Granny has zero credibility running self serving fluff like that without balance around feenys valid point that she overstepped her authority, a recurring theme with the MP for oravida.
Secondly it reads like a who’s who of dirty politics with the 3 C’s of carrick, cathy and clammy. A rogues gallery.
Judith Collins thinks that the public have no memory
“The best crime stats we had ever had” and “It was my shining glory” was in fact the result of recoding burglaries and removing these from the crime stats.
“Acting Police Minister Judith Collins has admitted knowing Counties Manukau police officers illegally recoded 700 crimes to make them disappear, but didn’t pass the information on.”
“Ms Collins, police minister until December 2011, admits she had been told “something about the stats” but said nothing publicly. She did not even tell her successor, Anne Tolley.” http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/collins-plays-down-crime-stats-blunder-2014071408#axzz3f64ZVsLc
“Judith Collins, police minister at the time, has serious questions to answer after the Herald on Sunday’s disclosure that hundreds of burglaries were taken out of crime statistics over a period of years in part of the Counties-Manukau police district. Foolishly, Ms Collins has assumed the disclosure came from the Labour Party and dismisses the subject as “politically motivated”. Her assumption was simply wrong, not that the source of the information matters nearly as much as its substance. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11293312
” principal youth court judge, Andrew Becroft, who identified recent research suggesting that young Māori who are involved or connected with their culture do not offend at any greater rate than any other person, (Cherrington, 2009)
For those who don’t understand the notion of the importance of maori culture for our youth in breaking some over representation in the negative statistics.
For those who don’t understand why reconnecting young Maori with Marae and broader whanau etc is so important for them and the rest of us.
“The Christchurch Health and Development Study has recently produced results relating rates of offending to a sense of cultural identity amongst Māori. It showed that rates of offending (both officially recorded and self-reported offending) were about five times higher in the Māori study members, than the non-Māori members. Those rates reduced to three times higher, when adjustments were made for socioeconomic and adverse family factors. However, when study members were asked whether they identified themselves as Māori, the rates of offending for those identifying solely as Māori were roughly similar to those who identified themselves as non-Māori37. This research indicates that a strong sense of Māori identity and connectedness to Māori culture may reduce risks of offending.
I suppose grade inflation might be a concern if it happened within a meritocracy, like in Ontario, perhaps. However, in NZ, the rungs of the ladder that lead to the oriface of John Key’s Republic don’t require particular merit. If everyone is being equally inflated there is no problem. If only the few that would already be assisted by privilege are being inflated, there is no new problem. After a certain distance, the gap of inequality becomes irrelevent through it’s increasing impossible divide. Teachers still teaching same stuff. Students still learning whatever they learn. Just the medals change colour. Egos and bridges stand or fall. Policy and social attitudes still the same as 1984. Cheating? Untruths? Unprincipled? It’s NZ stock in trade. Situation normal all fucked up.
Nice to hear that some teachers are pursuing a program of concentrating on what kids can do, though. That will undermine National’s Shighter Future more than anything else. Good for them.
I mean, does your fatuous scribbling give anything at all ?
Other than a dutiful salute to “John Key – 16th All Black” ?
If you’re going to Samoa I recommend you consult with the locals about whom they thank for Wednesday’s match-up.
You’ll find it’s not the simpering Richie McCaw Wannabe, ShonKey of the Infamous Triple Hand (Face Palm), but rather the presently out of work John Campbell.
You don’t believe ? Tune into Auckland Samoan talkback for a bit. You’ll also hear a thing or two about who’s at the root of Campbell presently out of work. Warning: consultation with Minister Fiapalagi Sam will not reveal anything reliable.
Are you blind Tracey? Can’t you see there are far more votes in attending the rugby in Samoa that the coronation in Tonga? I’m surprised you are so politically naive.
Why, Paul? Why do you call troll anyone who does support your narrative or agree with your point of view? Are you against debate or disagreement in this blog?
I can see some sense in Coleman attending this match as sport & recreation minister but the rest of the troughers going, undoubtedly at our expense, led by Shon reluctant to steal Labour’s thunder but I will Key?
And I find it disappointing that on this junket (like others) there are members of all parties involved (if Trevett is correct), including one which I support and expect better from. To cover each other’s backs in case of criticism from the people picking up the tab?
Even by usual Herald standards, that Trevett offering is the most fatuous drivel. Read it, reread it and was still bemused. Can only presume she was dutifully responding to Shayne Currie’s latest edict. “Glad I’m a man” rugby link for John….it works for Vladimir….
An interesting article on how the SNP were used by the Tories to win the UK general election. Clear echoes of the strategy used here by National with Internet/Mana.
That Cosby interview about how it was straight-forward to just present the options in a straight way was so wrong. They used fear by exaggerating the Scottish Labour “risks.” Here wasn’t the “fear” promoted that Labour + Green would be a bad thing. And in 2017…..
The right-wing always promote fear as they know that it can lead them to victory and thus allow them to screw over the majority of people to enrich the already wealthy.
Might be self-defeating though – he’ll struggle to pull votes like Winston – but if he did he’d be inconvenient. National likes parties manqué like Maori, ACT, & Peter Dunne – none of which endanger their vote.
I have just read the latest burbling of Trevvy. What was it all about? Was the *feel-good * announcement to do with balls? Who was going to take them? Who wasn’t? Who knows? Who cares? I bet Andrew Little doesn’t. But at least we know that he was GAZUMPED! by Dodger Key. How so?
I actually feel quite sorry for Trevvy. One day she’s going to go back and read all this juvenile besotted rubbish and be ashamed. I am presuming at one stage she was a genuine journalist who wrote real in-depth articles with both sides investigated and reported without bias.
All she has now is a published *Dear Johnnykins* diary. Poor girl.
Mr Key is “delighted to be attending this historic event”
Speaking of balls, I hope he has the grace to acknowledge that this *Historic Event* is happening ONLY because of John Campbell. Bet he doesn’t. He has no guts.
I would love to see JC be made an Honorary Chief or something like it. Go John Campbell! and go the All Blacks! And Go Samoa!
Wouldn’t it be great if on appearance Key gets a muted Samoan response but John Campbell gets a riotous response. Should that happen, would MSM report it?
I have very, very close Samoan friends, one in particular of decades, who are absolutely, absolutely serious about John Campbell being honoured with a chiefly title. As far as I can gather John Campbell is truly loved by huge numbers of Samoans, both here and in that beautiful place. He’s seen as reflecting, best as palagi can, ‘Fa’a Samoa’. Key……ummh, not so much. Polite about him, of course, polite, polite, but no. Bullshitter you see. And vain. And false.
Just quietly, can’t imagine that Trev’ of the Herald did Key any favours with the Samoan community with that piece of mindless crap she wrote about rugby balls to Samoa. You really fucked up there Trev’. Not quite ‘Pebblesque’ but certainly a fuck-up.
The sneering, eurocentric tone in this huge moment in Samoan sporting history……it’s not missed, even if polite, polite rules. You’re an unartful fool Trev’. A nasty piece of work too.
Redline blog regularly receives reports from friends within Syriza. We received the following communique from our friends, one of the left currents in Syriza, yesterday:
1) We are in front of a great NO by the Greek People, who stands defiant and fighting against the ultimatums and the destructive policies imposed on Greece by the troika and its local supporters. Today’s NO has a pan-hellenic, national, popular, democratic character. It proves once again that the Greek People has a great reserve of courage and resisting spirit, and storms the political scene, as it has always happened in critical moments of our History.
2) This great NO, around 61,5%, comes despite the (unforeseen in post-war Europe) terror campaign and direct threats by all the systemic reactionary forces on European and international level. Moreover, it has been achieved despite the manifest weaknesses of the Greek Left’s forces. It is a result that was not expected by all those who underestimate the Greek people’s courage, and this remark is valid no matter how huge difficulties we shall face tomorrow (literally!).
3) The referendum’s result represents a crushing defeat of the pro-troika internal opposition, which, in vain, spared no effort to distort the meaning of the referendum and to multiply the fear amongst the Greek society. It represents a crushing defeat of the whole old political, business and media system. Already. . . .
Good on her for being mature and taking responsibility.
New Herald on Sunday Editor is braver than previous or just they don’t feel they “need” Pebbles as much as they think they need Glucina?
“NZ Herald Weekend editor Miriyana Alexander has confirmed Pebbles Hooper has stepped down from her role as Spy co-editor.
“Today I accepted the resignation of Pebbles Hooper, effectively immediately. She will no longer co-edit the Spy pages in the Herald on Sunday, or appear in the Weekend Herald’s Canvas magazine, ” Alexander said.
“As I said on Sunday, the views she expressed in her tweet were distressing, and are obviously not shared by me, or the Herald on Sunday.
“I have also apologised to a family spokesman for the contents of the tweet and the distress it caused them.””
Do you think Herald had a heads up on the Press Council complaint and so let Glucina know she could quietly exit if she found a new job?
Tracey: Well done Hooper for taking responsibility and resigning
Sacha: There’s no evidence she resigned
Tracey: It says right here she did
Sacha: Yeah but it was probably a firing which, ironically, I have no evidence for.
I’m comfortable with my doubts, thanks. There is only a prepared written statement by her employer claiming resignation. There is no quote from Hooper saying “I resigned”. The resignation also seems to have come after the meeting and not before it.
“There is no quote from Hooper saying “I resigned”
So?
“The resignation also seems to have come after the meeting and not before it.”
I don’t know where you have worked but the general course of action, when you want to resign, is to have a meeting.
Also it is funny where you say: “No proof of any such thing from Hooper.” But when it is shown that she tendered her resignation you offer a theory that has no proof.
I had an interesting day today at the PO getting my passport photo updated – I had already been down yesterday and Internal Affairs rejected it because there were shadows in the background behind my head and my head wasn’t centred in the middle and my hair was touching the edges of the frame (I have thick curly hair) . So I was back down there today to have another attempt – 3 head shots later they got it right – ears have to be showing so I had to shove my hair behind my ears, the shadows were still there and my head was slightly tilted and not centred correctly in the frame.
What’s going on here? I was getting pretty cranky at this stage and told the staff we will be getting chips implanted next – they agreed with me and said everything about security is getting more complicated. The lady told me that when she was in a US transit lounge waiting for another flight out of the US she had her finger prints taken even though she was not leaving the t.lounge. There was a queue behind me and I apologised to the lady waiting behind me for the delay – she said “I don’t mind waiting, if it means that I can fly without fear of a bomb going off on the plane” – I said to her “lady that is the last reason why the authorities want to have your identification on their files, its surveillance for all sorts of reasons – the least being terrorism – they just create the fear knowing that we will be suckered into it and accept it”. She looked at me blankly and I just walked out of the place shaking my head.
What sort of comment is that? Who rattled your cage – I am well aware that the topic of chips has been around for years – I am an old woman for goodness sake – and watch your language its unbecoming. Have a chill pill.
Wow, swearing at elder women, stay classy TC. If there was ever a comment that negated the last shred of validity of your moaning about other people here, that was it.
Barbara, thanks for the story, it’s erudite. I think along with the increasing control stuff, there is increasing incompetencies, end of the empire stuff.
I would be careful of moaning about the validity ones comments, weka. Tell me again how magic can cure people and how expressing skeptism of magical claims is bigotry.
It’s pretty straightforward. If you’re running a border control agency and have lots of passport photos to look at every time a plane lands, get a computer to do it. It’s cheaper, more reliable and doesn’t get bored.
But there’s a downside for the poor sod who has to get a passport photo taken – a face means nothing to a computer, so as far as it’s concerned your passport photo consists of a set of points it can identify and see how they’re arranged. That means a list of criteria for a passport photo (including, as you found: must show the ears, because they make handy measuring points, must be centred in the frame, must be entirely within the frame and must have a completely plain background).
So, yeah, it’s very annoying. But it’s less to do with terrorism and surveillance than with convenience and cost-effectiveness for border control agencies. (I’m guessing that at this point you’re not thinking “Oh, no amount of trouble is too much if it means greater cost-effectiveness for border control!” Because I sure didn’t think that.)
Thanks for that P.M. I knew it was for facial recognition but I thought that hair behind ears was a bit much – I thought the equipment that processed our skulls would be like Xray with goes through stuff like hair – an MRI scan doesn’t bother about hair when they scan the head – I thought computers could do anything these days. The no shadows in the background – why that – what’s that got to do with our heads? As for the budget constraints of our Gov departments – just about half the Parliament are at the Samoa game today and the poor citizens of Samoa are shut out of the game because of the cost of the tickets – it is illusionary that there is no money in the kitty for our essential running of this country – it goes where the Gov wants it go and its on trips away and other frippery. Lack of money – I think not.
Yeah, and it was entirely coincidental he did it in the office of an MP who did nothing for him. Which is the normal response from our caring sharing government. Don’t hurt yourself falling off your high horse.
You Key Gorks have got no memory have you ? No good asking you to recall the slitting the throat gesture in Parliament then. Like your man(?) is a gauche shithead, so Realblue are you.
Gimme a call when the effete poseur tries to make like a jock rugby boy up in Apia. He’ll do it. Can’t resist.
In defence of privilege, ignorance, and Pebbles Hooper..
(tl;dr – skip to bold section)
I admit I had to wince a bit, observing the shit-storm of outrage over Pebbles Hooper’s ill-advised comments. When you get social media full of separate-but-the-same-tone opinions, it always looks like overkill no matter what the conclusion or topic. Even the Ashburton Mayor was in on the game. That’s about where my sympathy ended, though. Just before her twitter account disappeared, Pebbles posted an apology that included,
“…I deeply regret any distress caused to the family. I apologise for my wording and take responsibility for upsetting those involved, and I was careless in my actions… The issue I regrettably tried to raise was about parental negligence and the precautions needed to ensure the safety of those who are unable to care for themselves…”
This started to ring familiar bells for me, because didn’t we all see at least the superficial psychology of the tweeter? Sure we did. We were all taking about it, if a little smothered by the ideology and hierarchy of privilege. What sort of person doesn’t care about the abstract concept of kids who can’t care for themselves dying, then does, but still largely runs off their parent’s fame and fortune? How to reconcile the contradiction? IS she contrite or not? What sort of person admits they should, could, or would vote ACT, a party of extreme individualism and privilege, but will settle for a similar party, National – a party of shadows and deception? Things were getting fishy. Wasn’t the idea of what the tweeter looked like, her botox program, offered as evidence of inner insecurity? Must be something subconscious, we said. Sure we saw it, we were using it against her, to quieten our own demons. The mind of the mob is not such a mystery if you’re a life-member.
So what could be similar in her apology and also initial claim of the colloquial “natural selection”?
I’ll tell you what I saw, I saw a person like me. A threatening to vote for ACT voter (I hated any idea of anyone telling me what to do!), a person who was pissed that people (the media, and by association the public who follows the media) who’ve never demonstrated they give a shit about anyone but themselves, suddenly gave a shit about a family who they’ve never met, who they voted against in principle since 2008 – or chose not to vote at all – enabling the same thing.
Why would she be pissed, in a sort of cynical, passive aggressive way? Did she see some parallel in her situation a situation “everyone” knew about? Did anyone give a shit about her when she needed it, when she needed protection from the outside world when she was a kid? What kind of person, we asked, displays that lack of life experience? Was it not obvious? Did her parents let her down, perhaps, did they at any time look the other way when it mattered, consumed by their own ambitions, problems and tendencies? The colloquial use of “Natural Selection”, what did it really mean? The Freudian-slip-o-meter was running overtime. On one hand it matched the theory perfectly, on another, not at all. The contradiction again: how could both claims mean the same thing? Simple maths.
Culture, the whole aspirational outlook, the economic style – that’s the “natural selection” – it’s a given, it’s bigger than us, it can wipe anything out and no one knows how to stop it or change it. It’ll roll over people who aren’t ready for it, and most of those people are kids – like you, me and Pebbles, were once.
During the weekend I was reading some work by Helen Brown: privileged talented, famous Journalist. She summed privilege up nicely, in her rapid over-anxious style, omitting to get as close as anyone should to pick the maggots out of a common wound,
“…She cheerfully describes her upbringing as, ‘long periods of neglect disguised as freedom, interspersed with inspirational bouts of the Rudolph Steiner teaching method…’
The abuse of privilege is a terrible thing, but being born into isn’t an inherently good or favourable thing by default. Fucked me right up. Unlike Helen Brown there were no “inspirational bouts” of anything in my life. Took 40 years to get close to untangling it, and the time it took and the lines I had to draw cost me my financial future and my family and friends. On a bad day I’m bitter and angry. I don’t regret trying, I’d do it again, but some people aren’t as pig-stubborn as me.
“Neglect disguised as freedom”.
From the inside, being born into aspirational privilege (working or middle-class) looks like the World is just out of reach. You can hear the World, you can see it, but you cannot reach it. Everyone else is having real lives, lots of fun it seems, making wild choices and decisions that blow your mind. Trying to get out while young is like trying to swim against a rip-tide. There is no inherent or allowed personal power for the privileged kid: it’s elevation of culture over the individual at all costs. Then the teachers come along and make it worse. In my case they knew my parents, my siblings, so I was ok, I was one of them, and they put me in an accelerated class. And just like Helen Brown, I didn’t “…want to be clever, I wanted to be ordinary”, but couldn’t get out. Kids know what’s wrong, even if they can’t articulate it. So I broke out, any way I could. Helen had a tantrum, and didn’t get out. She’s even more embedded now. I got side-lined in math class in my School Cert year. Shut up and sit in the corner, they said. Don’t annoy us, we won’t ask you to learn anything. Numbers are a complete fucking mystery to me. So fuck society and their enforced aspirational games.
A few weeks ago I was talking to a homeless guy whose one line of enquiry was where I got my clothes and the rings on my fingers. He implied my privilege, that he was different and that I owed him, somehow. So I pushed back at him, gently. I sat down and told him where I got my clothes, how much they cost, and he wasn’t impressed. His sneering chuckle told me all I needed to know. Without knowing how I even came to be sitting next to him, he assumed people who look like me have the money and economic obligation to pay full price for known labels – he would, he knew what he wanted, the brand and everything – it was where he was headed. He was disappointed that I didn’t encourage his outlook of aspirational escape. In fact, I said very little and just listened. Why would I tell him that where he wanted to go was a barren landscape? Leave him hope, at least.
He grew up in the opposite kind of World to me and he said he never really had coped well with life. Sounds familiar, I thought. I could’ve been him if it weren’t for the luck of finding one person. Without that one person, when my breakdown came, I’d have been out on the street, or locked up. The alcohol and drugs the running away, that was why he did it, he told me, but he was getting towards a place of his own, he said, with help from whatever organisation. Good luck, I thought, those fuckers aren’t your friends. There was nothing more to say. Couldn’t tell if the unsolicited honesty was a sales pitch; the initial style yes, pretty common for homeless to speak that way; but, no, I think not overall. Just people talking. We talked a bit about his childhood hometown. His tribe. We’d both been there. In time and distance, he was a long way from home. What could I have done for him?
Privilege rots creativity in the minds of the privileged. It’s like possessing a set of skills that only work inside a certain environment. Maybe it’s like how an astronaut might not be much good to anyone unless there is a spaceship nearby, because they can’t figure out how to split up and re-apply their skills, while everyone else wants them to be an astronaut so they can know the moon isn’t made of cheese. It’s a prison you can’t see the bars of, even if you’re lucky enough to know where they are. A privileged person can be loaded with privileged information, but there is no way to apply it if they leave the circle of privilege. Nobody who isn’t privileged wants you to give up your privilege, otherwise they’ll never get a turn. Their hope within an intransient and hostile environment will be gone.
That’s the evil of the inequality gap: on one side we have the rich, still within the culture of potential action, on the other we have everyone else, including the presumably borderline undecided, perhaps like Pebbles Hooper. Those people are the kind that Marx relied on for societal stability “after the revolution”. They are the disaffected and disillusioned aspirant classes – the people who have woken up to the game, but have few ways of applying anything “until the revolution”.
So why can’t anyone just make a list and apply their skills? Well putting aside the obvious uses and variation of skills and talents, lets use an obvious example.
Have you ever tried volunteering?
Fuck me, it’s more involved than finding work, and the legal liability is all your own. It’s like being a contractor on a project without a project manager, but for free, and you better be pretty good at self-managing your sensible personal boundaries. It’s nothing like that flippant slogan, “Oh hey have you tried volunteering?” that they tell unemployed people, to suggest they aren’t doing enough, like the door is wide open for all-comers. There are purposeful hooks, hoops and snags, and lots of waiting, and some of those guys you’ll meet are just plain dangerous. People can be shits no matter where they accumulate. No white middle-class charity wants unemployed, unconnected people – period – unless they can use their ethnic background. How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?
The abuse of privilege, the closed doors of culture are still in effect, even with do-gooders. The tendencies of society never goes away. So recently, when I signed the electronic petition to cut those same milquetoast charities a break in the face of legislation that would have them incur costs on their police vetting, I was laughing. Laughing because they are so fucking hypocritical, so fucking self-righteous, so desperate-for-help-but-not-that-desperate. I did it anyway, because there might theoretically be an organisation out there that isn’t full of shit and who does actually have legitimate reason for concern. So fuck your volunteering and charity – born of abusive Christian help-them-but-keep-them-down ideology. I can’t wait for the revolution that never comes, but I’m not signing up to your bullshit.
Yeah but what’s your point, Charles?
I’m getting to it.
Did I say I sometimes get angry and bitter? That’s important to the point. That is what even just the scar of privilege does to the minds of certain people. Do I sound like Pebbles Hooper yet?
I know why a car would be running non-stop inside a garage, because I’ve had to consider doing it myself. How would Pebbles Hooper or anyone else ever find out? Unfortunately, though, I know that even if I showed people, who didn’t know, how to avoid it, those people wouldn’t listen. And you can be damn sure there isn’t a charity right now checking the obvious in their known clients. Practical skills aren’t for everyone and I’m no teacher. Just like the homeless guy, he wasn’t listening to the implied story that I wasn’t teaching. He was set on his course, and god bless him. Because if I told these people what I know, these homeless, these addicts, these mentally struggling people, they would not be able to hear and in most cases they’d already know better than me anyway. When I’ve tried to get back in to “climb the ladder to change the system” to help them, the system kept me out. You think change will occur inside a system of privilege? Nah that’s bedtime story stuff, it’s what our privileged parents told us to do when we pointed out the fucking obvious to them as kids. When they got to the top, they never changed anything.
Yeah but what’s the point, Charles?
I’m getting there, it’s all important to the point!
There is no certainty that the homeless guy wouldn’t reach the top, or at least find a secure roof to sleep under, but after that, using the values of aspiration, he’d be on his way to indirectly enforce homelessness on another victim. Do you reckon that pulling people into safety is as morally admirable as we like to think when our cultural environment has nowhere constructive for them to go to from there? When do we address that? Do you reckon people will wait for us before moving on their own in a potentially dangerous direction?
Fair enough, we can’t escape the present: that if you lived like a dog for most your life a bit of the good life would do you good, give you some breathing space to safely look at things and rest. Whether you were owed it or not, you might certainly need it.
That’s why the attitudes that National and ACT promote have to go – not just out of power, but out of circulation. To attempt to right the balance. And the reason it’s so important they go, and not be allowed to pass charity or social welfare into private hands is so that people like me, and Pebbles Hooper, on a bad day, when we’re angry, bitter and hurting, sick to death of the do-gooder hypocrisy, the preparation of charities to collude with a new privatised environment, it’s so that those in need don’t have to rely on our transient mood to eat that night, or have somewhere safe to sleep; or so a solo mum doesn’t finally get pushed off the rails by the stress (that’s what Bill English is sizing up next…); or so a carer of a disabled person can get a break and not fall into poverty themselves.
Don’t rely on me. It’s a roulette wheel of chance.
Don’t rely on Pebbles Hooper’s ability to figure it out in time or decide who’s deserving or not.
Don’t rely on cuddly charities being impossibly un-flawed.
Welfare must stay in the hands of a neutral government system, not flawed individuals.
That’s my first point.
That’s what I saw in the Hooper apology. She reminded me of me, my flaws, my shadows. If she isn’t already a sociopath, I hope she gets further down the track and instead of just projecting her disappointments and hurt onto current events, she digs down into the real issue and maybe even finds a solution. It’ll cost her, Big Time. Some popular psycho’s know all this stuff already and just manipulate it for their gain – easy enough to spot because they can’t contain their glee, or plans – but I’m still unsure about Hooper and can afford to extend her some good faith.
It’s an old story, kids get fucked up, it’s the way it is, and no one stops to change it. Life happens fast. Culture pushes us to think fast. Very few parents can get over themselves before becoming parents, and even if they did they can’t entirely compensate for the destructive environment – especially if they’re invested in it for income and identity. Botox is a superficial act that could mean anything, and anyone who says fashion is superficial and shallow doesn’t understand what fashion can be. In attempting to explain herself, to apologise, Hooper started a war with the people her favourite political party like to blame. Your damn-tooting her olds stepped in to “stop the conversation”. Ever heard National and ACT blaming “poor parents” for the poverty of their children? Ever heard Bill English blame solo parents for costing “the country” too much money? Mr. Freud, with have hit Defcon2.
Blaming parents is blaming kids, because once those parents were kids too, and it was their parents who were fucked up –on their own and by the environment. Blaming the poor exposes the destructive culture of the aspirant classes. Don’t let them isolate any more victims. If you want to stop the game, you have to change the culture from the outside; or as Zach de la Rocha, lyricist of Rage Against the Machine, once said, “…We don’t need the key, we’ll break in…”.
(Ahh the nineties, a heady mix of bullshit and smoke.)
“…Yes I know my enemies
They’re the teachers who taught me to fight me
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite…
All of which…”
All of which…
all of which… my generation didn’t do much about. We weren’t listening to Zach in any great numbers. If we had, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now. Fuck the norm, Zach says. Hmmm. Nah. Mostly we turned neglectful complacence, complicity and cluelessness into the norm. But we looked good while we were at it.
It happens to every generation, even good old GenX – the poster girls and boys for “slacking” and rejecting the status quo. Few of our pop-culture heroes were slackers, though, most worked hard-out to get rich, making dumb soundbites ala Hooper along the way. Beck says he was “too busy” to be depressed. No one crucified him on social media.
To the sound of our slacker soundtrack, we lapped-up the initial flourish of greed in NZ in the nineties. We played in the boutique retail spaces, we played with bohemianism (“lifestyle homelessness”), we had the interest-free student loans and spent the money on toys, and we were so up ourselves we never stopped to check our privilege. We flattered the greed and, if the numbers are right, a fair few of us must vote for National now. In a few years you won’t find anyone admitting they voted for National. I voted ACT, once, in 2002. There were 17 of us morons of varying degree in my electorate. So Pebbles ain’t so bad, compared. She’s only thinking about it.
GenX: who the fuck would identify with that anyway? You had to be privileged to know. And the worst part? You can’t get a coffee as good as it was when we gave shit about first world problems like roast, grind, tamp, and extraction times. We couldn’t even maintain and pass on our barista skills! It became unprofitable to do so. How profitable is social awareness? So fuck sanctimonious self-righteous GenX. Fuck me, cause I was one of them. Why point at today’s hipsters. Buy a mirror. We were worse. Hooper’s generation don’t know what’s up out of unavoidable ignorance. What’s GenX’s excuse for wholesale willful ignorance? We knew what it was like before Rogernomics. Our job, our responsibility, isn’t over. The nineties were not our finest hour. Hooper isn’t any more “feeble” than us. At least she exposed the problem no one wants to address, if they can avoid it. Some of the outrage is that Hooper reminded us of our own past – not a good thing to do unless you’re Taylor Swift.
A certain personality type doesn’t get over the impact of privilege on who they are. The accident of birth includes a random portion of personality traits that contains all the best and most fragile. Cognitive functions don’t “pre-harden up” just because someone’s parents are well-placed. A certain type of person can beat compassion and understanding out of themselves, but it’s not an act of aspiration, not in the beginning; or have it beaten out of them, and that’s an act of fear-transference, or bullying. But some can’t change, ever. Famous examples might be Janet Frame, Katherine Mansfield, let’s pick some men… Witi Ihimaera, Vincent O’Sullivan – all happy to admit they don’t or didn’t get over stuff. And some who aren’t born into riches and privilege are just as potentially psychopathic as anyone who occupies the nice leather seats of parliament right now. It hard to say who’s who, sometimes. So fuck ideology. I’ll help you because you’re a person, and the reasons for your situation need addressing, not because I have a nice pair of pants and you don’t.
The difference between Hooper and me? Gender, personality, experience and direction.
The difference between Helen Brown and me? Gender, personality, experience (and what reads like a shit-load of 1996 grade caffeine) and direction.
The difference between some hard-core ideologist and me? Potentially gender, personality, experience and direction.
Who’s better? Do you know where it’s going to end for you?
Much of our existing ideologies make no account for people being people or the influence of events that lead up to the present. Eventually we have to face that fact if any version of a harmonious society is ever going to include everyone. It’s why I’m not a feminist, or an indigenous rights activist, or a lefty at heart. My perspective frequently crosses paths with those ideologies, but doesn’t adhere to them. In the end, it’s just me meeting you and we go from there.
Where Hooper and her friends go from here is up to them. She should re-open her twitter account and chill the fuck out. It’s entirely possible to state two contradictory claims and have them point to the same thing. Ideology of any kind just helps us kid ourselves. The ideology of privilege demands we not cry for the privileged (and I suggest you don’t, either), but it also encourages us to demonise the person, and in doing so we blind ourselves to what is really going on, we see only half the picture. It’s human. So don’t feel bad.
End the culture, the whole fucking lot. If you can figure out any way to do that, I applaud you. If you can actually change it, even slightly, you’ll be a better person than me.
Government sets new greenhouse gas targets. 30% reduction sounds good… but that is in relation to 2005 levels. In terms of 1990 levels it’s an 11% reduction target.
in terms of economic policies and views, Labour are far closer to the ‘social democratic’ (cough) PASOK party of Greece who kept signing off on Troika austerity measures, rather than the coalition of the ‘radical left’ party, Syriza.
That simple fact can only be good news for the Labour Party, because nodoy would like to be Syriza. Syriza is like Mana-Internet, a hodge-podge of radicals missing the wealthy donor, a Greek Kim Dot Com.
Ah, no, Syriza has the support of the majority of the Greek people unlike Labour who keep losing support because they don’t support the majority of people.
“”I said, ‘If they don’t want to be Australians then maybe they should go back to the country where their parents come from’. That’s not being racist,” Fraser said.”
The bit that always has me rolling my eyes is the complete lack of self awareness by white Australians when they say this shit as if they’re not descended from immigrants. Exactly how long do you need to live somewhere it be legitimately from there?
You’d think being born there creates some legitimacy.
Interesting to note fraser said, “Go back to where your parents come from” – can’t see the whiterighters using that in their next march, just doesn’t roll off the tongue.
Exactly how long do you need to live somewhere it be legitimately from there?
Well, on any Kiwiblog thread in which the Treaty is mentioned you’ll find someone saying 600 years isn’t enough to count yourselves as indigenous, and in a recent thread on my blog someone was trying to make the case that Palestinian Arabs have no claim to being indigenous after ca 1400 years on-site, so White Australians must have to be classed as fresh off the boat.
Ah, but it’s different if you’re not trying to claim to be indigenous. Then being a 5th generation NZer has some mana, right? That’s why Fraser’s comment was funny, about where the parents came from. I’d love to know when her rellies arrived in Oz (although looking at the article, I think she was trying to make a different point entirely and didn’t realise just how racist it would come across).
Maybe Maori should try that one – if being a 5th-generation NZer fills a person with a sense of entitlement (which it apparently does, if blog comments and letters to the editor are anything to go by), being a ca 120th-generation NZer must be good for ca 60x that sense of entitlement.
“”This target is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030,” Mr Groser said. “This is a significant increase on our current target of five per cent below 1990 emission levels by 2020.”
It was equal to a reduction of 11 per cent below 1990 emission levels by 2030.”
and
“The Government would adopt a mix of policies to ensure the target was met.
“In particular, we will begin a review of the Emissions Trading Scheme this year, which will include scope for further public discussion on what New Zealand will do domestically.” ”
Maybe next year Groser can say we’ve decided to cut our 2010 emissions by 40% and if we do this for other previous years we can meet an arbitrary target. That sort of logic would not surprise me.
Yearly cuts, as of right now, of over 10% and zero emissions from fossil by 50. Anything less than that is fcking criminal negligence that’s going to make living really fcking difficult for some and impossible for others.
Nope. Not necessarily. The 5% who are responsible for about 50% of emissions will have their lifestyle ‘protected’. They will be ‘included’ in a world bent on excluding most citizens from access to things we currently take as granted and consider basic (food, medicine). They will continue to consume and work just as have a strata of Greek society.
That’s not taking the likely and widespread collapse of social infrastructure into account.
Hipkins says the Government was doing “too much too fast”. Now it’s praying clearing the decks will also clear the way to a better election result. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: He’s done it. New PM Chris Hipkins has ‘cleared the decks’ of all manner of flotsam and ...
A deeply-statistically-flawed poll the other day reported that 43.8 percent do not trust the National Party leader. I say deeply-statistically-flawed because it can be empirically proven that this data is non-correct.Let me show my working.The Newshub-Reid Research poll asks 1,000 random New Zealanders what they reckon. Thus we can infer ...
Hipkins held his expected bonfire of the policies today, ditching the RNZ/TVNZ merger, punting hate speech legislation to the Law Commission (which basicly means it will never happen), and dumping the "bougie dole" social insurance scheme. But along the way, he also shitcanned a key part of the government's emissions ...
Fonterra’s farmers will be relieved that prices in the Global Dairy Trade auction this week have rebounded – up 3.2% across the board. It is the first rise since December 6 The index had fallen 2.8% on January 3 and 0.1% on January 17, to kick off 2023 on a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Announcements on the provision of aid – to Auckland, Turkey and Syria – are recorded on the Beehive website today along with a statement from the PM about his flying visit to Australia. This was Chris Hipkins’ first overseas visit since he took office, enabling him ...
There’s a 19th century flavour to National’s “social investment” strategy, in that it aims to seek capital from philanthropists and charitable organisations – some of them having their own religious agendas- to fund and deliver the provision of social services. Beyond that point, the details are remarkably scarce. Regardless, “social ...
Karl du Fresne writes – The jury has returned its verdict, and it’s emphatic. New Zealanders want the country’s name left as it is. In a Newshub-Reid Research poll, respondents were asked what they thought New Zealand should be known as. Fifty-two percent wanted the country to be ...
Poorly-managed diabetes results in amputations and other expensive hospital treatments – an example of how charging patients to access their medication ends up costing more in the long run. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The phrase ‘penny wise and pound foolish’ is one that applies across much of the Government’s approach to ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes- In recent decades the Labour Party has lost its traditional connection with working-class voters, becoming more of a middle-class party of liberalism. This is especially true of Labour’s historic connection with working-class Māori. This is a constituency that the party used to monopolise. ...
In recent decades the Labour Party has lost its traditional connection with working class voters, becoming more of a middle class party of liberalism. This is especially true of Labour’s historic connection with working class Māori. This is a constituency that the party used to monopolise. But ever since the ...
Hi,I wanted to thank everyone who responded to A New Day, a New Cease & Desistover the last five days or so. So many readers have brushed up against MLMs — and they’re something I want to push further into. Did I hear from good old Jonathan Callinan, the ...
As the planet continues to cook, extreme weather events like those we experienced over the last two weeks are set to become more frequent. How we plan our cities to mitigate the risks of climate change will inevitably be more salient going forward, and that will only increase over time. ...
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key scoops, breaking news and key links I’ve picked up this morning, as at 6.40 am, including:the Reserve Bank of Australia hiked its official cash rate to a 10-year high and warned of more hikes to come, which was more hawkish than expected; RBABP ...
A year ago this week we saw the headline “Mask-wearing 17-year-old egged by aggressive convoy protesters”. As the protestors settled in for their long campout in opposition to vaccination requirements they demonstrated their commitment to standing up for the rights of the individual by verbally abusing, and throwing eggs at, ...
Chris Hipkins has become New Zealand’s 41st prime minister following Ardern’s unexpected resignation—perhaps the bold and unpredictable move Labour needed to improve its election chances. Just six days into his premiership and Labour had its first lead over National in thirteen weeks. National has had a largely uninterrupted run of ...
Good people can come into your life imperceptibly. It can seem they’re just there one day being remarkable. Nat Torkington, for instance.We were both online from the early days, I’m assuming that’s where we first connected; maybe in the UseNet newsgroups, or maybe later through Public Address.But it was when ...
One of New Zealand’s biggest electricity generators, Genesis Energy, has given the go-ahead for a large solar farm near Lauriston on the Canterbury Plains, an hour’s drive south of Christchurch. It is part of Genesis’ strategy of replacing thermal baseload with renewable generation – a mix of wind and solar. ...
Buzz from the Beehive We found just one fresh announcement on the Beehive website this morning, when we made our first visit since 4 February. It was posted in the name of Nanaia Mahuta, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, and explained why she was not at Waitangi at the weekend. ...
Hipkins is doing the right thing for New Zealanders already living in Australia, but there’s now a growing risk of a fresh surge of net emigration of frustrated young Kiwis across the Tasman. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Employers here in Aotearoa are desperate to keep their best-trained, most-productive ...
This post contains two guest posts from readers, both of which were sent to us after the flooding on Friday 27 January, both of which discuss how we handle our stormwater. This is a guest post from Ed Clayton, who’s written for us before about Auckland’s relationship with freshwater, ...
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key breaking news, scoops and links I’ve found since 4 am this morning, as of 7 am, including:A 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,200 in Turkey near its border with Syria; ReutersMetService has warned a new cyclone is forming north of Aotearoa that ...
The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. There is a new wave of Maori activism, which sees the Treaty as a living ...
Originally published by The Hill After decades of failure to pass major federal climate legislation, Congress finally broke through last year with the Inflation Reduction Act and its close to $400 billion in clean energy investments. Energy modeling experts estimated that these provisions would help the U.S. cut its carbon pollution ...
Apology Accepted? “I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen …The communications weren’t fast enough – including mine. I’m sorry for that.”–Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.HOW OFTEN do politicians apologise? Sincerely apologise? Not offer voters the weasel words: “If my actions have offended anyone, then I ...
At first blush, Christopher Luxon’s comment at the parliamentary powhiri at Waitangi this year sounded tone deaf. The Leader of the Opposition in talking about the Treaty of Waitangi described New Zealand as “a little experiment”. It seemed to diminish the treaty and the very idea of our nation. Yet ...
THE (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding. BRIAN EASTON writes: Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It ...
A brief postscript to yesterday’s newsletter…Watching the predawn speeches just now, the reverence of those speaking and the respectful nature of those listening under umbrellas in the dark. I felt a great sadness at the words from Christopher Luxon last evening still in my head. The singing in the dark accompanied ...
by Don Franks While on holiday,I stayed a few days in Scotland with a friend who showed me one of the country’s great working-class achievements. It was a few miles out of central Edinburgh, a huge cantilever bridge across the river Forth. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic and ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 29, 2023 thru Sat, Feb 4, 2023. Story of the Week Social change more important than physical tipping points1.5-degree Goal not plausible Photo: CLICCS / Universität Hamburg Limiting global ...
So Long - And Thanks For All The Fish: In the two-and-a-bit years since Jacinda Ardern’s electoral triumph of 2020, virtually every decision she made had gone politically awry. In the minds of many thousands of voters a chilling metamorphosis had taken place. The Faerie Queen had become the Wicked ...
Look at us here on our beautiful islands in the South Pacific at the start of 2023, we have come so far.Ten days ago we saw a Māori Governor General swearing in our new PM and our first Pasifika Deputy PM, ahead of this year’s parliament where they will be ...
The Herald’s headline writers are at it again! A sensible and balanced piece by Liam Dann on the battle against inflation carries a headline that suggests that NZ is doing worse than the rest of the world. Check it out and see for yourself if I am right. Is this ...
Photo by Anna Demianenko on UnsplashTLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.Subscribe nowDeeper reads and listens ...
Hello from the middle of a long weekend where I’m letting the last few days unspool, not ready, not yet, to give words to the hardest of what we heard.Instead, today, here are some good words from other people.Mother CourageWhen I wrote last year about Mum and Dad’s move to ...
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
Insurers face claims of over $500 million for cars, homes and property damaged in the floods. They are already putting up premiums and pulling insurance from properties deemed at high risk of flooding. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: This week in the podcast of our weekly hoon webinar for paying subscribers, ...
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Work on the TVNZ/RNZ public media entity to stop; Radio NZ and NZ on Air to receive additional funding Social insurance scheme will not proceed this term The Human Rights (Incitement on Ground of Religious Belief) Amendment Bill to be withdrawn and not progressed this term. The matter to be ...
The Government is providing a $5 million package of emergency support to help businesses significantly affected by the recent flooding in Auckland. This includes: $3 million for flood recovery payments to help significantly affected businesses $1 million for mental wellbeing support through a boost to the First Steps programme $1 ...
The Government’s Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated to support people displaced by the severe flooding and landslips in the Auckland region, Housing Minister Megan Woods says. “TAS is now accepting registrations for people who cannot return to their homes and need assistance finding temporary accommodation. The team will work ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today held their first bilateral meeting in Canberra. It was Chris Hipkins’ first overseas visit since he took office, reflecting the close relationship between New Zealand and Australia. “New Zealand has no closer partner than Australia. I was pleased to ...
New Zealand will immediately provide humanitarian support to those affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by these earthquakes. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones affected,” ...
An historic Northland pā site with links to Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika is to be handed back to iwi, after collaboration by government, private landowners and local hapū. “It is fitting that the ceremony for the return of the Pākinga Pā site is during Waitangi weekend,” said Regional Development Minister ...
The Government is investing in a suite of initiatives to unlock Māori and Pacific resources, talent and knowledge across the science and research sector, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Two new funds – He tipu ka hua and He aka ka toro – set to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
The Government is supporting one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant historic sites, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, as it continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. “The Waitangi Treaty Grounds are a taonga that we should protect and look after. This additional support will mean people can continue to ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
Chris Hipkins’ policy purge gives far more insight into how he will govern than the reshuffle he announced last week. Hate speech, biofuels, media mergers and social insurance have been dumped in the worthy, but not important bin, writes political editor Jo Moir. The front bench under Chris Hipkins’ leadership ...
You might be able to solve a delivery problem by cutting the number of packages you send. But is that enough, wonders Toby Manhire. If there’s one thing Chris Hipkins isn’t afraid of, it’s repeating himself to make the point. The first three sentences of his statement unveiling the policy ...
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The state-owned radio broadcaster will keep its independence and get a cash injection after the Government scrapped the proposal to merge it with TVNZ Normal transmission has resumed for the country’s media industry. RNZ and TVNZ will remain as separate entities and the bogeyman of a monolithic public media entity ...
The EMA is relieved the Government has dedicated $5m to support Auckland businesses impacted by the recent flooding. Chief Executive Brett O’Riley says that is consistent with discussions the EMA and the Auckland Business Roundtable had been having with ...
The prime minister has unveiled what he calls a ‘new direction’ for the Labour government, and it involves launching a wrecking ball into Jacinda Ardern’s extensive policy programme. Stewart Sowman-Lund reports from parliament.We knew something was coming, but we perhaps weren’t expecting quite so much policy carnage at parliament ...
Organisations directly affected by this afternoon’s announcement that the media merger will not go ahead have issued statements in response, with a common thread of welcoming clarity after months of uncertainty and speculation. RNZ chair Jim Mather said: “Media in New Zealand is being challenged by rapidly changing commercial models, the ...
The decision to halt legislation that would bring religious grounds into existing hate speech rules, pending a referral to the Law Commission, has been rebuked by Amnesty International NZ. “We are deeply disappointed and frustrated that the government is taking so long to strengthen the country’s legislation against incitement to ...
The biggest private sector union in Aotearoa New Zealand, E tū, is concerned by the Prime Minister’s announcement today that the New Zealand Income Insurance Scheme (NZIIS) will be delayed indefinitely. The announcement was part of the new Prime ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has welcomed the Government’s decision to take the proposed social insurance scheme off the table for the rest of this parliament but has warned against bringing back similar proposals in future. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, ...
NZ On Air welcomes the decision from Cabinet today providing certainty for the public media sector. “Our funding strategy is flexible and future-focused, and we are able to quickly respond both to audience and media environment changes, without being ...
In an email to staff distributed shortly after Chris Hipkins’ announcement that the media merger will be scrapped, RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson has said: “It is good to have clarity after recent uncertainty.” The boost in funding for RNZ, details of which are to be determined, was “an endorsement ...
Pāmu is committed to reducing its climate impact through emissions reduction and strengthening climate resilience through adaption. Doubling down on its commitment , the state-owned enterprise has now signed a second sustainability-linked loan, ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is delighted at the news that the TVNZ/RNZ media merger is to be scrapped. Taxpayers' Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said: “Our former Chairman, a former TVNZ board member, Barrie Saunders was among the first ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin O’Connor, Professor of Cultural Economy, University of South Australia Federal Labor is engaged in urgent reform, making up for the “lost decade” under the Coalition. The Voice, industrial relations, climate change, universities, health, Asian-Pacific diplomacy, research and development are all undergoing ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins has announced the end of the planned merger of TVNZ and RNZ. It’s been in the works for more than three years and was set to be up and running this year. However, speaking at a post-cabinet press conference this afternoon, Hipkins confirmed it would not ...
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It appears the proposed merger of TVNZ and RNZ will indeed be scrapped in under an hour’s time. A source from within the media industry has told Te Ao Māori News that the planned entity has been abandoned by the government as new prime minister Chris Hipkins attempts to reign ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University Bianca de Marchi/AAP The New South Wales government has embraced a sweeping set of reforms to the state’s massive poker machine business. These reforms are centred on ...
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In the life-cycle of a reader we bet it’s the childhood reading memories that matter most. Here are Unity’s bestselling books for January.AUCKLAND1 Sleepy Kiwi by Kat Quin (Tikitibu, $20, babies) A bold, black and white board book for newborns and up.2 Midnight Adventures of Ruru and ...
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It’s Wednesday, February 8 and welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates – coming to you today from Wellington. I’m Stewart Sowman-Lund, reach me on [email protected] What you need to know Chris Hipkins will chair the first meeting of his new cabinet. He will front a post-cabinet press ...
It’s been a rough ride since Louisa Opeteia hopped out of bed to find herself standing in a rising tide, but she’s grateful for the little things: a hot meal and the helping hands of friends, family and kind strangers.Friday morning, January 27. Louisa Opetaia of Māngere noticed the ...
Paved-over rivers, covered-up shorelines and filled-in wetlands reemerged during Auckland’s devastating deluge – taking the city 200 years back into the past.Tāmaki Makaurau’s recent flooding has stirred up plenty of kōrero about our biggest city. Architecture and urban planning professor Timothy Welch reminded us that we built Auckland in ...
PM Chris Hipkins is back in Wellington after his big day in Canberra. He’s chairing the first meeting of his new cabinet after last week’s reshuffle. That reshuffle saw ministers like Andrew Little and Peeni Henare demoted, while newer players like Ayesha Verrall soared up the ranks. According to the ...
Whittaker’s are putting five special “Ed-ition” blocks of their classic milk chocolate on Trade Me, with all proceeds going to help the Auckland flood relief. What makes it a special Ed-ition? The fact that pop star Ed Sheeran has come onboard, providing a selfie for the packaging and signing the ...
In the digital age, online activity can be a conduit for abusive behaviours. But secure digital tools can also offer a lifeline for victims. It’s no secret that New Zealand has a family violence epidemic, with one third of women physically or sexually assaulted by a partner over their lifetimes. ...
Thousands of people mistakenly paid the government’s cost of living payment have chosen not to repay it. And while the department responsible for sending out that money won’t say whether it’s disappointed by the lack of repayments, the prime minister was happy to express his views. Stuff has today revealed ...
A pair of Auckland councillors have leveraged the city’s flood disaster to protest government’s legislation enabling more medium density housing. Hayden Donnell says our elected representatives would be better off pointing the finger at themselves. As residents across her ward worked to clean out their waterlogged houses, Mt Eden-Puketāpapa councillor ...
Researchers from the University of Otago are “strongly” recommending the $5 fee to get a prescription filled be removed as a “simple way to reduce health inequities”. A new study has found removing the fee could significantly reduce the number of hospital admissions and length of hospital stays. The findings, published ...
We’ve known since the earliest moments of Chris Hipkins’ premiership that some of the unwieldy policy agenda of Jacinda Ardern was up for the chop. And now, about two weeks since being sworn in, the prime minister has confirmed the chopping block will be on display at today’s 3pm post-cabinet ...
The death toll for the quake that hit Turkey and Northern Syria may reach 20,000. For Syrians, the quake has struck a population already overwhelmed by the impacts of war, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full ...
Norton, a leading Cyber Safety brand of Gen, today published the New Zealand findings from a global study about online dating, associated scams, and attitudes about online stalking. The 2023 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report (NCSIR), conducted online ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University The United States’ shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina over the weekend points to international security affairs being on a knife edge. It follows ...
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AI writing tools are free, easy to use and already everywhere. But is it cheating to use them to help write an essay? Shanti Mathias spoke to New Zealand academics about AI’s place in education.When California company Open AI released its ChatGPT tool to the public last November, social ...
Chris Hipkins’ first overseas trip as prime minister heralded few surprises. But, as Stewart Sowman-Lund reports from Canberra, that’s exactly what he will have wanted. It’s been just two weeks since Chris Hipkins was sworn in as prime minister, a fortnight that has seen him deal with devastating flooding, formalise ...
The Green Party wants the government to double the maximum amount it is paying out to flood-affected Aucklanders, through the Civil Defence payments. ...
Felicity Goodyear-Smith looks back at just how political the issue of abortion was in New Zealand On Wednesday March 25, 2020 New Zealand moved to nationwide self-isolation in response to the Covid 19 pandemic. Unless essential, there were to be no face-to-face primary care consultations. I work full-time as a professor of general ...
From purging possums and saving kiwi, to leading the Tui and turning out for the Blues, rugby record breaker Krysten Cottrell has a fascinating combination of careers, Suzanne McFadden discovers. Krysten Cottrell spends her week deep in the bush of the Kaweka Range, searching for dead rats and possums - and then ...
The money the health system has to fight Covid-19 in the first half of 2023 is less than half of what it had in the second half of 2022, Marc Daalder reports Staff on the Covid-19 response have been terminated or quietly reassigned to other health issues as funding to ...
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What a load of Poppy-Cork from The Milky-Barred-Kid !
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11476712
Seems the only ‘stunts’ here are the jacked up crime figures and weeps of “Poor little me……” from the archetypal thug/bully.
Sooo sooo Judy !
2 thoughts stand out reading that PR piece.
Granny has zero credibility running self serving fluff like that without balance around feenys valid point that she overstepped her authority, a recurring theme with the MP for oravida.
Secondly it reads like a who’s who of dirty politics with the 3 C’s of carrick, cathy and clammy. A rogues gallery.
Judith Collins thinks that the public have no memory
“The best crime stats we had ever had” and “It was my shining glory” was in fact the result of recoding burglaries and removing these from the crime stats.
“Acting Police Minister Judith Collins has admitted knowing Counties Manukau police officers illegally recoded 700 crimes to make them disappear, but didn’t pass the information on.”
“Ms Collins, police minister until December 2011, admits she had been told “something about the stats” but said nothing publicly. She did not even tell her successor, Anne Tolley.”
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/collins-plays-down-crime-stats-blunder-2014071408#axzz3f64ZVsLc
“Judith Collins, police minister at the time, has serious questions to answer after the Herald on Sunday’s disclosure that hundreds of burglaries were taken out of crime statistics over a period of years in part of the Counties-Manukau police district. Foolishly, Ms Collins has assumed the disclosure came from the Labour Party and dismisses the subject as “politically motivated”. Her assumption was simply wrong, not that the source of the information matters nearly as much as its substance. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11293312
How do you overshadow a National government?
Piss’n’bubbles, apparently.
PR FAIL.
why is this a story today? I am confused?
Is it because the Blonde is trying to get her head above the parapet?
It seems odd because the report was released last November? Maybe I am missing something obvious…
Se is EVERYWHERE, more than any other backbencher I will wager.
I came across this today while working
” principal youth court judge, Andrew Becroft, who identified recent research suggesting that young Māori who are involved or connected with their culture do not offend at any greater rate than any other person, (Cherrington, 2009)
For those who don’t understand the notion of the importance of maori culture for our youth in breaking some over representation in the negative statistics.
For those who don’t understand why reconnecting young Maori with Marae and broader whanau etc is so important for them and the rest of us.
“The Christchurch Health and Development Study has recently produced results relating rates of offending to a sense of cultural identity amongst Māori. It showed that rates of offending (both officially recorded and self-reported offending) were about five times higher in the Māori study members, than the non-Māori members. Those rates reduced to three times higher, when adjustments were made for socioeconomic and adverse family factors. However, when study members were asked whether they identified themselves as Māori, the rates of offending for those identifying solely as Māori were roughly similar to those who identified themselves as non-Māori37. This research indicates that a strong sense of Māori identity and connectedness to Māori culture may reduce risks of offending.
http://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/youth/publications-and-media/speeches/what-causes-youth-crime-and-what-can-we-do-about-it
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/education/69865514/NCEA-pass-rates-increases-don-t-reflect-genuine-increase-in-learning
Is national gaming the system at kids expense or is having greater choice and more internal assessment working?
I suppose grade inflation might be a concern if it happened within a meritocracy, like in Ontario, perhaps. However, in NZ, the rungs of the ladder that lead to the oriface of John Key’s Republic don’t require particular merit. If everyone is being equally inflated there is no problem. If only the few that would already be assisted by privilege are being inflated, there is no new problem. After a certain distance, the gap of inequality becomes irrelevent through it’s increasing impossible divide. Teachers still teaching same stuff. Students still learning whatever they learn. Just the medals change colour. Egos and bridges stand or fall. Policy and social attitudes still the same as 1984. Cheating? Untruths? Unprincipled? It’s NZ stock in trade. Situation normal all fucked up.
Nice to hear that some teachers are pursuing a program of concentrating on what kids can do, though. That will undermine National’s Shighter Future more than anything else. Good for them.
http://agrihq.co.nz/article/stateside-trust-me-its-in-the-bag?p=6
http://agrihq.co.nz/article/alternative-view-tpp-a-us-weapon-aimed-at-china?p=6
A couple of rural perspectives on the tpp neither of them glowing.
Trev’, do they actually pay you for this shit ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11476615
I mean, does your fatuous scribbling give anything at all ?
Other than a dutiful salute to “John Key – 16th All Black” ?
If you’re going to Samoa I recommend you consult with the locals about whom they thank for Wednesday’s match-up.
You’ll find it’s not the simpering Richie McCaw Wannabe, ShonKey of the Infamous Triple Hand (Face Palm), but rather the presently out of work John Campbell.
You don’t believe ? Tune into Auckland Samoan talkback for a bit. You’ll also hear a thing or two about who’s at the root of Campbell presently out of work. Warning: consultation with Minister Fiapalagi Sam will not reveal anything reliable.
A very clever move by Key, who has become an expert at reading the public mood. A Labour PM would have done exactly the same. Cheer up, North.
The arrival of the first troll of the day.
I note you recognise and are kind enough to demonstrate the move Faecetious.
As he loves his pacific neighbours so much, how come he wasn’t at the King of Tonga’s coronation?
Are you blind Tracey? Can’t you see there are far more votes in attending the rugby in Samoa that the coronation in Tonga? I’m surprised you are so politically naive.
Troll 2
Pathetic.
Why, Paul? Why do you call troll anyone who does support your narrative or agree with your point of view? Are you against debate or disagreement in this blog?
Nah, he just seems to be against trollls.
Can’t say as I disagree with him on this issue, although I probably have on others.
I blame The Herald for Paul’s behaviour. It consumes and upsets him so, yet he continues to read it.
the coronation was a few days ago… two birds, one set of traveling fees 😉
I can see some sense in Coleman attending this match as sport & recreation minister but the rest of the troughers going, undoubtedly at our expense, led by Shon reluctant to steal Labour’s thunder but I will Key?
And I find it disappointing that on this junket (like others) there are members of all parties involved (if Trevett is correct), including one which I support and expect better from. To cover each other’s backs in case of criticism from the people picking up the tab?
Good interview by Andrew Little this morning on RNZ about National’s lack of action on the economy: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201761370/govt-complacent-on-economy's-weak-spots-labour
Even by usual Herald standards, that Trevett offering is the most fatuous drivel. Read it, reread it and was still bemused. Can only presume she was dutifully responding to Shayne Currie’s latest edict. “Glad I’m a man” rugby link for John….it works for Vladimir….
An interesting article on how the SNP were used by the Tories to win the UK general election. Clear echoes of the strategy used here by National with Internet/Mana.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/latest-survation-poll-shows-england-6015818
That Cosby interview about how it was straight-forward to just present the options in a straight way was so wrong. They used fear by exaggerating the Scottish Labour “risks.” Here wasn’t the “fear” promoted that Labour + Green would be a bad thing. And in 2017…..
The right-wing always promote fear as they know that it can lead them to victory and thus allow them to screw over the majority of people to enrich the already wealthy.
Has anyone else noticed the sudden large media presence of NZ First in the media post Ron Marks deputy coup?
Reads as Dirty methods of trying to drum up a new Coalition partner for Nats next election to me, Ron Marks being distinctly Right rather than center.
Might be self-defeating though – he’ll struggle to pull votes like Winston – but if he did he’d be inconvenient. National likes parties manqué like Maori, ACT, & Peter Dunne – none of which endanger their vote.
I have just read the latest burbling of Trevvy. What was it all about? Was the *feel-good * announcement to do with balls? Who was going to take them? Who wasn’t? Who knows? Who cares? I bet Andrew Little doesn’t. But at least we know that he was GAZUMPED! by Dodger Key. How so?
I actually feel quite sorry for Trevvy. One day she’s going to go back and read all this juvenile besotted rubbish and be ashamed. I am presuming at one stage she was a genuine journalist who wrote real in-depth articles with both sides investigated and reported without bias.
All she has now is a published *Dear Johnnykins* diary. Poor girl.
Mr Key is “delighted to be attending this historic event”
Speaking of balls, I hope he has the grace to acknowledge that this *Historic Event* is happening ONLY because of John Campbell. Bet he doesn’t. He has no guts.
I would love to see JC be made an Honorary Chief or something like it. Go John Campbell! and go the All Blacks! And Go Samoa!
I wonder if it might backfire on Key, not Labour. Won’t most people think Key was being a bit pretty, childish?
Seems the historic event of a coronation of a king of tonga wasn’t delightful enough.
Wouldn’t it be great if on appearance Key gets a muted Samoan response but John Campbell gets a riotous response. Should that happen, would MSM report it?
ianmac.
That would make my day! JC is on Prime again tonight in a cameo role as part of the sport reporting team. Good to see him last night.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/70024908/john-campbell-in-apia-for-all-blacks-vs-samoa-test-its-bloody-magic
Not sure if this brief moment has been seen?
Trying to recall when Clark was invited to be part of Sky’s commentary for League, Rugby, Netball??
I have very, very close Samoan friends, one in particular of decades, who are absolutely, absolutely serious about John Campbell being honoured with a chiefly title. As far as I can gather John Campbell is truly loved by huge numbers of Samoans, both here and in that beautiful place. He’s seen as reflecting, best as palagi can, ‘Fa’a Samoa’. Key……ummh, not so much. Polite about him, of course, polite, polite, but no. Bullshitter you see. And vain. And false.
Just quietly, can’t imagine that Trev’ of the Herald did Key any favours with the Samoan community with that piece of mindless crap she wrote about rugby balls to Samoa. You really fucked up there Trev’. Not quite ‘Pebblesque’ but certainly a fuck-up.
The sneering, eurocentric tone in this huge moment in Samoan sporting history……it’s not missed, even if polite, polite rules. You’re an unartful fool Trev’. A nasty piece of work too.
Redline blog regularly receives reports from friends within Syriza. We received the following communique from our friends, one of the left currents in Syriza, yesterday:
1) We are in front of a great NO by the Greek People, who stands defiant and fighting against the ultimatums and the destructive policies imposed on Greece by the troika and its local supporters. Today’s NO has a pan-hellenic, national, popular, democratic character. It proves once again that the Greek People has a great reserve of courage and resisting spirit, and storms the political scene, as it has always happened in critical moments of our History.
2) This great NO, around 61,5%, comes despite the (unforeseen in post-war Europe) terror campaign and direct threats by all the systemic reactionary forces on European and international level. Moreover, it has been achieved despite the manifest weaknesses of the Greek Left’s forces. It is a result that was not expected by all those who underestimate the Greek people’s courage, and this remark is valid no matter how huge difficulties we shall face tomorrow (literally!).
3) The referendum’s result represents a crushing defeat of the pro-troika internal opposition, which, in vain, spared no effort to distort the meaning of the referendum and to multiply the fear amongst the Greek society. It represents a crushing defeat of the whole old political, business and media system. Already. . . .
full at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/a-great-no-by-the-greek-people/
Natural de-selection? Pebbles pushes off:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11477010
Good on her for being mature and taking responsibility.
New Herald on Sunday Editor is braver than previous or just they don’t feel they “need” Pebbles as much as they think they need Glucina?
“NZ Herald Weekend editor Miriyana Alexander has confirmed Pebbles Hooper has stepped down from her role as Spy co-editor.
“Today I accepted the resignation of Pebbles Hooper, effectively immediately. She will no longer co-edit the Spy pages in the Herald on Sunday, or appear in the Weekend Herald’s Canvas magazine, ” Alexander said.
“As I said on Sunday, the views she expressed in her tweet were distressing, and are obviously not shared by me, or the Herald on Sunday.
“I have also apologised to a family spokesman for the contents of the tweet and the distress it caused them.””
Do you think Herald had a heads up on the Press Council complaint and so let Glucina know she could quietly exit if she found a new job?
“Good on her for being mature and taking responsibility”
Presume you’re commending the editor. No proof of any such thing from Hooper.
Nope, commending Hooper who seems to have offered her resignation. Many much older and more experienced than her have not done such a thing.
Many a firing has been presented as a resignation.
Shorter…
Tracey: Well done Hooper for taking responsibility and resigning
Sacha: There’s no evidence she resigned
Tracey: It says right here she did
Sacha: Yeah but it was probably a firing which, ironically, I have no evidence for.
I’m comfortable with my doubts, thanks. There is only a prepared written statement by her employer claiming resignation. There is no quote from Hooper saying “I resigned”. The resignation also seems to have come after the meeting and not before it.
“There is no quote from Hooper saying “I resigned”
So?
“The resignation also seems to have come after the meeting and not before it.”
I don’t know where you have worked but the general course of action, when you want to resign, is to have a meeting.
Also it is funny where you say: “No proof of any such thing from Hooper.” But when it is shown that she tendered her resignation you offer a theory that has no proof.
Oh the tangled webs we weave.
bet she pops up over at media works or some other pay station for the nactolytes.
Rugby commentator?
I had an interesting day today at the PO getting my passport photo updated – I had already been down yesterday and Internal Affairs rejected it because there were shadows in the background behind my head and my head wasn’t centred in the middle and my hair was touching the edges of the frame (I have thick curly hair) . So I was back down there today to have another attempt – 3 head shots later they got it right – ears have to be showing so I had to shove my hair behind my ears, the shadows were still there and my head was slightly tilted and not centred correctly in the frame.
What’s going on here? I was getting pretty cranky at this stage and told the staff we will be getting chips implanted next – they agreed with me and said everything about security is getting more complicated. The lady told me that when she was in a US transit lounge waiting for another flight out of the US she had her finger prints taken even though she was not leaving the t.lounge. There was a queue behind me and I apologised to the lady waiting behind me for the delay – she said “I don’t mind waiting, if it means that I can fly without fear of a bomb going off on the plane” – I said to her “lady that is the last reason why the authorities want to have your identification on their files, its surveillance for all sorts of reasons – the least being terrorism – they just create the fear knowing that we will be suckered into it and accept it”. She looked at me blankly and I just walked out of the place shaking my head.
“…we will be getting chips implanted next…”
People have been saying that for fucking decades.
What sort of comment is that? Who rattled your cage – I am well aware that the topic of chips has been around for years – I am an old woman for goodness sake – and watch your language its unbecoming. Have a chill pill.
Watch my language? Seriously? Fuck that.
Wow, swearing at elder women, stay classy TC. If there was ever a comment that negated the last shred of validity of your moaning about other people here, that was it.
Barbara, thanks for the story, it’s erudite. I think along with the increasing control stuff, there is increasing incompetencies, end of the empire stuff.
I care so much for what you think of me Weka.
I would be careful of moaning about the validity ones comments, weka. Tell me again how magic can cure people and how expressing skeptism of magical claims is bigotry.
It’s pretty straightforward. If you’re running a border control agency and have lots of passport photos to look at every time a plane lands, get a computer to do it. It’s cheaper, more reliable and doesn’t get bored.
But there’s a downside for the poor sod who has to get a passport photo taken – a face means nothing to a computer, so as far as it’s concerned your passport photo consists of a set of points it can identify and see how they’re arranged. That means a list of criteria for a passport photo (including, as you found: must show the ears, because they make handy measuring points, must be centred in the frame, must be entirely within the frame and must have a completely plain background).
So, yeah, it’s very annoying. But it’s less to do with terrorism and surveillance than with convenience and cost-effectiveness for border control agencies. (I’m guessing that at this point you’re not thinking “Oh, no amount of trouble is too much if it means greater cost-effectiveness for border control!” Because I sure didn’t think that.)
Thanks for that P.M. I knew it was for facial recognition but I thought that hair behind ears was a bit much – I thought the equipment that processed our skulls would be like Xray with goes through stuff like hair – an MRI scan doesn’t bother about hair when they scan the head – I thought computers could do anything these days. The no shadows in the background – why that – what’s that got to do with our heads? As for the budget constraints of our Gov departments – just about half the Parliament are at the Samoa game today and the poor citizens of Samoa are shut out of the game because of the cost of the tickets – it is illusionary that there is no money in the kitty for our essential running of this country – it goes where the Gov wants it go and its on trips away and other frippery. Lack of money – I think not.
Brighter Future update No 94:
A man has threatened to set himself alight in the offices of a National MP.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/man-in-custody-after-incident-at-mps-office-2015070714
An international student who is mentally ill has threatened to set himself on fire. Low life TRP attempts to blame Government. FIFY
Yeah, and it was entirely coincidental he did it in the office of an MP who did nothing for him. Which is the normal response from our caring sharing government. Don’t hurt yourself falling off your high horse.
You Key Gorks have got no memory have you ? No good asking you to recall the slitting the throat gesture in Parliament then. Like your man(?) is a gauche shithead, so Realblue are you.
Gimme a call when the effete poseur tries to make like a jock rugby boy up in Apia. He’ll do it. Can’t resist.
In defence of privilege, ignorance, and Pebbles Hooper..
(tl;dr – skip to bold section)
I admit I had to wince a bit, observing the shit-storm of outrage over Pebbles Hooper’s ill-advised comments. When you get social media full of separate-but-the-same-tone opinions, it always looks like overkill no matter what the conclusion or topic. Even the Ashburton Mayor was in on the game. That’s about where my sympathy ended, though. Just before her twitter account disappeared, Pebbles posted an apology that included,
“…I deeply regret any distress caused to the family. I apologise for my wording and take responsibility for upsetting those involved, and I was careless in my actions… The issue I regrettably tried to raise was about parental negligence and the precautions needed to ensure the safety of those who are unable to care for themselves…”
This started to ring familiar bells for me, because didn’t we all see at least the superficial psychology of the tweeter? Sure we did. We were all taking about it, if a little smothered by the ideology and hierarchy of privilege. What sort of person doesn’t care about the abstract concept of kids who can’t care for themselves dying, then does, but still largely runs off their parent’s fame and fortune? How to reconcile the contradiction? IS she contrite or not? What sort of person admits they should, could, or would vote ACT, a party of extreme individualism and privilege, but will settle for a similar party, National – a party of shadows and deception? Things were getting fishy. Wasn’t the idea of what the tweeter looked like, her botox program, offered as evidence of inner insecurity? Must be something subconscious, we said. Sure we saw it, we were using it against her, to quieten our own demons. The mind of the mob is not such a mystery if you’re a life-member.
So what could be similar in her apology and also initial claim of the colloquial “natural selection”?
I’ll tell you what I saw, I saw a person like me. A threatening to vote for ACT voter (I hated any idea of anyone telling me what to do!), a person who was pissed that people (the media, and by association the public who follows the media) who’ve never demonstrated they give a shit about anyone but themselves, suddenly gave a shit about a family who they’ve never met, who they voted against in principle since 2008 – or chose not to vote at all – enabling the same thing.
Why would she be pissed, in a sort of cynical, passive aggressive way? Did she see some parallel in her situation a situation “everyone” knew about? Did anyone give a shit about her when she needed it, when she needed protection from the outside world when she was a kid? What kind of person, we asked, displays that lack of life experience? Was it not obvious? Did her parents let her down, perhaps, did they at any time look the other way when it mattered, consumed by their own ambitions, problems and tendencies? The colloquial use of “Natural Selection”, what did it really mean? The Freudian-slip-o-meter was running overtime. On one hand it matched the theory perfectly, on another, not at all. The contradiction again: how could both claims mean the same thing? Simple maths.
Culture, the whole aspirational outlook, the economic style – that’s the “natural selection” – it’s a given, it’s bigger than us, it can wipe anything out and no one knows how to stop it or change it. It’ll roll over people who aren’t ready for it, and most of those people are kids – like you, me and Pebbles, were once.
During the weekend I was reading some work by Helen Brown: privileged talented, famous Journalist. She summed privilege up nicely, in her rapid over-anxious style, omitting to get as close as anyone should to pick the maggots out of a common wound,
“…She cheerfully describes her upbringing as, ‘long periods of neglect disguised as freedom, interspersed with inspirational bouts of the Rudolph Steiner teaching method…’
The abuse of privilege is a terrible thing, but being born into isn’t an inherently good or favourable thing by default. Fucked me right up. Unlike Helen Brown there were no “inspirational bouts” of anything in my life. Took 40 years to get close to untangling it, and the time it took and the lines I had to draw cost me my financial future and my family and friends. On a bad day I’m bitter and angry. I don’t regret trying, I’d do it again, but some people aren’t as pig-stubborn as me.
“Neglect disguised as freedom”.
From the inside, being born into aspirational privilege (working or middle-class) looks like the World is just out of reach. You can hear the World, you can see it, but you cannot reach it. Everyone else is having real lives, lots of fun it seems, making wild choices and decisions that blow your mind. Trying to get out while young is like trying to swim against a rip-tide. There is no inherent or allowed personal power for the privileged kid: it’s elevation of culture over the individual at all costs. Then the teachers come along and make it worse. In my case they knew my parents, my siblings, so I was ok, I was one of them, and they put me in an accelerated class. And just like Helen Brown, I didn’t “…want to be clever, I wanted to be ordinary”, but couldn’t get out. Kids know what’s wrong, even if they can’t articulate it. So I broke out, any way I could. Helen had a tantrum, and didn’t get out. She’s even more embedded now. I got side-lined in math class in my School Cert year. Shut up and sit in the corner, they said. Don’t annoy us, we won’t ask you to learn anything. Numbers are a complete fucking mystery to me. So fuck society and their enforced aspirational games.
A few weeks ago I was talking to a homeless guy whose one line of enquiry was where I got my clothes and the rings on my fingers. He implied my privilege, that he was different and that I owed him, somehow. So I pushed back at him, gently. I sat down and told him where I got my clothes, how much they cost, and he wasn’t impressed. His sneering chuckle told me all I needed to know. Without knowing how I even came to be sitting next to him, he assumed people who look like me have the money and economic obligation to pay full price for known labels – he would, he knew what he wanted, the brand and everything – it was where he was headed. He was disappointed that I didn’t encourage his outlook of aspirational escape. In fact, I said very little and just listened. Why would I tell him that where he wanted to go was a barren landscape? Leave him hope, at least.
He grew up in the opposite kind of World to me and he said he never really had coped well with life. Sounds familiar, I thought. I could’ve been him if it weren’t for the luck of finding one person. Without that one person, when my breakdown came, I’d have been out on the street, or locked up. The alcohol and drugs the running away, that was why he did it, he told me, but he was getting towards a place of his own, he said, with help from whatever organisation. Good luck, I thought, those fuckers aren’t your friends. There was nothing more to say. Couldn’t tell if the unsolicited honesty was a sales pitch; the initial style yes, pretty common for homeless to speak that way; but, no, I think not overall. Just people talking. We talked a bit about his childhood hometown. His tribe. We’d both been there. In time and distance, he was a long way from home. What could I have done for him?
Privilege rots creativity in the minds of the privileged. It’s like possessing a set of skills that only work inside a certain environment. Maybe it’s like how an astronaut might not be much good to anyone unless there is a spaceship nearby, because they can’t figure out how to split up and re-apply their skills, while everyone else wants them to be an astronaut so they can know the moon isn’t made of cheese. It’s a prison you can’t see the bars of, even if you’re lucky enough to know where they are. A privileged person can be loaded with privileged information, but there is no way to apply it if they leave the circle of privilege. Nobody who isn’t privileged wants you to give up your privilege, otherwise they’ll never get a turn. Their hope within an intransient and hostile environment will be gone.
That’s the evil of the inequality gap: on one side we have the rich, still within the culture of potential action, on the other we have everyone else, including the presumably borderline undecided, perhaps like Pebbles Hooper. Those people are the kind that Marx relied on for societal stability “after the revolution”. They are the disaffected and disillusioned aspirant classes – the people who have woken up to the game, but have few ways of applying anything “until the revolution”.
So why can’t anyone just make a list and apply their skills? Well putting aside the obvious uses and variation of skills and talents, lets use an obvious example.
Have you ever tried volunteering?
Fuck me, it’s more involved than finding work, and the legal liability is all your own. It’s like being a contractor on a project without a project manager, but for free, and you better be pretty good at self-managing your sensible personal boundaries. It’s nothing like that flippant slogan, “Oh hey have you tried volunteering?” that they tell unemployed people, to suggest they aren’t doing enough, like the door is wide open for all-comers. There are purposeful hooks, hoops and snags, and lots of waiting, and some of those guys you’ll meet are just plain dangerous. People can be shits no matter where they accumulate. No white middle-class charity wants unemployed, unconnected people – period – unless they can use their ethnic background. How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?
The abuse of privilege, the closed doors of culture are still in effect, even with do-gooders. The tendencies of society never goes away. So recently, when I signed the electronic petition to cut those same milquetoast charities a break in the face of legislation that would have them incur costs on their police vetting, I was laughing. Laughing because they are so fucking hypocritical, so fucking self-righteous, so desperate-for-help-but-not-that-desperate. I did it anyway, because there might theoretically be an organisation out there that isn’t full of shit and who does actually have legitimate reason for concern. So fuck your volunteering and charity – born of abusive Christian help-them-but-keep-them-down ideology. I can’t wait for the revolution that never comes, but I’m not signing up to your bullshit.
Yeah but what’s your point, Charles?
I’m getting to it.
Did I say I sometimes get angry and bitter? That’s important to the point. That is what even just the scar of privilege does to the minds of certain people. Do I sound like Pebbles Hooper yet?
I know why a car would be running non-stop inside a garage, because I’ve had to consider doing it myself. How would Pebbles Hooper or anyone else ever find out? Unfortunately, though, I know that even if I showed people, who didn’t know, how to avoid it, those people wouldn’t listen. And you can be damn sure there isn’t a charity right now checking the obvious in their known clients. Practical skills aren’t for everyone and I’m no teacher. Just like the homeless guy, he wasn’t listening to the implied story that I wasn’t teaching. He was set on his course, and god bless him. Because if I told these people what I know, these homeless, these addicts, these mentally struggling people, they would not be able to hear and in most cases they’d already know better than me anyway. When I’ve tried to get back in to “climb the ladder to change the system” to help them, the system kept me out. You think change will occur inside a system of privilege? Nah that’s bedtime story stuff, it’s what our privileged parents told us to do when we pointed out the fucking obvious to them as kids. When they got to the top, they never changed anything.
Yeah but what’s the point, Charles?
I’m getting there, it’s all important to the point!
There is no certainty that the homeless guy wouldn’t reach the top, or at least find a secure roof to sleep under, but after that, using the values of aspiration, he’d be on his way to indirectly enforce homelessness on another victim. Do you reckon that pulling people into safety is as morally admirable as we like to think when our cultural environment has nowhere constructive for them to go to from there? When do we address that? Do you reckon people will wait for us before moving on their own in a potentially dangerous direction?
Fair enough, we can’t escape the present: that if you lived like a dog for most your life a bit of the good life would do you good, give you some breathing space to safely look at things and rest. Whether you were owed it or not, you might certainly need it.
That’s why the attitudes that National and ACT promote have to go – not just out of power, but out of circulation. To attempt to right the balance. And the reason it’s so important they go, and not be allowed to pass charity or social welfare into private hands is so that people like me, and Pebbles Hooper, on a bad day, when we’re angry, bitter and hurting, sick to death of the do-gooder hypocrisy, the preparation of charities to collude with a new privatised environment, it’s so that those in need don’t have to rely on our transient mood to eat that night, or have somewhere safe to sleep; or so a solo mum doesn’t finally get pushed off the rails by the stress (that’s what Bill English is sizing up next…); or so a carer of a disabled person can get a break and not fall into poverty themselves.
Don’t rely on me. It’s a roulette wheel of chance.
Don’t rely on Pebbles Hooper’s ability to figure it out in time or decide who’s deserving or not.
Don’t rely on cuddly charities being impossibly un-flawed.
Welfare must stay in the hands of a neutral government system, not flawed individuals.
That’s my first point.
That’s what I saw in the Hooper apology. She reminded me of me, my flaws, my shadows. If she isn’t already a sociopath, I hope she gets further down the track and instead of just projecting her disappointments and hurt onto current events, she digs down into the real issue and maybe even finds a solution. It’ll cost her, Big Time. Some popular psycho’s know all this stuff already and just manipulate it for their gain – easy enough to spot because they can’t contain their glee, or plans – but I’m still unsure about Hooper and can afford to extend her some good faith.
It’s an old story, kids get fucked up, it’s the way it is, and no one stops to change it. Life happens fast. Culture pushes us to think fast. Very few parents can get over themselves before becoming parents, and even if they did they can’t entirely compensate for the destructive environment – especially if they’re invested in it for income and identity. Botox is a superficial act that could mean anything, and anyone who says fashion is superficial and shallow doesn’t understand what fashion can be. In attempting to explain herself, to apologise, Hooper started a war with the people her favourite political party like to blame. Your damn-tooting her olds stepped in to “stop the conversation”. Ever heard National and ACT blaming “poor parents” for the poverty of their children? Ever heard Bill English blame solo parents for costing “the country” too much money? Mr. Freud, with have hit Defcon2.
Blaming parents is blaming kids, because once those parents were kids too, and it was their parents who were fucked up –on their own and by the environment. Blaming the poor exposes the destructive culture of the aspirant classes. Don’t let them isolate any more victims. If you want to stop the game, you have to change the culture from the outside; or as Zach de la Rocha, lyricist of Rage Against the Machine, once said, “…We don’t need the key, we’ll break in…”.
(Ahh the nineties, a heady mix of bullshit and smoke.)
“…Yes I know my enemies
They’re the teachers who taught me to fight me
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite…
All of which…”
All of which…
all of which… my generation didn’t do much about. We weren’t listening to Zach in any great numbers. If we had, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now. Fuck the norm, Zach says. Hmmm. Nah. Mostly we turned neglectful complacence, complicity and cluelessness into the norm. But we looked good while we were at it.
It happens to every generation, even good old GenX – the poster girls and boys for “slacking” and rejecting the status quo. Few of our pop-culture heroes were slackers, though, most worked hard-out to get rich, making dumb soundbites ala Hooper along the way. Beck says he was “too busy” to be depressed. No one crucified him on social media.
To the sound of our slacker soundtrack, we lapped-up the initial flourish of greed in NZ in the nineties. We played in the boutique retail spaces, we played with bohemianism (“lifestyle homelessness”), we had the interest-free student loans and spent the money on toys, and we were so up ourselves we never stopped to check our privilege. We flattered the greed and, if the numbers are right, a fair few of us must vote for National now. In a few years you won’t find anyone admitting they voted for National. I voted ACT, once, in 2002. There were 17 of us morons of varying degree in my electorate. So Pebbles ain’t so bad, compared. She’s only thinking about it.
GenX: who the fuck would identify with that anyway? You had to be privileged to know. And the worst part? You can’t get a coffee as good as it was when we gave shit about first world problems like roast, grind, tamp, and extraction times. We couldn’t even maintain and pass on our barista skills! It became unprofitable to do so. How profitable is social awareness? So fuck sanctimonious self-righteous GenX. Fuck me, cause I was one of them. Why point at today’s hipsters. Buy a mirror. We were worse. Hooper’s generation don’t know what’s up out of unavoidable ignorance. What’s GenX’s excuse for wholesale willful ignorance? We knew what it was like before Rogernomics. Our job, our responsibility, isn’t over. The nineties were not our finest hour. Hooper isn’t any more “feeble” than us. At least she exposed the problem no one wants to address, if they can avoid it. Some of the outrage is that Hooper reminded us of our own past – not a good thing to do unless you’re Taylor Swift.
A certain personality type doesn’t get over the impact of privilege on who they are. The accident of birth includes a random portion of personality traits that contains all the best and most fragile. Cognitive functions don’t “pre-harden up” just because someone’s parents are well-placed. A certain type of person can beat compassion and understanding out of themselves, but it’s not an act of aspiration, not in the beginning; or have it beaten out of them, and that’s an act of fear-transference, or bullying. But some can’t change, ever. Famous examples might be Janet Frame, Katherine Mansfield, let’s pick some men… Witi Ihimaera, Vincent O’Sullivan – all happy to admit they don’t or didn’t get over stuff. And some who aren’t born into riches and privilege are just as potentially psychopathic as anyone who occupies the nice leather seats of parliament right now. It hard to say who’s who, sometimes. So fuck ideology. I’ll help you because you’re a person, and the reasons for your situation need addressing, not because I have a nice pair of pants and you don’t.
The difference between Hooper and me? Gender, personality, experience and direction.
The difference between Helen Brown and me? Gender, personality, experience (and what reads like a shit-load of 1996 grade caffeine) and direction.
The difference between some hard-core ideologist and me? Potentially gender, personality, experience and direction.
Who’s better? Do you know where it’s going to end for you?
Much of our existing ideologies make no account for people being people or the influence of events that lead up to the present. Eventually we have to face that fact if any version of a harmonious society is ever going to include everyone. It’s why I’m not a feminist, or an indigenous rights activist, or a lefty at heart. My perspective frequently crosses paths with those ideologies, but doesn’t adhere to them. In the end, it’s just me meeting you and we go from there.
Where Hooper and her friends go from here is up to them. She should re-open her twitter account and chill the fuck out. It’s entirely possible to state two contradictory claims and have them point to the same thing. Ideology of any kind just helps us kid ourselves. The ideology of privilege demands we not cry for the privileged (and I suggest you don’t, either), but it also encourages us to demonise the person, and in doing so we blind ourselves to what is really going on, we see only half the picture. It’s human. So don’t feel bad.
End the culture, the whole fucking lot. If you can figure out any way to do that, I applaud you. If you can actually change it, even slightly, you’ll be a better person than me.
Government sets new greenhouse gas targets. 30% reduction sounds good… but that is in relation to 2005 levels. In terms of 1990 levels it’s an 11% reduction target.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/70038782/tim-groser-commits-new-zealand-to-30pc-cut-in-greenhouse-gases
Labour need to watch this and learn from their history as there’s no way that Labour is back – yet.
in terms of economic policies and views, Labour are far closer to the ‘social democratic’ (cough) PASOK party of Greece who kept signing off on Troika austerity measures, rather than the coalition of the ‘radical left’ party, Syriza.
That simple fact can only be good news for the Labour Party, because nodoy would like to be Syriza. Syriza is like Mana-Internet, a hodge-podge of radicals missing the wealthy donor, a Greek Kim Dot Com.
Ah, no, Syriza has the support of the majority of the Greek people unlike Labour who keep losing support because they don’t support the majority of people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/science/colorados-push-against-teenage-pregnancies-is-a-startling-success.html?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email&_r=2
– No reason this wouldn’t work here as well
Indeed.
You start providing healthcare for free, people use it.
This is what the RWNJ’s want.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/irelands-austerity-success-is-no-model-for-greece-340662.html
classic aussie
“”I said, ‘If they don’t want to be Australians then maybe they should go back to the country where their parents come from’. That’s not being racist,” Fraser said.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/tennis/70038375/nick-kyrgios-hits-back-at-former-champion-swimmer-dawn-fraser-over-racist-rant
ummm – yes it is
The bit that always has me rolling my eyes is the complete lack of self awareness by white Australians when they say this shit as if they’re not descended from immigrants. Exactly how long do you need to live somewhere it be legitimately from there?
You’d think being born there creates some legitimacy.
Interesting to note fraser said, “Go back to where your parents come from” – can’t see the whiterighters using that in their next march, just doesn’t roll off the tongue.
Exactly how long do you need to live somewhere it be legitimately from there?
Well, on any Kiwiblog thread in which the Treaty is mentioned you’ll find someone saying 600 years isn’t enough to count yourselves as indigenous, and in a recent thread on my blog someone was trying to make the case that Palestinian Arabs have no claim to being indigenous after ca 1400 years on-site, so White Australians must have to be classed as fresh off the boat.
Ah, but it’s different if you’re not trying to claim to be indigenous. Then being a 5th generation NZer has some mana, right? That’s why Fraser’s comment was funny, about where the parents came from. I’d love to know when her rellies arrived in Oz (although looking at the article, I think she was trying to make a different point entirely and didn’t realise just how racist it would come across).
Maybe Maori should try that one – if being a 5th-generation NZer fills a person with a sense of entitlement (which it apparently does, if blog comments and letters to the editor are anything to go by), being a ca 120th-generation NZer must be good for ca 60x that sense of entitlement.
very true, esp if 5th is considered better than 2nd.
What a load of shit tim groser
“”This target is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030,” Mr Groser said. “This is a significant increase on our current target of five per cent below 1990 emission levels by 2020.”
It was equal to a reduction of 11 per cent below 1990 emission levels by 2030.”
and
“The Government would adopt a mix of policies to ensure the target was met.
“In particular, we will begin a review of the Emissions Trading Scheme this year, which will include scope for further public discussion on what New Zealand will do domestically.” ”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/70038782/climate-change-issues-minister-tim-groser-commits-new-zealand-to-30pc-cut-in-greenhouse-gases
talk, bullshit, talk, bullshit… you know nothing tim groser
Maybe next year Groser can say we’ve decided to cut our 2010 emissions by 40% and if we do this for other previous years we can meet an arbitrary target. That sort of logic would not surprise me.
I expect he’ll say they are working on a time machine so that they can meet all the targets from yesteryear – what a dim bulb is tim groser
Yearly cuts, as of right now, of over 10% and zero emissions from fossil by 50. Anything less than that is fcking criminal negligence that’s going to make living really fcking difficult for some and impossible for others.
I suspect that NZ emissions from fossil fuels are going to be near zero by 2050 (or before) anyways.
Nope. Not necessarily. The 5% who are responsible for about 50% of emissions will have their lifestyle ‘protected’. They will be ‘included’ in a world bent on excluding most citizens from access to things we currently take as granted and consider basic (food, medicine). They will continue to consume and work just as have a strata of Greek society.
That’s not taking the likely and widespread collapse of social infrastructure into account.
You’re a smug self righteous little git Kevin.