrastructure, prepare ...14 hours ago
New Zealand consumer confidence remains high, according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index. The index was down just one point on last month to 122. "Consumers are feeling pretty happy with their lot at the moment - the lifting housing market is making homeowners feel richer, job opportunities are ...14 hours ago
Continued strong demand for chicken, burgers and tacos has resulted in another strong year for Restaurant Brands. The fast food operator's net profit for the year ended December fell nearly 16 percent to $30.1m, but that was for a 44-week period, versus the year earlier's 52-week period. That company changed ...14 hours ago
The New Zealand share market opened lower on Friday, following a sixth day of world market losses as investors respond to the economic threat of coronavirus. The NZX benchmark top 50 index opened down 1.5 percent, after last night's 0.9 percent fall. The benchmark top 50 Index has fallen more ...14 hours ago
The University of Auckland's Tim Dare examines what SkyCity's 'de-platforming' of controversial speaker Peter Singer might mean for free speech In work first appearing in the late 1970s, Princeton Philosophy Professor Peter Singer argued that in a limited range of circumstances parents ought to be able to ask doctors to end ...15 hours ago
Dr Eric Crampton worries we may be thinking about the coronavirus outbreak as a one-off when it could be a new normal. ...16 hours ago
The Maori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta and her Australian counterpart have met in Sydney and formally agreed to share ideas on how to better support each country's indegineous people ...16 hours ago
The euthanasia debate took an unusual turn this week when Vision NZ, the political party associated with the Destiny Church, made an unexpected policy announcement. It appeared that Vision NZ supported voluntary euthanasia, but just for one person, co-host of TV3’s The Project, Kanoa Lloyd. The now former campaign manager ...17 hours ago
A scathing report into the accidental release of sensitive Budget 2019 information by the Treasury has found poor procurement processes and governance failures by senior leadership were to blame for security flaws in its website not being identified earlier The inquiry into the accidental release of Budget 2019 information prior ...17 hours ago
The Port of Tauranga's first half result is flat, despite a drop in cargo handled through the country's biggest port. The port company's net profit dropped 1.4 percent to $48.3 million in the six months to December, but was otherwise flat after accounting for a tax adjustment of $0.6m. Revenue ...17 hours ago
Today is the last day Kiwibank will accept cheques, and its customers will no longer be able to make a payment by cheque. Inland Revenue and ACC will also follow suit on 1 March. The number of cheques has been going down by about 20 percent year-on-year and last year ...17 hours ago
Television New Zealand has reported a strong increase in first half profit, driven up by an increase in advertising revenue. The state-owned broadcaster made a net profit of $15.8 million in the six months to December, beating the year earlier by $5m or 47 percent. "Strong ratings performance for our ...17 hours ago
Air New Zealand has launched its latest safety video that moves away from celebrity appearances to push an environmental message on New Zealand's endangered native birds. The video A Journey to Safety takes a different approach from the widely criticised video of two years ago - called a 'weird mish-mash' ...17 hours ago
A Kiwi firm is trialling a mobile device and app that could test for Covid-19 in hospitals, schools, factories and homes anywhere in the world within 40 minutes No-one wishes harm on anyone, but sometimes a crisis is also an opportunity to quickly develop new technologies and systems to solve ...18 hours ago
The cut price fuel retailer, Waitomo says the Government’s proposed changes to the fuel market will mean customers will be able to see if they are getting fleeced. ...20 hours ago
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will use today’s meeting with counterpart Scott Morrison in Sydney to tell him his Government is deporting Australian criminals to New Zealand. ...20 hours ago
Coronavirus: Finance Minister Grant Robertson - NZ in shadow of the biggest economic uncertainty in recent times; and A2 Milk result: Net profit leaps 21% on China sales. ...20 hours ago
Cycling the length of NZ has got Rod Oram thinking about farming in the climate change era ...22 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. Fiction 1 The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press, $35) ReadingRoom broke the story detailing how Knox’s novel was fought over by US publishers in a ...22 hours ago
Sky Sport News presenters Kate King and Goran Paladin deliver the latest news of Kiwi sporting women at home and around the globe. *WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE* Hurdler Portia Bing has reinvented herself in a bid to make the Tokyo Olympics and take another step towards putting last year's disqualification at ...23 hours ago
Embarrassingly for the Department of Conservation, a scheduled ministerial announcement last year was postponed. David Williams reports A much-delayed project to better protect the Mackenzie Basin’s stunning landscapes and bolster biodiversity has a new boss. In the 2018 Budget, Conservation and Lands Minister Eugenie Sage announced $2.6 million to find ...23 hours ago
Trying to reduce drownings - and bring on a new generation of surfers - the Wave Warriors teach kids from low-decile schools water safety wrapped in a surf lesson. Eight-year-old Athena Talavai is less than half the height of the surfboard she’s expected to stand on, and probably only a quarter of the weight. She ...23 hours ago
The decision to give Ihumātao the highest heritage listing available sends a strong signal to the Government and Auckland Council, write Dr Frances Hancock and Nicola Short Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) has upgraded the heritage listing of the Ōtuataua Stonefields Reserve and included adjacent and long-contested land at ...23 hours ago
If Simon Bridges manages to pull off an election victory, his next headache will be choosing his Cabinet from a somewhat uninspiring line-up, writes Peter Dunne Every election year there is a call to use the election as a chance to refresh Parliament and get rid of at least some ...23 hours 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.
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/aa3cc7_f2d7c87a833c47fdba82115fab92ede5.pdf
http://agpro.co.nz/downloads/msds-agpro-carbendazim-pv65d.pdf
https://www.ravensdown.co.nz/media/3463/sporeguard-sds.pdf
https://resistance.nzpps.org/strategies/crops/summerfruit_diseases.pdf
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
https://fishandgame.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Embargoed-1800-7-January-2018-Opinion-Poll-Results-Water-Pollution-key-concern-for-NZers.pdf
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.