Paula Bennett was detained by Police this morning on her way Whenuapai Airport.
She was threatening to bash two English tourists, surnames Windsor, who are unashamed benefit rorters.
The one child family are know to claim millions in England and to live an extravagant lifestyle. Bennett was particularly enraged when she heard they would be claiming English benefit while on holiday and then claiming food, board and travel from NZ taxpayer. The Windsors are known to drink and watch flat screen TVs during the day.
Unfortunately Bennett will be released when the spongers leave the country to do nothing somewhere else.
Enjoyed Pagini’s disdain today for the ‘ God like’ Royals on Mora’s afternoon programme. His obvious discomfort with her disrespect. I wonder if her contract will be terminated.
A change from the obsequious fawning servility of the common media fearing for their jobs.
Unfortunately for the Woyals the weather in Wellington is dismal with fog/cloud down to sea level and there is a chance that they could be forced to land at Palmerston North…
A four way handshake with Key, William, Kate and George with a special lovely little Troty present for Key from George. Will help Key get some more votes for inviting them in an election year. How cool is that!
It just so happens that i have a good used asylum going cheap,the Woyals could spend years enjoying the comforts of its cells and straightjackets having spent years roll playing doing the doctors and nurses thing should come quite naturally to them…
Noticeably absent from our airwaves during this royal tour is the modern international youth anthem “We will never be Royals” by Lorde.
Instead of glorifying privilege, Lorde held up a light up to the nobility of those without money or privilege. But this not a message that John Key and his born to rule tories want us to hear in an election year, hence the need for this extravagant tax payer funded glittering royal tour. Where the modern kiwi MSM continue to grovel and tug its forelock in the traditional peasant way at this symbolic embodiment of enshrined privilege and inequality.
But that kind of love affair ain’t for us, we seek a different kind of buzz
But, seriously….I’m excited about the royals! Is nobody else feeling it?? They are the most level headed/sane of all of the bunch and they are gonna love it here : )
Are you sure you are not confusing ‘level headed’ with this pairs ability to adhere to the old adage ”better to keep the mouth firmly shut and be thought of as idiots than open it and provide proof”…
“But, seriously….I’m excited about the royals! Is nobody else feeling it??”
No Awww. I’m about as indifferent as that weather that bad12 is describing for Wellington today. Besides I descend from Irish and Scots, so the representatives of the English Crown are nothing to get excited about The only excitement they ever got in the past was fighting them.
The flat screen that Not a PS Staffer talks of though, may well be in their itinerary. During a tour of Government house we were informed by the tour guide that previously Wills had enjoyed being entertained in the whatever- it -was -called -room where there IS a large flat screen attached to a wall above a gas fire as well as billiard table and drinks cabinet. I think he was watching the world cup. I wasn’t really listening – I was more interested contemplating the future of the NZ wool industry having being inspired by the ultra plush carpet, made in Christchurch by Di Lana.
I don’t understand what you are looking forward to? Couldn’t you just read about them and others who make a career out of being themselves in the screeds of shallow magazines?
This is how to shut down the whole Royal nonsense .
In the 1930 the Irish Free State had not yet become a republic. DeValera won the 1932 election and when he had to appoint a new DG he appointed a shop keeper who remained behind his store counter!
“De Valera explicitly instructed Ua Buachalla as governor-general to keep a low public profile, and not to fulfil any public engagements. This was part of de Valera’s policy to make the governor-generalship an irrelevance by reducing it to invisibility. While he continued to give the Royal Assent to legislation, summon and dissolve Dáil Éireann and fulfil the other formal duties of the governor-generalship, he declined all public invitations and kept himself invisible, as advised by “his” Government. In fact in his period in office he performed only one public function: the receipt of the credentials of the French Ambassador in the Council Chamber, Government Buildings, 1933, on behalf of the King, George V. However, de Valera subsequently had that duty moved from the governor-general to his own post of President of the Executive Council. (One of the few other occasions Ua Buachalla was mentioned at all in public was when, in the aftermath of the death of King George V in January 1936, he had to reply to messages of condolence sent to the Irish people by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull.)
On de Valera’s instruction, Ua Buachalla did not reside in the official residence of the governor-general, the Viceregal Lodge (now called Áras an Uachtaráin, the residence of the President of Ireland). Instead a house was rented for his use. The official English title Governor-General was largely replaced by the official Irish title Seanascal or its direct translation, Seneschal; however, Governor-General remained the legal form used in official English-language documents and proclamations.” Wiki.
(Since an oil spill would not be a natural disaster, giving an assurance that a natural disaster won’t occur due to deep sea oil and gas drilling is a pretty meaningless statement.) That climate change resulting from chasing down every last possible and remote and difficult and risky source of oil would also be a disaster makes the above statement doubly ridiculous.
Simon Bridges the government minister for energy says he is more than 100 percent confident that that oil would not spill onto New Zealand beaches.
Speaking on TV One’s Q+A programme this morning, the Energy and Resources Minister said he was “confident” oil would not spill on to New Zealand beaches.
Asked if he was 90 per cent or 100 per cent confident, he said: “Well, I’m more than that.”
So how confident is the minister that oil won’t spill on our beaches?
101 percent?
200 percent?
110 percent?
What on earth does this mean anyway?
In other idiocy Simon Bridges said:
“If you look at the permitting process, this is a two-way street – in one way, yes, we need those companies to come here, we want them to spend their money on that, but remember when they do come, when they do put in their application, they must be at best practice, we assess their financial capability, their technical capability and their experience, and if they’re not good enough in New Zealand’s interests they don’t make the cut.”
“They don’t make the cut”, really Minister?
Did even one of the companies that put in an application, have their application declined, did even one, “not make the cut”?
My guess is that every single company that applied got approval, which if true would prove that every single utterance that passes this minister’s lips is pure gooblygook meant to mislead and confuse.
Pleasingly little ex-Crown prosecutor Simon is looking somewhat harried and tired. Unpleasingly that will probably go only to exponentially advancing his hubris and bullshit. Watch ShonKey Python’s recently anointed Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Sam Lotu-Iiga for a simiar effect. Such biddable wee bullshitters and trough-guzzlers.
Top toxic sites among thousands that are part of the $5.15 billion settlement with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. with approximate amount of funding for cleanup efforts and details about the sites, as provided by the Justice Department:
—Henderson, Nev.: $1.118 billion for prospective cleanup costs.
Groundwater at a former chemical manufacturing facility in Henderson, Nev., has been impacted by hexavalent chromium and perchlorate, a chemical used to produce rocket fuel, due to the since the 1940s.
—Navajo Abandoned Uranium Mines: $985 million for prospective cleanup costs.
Kerr-McGee left abandoned uranium mine sites, including contaminated waste rock piles, in the Lukachukai mountains of Arizona and in the Ambrosia Lake area of New Mexico. The Lukachukai mountains are located immediately west of Cove, Ariz., and are a culturally significant part of the Navajo Nation; the Ambrosia Lake area is just outside the Navajo Nation. The mining occurred from the late 1940s through the 1960s in the Lukachukai area and from the 1950s to the 1980s in Ambrosia Lake.
—Manville, N.J.: $217 million for past response costs; $4.5 million in natural resource damage penalties to be paid to New Jersey as natural resources trustee.
The proceeds the Environmental Protection Agency will receive for this site cover EPA’s past costs expended at the site. While they will not address ongoing threats to human health and the environment, they will reimburse the significant response costs EPA spent at the site out of the Superfund. From 1910 until the mid-1950s, the site was used as a wood treatment facility, which occupied approximately 50 acres in the Borough of Manville.
—Riley Pass, S.D.: $179 million for prospective work.
The site is located in the North Cave Hills area of Harding County, S.D., primarily on a series of bluffs within the Custer National Forest where strip mining of uranium-bearing lignite took place in the 1960s.
—Chicago (Lindsay Light Removal Sites, Streeterville Rights-of-Way and DuSable Park): $119 million for prospective work.
Beginning in 1904 and continuing through the mid-1930s, the Lindsay Light Chemical Co. processed ore to extract radioactive thorium and manufactured gas mantles containing radioactive thorium at three locations in an area in downtown Chicago known as the “Streeterville Area.” Lindsay Light merged with American Potash & Chemical Corp., which was acquired by Kerr-McGee.
—Columbus, Miss.: $67 million for prospective work.
The site is a former wood treatment facility, which began operations in 1928. Kerr-McGee purchased the facility in 1964 and operated it until its decommissioning in 2003. At the facility, wood products were treated with creosote, coal tar, and, until 1976, pentachlorphenol. Open ditches were used by Kerr-McGee for years to transport surface water runoff from the site to Luxapilila Creek. Numerous floods throughout the years spread the creosote contamination and polyaromatic hydrocarbons into the neighboring yards of residents.
With the arrival today of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge batten down the hatches for days and days of terminally obseqious yet sly arse-licking from soon-to-be Sir ShonKey Python of Grossbee-Texter-Upon-Knees.
A display to trump the gold standard in the same set by Rowan Atkinson’s Sir Edmund Blackadder in the court of a royal personage past. Madness marries Merill Lynch.
No offence intended to a calculatedly vaunted sweet couple, fabulously privileged and mercifully immune from the sociopathy of Hurrah Henry Cameron and ATOS.
Announcer: Welcome to your seats, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed the buffet dinner, but even if you didn’t, I know you’ll enjoy our guest speaker tonight who’s taken time off from his rigorous parliamentary schedule to be with us. We are very honored to welcome Sir Marcus Browning MP. Thank you.
Sir Marcus Browning: My Lord Mayor, my Lady Mayoress. My lords, ladies and gentlemen. There comes a time when we must all stand up and be counted. I am therefore standing up now and can be counted. One. To each of you I say you are a one. And ones are about to become singularly important. Because Britain is facing the gravest economic crisis since 1380. And you know many of us still remember that day. The eternal torment, worry, exesperation and all manner of (?). And if we are to quit the lights go out on our lives once more (?), we must ask ourselves crucial questions. Where are we? How did we get here? Why did we come? Where do we want to go? How do we want to get to where we want to go? How far do we have to go before we get to where we want to be? How would we know where we were when we got there? HAVE WE GOT A MAP? Why did we leave places to get to where we are? Where were we before that we had to leave to get to where we before we knew we’re going to go to where we want to be? Where would we end up if we had the choice? Where would we end up if we didn’t have the choice? What would we choose given the choice? Do we have that choice to choose? Or indeed can we be choosy about the choice choosings? What are the choosings? Choices! Do we want to stop now? (Rhetorical.) Or do we want to go right back to the beginning and start all over again. Perhaps not. But surely you can see my point. Because what I’m talking about is life. Because life is one of those things that most of us find it very difficult to avoid. In the words of (?) “life is uncertain.” My life certainly has a certain uncertainty about it. And I’m certain yours does too. So with my uncertainty and your uncertainty there’s certainly a certain degree of uncertainty about, of that we can be quite sure. So let’s buckle down, shall we? Purpose is what we’re striving for. We must have purpose. We mustn’t be purposeless. We mustn’s exhibit purposnessless. We must be purposelessnessless. Because we don’t want to end up, do we? Because we don’t want to end up, do we? Like the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there.
How come simon bridges is 100%+ sure.
I can tell you the wheels have fallen off Nactionals drill it mine it at any cost policy.
Its dead in the water gone along with Anadarko no reoverable amounts of oil or gas have been found.
So bridges is desperate by expanding the exploration area is trying to rescue a Failed policy.
did you ctch the 6 billion payout anadarko is having to make for its fucking up of the environment in the US since about 1930? I would say they probably consider it money well spent…
Not a very good example given Anardarko was started in 1959 and only started activities outside of Texas in 1986. All those examples you listed earlier are historic superfund sites that Anardarko inherited through acquisitions. Your story is really more that “Anardarko owns sites they didn’t pollute in the first place, Anardarko pays to have the sites cleaned up under EPA settlement”. It ‘s likely that when Anardarko acquired a lot of these sites, they didn’t know the full potential liability. Interesting link here which kind of summarises how this generally works:
The real issue for allowing any entity foreign owned or not – to do anything in NZ is to have protections in place so they can’t pull a Union Carbide (or a Kerr-McGee from the above link) if something goes wrong. That’s where I think we need to be really careful. Anardarko is actually recognised as a pretty good corporate citizen – of course that may be relative praise rather than absolute.
It might have been an amount set for them to pay but now comes the extracting of the money, well, well, well that won’t be so simple – lot’s of delaying tactics will be resorted to. And probably some time meeting at resorts too.
And don’t be too nitpicky nadis. Andarko may not have owned them once, but now has them in its portfolio. The point is that An-ko is just a name and other firms doing their damage are just like Andarko and vice versa. The nature of the operation is destructive whatever company does it.
The only comment I would like to make about the visit by the Windsors is this. I understood a constitutional monarch was not allowed to get involved in politics. Black Rod and all that medieval crap. Why is it then they are opening the controversial Velodrome in Cambridge hosted by Wardell (he will get a knighthood for playing at life) where 80% of the ratepayers were against having rate payers money used to fund it, but the regional council aided and abetted by Keys pack of shits ignored what the ratepayers said and went ahead with it.
I think this sets a precedent, the Royals are being used politically by Key during an election year.
I assume “Keys pack of shits” = the New Zealand Government.
Just checking.
How are they being used politically? There are no conventions in New Zealand about royal visits in election year. Visits in 1981 and 2002 were both within 6 months of the elections in those years.
In 2002, the Queen visited Team New Zealand. Many on the Left and the Right had opposed funding for the Americas Cup. Was that the “royals being used politically” by the then Labour Government? No, of course not.
So stop drawing a long bow. Nobody cares much. Just enjoy Kate and the baby. It will take the bitter taste out of your mouth for a while. Maybe you can even enjoy life during the royal tour.
As ignorant of this topic as you are of real world economics, S Rylands.
In 2011 Prince William didn’t come to the Rugby World Cup because it was too close to the last election and while the Queen was in Australia that year she decided against crossing the Tasman.
I’m not drawing a line. I don’t care about the royal tour and I don’t see any reason why it should affect the election this year. Much fuss about something irrelevant to modern New Zealand.
Pete you should write for The Civilian. In fact whenever I see anything of yours longer than three lines I start thinking I am reading The Civilian. I particularly like this one although you can pretty much take your pick:
check the front cover of the womens weekly, mr & mrs key holding fluffy puppies (!!!) with the headline ‘john & bronaghs royal surprise’ & tell me again how this whole tour is not a publicity stunt for john key/national party.
(how can i ‘enjoy kate & the baby’ ‘enjoy?’ what a weird word in that context. celebrity culture, P.R, idiots gettting sucked in. i could not give a fuk about the royals, but i do give a fuk about the news being hijacked by this BS.)
@idlegus. Thought you were kidding about magazine cover until I went to buy the Woman’s Day and there they were!! That man has no class at all. What was the surprise? Was it a copy of steffi’s attempt at art of which mom and pop were so proud. Oh, and no, I did not buy the magazine, nor will I be in the near future, unless of course if it is featuring our new Prime Minister David Cunliffe.
I think this sets a precedent, the Royals are being used politically by Key during an election year.
We knew that from the day it was announced they were coming.
I was amused a few days ago to hear that John and Bronagh invited them to a “home cooked dinner” at their home but the D&D (very wisely) turned them down on the grounds “they wanted to get back to George in Wellington”. Can you imagine how he would have milked that little tete a tete for all it was worth. Fancy having the gall in election year to even issue the invitation.
is this the dinner key is cooking for John Campbell? After shopping at the market? Is that the Parnell market and la cigale or the Otara market?
I cringe whoever does it, Cunliffe, Hairdo anyone.
They say they dont want their private life as part of public scrutiny… unless it suits them…
IF politicians want to paint themsleves in a particulaar light through their private life then all bets are off imo. Children using class A drugs should be able to be written about. If going tot he market and letting cameras watch them cook dinner at home is ok, when it paints them as family and homely etc… then why not scrutinise their parenting via drugs and rinking transgressions of their kids?
Sycophancy to your betters and stepping on those below you, is all part of the National Party tory born to rule class culture that they are trying to stamp on the rest of us.
The sooner these agents of privilege and wealth leave our shores the better.
That wouldn’t be (Pete) George would it ? Wow Pete, you’re connected my bro’ ! Use that one well ya could probably squeeze a reasonable list placement outa ShonKey Python himself.
Nah, Wills and Kate couldn’t handle the prospect of a menu jam packed with the host’s ‘mince’ and “Georgie Pie tickle tickle tickle say hello to uncle”. Kid spews on that shit I’m told.
Seemingly though the final straw was the spot of preprandial tennis ShonKey planned for out the back at facsimile Gushing Meadows.
i havn’t got the link, but, someone on ‘open Mike’ as late as last week provided a link that showed far from the common perception the Queen does have power of veto over the English Parliament,
This power of veto has apparently been used numerous times, Yay for the good of society we all might think as the descendant of an Irish Piss Pot emptier refused to allow Legislation that would hurt the masses,
Hardly, it seems the only Legislated that attracts the Woyal veto is that which threatens the income stream of the Bludgers…
It appears that Her Maj was not consulted about the intentions of the Australian Governor General to dismiss the Whitlam Government, although appears may change in time as Government documents of a secretive nature become less secretive,
The claim is that after the ‘dismissal’ both Whitlam and the Australian Speaker of the House at the time contacted Buckingham Palace and were told the Queen would not intervene,(which begs the question why have a Queens representative if She will never either agree or disagree with such actions),
John Kerr, the Governor General who dismissed the Whitlam Government was on 30 March 1977 awarded the Knights Grand Cross an award only able to be bestowed by Her Maj, so She was obviously not displeased,
The constitutional arrangement is that the Queen doesnt intervene ever even though technically she is head of state. From memory the Whitlam situation was pretty cut and dried – his government could not pass matters of supply as they didn’t have a majority, and Whitlam being a complete cock refused to negotiate with any of the opposition. So the govt was dissolved. At the time I’m not sure anyone except his hard core supporters were offended. Wonnder what would have happened if he had continued to be recalcitrant. Trespass order banning him from parliament??
I attended a conference in Australia many years ago at which Whitlam spoke…and spoke and spoke. He came across to me as a self obsessed bore with very little social sensitivity. He argued at length that the behaviour of Australians towards Aborigines was evidence that Australians were not racist. An arse.
I would suspect thats hes already cooked his leadership goose. And as Mrs Collins doesnt have good long term prospects either, its either Jonny B Good staying on longer, or you get Steve Joyce.
And as the leader of the Nats is quite likely to also be the PM, who would you choose?
No it doesn’t. MANA was pretty unequivocal in rejecting an alliance last time. Gareth Morgan is also speaking at the AGM – don’t think he’s wanting to start a party. In any case I really can’t see MANA wanting to associate itself with a leering charicature of every egocentric arrogant rich prick capitalist ever. He’s basically just a larger version of John Key with more criminal convictions and less restraint.
Gareth might be looking for a political vehicle to promote His UBI theme, i can well imagine He could become a major donor to the Mana Party should they begin to openly campaign for such a major change to Welfare/Tax policy in New Zealand,
i would say the Mana/internet alliance is far from dead in the water, should DotCom cede welfare/housing/employment policy to Mana while Mana does the same adopting the Internet Parties internet policies then we have the foundations of a workable alliance of the two,
It then becomes a negotiation over how much resources DotCom and/or the Internet Party are willing to commit to such a Mana/Internet alliance and just as important WHEN,
Along with this will be the possibly more fraught negotiation over the divvying up of any electoral spoils after the election and just who the Internet Candidates who might enter the Parliament will be, as i doubt that the rules would allow both Mana and Internet to campaign as separate entities during the election and then combine their votes after the count,this will be the tough part of any negotiation,
I would suggest that Mana approach this part of the negotiation on a 2 to 1, 2 to 1 basis so that the first 2 seats would go to Mana the next one to the Internet Party and so on, so with four seats if that were the possible gain from this alliance Mana would have 3 seats and Internet 1 in the next Parliament,
Such an outcome would be one that i am very likely to vote for…
You only have a workable alliance of the two if MANA is going to completely chuck out the ideologies and values they are telling the voters they represent. I don’t have a problem with Labour doing that sort of thing because the shine came off their apple a long time ago and we urgently need rid of the Nats. MANA would look like they are cosying up to their token amoral capitalist cartoon for power over values, and that is entrely contrary to how they want to position themselves in the public view.
If mana had any self respect and internal consistency they should tell Dotcom we’ll do a policy deal but your guys come way down the list, like 10 at best. Do we really want individuals handpicked by Dotcom for their compliancy (to him) to potentially go into parliament. Lets not lose sight of the fact that the Dotcom party is a single issue party and that single issue is deportation.
Mind you #3 on the mana list is a low probability slot anyway.
I agree, I don’t see why a shallow flashy international multimillionaire with only a superficial connection to NZ should get to hand-pick mps based on their compliancy to him.
I’m getting a subtext here that its not ok for someone who has money to have any socialist leanings.
So following that line of thought David Cunliffe shouldn’t be in the Labour Party. So the Nats were right all along./sarc
“Do you believe in a welfare state?
yes. definitely.
Should a health system be free?
yes.
Should the rich pay a higher tax rate?
yes”
Given that the questions were from a left social democratic framework, then sure, not socialist. But a very long way away from unadulterated right wing tosh or even the pap fed us via mainstream media.
Yes, he prefers deregulation and decriminalisation of cannabis, with the former being arguably a right wing perspective and the latter…well, both a left and right perspective.
Mostly just the sources I was meaning to refer to felix 😉 The mainstream pap might not be as extreme as right wing tosh, but from my perspective, the difference is kinda irrelevant…they are on the same (to me, unacceptable) area of the traditional political spectrum.
the Queen HRH Elisabeth II is a Socialist, she lives very frugally and she hated Margaret Thatcher….. and her son Charles is a Greenie…not sure about the Duke though…he is a stirrer so he could be a Winnie type or a Trotskyite or a UFO expert ( say no more ) …under cover of course
really darhls !…money is such a burden …and having to be on your best behaviour ALL the time!!!!!….what a pain…no swearing in public ….no saying “sod off you bloody FUCKWIT”…no farting in public or picking your nose and …… it……and having to be polite about the IRA when they blew up your favourite uncle….no toe sucking at the beach, even if it is discreet …..or naughty conversations to your lover over the telephone…because the GCSB is sure to be watching with field glasses and listening in!!!!….but worst of all you may find your self on the front page of one of those scurrilous, disgusting rags that goes for British newspapers…
poor bastards….i feel sorry for them…..they earn their money as PR agents for the Realm and a certain order of ‘civilisation’ imo
….BUT THEY HAD BETTER NOT PUT A FOOT OUT OF LINE…or else
The MSM headlines next weekend will predictably be dominated with the boring going ons of the gilded royal couple, with some mention of the Mana conference on the inside pages. But just as sure as the odious grovelling of the MSM will be dominated by news of the royals, the alternative and social media will be white hot with the goings on at the Mana conference.
Asset sales and the TPPA and even deep sea oil drilling may not have mobilised the young as they may have past generations. But internet use is central to their lives. A freerer, cheaper, faster internet, with less government interference, surveillance and spying, and with whatever other youth friendly policy concessions for the low paid that Mana will wring out of Dotcom, I imagine it could be quite a heady mix. Especially if backed up with Dotcom’s money and Mana’s activists.
And for those whinging about lack of TIP policy–there is some on their website https://internet.org.nz–that looks pretty good compared to what the Key gang was originally elected on; a a few meagre A4 sheets of ‘bullet points’, barely a “policy” as we know it to be found. Thats how Crosby Textor and the Hollowmen operate.
Mana has already bumped TIP off supporting National, Te Mana Movement has had more publicity in the last month than the previous year. Mana members have even more reason to want to put the choker chain on the GCSB/SIS/Cops special ops etc than Kim does. And would support removing NZ from 5 eyes.
Hone has also spoken to some of the hard left in Mana about this initiative and a common position is a “sure talk, take it to the members, but no compromise on the social policies”. Sue Bradford may become an outlier on this one, and no disrespect to her being the only standard bearer for beneficiaries for years in parliament, but she is a leaver of organisations. She often leaves a group and then sets up a new one with her loyal coterie from People Centre days. Currently AAAP.
At the end of the day Mana members will determine this and it might not be via some kind of formal vote at Rotorua, may take a bit longer.
Gareth Morgan will also be at the Mana Rotorua conference and supports a form of UBI (though originator Keith Rankin imo seems to retreat further and obfuscate as time goes on http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/04/04/universal-basic-income/) and taxing the rich. Hone has no problem talking to rich white guys without wanting to become one.
“Gareth Morgan will also be at the Mana Rotorua conference and supports a form of UBI” Tiger Mountain
Gareth Morgan is also a noted advocate on promoting climate change issues, and I believe there is some policy motions to be voted on around climate change at this conference.
It is quite possible that Mana could steal the ground from under the Green Party on this issue as the Greens in line with the other mainstream parliamentary parties seem determined to do a repeat of their strategy at the last election, and play down climate change.
“The snake has swallowed the elephant in the room…..” election 2011
You know what really strikes me about climate change in the election? It’s the absence. It is as if climate change is nearly completely absent from the campaign. When climate change does pop up, it’s portrayed in simplistic soundbites.
.
The Greens say anthropogenic climate change is real and we have a detailed wonk-friendly exposition on our website, but for this election we are running with “jobs, kids, rivers”
No explicit talk of cutting back emissions, or stopping new coal mines, or deep sea oil.
Though fracking is mentioned this is all mute as the Green Party say they will have no bottom lines in their quest for cabinet positions.
In contrast to this, a motion to be voted at the Mana conference, and coming with the recommendation of the leadership, is that Mana will not seek to go into coalition with the Labour Party, leaving the Mana MPs free to push their issues and not bound by Labour’s majority in cabinet forcing them to go along with every issue that government imposes.
tiger mountain yes!!! & what bad12 said above, its makes sense that mana keep all the social & housing issues, & the internet party have some incredible & NEW ideas about the internet. & if anyone would cozy up to some rich guy & not get compromised imo it would be ppl like hone & annette sykes. i hope they go for it.
Odd broken link there Tiger. Try this https://internet.org.nz/mission On the face of it, given they’re a brand new party, the policy looks interesting.
“Hone has no problem talking to rich white guys without wanting to become one.”
Bear in mind who will be leading TVNZ’s election coverage this year and read and weep.
It’s less about bias than the awful combination of ego and lack of intelligence.
Generation Zero has given permission for their article to be reposted everywhere.
”
Is Mike Hosking the smartest man alive?
Apr 3, 2014 // by Jimmy Green // Uncategorized // No Comments
Did you see Seven Sharp on Tuesday?
Presenter Mike Hosking made a revolutionary announcement – that he doesn’t believe in science, and you shouldn’t either.
You can see it here – at 22:46
Referencing the recent IPCC report that outlines the current state of climate science, he said,
“That’s of course, if you believe them, which as it turns out I don’t.”
Mike went on to lay out his counter-argument, in an admirably bold attempt to overturn the entire global 20 year scientific consensus,
“I mean if Metservice struggles with the accuracy of a 5-day forecast I’m thinking a long range prediction that takes in 86 years might be a bit dodgy.”
What Mike apparently doesn’t know is that, believe it or not, short term weather forecasting and climate change science are two totally different things. People get this wrong a lot – check out these guys trying to dispel the myth using the powerful force of British humour! Scientifically, there’s as much certainty that humans are the main thing causing climate change as there is that smoking causes cancer. If a journalist just decided they didn’t believe that and told the people of New Zealand to go out and smoke to their hearts content, they’d probably get fired.”
Wow we agree on something. Yes it was fuckwited and shameful. We should debate the best response to climate change. But when some on the right simply say it is not happening, I shut down.
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
Don’t criticize what you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
The old road is rapidly aging
So get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand
For the times they are a changing
“Bear in mind who will be leading TVNZ’s election coverage this year and read and weep.” Tracey
All good Tracey. It will hasten their demise, and accelerate the rise of the alternative media. The sooner the better.
PUBLIC MEETING, TUESDAY, 8TH APRIL, 7 – 8.30PM: “GIVE US A BREAK!”
This is a public meeting to discuss The Employment Relations Amendment Act and how the proposed changes will affect union members and workers. There will be three guest speakers followed by an open discussion on the changes and what action may be taken to prevent this anti worker bill being passed.
As as so often been the case in recent years, Peter Dunne holds the critical vote.
The meeting is being hosted by People’s Power Ohariu and is being held at the Uniting Church, 18 Dr Taylor Terrace, Johnsonville, Wellington. All welcome!
Suppose it is a slow news day but Morning Report seem to drift aimlessly from one non-story to another non-story this morning. Even the Monday morning slot now dedicated to the flat sounding PM was a bit pointless. Tomorrow will be the weekly slot for David Cunliffe. Hope that is a bit sharper Guyon.
Maybe it is just me? Maybe I am so excited about the royal visit that everything else is so ordinary? Ha!
Luckily the dog was demanding his walk just as Espiner introduced the PM. I didn’t have to endure even a moment of the mangled whining that passes for comment from John Key.
You didn’t miss anything. The PM was maybe very tired having spent his sleepless night scheming of ways of getting his photos took multiple times – with those Windsor Beneficiaries. Baby kissing little George perhaps or a threeway handshake? That would work well.
Or he perhaps he had a hangover?
You have only a couple more hours to wait ianmac. The Royals arrive at noon and TV1 will be reporting it live – that is, if the blanket of fog lifts in time otherwise they’ll have to hot-foot it to Palmy? 🙂
In my day we kids were forced to line the streets and watch the Queen sweep past in a blur. We cheered but that was because we were given most of the day off school. Hooray! And then to curry favour NZ schools were given a Royal Public holiday as well. Hooray!
i heard that very boring rnz morning show too, def wasnt just you. seemed to be the same 3 stories over & over, & same information over & over. i turned off key, but heard some of the replays during the news, & he was all muffled. also a strange silence to the whole show, def needs some pepping up otherwise i might try some other monring station (i know radiolive sux but marcus lush at least puts a bit of effort into it).
Sixty years ago Grandad was a town councilor when he and Grandma were scheduled to greet Queenie at the local railway station. Reputedly Grandma refused saying – that woman’s family have already had two of my sons so I’ll be buggered if I’ll curtsey to the bitch.
Lolz, as kids we were all taken off to the local hall,an ex US army facility left over from world war 2, to watch the Saturday movie,
As they did in those long ago days, god Save the Queen was played befor the fillim got to roll, everyone including all the kids,obviously obeying their mum or dads instructions/example stood to attention while this drab dirge blared out of the speakers,
Except us four kids and 1 mum who kept their buttes firmly attached to their seats refusing to acknowledge there was any respect attached to the House of Windsor having not that many years previously dropped its German title in favor of the more English sounding one…
When we talk of the British royal family being German, aren’t we engaging in the very immigration bashing that liberals should despise (also for argument sake since I know what you’re like Bad12, I recognise that you didn’t actually call them German in that post but I’m speaking of several occasions on the Standard where I’ve seen people do this).
The current royal family are British. They were born in Britain. The last monarch who was actually born outside of Britain was George II in 1683. By the time George III came around, he was born in Britain, spoke English as his first language and never visited his ancestral homeland. The Royal Family have been British for nearly three hundred years. They’re no more German than every non-Maori person of New Zealand is the nationality of their European descent.
All this “they’re actually German” rubbish just reinforces the right-wing trope that immigrants can never truly become a part of their new country. Which leads to disquiet and unease and general negative attitudes towards immigration.
Words matter.
Also, even leaving out the immigration side of things, it is absolutely idiotic. They really aren’t German. The family has been British since before New Zealand was a country.
And Phillip, the grand-daddy of the current pair of bludgers arriving to sup at the New Zealand trough is the epitome of English breeding right Gallstone…
From 1714 to 1901 all those on the throne of Britain were German on the current seat warmers side of the family,
Obviously from both sides of His family the Husband of the current seat warmer was thoroughly German even if this was somewhat masked by His attachment to the Greek and Danish thrones,
The fact is that this ”oh so British royal family” celebrate Christmas not on the 25th of December as the masse of their ‘subjects’ do, instead as is the thoroughly German tradition they celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December,
Are they British, Pfft, they are British Germans just as Samoans born in New Zealand as a majority do not use the term New Zealander as a self descriptive preferring instead the term New Zealand Samoan…
Seriously? You’re saying that Queen Elizabeth and her children and grand-children are still German (albeit “British German”)?
If you are, I’m just flabbergasted. There’s no way I can even logically respond to such a stance. It’s absolute stupidity.
This is the entrenchment of national identities. When you’re having a dig at the Royals, it’s harmless. But when extended across society, this leads to all types of anti-immigration and xenophobia drivel.
And if you’re saying you only do it to the Royals, then it’s hypocritical.
Exactly Gallstone, they are Britons of German extraction, as i point out above they still retain at least one significant German custom,(and who knows how many more when ensconced behind closed doors),
Given a DNA test they all would show by genetics a strong line of German inheritance from the gene pool,
The fact that you are flabbergasted is of little surprise to me and since when has lack of logic prevented you from replying to anything,
Your illogic would include labelling me as a ‘liberal’, ask any of the Island Bay Italians for instance,(having already pointed out to you the New Zealand Samoans), they will happily describe themselves as Italian even where at least 3 generations have been born here in New Zealand and have never been to Italy…
My hybrid GB/NZ daughter, born here, considers herself to be 100% kiwi – Do I tell her she’s wrong, despite her passport and citizenship saying otherwise?
But that’s a straw man. It’s their right to culturally identify with what they culturally identify with.
That’s my whole point.
The Royal Family culturally identifies as British and have been born and lived in Britain for the past three hundred years. If they want to be British (and they do), then their British.
When you call them German, you’re removing the ability for them to determine what they feel most culturally akin to. Some immigrants (like myself) may regard ourselves still of the nationality we came from. Some other immigrants want to regard themselves of their new country.
All your talk of DNA and having the right grandparents is exceedingly xenophobic and conservative.
(Also, my family have opened one present on Christmas Eve. I guess I’m German as well now, even though I’ve never been there and have never identified with that part of my heritage (beyond opening a present on Christmas Eve).
Me, I’m English, for better or worse, ’til death do us part and all that, but my girl is as kiwi as the rest of yous 😉
As long as she doesn’t wear an all black jersey with it’s white feather logo in my house we’ll be good. At least she knows what to put on my headstone :smirk:
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
Yes the Woyal family ‘claim’ to identify with all things British so as to ‘fit in’, that same family hastily changed their name from a German one to a British one in an attempt to hide that fact that two German Royal households, one in Germany and one in England were engaged in a war,
The English version of this German dynastic family are simply leeches bludging off of the fabric of the British people and have moved speedily to try and expunge any memory of their German Bloodlines….
@ bad
I can understand why they did that – it seems quite similar to highlighting a particular strand of whakapapa as opposed to another strand. Some of the nastiest fighting i can remember hearing/reading about were between relations – brothers, cousins and so on – all kin. All closely blood related.
The two statements are not contradictory. I couldn’t care less about the Royal Visit.
I would support keeping the monarchy. I know I’m an outlier being a Brit myself, but I suspect much like in Britain, there’s a fair few Kiwis who don’t buy into the personality cult of excitement of the royals daily lives while still supporting the system of the monarchy itself.
And to pre-empt the various arguments over how silly it is to keep the monarchy, I agree with you completely. But rather like my desire for Scotland to stay in the UK, it’s a heart over head matter.
I guess for me it comes down to why we need to have them here spending our money on hosting, travel, security. If they want to come, they can pay for everything.
They may be lovely people and every other nation that has become a republic remains int he Commonwealth. They attend the commonwelath games and the CW forum etc…
It’s merely a statement that we are our own nation.
I have no idea if it means Key would have to get s his knighthood or from Jerry or could still go to buckhouse to get it, like Doug Graham did.
I find the title system far more offensive than the queen as pretend head of state frankly.
I like the title system when it used correctly. Again, I’ll have to talk from my UK-centric perspective, but a while back the honours system was used to celebrate the unsung heroes of society. Sure, some celebrities and sports stars have always been honoured. But a lot of charity workers, community workers, authors and artists and so on were the recipients of honours. A small thanks for a life of service.
It’s only lately where it’s been given to bankers and footballers and so on that I feel the honours system has lost it’s way.
Again, heart over head matter. I like the trappings of history if we can avoid the baggage of it.
I don’t consider myself English or Scottish. I’m British. I was born in England. But my father was Scottish. A section of my ancestors were Scots. Another part was English. I spent time in both Scotland and England. I value both those culture together and regard myself as British. I love New Zealand, but Britain is still my home and my country. Ever since I was a little boy I was British. Despite the arguments in favour and against, I can’t really engage in the debate because all I can see is the tearing apart of my home.
It’s very much my heart taking charge of the debate.
I have empathy with Disraeli Gladstone’s viewpoint. My parents were English – born and bred. They arrived here the day NZ declared war on Germany in 1939. Despite the fact they spent most of their adult lives in NZ, they always regarded themselves as English. Its what you feel in your heart that matters, and there is no doubt that the generations of the British monarchy since George V at the least saw themselves as totally British.
Scottishness doesn’t have anything to do with it Tracy. I’m Scottish…born and bred there, both parents Scottish. But I don’t get to vote. Meanwhile, a woman born in Chelsea whose parents are Indian and English, but who lives in Scotland does get to vote. (Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh) And that’s how it should be.
It’s about economic and political power, not patriotism. And that principally affects only those who live there.
i have no reason to disbelieve what you say bill. i am surprised that born and bred scotts living in scotland see it as a political and economic decision only.
On 21 April 2008, New Zealand Republic released a poll of New Zealanders showing 43% support the monarchy should Prince Charles become King of New Zealand, and 41% support a republic under the same scenario.[76] A poll by the New Zealand Herald in January 2010, before a visit by Prince William to the country found 33.3% wanted Prince Charles to be the next monarch, with 30.2% favouring Prince William. 29.4% of respondents preferred a republic in the event Queen Elizabeth died or abdicated
The poll, by Curia Market Research, was commissioned by New Zealand Republic. It shows support for a New Zealand Head of State has risen to 44%. Support from people aged 18-30 is at now at 66%. Support for using the next British Monarch as our next head of state has fallen to 46%.
We might well laugh but sadly it is not too far from the reality. Have to get rid of those pesky teachers. All they seem to want to do is teach kids instead of balancing the books.
Mickey Mouse’s ears are freaky. Aside from being one of the most recognisable character icons ever created, did you know they are exactly the same in every image? This is regardless of Mickey’s posing. Be it a profile view, front of face or Mickey looking back over his shoulder at whatever mayhem Pluto is creating. They never change!
A photo in a 1999 USGS report on subsidence captures the drama vividly. It shows scientist Joseph Poland standing next to a utility pole outside Mendota. On the ground is a placard marked 1977. Twenty-eight feet overhead, another sign is nailed to the pole showing where crops once grew: It reads 1925.
As the land subsided, bridges slumped, levees sank and well casings failed. Canals sagged, too, inviting water to loiter in low spots and spill over banks. From 1955 to 1970, damages topped $1.3 billion (in 2013 dollars), according to a new report by the California Water Foundation. All kinds of water conveyance infrastructure was harmed, from pumping plants and canal berms in the Tulare-Wasco area to bridges, pipelines and drain inlets on the Delta-Mendota Canal west of Firebaugh. And then, thanks to massive volumes of surface water that arrived via state and federal aqueducts and canals, pumping slowed and subsidence largely stopped.
It’s amazing how people keep thinking that they can do whatever they like and there not be consequences despite those consequences having happened before. Oh well, I suppose it won’t be long before we see the end of Californian wine production.
Big question: Are we monitoring this stuff in NZ or are we doing the same as the Californians and just using it as if there’s no limit?
Okay, why do cyclists run reds? Well firstly they don’t
run reds, that would be quite legal as getting off the
bike and running carrying the bike over their heads is
quite legal.
Second, red light don’t detect cyclists and so cyclist
if they were to obey the rule would have to wait for
a car to drive up behind and flip the lights over.
Third, cyclists are slow, so not only do they have
more chance of being hit when slowing down (increase
cross sectional opportunity for a crash), but they
are also observed for long periods. Especially at lights and so
seen more often running them (even though car drivers
may well run lights more often). Fourth, cycle
lane turns left onto another cycle lane means
cycles only need worry about other cyclists, when red
and cyclist are slow moving and easily avoided,
so transition from lane to cycle lane without any
threat from cars.
Finally, cycle take longer to slow, take more effort
to get moving so cyclist have a predilection to not
stop, whereas red light car jumpers are just gunning
the lights (what cyclist would never do that since no way
could they win!!!)
And finally, finally, car drivers
who run lights are likely when they cycle themselves to also do,
so blame the culture of gunning lights by car drivers for cyclist
running reds.
Roads are designed for motor vehicles, cyclists have
no protection, are unstable at slow speeds (esp. on slopes),
roads have pot holes that effect them far worse,
and so cyclist should be given any benefit of the doubt.
A cyclist rides about twice as fast as a runner, its hardly
a competition between them and cars.
The idea that drivers have equal rights to cyclists is absurd and
abusive, since those disabled by using their own strength
without recourse to an engine, seat belts, power brakes, etc
are always going to come off worse, so drivers should always
err on their side, and be cautious.
And so when Moro again brings up the issue why is it so anti-cyclists,
why does Moro defend the strong against the weak and exposed?
1: that would be jaywalking
2: Press the button to cross, like I do on my motor scooter
3: But the percentage of cyclists observed seems to be quite high, in my experience. Compared to motor vehicles.
4: They don’t need to worry about the law? That’s how accidents happen.
finally1: gunning vs not stopping doesn’t make much difference when they’ve built up some downhill speed.
finally2: if car drivers jumped off a cliff, would cyclists? And as you point out, cars can brake quickly or gun the throttle if they misjudged while braking the law. Cyclists can’t. And cyclists are the least obvious and most vulnerable on the road. On a motor scooter, I have similar vulnerabilities – I choose to not take gambles.
Cyclists should also err on the side of caution, because they are the most vulnerable. And they’re choosing to take themselves into close proximity of heavy machinery that moves at speed and is often controlled by dickheads. If a car strikes a cycle, it’s usually the car driver at fault (or at least another vehicle driver that put the cyclist in front of the car), AFAIK. However, it’s the cyclist who always comes worse off. If you advocate for cyclists to break the road code, you’re opening the door (so to speak) for idiot vehicle drivers to use the same excuses for their illegal behaviour.
Cyclists who get off can walk their bike across any junction, lights or not. As long as they don’t cause an accident, which they wouldn’t since they would get hurt far worse than any car driver. And in that way cyclists are pedestrians, pedestrians cross roads, all the time, red lights or not. Put it another way, Cyclists, like pedestrians, are not motor vehicles that HAVE to OBEY red lights and can’t get out and push their vehicles through red lights.
I can do that on my motor scooter: a pedestrian with a 2 wheeled trolley.
But we’re talking about cyclists who just ride through the red lights. No walking involved.
If its safe its legal in my opinion because pedestrians do it all the time.
Its like noise. Its the source of the noise that has to turn it down. with respect of vehicles, its the source of engine power.
A Jogger can run as fast as a bike, its no different.
Child ride bikes on the pavement.
Posties do.
Its just a hangover from the motor industry using their abuse of power to deny
alternatives to their industry.
Its actually wrong to frustrate cyclists travel based on the false belief that somehow
someone has actually died from cyclist riding on the foot path. Its wrong because
forcing them into the road where that happens.
Cars have the power to stop, to speed, to evade, they have the safety, they have the technology, the have all the options. As long as a cyclist crosses safely I don’t see a problem. However its just political correctness gone mad to expect a cyclist to walk their cycle across a junction when they can ride across much more safely (quicker!).
As a cyclist growing up in Christchurch I assumed that every car was out to get me. That way I was alert to the potential of injury whenever a car in front or behind or across alerted my consciousness. As a small town NZ cyclist now, I still behave that way to stay alive if possible.
Have spent the day doing a bit of ‘royal watching’.
Wandering through various news sites, but mainly exploring the explosive multitude of Facebook pages that are covering the Tour, and reading the comments. The comments…. The comments…
I have witnessed clichés and melees, saw fracas and face offs and every page was rife with half-stated hate speech wallpapered over with carbon copy happy faces. My sincere and undeniable conclusion is an epidemic of cognitive dissonance is running rampant across New Zealand.
our friend Douglas Adams summed it up best
“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”
COINCIDENCE or INTUITION or DESTINY or KARMA?…An interesting Lotto story
A Takaka couple who won more than $7 million with Big Wednesday say it’s all thanks to trusting a woman’s intuition.
After doing the weekly shopping last week one of the winners had a sudden gut feeling that she should pick up a Big Wednesday ticket.
“As I walked to the car I thought, ‘I should get a Big Wednesday ticket’, but I couldn’t really be bothered. But as I walked away my intuition told me that I would regret not buying that ticket – so I popped back into the store and grabbed one,” said the winner, who wishes to remain anonymous. The couple watched Big Wednesday that night and soon knew they had won a big prize.
“I just started screaming,” said the winner. “I fell to my knees and shouted to my husband: ‘We’ve won!’ He grabbed the ticket, took one look and started screaming too.”
The winners double checked their numbers against the official results online before getting too excited.
“We jumped online to MyLotto and stared at the computer screen waiting for the results to come up. We were refreshing the page every couple of seconds . . . it was a painful wait.”
When their prize was confirmed, the couple say they got so excited that one of them hurt their leg jumping up and down.
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Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Last night the police dramatically incresed their numbers at Ihumātao, shoving over protestors and threatening them with arrest. Despite police talk about the need to maintain "public order" and prevent a "breach of the peace", there appeared to be absolutely no justification for this: the protest camp is, was, and ...
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...
Today's abortion reform announcement is just the latest in a long line of disappointing decisions or outright failures from the Labour government. The 90-day law. KiwiBuild. A capital gains tax. Climate change. Every time they make one of those decisions, we hope for better next time. No repeal of the ...
The Greens used their party conference over the weekend to push for a rent-to-own scheme, where people would be able to work towards home ownership by renting from the government. Its a sensible policy, and one which could make a real difference to home ownership rates. But its also basicly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Over the past fortnight, thousands of people have come to the Ihumātao land protest in South Auckland. On 23 July police prepared to evict a few dozen people who had maintained the encampment at Ihumātao for the past three years. As hundreds of supporters arrived the ...
The following article is translated from an article in Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of the French revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle). The United States’ blacklisting of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which took shape in Google’s ban on Huawei using its systems on its phones, marks a ...
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...
The Government’s decision to establish and independent Parliamentary Budget Office, outside of Treasury, is a taxpayer victory and will improve democracy, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It's ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ministry of Transport and used to advise Ministers on the Government’s Clean Car Standard and ‘Feebate’ policies has serious flaws which undermine justifications for the ...
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) welcomes new proposals for prison reform put forward by the Minister of Corrections and non-government organisations recently. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called on the nation to address all forms of racism and not to shy away from an honest conversation about where it’s taking hold. The call comes after the Nelson Club decided to keep a member after his comments became ...
Wellington (20 August 2019): The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomes the Coalition Government’s announcement of an Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister James Shaw ...
Drs Say No agree with Chris Penk’s amendment to protect vulnerable patients from coercion, although the organisation still maintains that no safe euthanasia legislation can ever be drafted and continues to urge MPs to defeat the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says the Northland Regional Corrections Facility is persisting with policies that are preventing it from achieving its full potential. ...
The second national hui in the Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki concluded yesterday ahead of schedule after a capacity audience formally ratified the terms of reference that determines the scope and purpose of the independent investigation ...
Forest & Bird says WWF-NZ's plan for protecting Māui dolphins is based on testing unproven methods on a species that is almost extinct, and is urging the Government to reject the proposal. ...
Primary and intermediate school principals have voted to accept a new settlement from the Ministry of Education, which includes entrenched pay parity with secondary principals. ...
Police acknowledge the findings of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report into the 2014 search of a property belonging to Nicky Hager. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that the Police's unlawful search of Nicky Hager's property in October 2014 resulted from an unwitting neglect of duty and did not amount to misconduct by any individual officer. Police policy at the ...
Tuesday, August 20: Greenpeace has labeled an overnight announcement by fishing company Sanford as a danger to Māui and Hector’s dolphins, and is calling on the Government to reject the ‘Sanford Plan’ immediately. ...
World Animal Protection describes an overnight announcement (19 August, embargoed until 6am 20 August), by fishing company Sanford as a cynical move to undermine growing support for full habitat protection for Māui and Hector’s dolphins. They called ...
When the combined tax on fuel hits over 50 percent in some parts of the country, it is hypocritical for the Government to blame corporates, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . ...
A leading expert in suicide prevention has urged MPs not to confuse suicide with assisted dying as they consider the second reading of the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
Over the weekend Māoridom arrived in the Waikato for the annual Koroneihana Celebrations. Yesterday almost 300 attended a Hui in Hamilton to continue the Oranga Tamariki Review led by an independent Māori panel to coincide with the Koroneihana. The Hui confirmed ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) says the newly issued ‘price list’ for compensation of banned firearms reveals that haste in preparing the ban has led to an underestimation of the number of affected firearms and their value. ...
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has admitted parts of the prison system are “extremely racist” and says that’s why the Government is asking Māori to work with it to make changes. ...
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...
An Auckland Homelessness Collective is optimistic extra government support for sustaining tenancies signals a commitment to a multi-pronged approach to tackling homelessness. ...
Wanaka-based trust ONE New Zealand will be hosting six days of talks, workshops and hands-on activities with local and national experts to educate, inspire and enable grassroots action towards a sustainable future. ...
In last week’s episode of Politics in Full Sentences, David, Brooke and Ruwan discussed why Jacinda Ardern has been lecturing our friends overseas, why Andrew Little called ACT's three strikes law “fascism”, whether he will give prisoners the right to ...
“Community safety must be the paramount consideration when releasing an offender, and the only way for that to be achieved is for the offender to acknowledge their crimes.” ...
“District Health Boards are failing to foster a culture of distributed clinical leadership, despite its demonstrated benefits to the sector,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
Ratepayers around Auckland were spitting out their morning coffees listening to Phil Goff’s incredible claims on breakfast radio today that this election is about ‘honesty’ and that Aucklanders can trust him on his promises. Auckland Ratepayers’ ...
The Hōkai Rangi plan for reducing Māori reoffending announced today fails to fulfil the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations, says justice organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. Minister Kelvin Davis announced the plan this morning, which aims ...
Waatea News at the invitation of the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency will exclusively broadcast the next Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki starting today at 1pm. ...
Staff at the Ministry of Social Development say they are enthusiastic about the government’s $54 million investment in housing the homeless, with many describing it as a welcome change. ...
Today posters have gone up outside ANZ branches across New Zealand to expose ANZ’s sponsorship of an exclusive oil industry group, ‘The Petroleum Club’. The satirical posters play on ANZ’s recent ad campaigns, replacing the banks’ tagline ‘healthy ...
Imagine a country where children look forward to walking or cycling to school, parents arrive home safely, and the journeys we take for work or pleasure do more than leave us alive or uninjured, they also improve our lives. This is happening now in countries ...
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...
The Government’s proposed rescue plan must be strengthened because it is the last chance to save Māui dolphins from extinction and secure the future for Hector’s dolphins, Forest & Bird says. ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Jacinda Ardern’s election campaign was high on hope but this Government should remember that those who encourage what cannot be achieved are quickly found out. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Professor Tim Bentley, Director of Research, professor of Work and Organisation, Massey University According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the workplace can be a positive force for improving mental health. But many workers are exposed to work environments that are damaging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne Alan Jones’s political power is to a large extent based on a self-fulfilling prophecy: politicians believe he can shift votes, so they pay homage to him, which adds ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosemary Stanton, Visiting Fellow, School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Research Checks interrogate newly published studies and how they’re reported in the media. The analysis is undertaken by one or more academics not involved with the study, and reviewed by another, to make ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Associate Professor Ralph Brougham Chapman, Director, Environmental Studies, Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salvatore Babones, Associate Professor, University of Sydney Australia’s leading universities are now looking to India in search of new sources of international students. This comes amid worries they may have reached a “China max” – no more room for growth in Chinese ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Couch, Senior Lecturer – Youth Work and International Development, Australian Catholic University One of the biggest challenges young people of refugee background face in their new country is finding safe, affordable and appropriate housing. Yet this is central to social inclusion ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sheil, Visiting Senior Fellow in History, UNSW The results of the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics biennial survey of income and wealth met have met with an uneven response, perhaps in part due to a slipshod press release. Released with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Lee, Senior Lecturer in Literary and Cultural Studies, Curtin University This story contains spoilers for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. While promoting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Cannes Film Festival, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was asked why Margot ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National cries foul over parliamentary costing unit idea, Ngawha Prison heavily criticised in report, and fuel market study confirms prices are high.The government have announced a recommendation to create an official, independent parliamentary costing unit, reports the NZ Herald.The aim is to ...
Phil Goff and John Tamihere are into round 10 of 23 debates planned before the mayoral election in October, and they're punching hard, not resting on the ropes or pulling eachother into dull political clinches. ...
So who is Jennie Wyllie, thrust into the spotlight in New Zealand netball’s darkest hour, and now holding the key to the cabinet storing the sport’s three greatest prizes? ...
The fundamental problem with silver bullets is they permit a ‘business as usual’ approach to farming when that is neither ecologically sustainable nor economically desirable. ...
As Auckland attempts to encourage greener alternatives to car use, a huge new car park is rising beside Les Mills’ flagship inner-city gym. Josie Adams asks Les Mills CEO Phillip Mills how it tallies with the company’s clean, green brand.Les Mills Victoria Street has 12,000 members, and up to 700 ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Papua New Guinea’s EMTV news and current affairs manager Neville Choi has been sacked after six years of service in this role, triggering strong protests from staff in the country’s main television news service. EMTV staff called for the reinstatement of Choi and for the ...
The problem of political parties disputing each others costing was highlighted in the 2017 election and now an independent entity to ensure parties aren't fudging their figures is a step closer. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bradley L Garrett, Research Fellow, University of Sydney A small plane looped through the tranquil and cloudless Sydney sky today, spewing engine-heated liquid paraffin from its exhaust, creating puffy tracers. As people all over the city watched from rooftop bars, beach towels ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Howard, Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture You might picture a book club around your neighbour’s coffee table, or over beers at the local pub – but what if it took place in Parliament House? This is the question being asked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carly Osborn, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.What makes us cry? – Claudia, age 7.5, Victoria. Hi Claudia. Thank you for this very sensible ...
In the third episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Te Aroha Grace talks to host Russell Brown about the Iwi Algorithm.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To download this episode right click and save.At ...
Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pultizer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad, a depiction of slavery and resistance in 19th century Georgia. Now he’s back with a similarly grim premise, following two boys through the horrors of a real-life reform school in Florida. Our reviewer is Aaron Smale, whose ...
Two recent scientific discoveries rocked us to our fossily core, but there’s a bigger, more shocking story to be told. Who are the silhouette people? Tara Ward finds out. It’s been a big month for bones. First, New Zealand scientists uncovered evidence that a giant parrot once roamed the country around ...
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, aerobics world champion and creator of Jump Jam, Brett Fairweather. Every New Zealander under the age of 30 knows at least one ...
Life in the wee hours could be made safer and better for business if New Zealand adopted the policies of cities such as Amsterdam, writes Natanael Rother.It would be insane to do the same thing over and over again and still expect different results. It’s a lesson those embroiled in ...
Stranger Things owns all the oxygen for period-piece teen TV, but Ireland’s impossibly charming Derry Girls deserves as much acclaim, writes Duncan Greive.There’s a reason why high school is the backdrop to so much fantastic television. That cusp between childhood and the adult world is ripe with dramatic possibility. Relationships ...
The Commerce Commission has released preliminary findings from its market study into the retail fuel market, finding it not as competitive as it could be. ...
We’ve become used to Samoan characters as peripheral bad guys. But from the tatau Sāmoa on his chest to his relationships with his aiga, Hobbs & Shaw showed us someone who is us. And he kicks arse.When I was growing up, there were hardly any Sāmoan or Polynesian faces on ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Māori prison strategy, prisoner voting 1News: Kelvin Davis admits parts of prison system ‘extremely racist’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Hopkins, Lecturer in conservation biology and microbial ecology, Edith Cowan University As most of the science community knows, the climate emergency is here now. Weather extremes such as droughts and heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity and are measurably exacerbated ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Krystian Seibert, Industry Fellow, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology Over the weekend, Prime Minister Scott Morrison launched a new assault on the campaigning group GetUp. At the Liberal Party’s state conference in Adelaide, he said GetUp needed to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist, University of Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How does our blood fight viruses like chicken pox, sickness and colds? – Teddy, 5, Oxfordshire, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Hemer, Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO The rise in sea levels is not the only way climate change will affect the coasts. Our research, published today in Nature Climate Change, found a warming planet will also alter ocean waves ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute Inheritances can have an enormous impact on finances and lives. Yet in Australia we know surprisingly little about who gets them and how big they are. New Grattan Institute research provides some answers. Inheritances are big and ...
Open mike 07/04/2014 
Open mike is your post.
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...53 mins ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...18 hours ago
Canada is having an election in the next few months, and (perhaps because their Prime Minister is so nice and reasonable) they have a party running on a platform of Trumpism and climate change denial. But there's a twist: the latter means that it will be illegal for anyone in ...21 hours ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...23 hours ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...3 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...3 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...5 days ago
5 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...5 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...7 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...7 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...7 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...7 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...7 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 7 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...1 week ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...1 week ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...1 week ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...3 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
That’s the vision of Anthony Rimell, Chair of the Christchurch Tenants’ Protection Association, and Riccarton Ward City Council Candidate. ...40 mins ago
Jacinda Ardern’s election campaign was high on hope but this Government should remember that those who encourage what cannot be achieved are quickly found out. ...14 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Professor Tim Bentley, Director of Research, professor of Work and Organisation, Massey University According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the workplace can be a positive force for improving mental health. But many workers are exposed to work environments that are damaging ...37 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosemary Stanton, Visiting Fellow, School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Research Checks interrogate newly published studies and how they’re reported in the media. The analysis is undertaken by one or more academics not involved with the study, and reviewed by another, to make ...52 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Associate Professor Ralph Brougham Chapman, Director, Environmental Studies, Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d ...52 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sheil, Visiting Senior Fellow in History, UNSW The results of the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics biennial survey of income and wealth met have met with an uneven response, perhaps in part due to a slipshod press release. Released with the ...52 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Lee, Senior Lecturer in Literary and Cultural Studies, Curtin University This story contains spoilers for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. While promoting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Cannes Film Festival, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was asked why Margot ...52 mins ago
The finance minister is accusing Simon Bridges of "electioneering" and introducing "the very worst of American politics'' to New Zealand. ...1 hour ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National cries foul over parliamentary costing unit idea, Ngawha Prison heavily criticised in report, and fuel market study confirms prices are high.The government have announced a recommendation to create an official, independent parliamentary costing unit, reports the NZ Herald. The aim is to ...2 hours ago
Phil Goff and John Tamihere are into round 10 of 23 debates planned before the mayoral election in October, and they're punching hard, not resting on the ropes or pulling eachother into dull political clinches. ...3 hours ago
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Paula Bennett was detained by Police this morning on her way Whenuapai Airport.
She was threatening to bash two English tourists, surnames Windsor, who are unashamed benefit rorters.
The one child family are know to claim millions in England and to live an extravagant lifestyle. Bennett was particularly enraged when she heard they would be claiming English benefit while on holiday and then claiming food, board and travel from NZ taxpayer. The Windsors are known to drink and watch flat screen TVs during the day.
Unfortunately Bennett will be released when the spongers leave the country to do nothing somewhere else.
Hehe.
It has been said of the Windsors that they are the best paid social welfare beneficiaries in the world …
Enjoyed Pagini’s disdain today for the ‘ God like’ Royals on Mora’s afternoon programme. His obvious discomfort with her disrespect. I wonder if her contract will be terminated.
A change from the obsequious fawning servility of the common media fearing for their jobs.
Unfortunately for the Woyals the weather in Wellington is dismal with fog/cloud down to sea level and there is a chance that they could be forced to land at Palmerston North…
No! No! Anywhere but Palmerston North !
I wonder if johnny will make his car go really fast to get there in time?
He can ring Helen for instructions on how to get the driver to speed while not noticing. Only other option would be to get Lundy to drive
no, surely he would never drive too fast, that would be too heinous
betcha he manages to get a photo op of him holding george or at least trying to get a handshake on or near him…betcha
A four way handshake with Key, William, Kate and George with a special lovely little Troty present for Key from George. Will help Key get some more votes for inviting them in an election year. How cool is that!
A gilded cage is a cage nonetheless. The only compassionate response is to offer them asylum.
It just so happens that i have a good used asylum going cheap,the Woyals could spend years enjoying the comforts of its cells and straightjackets having spent years roll playing doing the doctors and nurses thing should come quite naturally to them…
Noticeably absent from our airwaves during this royal tour is the modern international youth anthem “We will never be Royals” by Lorde.
Instead of glorifying privilege, Lorde held up a light up to the nobility of those without money or privilege. But this not a message that John Key and his born to rule tories want us to hear in an election year, hence the need for this extravagant tax payer funded glittering royal tour. Where the modern kiwi MSM continue to grovel and tug its forelock in the traditional peasant way at this symbolic embodiment of enshrined privilege and inequality.
But that kind of love affair ain’t for us, we seek a different kind of buzz
which political party is “courting” her for it as their campaign song….
@ Jenny
That is an extremely cool comment
loling at your comment.
But, seriously….I’m excited about the royals! Is nobody else feeling it?? They are the most level headed/sane of all of the bunch and they are gonna love it here : )
Are you sure you are not confusing ‘level headed’ with this pairs ability to adhere to the old adage ”better to keep the mouth firmly shut and be thought of as idiots than open it and provide proof”…
“But, seriously….I’m excited about the royals! Is nobody else feeling it??”
No Awww. I’m about as indifferent as that weather that bad12 is describing for Wellington today. Besides I descend from Irish and Scots, so the representatives of the English Crown are nothing to get excited about The only excitement they ever got in the past was fighting them.
The flat screen that Not a PS Staffer talks of though, may well be in their itinerary. During a tour of Government house we were informed by the tour guide that previously Wills had enjoyed being entertained in the whatever- it -was -called -room where there IS a large flat screen attached to a wall above a gas fire as well as billiard table and drinks cabinet. I think he was watching the world cup. I wasn’t really listening – I was more interested contemplating the future of the NZ wool industry having being inspired by the ultra plush carpet, made in Christchurch by Di Lana.
I don’t understand what you are looking forward to? Couldn’t you just read about them and others who make a career out of being themselves in the screeds of shallow magazines?
What, is there a royal tour this year? Who won the “holiday in Enzed” this time?
I want to know how many contenders played Paper, Sissors, Rock – we know who lost.
Lols Not a PS Staffer 🙂
and they can afford to travel overseas. Have they stopped receiving income while overseas?
This is how to shut down the whole Royal nonsense .
In the 1930 the Irish Free State had not yet become a republic. DeValera won the 1932 election and when he had to appoint a new DG he appointed a shop keeper who remained behind his store counter!
“De Valera explicitly instructed Ua Buachalla as governor-general to keep a low public profile, and not to fulfil any public engagements. This was part of de Valera’s policy to make the governor-generalship an irrelevance by reducing it to invisibility. While he continued to give the Royal Assent to legislation, summon and dissolve Dáil Éireann and fulfil the other formal duties of the governor-generalship, he declined all public invitations and kept himself invisible, as advised by “his” Government. In fact in his period in office he performed only one public function: the receipt of the credentials of the French Ambassador in the Council Chamber, Government Buildings, 1933, on behalf of the King, George V. However, de Valera subsequently had that duty moved from the governor-general to his own post of President of the Executive Council. (One of the few other occasions Ua Buachalla was mentioned at all in public was when, in the aftermath of the death of King George V in January 1936, he had to reply to messages of condolence sent to the Irish people by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull.)
On de Valera’s instruction, Ua Buachalla did not reside in the official residence of the governor-general, the Viceregal Lodge (now called Áras an Uachtaráin, the residence of the President of Ireland). Instead a house was rented for his use. The official English title Governor-General was largely replaced by the official Irish title Seanascal or its direct translation, Seneschal; however, Governor-General remained the legal form used in official English-language documents and proclamations.” Wiki.
While chumming up with the Nazis
Citation please.
Are you inferring that “neutrality” during WWII was tilted towards the Germans? It was not.
German submarines were allowed to use Irish ports – I don’t recall this privilege being extended to the Allies
Oh look, Pop1 going off half cocked about shit he knows not what of:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality_during_World_War_II
Blimey, that’s one for the books.
A natural disaster will not occur as a result of deep sea oil and gas exploration: Govt.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11233306
(Since an oil spill would not be a natural disaster, giving an assurance that a natural disaster won’t occur due to deep sea oil and gas drilling is a pretty meaningless statement.) That climate change resulting from chasing down every last possible and remote and difficult and risky source of oil would also be a disaster makes the above statement doubly ridiculous.
Simon Bridges the government minister for energy says he is more than 100 percent confident that that oil would not spill onto New Zealand beaches.
So how confident is the minister that oil won’t spill on our beaches?
101 percent?
200 percent?
110 percent?
What on earth does this mean anyway?
In other idiocy Simon Bridges said:
“They don’t make the cut”, really Minister?
Did even one of the companies that put in an application, have their application declined, did even one, “not make the cut”?
My guess is that every single company that applied got approval, which if true would prove that every single utterance that passes this minister’s lips is pure gooblygook meant to mislead and confuse.
Pleasingly little ex-Crown prosecutor Simon is looking somewhat harried and tired. Unpleasingly that will probably go only to exponentially advancing his hubris and bullshit. Watch ShonKey Python’s recently anointed Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Sam Lotu-Iiga for a simiar effect. Such biddable wee bullshitters and trough-guzzlers.
it’s this Anadarko Bridges defends, right?
“Top toxic sites in Anadarko Petroleum settlement
The Associated Press
Top toxic sites among thousands that are part of the $5.15 billion settlement with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. with approximate amount of funding for cleanup efforts and details about the sites, as provided by the Justice Department:
—Henderson, Nev.: $1.118 billion for prospective cleanup costs.
Groundwater at a former chemical manufacturing facility in Henderson, Nev., has been impacted by hexavalent chromium and perchlorate, a chemical used to produce rocket fuel, due to the since the 1940s.
—Navajo Abandoned Uranium Mines: $985 million for prospective cleanup costs.
Kerr-McGee left abandoned uranium mine sites, including contaminated waste rock piles, in the Lukachukai mountains of Arizona and in the Ambrosia Lake area of New Mexico. The Lukachukai mountains are located immediately west of Cove, Ariz., and are a culturally significant part of the Navajo Nation; the Ambrosia Lake area is just outside the Navajo Nation. The mining occurred from the late 1940s through the 1960s in the Lukachukai area and from the 1950s to the 1980s in Ambrosia Lake.
—Manville, N.J.: $217 million for past response costs; $4.5 million in natural resource damage penalties to be paid to New Jersey as natural resources trustee.
The proceeds the Environmental Protection Agency will receive for this site cover EPA’s past costs expended at the site. While they will not address ongoing threats to human health and the environment, they will reimburse the significant response costs EPA spent at the site out of the Superfund. From 1910 until the mid-1950s, the site was used as a wood treatment facility, which occupied approximately 50 acres in the Borough of Manville.
—Riley Pass, S.D.: $179 million for prospective work.
The site is located in the North Cave Hills area of Harding County, S.D., primarily on a series of bluffs within the Custer National Forest where strip mining of uranium-bearing lignite took place in the 1960s.
—Chicago (Lindsay Light Removal Sites, Streeterville Rights-of-Way and DuSable Park): $119 million for prospective work.
Beginning in 1904 and continuing through the mid-1930s, the Lindsay Light Chemical Co. processed ore to extract radioactive thorium and manufactured gas mantles containing radioactive thorium at three locations in an area in downtown Chicago known as the “Streeterville Area.” Lindsay Light merged with American Potash & Chemical Corp., which was acquired by Kerr-McGee.
—Columbus, Miss.: $67 million for prospective work.
The site is a former wood treatment facility, which began operations in 1928. Kerr-McGee purchased the facility in 1964 and operated it until its decommissioning in 2003. At the facility, wood products were treated with creosote, coal tar, and, until 1976, pentachlorphenol. Open ditches were used by Kerr-McGee for years to transport surface water runoff from the site to Luxapilila Creek. Numerous floods throughout the years spread the creosote contamination and polyaromatic hydrocarbons into the neighboring yards of residents.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/03/4037611/top-toxic-sites-in-anadarko-petroleum.html#storylink=cpy“
A very telling set of incidents Tracey which are not often told. Now are we to be for whom the bell tolls?
With the arrival today of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge batten down the hatches for days and days of terminally obseqious yet sly arse-licking from soon-to-be Sir ShonKey Python of Grossbee-Texter-Upon-Knees.
A display to trump the gold standard in the same set by Rowan Atkinson’s Sir Edmund Blackadder in the court of a royal personage past. Madness marries Merill Lynch.
No offence intended to a calculatedly vaunted sweet couple, fabulously privileged and mercifully immune from the sociopathy of Hurrah Henry Cameron and ATOS.
Lols at you too North:-)
A royal tour with Sir Edmund Blackadder as the guest of honour would surely restore our love for the monarchy
King Edmund of New Zild, has a nice ring to it
baldrick was in town a week or two ago…
or Rowan Atkinson’s Marcus Browning, MP
You need to listen to the audio to get the best impact. For some reason I am put in mind of Dunne.
Listen here
Sir Marcus Browning MP
Announcer: Welcome to your seats, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed the buffet dinner, but even if you didn’t, I know you’ll enjoy our guest speaker tonight who’s taken time off from his rigorous parliamentary schedule to be with us. We are very honored to welcome Sir Marcus Browning MP. Thank you.
Sir Marcus Browning: My Lord Mayor, my Lady Mayoress. My lords, ladies and gentlemen. There comes a time when we must all stand up and be counted. I am therefore standing up now and can be counted. One. To each of you I say you are a one. And ones are about to become singularly important. Because Britain is facing the gravest economic crisis since 1380. And you know many of us still remember that day. The eternal torment, worry, exesperation and all manner of (?). And if we are to quit the lights go out on our lives once more (?), we must ask ourselves crucial questions. Where are we? How did we get here? Why did we come? Where do we want to go? How do we want to get to where we want to go? How far do we have to go before we get to where we want to be? How would we know where we were when we got there? HAVE WE GOT A MAP? Why did we leave places to get to where we are? Where were we before that we had to leave to get to where we before we knew we’re going to go to where we want to be? Where would we end up if we had the choice? Where would we end up if we didn’t have the choice? What would we choose given the choice? Do we have that choice to choose? Or indeed can we be choosy about the choice choosings? What are the choosings? Choices! Do we want to stop now? (Rhetorical.) Or do we want to go right back to the beginning and start all over again. Perhaps not. But surely you can see my point. Because what I’m talking about is life. Because life is one of those things that most of us find it very difficult to avoid. In the words of (?) “life is uncertain.” My life certainly has a certain uncertainty about it. And I’m certain yours does too. So with my uncertainty and your uncertainty there’s certainly a certain degree of uncertainty about, of that we can be quite sure. So let’s buckle down, shall we? Purpose is what we’re striving for. We must have purpose. We mustn’t be purposeless. We mustn’s exhibit purposnessless. We must be purposelessnessless. Because we don’t want to end up, do we? Because we don’t want to end up, do we? Like the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there.
audio
You would be a fan of How to Win an election or not lose by very much by lesley bricusse and co. I should think. And what I always say….
How come simon bridges is 100%+ sure.
I can tell you the wheels have fallen off Nactionals drill it mine it at any cost policy.
Its dead in the water gone along with Anadarko no reoverable amounts of oil or gas have been found.
So bridges is desperate by expanding the exploration area is trying to rescue a Failed policy.
tricledrown. I had forgotten how closely Simon Bridges words resemble the “Newspeak” of George Orwell’s novel.
Doubleplus good, for reminding me.
did you ctch the 6 billion payout anadarko is having to make for its fucking up of the environment in the US since about 1930? I would say they probably consider it money well spent…
Not a very good example given Anardarko was started in 1959 and only started activities outside of Texas in 1986. All those examples you listed earlier are historic superfund sites that Anardarko inherited through acquisitions. Your story is really more that “Anardarko owns sites they didn’t pollute in the first place, Anardarko pays to have the sites cleaned up under EPA settlement”. It ‘s likely that when Anardarko acquired a lot of these sites, they didn’t know the full potential liability. Interesting link here which kind of summarises how this generally works:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2014/04/03/anadarko-erases-silkwood-uncertainty-with-5-billion-tronox-settlement/
The real issue for allowing any entity foreign owned or not – to do anything in NZ is to have protections in place so they can’t pull a Union Carbide (or a Kerr-McGee from the above link) if something goes wrong. That’s where I think we need to be really careful. Anardarko is actually recognised as a pretty good corporate citizen – of course that may be relative praise rather than absolute.
thank you for the correction.
It might have been an amount set for them to pay but now comes the extracting of the money, well, well, well that won’t be so simple – lot’s of delaying tactics will be resorted to. And probably some time meeting at resorts too.
And don’t be too nitpicky nadis. Andarko may not have owned them once, but now has them in its portfolio. The point is that An-ko is just a name and other firms doing their damage are just like Andarko and vice versa. The nature of the operation is destructive whatever company does it.
i think he goes to the same speech coach as parata.
The only comment I would like to make about the visit by the Windsors is this. I understood a constitutional monarch was not allowed to get involved in politics. Black Rod and all that medieval crap. Why is it then they are opening the controversial Velodrome in Cambridge hosted by Wardell (he will get a knighthood for playing at life) where 80% of the ratepayers were against having rate payers money used to fund it, but the regional council aided and abetted by Keys pack of shits ignored what the ratepayers said and went ahead with it.
I think this sets a precedent, the Royals are being used politically by Key during an election year.
I assume “Keys pack of shits” = the New Zealand Government.
Just checking.
How are they being used politically? There are no conventions in New Zealand about royal visits in election year. Visits in 1981 and 2002 were both within 6 months of the elections in those years.
In 2002, the Queen visited Team New Zealand. Many on the Left and the Right had opposed funding for the Americas Cup. Was that the “royals being used politically” by the then Labour Government? No, of course not.
So stop drawing a long bow. Nobody cares much. Just enjoy Kate and the baby. It will take the bitter taste out of your mouth for a while. Maybe you can even enjoy life during the royal tour.
As ignorant of this topic as you are of real world economics, S Rylands.
In 2011 Prince William didn’t come to the Rugby World Cup because it was too close to the last election and while the Queen was in Australia that year she decided against crossing the Tasman.
The Rugby World Cup was much closer to the election than this tour is to this year’s election.
The cup final was on October 23rd. The election was just over a month later on 26 November.
This royal tour is over four months from the upcoming election.
Where are you drawing the line, Pete?
4 months? 3 months? 6 weeks?
I’m not drawing a line. I don’t care about the royal tour and I don’t see any reason why it should affect the election this year. Much fuss about something irrelevant to modern New Zealand.
pete
on this and the polls i think your are being very naive. of course journalists know they are cherrypicking polls, as do their editors.
you need to read more psychology and less politics to understand impact of winning rugby teams, royal visits and so on.
But Petey thinks the All Blacks have nothing to do with politics.
That must be why John Key doesn’t bother trying to associate himself with them, eh?
Key’s only interest in the Rugby World Cup was to touch the troty and do a three way handshake to make Nuzlind, and indeed the world, happy.
So you mean there is no time that would be too close to an election in your book?
If so then why compare the four months to the one month?
Pete you should write for The Civilian. In fact whenever I see anything of yours longer than three lines I start thinking I am reading The Civilian. I particularly like this one although you can pretty much take your pick:
i assume such a ‘pack’ includes you SSLands…
Nah, S Rylands is unelectable. He does his politics on the job.
True OAB, i was meaning more the inclusion in the ‘pack of shits’ for SSLands as 99% of what It writes here at the Standard is full of it…
check the front cover of the womens weekly, mr & mrs key holding fluffy puppies (!!!) with the headline ‘john & bronaghs royal surprise’ & tell me again how this whole tour is not a publicity stunt for john key/national party.
(how can i ‘enjoy kate & the baby’ ‘enjoy?’ what a weird word in that context. celebrity culture, P.R, idiots gettting sucked in. i could not give a fuk about the royals, but i do give a fuk about the news being hijacked by this BS.)
“tell me again how this whole tour is not a publicity stunt for john key/national party.”
Are you suggesting the royals are actively supporting John Key and National? That’s a long bow you are drawing.
id say it was the other way round. but i cannot think why else a royal celebrity would PR for NZ in an election year.
‘long bow’ … i love how our language is peppered with so many phrases from our history.
@idlegus. Thought you were kidding about magazine cover until I went to buy the Woman’s Day and there they were!! That man has no class at all. What was the surprise? Was it a copy of steffi’s attempt at art of which mom and pop were so proud. Oh, and no, I did not buy the magazine, nor will I be in the near future, unless of course if it is featuring our new Prime Minister David Cunliffe.
Labour has never been averse to the royal effect. Although Clark did break protocol and wear slacks to a dinner with the queen…
I hope Johnny is wearing incontinent pants when he meets them today, he will be so excited, they’r e like family to him.
We knew that from the day it was announced they were coming.
I was amused a few days ago to hear that John and Bronagh invited them to a “home cooked dinner” at their home but the D&D (very wisely) turned them down on the grounds “they wanted to get back to George in Wellington”. Can you imagine how he would have milked that little tete a tete for all it was worth. Fancy having the gall in election year to even issue the invitation.
is this the dinner key is cooking for John Campbell? After shopping at the market? Is that the Parnell market and la cigale or the Otara market?
I cringe whoever does it, Cunliffe, Hairdo anyone.
They say they dont want their private life as part of public scrutiny… unless it suits them…
IF politicians want to paint themsleves in a particulaar light through their private life then all bets are off imo. Children using class A drugs should be able to be written about. If going tot he market and letting cameras watch them cook dinner at home is ok, when it paints them as family and homely etc… then why not scrutinise their parenting via drugs and rinking transgressions of their kids?
Sycophancy to your betters and stepping on those below you, is all part of the National Party tory born to rule class culture that they are trying to stamp on the rest of us.
The sooner these agents of privilege and wealth leave our shores the better.
I am surprised that Key didn’t invite the queen for a game of golf.
(Or at least planking!)
That wouldn’t be (Pete) George would it ? Wow Pete, you’re connected my bro’ ! Use that one well ya could probably squeeze a reasonable list placement outa ShonKey Python himself.
Nah, Wills and Kate couldn’t handle the prospect of a menu jam packed with the host’s ‘mince’ and “Georgie Pie tickle tickle tickle say hello to uncle”. Kid spews on that shit I’m told.
Seemingly though the final straw was the spot of preprandial tennis ShonKey planned for out the back at facsimile Gushing Meadows.
i havn’t got the link, but, someone on ‘open Mike’ as late as last week provided a link that showed far from the common perception the Queen does have power of veto over the English Parliament,
This power of veto has apparently been used numerous times, Yay for the good of society we all might think as the descendant of an Irish Piss Pot emptier refused to allow Legislation that would hurt the masses,
Hardly, it seems the only Legislated that attracts the Woyal veto is that which threatens the income stream of the Bludgers…
The queens power of veto (as wielded by the governer general) was used in Australia in 1975 when the Whitlam Labour government was dissolved.
True, i must have a little look to see if She that wears the Crown and warms the seat had an actual involvement…
It appears that Her Maj was not consulted about the intentions of the Australian Governor General to dismiss the Whitlam Government, although appears may change in time as Government documents of a secretive nature become less secretive,
The claim is that after the ‘dismissal’ both Whitlam and the Australian Speaker of the House at the time contacted Buckingham Palace and were told the Queen would not intervene,(which begs the question why have a Queens representative if She will never either agree or disagree with such actions),
http://www.nationalobserver.net>No64-August2005
John Kerr, the Governor General who dismissed the Whitlam Government was on 30 March 1977 awarded the Knights Grand Cross an award only able to be bestowed by Her Maj, so She was obviously not displeased,
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerr_(governor-general)
The constitutional arrangement is that the Queen doesnt intervene ever even though technically she is head of state. From memory the Whitlam situation was pretty cut and dried – his government could not pass matters of supply as they didn’t have a majority, and Whitlam being a complete cock refused to negotiate with any of the opposition. So the govt was dissolved. At the time I’m not sure anyone except his hard core supporters were offended. Wonnder what would have happened if he had continued to be recalcitrant. Trespass order banning him from parliament??
I attended a conference in Australia many years ago at which Whitlam spoke…and spoke and spoke. He came across to me as a self obsessed bore with very little social sensitivity. He argued at length that the behaviour of Australians towards Aborigines was evidence that Australians were not racist. An arse.
They routinely interfere with the parliament.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/9801835/Queen-and-Prince-Charles-using-power-of-veto-over-new-laws-Whitehall-documents-reveal.html
Simon bridges is one of the few people who looks and sounds crap on Tv AND Radio.in fact he sounds worse on radio than he looks on TV.
he sounds like john key
They are talking about him as a future National leader.
Shit they are desperate.
He is even more of a lightweight than the fool they have in charge now. Will they ever learn what turns off New Zealanders.
Smug, rich aresholes.
I would suspect thats hes already cooked his leadership goose. And as Mrs Collins doesnt have good long term prospects either, its either Jonny B Good staying on longer, or you get Steve Joyce.
And as the leader of the Nats is quite likely to also be the PM, who would you choose?
Kim Dotcom to speak at Mana AGM….looking GOOD for Mana and Kim Dotcom !
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/04/06/tdb-breaking-exclusive-kim-dotcom-to-attend-and-speak-at-mana-agm/
No it doesn’t. MANA was pretty unequivocal in rejecting an alliance last time. Gareth Morgan is also speaking at the AGM – don’t think he’s wanting to start a party. In any case I really can’t see MANA wanting to associate itself with a leering charicature of every egocentric arrogant rich prick capitalist ever. He’s basically just a larger version of John Key with more criminal convictions and less restraint.
Gareth might be looking for a political vehicle to promote His UBI theme, i can well imagine He could become a major donor to the Mana Party should they begin to openly campaign for such a major change to Welfare/Tax policy in New Zealand,
i would say the Mana/internet alliance is far from dead in the water, should DotCom cede welfare/housing/employment policy to Mana while Mana does the same adopting the Internet Parties internet policies then we have the foundations of a workable alliance of the two,
It then becomes a negotiation over how much resources DotCom and/or the Internet Party are willing to commit to such a Mana/Internet alliance and just as important WHEN,
Along with this will be the possibly more fraught negotiation over the divvying up of any electoral spoils after the election and just who the Internet Candidates who might enter the Parliament will be, as i doubt that the rules would allow both Mana and Internet to campaign as separate entities during the election and then combine their votes after the count,this will be the tough part of any negotiation,
I would suggest that Mana approach this part of the negotiation on a 2 to 1, 2 to 1 basis so that the first 2 seats would go to Mana the next one to the Internet Party and so on, so with four seats if that were the possible gain from this alliance Mana would have 3 seats and Internet 1 in the next Parliament,
Such an outcome would be one that i am very likely to vote for…
You only have a workable alliance of the two if MANA is going to completely chuck out the ideologies and values they are telling the voters they represent. I don’t have a problem with Labour doing that sort of thing because the shine came off their apple a long time ago and we urgently need rid of the Nats. MANA would look like they are cosying up to their token amoral capitalist cartoon for power over values, and that is entrely contrary to how they want to position themselves in the public view.
Thats a ridiculous statement PoP’s and deserves no other answer than Ha–Ha,what a load…
Are you saying that Dotcom isn’t a cliche stereotype of the egocentric amoral capitalist?
Nah, i am saying what a load, nothing unusual as far as what you produce goes tho…
Sill me – I forgot I was dealing with a purile little creep
Yes i understand your loathing having to deal with yourself on a daily basis must be a real struggle…
If mana had any self respect and internal consistency they should tell Dotcom we’ll do a policy deal but your guys come way down the list, like 10 at best. Do we really want individuals handpicked by Dotcom for their compliancy (to him) to potentially go into parliament. Lets not lose sight of the fact that the Dotcom party is a single issue party and that single issue is deportation.
Mind you #3 on the mana list is a low probability slot anyway.
I agree, I don’t see why a shallow flashy international multimillionaire with only a superficial connection to NZ should get to hand-pick mps based on their compliancy to him.
But that’s the National Party List for you, eh?
you sir, are on fire today.
Pop you are too too old!!!!..in fact methinks you could be fossilised
…I like the look of Hone and Kim( look like the Blues Brothers)….almost tempted to VOTE for HONEY’SKIM
….but us CHOOKS love our greens……however the teenage son will be voting for them.
pics of Blue Brothers cf Hone and kim
https://www.google.co.nz/#q=blues+brothers+pictures
pics of Blue Brothers cf Hone and Kim
https://www.google.co.nz/#q=blues+brothers+pictures
lol
Populuxe1: “He’s basically just a larger version of John Key with more criminal convictions and less restraint.”
Ha, exactly right. As others have noted, if Key hadn’t ruined Dotcom’s life, he would’ve been Key’s biggest, most public, and richest supporter.
“Ha, exactly right. As others have noted, if Key hadn’t ruined Dotcom’s life, he would’ve been Key’s biggest, most public, and richest supporter.”
That wouldn’t have surprised me in the slightest
agree
I’m getting a subtext here that its not ok for someone who has money to have any socialist leanings.
So following that line of thought David Cunliffe shouldn’t be in the Labour Party. So the Nats were right all along./sarc
Can you point to examples of DotCom’s socialist leanings?
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/watch-extended-kim-dotcom-interview-video-5879189
From about 10:25 on.
Examples please.
I just played it and I didn’t hear anything that suggests he’s particularly socialist. Certainly no more socialist than any ordinary kiwi.
certainly no more socialist than national.
i think dotcom mistakenly thought banks was a libertarian.
“Do you believe in a welfare state?
yes. definitely.
Should a health system be free?
yes.
Should the rich pay a higher tax rate?
yes”
Given that the questions were from a left social democratic framework, then sure, not socialist. But a very long way away from unadulterated right wing tosh or even the pap fed us via mainstream media.
Yes, he prefers deregulation and decriminalisation of cannabis, with the former being arguably a right wing perspective and the latter…well, both a left and right perspective.
“But a very long way away from unadulterated right wing tosh or even the pap fed us via mainstream media.”
There’s a distinction between the pap and the tosh?
Mostly just the sources I was meaning to refer to felix 😉 The mainstream pap might not be as extreme as right wing tosh, but from my perspective, the difference is kinda irrelevant…they are on the same (to me, unacceptable) area of the traditional political spectrum.
Bill
And you actually believed .com was telling the truth? Or that any politician does? Naive.
Well Rodel. Obviously I was only listening to what he said. And since people were asking what it was that he said that indicated ‘leftness’…
perhaps you misused socialist in your first comment.
he did say he thinks the rich should pay more tax but he also said the ip is for the “tax savy”.
he believes in welfare.
mostly he believes in nz having a data and internet industry within which he can be an entrepreneur.
i agree with someone else, dotcom is mostly libertarianz and kim dotcomz
“Follow me….”
I’m waiting for you to explain what Dotcom’s “socialist leanings” might be – Not respecting IP sounds more libertarian to me.
the Queen HRH Elisabeth II is a Socialist, she lives very frugally and she hated Margaret Thatcher….. and her son Charles is a Greenie…not sure about the Duke though…he is a stirrer so he could be a Winnie type or a Trotskyite or a UFO expert ( say no more ) …under cover of course
really darhls !…money is such a burden …and having to be on your best behaviour ALL the time!!!!!….what a pain…no swearing in public ….no saying “sod off you bloody FUCKWIT”…no farting in public or picking your nose and …… it……and having to be polite about the IRA when they blew up your favourite uncle….no toe sucking at the beach, even if it is discreet …..or naughty conversations to your lover over the telephone…because the GCSB is sure to be watching with field glasses and listening in!!!!….but worst of all you may find your self on the front page of one of those scurrilous, disgusting rags that goes for British newspapers…
poor bastards….i feel sorry for them…..they earn their money as PR agents for the Realm and a certain order of ‘civilisation’ imo
….BUT THEY HAD BETTER NOT PUT A FOOT OUT OF LINE…or else
The MSM headlines next weekend will predictably be dominated with the boring going ons of the gilded royal couple, with some mention of the Mana conference on the inside pages. But just as sure as the odious grovelling of the MSM will be dominated by news of the royals, the alternative and social media will be white hot with the goings on at the Mana conference.
Asset sales and the TPPA and even deep sea oil drilling may not have mobilised the young as they may have past generations. But internet use is central to their lives. A freerer, cheaper, faster internet, with less government interference, surveillance and spying, and with whatever other youth friendly policy concessions for the low paid that Mana will wring out of Dotcom, I imagine it could be quite a heady mix. Especially if backed up with Dotcom’s money and Mana’s activists.
And for those whinging about lack of TIP policy–there is some on their website https://internet.org.nz–that looks pretty good compared to what the Key gang was originally elected on; a a few meagre A4 sheets of ‘bullet points’, barely a “policy” as we know it to be found. Thats how Crosby Textor and the Hollowmen operate.
Mana has already bumped TIP off supporting National, Te Mana Movement has had more publicity in the last month than the previous year. Mana members have even more reason to want to put the choker chain on the GCSB/SIS/Cops special ops etc than Kim does. And would support removing NZ from 5 eyes.
Hone has also spoken to some of the hard left in Mana about this initiative and a common position is a “sure talk, take it to the members, but no compromise on the social policies”. Sue Bradford may become an outlier on this one, and no disrespect to her being the only standard bearer for beneficiaries for years in parliament, but she is a leaver of organisations. She often leaves a group and then sets up a new one with her loyal coterie from People Centre days. Currently AAAP.
At the end of the day Mana members will determine this and it might not be via some kind of formal vote at Rotorua, may take a bit longer.
Gareth Morgan will also be at the Mana Rotorua conference and supports a form of UBI (though originator Keith Rankin imo seems to retreat further and obfuscate as time goes on http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/04/04/universal-basic-income/) and taxing the rich. Hone has no problem talking to rich white guys without wanting to become one.
Gareth Morgan is also a noted advocate on promoting climate change issues, and I believe there is some policy motions to be voted on around climate change at this conference.
It is quite possible that Mana could steal the ground from under the Green Party on this issue as the Greens in line with the other mainstream parliamentary parties seem determined to do a repeat of their strategy at the last election, and play down climate change.
http://hot-topic.co.nz/a-snake-swallows-the-elephant-in-the-room-and-then-flogs-a-dead-horse-climate-change-politics-in-nz-election-2011/
And in this election as well….
https://www.greens.org.nz/issues
No explicit talk of cutting back emissions, or stopping new coal mines, or deep sea oil.
Though fracking is mentioned this is all mute as the Green Party say they will have no bottom lines in their quest for cabinet positions.
In contrast to this, a motion to be voted at the Mana conference, and coming with the recommendation of the leadership, is that Mana will not seek to go into coalition with the Labour Party, leaving the Mana MPs free to push their issues and not bound by Labour’s majority in cabinet forcing them to go along with every issue that government imposes.
Hopefully Gareth can convince Dotcom to build a wind and solar farm to power a server farm in NZ…
tiger mountain yes!!! & what bad12 said above, its makes sense that mana keep all the social & housing issues, & the internet party have some incredible & NEW ideas about the internet. & if anyone would cozy up to some rich guy & not get compromised imo it would be ppl like hone & annette sykes. i hope they go for it.
Odd broken link there Tiger. Try this https://internet.org.nz/mission On the face of it, given they’re a brand new party, the policy looks interesting.
“Hone has no problem talking to rich white guys without wanting to become one.”
A crucial point.
Here’s their new logo: http://www.mana.com/
Why the fuck would you want a progressive party to join forces with Dotcom.
Who is more important to the party, activists like Sue Bradford, or an overweight foreign capitalist thug??
Bear in mind who will be leading TVNZ’s election coverage this year and read and weep.
It’s less about bias than the awful combination of ego and lack of intelligence.
Generation Zero has given permission for their article to be reposted everywhere.
”
Is Mike Hosking the smartest man alive?
Apr 3, 2014 // by Jimmy Green // Uncategorized // No Comments
Did you see Seven Sharp on Tuesday?
Presenter Mike Hosking made a revolutionary announcement – that he doesn’t believe in science, and you shouldn’t either.
You can see it here – at 22:46
Referencing the recent IPCC report that outlines the current state of climate science, he said,
“That’s of course, if you believe them, which as it turns out I don’t.”
Mike went on to lay out his counter-argument, in an admirably bold attempt to overturn the entire global 20 year scientific consensus,
“I mean if Metservice struggles with the accuracy of a 5-day forecast I’m thinking a long range prediction that takes in 86 years might be a bit dodgy.”
What Mike apparently doesn’t know is that, believe it or not, short term weather forecasting and climate change science are two totally different things. People get this wrong a lot – check out these guys trying to dispel the myth using the powerful force of British humour! Scientifically, there’s as much certainty that humans are the main thing causing climate change as there is that smoking causes cancer. If a journalist just decided they didn’t believe that and told the people of New Zealand to go out and smoke to their hearts content, they’d probably get fired.”
Full story is here
http://blog.generationzero.org.nz/
remember herald columnist Rodney Hide also thinks weather is the same as climate.
Wow we agree on something. Yes it was fuckwited and shameful. We should debate the best response to climate change. But when some on the right simply say it is not happening, I shut down.
It had to happen eventually, statistically speaking 😉
Twice a day, metaphorically speaking…
LOL
Wow Mike Hoskings. Thats more face slam than face palm
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
Don’t criticize what you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
The old road is rapidly aging
So get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand
For the times they are a changing
All good Tracey. It will hasten their demise, and accelerate the rise of the alternative media. The sooner the better.
Speaking of the vile Simon Bridges…………………..
PUBLIC MEETING, TUESDAY, 8TH APRIL, 7 – 8.30PM: “GIVE US A BREAK!”
This is a public meeting to discuss The Employment Relations Amendment Act and how the proposed changes will affect union members and workers. There will be three guest speakers followed by an open discussion on the changes and what action may be taken to prevent this anti worker bill being passed.
As as so often been the case in recent years, Peter Dunne holds the critical vote.
The meeting is being hosted by People’s Power Ohariu and is being held at the Uniting Church, 18 Dr Taylor Terrace, Johnsonville, Wellington. All welcome!
Is Dunne attending?
He was invited Tracey, but we were informed he “had other engagements that evening”. There wasn’t a Party representative available to attend either.
Ah, Peter Dunne, the man of the people. I bet if he was suddenly asked to dine with kate and Wills, his diary would free up pronto.
yes he has a little sled pulled by a corgi pack. he should make it in time to palmy north. mush mush.
Suppose it is a slow news day but Morning Report seem to drift aimlessly from one non-story to another non-story this morning. Even the Monday morning slot now dedicated to the flat sounding PM was a bit pointless. Tomorrow will be the weekly slot for David Cunliffe. Hope that is a bit sharper Guyon.
Maybe it is just me? Maybe I am so excited about the royal visit that everything else is so ordinary? Ha!
Luckily the dog was demanding his walk just as Espiner introduced the PM. I didn’t have to endure even a moment of the mangled whining that passes for comment from John Key.
You didn’t miss anything. The PM was maybe very tired having spent his sleepless night scheming of ways of getting his photos took multiple times – with those Windsor Beneficiaries. Baby kissing little George perhaps or a threeway handshake? That would work well.
Or he perhaps he had a hangover?
You have only a couple more hours to wait ianmac. The Royals arrive at noon and TV1 will be reporting it live – that is, if the blanket of fog lifts in time otherwise they’ll have to hot-foot it to Palmy? 🙂
In my day we kids were forced to line the streets and watch the Queen sweep past in a blur. We cheered but that was because we were given most of the day off school. Hooray! And then to curry favour NZ schools were given a Royal Public holiday as well. Hooray!
i heard that very boring rnz morning show too, def wasnt just you. seemed to be the same 3 stories over & over, & same information over & over. i turned off key, but heard some of the replays during the news, & he was all muffled. also a strange silence to the whole show, def needs some pepping up otherwise i might try some other monring station (i know radiolive sux but marcus lush at least puts a bit of effort into it).
44% of repondents “not at all excited” by royal visit in today’s Herald poll (i.e. 50% plus in representative sample).
How does this stack up with Key’s “80% of population would support keeping the monarchy” reported on RNZ this AM?
Sixty years ago Grandad was a town councilor when he and Grandma were scheduled to greet Queenie at the local railway station. Reputedly Grandma refused saying – that woman’s family have already had two of my sons so I’ll be buggered if I’ll curtsey to the bitch.
Lolz, as kids we were all taken off to the local hall,an ex US army facility left over from world war 2, to watch the Saturday movie,
As they did in those long ago days, god Save the Queen was played befor the fillim got to roll, everyone including all the kids,obviously obeying their mum or dads instructions/example stood to attention while this drab dirge blared out of the speakers,
Except us four kids and 1 mum who kept their buttes firmly attached to their seats refusing to acknowledge there was any respect attached to the House of Windsor having not that many years previously dropped its German title in favor of the more English sounding one…
I have to ask.
When we talk of the British royal family being German, aren’t we engaging in the very immigration bashing that liberals should despise (also for argument sake since I know what you’re like Bad12, I recognise that you didn’t actually call them German in that post but I’m speaking of several occasions on the Standard where I’ve seen people do this).
The current royal family are British. They were born in Britain. The last monarch who was actually born outside of Britain was George II in 1683. By the time George III came around, he was born in Britain, spoke English as his first language and never visited his ancestral homeland. The Royal Family have been British for nearly three hundred years. They’re no more German than every non-Maori person of New Zealand is the nationality of their European descent.
All this “they’re actually German” rubbish just reinforces the right-wing trope that immigrants can never truly become a part of their new country. Which leads to disquiet and unease and general negative attitudes towards immigration.
Words matter.
Also, even leaving out the immigration side of things, it is absolutely idiotic. They really aren’t German. The family has been British since before New Zealand was a country.
And Phillip, the grand-daddy of the current pair of bludgers arriving to sup at the New Zealand trough is the epitome of English breeding right Gallstone…
So you’re saying that to be truly the part of a country, you must have four “pure” grandparents?
So you’re not a New Zealander unless all of your grandparents are also from New Zealand?
This is what you’re saying?
be fair, phillip is one of our twenty greatest living nzers, according to our leader.
http://www.germanabout.com/library/bltrivia_windsor.htm
From 1714 to 1901 all those on the throne of Britain were German on the current seat warmers side of the family,
Obviously from both sides of His family the Husband of the current seat warmer was thoroughly German even if this was somewhat masked by His attachment to the Greek and Danish thrones,
The fact is that this ”oh so British royal family” celebrate Christmas not on the 25th of December as the masse of their ‘subjects’ do, instead as is the thoroughly German tradition they celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December,
Are they British, Pfft, they are British Germans just as Samoans born in New Zealand as a majority do not use the term New Zealander as a self descriptive preferring instead the term New Zealand Samoan…
Seriously? You’re saying that Queen Elizabeth and her children and grand-children are still German (albeit “British German”)?
If you are, I’m just flabbergasted. There’s no way I can even logically respond to such a stance. It’s absolute stupidity.
This is the entrenchment of national identities. When you’re having a dig at the Royals, it’s harmless. But when extended across society, this leads to all types of anti-immigration and xenophobia drivel.
And if you’re saying you only do it to the Royals, then it’s hypocritical.
It’s incredibly sad.
(Furthermore, your link doesn’t even work.)
Exactly Gallstone, they are Britons of German extraction, as i point out above they still retain at least one significant German custom,(and who knows how many more when ensconced behind closed doors),
Given a DNA test they all would show by genetics a strong line of German inheritance from the gene pool,
The fact that you are flabbergasted is of little surprise to me and since when has lack of logic prevented you from replying to anything,
Your illogic would include labelling me as a ‘liberal’, ask any of the Island Bay Italians for instance,(having already pointed out to you the New Zealand Samoans), they will happily describe themselves as Italian even where at least 3 generations have been born here in New Zealand and have never been to Italy…
My hybrid GB/NZ daughter, born here, considers herself to be 100% kiwi – Do I tell her she’s wrong, despite her passport and citizenship saying otherwise?
But that’s a straw man. It’s their right to culturally identify with what they culturally identify with.
That’s my whole point.
The Royal Family culturally identifies as British and have been born and lived in Britain for the past three hundred years. If they want to be British (and they do), then their British.
When you call them German, you’re removing the ability for them to determine what they feel most culturally akin to. Some immigrants (like myself) may regard ourselves still of the nationality we came from. Some other immigrants want to regard themselves of their new country.
All your talk of DNA and having the right grandparents is exceedingly xenophobic and conservative.
(Also, my family have opened one present on Christmas Eve. I guess I’m German as well now, even though I’ve never been there and have never identified with that part of my heritage (beyond opening a present on Christmas Eve).
Me, I’m English, for better or worse, ’til death do us part and all that, but my girl is as kiwi as the rest of yous 😉
As long as she doesn’t wear an all black jersey with it’s white feather logo in my house we’ll be good. At least she knows what to put on my headstone :smirk:
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
Yes the Woyal family ‘claim’ to identify with all things British so as to ‘fit in’, that same family hastily changed their name from a German one to a British one in an attempt to hide that fact that two German Royal households, one in Germany and one in England were engaged in a war,
The English version of this German dynastic family are simply leeches bludging off of the fabric of the British people and have moved speedily to try and expunge any memory of their German Bloodlines….
British? You mean , Scots, Welsh as well can strongly culturally identify with these German-Anglo-Saxon hybrids?
@ bad
I can understand why they did that – it seems quite similar to highlighting a particular strand of whakapapa as opposed to another strand. Some of the nastiest fighting i can remember hearing/reading about were between relations – brothers, cousins and so on – all kin. All closely blood related.
Karol, the Queen Mother was a Bowes-Lyon, a very old Scottish family, and amny Scotts identified closely with Victoria.
Aye. My Scottish father and the Scots on his side of the family were the ones who always identified with the monarch most of all.
It was the English side of my family that were more indifferent to the Royal Family.
The two statements are not contradictory. I couldn’t care less about the Royal Visit.
I would support keeping the monarchy. I know I’m an outlier being a Brit myself, but I suspect much like in Britain, there’s a fair few Kiwis who don’t buy into the personality cult of excitement of the royals daily lives while still supporting the system of the monarchy itself.
And to pre-empt the various arguments over how silly it is to keep the monarchy, I agree with you completely. But rather like my desire for Scotland to stay in the UK, it’s a heart over head matter.
I guess for me it comes down to why we need to have them here spending our money on hosting, travel, security. If they want to come, they can pay for everything.
They may be lovely people and every other nation that has become a republic remains int he Commonwealth. They attend the commonwelath games and the CW forum etc…
It’s merely a statement that we are our own nation.
I have no idea if it means Key would have to get s his knighthood or from Jerry or could still go to buckhouse to get it, like Doug Graham did.
I find the title system far more offensive than the queen as pretend head of state frankly.
I like the title system when it used correctly. Again, I’ll have to talk from my UK-centric perspective, but a while back the honours system was used to celebrate the unsung heroes of society. Sure, some celebrities and sports stars have always been honoured. But a lot of charity workers, community workers, authors and artists and so on were the recipients of honours. A small thanks for a life of service.
It’s only lately where it’s been given to bankers and footballers and so on that I feel the honours system has lost it’s way.
Again, heart over head matter. I like the trappings of history if we can avoid the baggage of it.
when you say you are British and you want Scotland to stay a part of the UK, are you English? Or Scottish?
Why is it important if you are not Scottish?
I don’t consider myself English or Scottish. I’m British. I was born in England. But my father was Scottish. A section of my ancestors were Scots. Another part was English. I spent time in both Scotland and England. I value both those culture together and regard myself as British. I love New Zealand, but Britain is still my home and my country. Ever since I was a little boy I was British. Despite the arguments in favour and against, I can’t really engage in the debate because all I can see is the tearing apart of my home.
It’s very much my heart taking charge of the debate.
thanks for the answer.
my heritage on both sides is scottish.my dads side leaving scotland not long after the clearances.
i cant recall a time when an unsung hero got knighted or damed.
I have empathy with Disraeli Gladstone’s viewpoint. My parents were English – born and bred. They arrived here the day NZ declared war on Germany in 1939. Despite the fact they spent most of their adult lives in NZ, they always regarded themselves as English. Its what you feel in your heart that matters, and there is no doubt that the generations of the British monarchy since George V at the least saw themselves as totally British.
Scottishness doesn’t have anything to do with it Tracy. I’m Scottish…born and bred there, both parents Scottish. But I don’t get to vote. Meanwhile, a woman born in Chelsea whose parents are Indian and English, but who lives in Scotland does get to vote. (Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh) And that’s how it should be.
It’s about economic and political power, not patriotism. And that principally affects only those who live there.
i have no reason to disbelieve what you say bill. i am surprised that born and bred scotts living in scotland see it as a political and economic decision only.
hmm…I wasn’t really claiming to second guess peoples’ perceptions or motivations as much as simply point out what the actual issue is.
So DG you would be happy with a monarchy that was never allowed to visit NZ then?
Monarchy of New Zealand
80% seems to be somewhat exaggerated.
john key exaggerated?
Ok, lied.
Latest poll:
Given that it was commissioned by New Zealand Republic and the questions were specifically leading, I’m not going to rush to anything.
on a non-royals related topic, here’s some (all too accurate) giggles
http://boonman.wordpress.com/2014/04/06/hekia-parata-speech-to-concerned-parents-of-unnamed-school/
LOL, but the language is far too simple and clear for Parata!
We might well laugh but sadly it is not too far from the reality. Have to get rid of those pesky teachers. All they seem to want to do is teach kids instead of balancing the books.
and from John Key’s FB page is an image that makes one wonder, is “YES WE CAN” next?
note: link is to the image only, I won’t expose you to the bile-inducing hysteria that oozes off the page itself
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/1524915_10152353263645429_1571805956_n.jpg
if you look inside the 3 it looks like mickey mouse ears on their side…
Mickey Mouse’s ears are freaky. Aside from being one of the most recognisable character icons ever created, did you know they are exactly the same in every image? This is regardless of Mickey’s posing. Be it a profile view, front of face or Mickey looking back over his shoulder at whatever mayhem Pluto is creating. They never change!
On a wall in suburban Auckland, a young Tongan artist has turned the Nazi flag into a symbol of anti-racism and anti-imperialism. Kim Dotcom could learn a thing or two from him…
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/kim-dotcom-benjamin-work-and-tongan.html
On a wall in suburban Auckland, a young Tongan activist and artist has created a new, anti-imperialist Nazi flag:
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/kim-dotcom-benjamin-work-and-tongan.html
Maybe Kim Dotcom could learn something about history and politics from Benjamin Work…
Lots of ground water used in Canterbury too.
/
.
A photo in a 1999 USGS report on subsidence captures the drama vividly. It shows scientist Joseph Poland standing next to a utility pole outside Mendota. On the ground is a placard marked 1977. Twenty-eight feet overhead, another sign is nailed to the pole showing where crops once grew: It reads 1925.
As the land subsided, bridges slumped, levees sank and well casings failed. Canals sagged, too, inviting water to loiter in low spots and spill over banks. From 1955 to 1970, damages topped $1.3 billion (in 2013 dollars), according to a new report by the California Water Foundation. All kinds of water conveyance infrastructure was harmed, from pumping plants and canal berms in the Tulare-Wasco area to bridges, pipelines and drain inlets on the Delta-Mendota Canal west of Firebaugh. And then, thanks to massive volumes of surface water that arrived via state and federal aqueducts and canals, pumping slowed and subsidence largely stopped.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/04/06/3008038/san-joaquin-valley-sinking-as.html?sp=/99/177/348//
It’s amazing how people keep thinking that they can do whatever they like and there not be consequences despite those consequences having happened before. Oh well, I suppose it won’t be long before we see the end of Californian wine production.
Big question: Are we monitoring this stuff in NZ or are we doing the same as the Californians and just using it as if there’s no limit?
Okay, why do cyclists run reds? Well firstly they don’t
run reds, that would be quite legal as getting off the
bike and running carrying the bike over their heads is
quite legal.
Second, red light don’t detect cyclists and so cyclist
if they were to obey the rule would have to wait for
a car to drive up behind and flip the lights over.
Third, cyclists are slow, so not only do they have
more chance of being hit when slowing down (increase
cross sectional opportunity for a crash), but they
are also observed for long periods. Especially at lights and so
seen more often running them (even though car drivers
may well run lights more often). Fourth, cycle
lane turns left onto another cycle lane means
cycles only need worry about other cyclists, when red
and cyclist are slow moving and easily avoided,
so transition from lane to cycle lane without any
threat from cars.
Finally, cycle take longer to slow, take more effort
to get moving so cyclist have a predilection to not
stop, whereas red light car jumpers are just gunning
the lights (what cyclist would never do that since no way
could they win!!!)
And finally, finally, car drivers
who run lights are likely when they cycle themselves to also do,
so blame the culture of gunning lights by car drivers for cyclist
running reds.
Roads are designed for motor vehicles, cyclists have
no protection, are unstable at slow speeds (esp. on slopes),
roads have pot holes that effect them far worse,
and so cyclist should be given any benefit of the doubt.
A cyclist rides about twice as fast as a runner, its hardly
a competition between them and cars.
The idea that drivers have equal rights to cyclists is absurd and
abusive, since those disabled by using their own strength
without recourse to an engine, seat belts, power brakes, etc
are always going to come off worse, so drivers should always
err on their side, and be cautious.
And so when Moro again brings up the issue why is it so anti-cyclists,
why does Moro defend the strong against the weak and exposed?
1: that would be jaywalking
2: Press the button to cross, like I do on my motor scooter
3: But the percentage of cyclists observed seems to be quite high, in my experience. Compared to motor vehicles.
4: They don’t need to worry about the law? That’s how accidents happen.
finally1: gunning vs not stopping doesn’t make much difference when they’ve built up some downhill speed.
finally2: if car drivers jumped off a cliff, would cyclists? And as you point out, cars can brake quickly or gun the throttle if they misjudged while braking the law. Cyclists can’t. And cyclists are the least obvious and most vulnerable on the road. On a motor scooter, I have similar vulnerabilities – I choose to not take gambles.
Cyclists should also err on the side of caution, because they are the most vulnerable. And they’re choosing to take themselves into close proximity of heavy machinery that moves at speed and is often controlled by dickheads. If a car strikes a cycle, it’s usually the car driver at fault (or at least another vehicle driver that put the cyclist in front of the car), AFAIK. However, it’s the cyclist who always comes worse off. If you advocate for cyclists to break the road code, you’re opening the door (so to speak) for idiot vehicle drivers to use the same excuses for their illegal behaviour.
The laws are different for cyclists, cyclists are more like pedestrians, the idea that they are the same is what is causing the angst.
cyclists are allowed to run red lights?
Cyclists who get off can walk their bike across any junction, lights or not. As long as they don’t cause an accident, which they wouldn’t since they would get hurt far worse than any car driver. And in that way cyclists are pedestrians, pedestrians cross roads, all the time, red lights or not. Put it another way, Cyclists, like pedestrians, are not motor vehicles that HAVE to OBEY red lights and can’t get out and push their vehicles through red lights.
I can do that on my motor scooter: a pedestrian with a 2 wheeled trolley.
But we’re talking about cyclists who just ride through the red lights. No walking involved.
If its safe its legal in my opinion because pedestrians do it all the time.
Its like noise. Its the source of the noise that has to turn it down. with respect of vehicles, its the source of engine power.
A Jogger can run as fast as a bike, its no different.
Child ride bikes on the pavement.
Posties do.
Its just a hangover from the motor industry using their abuse of power to deny
alternatives to their industry.
Its actually wrong to frustrate cyclists travel based on the false belief that somehow
someone has actually died from cyclist riding on the foot path. Its wrong because
forcing them into the road where that happens.
Cars have the power to stop, to speed, to evade, they have the safety, they have the technology, the have all the options. As long as a cyclist crosses safely I don’t see a problem. However its just political correctness gone mad to expect a cyclist to walk their cycle across a junction when they can ride across much more safely (quicker!).
As a cyclist growing up in Christchurch I assumed that every car was out to get me. That way I was alert to the potential of injury whenever a car in front or behind or across alerted my consciousness. As a small town NZ cyclist now, I still behave that way to stay alive if possible.
Same for any pedestrians. All the horse power and human making mistakes, makes for caution.
Have spent the day doing a bit of ‘royal watching’.
Wandering through various news sites, but mainly exploring the explosive multitude of Facebook pages that are covering the Tour, and reading the comments. The comments…. The comments…
I have witnessed clichés and melees, saw fracas and face offs and every page was rife with half-stated hate speech wallpapered over with carbon copy happy faces. My sincere and undeniable conclusion is an epidemic of cognitive dissonance is running rampant across New Zealand.
our friend Douglas Adams summed it up best
“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”
Banks application thrown out – nz herald
Hah, John is now ever closer to the day that he ends His career in exactly the same way as old Archy did,
How true the old saying that the apple never falls far from the tree…
Lucky he has nothing to hide then!!!
No, but lots to fear.
Banks loses bid to have prosecution thrown out
And I suspect that’s it for his defense – next stop jail.
We can only hope
COINCIDENCE or INTUITION or DESTINY or KARMA?…An interesting Lotto story
A Takaka couple who won more than $7 million with Big Wednesday say it’s all thanks to trusting a woman’s intuition.
After doing the weekly shopping last week one of the winners had a sudden gut feeling that she should pick up a Big Wednesday ticket.
“As I walked to the car I thought, ‘I should get a Big Wednesday ticket’, but I couldn’t really be bothered. But as I walked away my intuition told me that I would regret not buying that ticket – so I popped back into the store and grabbed one,” said the winner, who wishes to remain anonymous. The couple watched Big Wednesday that night and soon knew they had won a big prize.
“I just started screaming,” said the winner. “I fell to my knees and shouted to my husband: ‘We’ve won!’ He grabbed the ticket, took one look and started screaming too.”
The winners double checked their numbers against the official results online before getting too excited.
“We jumped online to MyLotto and stared at the computer screen waiting for the results to come up. We were refreshing the page every couple of seconds . . . it was a painful wait.”
When their prize was confirmed, the couple say they got so excited that one of them hurt their leg jumping up and down.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9913166/Seven-million-reasons-to-trust-a-womans-intuition
John Banks is going to trial for electoral fraud – case starting Monday 19 May 2014 in the Auckland High Court:
Judgment of Wylie J available here:
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com/uncategorized/john-banks-is-going-to-trial-starting-19-may-2014/
Banks loses bid to have prosecution thrown out
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11233854
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/john-banks-loses-bid-have-electoral-fraud-case-thrown-5889144
Penny Bright