I’ve just published an El-Quicko post … comparing the latest Colmar Brunton ratings (both Party Support and Preferred PM) with the same measures for previous incoming governments at the same (11 month) stage into their first terms.
Covers all 7 incoming governments since regular polling commenced in 1969.
Well done, a comprehensive analysis of which each part supports what the previous part tells us, confirming my impression that the govt+Greens are ok so far.
Swordfish, you are a genius with poll data. Am sure I’m speaking for many here when I say we really appreciate all the work you put into comparing, organising and analysis of the data.
Nice one Swordfish…it looks like the Key government was a freak and I guess the Nats are still basking in the glow of this (not that I understand it).
As Key memories slide into history people will realise that a government where Bridges refuses to tell Collins to delete a nasty erroneous tweet and Collins defies the leader and says it has not been discussed with Bridges is an unelectable shower.
Thanks swordfish, very interesting, and confirms the “Struggling not coping” meme is just that, a meme put out there to create a sense of failure.
With all the overseas turmoil, issues with Micoplasma bovis, pressures of pay rounds and underfunding being discovered by the current administration, you would think people’s confidence would have flagged more.
But by tackling housing and education and health issues head on, P.M. Ardern and team has shown she grasps the large threats, as do they, and remain undaunted.
There are so many fronts with doughty battles to be fought that some are feeling they are still on the bottom of the pile.
We have to present those issues, as it appears the coalition is listening, within the parameters of their ideologies. We need to present cases for the carers the sickness beneficiaries and the group suffering addictions.
Some of the current methods are clearly not assisting people, and are cash based thinking.
Love your work. A much needed credible voice of sanity in a world of fake news, manufactured outrage and general all round bullshit. So much appreciated.
Agreed Ed…that sly devious guy on Checkpoint last night was PR with knobs on for big Pharma…I missed his intro and waited to the end for it to be confirmed that he was representing Pharma interests.
Long Live Pharmac I say; if only more countries had the balls to set this up like the Clark government did.
It’s a bit rich hearing Seymour, Franks, Brash and all the other ACT far right extremists whinging on about their access to free speech.
The party of the 1% gets much more than 1% of the airwaves on RNZ and the corporate media.
Why our taxpayer money is used to support the party of the global elite is more of a question.
It is not about voter support, it is about the issue itself. All sorts of people get coverage depending on what they do, for instance Russell Norman and his kayak protest.
In any event event Don Brash has not just been the Leader of ACT when it was a 1% party. The reason for his relatively high profile is that he has been Reserve Bank Governor and Leader of the National Party. He was actually asked to speak about his time as Leader of the National Party.
Redline: “The education workers’ union at Auckland University just had the police called to shut down their information stall, because it was rightly critical of the vice chancellor. No fuss made about that from Seymour and his buddies.”
I expect nobody told them? Nobody informed the media – or they did but the media couldn’t see that it’s a freedom of speech issue?
So the union was allowed to operate a stall on campus, provided that they demonstrate subservience to the authorities and refrain from comment on relevant headline news?
The University of Auckland is platforming Don Brash?
if we don’t show any interest in the ‘brash’ among us then all the fest will be amonst the converted already and we dont meed to care abbout the spread of liberal idea being sent abouit how to rort the system and make money which is what Don Brash is advocating.
I’m going to go out on a limb here because a) I can and b) it should generate an animated discussion or two. I expect to be criticised, so feel free!
My reasons for doing so are that we are still living in what someone called ‘the perpetual present,’ as if life, with steady improvements perhaps, will go on forever just like it is now. Instead, we are sleepwalking to our doom. And there are still, by neglect, still climate change deniers: for example Soimon berating the Coalition government in parliament for stopping oil and gas exploration.
The whole, it seems, of the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing a heat wave. Certainly in Europe and Japan, though we don’t hear so much about North America, apart from the fires in California.
• So, expect severely poor harvests in the wheat growing areas, such as the Ukraine, in September.
• Expect the price of food to rise rather rapidly in the months up to Christmas, especially in the UK, which can only produce 60% of its own food.
• Perhaps expect food riots in the major European cities such as London, Paris and Berlin in the new year.
• We could see the imposition of martial law as early a January or February in areas of Europe, as authorities struggle to contain the situation.
• Certainly expect the flow of desperate climate refugees from North Africa and the Middle East into Europe to increase, and to see some rather draconian responses from the southern European countries.
• Expect ‘wet bulb’ conditions to spread through the tropical areas, with resulting poor harvests and increasing mortality rates.
• This will trigger increased migration towards the north – ie the USA, with more trouble on the Mexican border.
• Large areas of the Middle East will become unbearable during the day, and barely liveable at night. This is already the case – one city in the Middle East recorded an average 24 hour temperature of over 42C.
As a direct result of increasing sea levels and increased precipitation in some areas expect floods, and even severe floods with run off in the parched areas, as happened recently in California.
And what about our part of the world in the near future?
• Our winter has been warmer than usual, with less rainfall in the South Island and more in the North.
• Expect to see temperature records broken during the summer months, with a poor harvest generally in the autumn.
• Climate events will increase in frequency and severity and will result in deaths and large scale damage.
• The winter rains in Australia have failed, again, so expect to see large areas of the wheat belt turn into a dust bowl, with farmers being forced off their land, or requiring help from state and federal governments to get through.
• Expect the pressure on the northern areas of Australia from climate refugees to increase, with the predictable hard-line response from the Oz government.
I could go on, but finally, expect the Herald and/or Stuff to devote at least one headline to a kitten stuck up a tree!
Tony Veitch etc My reasons for doing so are that we are still living in what someone called ‘the perpetual present,’ as if life, with steady improvements perhaps, will go on forever just like it is now. Instead, we are sleepwalking to our doom.
I agree. As I have been saying similar for a week. It suddently has dumped on me and I am too anxious to look at all you have listed. But nobody I know is really exercised. They are all fully occupied chasing their own goals. Which may come to nothing or they will be financially ruined and have never learned to tough it out. Or ready to swoop on the old lady next door and take over her house and garden as an unarguable matter.
This is a piece about someone with a dog pointing out the importance of controls for dog owners and respect for each other. How can this modern generation brought up to elbow everyone else and go straight to their own target ever be able to settle into a civil and supportive lifestyle with strength in numbers and everyone doing something to aid the collective, the co-operative?
(https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/106056338/no-actually-your-dog-isnt-friendly-and-should-be-on-a-leash
I think many NZs have been socialised out of civility, which has been replaced with the cult of independence; the hard working achieve and the others have to be carried or dropped. There are a lot like that. Ugly thought. And among the apparently nicer middle-class they are just as determined to rise on everyone’s input and claim it all, only not so brutal in their methods.
Hydroponic warehouses to grow food. Am at a bit of a loss why NZ isn’t doing this already considering the current circumstances.
Farmers could do the same to diversify, no drought worries, no flooding worries (depending on location). It could actually save the country loads of $$$ by not having to pay out so much to farmers during droughts etc etc.
But hey, how’s that kitten doing….and what is Kim Kardashian wearing? Their click bait priorities are more important than the demise of the planet and the human race.
On ‘Gardeners’ World’ I encountered lovable soft comfort sort Monty Don saying amid his golden Labradors , easy as poss, it was the warmest winter since records began. Major prob, that was in the mid 1600s in Britain. Off camera he must be pulling out his curly hobbit hair in morbid despair. Economics demands we, as him, carry on at gay a-pace til the cliff.
Another slightly hopeful piece from one of my favourite US political commentators Heather Digby Parton. This time she’s focussing on the impact of the triple negatives of Russia, immigration, and trade are impacting in Ohio:
The evidence she cites is really pretty weak, barely better than no evidence at all. And in the end, the only evidence that really matters will come on November 6. O’Connor (if we’re lucky) and Jones and Lamb are nice-to-haves, but they don’t make any practical difference yet. It needs a shit-load more of them, and a Dem lead of 7% for the House generic ballot still might not be enough to overcome the gerrymandered advantage the Republicans engineered for themselves from their 2010 success.
Ohio might be too much to ask.
But it’s been a season of boilovers, so I’m happy to await the results today.
I would also agree with your implied point that a Democrat takeover of either Senate or Congress needs more from the Democrats than anti-Trump sentiment.
We may end up with an interesting mini experiment for November in Kansas, testing the idea whether moderates or progressives work better for flipping a red district. That’s if the progressive Welder wins his primary today, the moderate Davis is unopposed for the Dem nomination in the neighbouring district.
” “I’m sure Trump is underwater there; we just don’t have district-level polling,” said Patrick Miller, a political science professor at the University of Kansas. Even so, Miller thinks that the moderate approach of Paul Davis is probably going to win over more voters than the progressivism of Welder. He thinks that, at least in Kansas, Democrats are going to need to appeal to independent voters to win. ”
The best part of the Brash Speech notes: Comments re the present government have yet to be proven and (iii) is highly contentious
On National
A hugely disappointing Government:
I. They pledged to reduce the gap between NZ incomes
and those in Australia, and utterly failed;
II. They pledged to make housing more afordable, and
utterly failed
III. They pledged to nalise Treaty settlements within six years of being elected and to scrap Maori electorates, and failed in both respects
In my own view, the present Government is likely to do a better job in making housing more afordable, but
probably a worse job in closing the income gap with Australia, and an equally poor job in moving New Zealand towards a society where every citizen, irrespective of ethnicity, has equal political rights.
Not too long ago Marcus, Australia changed and LOWERED penal rates.
Many Australians are now contracted workers with lesser conditions.
Many are now under employed. So they are coming down to meet us, $24???
Not sure of your point here Patricia. Are you saying that we should wait until Australia’s rates come “back” to ours without ours moving “up”. Pardon my ignorance but is $24 our aspirational rate or is Australia coming back to that. I presume you mean by “penal” rate that which is paid for over time – do we still have such a thing.
“They’re paying somebody’s mortgage and I see a lot of people who are low socio-economic and their bank statements literally will read, ‘KFC, McDonalds, the dairy, KFC, McDonalds, court fine’, trucks that they buy, goods that they can’t afford.
If the exact same proportion of income was spent on, ‘Uber Eats, Habit gym, Ponsonby restaurant, Uber Eats, Habit gym, craft beer bar’, is that a more reliable money manager?” asked chief executive Sue Chetwin.
Independent Property Managers Association (IPMA) president Karen Withers said it was becoming more prevalent. She said new immigrants often offered bank accounts without prompting, saying it was standard practice in other countries.
I think a lot of migrants offer bank accounts to show proof of funds to pay rent, as they don’t have a job or any references when they arrive but still need accomodation. Never heard of local tenants being asked to provide them, let alone bank statements that have the actual transactions and then be judged on them!
Personally feel that rental agents should have the same regulation as real estate sales agents. What is the difference? They both go into people’s houses, have keys and in position of trust. At present the landlord is liable for the rental agents behaviour and not the actual rental agent in the tenancy tribunal, the whole area needs a clean up with personal liability for behaviour put on the person who holds the keys and makes the day to day decisions.
We discovered that by taking housekeeping as a cash lump and managing on that by using “Real” money, our purchases were more private. Our payments for chemist, wine, golf petrol and food were our business…. just saying.
Does that mean we all get former tory MPs to advocate our point of view a la Katherine Rich of ‘Food and Grocery Council’, or Ken Shirley from the Road Transport Forum?
Chris T as if no one knows what he’s about.
He wasn’t silenced it was a safety issue
Issue.
Don Brash is a deliberately divisive person who attracts far right activists which attracts those who oppose.
He is the last colonist who refuses to accept the truth about the damage it did to Maori.
He is happy to have the support of neo Fascists and support their free speech.
Even though the Fascist goal is to Deny everyone else free speech.
Safety issue my arse!! The woman lied otherwise she would have informed the cops .
Can’t stand brashs politics but it’s a slippery slope banning him from speaking.
Thanks Jenny for that info, don’t think I’ve read/heard about that in the media since they’ve been running the ‘brash ban’ story. They should mention it, it’s relevant, especially in regards to the subject matter brash spins.
I have no love for Jones, but this is a very dangerous moment for us all, effectively now a few of the world biggest and most powerful social media corporations, have the power to censor free speech according to their own world view of what is real news/fake news or conspiracy theory and all that that implies.
So I don’t know about you, but having Zuckerberg monitoring what news feeds most people I meet see, doesn’t sound at all good to me.
Meh. Anyone wanting a good laugh or the kooks and cranks that take him seriously can go direct to his websites or listen to his radio rants. He’s still got more than enough platforms to spew his lawsuit-bait that I don’t see his free-speech rights are significantly infringed.
And if corporations are starting to think they have a responsibility to ensure their platforms are not used to cause harm, then that’s a good thing, even if the way they choose to do that is flawed.
Of course, the better way to ensure these massive monopolies don’t get control over our discourse is to simply not give them that control to begin with. Get your info closer to the source, rather than mediated through the massive intermediaries.
BTW, if anyone’s day isn’t yet sufficiently far down the rabbit-hole and needs 4 minutes of unhinged rant to top up the weird, you’ll find Jones’ response to being de-platformed here:
@Andre Alex Jones said in his divorce case that he is a ‘performance artist playing a character’, which is pretty funny, and is of course the guy is a fucking idiot and from what I have seen oozes all sorts of personal issues, but I if you think that this sort of censorship will stop with him, then I think you are wrong…
They’re getting stuck into this Free Speech crap everywhere aren’t they.
It’s not free speech they’re after:
It’s the freedom to spout crazy conspiracy theories… to spread fake news… to claim the actual news is fake news so that the population loses sight of the difference. It’s the freedom to destroy individuals they decide they don’t like and to create state enemies out of bona fida organisations and institutions set up to service the population. It’s the freedom to destroy international relationships and make enemies out of friends. It’s ultimately the freedom to start catastrophic wars.
It’s the new face of fascism – in the guise of Free Speech.
alex jones was utilising private companies free platforms (youtube, fb etc), in doing so he like anyone else was required to follow their rules/guidelines and he didn’t. As private companies they have every right to ban him and control content on their sites.
He still has his website and he still has his cable channel. If his website was taken down, I’d feel different about the situation.
I see it a little differently. These private companies are so large they control what people see on the net.
For some time now alternative media voices have been demonetized or taken down by these online gatekeepers. Jimmy Dore is one such victim and there are countless others. The aim isn’t to restrict hate speech or fascism, it is to control content.
Let’s say one person owns 99 out of the 100 stores in town, they ban all people they see as linked to hate speech from their stores. The definition of hate is poorly defined and some of the townsfolk feel aggrieved that they are included in that label.
The 1 store that accepts all comers attracts many of the townspeople that disagree with a lot of the views of the owner of the 99 stores. Those people end up maligned by the rest of the community… An interesting yet ghastly scenario…
In that due its size and reach youtube has become almost like a quasi-like government institution and therefore the normal rules of what a commercial business can and can’t do don’t apply
It’s an interesting concept – I’d go more with Google in particular becoming effectively a Standard Oil-style monopoly, which gives it more power than a regular supplier.
But that having been said, I suspect that Standard Oil would have limited what it carried in oil cars to “oil”, and not “shit”. Looks to me like there’s an opening for a 4chan/8chan-style nutbar video echochamber. “Super-8Chan”, maybe?
They had a programme here in Aus, re Facebook on its own internal monitoring, and showed policy parameters they used to decide to take things down or list them as disturbing.
An example item was a video which was still available showing a toddler being hit punched and slapped. He was screaming and sobbing.They listed it as “Disturbing”.
You heard the moderator explaining that this had been viewed a huge number of times but had a small % of complaints. They did take it down, but people had uploaded it and shared it putting it out there forever.
I now do not use Facebook where I can avoid it. For obvious reasons, I want no part of their “Blood money” made from those clicks!!
Adrian Jones is a nasty hate speech purveyor giving him a platform is akin to the resurrection of Hitler.
If he was a Muslim he would be in Guantanamo.
Do you come here to dribble inanities from your keyboard into my conscience?
Comparing anyone who doesn’t proclaim that the eradication of whole races is good of their race to hitler immediately makes anything you say around that comment sound downright retarded. And you, it makes you sound retarded.
If you look a bit closer, it’s not about free speech at all. Jones has crossed a line ever since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. From that point on he started to call for people to harass and attack real people, and it’s slowly been getting worse. He even attacked Joe Rogan who is supposed to be a friend of his and subtly suggested violence would bring Joe back into line. Here is a good piece from TYT that goes through the points.
Hmm. Throw youtube and the rest of them alongside that list of so-called fake news websites drawn up by the anonymous people at Snopes that a fair few people rely on as their radar.
Then there was the BBC having to back down over killing youtube independence channels that drew sweet all comment hereabouts, because…well, was it because too many people were busy elevating and platforming Southern and Molyneux?
Tommy Robinson – elevated and martyred off the back of the nazi pug nonsense (Where was the “left”?)
Folks across the left applauding the idea that fb play the role of censor.
Throw it in alongside the insistence for “correct” political thought/analysis that gets expressed by decrying any skeptical take on “official” news as being the markings of a Kremlin stooge or whatever…
Not sure where the hypocrisy is – just because you didn’t see the left complaining and fighting the things you mentioned doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And I suppose some of the left oppose your views on russia and whatnot so you may not have taken much notice of them. But whatever…
I’ve been saying that the biggest concerns in the world ATM are the corporations and the people who run them as they now have control over us and our governments.
TV3 am show is becoming nastier and nastier as dunnycan garner and merkin richadson drop any pretence of civility and objectivity as they push their right wing agenda to dumb down and infantilise the whole of New Zealand
society.
Does free speech mean someone has the right to be rude, obnoxious, cruel, or twist facts about others who may not be in a position to respond because of their family, their job, or health, or who have no wish to become embroiled in a nasty slanging match?
What are the boundaries and responsibilities, or are there none?
Someone like Don Brash has a nationwide platform and an eager media to spout his views. Many people subjected to his views do not have that platform.
Yep the law written by people like him… and so the merry go round goes round.
There is a special type of bigot who use velvet tones and softened words to hide their malignant content – b.rash is one and there are a few others on this site eh puckwit. But the law is unbreached yay we are safe again!!!
Shut the debate up quick by using misogyny memes – typical of someone who accuses women of mental illness because they raise pedo activity. Why did you do that I continue to wonder.
It could be because you have zero mana just a shadow sock puppet for a real rightie I spose. Funny though your bully tactics and wankfest of Collins is a worry – objectify women seems your go to eh.
If you object to what someone is saying you can make a complaint to the human rights commission. There is also defamation law – so you can sue someone.
If your case is good enough you can generally rally your supporters to help with legal costs.
These legal frameworks are robust enough to deal with any issues of supposed ‘hate speech’.
The legal costs would be enough to put off many people pursuing a case so the “free speech” proponent can carry on with their jaundiced views, untouched.
The case of a young Maori woman working in a Nelson supermarket comes to mind. Out of the blue a customer had a nasty rant about her being Maori so would never get anywhere in life. I was pleased to see the young woman’s supervisor told the customer to leave and not come back.
It is just not on, in the name of free speech, that someone can verbally attack someone they don’t even know. And why should that young woman have to put up with such bile.
I agree with you Reality. Your example clearly crosses the line between free speech and hate speech.
Based on what you have said, the young Maori woman has a case to put in front of the human rights commission. I’d encourage her to do so. (This shouldn’t be costly).
It shouldn’t cost anything – our justice system should ensure that all such cases are heard without the complainant having to front up with the cash for lawyers.
When it doesn’t, as ours doesn’t, then the justice system is only for those who can afford it and justice is denied to those who need it.
“Does free speech mean someone has the right to be rude, obnoxious, cruel, or twist facts about others who may not be in a position to respond because of their family, their job, or health, or who have no wish to become embroiled in a nasty slanging match?”
Yep.
John Key exploited that right throughout his time as National Party leader.
Robert while he allowed Dirty Politics.
He did smack down Don Bash over his antiquated Maori Bashing saying in John Keys words “there is no place in NZ for these outdated antiquated ideas NZ has moved on.”
Evil, like racism, usually lies in the eye of the beholder. Late in 1999 the fourth largest newspaper in the US (NY Post) held a poll to see who their readers thought were the most evil people in history, and 19,184 of them voted. Hitler won.
Second came Bill Clinton. Stalin was third, then Pol Pot.
Fifth was the Nazi who conducted medical experiments on live jews, Dr Josef Mengele. Sixth was Hilary Clinton.
Saddam Hussein, Adolf Eichmann, Charles Manson and Idi Amin completed the top ten. Genghis Khan came in at 11th, then serial killer who ate his victims, Jeffrey Dahmer. Vlad the Impaler made it to #20, Jack the Ripper #25.
Ah, Trev. No, I guess the yanks were too busy getting high back then & didn’t notice. I wondered why he didn’t just tell the media at the time “Hey, our ancestors were convicts so breaking rules is in the genes, right? Get over it. Sportsmanship?? Are you kidding???”
I was intrigued when I read a biography of him to discover that he’d been a supporter of socialism as a young adult. It’s what he had in common with David Lange, plus they both refused knighthoods due to feeling strongly that the dross from empire ought to be discarded.
Same with William Pember Reeves: he was offered one twice, refused twice. He transformed Aotearoa with radical industrial relations policy an entire generation before Labour. Took me most of my life to get around to reading Land of the Long White Cloud but man, what a book!!
“Murdoch studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Worcester College, Oxford in England, where he supported the Labour Party, stood for Secretary of the Labour Club”. [from his wiki]
The MeToo# divas did not even mention the Palestinian Rosa Parks when they strutted at the Academy Awards.
“All Palestinians have courage. It’s different from one person to another. But I grew up in a family where I got used to seeing prisoners, the injured and martyrs.” – Ahed Tamimi
Hey everyone has missed the point I was trying to make. It was his comment re the last government that intrigued me the most. I have no time for Brash, particularly having recently read “The Hollow Men” but thought that his critique of the Key years was most apt. I agree with Jacinda though that banning him from the University was a gross over reaction. Importing “hate preachers” is one thing but Don Brash is a New Zealander and most followers of local politics know exactly where he stands.
Another important piece in today’ s Herald was Professor Peter Davis’ article entitled “Ageing “Ponzi” scheme needs to change fast”. The super situation and the long term effect of Muldoon’s blunder must be kept constantly on the public’s radar. Many of the SSS (Smug Self Satisfied) 45% that is the majority of National’s core support, will not be affected by the issue (they regard the fortnightly payment as pin money) but for the rest of us, especially our children and grandchildren the question is of the utmost importance.
How much of it is due to the increased powers of the unions especially considering the increase in strikes and threats of strikes as is happening right now
How much of it is due to a rollback of some 90 day employment laws and the worry if that will be increased or just dropped completely?
How much of it is due to the lack of warning and consultation over the oil and gas exploration halt?
How much of it is due to employers potentially paying out domestic abuse leave?
Possibly right.
When business leaders/owners lose confidence, democratically elected governments are in peril.
When anybody else (beneficiaries, bus-drivers, one-legged dog-walkers, you name it) loses confidence, governments aren’t in peril.
Strange that – looks like democracies can’t really work well when there is huge inequality of power amongst the population. Maybe time to do something about that then.
Strange that – looks like democracies can’t really work well when there is huge inequality of power amongst the population. Maybe time to do something about that then.
Yep – time to get rid of the capitalists. They’re a clear and present danger to our democracy.
The problem I have is the nats are talking confidence down . As we know it becomes self fulfilling among money once they believe it .
I rekons that the nats would happily see nz fail just to get in power.
Currently, the SJA is working to secure safe refuge for the trapped journalists in the southwest while putting pressure on the international community to secure their evacuation.
Nonetheless, Ibrahim’s fears grow with the passing of time.
“I worry that I could be arrested, that I could be killed or that I could disappear in prison like thousands of other Syrians,” Ibrahim tells Syria Direct. “I fear they could go after my family to pressure them to turn me in.”
“If we don’t get evacuated,” Ibrahim warns, “the ugliest of crimes will be committed against us.”
“Luckily, no-one was hurt this time, but this is a sinister development that indicates the growing confidence of the far right, who feel they can attack a bookshop in central London in broad daylight.
“Attacking a bookshop also exposes their claims to be defenders of free speech as hollow.”
Don’t support fascism. (It really shouldn’t have to be said)
If The Guardian penned the article its a pretty good bet that its just a continuation of the Corbyn bashing campaign thats been happening for some time apparently . Why would it be a surprise that there would be animosity towards jews recently when for no doubt a considerable number of people the sight of unarmed protesters in Gaza being gunned down by heavily armed cowards hiding behind a forty foot wall is probably still fresh in their minds ??
For Wellingtonians:
Apparently there’ll be a review of the bugger’s muddle that is now our public transport ‘network’.
Let’s hope it’s not driven by those that planned the new network and its ‘big bang’ implementation or the outcome will likely be that we’ll be lining up in one queue to get a number from a machine that gives us a place in another queue at the bus stop.
And if they’re really really clever, they’ll divide those queues into the registration number on the bus (for the purposes of efficiency and effectiveness).
Having once worked with Darran Ponter, I’m surprised at how he has so easily become captured by bullshit artists – no doubt fresh back from an overseas fact finding mission.
I was just about to do an update to a group of “concerned citizens” in my area who I am representing re changes etc to our bus services in discussions with Metlink etc, so would like to know more before doing so. Must say that I have had reasonably good productive discourse with Metlink on this but I am taking a facilitator rather than an aggressive approach. Our situation is one that is a little less urgent and requires a lot of diplomacy/nergotiations with other community citizens rather than the bus operators per se compared to some of the more urgent problems being faced by workers, students etc needing to get to work, classes etc. so need to take a cooperative and slower approach to reach a solution that meets most peoples’ needs etc.
Darran Ponter is actually on my list of people outside Metlink to approach so any more info about him etc also welcome.
Only as a former public servant in a government Ministry when he was in charge of a group of policy analysts.
RNZ news has reported that the GWRC has admitted there are problems.
Unfortunately it seems what they’re proposing will just amount to tinkering (changes to route 18 for example).
In some cases, people are having to catch 3 buses where they previously caught 1
If they wanted a quick solution, it’d probably be to simply revert to the old route system, then make gradual improvements – that won’t happen because it’s be an admission of compete failure.
I’m picking that unless something radical is done soon Darran won’t be back after the next election, and he won’t be wanting to put this farce on his CV when he goes job hunting. And in many ways, that’s a bit of a shame
What did that guy Molyneaux say to us about “Welcome to sharia law” or something?
So, Canada’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chrystia Freeland said “Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s activists in Saudi Arabia including Samar Badawi.” She urged the Saudi government to “immediately release them.”
Saudi Arabia then denounced the tweets as “blatant interference in the country’s domestic affairs,” as well as a “major, unacceptable affront to the kingdom’s laws and judicial process.” The Saudi government has said that it will cut scholarships for thousands of its students to study in Canada. They have also made the Saudia airline suspend flights to Toronto in five days.
Bahrain. the Arab Emirates, and others back the Saudi government.
Now, I don’t need to cite The Handmaid’s Tale to you all on what actual Sharia Law looks and feels like. If she didn’t have diplomatic immunity she would be in a Saudi prison.
Ambassador Freeland (great name by the way!) simply stands by what she has said. “We will always speak up for human rights and women’s rights.”
We would gain something of our moral centre back as a country if we started tying human rights to trade with a sharia law country like Saudi Arabia.
We don’t have to like the people giving us unpalatable messages, but Canada is pointing the way here. It took courage.
And here you have made a very important moral point. Our standard of living is dependent on trade, which depends on supporting evil behaviour by foreign governments. Is supporting evil behaviour a good idea? No.
By the way has anyone had trouble with pressreader. I went to it and my screen locked up as a message that I had to accept came up. I wanted out but no cross to clear it, and couldn’t close down site or move to another site. Had to turn off computer.l Pathetic program design.
If wanting to email the site what is the address. Nothing I have tried is recognised?
Or don’t you have it now – does it all have to be twitter and facebook ?
Oh dear even Tracey is scathing of crasher Collins.
“Either Collins believed in the vast left wing conspiracy to normalise child rape – which is scary. Or she didn’t believe it but tweeted it anyway because she knew some of the people who read her tweets would have no problem believing it was true.”
Still slipping on, taking up water that will be in short supply and allocated on generous terms over … years encouraging farmers to over-extend themselves and cry poor.l
But Chris Pile, chief executive of the company driving the proposed $200 million scheme is determined it “must and will continue”.
(Unfortunate name. I smell money for a successful CEO.)
Unforeseen consequences? Grenade shaped table lighters, fake guns, just toys nothing to worry about – stop fussing. blah blah. Rubbish unworthy of spending export $ on and now bothersome rubbish that are scaring people and involving police bomb squads with a large increase in callouts.
This guy has been rescued before, and seems to have gone mountain climbing just about every year. So the rescue is just part of the exciting holiday risks ultimately borne by us. Let us have more money spent on our parents and children to help them get a good start in life if we care about people so much. It is a class matter really, the needy families are lower class and enterprising mountain climbers are far up the ladder. Sick.
One thing to do is to bill them for the cost of it all, plus honorarium for the volunteers and arrest and jail them if they come back and the bill is unpaid. her pay up quickly and fully or deport them, with refusal to enter again. Grow a pair government. People with student loans unpaid are treated harshly so why shouldn’t we put a stopper on these drifters who are too spiritual to worry about the trouble and cost their spending time out in nature, communing, puts other people to.
Good morning The Am Show Eco says it’s good that our Kiwi fire fighters can help America and Canada fight those massive fires ka pai people be careful.
Condolences to the people who have lost love ones and property.
Social issues poverty bulling racial issues its not hard to see that’s these issues will affect all Mokopunas mental health this health problem we have will affect wealthy and poor the same as different groups clash its good we are looking at fixing this big problem. Unlike the bench warmers who’s action’s just multiplied this big problem Eco seen this.
Duncan that young Asian boy was intelligent and well spoken on the issues of 16/17 year old forced marriage.
With cat’s they are a gift from Papatuanuku I don’t think they have to be eliminated
just controlled . Cat’s help people who are alone in our society they give there care’s some thing to love and care they give them a reason to get up in the morning pet;s are good for some people’s mental health in this age of individualism this individualism has to change we are all on Papatuanuku together.
Ka kite ano P.S I try to be fair I’m a Gary McCormick fan he come’s from te tai rawhiti so there is a bit of favoritism
Here you go I read body langue well and Eco Maori can see what motivates people actions one thing in this link below is this.
Ka kite ano
Tiaki-Turi joins the interview by phone. She acts as Zhou Black’s spiritual adviser or matakite – someone considered to possess a supernatural ability to see visions of the future.
Zhou Black is asked why an academic appears on her child-sex ring list.
“He’s a very wealthy man … He knew Awa through that time. I don’t know how long,” she says.
No victim had identified the academic.
“Got anything to add, sis?” Zhou Black asks Tiaki-Turi.
“Um, it’s just a connection that he has with a lot of the people associated to Awa,” Tiaki-Turi offers.
“He’s more a person of interest,” Zhou Black adds.
“He was my Facebook friend up until three days ago and then he has blocked me.”
To all you moaning neo liberal capitalist trolls New Zealand has spent more on AID to other country’s than they have spent on treaty claims now Eco knows that the poor tangata around the World need help and I back that AID but stop kicking ——in tangata whenua face please about te mone we got from treaty settlement’s enough said only bad—–will come from the word’s I want to say .
Ka kite ano
You know what the other big picture is New Zealand spent more putting tangata whenua in jail much more than the mone spent on treaty settlement no link but that’s a fact
One can not judge the Opinion of Atoearoa just by a poll that can be targeted by national trolls to minupulate the results it won’t take many people to change the polls results.
Good Kiwi understand that Maori were ripped of their whenua and its 10 x harder for Maori to get a better life than any other culture in Atoearoa the troll.s love those easy to minupulate polls on TV. Look at these bone head sandflys stuffing up my life and my offspring. It they had anything more that contracted lies they would put ECO MAORI in the hinaki. Ka kite ano discrimination at its best
You may be wondering how the phone poll can be hacked it’s easy if you got mone gone managed to raise $90k in 2 days to try and fight in court for his m8 from you no were so for the neo liberal capitalist mone is not a problem .
There is will well the NLcapitalist have no morels so cheating is like changing undies to these people so they have the will to cheat and manipulate the reality of good Kiwi’s using these poll’s .
How well you have 50 people with 10 sims each and there you go 500 votes for the NLcapitalist trolls cost about $600.00 if the poll does not have a limit of 1 call per number that cost will be just $6.00 . Eco Maori knows that any thing can be manipulated its just takes no morels to lie mone and effort . I know look at what the sandflys are doing to Eco Maori Ka kite ano P.S tryed to find out how this poll is conducted nothing on the net so its phone or Tx I can’t be stuffed with some poles because all data can be changed to suit the goals of the person with the most mone
Mana Wahine Ka pai American Wahine Eco Maori tautoko/supports all Ladies who are going to get into roles to lead us to a humane prosperous future .
I know that a lot of ladies are more intelligent than man definitely more humane the Papatuanuku is your Oyster as the old saying goes you need to make sure the mokopunas have a bright prosperous future and men can not be trusted to do this on there own . Ka kite ano P.S I still respect men as I am one but we need te Wahine to guide the men down the correct path link below men will still be part of leadership ladies will gide men to the correct path.
Good evening Newshub Eco Maori was upset today I have been trying to get my wahine mokopuna health issues sorted out for two weeks she spent 2 nites in Rotorua hospital so in all 4 hospital appointments waiting 5 to 6 hours for each visit 3 doctor’s appointments I got someone to take her to Ranolf medical center on Monday get a call today saying she had a urine infection to come and get antibiotics I was happy she has finally be diagnosed I am upset that the sandfly were hiding around the corner at the hosptial telling the doctors lies getting the doctors to ask my moko questions that had nothing to do with her ailment and getting them to pregnecy test my 11 year old mokopuna with out telling us instead of testing her sample for signs of a infection the doctor at lakes care said there were signs of a mild infection and sent us to the hosptial to get her scaned this did not happen. I pointed this out to the doctor at the hospital he just dismissed my inquire I have been nursing my mokopuna for 2 weeks she has been in pain for 3 1/2 weeks I am looking after her because everyone else is working so its understandable that I’m upset . The sandflys have told the doctors you are not liable .They cannot sue because of the New Zealand Laws the down side to Accident Compensation corporation a Kiwi can not sue the health department for miss conduct my moko could have lost a kidney and now I am waiting to get her kidneys scanned I thought Rotorua hosptial would do it today they gave her a weeks wait WTF.
I can not sue the health system but I am gathering everdince to sue others .???????????
Well I got that off my chest those fire tornadoes are mean those have not been seen much at all may be 2 times I have seen documents of this phenomenon That’s Human Caused Global warrming trump.
The bereavement leave for miss carage of a baby is backed by Eco one of my offspring went through that its Quite Papatuanuku shattering it took awhile for them to get over that.
Yes Eco always reads te animals cows are good Guard dogs lol well I read everything quite well just my spelling is bad.
It was a beautiful day to day Ingrid Ka kite ano
Good evening Newshub Eco Maori was upset today I have been trying to get my wahine mokopuna health issues sorted out for two weeks she spent 2 nites in Rotorua hospital so in all 4 hospital appointments waiting 5 to 6 hours for each visit 3 doctor’s appointments I got someone to take her to Ranolf medical center on Monday get a call today saying she had a urine infection to come and get antibiotics I was happy she has finally be diagnosed I am upset that the sandfly were hiding around the corner at the hosptial telling the doctors lies getting the doctors to ask my moko questions that had nothing to do with her ailment and getting them to pregnecy test my 11 year old mokopuna with out telling us instead of testing her sample for signs of a infection the doctor at lakes care said there were signs of a mild infection and sent us to the hosptial to get her scaned this did not happen. I pointed this out to the doctor at the hospital he just dismissed my inquire I have been nursing my mokopuna for 2 weeks she has been in pain for 3 1/2 weeks I am looking after her because everyone else is working so its understandable that I’m upset . The sandflys have told the doctors you are not liable .They cannot sue because of the New Zealand Laws the down side to Accident Compensation corporation a Kiwi can not sue the health department for miss conduct my moko could have lost a kidney and now I am waiting to get her kidneys scanned I thought Rotorua hosptial would do it today they gave her a weeks wait WTF.
I can not sue the health system but I am gathering everdince to sue others .???????????
Well I got that off my chest those fire tornadoes are mean those have not been seen much at all may be 2 times I have seen documents of this phenomenon That’s Human Caused Global warrming trump.
The bereavement leave for miss carage of a baby is backed by Eco one of my offspring went through that its Quite Papatuanuku shattering it took awhile for them to get over that.
Yes Eco always reads te animals cows are good Guard dogs lol well I read everything quite well just my spelling is bad.
It was a beautiful day to day Ingrid Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild Mulls and Makere I like to look after tangata that I connect with.
I had a sore face for half a hour last night . We all think our kids get there best traits from us but what I know the brain’s are genitally linked to Wahine so I tell my offspring that they get there intelligence from there mum I read that in some science mag.
Keep up the good work Mahi Drysdale you will be fine.
I see Posha Woodman got into the Papatuanuku Sports Wahine of the year with the Williams sisters Mana Wahine
All the best to Jacko in his shot put goals he is a good role model for the mokopunas never give up thats the attitude.
Ka kite ano
The sandflys are stuffing with my computa once again
Why didn’t shonky kick the rugby ball through the rugby goal post hitting a golf ball through rugby goal post is easy as cheating once again shonky
Some people don’t know when they other’s are using there emotion’s to play them they don’t expect it and trust others to much .
They don’t beleve Eco maori that being to radical is bad for there cause wake up you are a wahine maori leader Ka kite ano P.S or do you have the same advisor that coned another wahine maori leader to splash mud in her own face Eco thinks the possibility and coincident are quite high
To The Labour Party Do onto those as they do onto YOU there are 2 ways to see this Golden Rule the one Eco is high lighting is national are digging scraping around for any dirt on the ruling Labour Green New Zealand First Government and trowing it in your face so Eco would look for dirt on national and give it back to them this move will even up the score keep them busy fighting the fire it won’t be hard to find mud on them Eco say’s
Ka kite ano
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...
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As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” Lenin Don’t we all know that feeling now.
Prospect Magazine alerted me to this particularly apt quote. It is a much more evocative quote than Hemingway’s “gradually then suddenly” which is also doing ...
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...
Brian Williamson1, Prof Nick Wilson2 (1Economic consultant, UK; 2University of Otago Wellington)In this blog, we outline how a win-win social contract could be forged to address the major dimensions of response to the COVID-19 pandemic when using a mitigation strategy: the particular need to protect older people from high ...
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by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...
The swan politicians may be gliding on the water, occasionally snapping at one another. Meanwhile, as the Covid19 crisis illustrates, the officials are desperately paddling below providing the real locomotion. One of the most fatuous recent grandstanding comments (of about a week ago), adding to the public’s anxieties, was ...
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...
Today has felt surreal. I was all set to touch base online with my science communication students when a colleague shared the news that Bauer Media would be shutting down its publications immediately. The first link I saw implied it was Woman’s Weekly affected, and even that shocked me. But ...
Bogeymen, Real And Imagined: Is the number of psychopathic and sociopathic individuals in any given society truly as vanishingly small as we like to tell ourselves? Isn’t it more likely that the mass-shooters and serial-killers filling the headlines represent only the tip of a much, much larger iceberg of frightfulness? ...
Outgoing Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before the Epidemic Response Committee today, who asked him for the rules police are using to enforce the lockdown. He refused:Police Commissioner Mike Bush has admitted the advice given to Kiwis about what they're able to do during the lockdown hasn't been clear enough. ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of my cat, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a pretty flower. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 1: Day seven of living in lock-down… This morning I had a brief chat with one of my neighbours, “D” (social distance between us, a good three or four metres). I learned he had resigned from his previous job and had been hired by another company – ...
Funnily enough, my thought as I start this post is whether it will be well written enough. Or should that be well enough written? Because so much of what I know about good writing came from my two stints at The Listener, which this morning was shut down due to ...
With normal democratic procedures in abeyance, there were two ways to go. First, it was open for the government to dissolve itself and invite the National Party to join a ministry of national salvation. That would have lessened the democratic deficit of the times by having a team of rivals without ...
Dr Kirsty Ross Children and young people can respond differently in times of distress. This also varies by age and developmental stage, with younger children having more magical and imaginative thinking, and older children having more awareness and knowledge of the issues our communities are facing (which brings up ...
Hungary has been a virtual dictatorship for a decade now, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gradually eroded its democracy. But now, its official, with the passage of an indefinite emergency law allowing rule by decree:Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of coronavirus measures that includes jail terms for ...
While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in. They're planning a lot of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus, and have asked for proposals which can start the moment ...
It's my distraction, setting up tiny scenes to photograph. I've got stuck on the Babushka dolls for now. Something about their bubble shape. Something about their never changing, smiling features, suggesting persistent equanimity. Can we get through everything that is being thrown at us and keep at least a tiny ...
. . March 31: Day six of living in lock-down… This time I managed to sleep a little longer and the alarm woke me at the pre-set time: 6.55am. Then remembered I was working a later shift and could’ve slept in. Oh well, there are things to do at home. ...
Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs 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 ...
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some scrutiny.The poll is the fifth in a series commissioned ...
For almost a week now, every one of us who isn’t an essential worker has been confined to their bubble. We are allowed to go shopping for groceries, to visit the doctor, and to get a bit of exercise if we stay local. The reason we are doing this is ...
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...
In the absence of a vaccine or a cure for a deadly disease, staying home in your bubble is what you do, the concept is not new. To the best of my knowledge last time we did this in NZ was for polio, in the years before a vaccine came ...
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
This has been a terrible summer for Hector’s dolphins. The first indication was very low numbers of dolphin sightings during late spring and early summer. The Otago University Marine Mammal Research Team has carried out routine dolphin surveys at Banks Peninsula for more than 30 years. In all that time, ...
On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
The purpose of the lockdown is to save lives, by reducing the spread of covid-19. We won't know if its really working for another week, but given the devastation that will result if it doesn't - 14,000 dead is the optimistic scenario - its definitely worth trying. But pausing the ...
. . March 30: Day five of living in lock-down… Woke up still in darkness. Alarm hadn’t gone off. Turn to radio clock; it’s a few minutes after 6am… I lie there in the dark, waiting to drift off to sleep… but it ain’t happening. Clock ticks over to 6.55 ...
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...
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The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020Articles Linked to on FacebookSun, Mar 22, 2020In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
. . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
Transformers: The disaster of the Great Depression was transformed into a new and fairer society by the democratic socialism of the First Labour Government. The disaster of the Covid-19 Pandemic offers a similar transformative possibility to the Labour-NZ First-Green Government. Seize the time, Jacinda! You will never have a better ...
Tamper with The System? Well, we already are. But there's a difference between accidentally trickling sand into a precision gearbox versus formulating a plan to alter it on the fly with improvements in mind. One action is more or less innocently unscrupulous, the other amenable to earning an easy ...
Associate Prof George Thomson, Louise Delany, Prof Nick WilsonWhile it is possible that New Zealand can use intense public health controls to eradicate COVID-19 from the country – we must also plan for other scenarios where thousands of New Zealanders are sick – including many urgently hospitalised.1 Better resilience ...
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...
We're about to do something unprecedented as a nation. We hope that by taking this extraordinary action before a single life in New Zealand has been lost to the deadly novel virus we will save tens of thousands of lives. Our lives. We'll do it together, in households, in isolation ...
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”So writes the author of Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament that’s counted as a ‘wisdom’ book and written as if by an unnamed king of Jerusalem. But who would have thought there would be a time ...
I was surprised when the prime minister described the Economic Response to Covid-19 package as the ‘largest peacetime government spend in New Zealand's history’. Reflecting – checking through history – I realised that the term ‘spend’ was crucial and the package had no income tax cuts. Even so, it has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. With 1.3 billion inhabitants, hundreds of different languages spoken, and an estimated 80% of the workforce daily wage earners currently without jobs, it could be a recipe for disaster.I’ve been living in India for more than three ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last month. Wholesale censorship of all Covid-19 related content has been instituted. Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) took the extraordinary step to ...
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Glikson, Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University At several points in the history of our planet, increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused extreme global warming, prompting the majority of species on Earth to die out. In ...
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 contentMedia Henry Cooke (Stuff): There’s no easy way for Government to save media drowning. But a fast fix is ...
Just after midday a cyclist was killed on a straight road on a clear day, after being hit by a van in North Canterbury. Lucinda Rees from NZ School Speeds is asking for the mandatory cyclist/vulnerable road user passing gap, which is in consultation, ...
By Indra Singh in Suva Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says that if Fijians continue to disregard the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic directives from authorities, a nationwide 24-hour curfew could be imposed. His comments come as Fiji yesterday recorded its two latest coronavirus cases, taking the total to seven. Bainimarama said ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Ōtaki author Renée.Yes, a few cyclists out and about. I remember my first bike bought from Farmers around 1942, five shillings a ...
Internal memos from NZ’s biggest magazine company, which announced its sudden closure yesterday, state they were lobbying to change a ban on publication. But the minister responsible, Kris Faafoi, has doubled down on rejecting that position, calling those internal communications ‘contradictory’ to what they said to him directly.Magazine publishing giant ...
Up to 100,000 foreigners could be seeking to leave the country in coming weeks, now the Government has relaxed domestic travel restrictions for them. ...
The loss of a loved one can be difficult in the best of times. But it’s even more painful when the planes are grounded.Late on Saturday night, three days into New Zealand’s level four lockdown, Harish got a call from his sister in India telling him that his father had ...
Health Minister David Clark has flouted the Government's advice to exercise locally after confirming he drove to a park to go mountain biking on Thursday. ...
Covid-19 cases top 1m; Trump brags he's #1 on Facebook and says he knows about the virus because a 'friend' got it; UK testing scandal grows; Cats more vulnerable to virus than dogsTicking up to a million cases: A gruesome landmark was passed today when we go over one million ...
“So do not fear, I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” Isaiah 41:10 COVID-19 - Lock down: one week on Welcome to the latest Policy Watch ...
Workers at the Port of Lyttelton are resisting the introduction of casual cargo handlers due to concerns about COVID19. RMTU South Island Organizer John Kerr says there is concern about a Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) proposal to "bring in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Strangio, Associate Professor of Politics, Monash University One of Australia’s preeminent historians, Stuart Macintyre, once observed of John Curtin, the Labor Party leader revered for navigating this nation through the dangers of the second world war, that he would have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Adelaide New research the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that SARS CoV 2, which causes the disease known as COVID-19 coronavirus, is more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on cardboard or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The Australian government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy, estimated to cost A$130 billion, is a crucial measure to help keep the economy from completely cratering. But, even if COVID-19 is sufficiently under control for the economy to return ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gordon Menzies, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Technology Sydney During this pandemic, our twin health and economic crises require two different types of concern, and they operate differently. For the health crisis, a high level of concern is necessary. Saving lives ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harriette Richards, University of Melbourne Times of instability and crisis produce increased nostalgia for the past. We long for a time that no longer exists, or never existed. Like melancholy, nostalgia is a sentiment of loss – one that’s particularly familiar to ...
RBNZ bans bank dividends; Who is next after Bauer's shock closure? Vital plan blocked; Commission wins in real estate price fixing case; Softbank walks out WeWorkNo you won’t: The Reserve Bank took the unprecedented step of prohibiting the banks from paying dividends during the coronavirus crisis or redeeming any ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Media reels after horror week, Wellington Council facing massive budget crunch, and highest single day of new Covid-19 cases.It had always been clear that this was going to be a difficult time for the media, with the Covid-19 downturn hitting ...
Former National Finance Ministers Steven Joyce and Bill English question the severity of the Covid-19 lockdown and ask whether the Government has an exit strategy. Andrew Patterson reports. Steven Joyce and Bill English have seen their fair share of financial crises and natural disasters as the last National Government's finance ...
There is no sign the government will tighten quarantine controls for those arriving at the border, in response to calls from the Opposition to quarantine and test everyone. ...
Two new cases of Covid-19 have been identified in Fiji, prompting a lockdown of its capital. Teuila Fuatai reports. Fijian health authorities are scrambling to identify close contacts of its latest two Covid-19 cases. The couple, from Nabua, Suva, appear unrelated to the country’s previous five. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama ...
Christchurch is a city of contrasts, as some stretch their legs with smiles and others with suspicion. David Williams reports It was no surprise it happened in Christchurch’s student quarter. The smiles of those standing at their gates in Ilam Road broadened as a baby kayak strapped to a skateboard ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
How long does it take to recover, how do you know you’ve recovered and can you catch Covid-19 twice? If you’ve had Covid-19 when are you officially recovered? Turns out there’s no test in New Zealand. It's judged by time of onset and last symptoms. How do I tick the ...
The first thing to note about the partying Queenstown backpackers is these acts of youthful rebellion are not an isolated phenomenon. As I write this on April 1, The Guardian is reporting on a group of people in their 20s who took the opportunity to celebrate Spring Break in the ...
Every Friday of lockdown, LockerRoom will share posts from Kiwi sportswomen who've caught our eye with novel ways of keeping on top of their game at home. This week we have Black Ferns making their own training equipment, a Kiwi professional cyclist virtually racing against riders around the world, and ANZ Premiership netballers calling their ...
Steve Braunias pays tribute to the Listener, closed yesterday in the wake of Covid-19's devastation of the economy. This piece to mark the end of the Listener is exactly how I started writing for the Listener: late at night, with instant coffee, in a state of shock. The shock then ...
Suzanne McFadden speaks to two Kiwi 'bubbles' who have unanticipated - but serendipitous - housemates. Sue Bremner has found a silver lining to the brooding cloud of lockdown – it’s meant getting to know the sister who never knew she existed for almost 65 years. Englishwoman Bremner has found herself holed ...
Open Mike 08/08/2018 
We must root out the traitors among us! ...4 hours ago
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...11 hours ago
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...12 hours ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...15 hours ago
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...16 hours ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...18 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...24 hours ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...1 day ago
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...1 day ago
46 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Global response of evapotranspiration ratio to climate conditions and watershed characteristics in a changing environment Greenhouse effect: the relative contributions of emission height and total absorption Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Climate change induced a ...2 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs 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 ... 3 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...3 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...3 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...5 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...6 days ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...1 week ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...1 week ago
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...11 hours ago
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...6 days ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...1 week ago
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...9 hours ago
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...4 hours ago
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...4 hours ago
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...5 hours ago
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...7 hours ago
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...8 hours ago
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...8 hours ago
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...8 hours ago
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...9 hours ago
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...9 hours ago
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...9 hours ago
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...9 hours ago
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...10 hours ago
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...10 hours ago
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...10 hours ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...11 hours ago
Vodafone says its continuing to see significant increases in calls and data on its networks after the first week of level 4 lockdown. ...11 hours ago
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SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...14 hours ago
Up to 100,000 foreigners could be seeking to leave the country in coming weeks, now the Government has relaxed domestic travel restrictions for them. ...15 hours ago
Health Minister David Clark has flouted the Government's advice to exercise locally after confirming he drove to a park to go mountain biking on Thursday. ...15 hours ago
Covid-19 cases top 1m; Trump brags he's #1 on Facebook and says he knows about the virus because a 'friend' got it; UK testing scandal grows; Cats more vulnerable to virus than dogs Ticking up to a million cases: A gruesome landmark was passed today when we go over one million ...16 hours ago
RBNZ bans bank dividends; Who is next after Bauer's shock closure? Vital plan blocked; Commission wins in real estate price fixing case; Softbank walks out WeWork No you won’t: The Reserve Bank took the unprecedented step of prohibiting the banks from paying dividends during the coronavirus crisis or redeeming any ...16 hours ago
Former National Finance Ministers Steven Joyce and Bill English question the severity of the Covid-19 lockdown and ask whether the Government has an exit strategy. Andrew Patterson reports. Steven Joyce and Bill English have seen their fair share of financial crises and natural disasters as the last National Government's finance ...18 hours ago
Two new cases of Covid-19 have been identified in Fiji, prompting a lockdown of its capital. Teuila Fuatai reports. Fijian health authorities are scrambling to identify close contacts of its latest two Covid-19 cases. The couple, from Nabua, Suva, appear unrelated to the country’s previous five. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama ...18 hours ago
Christchurch is a city of contrasts, as some stretch their legs with smiles and others with suspicion. David Williams reports It was no surprise it happened in Christchurch’s student quarter. The smiles of those standing at their gates in Ilam Road broadened as a baby kayak strapped to a skateboard ...18 hours ago
How long does it take to recover, how do you know you’ve recovered and can you catch Covid-19 twice? If you’ve had Covid-19 when are you officially recovered? Turns out there’s no test in New Zealand. It's judged by time of onset and last symptoms. How do I tick the ...19 hours ago
The first thing to note about the partying Queenstown backpackers is these acts of youthful rebellion are not an isolated phenomenon. As I write this on April 1, The Guardian is reporting on a group of people in their 20s who took the opportunity to celebrate Spring Break in the ...19 hours ago
Every Friday of lockdown, LockerRoom will share posts from Kiwi sportswomen who've caught our eye with novel ways of keeping on top of their game at home. This week we have Black Ferns making their own training equipment, a Kiwi professional cyclist virtually racing against riders around the world, and ANZ Premiership netballers calling their ...19 hours ago
Steve Braunias pays tribute to the Listener, closed yesterday in the wake of Covid-19's devastation of the economy. This piece to mark the end of the Listener is exactly how I started writing for the Listener: late at night, with instant coffee, in a state of shock. The shock then ...19 hours ago
Suzanne McFadden speaks to two Kiwi 'bubbles' who have unanticipated - but serendipitous - housemates. Sue Bremner has found a silver lining to the brooding cloud of lockdown – it’s meant getting to know the sister who never knew she existed for almost 65 years. Englishwoman Bremner has found herself holed ...19 hours ago
I’ve just published an El-Quicko post … comparing the latest Colmar Brunton ratings (both Party Support and Preferred PM) with the same measures for previous incoming governments at the same (11 month) stage into their first terms.
Covers all 7 incoming governments since regular polling commenced in 1969.
https://sub-zero-politics.blogspot.com/2018/08/winter-of-discontent_61.html
Well done, a comprehensive analysis of which each part supports what the previous part tells us, confirming my impression that the govt+Greens are ok so far.
Very interesting Swordfish. So the Bridges ranting is meaningless?
Swordfish, you are a genius with poll data. Am sure I’m speaking for many here when I say we really appreciate all the work you put into comparing, organising and analysis of the data.
Love your work, thanks again.
Add us into this; – Swordfish great work you do.10000%
Nice one Swordfish…it looks like the Key government was a freak and I guess the Nats are still basking in the glow of this (not that I understand it).
As Key memories slide into history people will realise that a government where Bridges refuses to tell Collins to delete a nasty erroneous tweet and Collins defies the leader and says it has not been discussed with Bridges is an unelectable shower.
Looking forward to the next election.
Thanks swordfish, very interesting, and confirms the “Struggling not coping” meme is just that, a meme put out there to create a sense of failure.
With all the overseas turmoil, issues with Micoplasma bovis, pressures of pay rounds and underfunding being discovered by the current administration, you would think people’s confidence would have flagged more.
But by tackling housing and education and health issues head on, P.M. Ardern and team has shown she grasps the large threats, as do they, and remain undaunted.
There are so many fronts with doughty battles to be fought that some are feeling they are still on the bottom of the pile.
We have to present those issues, as it appears the coalition is listening, within the parameters of their ideologies. We need to present cases for the carers the sickness beneficiaries and the group suffering addictions.
Some of the current methods are clearly not assisting people, and are cash based thinking.
Love your work. A much needed credible voice of sanity in a world of fake news, manufactured outrage and general all round bullshit. So much appreciated.
Big pharmacist being given a huge platform on the corporate media .
Agreed Ed…that sly devious guy on Checkpoint last night was PR with knobs on for big Pharma…I missed his intro and waited to the end for it to be confirmed that he was representing Pharma interests.
Long Live Pharmac I say; if only more countries had the balls to set this up like the Clark government did.
It’s a bit rich hearing Seymour, Franks, Brash and all the other ACT far right extremists whinging on about their access to free speech.
The party of the 1% gets much more than 1% of the airwaves on RNZ and the corporate media.
Why our taxpayer money is used to support the party of the global elite is more of a question.
Yes that’s right, politicians from right wing parties should not be paid for their work – ridiculous!
It is not about voter support, it is about the issue itself. All sorts of people get coverage depending on what they do, for instance Russell Norman and his kayak protest.
In any event event Don Brash has not just been the Leader of ACT when it was a 1% party. The reason for his relatively high profile is that he has been Reserve Bank Governor and Leader of the National Party. He was actually asked to speak about his time as Leader of the National Party.
And fucked up both pretty badly because of his failed ideology.
Redline: “The education workers’ union at Auckland University just had the police called to shut down their information stall, because it was rightly critical of the vice chancellor. No fuss made about that from Seymour and his buddies.”
I expect nobody told them? Nobody informed the media – or they did but the media couldn’t see that it’s a freedom of speech issue?
So the union was allowed to operate a stall on campus, provided that they demonstrate subservience to the authorities and refrain from comment on relevant headline news?
Didn’t brash, trotter et al TELL everyone this would be the outcome of banning S&M talking?
Sheesh, the criticism was loudest from those on here who support unions.
Let the unions recruit on campus. at least they’re modernising their approach for new members and should be free to pursue there strategy.
Last time I looked they weren’t banned from talking.
Don’t splutter on your Shrewsbury biscuit – it makes them soggy.
The University of Auckland is platforming Don Brash?
if we don’t show any interest in the ‘brash’ among us then all the fest will be amonst the converted already and we dont meed to care abbout the spread of liberal idea being sent abouit how to rort the system and make money which is what Don Brash is advocating.
Climate change in the near future:
I’m going to go out on a limb here because a) I can and b) it should generate an animated discussion or two. I expect to be criticised, so feel free!
My reasons for doing so are that we are still living in what someone called ‘the perpetual present,’ as if life, with steady improvements perhaps, will go on forever just like it is now. Instead, we are sleepwalking to our doom. And there are still, by neglect, still climate change deniers: for example Soimon berating the Coalition government in parliament for stopping oil and gas exploration.
The whole, it seems, of the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing a heat wave. Certainly in Europe and Japan, though we don’t hear so much about North America, apart from the fires in California.
• So, expect severely poor harvests in the wheat growing areas, such as the Ukraine, in September.
• Expect the price of food to rise rather rapidly in the months up to Christmas, especially in the UK, which can only produce 60% of its own food.
• Perhaps expect food riots in the major European cities such as London, Paris and Berlin in the new year.
• We could see the imposition of martial law as early a January or February in areas of Europe, as authorities struggle to contain the situation.
• Certainly expect the flow of desperate climate refugees from North Africa and the Middle East into Europe to increase, and to see some rather draconian responses from the southern European countries.
• Expect ‘wet bulb’ conditions to spread through the tropical areas, with resulting poor harvests and increasing mortality rates.
• This will trigger increased migration towards the north – ie the USA, with more trouble on the Mexican border.
• Large areas of the Middle East will become unbearable during the day, and barely liveable at night. This is already the case – one city in the Middle East recorded an average 24 hour temperature of over 42C.
As a direct result of increasing sea levels and increased precipitation in some areas expect floods, and even severe floods with run off in the parched areas, as happened recently in California.
And what about our part of the world in the near future?
• Our winter has been warmer than usual, with less rainfall in the South Island and more in the North.
• Expect to see temperature records broken during the summer months, with a poor harvest generally in the autumn.
• Climate events will increase in frequency and severity and will result in deaths and large scale damage.
• The winter rains in Australia have failed, again, so expect to see large areas of the wheat belt turn into a dust bowl, with farmers being forced off their land, or requiring help from state and federal governments to get through.
• Expect the pressure on the northern areas of Australia from climate refugees to increase, with the predictable hard-line response from the Oz government.
I could go on, but finally, expect the Herald and/or Stuff to devote at least one headline to a kitten stuck up a tree!
+100
What ever will it take for our cloth headed politicians get their head around the issue legislate to take the urgent action required?
The new normal
“Mendocino Complex fire now largest in California history, capping destructive year”
Joseph Serna, James Queally, Alene Tchekmedyian – Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2018
Tony Veitch etc
My reasons for doing so are that we are still living in what someone called ‘the perpetual present,’ as if life, with steady improvements perhaps, will go on forever just like it is now. Instead, we are sleepwalking to our doom.
I agree. As I have been saying similar for a week. It suddently has dumped on me and I am too anxious to look at all you have listed. But nobody I know is really exercised. They are all fully occupied chasing their own goals. Which may come to nothing or they will be financially ruined and have never learned to tough it out. Or ready to swoop on the old lady next door and take over her house and garden as an unarguable matter.
This is a piece about someone with a dog pointing out the importance of controls for dog owners and respect for each other. How can this modern generation brought up to elbow everyone else and go straight to their own target ever be able to settle into a civil and supportive lifestyle with strength in numbers and everyone doing something to aid the collective, the co-operative?
(https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/106056338/no-actually-your-dog-isnt-friendly-and-should-be-on-a-leash
I think many NZs have been socialised out of civility, which has been replaced with the cult of independence; the hard working achieve and the others have to be carried or dropped. There are a lot like that. Ugly thought. And among the apparently nicer middle-class they are just as determined to rise on everyone’s input and claim it all, only not so brutal in their methods.
Hydroponic warehouses to grow food. Am at a bit of a loss why NZ isn’t doing this already considering the current circumstances.
Farmers could do the same to diversify, no drought worries, no flooding worries (depending on location). It could actually save the country loads of $$$ by not having to pay out so much to farmers during droughts etc etc.
But hey, how’s that kitten doing….and what is Kim Kardashian wearing? Their click bait priorities are more important than the demise of the planet and the human race.
Does my head in too Tony.
I totally agree – with your last sentence. 😈
Well Tony it’s just got a lot worst for the State of NSW with the State Premier declaring the state is 100% in drought from today.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/state-government-confirms-nsw-is-now-100-per-cent-in-drought/news-story/5c00dbdf8941dcf9c46dda6ebad68eaa
On ‘Gardeners’ World’ I encountered lovable soft comfort sort Monty Don saying amid his golden Labradors , easy as poss, it was the warmest winter since records began. Major prob, that was in the mid 1600s in Britain. Off camera he must be pulling out his curly hobbit hair in morbid despair. Economics demands we, as him, carry on at gay a-pace til the cliff.
Another slightly hopeful piece from one of my favourite US political commentators Heather Digby Parton. This time she’s focussing on the impact of the triple negatives of Russia, immigration, and trade are impacting in Ohio:
https://www.salon.com/2018/08/07/donald-trump-digs-himself-into-deeper-trouble-and-his-voters-are-finally-noticing/
The evidence she cites is really pretty weak, barely better than no evidence at all. And in the end, the only evidence that really matters will come on November 6. O’Connor (if we’re lucky) and Jones and Lamb are nice-to-haves, but they don’t make any practical difference yet. It needs a shit-load more of them, and a Dem lead of 7% for the House generic ballot still might not be enough to overcome the gerrymandered advantage the Republicans engineered for themselves from their 2010 success.
Ohio might be too much to ask.
But it’s been a season of boilovers, so I’m happy to await the results today.
I would also agree with your implied point that a Democrat takeover of either Senate or Congress needs more from the Democrats than anti-Trump sentiment.
We may end up with an interesting mini experiment for November in Kansas, testing the idea whether moderates or progressives work better for flipping a red district. That’s if the progressive Welder wins his primary today, the moderate Davis is unopposed for the Dem nomination in the neighbouring district.
” “I’m sure Trump is underwater there; we just don’t have district-level polling,” said Patrick Miller, a political science professor at the University of Kansas. Even so, Miller thinks that the moderate approach of Paul Davis is probably going to win over more voters than the progressivism of Welder. He thinks that, at least in Kansas, Democrats are going to need to appeal to independent voters to win. ”
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/7/17616612/kansas-republicans-democrats-primary-2018-midterms-brent-welder
52% to Democrat, 47.3% to Republican, with 50% counted.
Tighter than a very tight thing.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/07/us/elections/results-ohio-special-house-election-district-12.html
And now with 66% counted it’s just on the Republican side of the ledger.
155 votes in it now.
Ah well, another go at it in three months.
Worth a crack.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/OH12?src=hash
The best part of the Brash Speech notes: Comments re the present government have yet to be proven and (iii) is highly contentious
On National
A hugely disappointing Government:
I. They pledged to reduce the gap between NZ incomes
and those in Australia, and utterly failed;
II. They pledged to make housing more afordable, and
utterly failed
III. They pledged to nalise Treaty settlements within six years of being elected and to scrap Maori electorates, and failed in both respects
In my own view, the present Government is likely to do a better job in making housing more afordable, but
probably a worse job in closing the income gap with Australia, and an equally poor job in moving New Zealand towards a society where every citizen, irrespective of ethnicity, has equal political rights.
Not too long ago Marcus, Australia changed and LOWERED penal rates.
Many Australians are now contracted workers with lesser conditions.
Many are now under employed. So they are coming down to meet us, $24???
Not sure of your point here Patricia. Are you saying that we should wait until Australia’s rates come “back” to ours without ours moving “up”. Pardon my ignorance but is $24 our aspirational rate or is Australia coming back to that. I presume you mean by “penal” rate that which is paid for over time – do we still have such a thing.
In this mornings WTF? read landlords demand to see bank statements in KFC test.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12102786
“They’re paying somebody’s mortgage and I see a lot of people who are low socio-economic and their bank statements literally will read, ‘KFC, McDonalds, the dairy, KFC, McDonalds, court fine’, trucks that they buy, goods that they can’t afford.
If the exact same proportion of income was spent on, ‘Uber Eats, Habit gym, Ponsonby restaurant, Uber Eats, Habit gym, craft beer bar’, is that a more reliable money manager?” asked chief executive Sue Chetwin.
Independent Property Managers Association (IPMA) president Karen Withers said it was becoming more prevalent. She said new immigrants often offered bank accounts without prompting, saying it was standard practice in other countries.
Oh, well hey….if they do it in Asia…
Hey….., if they do it in North Korea….
I think a lot of migrants offer bank accounts to show proof of funds to pay rent, as they don’t have a job or any references when they arrive but still need accomodation. Never heard of local tenants being asked to provide them, let alone bank statements that have the actual transactions and then be judged on them!
Personally feel that rental agents should have the same regulation as real estate sales agents. What is the difference? They both go into people’s houses, have keys and in position of trust. At present the landlord is liable for the rental agents behaviour and not the actual rental agent in the tenancy tribunal, the whole area needs a clean up with personal liability for behaviour put on the person who holds the keys and makes the day to day decisions.
We discovered that by taking housekeeping as a cash lump and managing on that by using “Real” money, our purchases were more private. Our payments for chemist, wine, golf petrol and food were our business…. just saying.
It should be private anyway with no one having access to it without evidence of a crime being committed.
And she doesn’t see the problem of poor people being forced to pay somebody else’s mortgage.
@ Marcus above.
Heh… “…equal political rights…”
Does that mean we all get former tory MPs to advocate our point of view a la Katherine Rich of ‘Food and Grocery Council’, or Ken Shirley from the Road Transport Forum?
Awesome, I vote for that.
There is no way that vile racist, Don Brash, should have an unchallenged platform anywhere.
He wasn’t challenged
He was silenced
We keep hearing a lot of talking from this supposedly silenced person
Yes
It must annoy the shit out of you
Backfired a bit, didn’t it?
You assume.
You don’t understand concepts such as silence, but feel free to continue to feel victimised.
I don’t feel victimised
I have no time for Brash’s politics
So he’s not silenced after all lol
Yet brash has been all over the airways and will be speaking at Akld Uni.
I’d hardly call that silenced.
Chris T as if no one knows what he’s about.
He wasn’t silenced it was a safety issue
Issue.
Don Brash is a deliberately divisive person who attracts far right activists which attracts those who oppose.
He is the last colonist who refuses to accept the truth about the damage it did to Maori.
He is happy to have the support of neo Fascists and support their free speech.
Even though the Fascist goal is to Deny everyone else free speech.
Safety issue my arse!! The woman lied otherwise she would have informed the cops .
Can’t stand brashs politics but it’s a slippery slope banning him from speaking.
What was the safety issue exactly?
So all you have to do now to silence someone is threaten violence?
Or rather to not do anything about said threat.
Or not change ones mind once said threat is exposed and personally acknowledged that it wasn’t a personal threat of violence.
Brash is talking at Auckland University. But Auckland University banned Hone Harawira from speaking there, “because of threatened protests”.
(And no angry white crowd raised $50 thousand to take the University to court for banning Harawira).
Brash should not be allowed a sole platform to spout his racist lies unchallenged.
Let Hone Harawira speak on the same platform.
If the University don’t allow Harawira to speak, I for one will be protesting. Will they shut down Don Brash because of protesters?
Probably not.
But it will again prove Te Reo Putake correct, “There is no such thing as free speech”
/theres-no-such-thing-as-free-speech/
Thanks Jenny for that info, don’t think I’ve read/heard about that in the media since they’ve been running the ‘brash ban’ story. They should mention it, it’s relevant, especially in regards to the subject matter brash spins.
More free speech news….
Alex Jones Banned or Censored By Facebook/Apple/Youtube/Spotify
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/alex-jones-purge-facebook-spineless-corporation-no-moral-leadership-2018-8?r=US&IR=T
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/apple-removes-most-of-us-conspiracy-theorist-alex-jones-podcasts-from-itunes-1.3587718
I have no love for Jones, but this is a very dangerous moment for us all, effectively now a few of the world biggest and most powerful social media corporations, have the power to censor free speech according to their own world view of what is real news/fake news or conspiracy theory and all that that implies.
So I don’t know about you, but having Zuckerberg monitoring what news feeds most people I meet see, doesn’t sound at all good to me.
Meh. Anyone wanting a good laugh or the kooks and cranks that take him seriously can go direct to his websites or listen to his radio rants. He’s still got more than enough platforms to spew his lawsuit-bait that I don’t see his free-speech rights are significantly infringed.
And if corporations are starting to think they have a responsibility to ensure their platforms are not used to cause harm, then that’s a good thing, even if the way they choose to do that is flawed.
Of course, the better way to ensure these massive monopolies don’t get control over our discourse is to simply not give them that control to begin with. Get your info closer to the source, rather than mediated through the massive intermediaries.
BTW, if anyone’s day isn’t yet sufficiently far down the rabbit-hole and needs 4 minutes of unhinged rant to top up the weird, you’ll find Jones’ response to being de-platformed here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alex-jones-donald-trump-media-matters_us_5b68bd4de4b0de86f4a43fd5
Classic and this one us good for an overview of this village idiot. I mean wtf how any person with a brain can rate him – he’s a pet rock.
@Andre Alex Jones said in his divorce case that he is a ‘performance artist playing a character’, which is pretty funny, and is of course the guy is a fucking idiot and from what I have seen oozes all sorts of personal issues, but I if you think that this sort of censorship will stop with him, then I think you are wrong…
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/infowars-alex-jones-performance-artist-playing-character-lawyer-conspiracy-theory-donald-trump-a7687571.html
btw if you want to see a pretty funny Alex Jones clip check out this one…
Andre @11.1.1
They’re getting stuck into this Free Speech crap everywhere aren’t they.
It’s not free speech they’re after:
It’s the freedom to spout crazy conspiracy theories… to spread fake news… to claim the actual news is fake news so that the population loses sight of the difference. It’s the freedom to destroy individuals they decide they don’t like and to create state enemies out of bona fida organisations and institutions set up to service the population. It’s the freedom to destroy international relationships and make enemies out of friends. It’s ultimately the freedom to start catastrophic wars.
It’s the new face of fascism – in the guise of Free Speech.
+ 1
Yep a trojan horse.
Anne @11.1.1.2
+1,000
I disagree Adrian
alex jones was utilising private companies free platforms (youtube, fb etc), in doing so he like anyone else was required to follow their rules/guidelines and he didn’t. As private companies they have every right to ban him and control content on their sites.
He still has his website and he still has his cable channel. If his website was taken down, I’d feel different about the situation.
I see it a little differently. These private companies are so large they control what people see on the net.
For some time now alternative media voices have been demonetized or taken down by these online gatekeepers. Jimmy Dore is one such victim and there are countless others. The aim isn’t to restrict hate speech or fascism, it is to control content.
But if one owns a site, would they not have the right to control the content that appears on their platform?
Let’s say one person owns 99 out of the 100 stores in town, they ban all people they see as linked to hate speech from their stores. The definition of hate is poorly defined and some of the townsfolk feel aggrieved that they are included in that label.
The 1 store that accepts all comers attracts many of the townspeople that disagree with a lot of the views of the owner of the 99 stores. Those people end up maligned by the rest of the community… An interesting yet ghastly scenario…
Interesting point, does something as ubiquitous as youtube suddenly have a greater responsibility for what it posts or allows to post
Greater than what?
In that due its size and reach youtube has become almost like a quasi-like government institution and therefore the normal rules of what a commercial business can and can’t do don’t apply
It’s an interesting concept – I’d go more with Google in particular becoming effectively a Standard Oil-style monopoly, which gives it more power than a regular supplier.
But that having been said, I suspect that Standard Oil would have limited what it carried in oil cars to “oil”, and not “shit”. Looks to me like there’s an opening for a 4chan/8chan-style nutbar video echochamber. “Super-8Chan”, maybe?
‘I’d go more with Google in particular becoming effectively a Standard Oil-style monopoly, which gives it more power than a regular supplier.’
Yeah thats probably a better analogy
Maybe not “shit” but plenty of lead.
You been following the Archdruid on that chan stuff? Not my scene but fascinating in-depth account of how folks are using magic to influence the political process (some top Nazis did that too).
https://www.ecosophia.net/the-kek-wars-part-three-triumph-of-the-frog-god/
not familiar with Archdruid.
Maui, thanks for explaining, much appreciated. Can see where you are coming from.
They had a programme here in Aus, re Facebook on its own internal monitoring, and showed policy parameters they used to decide to take things down or list them as disturbing.
An example item was a video which was still available showing a toddler being hit punched and slapped. He was screaming and sobbing.They listed it as “Disturbing”.
You heard the moderator explaining that this had been viewed a huge number of times but had a small % of complaints. They did take it down, but people had uploaded it and shared it putting it out there forever.
I now do not use Facebook where I can avoid it. For obvious reasons, I want no part of their “Blood money” made from those clicks!!
@mauī +1Exactly right,
Which they’re entitled to do, on their own platform.
But no one’s stopping you getting you daily fill of AJ’s, or Dore’s fuckwittery.
See, easy.
/
https://www.jimmydorecomedy.com/
https://www.infowars.com/
Adrian Jones is a nasty hate speech purveyor giving him a platform is akin to the resurrection of Hitler.
If he was a Muslim he would be in Guantanamo.
Do you come here to dribble inanities from your keyboard into my conscience?
Comparing anyone who doesn’t proclaim that the eradication of whole races is good of their race to hitler immediately makes anything you say around that comment sound downright retarded. And you, it makes you sound retarded.
If you look a bit closer, it’s not about free speech at all. Jones has crossed a line ever since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. From that point on he started to call for people to harass and attack real people, and it’s slowly been getting worse. He even attacked Joe Rogan who is supposed to be a friend of his and subtly suggested violence would bring Joe back into line. Here is a good piece from TYT that goes through the points.
Hmm. Throw youtube and the rest of them alongside that list of so-called fake news websites drawn up by the anonymous people at Snopes that a fair few people rely on as their radar.
Then there was the BBC having to back down over killing youtube independence channels that drew sweet all comment hereabouts, because…well, was it because too many people were busy elevating and platforming Southern and Molyneux?
Tommy Robinson – elevated and martyred off the back of the nazi pug nonsense (Where was the “left”?)
Folks across the left applauding the idea that fb play the role of censor.
Throw it in alongside the insistence for “correct” political thought/analysis that gets expressed by decrying any skeptical take on “official” news as being the markings of a Kremlin stooge or whatever…
And the rallying cry is about opposing fascism?!
Some of the conundrums seem to be doing your head in there bill.
No conundrums.
What I see is continuity and similarity in the basic stuff mentioned, but it being approached with oodles of hypocrisy by some.
Not sure where the hypocrisy is – just because you didn’t see the left complaining and fighting the things you mentioned doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And I suppose some of the left oppose your views on russia and whatnot so you may not have taken much notice of them. But whatever…
I’ve been saying that the biggest concerns in the world ATM are the corporations and the people who run them as they now have control over us and our governments.
We cannot afford the rich.
TV3 am show is becoming nastier and nastier as dunnycan garner and merkin richadson drop any pretence of civility and objectivity as they push their right wing agenda to dumb down and infantilise the whole of New Zealand
society.
Which bit?
Does free speech mean someone has the right to be rude, obnoxious, cruel, or twist facts about others who may not be in a position to respond because of their family, their job, or health, or who have no wish to become embroiled in a nasty slanging match?
What are the boundaries and responsibilities, or are there none?
Someone like Don Brash has a nationwide platform and an eager media to spout his views. Many people subjected to his views do not have that platform.
Yes, as long as what he’s saying doesn’t break any of NZs laws.
Yep the law written by people like him… and so the merry go round goes round.
There is a special type of bigot who use velvet tones and softened words to hide their malignant content – b.rash is one and there are a few others on this site eh puckwit. But the law is unbreached yay we are safe again!!!
Yes dear
Shut the debate up quick by using misogyny memes – typical of someone who accuses women of mental illness because they raise pedo activity. Why did you do that I continue to wonder.
Thats nice dear
It could be because you have zero mana just a shadow sock puppet for a real rightie I spose. Funny though your bully tactics and wankfest of Collins is a worry – objectify women seems your go to eh.
Yes dear
Lol thanks for the conceded point – scuttle off and pretend to work again Nigel.
Thats nice dear
“Nice’ means something good to eat. Get it right PR.
You don’t have a right not to be offended or your feelings hurt
If you object to what someone is saying you can make a complaint to the human rights commission. There is also defamation law – so you can sue someone.
If your case is good enough you can generally rally your supporters to help with legal costs.
These legal frameworks are robust enough to deal with any issues of supposed ‘hate speech’.
The legal costs would be enough to put off many people pursuing a case so the “free speech” proponent can carry on with their jaundiced views, untouched.
The case of a young Maori woman working in a Nelson supermarket comes to mind. Out of the blue a customer had a nasty rant about her being Maori so would never get anywhere in life. I was pleased to see the young woman’s supervisor told the customer to leave and not come back.
It is just not on, in the name of free speech, that someone can verbally attack someone they don’t even know. And why should that young woman have to put up with such bile.
I agree with you Reality. Your example clearly crosses the line between free speech and hate speech.
Based on what you have said, the young Maori woman has a case to put in front of the human rights commission. I’d encourage her to do so. (This shouldn’t be costly).
It shouldn’t cost anything – our justice system should ensure that all such cases are heard without the complainant having to front up with the cash for lawyers.
When it doesn’t, as ours doesn’t, then the justice system is only for those who can afford it and justice is denied to those who need it.
“Does free speech mean someone has the right to be rude, obnoxious, cruel, or twist facts about others who may not be in a position to respond because of their family, their job, or health, or who have no wish to become embroiled in a nasty slanging match?”
Yep.
John Key exploited that right throughout his time as National Party leader.
Robert while he allowed Dirty Politics.
He did smack down Don Bash over his antiquated Maori Bashing saying in John Keys words “there is no place in NZ for these outdated antiquated ideas NZ has moved on.”
Evil, like racism, usually lies in the eye of the beholder. Late in 1999 the fourth largest newspaper in the US (NY Post) held a poll to see who their readers thought were the most evil people in history, and 19,184 of them voted. Hitler won.
Second came Bill Clinton. Stalin was third, then Pol Pot.
Fifth was the Nazi who conducted medical experiments on live jews, Dr Josef Mengele. Sixth was Hilary Clinton.
Saddam Hussein, Adolf Eichmann, Charles Manson and Idi Amin completed the top ten. Genghis Khan came in at 11th, then serial killer who ate his victims, Jeffrey Dahmer. Vlad the Impaler made it to #20, Jack the Ripper #25.
Trevor Chappell was nowhere in this list?
Ah, Trev. No, I guess the yanks were too busy getting high back then & didn’t notice. I wondered why he didn’t just tell the media at the time “Hey, our ancestors were convicts so breaking rules is in the genes, right? Get over it. Sportsmanship?? Are you kidding???”
😀😀😀
Dennis Frank no doubt its a Murdoch publication so Goebels would have attained sainthood.
I was intrigued when I read a biography of him to discover that he’d been a supporter of socialism as a young adult. It’s what he had in common with David Lange, plus they both refused knighthoods due to feeling strongly that the dross from empire ought to be discarded.
Same with William Pember Reeves: he was offered one twice, refused twice. He transformed Aotearoa with radical industrial relations policy an entire generation before Labour. Took me most of my life to get around to reading Land of the Long White Cloud but man, what a book!!
“Murdoch studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Worcester College, Oxford in England, where he supported the Labour Party, stood for Secretary of the Labour Club”. [from his wiki]
The MeToo# divas did not even mention the Palestinian Rosa Parks when they strutted at the Academy Awards.
“All Palestinians have courage. It’s different from one person to another. But I grew up in a family where I got used to seeing prisoners, the injured and martyrs.” – Ahed Tamimi
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/6/meet_ahed_tamimi_17_year_old
Hey everyone has missed the point I was trying to make. It was his comment re the last government that intrigued me the most. I have no time for Brash, particularly having recently read “The Hollow Men” but thought that his critique of the Key years was most apt. I agree with Jacinda though that banning him from the University was a gross over reaction. Importing “hate preachers” is one thing but Don Brash is a New Zealander and most followers of local politics know exactly where he stands.
Another important piece in today’ s Herald was Professor Peter Davis’ article entitled “Ageing “Ponzi” scheme needs to change fast”. The super situation and the long term effect of Muldoon’s blunder must be kept constantly on the public’s radar. Many of the SSS (Smug Self Satisfied) 45% that is the majority of National’s core support, will not be affected by the issue (they regard the fortnightly payment as pin money) but for the rest of us, especially our children and grandchildren the question is of the utmost importance.
Chris Bishop sends a letter to the VC
He’s pretty good
Yes Bishop is pretty good – at being tedious.
Maybe he should have sent a letter when Hone Harawira was banned for similar reasons
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12103182
How much of nz businesses lack of confidence is just petulance at not having their lapdog nats in government?
How much of it is due to the increased powers of the unions especially considering the increase in strikes and threats of strikes as is happening right now
How much of it is due to a rollback of some 90 day employment laws and the worry if that will be increased or just dropped completely?
How much of it is due to the lack of warning and consultation over the oil and gas exploration halt?
How much of it is due to employers potentially paying out domestic abuse leave?
Petulance: Delicate petals which get easily bruised by strong winds,
“How much of nz businesses lack of confidence is just petulance at not having their lapdog nats in government?”
I see the looney Greens are focused on the important issues.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/08/green-co-leader-marama-davidson-says-new-zealand-must-reclaim-the-c-word.html
Regardless of what caused it you ignore it at your peril.
Possibly right.
When business leaders/owners lose confidence, democratically elected governments are in peril.
When anybody else (beneficiaries, bus-drivers, one-legged dog-walkers, you name it) loses confidence, governments aren’t in peril.
Strange that – looks like democracies can’t really work well when there is huge inequality of power amongst the population. Maybe time to do something about that then.
Yep – time to get rid of the capitalists. They’re a clear and present danger to our democracy.
The problem I have is the nats are talking confidence down . As we know it becomes self fulfilling among money once they believe it .
I rekons that the nats would happily see nz fail just to get in power.
All the talk of allowing free speech for fascists…..
When one of the primary aims of fascists is suppression of free speech. (For everyone, but themselves.)
dozens of stranded journalists fear for their fates
Ammar Homou – Syria Direct, August 7, 2018
Neonazis attack London left-wing bookshop
Peter Lazenby – Dear Kitty, August 5, 2018
Don’t support fascism. (It really shouldn’t have to be said)
Sounds pre- Kristallnacht 9-10 November 1938. A year before WW2 broke out – 1 September 1939. (WH Auden)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht
And FO any Godwins law yappers. The thing is to remember history, see the patterns, not repeat it.
There certainly are some issues in London
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/01/antisemitic-incidents-in-uk-at-all-time-high
If The Guardian penned the article its a pretty good bet that its just a continuation of the Corbyn bashing campaign thats been happening for some time apparently . Why would it be a surprise that there would be animosity towards jews recently when for no doubt a considerable number of people the sight of unarmed protesters in Gaza being gunned down by heavily armed cowards hiding behind a forty foot wall is probably still fresh in their minds ??
For Wellingtonians:
Apparently there’ll be a review of the bugger’s muddle that is now our public transport ‘network’.
Let’s hope it’s not driven by those that planned the new network and its ‘big bang’ implementation or the outcome will likely be that we’ll be lining up in one queue to get a number from a machine that gives us a place in another queue at the bus stop.
And if they’re really really clever, they’ll divide those queues into the registration number on the bus (for the purposes of efficiency and effectiveness).
Having once worked with Darran Ponter, I’m surprised at how he has so easily become captured by bullshit artists – no doubt fresh back from an overseas fact finding mission.
Still, the higher you rise, the harder you fall
I’m a little fire engine, Flick is my name
They won’t let me put out fires
But I do it just the same…..
Ooooh ahhhh oooooh aaaaaaah
there’s a fire in the stationhouse! etc. etc. (Another fine mess you’ve gotten me into Ollie!)
(/Surprise surprise)
/fuckwittery at its most grand
Any links etc for this info OWT?
I was just about to do an update to a group of “concerned citizens” in my area who I am representing re changes etc to our bus services in discussions with Metlink etc, so would like to know more before doing so. Must say that I have had reasonably good productive discourse with Metlink on this but I am taking a facilitator rather than an aggressive approach. Our situation is one that is a little less urgent and requires a lot of diplomacy/nergotiations with other community citizens rather than the bus operators per se compared to some of the more urgent problems being faced by workers, students etc needing to get to work, classes etc. so need to take a cooperative and slower approach to reach a solution that meets most peoples’ needs etc.
Darran Ponter is actually on my list of people outside Metlink to approach so any more info about him etc also welcome.
Only as a former public servant in a government Ministry when he was in charge of a group of policy analysts.
RNZ news has reported that the GWRC has admitted there are problems.
Unfortunately it seems what they’re proposing will just amount to tinkering (changes to route 18 for example).
In some cases, people are having to catch 3 buses where they previously caught 1
If they wanted a quick solution, it’d probably be to simply revert to the old route system, then make gradual improvements – that won’t happen because it’s be an admission of compete failure.
I’m picking that unless something radical is done soon Darran won’t be back after the next election, and he won’t be wanting to put this farce on his CV when he goes job hunting. And in many ways, that’s a bit of a shame
What did that guy Molyneaux say to us about “Welcome to sharia law” or something?
So, Canada’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chrystia Freeland said “Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s activists in Saudi Arabia including Samar Badawi.” She urged the Saudi government to “immediately release them.”
Saudi Arabia then denounced the tweets as “blatant interference in the country’s domestic affairs,” as well as a “major, unacceptable affront to the kingdom’s laws and judicial process.” The Saudi government has said that it will cut scholarships for thousands of its students to study in Canada. They have also made the Saudia airline suspend flights to Toronto in five days.
Bahrain. the Arab Emirates, and others back the Saudi government.
Now, I don’t need to cite The Handmaid’s Tale to you all on what actual Sharia Law looks and feels like. If she didn’t have diplomatic immunity she would be in a Saudi prison.
Ambassador Freeland (great name by the way!) simply stands by what she has said. “We will always speak up for human rights and women’s rights.”
We would gain something of our moral centre back as a country if we started tying human rights to trade with a sharia law country like Saudi Arabia.
We don’t have to like the people giving us unpalatable messages, but Canada is pointing the way here. It took courage.
Why focus only ob Sharia Law?
Oh, wait…
If we actually focussed on human rights we’d soon stop trading with our top export nations.
We’d certainly have fewer of them.
And there you have the reason why we don’t restrict trade to nations that only fully support human rights.
Profit is more important to government.
And here you have made a very important moral point. Our standard of living is dependent on trade, which depends on supporting evil behaviour by foreign governments. Is supporting evil behaviour a good idea? No.
Qanon is beyond very strange. Money mabey?
Here’s a primer….
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywex8v/what-is-qanon-conspiracy-theory
…but it could well be a pisstake…
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/its-looking-extremely-likely-that-qanon-is-probably-a
…but whatever TF it is, the true believers are barking.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/watch-qanon-followers-try-to-explain-their-absolutely-bonkers-pro-trump-conspiracy-theory?source=twitter&via=desktop
I ran across one when commenting on youtube – your right they are completely barking.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018657123/new-disability-support-rules-baffle-lawyer
New Zealand health
42 minutes ago 8 Aug 2018
Ministry’s new disability guidelines baffle family lawyer
A lawyer fighting on behalf of families over the disabled support services says the Ministry of Health policy in the area borders on cruel.
(Rosemary has been saying this for a while)
By the way has anyone had trouble with pressreader. I went to it and my screen locked up as a message that I had to accept came up. I wanted out but no cross to clear it, and couldn’t close down site or move to another site. Had to turn off computer.l Pathetic program design.
If wanting to email the site what is the address. Nothing I have tried is recognised?
Or don’t you have it now – does it all have to be twitter and facebook ?
Chris T
Thanks for that.
Oh dear even Tracey is scathing of crasher Collins.
“Either Collins believed in the vast left wing conspiracy to normalise child rape – which is scary. Or she didn’t believe it but tweeted it anyway because she knew some of the people who read her tweets would have no problem believing it was true.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/106100009/how-far-down-this-slippery-slope-will-judith-collins-lead-national
Greasy irrigation!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/106098339/hurunui-irrigation-company-bullish-but-farmers-fall-short-on-the-money
Still slipping on, taking up water that will be in short supply and allocated on generous terms over … years encouraging farmers to over-extend themselves and cry poor.l
But Chris Pile, chief executive of the company driving the proposed $200 million scheme is determined it “must and will continue”.
(Unfortunate name. I smell money for a successful CEO.)
Unforeseen consequences? Grenade shaped table lighters, fake guns, just toys nothing to worry about – stop fussing. blah blah. Rubbish unworthy of spending export $ on and now bothersome rubbish that are scaring people and involving police bomb squads with a large increase in callouts.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/106078499/inactive-grenades-used-as-paperweights-contribute-to-nzdf-bomb-squad-callouts-jump
Mountain rescue cost six figures and hundreds of volunteer hours
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/106050614/mountain-rescue-cost-six-figures-and-hundreds-of-volunteer-hours
This guy has been rescued before, and seems to have gone mountain climbing just about every year. So the rescue is just part of the exciting holiday risks ultimately borne by us. Let us have more money spent on our parents and children to help them get a good start in life if we care about people so much. It is a class matter really, the needy families are lower class and enterprising mountain climbers are far up the ladder. Sick.
One thing to do is to bill them for the cost of it all, plus honorarium for the volunteers and arrest and jail them if they come back and the bill is unpaid. her pay up quickly and fully or deport them, with refusal to enter again. Grow a pair government. People with student loans unpaid are treated harshly so why shouldn’t we put a stopper on these drifters who are too spiritual to worry about the trouble and cost their spending time out in nature, communing, puts other people to.
+111
This is a rather informative, but short, video on why we can’t make old stuff from the original designs:
Daily review isn’t loading for.me
Working now
If this was a scene in the movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ it would have ended up on the cutting room floor for being to far fetched.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hail-zoo-colorado_us_5b69a10ae4b0de86f4a552d3
Good morning The Am Show Eco says it’s good that our Kiwi fire fighters can help America and Canada fight those massive fires ka pai people be careful.
Condolences to the people who have lost love ones and property.
Social issues poverty bulling racial issues its not hard to see that’s these issues will affect all Mokopunas mental health this health problem we have will affect wealthy and poor the same as different groups clash its good we are looking at fixing this big problem. Unlike the bench warmers who’s action’s just multiplied this big problem Eco seen this.
Duncan that young Asian boy was intelligent and well spoken on the issues of 16/17 year old forced marriage.
With cat’s they are a gift from Papatuanuku I don’t think they have to be eliminated
just controlled . Cat’s help people who are alone in our society they give there care’s some thing to love and care they give them a reason to get up in the morning pet;s are good for some people’s mental health in this age of individualism this individualism has to change we are all on Papatuanuku together.
Ka kite ano P.S I try to be fair I’m a Gary McCormick fan he come’s from te tai rawhiti so there is a bit of favoritism
Here you go I read body langue well and Eco Maori can see what motivates people actions one thing in this link below is this.
Ka kite ano
Tiaki-Turi joins the interview by phone. She acts as Zhou Black’s spiritual adviser or matakite – someone considered to possess a supernatural ability to see visions of the future.
Zhou Black is asked why an academic appears on her child-sex ring list.
“He’s a very wealthy man … He knew Awa through that time. I don’t know how long,” she says.
No victim had identified the academic.
“Got anything to add, sis?” Zhou Black asks Tiaki-Turi.
“Um, it’s just a connection that he has with a lot of the people associated to Awa,” Tiaki-Turi offers.
“He’s more a person of interest,” Zhou Black adds.
“He was my Facebook friend up until three days ago and then he has blocked me.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/106039693/estranged-wifes-explosive-childsex-claims-against-awanui-black-and-friends-questioned P.S I stand by my word’s these women are being played I don’t know enough about the treaty claims of Tauranga to make comment on that issue . But I do know that people are trying to undo my Mahi.
The Cafe the Roy Orbison look alike is a awesome singer Eco enjoys Roy’s music
Ka kite ano
To all you moaning neo liberal capitalist trolls New Zealand has spent more on AID to other country’s than they have spent on treaty claims now Eco knows that the poor tangata around the World need help and I back that AID but stop kicking ——in tangata whenua face please about te mone we got from treaty settlement’s enough said only bad—–will come from the word’s I want to say .
Ka kite ano
https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/aid-and-development/our-approach-to-aid/where-our-funding-goes/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/106097912/chinas-pacific-aid-dominance-is-overstated–but-winston-peters-disagrees P.S Stop kicking —– in China face to
You know what the other big picture is New Zealand spent more putting tangata whenua in jail much more than the mone spent on treaty settlement no link but that’s a fact
One can not judge the Opinion of Atoearoa just by a poll that can be targeted by national trolls to minupulate the results it won’t take many people to change the polls results.
Good Kiwi understand that Maori were ripped of their whenua and its 10 x harder for Maori to get a better life than any other culture in Atoearoa the troll.s love those easy to minupulate polls on TV. Look at these bone head sandflys stuffing up my life and my offspring. It they had anything more that contracted lies they would put ECO MAORI in the hinaki. Ka kite ano discrimination at its best
You may be wondering how the phone poll can be hacked it’s easy if you got mone gone managed to raise $90k in 2 days to try and fight in court for his m8 from you no were so for the neo liberal capitalist mone is not a problem .
There is will well the NLcapitalist have no morels so cheating is like changing undies to these people so they have the will to cheat and manipulate the reality of good Kiwi’s using these poll’s .
How well you have 50 people with 10 sims each and there you go 500 votes for the NLcapitalist trolls cost about $600.00 if the poll does not have a limit of 1 call per number that cost will be just $6.00 . Eco Maori knows that any thing can be manipulated its just takes no morels to lie mone and effort . I know look at what the sandflys are doing to Eco Maori Ka kite ano P.S tryed to find out how this poll is conducted nothing on the net so its phone or Tx I can’t be stuffed with some poles because all data can be changed to suit the goals of the person with the most mone
gone=don brash
Mana Wahine Ka pai American Wahine Eco Maori tautoko/supports all Ladies who are going to get into roles to lead us to a humane prosperous future .
I know that a lot of ladies are more intelligent than man definitely more humane the Papatuanuku is your Oyster as the old saying goes you need to make sure the mokopunas have a bright prosperous future and men can not be trusted to do this on there own . Ka kite ano P.S I still respect men as I am one but we need te Wahine to guide the men down the correct path link below men will still be part of leadership ladies will gide men to the correct path.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45109836
Good evening Newshub Eco Maori was upset today I have been trying to get my wahine mokopuna health issues sorted out for two weeks she spent 2 nites in Rotorua hospital so in all 4 hospital appointments waiting 5 to 6 hours for each visit 3 doctor’s appointments I got someone to take her to Ranolf medical center on Monday get a call today saying she had a urine infection to come and get antibiotics I was happy she has finally be diagnosed I am upset that the sandfly were hiding around the corner at the hosptial telling the doctors lies getting the doctors to ask my moko questions that had nothing to do with her ailment and getting them to pregnecy test my 11 year old mokopuna with out telling us instead of testing her sample for signs of a infection the doctor at lakes care said there were signs of a mild infection and sent us to the hosptial to get her scaned this did not happen. I pointed this out to the doctor at the hospital he just dismissed my inquire I have been nursing my mokopuna for 2 weeks she has been in pain for 3 1/2 weeks I am looking after her because everyone else is working so its understandable that I’m upset . The sandflys have told the doctors you are not liable .They cannot sue because of the New Zealand Laws the down side to Accident Compensation corporation a Kiwi can not sue the health department for miss conduct my moko could have lost a kidney and now I am waiting to get her kidneys scanned I thought Rotorua hosptial would do it today they gave her a weeks wait WTF.
I can not sue the health system but I am gathering everdince to sue others .???????????
Well I got that off my chest those fire tornadoes are mean those have not been seen much at all may be 2 times I have seen documents of this phenomenon That’s Human Caused Global warrming trump.
The bereavement leave for miss carage of a baby is backed by Eco one of my offspring went through that its Quite Papatuanuku shattering it took awhile for them to get over that.
Yes Eco always reads te animals cows are good Guard dogs lol well I read everything quite well just my spelling is bad.
It was a beautiful day to day Ingrid Ka kite ano
Good evening Newshub Eco Maori was upset today I have been trying to get my wahine mokopuna health issues sorted out for two weeks she spent 2 nites in Rotorua hospital so in all 4 hospital appointments waiting 5 to 6 hours for each visit 3 doctor’s appointments I got someone to take her to Ranolf medical center on Monday get a call today saying she had a urine infection to come and get antibiotics I was happy she has finally be diagnosed I am upset that the sandfly were hiding around the corner at the hosptial telling the doctors lies getting the doctors to ask my moko questions that had nothing to do with her ailment and getting them to pregnecy test my 11 year old mokopuna with out telling us instead of testing her sample for signs of a infection the doctor at lakes care said there were signs of a mild infection and sent us to the hosptial to get her scaned this did not happen. I pointed this out to the doctor at the hospital he just dismissed my inquire I have been nursing my mokopuna for 2 weeks she has been in pain for 3 1/2 weeks I am looking after her because everyone else is working so its understandable that I’m upset . The sandflys have told the doctors you are not liable .They cannot sue because of the New Zealand Laws the down side to Accident Compensation corporation a Kiwi can not sue the health department for miss conduct my moko could have lost a kidney and now I am waiting to get her kidneys scanned I thought Rotorua hosptial would do it today they gave her a weeks wait WTF.
I can not sue the health system but I am gathering everdince to sue others .???????????
Well I got that off my chest those fire tornadoes are mean those have not been seen much at all may be 2 times I have seen documents of this phenomenon That’s Human Caused Global warrming trump.
The bereavement leave for miss carage of a baby is backed by Eco one of my offspring went through that its Quite Papatuanuku shattering it took awhile for them to get over that.
Yes Eco always reads te animals cows are good Guard dogs lol well I read everything quite well just my spelling is bad.
It was a beautiful day to day Ingrid Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild Mulls and Makere I like to look after tangata that I connect with.
I had a sore face for half a hour last night . We all think our kids get there best traits from us but what I know the brain’s are genitally linked to Wahine so I tell my offspring that they get there intelligence from there mum I read that in some science mag.
Keep up the good work Mahi Drysdale you will be fine.
I see Posha Woodman got into the Papatuanuku Sports Wahine of the year with the Williams sisters Mana Wahine
All the best to Jacko in his shot put goals he is a good role model for the mokopunas never give up thats the attitude.
Ka kite ano
The sandflys are stuffing with my computa once again
Why didn’t shonky kick the rugby ball through the rugby goal post hitting a golf ball through rugby goal post is easy as cheating once again shonky
Some people don’t know when they other’s are using there emotion’s to play them they don’t expect it and trust others to much .
They don’t beleve Eco maori that being to radical is bad for there cause wake up you are a wahine maori leader Ka kite ano P.S or do you have the same advisor that coned another wahine maori leader to splash mud in her own face Eco thinks the possibility and coincident are quite high
To The Labour Party Do onto those as they do onto YOU there are 2 ways to see this Golden Rule the one Eco is high lighting is national are digging scraping around for any dirt on the ruling Labour Green New Zealand First Government and trowing it in your face so Eco would look for dirt on national and give it back to them this move will even up the score keep them busy fighting the fire it won’t be hard to find mud on them Eco say’s
Ka kite ano
He used his free speech to try to obliterate Māori out of New Zealand society. If you don’t believe me, read the speech for yourself. ka kite ano
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/106108505/when-a-person-with-extreme-views-defends-free-speech-someone-gets-hurt