“If a leadership contest happens, it will – yet again – be a proxy battle over Europe, the same issue that has poisoned the Tory party, and with it British political life, for decades.”
“When he [Boris Johnson] was lying his way through the referendum campaign, we knew little about what Brexit Britain would look like. Now we are beginning to know more.
The pound worth less – because of Brexit. Rising prices – because of Brexit.
Our falling standing in the world – because of Brexit.
From the top of the G7 growth league to the bottom – because of Brexit.
The investors making plans to move – because of Brexit.
EU workers leaving our NHS and our schools and universities, not welcome – because of Brexit.
Fruit unpicked in East Anglia – because of Brexit.
The Irish border question unresolved and imperiling stability and peace there – because of Brexit. The rights of millions uncertain – because of Brexit.
The most complex negotiations imaginable in the hands of a cabinet incapable of meeting for five minutes without splurging their differences through the media to the other side of the negotiating table. ”
A foreign secretary driven by ego alone; a Prime Minister too weak to deal with it.”
Alastair Campbell in the NewEuropean.
He doesn’t miss and hit the wall.
The support Boris Johnson has is from the English Nationalist fans.
Here is Fintan O’Toole’s insight to this movement.
“The problem with English nationalism is not that it exists but that it is incoherent, inarticulate and immature. This underground torrent has always been there, but it was buried for centuries beneath two powerful constructs: the British Empire and the United Kingdom. With the empire gone and the union under strain from rival nationalist movements in Scotland and Northern Ireland, English nationalism has flooded to the surface with great destructive force.”
And some more reality.
As Fran O’Sullivan says, big business isn’t scared of a NZ First/ Labour government.
Notice how she observes a Lab/Green government would have scared the corporates…
‘But it is important not to become hysterical over the eventual deals. Business will adjust – as it always does – and get on with things. If policies are perceived as detrimental to various interests, there is always the ability to lobby Government to modify them.
Importantly, if Labour and the Greens had emerged with more than 50 per cent of the vote at the election, there would have been substantial change to a number of settings – among them immigration, environmental rules, the Reserve Bank Act and taxation.
Although National had to swallow some dead rats when Jim Bolger and Peters formed the first coalition Government, the former National Prime Minister said recently that it was workable.’
We need to be vigilant that the national folks will do anything to keep in power and it is not above the possibility that they would falsify the votes here at all, because when we asked the Electoral Commission in 2016 if the voter can recheck to ‘verify’ if their paper vote was accurately recorded the Commission said no way can anyone under the “Electoral Act” see any result of the voter due to “Privacy Laws” so no-one would ever be able to find out if their vote was tampered with????
and comment above.
If you go through media reports over the past few years, there are countless examples – and that’s aside from those (probably the vast majority of instances) that go unreported.
Check out Dr Christina Stringer’s report too on exploitation, or engage with some of the various bodies doing their best to provide support (such as Immigrant Workers Association).
How America was poisoned – from Trump. Bannon, and Mercer’s Cambridge Analytica, all the way down to the Charlottesville goons and their tiki torches.
. These documents chart the Breitbart alt-right universe. They reveal how the website — and, in particular, Yiannopoulos — links the Mercer family, the billionaires who fund Breitbart, to underpaid trolls who fill it with provocative content, and to extremists striving to create a white ethnostate.
They capture what Bannon calls his “killing machine” in action, as it dredges up the resentments of people around the world, sifts through these grievances for ideas and content, and propels them from the unsavory parts of the internet up to TrumpWorld, collecting advertisers’ checks all along the way.
Was reading the right wing blog yesterday, wondering how they are feeling about today. Gosh they are a nasty, negative bunch over there, so vile, the spinners of propaganda and the pushers of put downs.
Needless to say they aren’t as excited today about the special votes as those on TS are.
I wonder how Maureen Pugh is feeling today? Rock on 2pm
I just had a look at KB out of curiosity. Weird and warped and inarticulate. Would not like to personally be a friend or neighbour of any of them. They made Wayne seem almost reasonable.
An ego driven pissing competition of nastiness and greed, selfishness preventing the sharing and supporting of differing ideas for the good of all, infested with bully boys the back bone of the national party movement.
No matter the results it’s an exciting time for NZ, makes me wonder why the KB participants are all bitching hard out.
‘Cinny skips off and carries on being excited, 3hrs to go, just 3 hrs to go’ 😀
Wow!
“Details have emerged of yesterday’s preliminary coalition meeting between National and New Zealand First, with confirmed reports that Winston Peters did not utter a word during the thirty minute meeting, to which he arrived late.”
We are often told about how hard the wealthy in NZ work for their money. Funnily enough, bankers, CEO’s, financiers do not make the top 4 hardest (overworked) working kiwis…
Interesting comments under that article – seems like everyone’s working their guts out. May be it’s like when I used to ask a room full of people to put their hand up if they considered themselves a better than average driver. What rough percentage of hands went up?
I’ve noticed a lot (like most) of people who are stuck on the hamster wheel. Going harder and harder but going nowhere.
Sustainability will become a factor very soon for a lot. You can’t keep this low wage / long hour stuff up for ever, something quite small will tip you over.
Thanks if someone released my comments. Don’t know what has happened being a non-tech idiot but my identicon or whatever has now changed … No problem but cannot work it out as I did not re-enter my name or email etc.
Will be changing my email in the near future as it is currently an old Vodaphone one soon to become redundant but will cross that bridge another day.
I have a feeling your comments are going via the spam filter. It happens randomly to some people, or it becomes a habitual thing for some others who have TS logins they’re not using. I’ll keep an eye out and see what’s happening with your comments.
Had a login years ago but rarely used it and no idea of password! Since we are on it at the moment, will send a test using my new gmail address and see if we can get that to work as no point in reactivating login for the email address that needs to go in the bin anyway.
Some people who have had logins in the past, if they use the same details in the comment fields will start getting caught in moderation. I don’t know what triggers this.
Yes, the simplest option is to change your email address in the comment field. Doesn’t work all the time, but it does for some. You can make up an email address too, doesn’t need to be real.
Not sure as raced out to get back home before special results, but from the time seems to have been quicker. Will stick with new email as per this reply and check.
Thanks Weka. Sent an earlier reply to my own test to say comments now up but different identicon. Also said will be changing my email as exisitn one is a soon to be redundant Vodaphone one, and already have another legit gmail one anyway. If problems continue etc, can change to the gmail email and see if problems disappear.
“Don Richards and Sue Hamill, describe a “surprising and somewhat disappointing” exchange of views with Sir Michael Cullen at an election meeting in Whakatane on Friday, 15 September:
” Sir Michael, the former Labour Finance Minister during the Helen Clark-led government was with Grant Robertson, the Labour Party’s current Finance spokesperson and Kiri Allan, our local Labour Party candidate.
I asked Grant Robertson if he was aware of what was happening in Japan with the Central Bank buying up a significant portion of their national debt. Inflation in Japan was close to zero and the real economy was thriving. Had he considered instructing the Reserve Bank to do the same, thereby saving taxpayers money for social and infrastructure projects?
Grant asked Sir Michael to answer the question and he said that Japan had been experiencing negative growth for some time and so the two economies were not similar. I reminded Sir Michael that the Japanese economy was now thriving and the Central Bank was still buying up their national debt. I was told that a Labour government would not be doing that.
Sue then asked Grant Robertson if he had thought about doing what the first Labour Government did in the 1930s, using the Reserve Bank’s balance sheet to fund the building of housing and infrastructure? The question received a few claps from the audience.
Sir Michael once again fielded the question. He said that we had to be fiscally responsible otherwise we could end up with an economy like Germany after World War One, Venezuela or Zimbabwe. Sue carried on with a second question stating that as private banks create most of the money in the economy, why not let the Reserve Bank do it as well. Sir Michael responded by saying the banks do not create money.
The meeting finished with an invitation to meet at a local café for a chat. We went home and printed off the Bank of England’s article and the IMF’s discussion paper that stated categorically that banks create money in the act of lending. Sue went back to the café and had a further conversation with Sir Michael. He dismissed the Bank of England paper as not relevant and that it did not mean that banks created money. He also dismissed the IMF paper saying that banks lend out people’s savings.
It was a frustrating experience and if Sir Michael has the ear of Grant Robertson, as he appears to have, then no difference will be made to the way our money is created, should the Labour Party come to power.””
Doesn’t all this make the Nats more vulnerable overall – with 41 constituency seats
to Labour’s 29 are they not more likely to lose seats during the next term to say scandal or resignation than Labour thereby being the more unstable partner
The PM will be the leader of whichever party/bloc NZF gives backing to, in terms of confidence and supply (or even just confidence – a possibility, but an uncomfortable one).
He is not my favourite either. One of his very recent pieces riled me no end but (luckily) it did not get one mention here on TS AFAIK and I didn’t need to let rip … Shame though because I really felt like it!
Afraid to say this latest Trots spray has already been mentioned in this very OM at 18 above.
Not my best response but the response was triggered by seeing it posted at 2.00pm while awaiting the special vote results. Fear that Cullen is going to be Finance Minister? Really ???????
Perhaps we could invite Paul Keating to nip across and lend a hand.
Poor old Labour: doesn’t matter who’s at the top. It’s a patriarchal middle class construct. People who get all wussie at the thought of decent unions and have to hide the facts from the sweet innocent voting public.
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Please find attached embargoed copies of two media statements from the Interim Climate Change Committee http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1907/Embargoed_Interim_Climate_Change_Committee_Accelerated_electrification_MEDIA_STATEMENT.pdf ...
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Simon Shepherd: Green MP Chloe Swarbrick’s name has become synonymous with drug reform, so following years of campaigning for safe, public access to medicinal cannabis, what does she think of the government’s new plan? Well, Chloe Swarbrick joins me ...
Social Credit is calling for a Government enquiry into the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board over it's handling of the Sarah Preece attack in 2017 and its subsequent report. ...
An overwhelming response sees Māori from across the country pouring into Māngere today. The call for action came from Māori leadership concerned with the practice of tamariki removals by the state. Whānau, experts, and highly skilled Māori from ...
Responding the announcement of a $2.37 million loan from the Provincial Growth Fund to a Northland berry farm, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “Why couldn’t this business get a loan from the bank? If no bank was ...
Multicultural NZ is delighted to congratulate former Gisborne Mayor, Meng Foon, who has been appointed as New Zealand’s Race Relations Commissioner. ...
Award-winning broadcaster, Waatea has been selected by North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to exclusively livestream the historic Māori-led Inquiry on Oranga Tamariki. ...
“The Peace Movement sends an urgent call to Winston Peters to reject any US demands for New Zealand participation in patrolling the Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz. New Zealand should have nothing to do with any war on the ...
For generations, women have done the heavy lifting in the fight for social change. What will it take to get more men to give a fuck about their children’s future?At every question and answer session I attend, I get a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney I Need to Know is an ongoing series for teens in search of reliable, confidential advice about life’s tricky questions. If you’re a teen, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katarina Miljkovic, ARC DECRA fellow, Curtin University Look up on a clear night and you can see some circular formations on the face of our lunar neighbour. These are impact craters, circular ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Wolpe, Non-resident senior fellow, United States Study Centre, University of Sydney The past three days in US politics have been very difficult – and ugly. President Donald Trump chosen to exploit ...
Today is the 5oth anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the first spaceflight to land humans on the Moon. Astronomer Richard Easther looks back. One of my earliest memories is standing with my father on the ...
In a world of racist tweeting presidents, climate crisis and cricketing travesty, what you need in your life is this palliative conversation about Dunedin’s Baldwin Street losing its crown as world’s steepest street to Ffordd Pen Llech in WalesThe slope ...
Last night on The Block NZ, something incredible happened: James Reid from The Feelers showed up. Every now and again, something completely unexpected happens on reality television that shakes you awake from your slack-jawed couch coma. It’s that jolt of electricity ...
Sam Brooks, lifelong gamer, lost himself on a virtual battlefield in the days after his mother’s death. Here, he reviews a book by a kindred spirit: Lost in A Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can ...
Laura Vincent reviews Golden Boy, a new sitcom from Three skewering small town New Zealand and the colourful characters who populate it.From Twin Peaks to all the shows that copied Twin Peaks, small towns have long been fertile ground for television ...
Bernard Hickey explains why New Zealand's housing market bubble has become armour plated and why it is proving almost impossible to burst, despite the predictions of overseas experts. ...
The government’s reluctance to front up about support for mentally traumatised mosque shooting survivors has shined a spotlight on the limitations of ACC, writes RNZ’s Veronica Schmidt.The difficulty with being held up as a symbol of empathy and compassion is ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Two school girls from East Java, Aeshnina Azzahra (alias Nina), 12, and Zahira Zade, 11, have sent hand-written protest letters to US President Donald Trump over the dumping of toxic plastic waste in Indonesia. The ...
Jacinda Ardern needs to make a stand for the things she says her Government believes in, despite the public preference for strong, dominant and often otherwise repugnant politicians. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentClimate change Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern defends ‘laughable’ ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Options for getting agriculture into ETS unveiled, leading academic savages billion trees programme, and OIO approves Westland Milk sale. A historic day for climate change policy in New Zealand, with agriculture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sumeet Walia, Senior Lecturer and Vice Chancellor’s Fellow, RMIT University What better way to build smarter computer chips than to mimic nature’s most perfect computer – the human brain? Being able to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Twomey, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Sydney Debates about constitutional change in Australia inevitably raise the poor success rate of referendums. Only eight out of 44 attempts have ever succeeded ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Whitehouse, Bennett Chair of Autism, Telethon Kids Institute, Univeristy of Western Australia, University of Western Australia Therapies given to infants before they receive a diagnosis of autism may lead to important ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Fobert, Research Associate, Flinders University Clownfish achieved worldwide fame following Finding Nemo, but it turns out these fish don’t do so well in the spotlight. Our research, published in Biology Letters, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Pollack, Associate Professor, University of Sydney Someone we know recently told us about a team-building event that proved anything but. The chief executive who arranged it loved mountain biking. So he ...
Oskar Howell travels to Otorohanga to interview Danielle Hawkins, author of When It All Turns to Custard, over a delicious two-course home-cooked lunch. ...
Dreamed of traveling long term, but at a loss about how to afford it? Here’s how Kristin Hall and her partner managed it (spoiler: involves a lot of brown rice and cabbage).*Scroll to the end for an important note about ...
Daniel Ziffer’s rollicking account of Australia’s Royal Commission into banking is a jaw-dropping laundry list of scandals, heartbreaking stories, and ‘gotcha’ moments.The Haynes Commission was set up in 2017 to inquire into and report on misconduct in the Australian banking ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harry Hobbs, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has announced that the state will begin a conversation about a pathway to treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mair Underwood, Lecturer in Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Queensland Months after a public breakup with her husband, the politician Barnaby Joyce, Natalie Joyce made news when she displayed her “new” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brittany Huber, Postdoctoral researcher, Swinburne University of Technology Most (80%) Australian parents worry children spend too much time with screens. But what children are doing on and off screen matters more than ...
A local photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ requesting they work “unpaid” on Married At First Sight NZ. A wedding photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ on Reddit after the production company requested that they work for ...
How ANZ Bank fought for more than three years to keep its role in New Zealand’s biggest Ponzi scheme quiet and stop a regulator telling out-of-pocket investors the details. ...
Sam Brooks reviews Mean Mums, the new sitcom from Three that manages to make putting a great show together look easy.When it premiered as part of Three’s Pilot Week last year, I called Mean Mums the winner of the bunch. Nearly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Last week on this podcast we talked to Ken Wyatt about the government’s plan for a referendum – hopefully this parliamentary term – to recognise ...
Imagine if we treated our native birds with as little care as we do our precious fish stocks, writes ecologist Stella McQueen.Earlier this year, 900 at-risk native mudfish were relocated to make way for a wastewater development. But despite a ...
For when toast or cereal just doesn’t cut it, but you don’t have the time or inclination to do any actual cooking, try this. If I ever cook rice (or grains of any kind) for dinner, I often make extra to ...
For their latest ageing episode, Hilary Barry joins the On the Rag team to talk wrinkle creams, menopause and why people still think she is Jeremy Wells’ mum. This month’s episode of On the Rag is all about ageing. Time ravages ...
The Auditor-General's investigators are to look into the National Party's complaints about taxpayer funding being used to underwrite KiwiBuild homes. ...
Open Mike 07/10/2017 
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...1 hour ago
Yesterday the government released its discussion document on action on agricultural emissions. As sadly usual, it proposed enormous subsidies for farm emissions, including for nitrogen-based fertiliser. This is a huge mistake. In addition to being one of the chief drivers ...1 hour ago
5 hours ago
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...1 day ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...1 day ago
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...2 days ago
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...3 days ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...6 days ago
1 week ago
1 week ago
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...2 weeks ago
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...2 weeks ago
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...2 weeks ago
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: Blog Writing Tips. I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the ... 2 weeks ago
When people slate the current Government for taking too long on certain issues, or not getting everything right, just check the outrage and quit helping National manufacture consent for their decade of Disaster Economics and much more. Bill couldn’t ...3 weeks ago
Robots could soon replace many low-skill jobs, such as President of the United States. US Presidential hopeful and doomsday prophet Andrew Yang went to extreme lengths to make a point in the first round of Democratic primary debates today, replacing ...3 weeks ago
More people have died in the shower this year than will die in a KiwiBuild home. KiwiBuild home owners are experiencing a surprise windfall this month, as the price of their houses have begun to rise dramatically, due to growing ...3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...1 day ago
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...1 hour ago
There's a bold push for Wellington's cricket ground to be renamed ‘Support Women’s Sport Basin Reserve’. ...33 mins ago
For generations, women have done the heavy lifting in the fight for social change. What will it take to get more men to give a fuck about their children’s future?At every question and answer session I attend, I get a ...1 hour ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney I Need to Know is an ongoing series for teens in search of reliable, confidential advice about life’s tricky questions. If you’re a teen, ...2 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katarina Miljkovic, ARC DECRA fellow, Curtin University Look up on a clear night and you can see some circular formations on the face of our lunar neighbour. These are impact craters, circular ...3 hours ago
Co-working office space company Regus Management has been warned for not complying with anti-money laundering laws. ...3 hours ago
Today is the 5oth anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the first spaceflight to land humans on the Moon. Astronomer Richard Easther looks back. One of my earliest memories is standing with my father on the ...4 hours ago
Last night on The Block NZ, something incredible happened: James Reid from The Feelers showed up. Every now and again, something completely unexpected happens on reality television that shakes you awake from your slack-jawed couch coma. It’s that jolt of electricity ...5 hours ago
Sam Brooks, lifelong gamer, lost himself on a virtual battlefield in the days after his mother’s death. Here, he reviews a book by a kindred spirit: Lost in A Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can ...5 hours ago
Laura Vincent reviews Golden Boy, a new sitcom from Three skewering small town New Zealand and the colourful characters who populate it.From Twin Peaks to all the shows that copied Twin Peaks, small towns have long been fertile ground for television ...5 hours ago
Bernard Hickey explains why New Zealand's housing market bubble has become armour plated and why it is proving almost impossible to burst, despite the predictions of overseas experts. ...5 hours ago
The farming industry says it's more logical that it leads the transition to agricultural emission pricing than having a new centralised levy. ...6 hours ago
International dairy prices have risen for the first time in two months. ...6 hours ago
The government’s reluctance to front up about support for mentally traumatised mosque shooting survivors has shined a spotlight on the limitations of ACC, writes RNZ’s Veronica Schmidt.The difficulty with being held up as a symbol of empathy and compassion is ...6 hours ago
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Two school girls from East Java, Aeshnina Azzahra (alias Nina), 12, and Zahira Zade, 11, have sent hand-written protest letters to US President Donald Trump over the dumping of toxic plastic waste in Indonesia. The ...7 hours ago
Jacinda Ardern needs to make a stand for the things she says her Government believes in, despite the public preference for strong, dominant and often otherwise repugnant politicians. ...7 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Options for getting agriculture into ETS unveiled, leading academic savages billion trees programme, and OIO approves Westland Milk sale. A historic day for climate change policy in New Zealand, with agriculture ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sumeet Walia, Senior Lecturer and Vice Chancellor’s Fellow, RMIT University What better way to build smarter computer chips than to mimic nature’s most perfect computer – the human brain? Being able to ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Whitehouse, Bennett Chair of Autism, Telethon Kids Institute, Univeristy of Western Australia, University of Western Australia Therapies given to infants before they receive a diagnosis of autism may lead to important ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Fobert, Research Associate, Flinders University Clownfish achieved worldwide fame following Finding Nemo, but it turns out these fish don’t do so well in the spotlight. Our research, published in Biology Letters, ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Pollack, Associate Professor, University of Sydney Someone we know recently told us about a team-building event that proved anything but. The chief executive who arranged it loved mountain biking. So he ...10 hours ago
Oskar Howell travels to Otorohanga to interview Danielle Hawkins, author of When It All Turns to Custard, over a delicious two-course home-cooked lunch. ...12 hours ago
Highland dancing's lone male competitor, Angus Hendry, dominated the sport's national championships in Marlborough. ...12 hours ago
Auckland's lava caves offer a glimpse of volcanic activity on this planet and others - but they may be at risk. ...12 hours ago
Jacinda Ardern’s comments jar with advice over extending ACC cover to mentally injured terror attack victims. ...12 hours ago
Dreamed of traveling long term, but at a loss about how to afford it? Here’s how Kristin Hall and her partner managed it (spoiler: involves a lot of brown rice and cabbage).*Scroll to the end for an important note about ...12 hours ago
Daniel Ziffer’s rollicking account of Australia’s Royal Commission into banking is a jaw-dropping laundry list of scandals, heartbreaking stories, and ‘gotcha’ moments.The Haynes Commission was set up in 2017 to inquire into and report on misconduct in the Australian banking ...12 hours ago
The latest immigration figures paint a picture of headaches and heartbreaks. ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harry Hobbs, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has announced that the state will begin a conversation about a pathway to treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ...22 hours ago
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The number of residency applications are outstripping the Government's lowered planning targets by thousands. ...23 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brittany Huber, Postdoctoral researcher, Swinburne University of Technology Most (80%) Australian parents worry children spend too much time with screens. But what children are doing on and off screen matters more than ...24 hours ago
A local photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ requesting they work “unpaid” on Married At First Sight NZ. A wedding photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ on Reddit after the production company requested that they work for ...1 day ago
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How ANZ Bank fought for more than three years to keep its role in New Zealand’s biggest Ponzi scheme quiet and stop a regulator telling out-of-pocket investors the details. ...1 day ago
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Consumer inflation increased on the back of higher petrol prices and rents in the past three months. ...1 day ago
For their latest ageing episode, Hilary Barry joins the On the Rag team to talk wrinkle creams, menopause and why people still think she is Jeremy Wells’ mum. This month’s episode of On the Rag is all about ageing. Time ravages ...1 day ago
Can the Government forge consensus on how to hold farmers to account for their climate impact? ...1 day ago
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That’s what seems to commonly be attempted here, like now, with OAB leading the dishonesty and divisiveness.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Right party, right place, right time ..
https://fabiusmaximus.com/2017/10/05/when-the-ai-jobs-extinction-will-arrive/
I heard this for the first time yesterday ….
Another exceptional talent ….. Giving voice on another deadly problem.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11930260
since when is it ok for nz to harbour a kidnapper.?
What kidnapper??
Sounds like she’s about to be deported so not sure what you mean.
When doing otherwise would be an “intolerable situation” and “cataclysmic”, for the child.
the judge is an arse, if it was the father who ran off the result would be very different
I disagree, sorry. I don’t think he was focussing on the deeds of the parents, but what is currently in the best interests of the child
Mother, father, arse or otherwise, primacy of the child rules.
Everyone ready for Prime Minister Boris Johnson?
“If a leadership contest happens, it will – yet again – be a proxy battle over Europe, the same issue that has poisoned the Tory party, and with it British political life, for decades.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/06/tories-destroying-themselves-hard-brexit
No clearer lesson exists for those countries wishing to further fracture the European Union than the UK today.
“When he [Boris Johnson] was lying his way through the referendum campaign, we knew little about what Brexit Britain would look like. Now we are beginning to know more.
The pound worth less – because of Brexit. Rising prices – because of Brexit.
Our falling standing in the world – because of Brexit.
From the top of the G7 growth league to the bottom – because of Brexit.
The investors making plans to move – because of Brexit.
EU workers leaving our NHS and our schools and universities, not welcome – because of Brexit.
Fruit unpicked in East Anglia – because of Brexit.
The Irish border question unresolved and imperiling stability and peace there – because of Brexit. The rights of millions uncertain – because of Brexit.
The most complex negotiations imaginable in the hands of a cabinet incapable of meeting for five minutes without splurging their differences through the media to the other side of the negotiating table. ”
A foreign secretary driven by ego alone; a Prime Minister too weak to deal with it.”
Alastair Campbell in the NewEuropean.
He doesn’t miss and hit the wall.
Boris according to Pie:
Just brilliant
The support Boris Johnson has is from the English Nationalist fans.
Here is Fintan O’Toole’s insight to this movement.
“The problem with English nationalism is not that it exists but that it is incoherent, inarticulate and immature. This underground torrent has always been there, but it was buried for centuries beneath two powerful constructs: the British Empire and the United Kingdom. With the empire gone and the union under strain from rival nationalist movements in Scotland and Northern Ireland, English nationalism has flooded to the surface with great destructive force.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/opinion/britain-ireland-brexit-leo-varadkar.html
‘….But Gandalf lifted up his arms and called once more
in a clear voice. “Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait!
This is the hour of doom”…….
Welcome to reality.
Low income Wellington families choosing between food and public transport
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/97530715/low-income-wellington-families-choosing-between-food-and-public-transport
And some more reality.
As Fran O’Sullivan says, big business isn’t scared of a NZ First/ Labour government.
Notice how she observes a Lab/Green government would have scared the corporates…
‘But it is important not to become hysterical over the eventual deals. Business will adjust – as it always does – and get on with things. If policies are perceived as detrimental to various interests, there is always the ability to lobby Government to modify them.
Importantly, if Labour and the Greens had emerged with more than 50 per cent of the vote at the election, there would have been substantial change to a number of settings – among them immigration, environmental rules, the Reserve Bank Act and taxation.
Although National had to swallow some dead rats when Jim Bolger and Peters formed the first coalition Government, the former National Prime Minister said recently that it was workable.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11930547
though the mood of the boardroom a week or two ago was quite different…
Today is the start of the Labour Greens NZ First Coalition.
Today is the end of the shitty human natz party and those other 2 people era.
I doubt this will be sorted today.
I love the hope Nick,’
We do need a new beginning as civil unrest is bubbling on the surface of the present national swamp now and beginning to overflow.
Relentlessly Positive…. Hehe
OR is this going to be like the misjudgment of how high nats would poll on 23 Sept? And the specials will not be what we hope.
Tracey,
We need to be vigilant that the national folks will do anything to keep in power and it is not above the possibility that they would falsify the votes here at all, because when we asked the Electoral Commission in 2016 if the voter can recheck to ‘verify’ if their paper vote was accurately recorded the Commission said no way can anyone under the “Electoral Act” see any result of the voter due to “Privacy Laws” so no-one would ever be able to find out if their vote was tampered with????
“This is the first time since 1994 that there has been a complete shutdown of the Wellington metro system,” he said.
“In fact, it has taken 15 years for us to get an employer who has angered the workers sufficiently to cause a strike.”
Transdev, a French-headquartered multinational company, took over the contract to run Wellington trains from KiwiRail last year.
Mr Butson argued Transdev had mishandled negotiations and risked bringing New Zealand back to an earlier age of industrial turmoil.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/340965/rail-union-threatens-further-strikes-over-wgtn-deal
Shocking story and immigration will not investigate or prosecute the scam.
Migrant worker describes ‘modern day slavery’ scam
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/339373/migrant-worker-describes-modern-day-slavery-scam
Unfortunately @savenz, the horse bolted a long time ago.
and comment above.
If you go through media reports over the past few years, there are countless examples – and that’s aside from those (probably the vast majority of instances) that go unreported.
Check out Dr Christina Stringer’s report too on exploitation, or engage with some of the various bodies doing their best to provide support (such as Immigrant Workers Association).
Human trafficking ‘definitely a problem’ in NZ
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/335932/human-trafficking-definitely-a-problem-in-nz
National = Human exploitation + trafficking.
How America was poisoned – from Trump. Bannon, and Mercer’s Cambridge Analytica, all the way down to the Charlottesville goons and their tiki torches.
.
These documents chart the Breitbart alt-right universe. They reveal how the website — and, in particular, Yiannopoulos — links the Mercer family, the billionaires who fund Breitbart, to underpaid trolls who fill it with provocative content, and to extremists striving to create a white ethnostate.
They capture what Bannon calls his “killing machine” in action, as it dredges up the resentments of people around the world, sifts through these grievances for ideas and content, and propels them from the unsavory parts of the internet up to TrumpWorld, collecting advertisers’ checks all along the way.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/heres-how-breitbart-and-milo-smuggled-white-nationalism?utm_term=.joB888rmg2#.juo222g9NK
No more sleeps 😀 Roll on 2pm
Was reading the right wing blog yesterday, wondering how they are feeling about today. Gosh they are a nasty, negative bunch over there, so vile, the spinners of propaganda and the pushers of put downs.
Needless to say they aren’t as excited today about the special votes as those on TS are.
I wonder how Maureen Pugh is feeling today? Rock on 2pm
I just had a look at KB out of curiosity. Weird and warped and inarticulate. Would not like to personally be a friend or neighbour of any of them. They made Wayne seem almost reasonable.
KB is toxic.
An ego driven pissing competition of nastiness and greed, selfishness preventing the sharing and supporting of differing ideas for the good of all, infested with bully boys the back bone of the national party movement.
No matter the results it’s an exciting time for NZ, makes me wonder why the KB participants are all bitching hard out.
‘Cinny skips off and carries on being excited, 3hrs to go, just 3 hrs to go’ 😀
I haven’t been there since about 2005.
Pot, kettle, black, me thinks
Not a chance
Gotta love Scotland
Wow!
“Details have emerged of yesterday’s preliminary coalition meeting between National and New Zealand First, with confirmed reports that Winston Peters did not utter a word during the thirty minute meeting, to which he arrived late.”
Gotcha.
http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/winston-peters-said-nothing-in-talks-with-national-just-walked-around-room-with-a-box-cutter/
Jeepers that was dark and funny and dark.
Yeah, the head turned to spray blood…
We are often told about how hard the wealthy in NZ work for their money. Funnily enough, bankers, CEO’s, financiers do not make the top 4 hardest (overworked) working kiwis…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/97613190/what-are-new-zealands-most-overworked-jobs
We need to bring back Penal Rates.
OMG, I’m losing it! For one moment I thought that was Jacinda Ardern in that photo …
Interesting comments under that article – seems like everyone’s working their guts out. May be it’s like when I used to ask a room full of people to put their hand up if they considered themselves a better than average driver. What rough percentage of hands went up?
I’ve noticed a lot (like most) of people who are stuck on the hamster wheel. Going harder and harder but going nowhere.
Sustainability will become a factor very soon for a lot. You can’t keep this low wage / long hour stuff up for ever, something quite small will tip you over.
Test – Is it just me, or are other people experiencing long delays in comments coming up? Have submitted two this morning and neither have come up.
Thanks if someone released my comments. Don’t know what has happened being a non-tech idiot but my identicon or whatever has now changed … No problem but cannot work it out as I did not re-enter my name or email etc.
Will be changing my email in the near future as it is currently an old Vodaphone one soon to become redundant but will cross that bridge another day.
I have a feeling your comments are going via the spam filter. It happens randomly to some people, or it becomes a habitual thing for some others who have TS logins they’re not using. I’ll keep an eye out and see what’s happening with your comments.
just had a look in the back end and it does look like all your comments are going via the moderation filter.
Have you ever had a login at The Standard?
Had a login years ago but rarely used it and no idea of password! Since we are on it at the moment, will send a test using my new gmail address and see if we can get that to work as no point in reactivating login for the email address that needs to go in the bin anyway.
Some people who have had logins in the past, if they use the same details in the comment fields will start getting caught in moderation. I don’t know what triggers this.
Yes, the simplest option is to change your email address in the comment field. Doesn’t work all the time, but it does for some. You can make up an email address too, doesn’t need to be real.
Test, using new email address.
Did that appear straight away?
Not sure as raced out to get back home before special results, but from the time seems to have been quicker. Will stick with new email as per this reply and check.
EDIT – almost instantaneous !!!!!! Many thanks!!!
Thanks Weka. Sent an earlier reply to my own test to say comments now up but different identicon. Also said will be changing my email as exisitn one is a soon to be redundant Vodaphone one, and already have another legit gmail one anyway. If problems continue etc, can change to the gmail email and see if problems disappear.
It doesn’t have to be a valid email address you could just write
veutoviper(at symbol)veutoviper.co.nz
30 minutes to go… just a little bit excited 😀
Ten more minutes…. fizz fizz
Just enough time for a toilet stop!
Lmao !!!! 😀 good call
I fear we will have Michael Cullen as finance minister.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/10/07/adults-in-the-room/
“Don Richards and Sue Hamill, describe a “surprising and somewhat disappointing” exchange of views with Sir Michael Cullen at an election meeting in Whakatane on Friday, 15 September:
” Sir Michael, the former Labour Finance Minister during the Helen Clark-led government was with Grant Robertson, the Labour Party’s current Finance spokesperson and Kiri Allan, our local Labour Party candidate.
I asked Grant Robertson if he was aware of what was happening in Japan with the Central Bank buying up a significant portion of their national debt. Inflation in Japan was close to zero and the real economy was thriving. Had he considered instructing the Reserve Bank to do the same, thereby saving taxpayers money for social and infrastructure projects?
Grant asked Sir Michael to answer the question and he said that Japan had been experiencing negative growth for some time and so the two economies were not similar. I reminded Sir Michael that the Japanese economy was now thriving and the Central Bank was still buying up their national debt. I was told that a Labour government would not be doing that.
Sue then asked Grant Robertson if he had thought about doing what the first Labour Government did in the 1930s, using the Reserve Bank’s balance sheet to fund the building of housing and infrastructure? The question received a few claps from the audience.
Sir Michael once again fielded the question. He said that we had to be fiscally responsible otherwise we could end up with an economy like Germany after World War One, Venezuela or Zimbabwe. Sue carried on with a second question stating that as private banks create most of the money in the economy, why not let the Reserve Bank do it as well. Sir Michael responded by saying the banks do not create money.
The meeting finished with an invitation to meet at a local café for a chat. We went home and printed off the Bank of England’s article and the IMF’s discussion paper that stated categorically that banks create money in the act of lending. Sue went back to the café and had a further conversation with Sir Michael. He dismissed the Bank of England paper as not relevant and that it did not mean that banks created money. He also dismissed the IMF paper saying that banks lend out people’s savings.
It was a frustrating experience and if Sir Michael has the ear of Grant Robertson, as he appears to have, then no difference will be made to the way our money is created, should the Labour Party come to power.””
BS – Cullen cannot be any type of Minister. He did not run for election!
Via Robertson. Seems he’s (Cullen) pulling his strings.
*Sigh*
There’s always one.
Are we getting a new post for the final election results?
should be one up soon.
looking after sick grandson an no time to post we will see a major shift in the way OUR country is run today Kia Kaha
Worth waiting for…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/341051/live-election17-final-results-are-coming
This is the Electoral Commission’s media release
The Electoral Commission has declared the official results for the 2017 General Election.
Main points:
· The number of seats in Parliament will be 120.
· The National Party has 56 seats compared with 58 on election night.
· The Labour Party has 46 seats compared with 45 on election night.
· The Green Party has 8 seats compared with 7 on election night.
· There are no changes to the number of seats held by New Zealand First and ACT New Zealand which remain at 9 and 1 respectively.
· All electorate candidates leading on election night have been confirmed as winning their seats.
· The total number of votes cast is 2,630,173. 47% of votes were cast in advance.
· The turnout as a percentage of enrolled electors is 79.8% (2014 – 77.9%). This is the highest turnout since 2005 (80.9%).
· The final enrolment rate is 92.4% (2014 – 92.6%).
Yee hah! It’s going to be an intense week!
Just curious do you know what the totals would have been if National didn’t gift Epson to ACT?
YES! YES!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bye bye Maureen Pugh.
You beauty! Go Golriz and Angie you good things!
Doesn’t all this make the Nats more vulnerable overall – with 41 constituency seats
to Labour’s 29 are they not more likely to lose seats during the next term to say scandal or resignation than Labour thereby being the more unstable partner
Wonder what Mr English is saying? Will he resign from his list seat if it becomes NZF/Labour/ Green?
If NZF sits on the cross benches who will be PM?
The PM will be the leader of whichever party/bloc NZF gives backing to, in terms of confidence and supply (or even just confidence – a possibility, but an uncomfortable one).
Imprressive, heartfelt.
Sharp
I see The Trots has had another squirting spray all over Bowelly Road.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2017/10/adults-in-room_7.html
He can’t help himself, can he? Just has to find something to interpret as badly as possible and have a pre-emptive whine about.
He is not my favourite either. One of his very recent pieces riled me no end but (luckily) it did not get one mention here on TS AFAIK and I didn’t need to let rip … Shame though because I really felt like it!
Afraid to say this latest Trots spray has already been mentioned in this very OM at 18 above.
Not my best response but the response was triggered by seeing it posted at 2.00pm while awaiting the special vote results. Fear that Cullen is going to be Finance Minister? Really ???????
So it was. I guess I just saw Daily Bog and just skimmed straight on past…
Oh dear. Bad. Very bad.
Perhaps we could invite Paul Keating to nip across and lend a hand.
Poor old Labour: doesn’t matter who’s at the top. It’s a patriarchal middle class construct. People who get all wussie at the thought of decent unions and have to hide the facts from the sweet innocent voting public.
Trouble is – there’s nothing better on offer.
Disappointing, Mr Cullen. Very disappointing.
One must admit allowing Cullen (an unelected has been) to take and answer his questions (at an election meeting) does make Grant look like a puppet.