Ah. The market provides again. Whoop. We have a brain exchange now. Wonder if Johnny Boy picked his up as a ‘not worth trading’ commodity that had been discarded on the trading room floor?
Or is it just me who has images of ‘Futurama’ and heads in jars?
Have no fear Bill, by no means do you stand alone in this (and other) sound opinions concerning “Johnny Boy”! (The problem is that too many of us are much too often feeling alone and thus vulnerable – this is what Johnny and cohorts do to us). Maybe I am not making much sense of this!?
In my industry we are losing all our young competent people and replacing them with poorly trained ring ins from overseas.
Indeed this is what I see also, and its not limited to any one industry. The ring ins also cost less, because they have little to no idea what a job might pay when they arrive, so it works to suppress wages nicely for the “owners”, quality be damned!
I work amongst entire swathes, some of who can barely speak english, which while not in of itself a problem, it most certainly becomes one in the work place.
The brain drain term was obviously just “mis-sold”. (I just mis-purchased a bottle of wine that tasted really cheap and nasty) – should I take it back? I’ll give it a go. Oh… and I mis-purchased a load of fruit that was individually packaged in plastic.
Oh yeah right they are so smart, that they are going to come to live in NZ for shit wages, and even shittier conditions, in a country run by a fool. Now there’s a Tui Ad.
My own experience is that a lot of the bright Kiwis are leaving, with the jobs going to third rate remnants of the empire from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Britain. This seems particularly true in universities and the public service, especially in the higher echelons. For example, to speak of Longstone, Rebstock, or those filling the ranks of the spy agencies in terms of a brain exchange may have been accurate in the days of live sheep exports, but haven’t they stopped? In my own field, most of the best people are in the academic diaspora, while semi competent self promoters from overseas are slowly filling the positions in Aotearoa.
In the delicious night,
In privacy, where no one saw me,
Nor did I see one thing,
I had no light or guide
But the fire that burned inside my chest.
That fire showed me
The way more clearly than the blaze of moon
To where, waiting for me,
Was the One I knew so well.
In that place where no one ever is.
Oh night, sweet guider,
Oh night more marvelous than the dawn!
Oh night which joins
The lover and the beloved
So that the lover and beloved change bodies!
In my chest full of flowers,
Flowering wholly and only for Him,
There He remained sleeping;
I cared for Him there,
And the fan of the high cedars cooled Him.
The wind played with
His hair, and that wind from the high
Towers struck me on the neck
With its sober hand;
Sight, taste, touch, hearing stopped.
I stood still. I forgot who I was,
My face leaning against Him,
Everything stopped, abandoned me,
My worldliness was gone, forgotten
Among the white lilies.
-John, The Weavers Apprentice
He said to Moses, “I Will Be What, Where and How I Will Be”
so back to the books, semi-monasticism, with a little gardening on the side.
( and they all said “tfft” 🙂 )
Through Crown Law, Winz is fighting the decision and the case will be heard in the Dunedin High Court on Wednesday.
“We disagree strongly with a number of elements of the decision. We are appealing to the High Court against some of the conclusions the tribunal has reached in deciding the Ministry [of Social Development] failed to comply with the Privacy Act, and most of the orders made by the tribunal,” chief executive Debbie Power said. “In particular we are appealing the order that we review our processes.”
Holmes now believes he won’t see the cash awarded him and was “very annoyed” to get the appeal papers this past week.
Gee, what a surprise. WINZ fucks someone over and then complains about being caught doing it.
Second link – that is such an awesome story, someone should give that guy a fucking medal. His original enquiry was over a $3.73 mispayment and WINZ fucked it up so badly that the HRC eventually awards the guy $17,000 in damages.
It should be noted that the kinds of mistakes reported in the article are pretty standard, so this case seems groundbreaking to me. WINZ have just been told by the Human Rights Commission that their processes at a system and institutional level are broken and need to be fixed.
It will be interesting to see what the courts do with it. Won’t be the first time that WINZ have lost a battle in the High Court due to not treating a beneficiary properly with respect to entitlements.
Edit: actually the Human Rights Tribunal which is part of the Dept of Justice (not the HRC).
Some Dunedin people who were part of the recent National Day of Action are organising support for the old battler. He won’t be alone at the High Court on Wednesday.
The numbers who are brave enough to see through Key and his gang, must at all costs hang in there with patience. Despair will mean victory for them, as tempting as it is to submit to despair.
muzza. First of all I must look to myself and my own thoughts and actions, next to my family and friends, then by my contributions through the Green Party and the Labour Party (especially Mr Cunliffe), and, most importantly, I would look to you in person! (Actually, I am not finished yet, but this will do for starters).
We can only positively influence what we directly touch, and if all people started with themselves, and worked outwards from there, it would be a very good start. If we are able to influence so well, then it could perhaps turn into being able to influence what we do not directly touch. Thats when things could get very interesting indeed.
A ”shambolic” Education Ministry payroll system is threatening to shatter the resilience of Christchurch teachers who are already at war with the Government, principals say.
They say the $29 million Novopay system, implemented in August, is an added burden for Christchurch schools affected by the Government’s recent education shake-up, involving closures and mergers.
Since Novopay was introduced, some schools have had to foot the bill when staff were underpaid and in other cases ex-staff members have reappeared on the payroll.
Yes it is web based and has caused a lot of trouble for the ancillary staff in schools who deal with payroll. Apparently Novopay knew they weren’t ready but the MOE insisted they commence operations. Most teacher’s thankfully haven’t had problems, it’s support staff, relievers and part time staff who appear to have had the most problems.
Sounds familiar, experienced supplier says ‘not ready’ normally due to the feckless incompetence of the client but gets told to go live anyway.
Ryalls been doing that in the DHB’S backend, gotta have those ticks in boxes, job done bonuses for the mangers all around.
Supershity is still cleaning up after sergeant Ford, Rortney and Shonkeys forced shambles and is effectively still 7 councils once you scratch the surface with the same mad as meat axes managers bullying people around, they just get paid more now like bully boy McKay.
Sorry DV. Not connected but will ask neighbours. When the Ministry said fewer than 100 had problems I thought that it was a politically motivated number because who would be able to show that it might be thousands?
One of the ‘thing’ that has irritated one teacher (Part time) that I know is their pay has been reduced by 3 cents a pay.
It is apparently that each calculation is rounded as it is done. and not at the end.
Now I know that is sort of trivial, BUT really irritating.
Why can’t they just round at the end.
While combating the challenges that economic sanctions represent is an arduous task for any government, it is important to recognize that these sanctions are not aimed against Iran’s government, but at its poor and merchant population. An unnamed US intelligence source cited by the Washington Post claims:
”In addition to the direct pressure sanctions exert on the regime’s ability to finance its priorities, another option here is that they will create hate and discontent at the street level so that the Iranian leaders realize that they need to change their ways.”
Washington has long engaged in psychological operations that aim to foment the kind of “hate and discontent” among Iran’s factory workers, merchants, shopkeepers, students, and manufacturers – as part of a series of measures taken to coax widespread social discontent and unrest throughout the country to topple the government.
In banking terms the UK has close to £2 trillion in unsecured loans. This level of debt is not neutral. This level of debt has a huge impact. Part of the problem is that debt incurs rent. Yes, the principle cancels out, but interest payments don’t. We don’t know what the average rate of interest is on all this debt, but let’s assume it’s 10%. That means that interest payments are about 47% of GDP. Almost half the annual income of the UK. That is very far from a neutral amount, and may well be an underestimate. If we take the population in 2010 to be 60 million, then in 2010 we all owed nearly £120,000. This is probably a bit higher now because the government is worth less.
DTB after 3 years of Tory Austerity the RWNJ’s have increased the National debt by more than 20% after saying repeatedly that austerity was the only answer to the UK”s economy Austerity has made it far worse
New Zealand government official stats show $318 billion NZ originated private institution credit money. They then treat as assets and deduct what has been invested overseas and come up with what they call Net International Investment Position which appears much less alarming despite that money competting to find profit in an international financial system where the international debt is also unrepayable from the day its born.
Even if the foreign investments from NZ where able to be repatriated in quick time they would come back to only the wealthiest few who control them and not benefit wider society as implied. Just more smoke and mirrors; http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ParlSupport/ResearchPapers/3/4/6/00PlibCIP121-New-Zealand-s-International-Investment-Position.htm
$318 billion debt based money supply at annual interest rate of 7% equals $22 odd billion interest repayment that is essentially rent upon a revolving line of credit that circulates as our money supply.
Given most of that interest finds its way back to the same largest owners of larger international banks who own largest stake holdings in Australian banks who own NZ banks, it puts to shame the 1.3 billion they give back in tax and shout from the roof tops as being so beneficial to the prosperity of the nation?
Piss off, loser. “The People” don’t want you as much as your brain damaged mind would like to imagine.
Quote:
“Tyson served three years in prison after the 1991 rape of an 18-year-old woman in an Indianapolis hotel room.
He insisted during a visit to London, however, that the negative experiences in his life have shaped his character.
“Anything that I would have got away from, being in prison, having fights, biting (Evander) Holyfield; (the) lack of that, my life would be miserable,” Tyson said as he launched a new range of boxing gear.”
Tim. Fairfax is showing its true colours, that’s about all. Indeed, Key apologised NOT for himself but for his minions who suffered through absence of his leadership. Key did “the right things” only under immense duress. So, he is a Saint? Even worse people than him have been canonised.
New Zealand’s Afghan interpreters go public, pleading to New Zealanders for their lives.
Will Key and our military leaders heed their call and do the right thing?
Or will New Zealand’s ill advised ten year involvement in the Afghan war result in one final outrage?
A former Afghan interpreter who now lives in Christchurch said it felt as though his colleagues had been “used and abandoned” by the New Zealand Government.
Diamond Kazimi, 19, was granted asylum in New Zealand last year after serving as a translator with the troops in Bamiyan for 18 months.
Interpreters lived on base with the soldiers, ate with them, went on patrols with them and were like brothers, he said.
Since his move, the Linwood College pupil has been involved in pre-deployment training for New Zealand soldiers heading to Afghanistan. He agreed the troops should withdraw.
“But don’t leave the interpreters behind to die for helping. Do you even care about these people who have done a service to New Zealand soldiers?”
Overseas film making crew are pouring into New Zealand while the prime minister is in Los Angeles claiming Hollywood investment in New Zealand creates jobs.
Speaking this weekend on TV3’s The Nation programme this weekend, Wellington city councillor Jo Coughlan and NZCTU president Helen Kelly agreed 400 overseas technicians had recently applied for visas to work at the Weta post production facility in the capital.
Seems somewhat self-defeating to subsidise multi-national conglomerates to bring work here to NZ only to give those jobs to foreigners. Especially while we have such massive unemployment.
Good old Peter Jackson screwing NZ workers yet again. I hope those Weta employees who marched against union protections understand a bit better what is happening now.
Yes, I saw that before I went to work this morning. Also, as I recall, someone (probably Kelsey) said something about the TPPA rules will make it harder for films by NZ production companies to use the web to market or distribute their films.
All about Hollywood protecting their market advantage. Why would they want to concede anything to the NZ industry?
From the Australian Journal of Human rights an interesting analysis of the deliberate strategy of manipulating public disgust towards welfare beneficiaries, by the Howard government, in order to further the aims of the neoliberal elites in changing public beliefs about distributive justice and social rights.
Apologies for the poor reproduction of the text. I’m not sure why it has transferred badly from the link. embolding mine.
Via the Feminist Carnival Down Under.
…..While parliamentary debates were a key means for promulgating a discourse of disgust, the most common device used by the Howard government to reframethe welfare recipient as untrustworthy, lazy and morally deficient was the media release. For the period between the initial launch of the welfare reform project bySenator Newman in September 1999 and the successful passage of the
EmploymentandWorkplaceRelationsLegislationAmendment(WelfaretoWorkandOtherMeasures) Act2005
(Cth) in December 2005, a search on the Factiva database reveals over 3125 media publications that directly linked welfare, social security, Centrelinkor pensions to fraudulent claims and welfare ‘cheats’. As a crude measure, thisrepresents approximately 1.47 newspaper articles across the country daily.
5
Much ofthe media campaign was fed by the political elite in order to mark out the welfarerecipient as unworthy of redistributive public welfare. The notion of the disgusting‘welfare fraudster’ (Vanstone 2002, 1) was repeated extensively through the rulingparty’s term in office. Consistent repetitive moral discourses of fraud spanned severalyears and acted to criminalise the welfare recipient:……
…..‘morally untrustworthy welfare recipient’ was produced andreproduced. With each repetition, powerful moral discourses eventually becameaccepted as unquestioned social truths in the Australian public sphere (Soldaticand Fiske 2009)
. Ultimately, disgust aroused the public senses to haunt, disturb anddisrupt the established normative notions of deserving tied to disability entitlements.Disgust, with its insidious stickiness, oozed subtlety (see Ahmed 2004; Lawler 2005),underpinning and emerging within public discourses on the welfare subject, thusforming the ‘glue’ required to combine the range of necessary contingencies to shiftthe public understandings of distributive justice and social rights.
“A system designed only to assist the poor helps perpetuate existing social and economic inequality in the longer run by reinforcing distinctions between the poor and the rest of society, and at the same time it may lock the poor into a cycle of poverty by its system of benefit abatement.”
[ So the present system stigmatises the poor, may even keep them down ]
“A further implication is that a highly targeted system will ultimately face considerable resistance from taxpayers unwilling to support a system perceived as rewarding the improvident and providing themselves with no return for their contributions.”
[ So the present system is seen as unfair by many of those needed to contribute. So the neocon/liberal/right or whatever you want to call them can get a lot of political mileage out of this. ]
When will the Left move to a new paradigm that stays true to the original goal of wealth redistribution and deals with the problems of the outmoded bloated welfare state?
Raving on about the end of capitalism and patriarchy definitely won’t help the Left.
For once I agree with you. Gareth Morgan has excellent ideas about income distribution and fair taxation.
Abatement rates for those trying to get work on benefits are a definite obstacle to taking on part time or full time work. The same people who claim that tax rates of 30% stop the wealthy from working harder or staying here are fine with 100% or even more abatement rates for those who try and supplement their benefit or try and get into some work.
The savings in not having to employ all the arrogant, holier than thou, twits in WINZ would be immense, for a start. Though so many of them would be unemployable elsewhere, that the number unemployed may increase.
I also like his idea of wheedling out tax dodgers by taxing them on the risk free return rate on wealth. No one with 50 million is going to have no earnings from it. Obviously there are a lot of bludgers, using services provided by taxpayers, at the top end of the scale, when 50% of our wealthiest people pay no tax.
I was interested in the GMI long before Morgan suggested it, but it solves a lot of problems.
KJT 15.2.1
Good points. Particularly the benefit abatement rate that is so high. It is possible that those on benefits will always find employment only at the minimum wage. A sensible and pragmatic government would see benefits as a base and then want and help beneficiaries to extend themselves with some study at technics, particularly solo parents.
Also to get some paid work to keep up their work profile, if no paid work then work regularly at some volunteer job, and look at helping with seasonal work in some form. This would be facilitated by transport and child care provision for instance. The demands of WINZ workers can create more financial burdens for struggling people. One of my cash-strapped relations with family worries as well, had to drive her own car at her own expense many kilometres to an orchard job only to find that work had been cancelled that day because of bad weather. I think it was demanded that she start on a certain day, and no allowance made for shut downs of the employer.
The authoritarian attitude of the state and its servants in WINZ is to despise people who are struggling,and to disregard parents responsibilities and the child-raising skills needed despite all the professional and academic statements that good early childhood care creates well balanced children and citizens. Government should be assisting the opportunities for beneficiaries and low income people to have as good quality and useful life as possible, not to simply concentrate on employment league tables and concentrate on lesser numbers for their stats. Their goal should be to have happy people working and achieving at something that is suitable to their circumstances and that would benefit society and be cheaper to administer by $million.
Well, if the Big Bang is a lie from the pit of hell, then the Universe itself is lying to us, and I’m a liar repeating those lies that it tells us about itself. Here’s why.
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The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
The deed is done, the doers undoneHad I been a Brit, I would have voted ‘Remain’ rather than Brexit (or ‘Leave’). Instead, I have been bemused by the comic theatre of British politics, fascinated by what the Brits actual think and professionally interested by the revelations of the complexity of ...
But Will She Keep Smiling? Kindness is as kindness does. And the one thing kindness cannot do is force people to be kind. Understanding that was the single most important factor in the Prime Minister’s success at stamping out the Coronavirus. She took New Zealanders with her; she encouraged them ...
Completed reads for 2020: The History of the Britons, by NenniusThe Annales CambriaeThe Life of King Alfred, by AsserThe Wood Beyond the World, by William MorrisThe Life of Merlin, by Geoffrey of MonmouthThe History of the Kings of Britain, by Geoffrey of MonmouthThe Life of Gildas, by Caradoc ...
As per my blog tradition, here is where my blog viewers came from in 2020: United StatesUnited KingdomCanadaAustraliaNew ZealandBrazilGermanySpainSwedenThe Netherlands The top four remain as per 2019. After four years at #6, New Zealand gains a spot. Brazil is up four, and The Netherlands jumps from #16 to #10. ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
New virus variants and ongoing high rates of diseases in some countries prompt additional border protections Extra (day zero or day one) test to be in place this week New ways of reducing risk before people embark on travel being investigated, including pre-departure testing for people leaving the United Kingdom ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures.As we enter the New Year I ...
The Prada Cup challenger series starts today. Suzanne McFadden goes behind the scenes of the world's only live yachting regatta to see what's in store for the next five weeks. At 6am on race days, Iain Murray wakes up and immediately checks the weather outside his Auckland window. “It’s all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raquel Peel, Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton The first season of Bridgerton, Netflix’s new hit show based on Julia Quinn’s novels, premiered on December 25 last year. The show is set in London, during the ...
The New Zealand government believes its own negotiations with Rio Tinto will be resolved "fairly quickly" now there is certainty about the future of the Tiwai Point smelter. ...
Amanda Thompson and her family are attempting to cut back on the meat, so they gave all the vego sausies the local supermarket had to offer a hoon on the barbie. Here are the results.I was a vegetarian once. Even the best of us take a well-meaning wrong turn on ...
The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the call by Wellington City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons for a shift to land value based rates charges. Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "Local government leaders across the country should join in Fitzsimons’s call ...
It’s been described as ‘pointless revenge’, but impeaching the president has a firm moral purpose, argues Michael Blake – setting a limit to what sorts of action a society will accept.A House majority, including 10 Republicans, voted today to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection”. The vote will initiate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Cranston, Lead Academic Teacher – Politics & Social Science (Swinburne Online), Swinburne University of Technology In a historic vote today, Donald Trump became the only US president to be impeached twice. By a margin of 232–197, the Democrat-controlled US House of ...
Hurrah. The PM is back to posting her announcements on the government’s official website, her deputy is back in the business of self-congratulation, Rio Tinto is back in the business of sucking up cheap electricity to produce aluminium at Tiwai Point, near Bluff. And overseas students (some, anyway) can come ...
The electricity sector, Government and people of Southland are rejoicing after Tiwai Point aluminium smelter owner Rio Tinto announced the major industrial would be open until the end of 2024, Marc Daalder reports Stakeholders in the electricity sector and across Southland are celebrating the extension of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter's ...
If you’ve been on social media this week, you may well have come across a surge in interest in sea shanties. We asked a veteran of the style why. In case you missed it, soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum. If that sentence is even ...
“It is basic human decency to speak up and protect any vulnerable child from harm, so withholding information in child abuse cases and allowing the abuse to happen by not speaking up is, put simply, a cowardly move,” says Jess McVicar Co-Leader ...
Allowing 1,000 returning international students back to New Zealand is the right move by the Government, and hopefully we will be able to welcome more, says ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard. "International education has contributed ...
A majority of the House of Representatives have voted to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. Follow the ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “We believe it is vital to hold our new Labour-led government to account ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Rotorua Lakes District Council to urgently release the engineering report on the public safety and structural integrity of the visible foundation-misalignment and lean of the City’s Hemo Gorge monument to government ...
Changes in income and movement in and out of poverty over time are only weakly associated with higher rates of child hospitalisation in New Zealand, according to a new University of Auckland study. Published today in PLOS ONE, the collaborative study led by Dr ...
With a long, hot summer upon us, pet owners are urged to be extra mindful of their pet’s health and safety. Unusually warm weather can quickly take its toll on furry family members, who aren’t well equipped for dealing with blazing heat. The National ...
The Council for Civil Liberties is challenging a claim by former National Party leader Simon Bridges that people should have total freedom of expression on Twitter. ...
A century of sexual abuse of women in New Zealand is analysed in a University of Auckland study. The newly-published research looks back as far as 1922 by analysing interviews with thousands of women about their lifetime experiences. The study indicates ...
62,686 more native trees will be planted in New Zealand in 2021 thanks to generous Kiwis who chose to go green for Christmas gifting. <img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2101/cf409712f141732a8543.jpeg" width="720" height="540"> Trees That Count, a programme ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By Arturo López-LevyOakland, CaliforniaUnfortunately, the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, encouraged by the Inciter-in-Chief, will not be the last act of mischief. Trump is insisting on causing as much damage as possible to the interests and values ...
The threatened Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will keep operating through to the end of December 2024, in a new deal just announced to the New Zealand stock exchange. Mining conglomerate Rio Tinto announced last year it was closing Tiwai due to high energy and transmission costs. Meridian Energy said that ...
The lack of Māori language or symbolism on the SuperGold Card isn’t just a design issue – it’s emblematic of the overwhelming whiteness of Aotearoa’s superannuant population, writes former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres.I’ve enjoyed the SuperGold Card since I retired eight years ago. I appreciate the free public ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Brumm, Professor, Griffith University The dating of an exceptionally old cave painting of animals that was found recently on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is reported in our paper out today. The painting portrays images of the Sulawesi warty pig (Sus ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Garrick, University Fellow in Law, Charles Darwin University Just over a year has gone by since the novel coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan and the world still has many questions about where and how it originated. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Young, Lecturer, Deakin University Medievalist references littered the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th. Rudy Giuliani called for a “trial by combat”; the “Q Shaman”, Jacob Chansley (also known as Jake Angeli), was covered in Norse tattoos; rioters brandished ...
A Whakatāne therapist says the Whakaari eruption and Christchurch mosque shooting reveal a health system unable to deal with mass casualty events. Whakaari after its eruption in 2019. Photo: Supplied/Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust This comes amid calls for millions of dollars of promised mental health funding to be urgently re-routed to Canterbury ...
Summer reissue: Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Stacy Gregg, author of Pony Club Secrets and The Princess and ...
Summer reissue: The latest episode of Bad News follows Alice Snedden on a quest to expose the double standards around nudity, and break down the barriers by getting the first-ever topless scene on Shortland Street.First published August 25, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
While the protests at Waikeria shine a light on prisoner conditions, abuses of power and inhumane treatment in prison are not new and will continue until prisoner numbers significantly reduce, writes Christine McCarthy The recent six-day Waikeria protest highlighted problems at that prison, but it is not unique. The December ...
NZ isn't among the 50 signatories to an international commitment to legally protect 30 percent of the world's land and oceans for biodiversity by 2030. ...
The new variants of the virus can spread like wildfire, and all of us have a role to play in keeping them out of the community.I have to admit, when I first heard UK prime minister Boris Johnson talking about a new, more transmissible strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Quinn, Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University On Sunday, federal Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said most Australians will be offered a vaccine from Oxford-AstraZeneca. Australia currently has agreements in place to receive 53.8 million ...
Snoop weighs up the difference between Romney and Obama. Turns out the name ‘Mitt’ is the decider. That and the dancing horse.
In NZ, it’s pronouced “Mutt”. Ry Cooder has the best explanation.
Looks like it’s been the dumb fuckers leaving and much smarter people arriving…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779840/Key-changes-tack-with-brain-exchange-tag
Ah. The market provides again. Whoop. We have a brain exchange now. Wonder if Johnny Boy picked his up as a ‘not worth trading’ commodity that had been discarded on the trading room floor?
Or is it just me who has images of ‘Futurama’ and heads in jars?
Have no fear Bill, by no means do you stand alone in this (and other) sound opinions concerning “Johnny Boy”! (The problem is that too many of us are much too often feeling alone and thus vulnerable – this is what Johnny and cohorts do to us). Maybe I am not making much sense of this!?
Yeah right.
In my industry we are losing all our young competent people and replacing them with poorly trained ring ins from overseas.
The average age of the Kiwis that are left is 57.
Indeed this is what I see also, and its not limited to any one industry. The ring ins also cost less, because they have little to no idea what a job might pay when they arrive, so it works to suppress wages nicely for the “owners”, quality be damned!
I work amongst entire swathes, some of who can barely speak english, which while not in of itself a problem, it most certainly becomes one in the work place.
The brain drain term was obviously just “mis-sold”. (I just mis-purchased a bottle of wine that tasted really cheap and nasty) – should I take it back? I’ll give it a go. Oh… and I mis-purchased a load of fruit that was individually packaged in plastic.
We really do live with truly twisted liers, repeating the truly twisted thoughts of the spin team behind the faces…
Oh yeah right they are so smart, that they are going to come to live in NZ for shit wages, and even shittier conditions, in a country run by a fool. Now there’s a Tui Ad.
: )
Another great speech from John “spin-me-a-river” Key…
My own experience is that a lot of the bright Kiwis are leaving, with the jobs going to third rate remnants of the empire from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Britain. This seems particularly true in universities and the public service, especially in the higher echelons. For example, to speak of Longstone, Rebstock, or those filling the ranks of the spy agencies in terms of a brain exchange may have been accurate in the days of live sheep exports, but haven’t they stopped? In my own field, most of the best people are in the academic diaspora, while semi competent self promoters from overseas are slowly filling the positions in Aotearoa.
THE DARK NIGHT
In the delicious night,
In privacy, where no one saw me,
Nor did I see one thing,
I had no light or guide
But the fire that burned inside my chest.
That fire showed me
The way more clearly than the blaze of moon
To where, waiting for me,
Was the One I knew so well.
In that place where no one ever is.
Oh night, sweet guider,
Oh night more marvelous than the dawn!
Oh night which joins
The lover and the beloved
So that the lover and beloved change bodies!
In my chest full of flowers,
Flowering wholly and only for Him,
There He remained sleeping;
I cared for Him there,
And the fan of the high cedars cooled Him.
The wind played with
His hair, and that wind from the high
Towers struck me on the neck
With its sober hand;
Sight, taste, touch, hearing stopped.
I stood still. I forgot who I was,
My face leaning against Him,
Everything stopped, abandoned me,
My worldliness was gone, forgotten
Among the white lilies.
-John, The Weavers Apprentice
He said to Moses, “I Will Be What, Where and How I Will Be”
so back to the books, semi-monasticism, with a little gardening on the side.
( and they all said “tfft” 🙂 )
Go In Peace
-j
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779714/Businesses-targeted-in-student-visa-scam
Private Training Establishments and businesses making a killing. it makes the word private a very dirty word, when used in conjunction with education.
And you gotta love a battler..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779571/Jobless-battler-takes-on-Winz-for-a-3-cause
Re second link:
Gee, what a surprise. WINZ fucks someone over and then complains about being caught doing it.
Second link – that is such an awesome story, someone should give that guy a fucking medal. His original enquiry was over a $3.73 mispayment and WINZ fucked it up so badly that the HRC eventually awards the guy $17,000 in damages.
It should be noted that the kinds of mistakes reported in the article are pretty standard, so this case seems groundbreaking to me. WINZ have just been told by the Human Rights Commission that their processes at a system and institutional level are broken and need to be fixed.
It will be interesting to see what the courts do with it. Won’t be the first time that WINZ have lost a battle in the High Court due to not treating a beneficiary properly with respect to entitlements.
Edit: actually the Human Rights Tribunal which is part of the Dept of Justice (not the HRC).
Some Dunedin people who were part of the recent National Day of Action are organising support for the old battler. He won’t be alone at the High Court on Wednesday.
That’s good to know!
The numbers who are brave enough to see through Key and his gang, must at all costs hang in there with patience. Despair will mean victory for them, as tempting as it is to submit to despair.
Sounds reasonable…
So who will be turning it around then, if you were pressed for an an answer Dr T?
muzza. First of all I must look to myself and my own thoughts and actions, next to my family and friends, then by my contributions through the Green Party and the Labour Party (especially Mr Cunliffe), and, most importantly, I would look to you in person! (Actually, I am not finished yet, but this will do for starters).
Quite right Dr T,
We can only positively influence what we directly touch, and if all people started with themselves, and worked outwards from there, it would be a very good start. If we are able to influence so well, then it could perhaps turn into being able to influence what we do not directly touch. Thats when things could get very interesting indeed.
😉
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/latest-edition/7779753/Payroll-chaos-latest-burden-for-teachers
A ”shambolic” Education Ministry payroll system is threatening to shatter the resilience of Christchurch teachers who are already at war with the Government, principals say.
They say the $29 million Novopay system, implemented in August, is an added burden for Christchurch schools affected by the Government’s recent education shake-up, involving closures and mergers.
Since Novopay was introduced, some schools have had to foot the bill when staff were underpaid and in other cases ex-staff members have reappeared on the payroll.
Ummm What was wrong with the old system???
>>>Ummm What was wrong with the old system
It worked!!!
I think, but I don’t really know that the new system is web based.
Maybe ianmac or some one more connected can tell us.
The reappearance of teachers on the payroll who have resigned is odd.
Obviously one problem is the data transition.
Yes it is web based and has caused a lot of trouble for the ancillary staff in schools who deal with payroll. Apparently Novopay knew they weren’t ready but the MOE insisted they commence operations. Most teacher’s thankfully haven’t had problems, it’s support staff, relievers and part time staff who appear to have had the most problems.
Sounds familiar, experienced supplier says ‘not ready’ normally due to the feckless incompetence of the client but gets told to go live anyway.
Ryalls been doing that in the DHB’S backend, gotta have those ticks in boxes, job done bonuses for the mangers all around.
Supershity is still cleaning up after sergeant Ford, Rortney and Shonkeys forced shambles and is effectively still 7 councils once you scratch the surface with the same mad as meat axes managers bullying people around, they just get paid more now like bully boy McKay.
Talent2 not being ready? – they had more than four years!!!
Sorry DV. Not connected but will ask neighbours. When the Ministry said fewer than 100 had problems I thought that it was a politically motivated number because who would be able to show that it might be thousands?
One of the ‘thing’ that has irritated one teacher (Part time) that I know is their pay has been reduced by 3 cents a pay.
It is apparently that each calculation is rounded as it is done. and not at the end.
Now I know that is sort of trivial, BUT really irritating.
Why can’t they just round at the end.
Heads will roll! Mark my words (according to national standards).
Financial Warfare: Destabilizing Iran’s Monetary System
Magical Thinking, Meteorology and Economic Forecasting.
Emphasis mine.
DTB after 3 years of Tory Austerity the RWNJ’s have increased the National debt by more than 20% after saying repeatedly that austerity was the only answer to the UK”s economy Austerity has made it far worse
Yes, because that is what austerity achieves….More borrowing!
Which is what the RWNJs wanted – more government guaranteed income for the well-off.
For the sake of clarity: this is where all the money being “saved” by austerity is going.
http://www.johnpemberton.co.nz/html/debt_graph_info.pdf
New Zealand government official stats show $318 billion NZ originated private institution credit money. They then treat as assets and deduct what has been invested overseas and come up with what they call Net International Investment Position which appears much less alarming despite that money competting to find profit in an international financial system where the international debt is also unrepayable from the day its born.
Even if the foreign investments from NZ where able to be repatriated in quick time they would come back to only the wealthiest few who control them and not benefit wider society as implied. Just more smoke and mirrors;
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ParlSupport/ResearchPapers/3/4/6/00PlibCIP121-New-Zealand-s-International-Investment-Position.htm
$318 billion debt based money supply at annual interest rate of 7% equals $22 odd billion interest repayment that is essentially rent upon a revolving line of credit that circulates as our money supply.
Given most of that interest finds its way back to the same largest owners of larger international banks who own largest stake holdings in Australian banks who own NZ banks, it puts to shame the 1.3 billion they give back in tax and shout from the roof tops as being so beneficial to the prosperity of the nation?
Well said bud
Exactly CV.
🙂
Herald gets headline wrong. Should read, “Meathead says raping a woman built his character”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10838938
Piss off, loser. “The People” don’t want you as much as your brain damaged mind would like to imagine.
Quote:
“Tyson served three years in prison after the 1991 rape of an 18-year-old woman in an Indianapolis hotel room.
He insisted during a visit to London, however, that the negative experiences in his life have shaped his character.
“Anything that I would have got away from, being in prison, having fights, biting (Evander) Holyfield; (the) lack of that, my life would be miserable,” Tyson said as he launched a new range of boxing gear.”
Jesus H. Christ!…….check THIS out!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/john-hartevelt/7778670/Key-must-press-on-to-fix-spy-agency
“But the prime minister deserves some credit for his willingness to turn over more information about the secretive spy agency…….” (John Hartevelt)
Who IS this guy?
Straws. at. clutching
a-wishin. a-hopin
Faith and hope
carry on Major
Chin up
itchim, smetchim, goan fowid, oim rilexed
Oh…apologies… I see from the link I just posted that John Hartevelt is a “columnist”. Let’s commend Fairfax for being charitable
Tim. Fairfax is showing its true colours, that’s about all. Indeed, Key apologised NOT for himself but for his minions who suffered through absence of his leadership. Key did “the right things” only under immense duress. So, he is a Saint? Even worse people than him have been canonised.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/41015_Video_by_Simpsons_Animator_Lucas_Gray-_Why_Obama_Now/
Not that the right will ever abandon a failed policy in the face of overwhelming evidence that it doesn’t fucking work 🙄
Just a random thought….whatever happened to the Cullen Fund which seems to have sunk without trace never to be seen again? Does anybody know?
Still there mate.
More news from Planet Key.
😀
Blood on our hands?
New Zealand’s Afghan interpreters go public, pleading to New Zealanders for their lives.
Will Key and our military leaders heed their call and do the right thing?
Or will New Zealand’s ill advised ten year involvement in the Afghan war result in one final outrage?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779871/Dear-Mr-Key-please-don-t-leave-us-to-die
Nope.
And you wonder where local good will for allied forces disappears to.
Is this what New Zealanders have killed and died for in Afghanistan?
http://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2012-10-05/letters-at-3am-too-much-of-nothing/
So, while Key is over in Hollywood talking up making films here Weta are importing workers.
Seems somewhat self-defeating to subsidise multi-national conglomerates to bring work here to NZ only to give those jobs to foreigners. Especially while we have such massive unemployment.
Good old Peter Jackson screwing NZ workers yet again. I hope those Weta employees who marched against union protections understand a bit better what is happening now.
Yes, I saw that before I went to work this morning. Also, as I recall, someone (probably Kelsey) said something about the TPPA rules will make it harder for films by NZ production companies to use the web to market or distribute their films.
All about Hollywood protecting their market advantage. Why would they want to concede anything to the NZ industry?
http://www.academia.edu/1273785/The_three_Ds_of_welfare_reform_disability_disgust_and_deservingness
From the Australian Journal of Human rights an interesting analysis of the deliberate strategy of manipulating public disgust towards welfare beneficiaries, by the Howard government, in order to further the aims of the neoliberal elites in changing public beliefs about distributive justice and social rights.
Apologies for the poor reproduction of the text. I’m not sure why it has transferred badly from the link. embolding mine.
Via the Feminist Carnival Down Under.
Excellent
That’s why we need the ‘Big Kahuna’ by Gareth Morgan. http://www.bigkahuna.org.nz
A Royal Commission quote from the site:
“A system designed only to assist the poor helps perpetuate existing social and economic inequality in the longer run by reinforcing distinctions between the poor and the rest of society, and at the same time it may lock the poor into a cycle of poverty by its system of benefit abatement.”
[ So the present system stigmatises the poor, may even keep them down ]
“A further implication is that a highly targeted system will ultimately face considerable resistance from taxpayers unwilling to support a system perceived as rewarding the improvident and providing themselves with no return for their contributions.”
[ So the present system is seen as unfair by many of those needed to contribute. So the neocon/liberal/right or whatever you want to call them can get a lot of political mileage out of this. ]
When will the Left move to a new paradigm that stays true to the original goal of wealth redistribution and deals with the problems of the outmoded bloated welfare state?
Raving on about the end of capitalism and patriarchy definitely won’t help the Left.
For once I agree with you. Gareth Morgan has excellent ideas about income distribution and fair taxation.
Abatement rates for those trying to get work on benefits are a definite obstacle to taking on part time or full time work. The same people who claim that tax rates of 30% stop the wealthy from working harder or staying here are fine with 100% or even more abatement rates for those who try and supplement their benefit or try and get into some work.
The savings in not having to employ all the arrogant, holier than thou, twits in WINZ would be immense, for a start. Though so many of them would be unemployable elsewhere, that the number unemployed may increase.
I also like his idea of wheedling out tax dodgers by taxing them on the risk free return rate on wealth. No one with 50 million is going to have no earnings from it. Obviously there are a lot of bludgers, using services provided by taxpayers, at the top end of the scale, when 50% of our wealthiest people pay no tax.
I was interested in the GMI long before Morgan suggested it, but it solves a lot of problems.
KJT 15.2.1
Good points. Particularly the benefit abatement rate that is so high. It is possible that those on benefits will always find employment only at the minimum wage. A sensible and pragmatic government would see benefits as a base and then want and help beneficiaries to extend themselves with some study at technics, particularly solo parents.
Also to get some paid work to keep up their work profile, if no paid work then work regularly at some volunteer job, and look at helping with seasonal work in some form. This would be facilitated by transport and child care provision for instance. The demands of WINZ workers can create more financial burdens for struggling people. One of my cash-strapped relations with family worries as well, had to drive her own car at her own expense many kilometres to an orchard job only to find that work had been cancelled that day because of bad weather. I think it was demanded that she start on a certain day, and no allowance made for shut downs of the employer.
The authoritarian attitude of the state and its servants in WINZ is to despise people who are struggling,and to disregard parents responsibilities and the child-raising skills needed despite all the professional and academic statements that good early childhood care creates well balanced children and citizens. Government should be assisting the opportunities for beneficiaries and low income people to have as good quality and useful life as possible, not to simply concentrate on employment league tables and concentrate on lesser numbers for their stats. Their goal should be to have happy people working and achieving at something that is suitable to their circumstances and that would benefit society and be cheaper to administer by $million.
Replying to Paul Broun and his lies straight from the pit of hell.
Well, if the Big Bang is a lie from the pit of hell, then the Universe itself is lying to us, and I’m a liar repeating those lies that it tells us about itself. Here’s why.
on the same wavelength. (in the beginning was the information, and the information was with…)
Always love your posts joe. -Kirk Out
According to iPredict, it’s not looking good for the PM!
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=watch&next=detail&watch=DOTCOM.NAME.KEY&id=4167
can you post a link that doesn’t need registration?
But look at the trade volumes on that spike yesterday, all ones and twos on the way up. Looks like some gaming going on as usual.