Could this comment be equally descriptive of NZ Labour?… “….they became trapped in a technocratic, desiccated, uninspirational account of social democracy that is hopeless at making emotional connections with people.”
“Key’s close personal friend McCaw has recently committed a foul by entering into the flag debate, speaking of his preference for a flag that bore the silver fern as worn on rugby jumpers, the sacred frond also the personal favourite of the Prime Minister.
The tweets by certain All Blacks during the last election day suggested that the players had voted National.
And Key reading out McCaw’s ‘Yes we can’ tweet to him during the campaign were totally off-side – but the ‘Key’ players involved weren’t properly carded or even relegated to the bench.
What I want to know is where is the rugby union and the All Black coach in all of this? It goes against the grain – and the discipline – of the sport for individual players and a team to effectively be hijacked and used as the personal super hero army of a prime minister.
To look back into the annals of National Party history, it also flies in the face of the late Sir Robert Muldoon, that sporting-mad prime minister who so bitterly divided the country by allowing the 1981 Springbok tour to proceed on the notion that politics should never enter sport.
Now politics is so far up the backside of sport and our national game you can see the flag bearing the wretched silver fern waving from the back of the tonsil tunnel.
Giving us only four flags to peruse – and three of those bearing the silver fern – is not a real choice.
Sometimes you can lead the horse to water but it won’t take the pre-ordered drink. Even though I don’t like the old flag, I too like many others will vote to keep it, purely out of protest.”
“Now politics is so far up the backside of sport and our national game ”
Must be getting a bit crowded at the right wing National Party parties ….. what with McCaw having Key’s nose up his arsehole, and with Hosking jowls well entrenched up the cheeks of Key …. it is becoming something of a conga-line
“The poll, taken before the final four potential flag designs were announced, shows 66 per cent want to keep the current flag, up 2 per cent from 18 months ago….
( a waste of the $26 million …jonkey’s vanity project…could have gone to helping refugees from the MIddle East)
Personally I think we could have helped thousands more people by helping build and resource refugee camps in Europe as opposed to bringing in a couple of hundred people into NZ
Also the UN should be applying pressure to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to be taking in more of these people as they certainly have enough money to be doing More
Funding more refugee camps is a stupid idea. Refugees need somewhere that that can create a new life, where they can work and where their children can get an education. Refugee camps are just holding pens.
I just think that for the amount of money it will cost to bring over a couple of hundred refugees we could help thousands more even if it meant sending the money directly to the european countries itself
Although it really should be the oil-rich middle eastern islamic countries picking up the slack on this
I guess the issue i have is that we have a housing shortage, unemployment is rising, i’m note sure how many translators we have but im guessing that again its not many so I don’t know that we have the infrastructure to deal with hundreds (possibly thousands) more
I’m sorry but the article almost sounds like a cop-out for the middle eastern states that don’t do anything yet could easily afford to pay for these people
NZ doesn’t have a housing shortage. Auckland has one, and some other parts of the country, but as a whole we don’t. There are plenty of houses in NZ and refugees don’t have to live in Auckland.
no they don’t but you also wouldn’t want to farm refugees out to the provinces where there less work and infrastructure for them so that only leaves a few cities for them to live in
I think the provinces would be good places for refugees and it would probably be good for the provinces as well. There are plenty of cities in NZ without a housing crisis. Auckland and Chch are out obviously, but there are many other places.
“Personally I think we could have helped thousands more people by helping build and resource refugee camps in Europe as opposed to bringing in a couple of hundred people into NZ”
No reason we can’t do both (assuming that our input in that is useful). Refugee camps should be interim measures. Utlimately the people in them are still going to need somewhere safe to live.
Not really. Just having a quick look at that link, there are 2.3M refugees and Germany is taking 10,000. The total places offered by all countries is 18,000. So when you talking about building camps, you are referring to permanent sites. We should be honest about that.
The numbers are enormous. And reading the background to why they have chosen to flee, many have nothing left in Syria – bombed out, no job. No hope.
Why would they leave in these huge numbers? The equation is simple – when you have nothing where you are and likely soon to have less, running away while you have strength is the best idea.
What about the refugees on our own doorstep? Those fcking ‘camps’ in Nauru and Manis Island need to go! We’re talking a handful of thousand at most. Split proportionately with Australia, NZ would likely be looking at less than 1000 people. But then, Syrians are de rigueur, yes?
As for refugees from Syria and elsewhere in Europe and the USA apparently not stepping up after they’ve, in some cases, bombed their countries back to the stone age, well…
Yeh, it was quite alright for many European countries to give the go ahead to America’s foreign policy in the middle east for years, now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Great to see the hard hitting journalism from our media on what the real cause of this crisis is… If the States/UK put as much money into humanitarian aid now as they did into bombs, problem solved.
So your strategy is an entirely short-term one, then.
Just help these 1,000 refugees (or however many there are), and when they get replaced by 10 times as many, what then?
I heard a snippet on the radio a week or two ago about Labor in Australia having to grit their teeth and agree with the government’s policy on boat people, because although they found the human rights angle of it abhorrent, it had actually stopped the boats from coming.
Not sure what the homophobia has to do with it. Yes, yes, I know you don’t hate gay people, but the use of the word ponce to describe Key merely adds to the idea that there is something wrong with being gay instead of a good bloke.
Both meanings here, although it’s saying a ponce is not a pimp in that they’re employed by the prostitute. Ponce meaning effeminate is classed as derogatory usage.
You’re welcome to ‘your’ implication Weka……if you care to pick up your dictionary you’ll find mine…..read “ponce”, then read “pimp”, then see how easily those terms extrapolate to “TPPA”.
In my view the Ponce Key is poncing and pimping New Zealand off to his foreign masters, oh…..and selected members of the Cabinet Club.
In any event, how possibly could a man who’s ‘besties’ with Richie suffer ‘your’ implication ?
The MV Rena caused our worst maritime environmental disaster when it ploughed into the Bay of Plenty’s Astrolabe Reef. Nearly four years later, a round of hearings – starting today – will determine whether it stays there.
Four years on, he believed it was essential that authorities and the shipping industry learn from an incident that cost the lives of at least 2400 birds and an estimated $1.2 million each day in local business losses over what was a ruined summer.
The penalty
Rena captain Mauro Balomaga and navigator Leonil Relon are jailed for seven months for offences including altering the ship’s documents.
Rena owners Daina Shipping are fined $300,000 in the Tauranga District Court for discharging harmful substances.
The Rena’s owners lodge a resource consent application to leave much of the ship.
Gosh it sounds like a slap on the wrist, – polluting pays in this country. There does not seem to be any audit on how much it cost the taxpayers to clean up the spill, all the reports, the council and legal cost, insurance costs, etc and the long term effects on the community as well as the costs to residents, (were they even compensated) and there is no remedy for the harm and death of the animals and environment at that time.
Meanwhile exploitation of oil into extreme situations in this country is still going on and if they spill or cause damage, clearly they do not have to worry about being held to account for the ‘$300k fine and jail for a few people (paid for by NZ taxpayer) for falsifying records.
Gosh it sounds like a slap on the wrist, – polluting pays in this country.
I guess a reader could come to that conclusion if they don’t realise you’ve left out the costs of the cleanup and the effect on the company’s insurance premiums.
I’m more worried about the victims – mums and Dads and the kids and the ocean and the wildlife in the community than a liberian flagged oil tankers increases in insurance.
By the sound of it the NZ army and community did most of the clean up. Why because they had too!
Also what about the effect on the NZ business premiums when all the Kiwi businesses were collectively losing 1.2million dollars a day?
Somehow all this corporate welfare does not seem to pay. The total cost will be massive to this country and the community but it is all swept under the table and the focus in environment court is, should the poor oil company be made to do a clean up or is it impossible?
If it is impossible to clean up then it speaks for itself, they and others are not held to account and also it occurred in 2011 so 4 years later the wreck is not gone from the ocean and Kiwis are having to fight to be rid of it.
…the focus in environment court is, should the poor oil company be made to do a clean up or is it impossible?
The shipping company has been made to do a clean-up, one that’s run to hundreds of millions of dollars. You may have noticed the news footage of floating cranes hauling up huge pieces of the wreck so they can be brought ashore. The focus in the Environment Court is on whether there’s any point in trying to recover the remaining parts of the ship that haven’t been removed because they’re stuck in the reef, given the risk to the lives of the divers involved, the technical difficulty of achieving success, the enormous cost involved and the mimimal benefit gained from the exercise.
But yeah, if the shipping company ignores the fact that it lost an expensive ship and a full load of cargo, then had to spend hundreds of millions removing the wreck, it could possibly come to the conclusion that “pollution pays.”
Yes but nothing for the community but $300,000 fine. What about all those businesses losing 1.2m a day and the loss of natural environment.
The fact is cost the business to pollute to clean up is not the point.
No real compensation has been made to the community when the oil spills.
Perhaps the company should have better ship and captain next time and not be complaining what it cost them when it is nothing compared to a minimum wage family who actually live there and have to bear the true cost of the negligence.
“This is the problem with the Red Peak or anything else, there will always be a range of views about whether to change and a range of views on what to go to, and that’s what makes the process immensely difficult,” John Key told TV3’s Paul Henry this morning.
After reading that, I have to admit to wrong thinking. I have always thought that Key used the “I can get you another opinion on that” as a way of not answering a question.
Now it is revealed. He has trouble dealing with more than one opinion at a time. This is why he needs a “focus group”- these groups help him to intellectually grasp the issues and enable him to focus enough to decide.
John Key has UFO, or Un-Focussed Opinions, a disorder which means that he exhibits the mental equivalent of verbalising “Woo Woo! Woo Woo!” until he gets a metaphorical cheek-slapping to help him choose.
This means that the country is eksshully run by people with enough reach to slap the PM’s face.
“Treasury has warned dairy prices may not rebound by as much as first thought, which could mean the Government’s books remain in deficit for three more years.
…
Some economists argue the Government should have a back-up plan if the economy stalls, which the Prime Minister has ruled out.”
Weaker dairy products in the first-half of August led the decline, with prices falling to their lowest level since mid-2004.”
Draco that was early August its now September, there have been two more auctions and as I correctly pointed out milk powder prices have increased around 30%. 19% in the first auction and 11% in the last auction. Do try and keep up old boy.
“My feeling is that we need to see less milk production to provide enough support for the market,” he said. “We have not got to a point of supply-demand balance yet,” he said. “This market has not turned around – it is still a bear market.”
“For now, the income they’re getting from Fonterra via the $3.85 milk price is still not a lot and it’s not going very far. Their cash flows are very tight and that will continue for most of the season,” Penny said.
He said there was some prospect of the price being lifted closer to $4.50 later on but that still meant farmers would be losing money.
“From here to get further gains we need to see a material slowing in New Zealand production and later on a material slowing in global production,” he said.
Yeah, I’d say that you’re still talking out your arse.
Sure, there’s been an increase in prices but it’s still below production costs and further increases are based upon global production decline. Personally, I expect the only real decline to come from NZ as the cheaper producers, i.e, everybody else, keep producing.
NZ’s dream of dairy heaven has come to an end but our farmers don’t want to hear that as it means that they’ve wasted billions building plant that is now worthless.
You can try to spin it any way you like Draco
All I said was prices have increased 30% from the low
I know farmers will be making a loss until global production falls
but that’s already happening.
Great Moments in Broadcasting No.1
Vileness live on air: Linda Clark and John Tamihere, 2005
This excruciating encounter happened on Radio NZ National back on Friday 16 September 2005, 9:20 a.m.
Looks like JOHN TAMIHERE is gonna be tipped out of his Tamaki Makaurau seat in favour of the Māori Party’s Pita Sharples. He discusses the situation with SEAN PLUNKET and LINDA CLARK….
JOHN TAMIHERE: It’s a tribute to the way the Maori Party has politicised our Maori education system.
SEAN PLUNKET: Are you conceding, John?
TAMIHERE: Oh, hey, it’s not over till the fat lady sings!
LINDA CLARK: Well that’s not me!
ALL: Ha ha ha ha ha!
PLUNKET: It’s not Linda, John! She’s not fat!
CLARK: If you hear me singing, you’re still okay!
PLUNKET: Well, whatever happens, John, you’ve got a GREAT career in broadcasting just waiting for you!
TAMIHERE: Yeah, if Willie Jackson can do it, anyone can.
CLARK: I’ve always got a slot here just waiting for you.
……[Protracted, stunned silence]…..
PLUNKET: Moving right along….
Transcribed by MORRISSEY BREEN for Radio Transcripts Ltd, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
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Subsidise their tobacco intake while they are on an effective (free) plan to quit. No reason this couldn’t come out of the health budget considering what smoking costs us all
“It is addictive but that doesn’t stop people from quitting.”
But the reasons why people smoke (or take any drug) might stop them from quitting. This isn’t just a question of will power or intention.
Most people working in the field accept that addiction has a physiological component, but also social and mental health components. We’re not just our nicotine receptors.
Not everyone has that degree of agency. What you are suggesting is akin to saying that poor people can really afford to feed their kids they’re just not looking at their life right. Or everyone can get a job if they try hard enough.
For some people, making the changes that would mean they didn’t need the support of a drug is beyond their capacity.
As far as smoking goes they do. It’s their decision to smoke.
What you are suggesting is akin to saying that poor people can really afford to feed their kids they’re just not looking at their life right. Or everyone can get a job if they try hard enough.
Not even close. The situations you mention there and smoking aren’t in any way comparable.
Tobacco is not that different from other drugs that are physically and psychologically different. Do you think that herion uses just decide to use and could just as easily decide to stop?
“The situations you mention there and smoking aren’t in any way comparable.”
They are in the way I compared them, whereby some of the people in all those situations don’t have the agency that you are claiming they do. For many people stopping smoking is a matter of will power (it was for me). For others it’s not that straightforward. You can’t take the addicted person out of their lives and it’s the lives that are going to largely determine if someone can stop or not. Even something simple as access to a stop smoking programme can make the difference. Not everyone has that.
But there are those that do and who are just too overloaded and stressed in their lives to successfully manage the intense process of getting off a drug and staying off (the second but is often the more difficult). It takes many factors lining up for that to work, and that’s not in the reach of some people. Which is why I relate it to other situations where people have things outside of their control that impact on them negatively.
but if those reasons exist because of things outside of their control, how can they remove them any easier than finding a non-existent job or not having enough money to feed their kids? Can’t say that too many other ways than I already have, so let’s try this. Evidence suggests that for some people addiction is not an issue of choice and that they need more than will power in order to stop using. That’s a pretty standard understanding within addiction support services, including smoking cessation.
Lebanese Communist Party members are taking up the fight against Islamic State and al-Nusra Front in the regions of the country affected by unrest in Syria by forming an ad hoc guerrilla group.
Fighters of the Lebanese Communist Party formed a guerrilla group to patrol the Beqaa Valley in the east of the country, RT’s Paula Slier reports.
Unfortunately, these people probably will be on the receiving end of Western bombs rather than getting help they need because they happen to be communists.
And people like you sitting there in your comfort telling them that they don’t and that they should all just run away aren’t helping them realise that agency.
I’m not telling them anything, you are the one doing that.
Re cigarettes, you can keep asserting personal choice all you like. You can also ignore the real life things that affect people’s addiction (eg poverty), but your ideas are in direct contradiction of the people who work with addiction recovery and the people who struggle with addiction they can’t overcome. You are making value judgements about people you don’t know and don’t appear to understand and from what I can tell those judgements are based on your personal experience of being able to quit smoking.
@MM
No, the point is that if they banded together and stood up for themselves they’d find that they could bring the conflict to an end and wouldn’t have to run away or get killed.
@ Draco:
“No, the point is that if they banded together and stood up for themselves they’d find that they could bring the conflict to an end and wouldn’t have to run away or get killed.”
But, in doing that, it is very likely that at least some of them will be killed.
There truly aren’t a huge number of people who are willing to put themselves in mortal danger in an attempt to change their government, without any real assurance that the new government or regime will be better than the one they’re wanting to change. That’s why dictators stay in power – theoretically you can’t stop a riot of 4M+ people (at least not forever), so the trick is to ensure one never starts.
Christ Draco, think about this a little, will you? If it was merely a case of will-power and decision making, then there would be no such thing as addiction!
Some people can smoke for 20 or 30 years and then just drop it. Same with drinking alcohol, sugar, heroin or whatever. Meanwhile, other struggle and some just can’t.
I don’t know all the factors that contribute to something being addictive, but it’s far more complex than everyone overcoming it with a simple “I’m not going to do this any more.”
Here’s a thought for you. I smoked for years. Tried will power and all the patches or what not. Couldn’t give up for any length of time. Always craving.
Sugar is addictive. I was brought up on a fairly sugary diet. Don’t touch the stuff.
So maybe addiction is a complex relationship between a given substance and a particular individual that follows no universal set of rules?
I don’t know all the factors that contribute to something being addictive, but it’s far more complex than everyone overcoming it with a simple “I’m not going to do this any more.”
No, actually, it’s not.
I tried to give up for years before I decided to just stop. Took me about 6 months to get over the craving for them but I didn’t have a smoke in that time and did get over it.
I found the difference was in mindset. Previously I had been trying to give up and failed at it whereas I when I quit I simply said no more.
So, you weren’t one of the people who could give it up at the drop of a hat. Some can. I think you’ve just reinforced my point that addiction is comprised from a broad spectrum of various interactions, and that we just don’t know what it comprises of or, obviously, all the things that can contribute to it.
So, you weren’t one of the people who could give it up at the drop of a hat.
No, I was – once I decided to actually stop.
I think you’ve just reinforced my point that addiction is comprised from a broad spectrum of various interactions, and that we just don’t know what it comprises of or, obviously, all the things that can contribute to it.
Nope, you’ve just proven that all you can do is make excuses rather than making up your mind.
Erm…not sure what you think I’m making excuses about. This is a conversation about the nature of addiction, yes? And whereas you say it’s a ‘one size fits all’ type of a thing, I’m saying it’s far more varied and nuanced than that.
Take nicotine – widely regarded as the most addictive substance out there.
Some people just stop, even after years of smoking, with no craving or withdrawal – nothing.
Some people smoke only when they’re having a social drink and don’t think twice about it otherwise.
Others smoke once or twice and are viciously hooked.
As far as I can see, you’re suggesting a world of humans as automata, where a simple ‘correct’ thought, thought with sufficient force, belief or conviction will produce a tidy, standard result.
But life – the hugely complex array of dynamic environmental interactions, of which our thoughts or emotions constitute only a small part, would suggest otherwise.
As far as I can see, you’re suggesting a world of humans as automata, where a simple ‘correct’ thought, thought with sufficient force, belief or conviction will produce a tidy, standard result.
Not a correct thought, no need for force or belief – just a decision to be made.
And of course the result will be standard. We’re talking about giving up smoking with the only two possible results being either that a person continues smoking or that they don’t.
But life – the hugely complex array of dynamic environmental interactions, of which our thoughts or emotions constitute only a small part, would suggest otherwise.
And you can either wait around till all those complexities are resolved (ie, never) or make the decision to stop smoking now thus resolving one of those complexities. Your like a RWNJ demanding that everything be proven to work perfectly before it be put in place.
There’s absolutely nothing in anything I’ve said that could reasonably be taken as a flat out rejection of some-one ‘making a decision’ being a possible way out of addiction. (The ‘at the drop of a hat’ quitters being the most obvious opposite to what you’d like to claim I’ve said.)
A mere ‘decision’ doesn’t work for everyone though.
I just can’t see what’s either right wing or nutty about that observation.
But since you want to insist that there’s ‘only one way’ and anyone failing is, presumably, just not making the decision in ‘the proper manner’ ie, so as to make it conducive to the ‘only one way’, then…well, bang away on your drum, eh?
True, and I would add that the people who actually work in the field, including addicts themselves, do have a pretty good idea of the range of things that work and don’t work. I agree that’s not complete knowledge, but it’s clear that for some people will power is not enough, they need other things to be in place and not all of those things are within their control. When those things are in place, some of those people are able to stop.
Draco is essentially correct in that the reason for the increasing pricing/taxation on tobacco is that this has been the easiest and most effective way that the health authorities and government have found to discourage smoking.
I don’t doubt that this is one of the reasons for it these days.
However, I also recall that the cost of NZ1’s free healthcare for preschoolers after the 1996 election was also astonishing similar to the extra revenue gathered by the excise increase in the next budget. And it was several years before the government offered even token quit support for free.
There were a few years where excise increases were basically the government shaking down addicts for cash without helping them quit.
but tobacco is one of the topics that makes me a tad… irritated and ranty 🙂
I think i remember some data to suggest the government takes in considerably more revenue from tobacco they they spend on its downstream health effects.
i’ve always thought the most sensible way to deal with it is to progressively raise the age of sale and supply as from a health perspective you want people to never start a habit with it rather than trying to stop a habit and treat the consequences.
On another note did you see this story (the comments read like some of the threads on here)
It’s a natural consequence of the increasingly authoritarian approach that governments and health authorities are taking in regards to vaccination. There are other ways this could be managed.
“i’ve always thought the most sensible way to deal with it is to progressively raise the age of sale and supply as from a health perspective you want people to never start a habit with it rather than trying to stop a habit and treat the consequences.”
I started smoking at 15 by stealing smokes from my parents 😉 I guess once the buying age was inline with alcohol it would be easier to control because there’s already an ID/age system in place. Still, we’re never going to get around teens having older friends/siblings who supply.
Lolz, I stole cigarettes from parents. Having the buying age at 45 will just encourage teens to be more creative in accessing their supply.
I think raising the age to 20 is a good idea (and alcohol should have been left there), but I suspect that beyond that there will be resistance from the public who generally believe that all adults are allowed to make the same kinds of decisions.
I don’t know if nsd was suggesting raising the age to 75.
He said:
“i’ve always thought the most sensible way to deal with it is to progressively raise the age of sale and supply as from a health perspective you want people to never start a habit with it rather than trying to stop a habit and treat the consequences.”
To me, that means raise the age of buying them by 1 year every year. Or at least a large amount, and keep it going up-up-up and not stop at some arbitrary and ineffective age like 20 or 21.
Yes, you stole cigarettes from parents. But eventually, with such strict controls on availability, kids just won’t be interested in smoking, especially when it’s something “only people over the age of 40” do…
I didn’t read it that way. I took it to mean we really want to stop young adults from starting, because that’s the most at risk group in terms of uptake.
I’d love to see the govt that would try and tell a 45 yr old or a 60 yr old that they’re not allowed to buy cigarettes 😉
@weka: well the idea is to raise the age 1 year for every year.
So there will never be a case of someone who used to be able to buy cigarettes, losing the right.
Instead, people who havn’t ever been legally allowed to buy them because they were too young, would never be legally allowed to buy them because the age of purchase would rise by 1 year each year.
Actually the way this would be implemented, would just be to say “no one born after the year 2000 is legally allowed to buy cigarettes”.
since they cut my hours at the same time the revenue went up – either begining of the year or last year sometime. It wasn’t a big milestone, just the frequency got less and less until it’s practically nil. Maybe had a cigar on my birthday.
Funnily enough, I expected at least some general improvement in lifestyle, but allergies mean my sense of taste is dulled anyway, and even the coughing after a night on the piss seems to be caused by alcohol because it still happens. I always figured it was smoking too much, but nope, it’s something else I do at parties. The only thing now is that my mouth doesn’t taste like an ashtray so much the next morning – but I seem to be more aware of the beer/whiskey coming out of my pores.
All a bit meh, really. I feel like I bought one of those amazing mattresses from the ads where everyone snaps awake to jump up and smile like maniacs, whereas I still wake up as grumpy as ever, lol
My personal experience is that if you are 40+ and feeling less than sparkling, nothing even comes close to the positive change that locking in 30 min’s of sweat 6 days a week makes…
I think I’ve mentioned just today that I like to smoke, drink, and eat.
Those are the choices I make. My body is a temple, but I worship Dionysis.
As for exercise, it’s a bit like masturbation: most people do it to some degree but good taste suggests that it should not really be discussed, let alone performed, in public.
Although if people want to go to private clubs and exercise with each other, that’s their business.
Putting up taxes punished people with addiction and has only led to a burgeoning market for home grown and cured tobacco. Subsidised pharmaceutical products simply do not work for many, many smokers.
Meanwhile, I’ve yet to meet a smoker who took up vaping who hasn’t cut their tobacco intake substantially or completely.
Vapourising nicotine laced vegetable glycerine at around 30 or 40 degrees might not be entirely safe, but is certainly safer than tobacco, only costs a couple of dollars a week and, unlike patches, gum or pills, actually works in either cutting back nicotine intake or eliminating it altogether.
But then, the pharmaceutical companies don’t get all those public subsidies for their less than effective products. And that’s a bad thing.
Maybe ‘someone’ should fund studies that routinely or recklessly ‘dry burn’ vaporisers and then measure the toxins that come from scorched wicks and burned coils as a way to claim that vaping exposes users to all types of shit like formaldehyde and what have you? Oh, hang on. Already doing that! 😉
Of course it’s the objective. A fiscal incentive to quit.
The point is, the hardcore addict has no intention to quit, regardless the cost.
For example, my uncle had emphysema, yet was still smoking on his deathbed.
Ones I’ve spoken too merely redirect their expenditure, cutting out other consumer goods and services, negatively impacting on the return of other businesses and service providers.
The real concern is, how is it impacting on the hardcore smoking poor?
I get pissed off every doctor’s visit when he has to rehash the lifestyle questions for the DHB, and is always pleased to find I no longer smoke. Sadly it’s moved out of my fiscal reach, and sanctimonious pricks think this is a good thing.
I liked it. I liked the variety, I liked the rituals, and I liked the excuse to just sit in the garden for an hour. And I liked the fact that I was saving the country money.
Nope its not time to change it , unless you can prove that the expense has had no effect on young people taking up smoking. We have to break the cycle somehow . BTW I smoked for 17 years
However, the board has now placed an outright interim ban on the book after Family First asked for a review, objecting to the book’s sex scenes, offensive language and references to drug-taking.
Mr Dawe said he was very bitter about the latest turn of events.
“The idea that some Christian group can bring about the banning of a book seems to me a hideously unfair situation and something of a miscarriage of justice.”
The book was trying to reach out to teenagers and young people who would not normally read, he said.
This obviously falls into the teaching children anything other than Christianity and is thus evil category.
Personally, I’d call Family First an Anti-Christian group. I certainly haven’t seen them act in any way that could be considered Christian.
Bob McKroskie has managed to get an interim ban for a teenage novel “Into the River”.
According to stuff.co.nz:
“…Conservative lobbying group Family First, who pushed for the review and an R18 restriction, applauded the decision.
“We’ve empowered parents to start expressing their concerns about books more,” leader Bob McCoskrie said. “We believe the censor is out of touch with material parents don’t want their kids to be reading.”
McCoskrie supported a wider move to a film-like sticker rating system for books.
“We do it for movies so why not books? I think to be honest parents expect this to be happening.”
“These books can exert a significant influence. We just think its about age appropriateness.”
Family First claim the censor has received over 400 letters from concerned parents….”
I’m assuming the majority of those letters were the result of a campaign by Family First, and will either be from members or sympathisers, rather than genuine self-initiated complaints.
Books have the rare ability to enable you to process on an intimate level, the lives and experiences of someone else (fictional character or real person).
As an avid reader throughout my childhood and teenage years, my exposure to dark themes and violence was tempered by my lack of taste for such stories, but also by my ability to pace them at a speed that I could absorb, and to also skip passages that were too emotionally fraught. (Didn’t do that very often that I could recall, but I always had that option).
I’ve unfortunately met adults who can’t even discuss the straightforward and trite themes of Harry Potter, let alone countenance the Hunger Games. But stories are a great way of introducing people to diversity of thought, action and opinion.
And our reading public is one shade paler today by the loss of this NZ Post Children’s Book Award’s 2013 winner.
(I’m going have to consider buying one on Kindle now, just in protest even though it is not on my list of books to buy.)
Todd Muller - National Party MPTodd Muller’s shock resignation today really only points to one possible conclusion; there’s further damning evidence linking him directly to National’s latest dirty political episode that will likely be unearthed during an official inquiry.Obviously Muller being directly involved in the leaking of COVID-19 patient’s private ...
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On Twitter today, lawyer Felix Geiringer asked a good question: why are MP's exempt from the Privacy Act? The Act imposes its obligations on "agencies", and s8 of the 2020 Act states that this term does not include... a member of Parliament in their official capacity The 1993 Act, ...
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The Government is pleased to confirm funding for improvements to radiology and surgical services at Hawke's Bay DHB, Health Minister Chris Hipkins says. "The Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson and former Health Minister Dr David Clark approved funding for Hawke's Bay DHB’s redevelopment of their radiology facilities ...
• New funding for four beds at Napier’s Springhill Residential Addiction Centre • A new managed withdrawal home and community service, and peer support before and after residential care at Tairāwhiti DHB • A co-ordinated network of withdrawal management services throughout the South Island • Peer support in Rotorua and ...
Introduction, seafarers and POAL Good morning everyone, I am delighted to be online with you all today. Before I begin, I have to acknowledge that COVID-19 has disrupted the maritime sector on an unprecedented scale. The work of seafarers and the maritime industry is keeping many economies around the world ...
A $13 million investment from Government will create jobs and improve the resilience of the rail connection between Christchurch and the West Coast, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones and Regional Economic Development Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau say. The funding comes from the tagged contingency set aside in Budget 2020 for infrastructure projects ...
The Government is investing $761 million to assist local government upgrade under-pressure water services across the country, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The announcement was made at the site of the water bore that was found to be the source of the fatal ...
Recognised Seasonal Employers and migrant seasonal workers stranded in New Zealand will be able to continue working and supporting themselves with more flexible hours and roles, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. The time-limited visa changes are: Stranded RSE workers will be able to work part-time (a minimum of 15 hours ...
The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...
Professor Peter Skelton CNZM has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner and Alternate Environment Court Judge Craig James Thompson as Deputy Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Freshwater Planning Process (FPP). Environment Minister David Parker today also announced the appointment of Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook as the ...
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Neil Campbell has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Campbell graduated with a BCom and LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1992. He spent two years with Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland before travelling to the United ...
The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to better enable the development and operation of commercial film and video facilities in Christchurch. The Proposal, developed by Regenerate Christchurch in response to a request from Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section ...
The Government has launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today released Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential, a 10-year roadmap to unlock greater value ...
A new approach to prevent family harm that encourages greater collaboration across government and community groups is being celebrated at the opening of a new facility in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today opened the Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm Prevention Hub Te Taanga Manawa in Lambie Road in Manukau. The facility ...
The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. “That decision needs to be informed by policy analysis that is still to be completed. As a result it will be up to a ...
The history of Rāpaki is being restored through the inclusion of te reo in thirteen official place names on Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula and around Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, the Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, announced today. “I am pleased to approve the proposals from Te Hapū o Ngāti ...
Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan Woods. “Last week Air Commodore Darryn Webb and I ...
Grant Robertson has today announced the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. “Today we’re setting out how $80 million will be invested, with $54 million of that over the 2020/2021 financial year for organisations from community level through to elite ...
The Government is maintaining current levy rates for the next 2 years, as part of a set of changes to help ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 providing certainty for businesses and New Zealanders, ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “New Zealanders and businesses are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a ...
The rich become that way because they work hard to provide the everyday things that our nation needs. So runs the story that underpins the economic system we live under. Its something that is so taken for granted, it often goes uncommented upon. It seems ...
In every discussion about who could lead the National Party since John Key resigned in 2016, one name has always figured high in speculation: Judith Collins.The controversial yet popular MP for Papakura has put her name forward twice – losing to Bill English and Simon Bridges. Since then, Collins has ...
Maternal mental health is far more complex than most realise, and for many women,problems start well before the baby is born. Here, four women share their experiences of perinatal distress – and how to get through it. Josie Gritten has three littlies and she is a perpetual motion machine, a superwoman. One ...
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger says the National Party needs to choose a new leader who is bold enough to talk publicly about tax increases and New Zealand's post-Covid economic future. ...
At last Pretty Penny has met its judicial fate and been sent packing from New Zealand. Debtfix co-founder, Christine Liggins says; “Far from ‘helping everyday people’ as their tagline states, Pretty Penny was a thorn in the side of those who deal with ...
Analysis - The National Party has been thrown into utter confusion by Todd Muller's resignation and now the caucus has to find someone prepared to take a hospital pass, writes Peter Wilson. ...
“The Council has been using the water crisis as an excuse to prime Auckland ratepayers for a painful 3.5% increase in rates. Supposedly, the crisis has introduced $239 million in new costs.” “However, the Government has now announced $196 million ...
Todd Muller's resignation now puts Jacinda Ardern in the awkward position of having to say what she really, really wants to do with her second term. Bernard Hickey analyses her choices. Jacinda Ardern is reputed to have played a few Spice Girls tracks as a DJ at the Morrinsville College after-ball ...
Latest from the Beehive – While National’s Todd Muller was thinking hard about his future as leader, the government was getting on with the job of governing and redistributing taxpayers’ money. At least, we presume that’s what Muller was doing . He was also giving a highly instructive lesson in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Massey University And then there was none. Early this morning the National Party caucus awoke to a nightmare. Todd Muller, their newly minted leader of some 53 days, had resigned his position. This is not just another ...
After Todd Muller’s shock resignation, a crushing electoral defeat for National looks all but assured. But is a historically weak opposition really something for the left to celebrate, asks Danyl Mclauchlan. It probably doesn’t matter who takes over as leader of the National Party. Todd Muller’s sudden resignation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Audrey Courty, PhD candidate, School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University Amid claims of social media platforms stifling free speech, a new challenger called Parler is drawingattention for its anti-censorship stance. Last week, Harper’s Magazine published an open letter ...
So is the election now a foregone conclusion? With Jacindamania still raging, and the National Party shattered by its own shambolic performance, it looks like a walk in the park for the Labour Party and its coalition partners. Certainly NZ First leader Winston Peters wasn’t slow to rub salt into ...
Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas reel at the announcement that Todd Muller has resigned as leader of the opposition. At 7.30am, just 53 days after he replaced Simon Bridges as leader of the National Party, Todd Muller announced his immediate resignation from the job.How did it come to this, ...
The Minister of Immigration has dropped another bombshell today relating to temporary visa holders and their families, says Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment (NZAMI). Having granted an automatic six-month extension ...
A success story of the New Zealand Made Products Facebook page, this Christchurch start-up has grown from a backyard workshop to a centre for sustainable architecture and building all in the space of a few months.Two Christchurch guys needed a table for their flat. So they built one out of ...
Power Play - Who will seize the day now National is a party looking for a leader? RNZ political editor Jane Patterson takes a look at a party that was supposed to be settling in to fight its election campaign. ...
An announcement today that three Police raids of firearm licence holders following the Christchurch Mosque shootings were illegal, raises questions about Police over-reacting to what people say on social media, according to the Council of Licenced Firearms ...
Just over seven weeks after he rolled Simon Bridges to become leader of the opposition, and with under 10 weeks to go to the election, Todd Muller has quit. Here’s a reminder of how it unfurled – and unravelled.May 21A Colmar Brunton poll for TVNZ puts National at 29%. It’s ...
Todd Muller's stint as National leader has been cut short by a commendable decision to put his own wellbeing first - but now the party must try to find a path forward to September 19 For all that National’s critics claimed to predict it, the news was a shock. Just ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found three searches conducted by Police following the 15 March Mosque attacks were unlawful. Following the attacks, Police identified people of interest to national security and set up an operation aimed ...
CEAC want Gov’t to protect communities using ‘OECD/WHO/EU standards traffic noise for residential traffic noise Confirmation of reports to urban residents both from NZTA/Transit-NZ acoustical consultants have since 2001 warned residents that ...
“What a mess” said Hannah Tamaki. “Todd Muller’s resignation this morning is a further indication of the insidious problems hidden in the belly of New Zealand politics. With all three major political parties under investigation by the Serious ...
A recent media story highlighting the fact that a convicted paedophile has worked on a popular New Zealand children’s tv show reveals the serious inadequacies of current legislation which is supposed to protect our children, according to Safeguarding ...
The country's electoral donation laws are being questioned with a third major political party now the subject of a Serious Fraud Office investigation. ...
Mistrust in the government and generational trauma mean Māori communities are more at risk of falling victim to conspiracies relating to the 5G spectrum. Alice Webb-Liddall finds out what needs to be done to combat this dangerous misinformation.The real danger of conspiracy theories can sometimes be hard to grasp. When ...
Nearly two months ago Todd Muller stepped up to wrestle the leadership of the National Party from Simon Bridges, he won. But after just 53 days, he has resigned. Here's a quick look at his background. ...
Greenpeace NZ is challenging Coca Cola to face up to its embarrassing contribution to ocean pollution for Plastic Free July. Coca Cola Amatil floods NZ with hundreds of millions of plastic bottles annually - the majority of which end up in landfill ...
With just over two months to go before the election, National suddenly, shockingly finds itself in need of a new leader. Who are the potential candidates?Late leadership changes before an election aren’t unheard of in politics. The current prime minister is living proof of that, taking over from Andrew Little ...
Source: Statement by Todd Muller – New Zealand National Party I have taken time over the weekend to reflect on my experience over the last several weeks as Leader of the Opposition. It has become clear to me that I am not the best person to be Leader of the Opposition ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Audrey Courty, PhD candidate, School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University Amid claims of social media platforms stifling free speech, a new challenger called Parler is drawingattention for its anti-censorship stance. Last week, Harper’s Magazine published an open letter ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Hocking, Emeritus Professor, Monash University Forty-five years after they were written, hundreds of previously secret letters between the queen and the governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr, relating to the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 will be released in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thea van de Mortel, Professor, Nursing and Deputy Head (Learn & Teaching), School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University The recent lockdown of nine social housing towers in Melbourne’s north to contain the spread of COVID-19 led to widespread concerns for residents’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesco Paolucci, Associate Professor of Health Economics, University of Bologna, and Professor of Health Economics, University of Newcastle Australia has fared better than most countries in reducing its COVID-19 cases to very low numbers. However, on June 15, new clusters of infection ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Burke, Associate Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Putting a price on carbon should reduce emissions, because it makes dirty production processes more expensive than clean ones, right? That’s the economic theory. Stated baldly, it’s obvious, but there ...
Politics editor Justin Giovannetti reports from Wellington.National Party leader Todd Muller has resigned citing health reasons, only 53 days after he rolled Simon Bridges to take over the largest party in New Zealand’s parliament. The next general election is in 66 days.Muller’s short leadership was marked by disarray within the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona David, Visiting Fellow, University of Western Australia In previous recessions in Australia, far larger numbers of men than women lost their jobs. This reflected realities at that time. Men had higher levels of workforce participation than women, and the construction and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon O’Connor, Associate Professor in American Politics at the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney Curtis Sittenfeld has a knack of putting her readers in uncomfortable places in her fiction. In her short story Gender Studies she puts you in the ...
After just over a month in the job, National leader Todd Muller has stepped aside National leader Todd Muller has resigned from the role a little over a month after deposing Simon Bridges, citing the heavy toll the job has taken on him and his family. In a brief statement, ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Serious Fraud Office announces investigation into donations made to Labour, deportations from Australia to resume, and retail businesses up against it on rent.In a short statement released yesterday afternoon, the Serious Fraud Office made it clear that donations to the ...
The 2020 longlist for the APRA Silver Scroll Awards – New Zealand’s premiere songwriting awards – have just been announced. Here’s the full list of the 20 finalists, with the songs themselves to listen to.This morning saw the announcement of the longlist for the APRA Silver Scroll, New Zealand’s most ...
It was claimed as a win but last week’s court decision on tahr control was mostly legal shots thumping harmlessly into a wall. David Williams reports ANALYSIS: Last Friday, hunting groups welcomed a “landmark” High Court decision, “halting” a controversial plan to “exterminate” all tahr in national parks and sharply ...
Dr Neal Curtis explains why we shouldn't simply dismiss people trying to resist discrimination by calling them anti-democratic You may have heard a lot about ‘cancel culture’ recently, not least because of the 150 signatories to the Harper’s Magazine letter last week that supposedly cancelled cancel culture. ‘Cancelling’ is a ...
The closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter has left the door open for another electricity-intensive project to take its place at the south tip of the South Island. ...
A complaint has been made to the Department of Internal Affairs against a book of short stories How do you know you’ve “made it” as a writer? Is it, as one friend recently commented on a photo of me holding my new book, when Facebook refuses to allow you to ...
Terminally ill man Stuart Armstrong responds to a first-person piece on assisted dying Newsroom ran last week, arguing people should have the option to choose a death that reflects their life and beliefs This week Serena Jones wrote an article describing her position on the upcoming referendum on the End ...
What New Zealand must do to play virtual host to APEC next year is something perhaps never attempted before. The rewards could be big. Virtual hosting of 2021 APEC: a rewarding challenge for NZ New Zealand’s confirmation that it will proceed with hosting APEC in 2021, using virtual digital platforms, ...
A major infrastructure announcement by the National Party slated to take place today needs to defy stereotypes about what they are all about. COMMENT: It didn't take a genius to realise that a major infrastructure announcement down south by the National Party would turn out to be a road of ...
LISTEN: In our podcast, A Neesh Audience, Black Cap Jimmy Neesham talks to playmakers who'll be part of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand. In this episode, he chats with White Ferns captain Sophie Devine. Sophie Devine has been on a roll of late. Whether it be ...
There’s concern the Department of Conservation’s assessment of proposed changes to a yet-to-be-constructed hydro scheme underestimates their potential impact A West Coast small hydro scheme’s proposed new pipeline path could require over 1000 native trees be felled on public conservation land. What was supposed to be a thin pipe lying on top ...
If there’s any time for ambitious, agenda-setting policy ideas, it’s now, write Max Harris and Laura O’Connell Rapira. Here are seven suggestions that might just transform New Zealand for the better.In a pre-budget speech, finance minister Grant Robertson said it was time to “address long-term issues”, but then when the ...
The SpinoffBy Max Harris and Laura O'Connell Rapira
St John Ambulance is paying wages on borrowed money - and that can't keep happening. Most people would say there are three branches of emergency services in New Zealand: police, fire, and ambulance. Police are fully funded by the government. Fire and Emergency New Zealand is funded through an ...
By Jimmy Kalebe in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea police have intercepted and confiscated almost K200,000 (about NZ$90,000) in K2 and K5 notes hidden in a container on a ship which arrived at the Lae wharf in a suspected money laundering case. The cash, packed into three boxes inside the ...
National MP Amy Adams has apologised for wrongly claiming one of her party's candidates is Chinese. Catherine Chu was born and raised in Christchurch and her parents are from South Korea. ...
National MP Amy Adams has apologised for wrongly claiming one of her party's candidates is Chinese. Catherine Chu was born and raised in Christchurch and her parents are from South Korea. ...
Pacific Media Watch Host Oscar Perress talked to contributing editor of Pacific Media Watch Sri Krishnamurthi today about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s government rejecting a licence for the country’s biggest radio and TV network ABS-CBN. Its 25-year-old franchise expired in May but the majority of legislators refused to renew in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Jensen, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra “Fake news” is not just a problem of misleading or false claims on fringe websites, it is increasingly filtering into the mainstream and has the potential to be ...
Around the world, western governments are re-calibrating their foreign policy, strategic and economic settings to China. Tomorrow the British Cabinet will review and probably revoke an earlier decision to allow Huawei Technologies Co into the next 5G network over security concerns. NZ and Australia have already taken this step. Over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Becky Freeman, Senior Research Fellow, University of Sydney From next year, access to e-cigarettes and related products containing liquid nicotine will require a doctor’s prescription. This is to ensure liquid nicotine is handled like the poisonous, addictive substance it is and not ...
The new TVNZ On Demand political comedy relies on great performances to paper over a wafer-thin story, writes Jean Sergent.The set-up is simple: Darren Bellows (Tom Sainsbury), a Colin Craig-esque political loser, is being blackmailed by his dominatrix (Kathleen Burns). The stakes are high for Darren as the leader of ...
One in eight retail businesses are struggling to negotiate rent relief and want government-assisted arbitration to help them resolve their plight, a survey shows. ...
Open mike 07/09/2015 
Open mike is your post.
Todd Muller - National Party MPTodd Muller’s shock resignation today really only points to one possible conclusion; there’s further damning evidence linking him directly to National’s latest dirty political episode that will likely be unearthed during an official inquiry.Obviously Muller being directly involved in the leaking of COVID-19 patient’s private ...2 hours ago
Ten days ago we learned that the Australian government was attempting to prosecute Australian journalists for exposing Australian war crimes in Afghanisatan. Meanwhile, today we have news of another war crime - a massacre of civilians by Australian special forces: Australian special forces killed up to 10 unarmed Afghan civilians ...4 hours ago
. . The last 24 hours in Aotearoa’s New Zealand’s politics has provided more drama than a week’s worth of “Shortie Street” episodes combined and binge-watched. It began approximately around 5.30 last night (7 July) with a disclosure by Clutha-Southland MP, Hamish Walker that he had leaked a list of ...7 hours ago
Read our latest newsletter here ...24 hours ago
Dr Kim Handley, University of Auckland Just how do cyanobacteria live in their natural habitat, and how do they coexist with other bacteria and microbial life forms? And what difference will knowledge on this bacteria have on maintaining New Zealand’s water quality? One of the consequences of declining water quality ...1 day ago
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Global temperatures could exceed crucial 1.5 C target in the next five years In this aerial view ...1 day ago
National has a problem. And it’s time they said it out loud. It can’t be dismissed as a one-off anymore or excused because ‘everyone does it’. No, it cuts deeper than that. National has an ethics problem. Especially when it comes to privacy and using ordinary people as pawns in ...2 days ago
The Council of Disobedient Women There is a regular segment in the Speak Up For Women podcasts called “Absolutely Blasted Mad Moment of the Week”. Each podcast the speaker and the host discuss a recent event that is the most insane thing they have seen in the gender critical space ...3 days ago
MONDAY JULY 13Bodyguard (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). It's the final; if you haven't seen this already on Netflix, get ready, the ending is batshit.Unforgotten (Vibe, Sky 006, 8.30pm). I wonder if Sanjeev Bhasksar's character has got rid of that damn backpack in the third season of this cold case drama? Although, come ...3 days ago
Simon Bridges must be the unluckiest person in New Zealand politics. When he was elected as leader of the National party, he also became Leader of the Opposition – a position, he was entitled to assume, that would require him to “oppose”. But the government he set out to oppose ...3 days ago
Check out Speak Up For Women’s new podcasts: Episode 3 In this episode Speak Up For Women spokeswoman Ani O’Brien (@aniobrien) is joined by Beth Johnson (@beth_nosnhoj) to discuss the proposal from Statistics NZ to change standard data collection policy to “gender by default” rather than sex. They discuss why the ...4 days ago
Transcript: National Party policy announcement on roads – 8 July, 2020 Muller: Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming. Reporter 1: Is Hamish Walker a racist? Muller: Hang on… you haven’t even said good afternoon to me yet. Reporter 1: Good afternoon Mr Muller. Is Hamish Walker a racist? ...4 days ago
Today’s content Tiwai Point to close Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Government subsidising practically everything plays hardball with Rio Tinto (paywalled) Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Sudden closure of aluminium smelter worst outcome for jobs, consumers and the environment Brian Fallow (Herald): Tiwai closure sad news – and an opportunity for the environment (paywalled) Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Rio ...4 days ago
Reprehensible: There is much that could be said about Michael Woodhouse, but what would be the point? Any man who willingly involves himself in a situation as reprehensible as the one depicted in the above photograph has already vouchsafed all that decent people need to know about his character. That there have ...4 days ago
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...6 days ago
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters acknowledged today the heavy price of trying to lead the National Party today. ‘One’s sympathy goes out to Todd Muller and his family. Todd is a good man, unlike most of his colleagues he does ...6 hours ago
We're keeping New Zealand moving, one progress-packed week at a time. Read below to find out how we're creating jobs, protecting the environment, looking out for the health of New Zealanders', and upgrading our critical infrastructure - and that's only this week. ...1 day ago
The Green Party is today unveiling part one of its plan for a fossil-fuel free Aotearoa, including an immediate ban on new industrial coal boilers. ...2 days ago
A package of wellbeing infrastructure investments in Kaipara which focuses on improving the lives of the elderly and upgrading the iconic Kauri Museum has been announced by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones today. “These shovel-ready projects will have significant benefits for their respective communities and I’m pleased this funding ...5 hours ago
The rich become that way because they work hard to provide the everyday things that our nation needs. So runs the story that underpins the economic system we live under. Its something that is so taken for granted, it often goes uncommented upon. It seems ...27 mins ago
In every discussion about who could lead the National Party since John Key resigned in 2016, one name has always figured high in speculation: Judith Collins.The controversial yet popular MP for Papakura has put her name forward twice – losing to Bill English and Simon Bridges. Since then, Collins has ...32 mins ago
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger says the National Party needs to choose a new leader who is bold enough to talk publicly about tax increases and New Zealand's post-Covid economic future. ...1 hour ago
Todd Muller's resignation now puts Jacinda Ardern in the awkward position of having to say what she really, really wants to do with her second term. Bernard Hickey analyses her choices. Jacinda Ardern is reputed to have played a few Spice Girls tracks as a DJ at the Morrinsville College after-ball ...2 hours ago
Latest from the Beehive – While National’s Todd Muller was thinking hard about his future as leader, the government was getting on with the job of governing and redistributing taxpayers’ money. At least, we presume that’s what Muller was doing . He was also giving a highly instructive lesson in ...3 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Massey University And then there was none. Early this morning the National Party caucus awoke to a nightmare. Todd Muller, their newly minted leader of some 53 days, had resigned his position. This is not just another ...3 hours ago
So is the election now a foregone conclusion? With Jacindamania still raging, and the National Party shattered by its own shambolic performance, it looks like a walk in the park for the Labour Party and its coalition partners. Certainly NZ First leader Winston Peters wasn’t slow to rub salt into ...3 hours ago
Todd Muller's stint as National leader has been cut short by a commendable decision to put his own wellbeing first - but now the party must try to find a path forward to September 19 For all that National’s critics claimed to predict it, the news was a shock. Just ...5 hours ago
Queenstown rents fall at double digit rates in May and June. Nasdaq hits fresh record high as Tesla surges. UK set to ban Huawei from 5G rollout ...8 hours ago
After just over a month in the job, National leader Todd Muller has stepped aside National leader Todd Muller has resigned from the role a little over a month after deposing Simon Bridges, citing the heavy toll the job has taken on him and his family. In a brief statement, ...8 hours ago
It was claimed as a win but last week’s court decision on tahr control was mostly legal shots thumping harmlessly into a wall. David Williams reports ANALYSIS: Last Friday, hunting groups welcomed a “landmark” High Court decision, “halting” a controversial plan to “exterminate” all tahr in national parks and sharply ...9 hours ago
NZ should be "in lockstep" with Five Eyes partners over national security law, Simon Bridges says. ...10 hours ago
Dr Neal Curtis explains why we shouldn't simply dismiss people trying to resist discrimination by calling them anti-democratic You may have heard a lot about ‘cancel culture’ recently, not least because of the 150 signatories to the Harper’s Magazine letter last week that supposedly cancelled cancel culture. ‘Cancelling’ is a ...10 hours ago
The closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter has left the door open for another electricity-intensive project to take its place at the south tip of the South Island. ...10 hours ago
A complaint has been made to the Department of Internal Affairs against a book of short stories How do you know you’ve “made it” as a writer? Is it, as one friend recently commented on a photo of me holding my new book, when Facebook refuses to allow you to ...10 hours ago
Terminally ill man Stuart Armstrong responds to a first-person piece on assisted dying Newsroom ran last week, arguing people should have the option to choose a death that reflects their life and beliefs This week Serena Jones wrote an article describing her position on the upcoming referendum on the End ...10 hours ago
What New Zealand must do to play virtual host to APEC next year is something perhaps never attempted before. The rewards could be big. Virtual hosting of 2021 APEC: a rewarding challenge for NZ New Zealand’s confirmation that it will proceed with hosting APEC in 2021, using virtual digital platforms, ...10 hours ago
A major infrastructure announcement by the National Party slated to take place today needs to defy stereotypes about what they are all about. COMMENT: It didn't take a genius to realise that a major infrastructure announcement down south by the National Party would turn out to be a road of ...10 hours ago
LISTEN: In our podcast, A Neesh Audience, Black Cap Jimmy Neesham talks to playmakers who'll be part of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand. In this episode, he chats with White Ferns captain Sophie Devine. Sophie Devine has been on a roll of late. Whether it be ...10 hours ago
There’s concern the Department of Conservation’s assessment of proposed changes to a yet-to-be-constructed hydro scheme underestimates their potential impact A West Coast small hydro scheme’s proposed new pipeline path could require over 1000 native trees be felled on public conservation land. What was supposed to be a thin pipe lying on top ...10 hours ago
St John Ambulance is paying wages on borrowed money - and that can't keep happening. Most people would say there are three branches of emergency services in New Zealand: police, fire, and ambulance. Police are fully funded by the government. Fire and Emergency New Zealand is funded through an ...10 hours ago
The election of Ireland's ‘Prudent Paschal’ to head the Eurogroup is the worst possible start for Germany’s turn at the presidency of the EU. ...21 hours ago
Trev’ in the Herald……
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11508899
Wow ! Crosby Textor must be only a few stitches away from completing the Ponce Key’s new crimplene ‘strutting’ suit, his ‘preening’ suit.
Rejoice Rejoice !……All Praise to the Ponce Key !……World-Famous-In-Parnell-Friend-Of-Humanity !
Truly……this is Nobel stuff.
Says it all…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news-cartoons/news/article.cfm?c_id=500814&objectid=11508840
As does this…..
https://mobile.twitter.com/domesticanimal/status/640266917215731712/photo/1
Both cartoons point out the utter lack of morals that this current government has.
It see morality as one more tool in it’s box of dirty tricks, with which to hold onto power.
Nor as a guiding principles, or values – but simple one more thing, to be manipulated for the sake of power.
The Guardian on the UK Labour Party….
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/06/labour-moderates-leadership-jeremy-corbyn-tony-blair
Could this comment be equally descriptive of NZ Labour?…
“….they became trapped in a technocratic, desiccated, uninspirational account of social democracy that is hopeless at making emotional connections with people.”
Clayton’s flag choice and the All Blacks fouls:
“Key’s close personal friend McCaw has recently committed a foul by entering into the flag debate, speaking of his preference for a flag that bore the silver fern as worn on rugby jumpers, the sacred frond also the personal favourite of the Prime Minister.
The tweets by certain All Blacks during the last election day suggested that the players had voted National.
And Key reading out McCaw’s ‘Yes we can’ tweet to him during the campaign were totally off-side – but the ‘Key’ players involved weren’t properly carded or even relegated to the bench.
What I want to know is where is the rugby union and the All Black coach in all of this? It goes against the grain – and the discipline – of the sport for individual players and a team to effectively be hijacked and used as the personal super hero army of a prime minister.
To look back into the annals of National Party history, it also flies in the face of the late Sir Robert Muldoon, that sporting-mad prime minister who so bitterly divided the country by allowing the 1981 Springbok tour to proceed on the notion that politics should never enter sport.
Now politics is so far up the backside of sport and our national game you can see the flag bearing the wretched silver fern waving from the back of the tonsil tunnel.
Giving us only four flags to peruse – and three of those bearing the silver fern – is not a real choice.
Sometimes you can lead the horse to water but it won’t take the pre-ordered drink. Even though I don’t like the old flag, I too like many others will vote to keep it, purely out of protest.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/71783746/a-purrfect-example-of-why-politics-and-sport-dont-mix
“Now politics is so far up the backside of sport and our national game ”
Must be getting a bit crowded at the right wing National Party parties ….. what with McCaw having Key’s nose up his arsehole, and with Hosking jowls well entrenched up the cheeks of Key …. it is becoming something of a conga-line
continue to dwell on at your peril …
‘Flag change opposed by two-thirds – poll’
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/flag-change-opposed-by-two-thirds-poll-q09308.html
“The poll, taken before the final four potential flag designs were announced, shows 66 per cent want to keep the current flag, up 2 per cent from 18 months ago….
( a waste of the $26 million …jonkey’s vanity project…could have gone to helping refugees from the MIddle East)
Personally I think we could have helped thousands more people by helping build and resource refugee camps in Europe as opposed to bringing in a couple of hundred people into NZ
Also the UN should be applying pressure to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to be taking in more of these people as they certainly have enough money to be doing More
Sorry but heres the link I should have added:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/04/the-arab-worlds-wealthiest-nations-are-doing-next-to-nothing-for-syrias-refugees/
How about reading this one instead:
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-04/why-don-t-gulf-
Funding more refugee camps is a stupid idea. Refugees need somewhere that that can create a new life, where they can work and where their children can get an education. Refugee camps are just holding pens.
Sorry but the link didn’t work
I just think that for the amount of money it will cost to bring over a couple of hundred refugees we could help thousands more even if it meant sending the money directly to the european countries itself
Although it really should be the oil-rich middle eastern islamic countries picking up the slack on this
Link here.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-04/why-don-t-gulf-states-accept-more-refugees-
Germany takes 800,000 refugees a year already. They need other countries to do their share.
Refugees need to build a new life and NZ can well afford to double the quota immediately then gradually increase it over the next 10 years.
I guess the issue i have is that we have a housing shortage, unemployment is rising, i’m note sure how many translators we have but im guessing that again its not many so I don’t know that we have the infrastructure to deal with hundreds (possibly thousands) more
I’m sorry but the article almost sounds like a cop-out for the middle eastern states that don’t do anything yet could easily afford to pay for these people
NZ doesn’t have a housing shortage. Auckland has one, and some other parts of the country, but as a whole we don’t. There are plenty of houses in NZ and refugees don’t have to live in Auckland.
no they don’t but you also wouldn’t want to farm refugees out to the provinces where there less work and infrastructure for them so that only leaves a few cities for them to live in
I think the provinces would be good places for refugees and it would probably be good for the provinces as well. There are plenty of cities in NZ without a housing crisis. Auckland and Chch are out obviously, but there are many other places.
Yeah, and watch Germany hit the shitter because of it. Ask any German what they think of it.
Bullsh**t. There are plenty of Germans who are more than happy to welcome refugees to their country. Just because you are a selfish prick doesn’t mean everyone else is.
+ 1 Well spotted – little innys bullshit shows a sad selfish prick who would be first in line if the tables were turned
Karen
I should have said that 800,000 is Germany’s projected intake this year.
“Personally I think we could have helped thousands more people by helping build and resource refugee camps in Europe as opposed to bringing in a couple of hundred people into NZ”
No reason we can’t do both (assuming that our input in that is useful). Refugee camps should be interim measures. Utlimately the people in them are still going to need somewhere safe to live.
I’m just thinking of the most efficent use of our limited resources, help hundreds or help thousands…
What do you think happens to the people once they get to the camps in Europe?
Seems like they make a bee-line for Germany
All of them?
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/jan/29/where-are-the-syrian-refugees-going
A fair amount you’d have to say
Not really. Just having a quick look at that link, there are 2.3M refugees and Germany is taking 10,000. The total places offered by all countries is 18,000. So when you talking about building camps, you are referring to permanent sites. We should be honest about that.
10000 out of 18000 places is not bad going for one country
I agree, but that’s not what we are talking about.
The numbers are enormous. And reading the background to why they have chosen to flee, many have nothing left in Syria – bombed out, no job. No hope.
Why would they leave in these huge numbers? The equation is simple – when you have nothing where you are and likely soon to have less, running away while you have strength is the best idea.
Syria – good coverage
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/mar/12/syria-crisis-four-years-on-a-day-of-in-depth-reports-and-analysis
What about the refugees on our own doorstep? Those fcking ‘camps’ in Nauru and Manis Island need to go! We’re talking a handful of thousand at most. Split proportionately with Australia, NZ would likely be looking at less than 1000 people. But then, Syrians are de rigueur, yes?
As for refugees from Syria and elsewhere in Europe and the USA apparently not stepping up after they’ve, in some cases, bombed their countries back to the stone age, well…
Yeh, it was quite alright for many European countries to give the go ahead to America’s foreign policy in the middle east for years, now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Great to see the hard hitting journalism from our media on what the real cause of this crisis is… If the States/UK put as much money into humanitarian aid now as they did into bombs, problem solved.
“Split proportionately with Australia, NZ would likely be looking at less than 1000 people.”
Yeah, that’s a really good disincentive to stop people getting in boats and crossing to Australia – resettling all of them.
Lacking as I do any ‘fuck off and die’ mentality for people in desperate straits, yes, it’s the perfect disincentive.
So your strategy is an entirely short-term one, then.
Just help these 1,000 refugees (or however many there are), and when they get replaced by 10 times as many, what then?
I heard a snippet on the radio a week or two ago about Labor in Australia having to grit their teeth and agree with the government’s policy on boat people, because although they found the human rights angle of it abhorrent, it had actually stopped the boats from coming.
The gulf states do take them, it’s just not counted under the UN.
Ha ! The Ponce Key such a strong and resolute leader when it comes to maintaining his personal vanity project……
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11508844
“We would have to go back to Parliament and we’re not doing that……”
Oh really ?…… so Parliament’s just another piece of furniture in the castle of his personal feifdom is it ?
I think the insufferable child/bankster is losing it……’hubris for breakfast’ ? Probably. Look whom he took breakfast with.
Catch Seven PM Sharp tonight for more of the same. Appallingly they’re now quite unashamed at the shonkery, the pathology of it.
YES but We need urgency to pass a booze law for the RWC!!!
Not sure what the homophobia has to do with it. Yes, yes, I know you don’t hate gay people, but the use of the word ponce to describe Key merely adds to the idea that there is something wrong with being gay instead of a good bloke.
??
edit: since you’ve edited your post, in my world a ponce has always been either a strutting rich boy or a pimp.
in mine, ponce was a name for an effeminate man, implication is gay.
Both meanings here, although it’s saying a ponce is not a pimp in that they’re employed by the prostitute. Ponce meaning effeminate is classed as derogatory usage.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ponce
I wasn’t suggesting that Key was acting in a homophobic manner.
You’re welcome to ‘your’ implication Weka……if you care to pick up your dictionary you’ll find mine…..read “ponce”, then read “pimp”, then see how easily those terms extrapolate to “TPPA”.
In my view the Ponce Key is poncing and pimping New Zealand off to his foreign masters, oh…..and selected members of the Cabinet Club.
In any event, how possibly could a man who’s ‘besties’ with Richie suffer ‘your’ implication ?
I’ve already looked up a dictionary,
It’s meant effeminate or homosexual in every context I’ve ever heard it in.
was often used to describe what the Americans term a pimp in older UK tv/film…..we however take our cues from the US these days , mores the pity
“The Press Council doubts many New Zealand readers would associate the word “ponce” with living on a prostitute’s earnings…… Rather the connection would most likely be with precious, effete or show-off behaviour.”
http://www.presscouncil.org.nz/rulings/g-f-sharp-against-southland-times
And none of the dictionaries I looked at link ‘Effete’ with an implication of ‘gay’…..so think your homophobia meter can be turned down a notch Weka?
The MV Rena caused our worst maritime environmental disaster when it ploughed into the Bay of Plenty’s Astrolabe Reef. Nearly four years later, a round of hearings – starting today – will determine whether it stays there.
Four years on, he believed it was essential that authorities and the shipping industry learn from an incident that cost the lives of at least 2400 birds and an estimated $1.2 million each day in local business losses over what was a ruined summer.
The penalty
Rena captain Mauro Balomaga and navigator Leonil Relon are jailed for seven months for offences including altering the ship’s documents.
Rena owners Daina Shipping are fined $300,000 in the Tauranga District Court for discharging harmful substances.
The Rena’s owners lodge a resource consent application to leave much of the ship.
Gosh it sounds like a slap on the wrist, – polluting pays in this country. There does not seem to be any audit on how much it cost the taxpayers to clean up the spill, all the reports, the council and legal cost, insurance costs, etc and the long term effects on the community as well as the costs to residents, (were they even compensated) and there is no remedy for the harm and death of the animals and environment at that time.
Meanwhile exploitation of oil into extreme situations in this country is still going on and if they spill or cause damage, clearly they do not have to worry about being held to account for the ‘$300k fine and jail for a few people (paid for by NZ taxpayer) for falsifying records.
Gosh it sounds like a slap on the wrist, – polluting pays in this country.
I guess a reader could come to that conclusion if they don’t realise you’ve left out the costs of the cleanup and the effect on the company’s insurance premiums.
I’m more worried about the victims – mums and Dads and the kids and the ocean and the wildlife in the community than a liberian flagged oil tankers increases in insurance.
By the sound of it the NZ army and community did most of the clean up. Why because they had too!
Also what about the effect on the NZ business premiums when all the Kiwi businesses were collectively losing 1.2million dollars a day?
Somehow all this corporate welfare does not seem to pay. The total cost will be massive to this country and the community but it is all swept under the table and the focus in environment court is, should the poor oil company be made to do a clean up or is it impossible?
If it is impossible to clean up then it speaks for itself, they and others are not held to account and also it occurred in 2011 so 4 years later the wreck is not gone from the ocean and Kiwis are having to fight to be rid of it.
…the focus in environment court is, should the poor oil company be made to do a clean up or is it impossible?
The shipping company has been made to do a clean-up, one that’s run to hundreds of millions of dollars. You may have noticed the news footage of floating cranes hauling up huge pieces of the wreck so they can be brought ashore. The focus in the Environment Court is on whether there’s any point in trying to recover the remaining parts of the ship that haven’t been removed because they’re stuck in the reef, given the risk to the lives of the divers involved, the technical difficulty of achieving success, the enormous cost involved and the mimimal benefit gained from the exercise.
But yeah, if the shipping company ignores the fact that it lost an expensive ship and a full load of cargo, then had to spend hundreds of millions removing the wreck, it could possibly come to the conclusion that “pollution pays.”
“Gosh it sounds like a slap on the wrist, – polluting pays in this country”
What a load of bollocks, the clean up has cost $300 mill US so far
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/national/71503076/Rena-disaster-huge-but-environmental-effects-not-long-lasting
Yes but nothing for the community but $300,000 fine. What about all those businesses losing 1.2m a day and the loss of natural environment.
The fact is cost the business to pollute to clean up is not the point.
No real compensation has been made to the community when the oil spills.
Perhaps the company should have better ship and captain next time and not be complaining what it cost them when it is nothing compared to a minimum wage family who actually live there and have to bear the true cost of the negligence.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/71771196/late-inadequate-and-frequently-defective
“This is the problem with the Red Peak or anything else, there will always be a range of views about whether to change and a range of views on what to go to, and that’s what makes the process immensely difficult,” John Key told TV3’s Paul Henry this morning.
After reading that, I have to admit to wrong thinking. I have always thought that Key used the “I can get you another opinion on that” as a way of not answering a question.
Now it is revealed. He has trouble dealing with more than one opinion at a time. This is why he needs a “focus group”- these groups help him to intellectually grasp the issues and enable him to focus enough to decide.
John Key has UFO, or Un-Focussed Opinions, a disorder which means that he exhibits the mental equivalent of verbalising “Woo Woo! Woo Woo!” until he gets a metaphorical cheek-slapping to help him choose.
This means that the country is eksshully run by people with enough reach to slap the PM’s face.
UFO is very common on Planet Key.
UFO , that’s very cool
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/283436/treasury-warning-over-dairy-price-recovery
“Treasury has warned dairy prices may not rebound by as much as first thought, which could mean the Government’s books remain in deficit for three more years.
…
Some economists argue the Government should have a back-up plan if the economy stalls, which the Prime Minister has ruled out.”
No back-up plan for us! Headlong into the breach…
Sooner or later Treasury may get round to joining the rest of us in the real world.
Chances are that dairy prices won’t recover at all.
“Sooner or later Treasury may get round to joining the rest of us in the real world.
Chances are that dairy prices won’t recover at all.”
Not sure which world you live in Draco but dairy prices have recovered 30% since their low.
Seems that you’re talking out your arse again:
And that was all of four days ago.
“Seems that you’re talking out your arse again:
Weaker dairy products in the first-half of August led the decline, with prices falling to their lowest level since mid-2004.”
Draco that was early August its now September, there have been two more auctions and as I correctly pointed out milk powder prices have increased around 30%. 19% in the first auction and 11% in the last auction. Do try and keep up old boy.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11499112
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/71641902/dairy-prices-up-109-per-cent-in-fonterra-globaldairytrade-auction
Yeah, I’d say that you’re still talking out your arse.
Sure, there’s been an increase in prices but it’s still below production costs and further increases are based upon global production decline. Personally, I expect the only real decline to come from NZ as the cheaper producers, i.e, everybody else, keep producing.
NZ’s dream of dairy heaven has come to an end but our farmers don’t want to hear that as it means that they’ve wasted billions building plant that is now worthless.
You can try to spin it any way you like Draco
All I said was prices have increased 30% from the low
I know farmers will be making a loss until global production falls
but that’s already happening.
Great Moments in Broadcasting No.1
Vileness live on air: Linda Clark and John Tamihere, 2005
This excruciating encounter happened on Radio NZ National back on Friday 16 September 2005, 9:20 a.m.
Looks like JOHN TAMIHERE is gonna be tipped out of his Tamaki Makaurau seat in favour of the Māori Party’s Pita Sharples. He discusses the situation with SEAN PLUNKET and LINDA CLARK….
JOHN TAMIHERE: It’s a tribute to the way the Maori Party has politicised our Maori education system.
SEAN PLUNKET: Are you conceding, John?
TAMIHERE: Oh, hey, it’s not over till the fat lady sings!
LINDA CLARK: Well that’s not me!
ALL: Ha ha ha ha ha!
PLUNKET: It’s not Linda, John! She’s not fat!
CLARK: If you hear me singing, you’re still okay!
PLUNKET: Well, whatever happens, John, you’ve got a GREAT career in broadcasting just waiting for you!
TAMIHERE: Yeah, if Willie Jackson can do it, anyone can.
CLARK: I’ve always got a slot here just waiting for you.
……[Protracted, stunned silence]…..
PLUNKET: Moving right along….
Transcribed by MORRISSEY BREEN for Radio Transcripts Ltd, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/nz.politics/%22radio$20transcripts$20ltd%22/nz.politics/Eg7-wOFG2-0/6aKZNDluPAwJ
Radionz is redesigning its web site. We are invited along.
We are about to start re-designing radionz.co.nz and we want you to help us.
Most websites re-design every few years. It’s a process that rarely involves the public at large, or if it does the input you can have is minimal.
We aren’t like that. We’d like you to be involved. The process will take months, and before we get started we’d like to hear from you (see at the foot of this article).
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/283197/stick-your-beak-in
Radionz is a taonga. We must take care of it, support it.
The unintended consequences of taxing tobacco
The ever escalating price of tobacco is adding to the financial stress of individuals (and their families) that are strongly addicted.
Smoking is strongly addictive and I personally know of a number of individuals that have no intention to quit, thus are literally paying the price.
Is it time for a rethink of this heavy taxing approach of pricing people out of the market?
Thoughts?
Subsidise their tobacco intake while they are on an effective (free) plan to quit. No reason this couldn’t come out of the health budget considering what smoking costs us all
The government takes more in via tobacco taxes then it costs in healthcare
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10809145
Its a couple of years old but I’m still guessing its similar today
It is addictive but that doesn’t stop people from quitting. The people who choose to continue to smoke are choosing the costs themselves.
Have you ever considered that that is the reason for pricing?
“It is addictive but that doesn’t stop people from quitting.”
But the reasons why people smoke (or take any drug) might stop them from quitting. This isn’t just a question of will power or intention.
Most people working in the field accept that addiction has a physiological component, but also social and mental health components. We’re not just our nicotine receptors.
Yes it is and that includes looking at your life and changing it so as to remove the other issues.
Not everyone has that degree of agency. What you are suggesting is akin to saying that poor people can really afford to feed their kids they’re just not looking at their life right. Or everyone can get a job if they try hard enough.
For some people, making the changes that would mean they didn’t need the support of a drug is beyond their capacity.
As far as smoking goes they do. It’s their decision to smoke.
Not even close. The situations you mention there and smoking aren’t in any way comparable.
Tobacco is not that different from other drugs that are physically and psychologically different. Do you think that herion uses just decide to use and could just as easily decide to stop?
“The situations you mention there and smoking aren’t in any way comparable.”
They are in the way I compared them, whereby some of the people in all those situations don’t have the agency that you are claiming they do. For many people stopping smoking is a matter of will power (it was for me). For others it’s not that straightforward. You can’t take the addicted person out of their lives and it’s the lives that are going to largely determine if someone can stop or not. Even something simple as access to a stop smoking programme can make the difference. Not everyone has that.
But there are those that do and who are just too overloaded and stressed in their lives to successfully manage the intense process of getting off a drug and staying off (the second but is often the more difficult). It takes many factors lining up for that to work, and that’s not in the reach of some people. Which is why I relate it to other situations where people have things outside of their control that impact on them negatively.
No they’re not. People do have agency over their own actions. They do have agency over who they associate with.
So, yeah, people who smoke and want to quit have the agency to do so. Those who don’t want to quit can pay the higher prices.
But the reasons that people smoke are sometimes outside of their control. You appear to think that addiction is a matter of personal choice. It’s not.
Then they need to remove themselves from those reasons. This is still their choice.
but if those reasons exist because of things outside of their control, how can they remove them any easier than finding a non-existent job or not having enough money to feed their kids? Can’t say that too many other ways than I already have, so let’s try this. Evidence suggests that for some people addiction is not an issue of choice and that they need more than will power in order to stop using. That’s a pretty standard understanding within addiction support services, including smoking cessation.
Such as removing themselves from the social environment that encourages them to continue using…
Oh, wait, that would be their choice as well.
Draco,
poverty, for example, is not a personal choice.
yes and I believe draco said it was the refugees own decision not to overthrow their horrible governments didn’t you draco – all their own fault too
But Draco quit smoking, so everyone else can too.
Yeah, I saw that marty.
Poverty isn’t, smoking is.
People have agency:
Unfortunately, these people probably will be on the receiving end of Western bombs rather than getting help they need because they happen to be communists.
And people like you sitting there in your comfort telling them that they don’t and that they should all just run away aren’t helping them realise that agency.
is the point that if they got killed instead of ‘running away’ there’d be no refugee problem?
I’m not telling them anything, you are the one doing that.
Re cigarettes, you can keep asserting personal choice all you like. You can also ignore the real life things that affect people’s addiction (eg poverty), but your ideas are in direct contradiction of the people who work with addiction recovery and the people who struggle with addiction they can’t overcome. You are making value judgements about people you don’t know and don’t appear to understand and from what I can tell those judgements are based on your personal experience of being able to quit smoking.
@MM
No, the point is that if they banded together and stood up for themselves they’d find that they could bring the conflict to an end and wouldn’t have to run away or get killed.
And they’d also stop smoking.
I guess that makes refugees who travel thousands of kilometres weak-willed as well as fiendish job-stealers.
we should send them guns and shit so they can have ‘agency’, plus motivational videos and for those too stubborn a few nicotine patches /SARC
I had a feeling we were at the increasing sarcasm stage of the conversation.
Shall we find something else to talk about? 🙂
@ Draco:
“No, the point is that if they banded together and stood up for themselves they’d find that they could bring the conflict to an end and wouldn’t have to run away or get killed.”
But, in doing that, it is very likely that at least some of them will be killed.
There truly aren’t a huge number of people who are willing to put themselves in mortal danger in an attempt to change their government, without any real assurance that the new government or regime will be better than the one they’re wanting to change. That’s why dictators stay in power – theoretically you can’t stop a riot of 4M+ people (at least not forever), so the trick is to ensure one never starts.
…
Christ Draco, think about this a little, will you? If it was merely a case of will-power and decision making, then there would be no such thing as addiction!
Some people can smoke for 20 or 30 years and then just drop it. Same with drinking alcohol, sugar, heroin or whatever. Meanwhile, other struggle and some just can’t.
I don’t know all the factors that contribute to something being addictive, but it’s far more complex than everyone overcoming it with a simple “I’m not going to do this any more.”
Here’s a thought for you. I smoked for years. Tried will power and all the patches or what not. Couldn’t give up for any length of time. Always craving.
Sugar is addictive. I was brought up on a fairly sugary diet. Don’t touch the stuff.
So maybe addiction is a complex relationship between a given substance and a particular individual that follows no universal set of rules?
No, actually, it’s not.
I tried to give up for years before I decided to just stop. Took me about 6 months to get over the craving for them but I didn’t have a smoke in that time and did get over it.
I found the difference was in mindset. Previously I had been trying to give up and failed at it whereas I when I quit I simply said no more.
Do. Or do not. There is no try
So, you weren’t one of the people who could give it up at the drop of a hat. Some can. I think you’ve just reinforced my point that addiction is comprised from a broad spectrum of various interactions, and that we just don’t know what it comprises of or, obviously, all the things that can contribute to it.
No, I was – once I decided to actually stop.
Nope, you’ve just proven that all you can do is make excuses rather than making up your mind.
Erm…not sure what you think I’m making excuses about. This is a conversation about the nature of addiction, yes? And whereas you say it’s a ‘one size fits all’ type of a thing, I’m saying it’s far more varied and nuanced than that.
Take nicotine – widely regarded as the most addictive substance out there.
Some people just stop, even after years of smoking, with no craving or withdrawal – nothing.
Some people smoke only when they’re having a social drink and don’t think twice about it otherwise.
Others smoke once or twice and are viciously hooked.
As far as I can see, you’re suggesting a world of humans as automata, where a simple ‘correct’ thought, thought with sufficient force, belief or conviction will produce a tidy, standard result.
But life – the hugely complex array of dynamic environmental interactions, of which our thoughts or emotions constitute only a small part, would suggest otherwise.
Not a correct thought, no need for force or belief – just a decision to be made.
And of course the result will be standard. We’re talking about giving up smoking with the only two possible results being either that a person continues smoking or that they don’t.
And you can either wait around till all those complexities are resolved (ie, never) or make the decision to stop smoking now thus resolving one of those complexities. Your like a RWNJ demanding that everything be proven to work perfectly before it be put in place.
There’s absolutely nothing in anything I’ve said that could reasonably be taken as a flat out rejection of some-one ‘making a decision’ being a possible way out of addiction. (The ‘at the drop of a hat’ quitters being the most obvious opposite to what you’d like to claim I’ve said.)
A mere ‘decision’ doesn’t work for everyone though.
I just can’t see what’s either right wing or nutty about that observation.
But since you want to insist that there’s ‘only one way’ and anyone failing is, presumably, just not making the decision in ‘the proper manner’ ie, so as to make it conducive to the ‘only one way’, then…well, bang away on your drum, eh?
Dubai Airport still has great duty-free cigar stores.
And smoking rooms!
True, and I would add that the people who actually work in the field, including addicts themselves, do have a pretty good idea of the range of things that work and don’t work. I agree that’s not complete knowledge, but it’s clear that for some people will power is not enough, they need other things to be in place and not all of those things are within their control. When those things are in place, some of those people are able to stop.
Draco is essentially correct in that the reason for the increasing pricing/taxation on tobacco is that this has been the easiest and most effective way that the health authorities and government have found to discourage smoking.
I don’t doubt that this is one of the reasons for it these days.
However, I also recall that the cost of NZ1’s free healthcare for preschoolers after the 1996 election was also astonishing similar to the extra revenue gathered by the excise increase in the next budget. And it was several years before the government offered even token quit support for free.
There were a few years where excise increases were basically the government shaking down addicts for cash without helping them quit.
but tobacco is one of the topics that makes me a tad… irritated and ranty 🙂
I think i remember some data to suggest the government takes in considerably more revenue from tobacco they they spend on its downstream health effects.
i’ve always thought the most sensible way to deal with it is to progressively raise the age of sale and supply as from a health perspective you want people to never start a habit with it rather than trying to stop a habit and treat the consequences.
On another note did you see this story (the comments read like some of the threads on here)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/71772571/australian-mother-plans-to-open-controversial-no-vax-childcare-centre
It’s a natural consequence of the increasingly authoritarian approach that governments and health authorities are taking in regards to vaccination. There are other ways this could be managed.
“i’ve always thought the most sensible way to deal with it is to progressively raise the age of sale and supply as from a health perspective you want people to never start a habit with it rather than trying to stop a habit and treat the consequences.”
I started smoking at 15 by stealing smokes from my parents 😉 I guess once the buying age was inline with alcohol it would be easier to control because there’s already an ID/age system in place. Still, we’re never going to get around teens having older friends/siblings who supply.
“Still, we’re never going to get around teens having older friends/siblings who supply.”
Yes, we are, if we steadily raise the age as Northshoredoc suggests.
If the age to buy cigarettes is 45, then the average 15 year old is not going to have siblings or friends of that age to supply them.
Eventually the age to buy them would be 75+, and again the average 15 year old would not have siblings or friends of that age.
Is it a quick fix? No. Would it be effective? Yes. Would it completely stamp out the problem of underage smoking? No.
Lolz, I stole cigarettes from parents. Having the buying age at 45 will just encourage teens to be more creative in accessing their supply.
I think raising the age to 20 is a good idea (and alcohol should have been left there), but I suspect that beyond that there will be resistance from the public who generally believe that all adults are allowed to make the same kinds of decisions.
I don’t know if nsd was suggesting raising the age to 75.
He said:
“i’ve always thought the most sensible way to deal with it is to progressively raise the age of sale and supply as from a health perspective you want people to never start a habit with it rather than trying to stop a habit and treat the consequences.”
To me, that means raise the age of buying them by 1 year every year. Or at least a large amount, and keep it going up-up-up and not stop at some arbitrary and ineffective age like 20 or 21.
Yes, you stole cigarettes from parents. But eventually, with such strict controls on availability, kids just won’t be interested in smoking, especially when it’s something “only people over the age of 40” do…
I didn’t read it that way. I took it to mean we really want to stop young adults from starting, because that’s the most at risk group in terms of uptake.
I’d love to see the govt that would try and tell a 45 yr old or a 60 yr old that they’re not allowed to buy cigarettes 😉
Lanthanide has correctly interpreted my intent – I probably should have been more explicit.
@weka: well the idea is to raise the age 1 year for every year.
So there will never be a case of someone who used to be able to buy cigarettes, losing the right.
Instead, people who havn’t ever been legally allowed to buy them because they were too young, would never be legally allowed to buy them because the age of purchase would rise by 1 year each year.
Actually the way this would be implemented, would just be to say “no one born after the year 2000 is legally allowed to buy cigarettes”.
how long since you stopped McFlock?
since they cut my hours at the same time the revenue went up – either begining of the year or last year sometime. It wasn’t a big milestone, just the frequency got less and less until it’s practically nil. Maybe had a cigar on my birthday.
Funnily enough, I expected at least some general improvement in lifestyle, but allergies mean my sense of taste is dulled anyway, and even the coughing after a night on the piss seems to be caused by alcohol because it still happens. I always figured it was smoking too much, but nope, it’s something else I do at parties. The only thing now is that my mouth doesn’t taste like an ashtray so much the next morning – but I seem to be more aware of the beer/whiskey coming out of my pores.
All a bit meh, really. I feel like I bought one of those amazing mattresses from the ads where everyone snaps awake to jump up and smile like maniacs, whereas I still wake up as grumpy as ever, lol
Do you exercise much McFlock?
My personal experience is that if you are 40+ and feeling less than sparkling, nothing even comes close to the positive change that locking in 30 min’s of sweat 6 days a week makes…
I think I’ve mentioned just today that I like to smoke, drink, and eat.
Those are the choices I make. My body is a temple, but I worship Dionysis.
As for exercise, it’s a bit like masturbation: most people do it to some degree but good taste suggests that it should not really be discussed, let alone performed, in public.
Although if people want to go to private clubs and exercise with each other, that’s their business.
+1
I certainly felt better after giving up smoking and then after I took up cycling.
Putting up taxes punished people with addiction and has only led to a burgeoning market for home grown and cured tobacco. Subsidised pharmaceutical products simply do not work for many, many smokers.
Meanwhile, I’ve yet to meet a smoker who took up vaping who hasn’t cut their tobacco intake substantially or completely.
Vapourising nicotine laced vegetable glycerine at around 30 or 40 degrees might not be entirely safe, but is certainly safer than tobacco, only costs a couple of dollars a week and, unlike patches, gum or pills, actually works in either cutting back nicotine intake or eliminating it altogether.
But then, the pharmaceutical companies don’t get all those public subsidies for their less than effective products. And that’s a bad thing.
Maybe ‘someone’ should fund studies that routinely or recklessly ‘dry burn’ vaporisers and then measure the toxins that come from scorched wicks and burned coils as a way to claim that vaping exposes users to all types of shit like formaldehyde and what have you? Oh, hang on. Already doing that! 😉
and conveniently bolster the consolidated fund..I wonder which is the main driver?
Of course it’s the objective. A fiscal incentive to quit.
The point is, the hardcore addict has no intention to quit, regardless the cost.
For example, my uncle had emphysema, yet was still smoking on his deathbed.
Ones I’ve spoken too merely redirect their expenditure, cutting out other consumer goods and services, negatively impacting on the return of other businesses and service providers.
The real concern is, how is it impacting on the hardcore smoking poor?
Is it contributing to crime, child poverty, etc?
I get pissed off every doctor’s visit when he has to rehash the lifestyle questions for the DHB, and is always pleased to find I no longer smoke. Sadly it’s moved out of my fiscal reach, and sanctimonious pricks think this is a good thing.
I liked it. I liked the variety, I liked the rituals, and I liked the excuse to just sit in the garden for an hour. And I liked the fact that I was saving the country money.
It slagged me off too. Pay to go see the doctor, only to be growled at for smoking .
Nope its not time to change it , unless you can prove that the expense has had no effect on young people taking up smoking. We have to break the cycle somehow . BTW I smoked for 17 years
Looks like rower Eric Murray decided against burning the NZ flag on the winner’s podium. A couple of weeks ago he was saying he wanted to take an alternative flag onto the podium to celebrate. The sport and politics meme is running hot at the moment.
http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/486977290-new-zealands-eric-murray-and-hamish-bond-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=X7WJLa88Cweo9HktRLaNXpgCGxl5OM4h1mbm%2BFlyK3H81HWeiZVVt96BICSp2fNGGKIoBuvQvfxnbRmF0uA9RA%3D%3D
For some time my favourite pseudonym on teh standard has been Esoteric Pineapple, but I have to admit now to some admiration for Mrs Brillo.
Book banned after Christian complaint
This obviously falls into the teaching children anything other than Christianity and is thus evil category.
Personally, I’d call Family First an Anti-Christian group. I certainly haven’t seen them act in any way that could be considered Christian.
Trouble is defining christianity. It has many iterations and like an old body changes as it ages with gradual small failures in its replication.
JC’s first day at his new job,
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/283480/john-campbell-starts-at-radio-nz
Bob McKroskie has managed to get an interim ban for a teenage novel “Into the River”.
According to stuff.co.nz:
“…Conservative lobbying group Family First, who pushed for the review and an R18 restriction, applauded the decision.
“We’ve empowered parents to start expressing their concerns about books more,” leader Bob McCoskrie said. “We believe the censor is out of touch with material parents don’t want their kids to be reading.”
McCoskrie supported a wider move to a film-like sticker rating system for books.
“We do it for movies so why not books? I think to be honest parents expect this to be happening.”
“These books can exert a significant influence. We just think its about age appropriateness.”
Family First claim the censor has received over 400 letters from concerned parents….”
I’m assuming the majority of those letters were the result of a campaign by Family First, and will either be from members or sympathisers, rather than genuine self-initiated complaints.
Books have the rare ability to enable you to process on an intimate level, the lives and experiences of someone else (fictional character or real person).
As an avid reader throughout my childhood and teenage years, my exposure to dark themes and violence was tempered by my lack of taste for such stories, but also by my ability to pace them at a speed that I could absorb, and to also skip passages that were too emotionally fraught. (Didn’t do that very often that I could recall, but I always had that option).
I’ve unfortunately met adults who can’t even discuss the straightforward and trite themes of Harry Potter, let alone countenance the Hunger Games. But stories are a great way of introducing people to diversity of thought, action and opinion.
And our reading public is one shade paler today by the loss of this NZ Post Children’s Book Award’s 2013 winner.
(I’m going have to consider buying one on Kindle now, just in protest even though it is not on my list of books to buy.)
I have a feeling this has come up before with this book. Wait until twitter get hold of it 😈
I’m figuring that’s Family Firsts biggest problem with the book – encouraging diversity.
One Shade of Grey paler anyway.
Hardly Farenheit 451 is it.
Republicans like Obama’s polices a LOT more if they’re attributed to Trump:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/09/03/republicans-actually-do-like-obamas-ideas-when-they-think-theyre-trumps-poll-images/
Reminds me of polling here that showed that people actually liked Labour’s more left-wing policies without the Labour branding.
just heard Bob Jones is donating $500,000 to the refugee cause…for the education of 16 women refugees.
Bob Jones grooming his own personal harem shocker.