How can people who are so adamant that "bloody Labour" and useless "Jacinta who is mucking everything up" and yet don't know the difference between the EU and the Commowealth when the next discussion point is Brexit be allowed to have a vote?
One just has to hope that these ignorants are spread evenly across the political spectrum… so their influence is nil….
Talkback suits the Right better with their adamant rather than us with our buts and why-fors. Whatever silly-arse prejudice you have mate it's right. Only the hosts being brought up in social-democracy holds it back.
I've been following the Brexit shenanigans and ensuing parliamentary farce on a couple of UK stations, LBC and BBC 5 Live. The differences between them and our so-called news radio is like night and day. Ignoring a couple of the more hoskinesque hosts , the nuanced and informative analysis and commentary from hosts, commentators and expert guests is first rate. And they must have rather good vetting systems to weed out the ranting, partisan, single-issue loons because most of their talk-back callers come across as reasonable, well informed, and worthwhile the time spent listening.
The way who have handled it? The Labour Party? In what sense was their handling of it a joke? Neither of us has significant knowledge of how it was handled, so ignorance-based reckons about the quality of the handling could themselves only take the form of jokes, surely?
As an abstract hypothetical, though: when allegations of workplace harrassment and bullying are made against an individual and an investigation finds that the allegations are unsupported, ie it comes down to he says/she says, how would you handle those allegations in a way that treated all parties fairly, respected their privacy, achieved a result satisfactory to all parties and also couldn't be used as propaganda against you by your enemies? Do take your time.
Vance mentions in passing Parliaments inquiry into Bullying etc?
The Journalists have never revisited the shock conclusion that some Journalists around parliament are part of the problem
"A significant number of respondents – not all of them Members – commented on what they perceived as inappropriate behaviour by members of the Press Gallery or media more generally."
and a quote:
““Gallery behaviour is unacceptable… they come in there perfectly nice people and then adopt this persona of the classic bully. You can watch it happen.”
Code of Omerta means people like Vance wont touch that aspect
"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Labour Party President Nigel Haworth have delivered an apologetic press conference, admitting major failings by the party. Ms Ardern said the burden of care and responsibility for those allegedly sexually assualted at a summer camp should not have been left to members of Young Labour. "We handled this very, very badly as a party," Ms Ardern said."
"The party is also facing criticism for the presence of alcohol at the event. Young people attended the event with parental consent, but on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Ardern was unable to say whether those consent forms mentioned alcohol. Labour MP Liz Craig was at the event that night. On Wednesday afternoon, she deleted a photo from her Facebook page which showed her seated at a table with a group of young adults who were drinking alcohol."
There's more, but that's enough. I don't like labelling Labour's handling of this 'a joke'; it rather minimises the damage. Incompetent, inept, useless…these are far better descriptors.
Nigel Haworth has not done Jacinda any favours the way he has handled it. If true that he banned complainants from buildings, why was the accused not banned or stood down why investigation going on? Andrea Vance and Alison Mau seem to have really turned on Labour this weekend.
As an abstract hypothetical: when allegations of workplace harrassment and bullying are made against an individual and an investigation finds that the allegations are unsupported, ie it comes down to he says/she says, how would you handle those allegations in a way that treated all parties fairly, respected their privacy, achieved a result satisfactory to all parties and also couldn't be used as propaganda against you by your enemies? Do take your time.
The accused should have been stood down while investigation underway, not just the accusers being banned from the building. I think this may cost Nigel Haworth his job. The last one cost Andrew Kirton his job.
The Spinoff piece under discussion in today's thread suggests there was no investigation, or at least nothing you could reasonably call an investigation. Like you, I don't see how Kirton could keep his job and still expect anyone to vote Labour – same with the others involved.
I had to reread the story carefully as from the "heading" it seemed as though the story was in regard to the recent case due to be sentenced later in the year – the word "young" gave, to me, every impression of that. What it is referring to is another completely separate matter that has an element of "employment" attached to it and no charges, as yet, which has a bearing that needs to be sorted but the inference unless studied and read carefully implies something else.
Thanks for the clarification Rapaunzel. It wasn't at all clear from that article what case was being referred to:
He [Mallard] said: "The first point that I want to make is that I have repeatedly, through [Parliamentary Service's] general manager [Rafael Gonzalez-Montero], the relevant office and people who have raised the matter with me that I think either a Police complaint (if an offence is alleged to have occurred) or a complaint relating to employment if people feel unsafe, should be made.
The seven complainants have still not laid any complaints with either the police or Parliamentary Services.
I'm not suggesting nothing happened, but I’m starting to smell a big rat over this case.
🙂 It didn;t help that the paper was drenched but the heading led me, and I guess others, up the garden path until I re-read it. No one is suggesting anything did not happen but there are cases that were supposedly being looked at that the public had heard no more of within the National Party that were not disimmilar.
Why can't NZ media stick to the facts and the fact is as you say there are no charges and employment matters have to be handled very carefully for all involved. Allowing media to be judge and jury of what happened, how it "should be handled" and where the "blame" lies is unacceptable. This sort of conjecture and getting to the heart of who, how many people and exactly what needs to be done does nothing to educate on and improve workplace relationships.
... there are cases that were supposedly being looked at that the public had heard no more of within the National Party that were not disimilar.
There was a serious case earlier this year involving a Young Nat (male) and a Young Nat event. It was reported through the MSM and then… nothing. It was suspected at the time the complainant was 'bought off'.
"In line with our health and safety policies, we acted quickly to offer any support and advice to the person who raised the issue, and this information was passed on to the alleged victim.
"As this is now a matter for the police, we can't comment any further."
And that, as far as I know, was the last we heard of the matter so I am assuming the complainant withdrew her complaint. Did she do it of her own accord or was she coerced? Did any journos bother to check out what happened? The answer appears to be… no.
It would seem there's a big difference how these cases get reported depending on which party the complainant/complainants belong to eh?
Anne, the reason your comments are held in in Auto-Moderation is a minor typo in your user name, which I have corrected a number of times now. The system ‘thinks’ that you’re a new user and this needs to be manually approved.
That was from about 3 weeks ago , Bennett went full out on it, it was covered by the media as she arranged.
Now Vance who moved out of the Press gallery into management has a slow Sunday scandal day hole to fill ? . Has she been chatting to Bennett who wanted to recycle old news
Their new weekly columnist , the taxpayer funded opinion piece by Seymours staffer seems to disappeared
Well Stuff can get stuf't on a Sunday I'm cancelling my paper and will say exactly why, the same should apply to talkback advertisers such as "magic" radio with its Too Cheap Cars donations. After the $400+k fine for cheating clients only "trmagic's" terminally dim listeners would be an option as clientele anyway.
After the Revolutionary War, many of the white people who were loyal to Britain moved to the Bahamas, which was largely empty. A lot of those people brought their enslaved Africans with them.
But harsh conditions made many of the white people leave. Then, in 1807, Britain abolished the slave trade. Many of those freed Africans who were liberated on the open seas went to the Bahamas as free people.
When the US basically bought Florida from Spain, thousands of enslaved Africans and Black Seminoles said “fuck this” and escaped to the Bahamas.
So many ran to freedom that the US government had to build a lighthouse in Cape Florida in 1825.
In 1834, Britain freed all the slaves in its territories and shit really got crazy.
So there are significant numbers of Tory MPs with the integrity and spine prepared to stand up to Boorish and say what they think, in full knowledge the likely price is the end of their political career. That really highlights what a bunch of jellyfish the Repugs are in their craven capitulation to Kim Jong Orange.
A teacher on an individual contract has complained to the Human Rights Commission about payments union members will get after the settling of a protracted pay wrangle.
And he claims non-union teachers have been kept in the dark that they can negotiate their own employment agreements.
Hastings Boys' High head of music Justin Lindsay claims that the Ministry of Education has discriminated on the basis of political opinion in their new Secondary Teachers Collective Agreement (STCA) 2019-2022.
I googled him. Looks like he took care to sanitise his online foot print before speaking out. The only thing he shows is that he was employed in the ESOL and tech sector in Japan for a number of years,
"And he claims non-union teachers have been kept in the dark "? Really? And he also claims to be a teacher? I have seen that name before with similar "complaints" but no mention of how many people he represents. How is it that one individual's statement is passed by media as being either a wide-spread issue or movement?
Which is why NZ seriously needs some sort of public service information outlet, either a whole channel or something. While I suppose that was clear to me right from the messing with contract thing in the 1990s, more towards the end of that period I gather their are people who don't appear to "know" these things – he does is, spreading misinformation is his intent.
There are lots of basic things beginning with how to register and vote, what "free" medical options families might have, how not to pay insurance unless you know you have met criteria and are fully covered for what you think you've paid for, what are your employment "rights" and obligations are – so as not to jeopardize your employment, along with reliable borrowing or budgeting advice etc. The information is there but it needs to be more readily available and visible and repeated till it sinks in. During the 2014 election I heard from several young people that their employers or other told them "if you don't vote this way you will have no job". They believed it and spread that idea around. If basic information about "rights' was more common and normalised people might start thinking for themselves and/or seeking out the facts when they need them.
There's a Parliament TV channel that has a lot of downtime – even given repeats of QT etc. (and that's just for starters). It could actually be used for educational purposes at various times – providing 'civics'/'social studies', the citizens' rights when dealing with government agencies, the Treaty, BOR et al
No end of things – took my grandson to the medical centre last holidays and they had a number of items running, how many other groups have items of interest, probably local councils and voluntary groups.
Besides that what groups are active in an area may be an incentive to make people more active which is the first step in the right direction to give mental stimulation, company and activities to turn back the tide of health issues putting pressure on services.
Cross contamination (Bacteria) in gene editing experiment.
“Hornless” cattle were supposed to be one of the first gene-editing breakthroughs. Except they have a major screwup in their DNA. https://t.co/sV137KKLao
Yes, that is indeed the kind of thing that happens when technologists use simple sloppy techniques that are more or less how bacteria have been getting their genes into other organisms without any human intervention since forever. Like happened with sweet potato.
Rudd is just a careerist first and foremost looking out for herself. She makes Paula Bennett seem like Mary Poppins… the Windrush scandal wa swhen she was in charge….. she smells blood in the water for Johnson and wants to be part of the next cabinet and the next cabinet
This is the person she is :
"Rudd first denied there were targets for the removal of immigrants. Later, she maintained that she had not known of targets. Later still, The Guardian published leaked evidence that Rudd had known about targets: "
Wikipedia. That resulted in one of her many resignations
She should really be going to the Great Tory Boneyard in the Sky… but is likely to reappear somwhow.
Fox News opinion host Laura Ingraham’s earnest efforts to troll liberals reached a new, if not bizarre, level Friday as she attempted to drink a steak stuffed with incandescent light bulbs through a plastic straw.
“Well, it’s a meal that will trigger all the right … I meant all the left people,” she said to kick off the “Ingraham Angle” segment.
Meanwhile, let's remind ourselves of Article 2 Section 1 Clause 7 of the Constitution:
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Money from any government source finding it's way into a federal official's pocket from any source other than salary is a direct violation of the constitution, and should be cause for immediate impeachment. But Repugs just don't care, it's not like adults were indulging in any consensual private pleasure or anything like that. (Although grossly inappropriate due to the power imbalance involved)
Thats a beat up about USAF flight stop overs in Prestwick Scotland. Its not really Glasgow which has its own airport close to the city.
They reason they stop. because planes fly 'Great Circle' arcs between origin and destination as much as possible. Prestwick is on the direct route for stop overs between Middle east and US military bases. Plus its less crowded airspace- which causes delays- than military airports in Southern England.
We can see similar occurrences for USAF flights to Antarctica, they stop to refuel at Christchurch, change crew etc .
This Trump Hotel/ Golf club is just outside Prestwick, maybe they offer a cut price deal for all these sort of cargo airlines for crew stop overs.
The idea that they are stopping there so they can stay at that hotel doesnt follow.
Cant see Prestwick 'supporting Bombing raids on Syria'
A loaded Bomber definitely wont be landing at a public airport…. they need facilities that can handle live bombs.
Like I said its a beatup about an insignificant thing, not that Trump hasnt loaded up his other hotels and golf clubs with official government events.
this is more important
n three Saturday evening tweets, Donald Trump claims that leaders of the Taliban, as well as Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, were secretly scheduled to land on U.S. soil “tonight.” Trump claimed that, “unbeknownst to almost everyone,” he had separate meetings scheduled with each at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
Trump then claimed that he bailed on the peace talks after the Taliban took credit for a deadly car bombing in Kabul on Thursday, which killed 12 people, including an American soldier.
A Camp David peace deal with the Taliban ?
What could go wrong. Even NZ has the Taliban on its Terrorist List of proscibed groups.
Like I said its a beatup about an insignificant thing
I don't think I would be saying that. There are questions being asked on both sides of the Atlantic. And yes! Trump is benefiting from this cozy arrangement.
Scottish Government-owned Prestwick Airport paid £9m by Trump administration
Meanwhile – Trump Turnberry lost $4.5 mill in 2017 and with the help of taxpayer $$$, it made $3 mill in 2018. Furthermore Prestwick offered free rounds of golf at Turnberry to visiting US military and civilian air crews. So a fairly clear example of further contravention of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
Wow! That is some thread Joe. Meanwhile Jerry Nadler is preparing for action this week:
House Judiciary panel preparing vote to define Trump impeachment probe
…
The panel could vote as early as Wednesday on a resolution to spell out the parameters of its investigation. The precise language is still being hammered out inside the committee and with House leaders. A draft of the resolution is expected to be release Monday morning.
Nadler has already sort clarification from the Pentagon on this very matter with a flat refusal to comply. Things could get very interesting this week.
Yes, I do vote. If it makes you feel better, I'm registered in the California 51st District, so the only time my vote might make the slightest difference is in the Dem primary for the House and Senate. But the House Rep is Juan Vargas who is well-liked, so it's unlikely he'll get a serious challenger, and CA doesn't have a senator up for election in 2020.
I'm also capable of correctly spelling Christchurch.
Meanwhile, you got anything to say about the situation whereby this is the first president ever* to own and operate businesses that sell services to the federal government, in direct contravention of one of the first clauses of the constitution? And where that business has massively increased since he took office with the one branch of government he has the most direct control over, being the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces?
*I s’pose it’s possible Washington’s distillery sold whiskey to the Feds, but I’ve never seen any claim that that actually happened.
He never had "his shit" to lose. All he ever had was a big stack of dodgy dollars, an overactive middle finger that excited the deplorables, and a massive streak of nasty vindictiveness sufficient to cow into submission or at least silence anyone that voluntarily got close to him.
Went to the one in Dunedin a few weeks ago – pretty good I thought. Didn't see much of that on the menu lol
A couple of things stood out – the "express" lunch, with a 35 minute delivery time. Seafood joint near my work has a 15 minute promise today. Sign of the time crunch these days.
Also: why did they put little plastic cow silhouettes in the steaks?! I remembered them as kids as soon as I saw them. What the actual fuck? At least plastic straws were useful!
lol so they were a little plastic token to tell you what the chef thinks you got, rather than just leaving it for you to assume that what you get is what you ordered?
I was a kitchen hand at cobbyco in welly – they really loved burning the bottom of the pots big time – I was also a vege so never ate there just cleaned the filthy meat pots – ahh now that took elbow grease to move that grease.
Along with canned beans and Irish stew, they were a staple on the surf trips of my youth. Easily heated and eaten with white whole loaf bread and washed down with beer or milk, they were pretty damned good.
The film reviews on RadioNZ – one is of Apollo 11 and the question was raise- was this the event when the USA was really great?
I think actually it was when The New Deal was brought in in USA and also being behind the Marshall Plan that got Europe out of its WW2 hell-hole of poverty of the countries, infrastructure and systems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
Yep, USA was great once. As you say, Marshall Plan etc. Really though, US still is, in general. Most disaster aide in the world today is via US military.
Sadly, the invasion of Iraq pretty much undermined a great country. And as for Vietnam,……. but I guess that is the superpower complex.
What I like about the USA is that it sets itself pretty spectacular ideals. Usually it fails dismally at achieving those ideals (most of the writers of those "self evident" truths about freedom were slaveholders, for example), but sometimes (UN, New Deal, Civil Rights Act, Apollo) it approaches them. And that's pretty spectacular.
But so are their failures (KKK, Vietnam, CIA mcfuckery).
And the thousands if not millions of people who worked together to have 12 people walk on the moon. Awesome not just that they did it, but as an example of what we can do with a united focus.
The White House is considering a plan that would have the government directly purchase uranium from U.S. producers as it contemplates ways to revive the flagging domestic mining industry.
A group set up by President Donald Trump to study the issue is considering a request by the nuclear industry to use the Defense Production Act, a 68-year-old Cold War-era statute once invoked by President Harry Truman to help the steel industry. The plan calls for requiring the government to buy American uranium to replenish their stockpiles and for other purposes, Paul Goranson, chief operating officer for Energy Fuels Inc., said in an interview.
The Greens used to claim to be doing politics differently.
The censoring of an article by veteran Green Jill Abigail suggest the Green leadership have opted for censorship and control freakery. Here is they article they took exception to and banned:
Your marxist analysis is notably lacking if you genuinely believe that biological sex as a binary model of human physiology holds any water in modern medical science. In order to properly analyse reality, you first have to understand it; a task that is apparently too difficult for your ilk who are clearly stuck in centuries-old thought about sex that has long since been updated and replaced.
Your quack theories about trans people being a threat are founded on bad science, education comes before activism, please step up.
Your marxist analysis is notably lacking if you genuinely believe that biological sex as a binary model of human physiology holds any water in modern medical science.
Good luck convincing any actual biologists that sexual reproduction doesn't involve two sexes.
Trans people exist, modern medical science understands this, many societies understand this. Unfortunately they are a marginalised, stigmatised minority and articles that present trans-women as a threat in "women-only spaces" are factually wrong and exclusionary. Trans-women are women.
What pre-occupation? You posted a quote saying biological sex isn't binary, and I replied to the effect that biologists would be surprised to hear there are more than two sexes. That's not a "pre-occupation," it's a "reply."
Trans people exist…
No-one, least of all Jill Abigail, is disputing that.
Unfortunately they are a marginalised, stigmatised minority…
Ditto.
Trans-women are women.
However, that's simply untrue for any functional definition of "woman." The fact that "trans-woman" has the prefix "trans" should be a bit of a giveaway about that.
In the complete quote I posted it says sex isn't a binary in human physiology and this is well-known in modern medical science. This has nothing to do with reproduction, nothing to do with biologists so your "reply" was at best a distraction from the topic at hand.
Please provide what you consider to be the 'functional definition of "woman"'.
In the complete quote I posted it says sex isn't a binary in human physiology and this is well-known in modern medical science. This has nothing to do with reproduction…
I've tried parsing the claim that sex has nothing to do with reproduction multiple times, but no matter how I come at it the claim still makes no sense. The term "sex" refers to reproduction, and the term "sex differences" exists exactly because they are differences in the respective reproductive systems (or caused by the reproductive systems.
In my previous experience, references to sex supposedly not being binary are usually based on the existence of intersex people. However, the fact that sexual reproduction isn't 100% perfect and birth defects of the reproductive system can occur the same as they can for any other parts of the body was well-known to ancient medical science, let alone modern. That doesn't alter the fact that sexually-reproducing species have two sexes. Humans are no different in that respect.
Please provide what you consider to be the 'functional definition of "woman"'.
"A" functional definition, not "the." We have dictionaries for that, and the definition is usually "adult female human," or a variation on it. Drop "female" from the definition and it's just a synonym for "person," which would render it non-functional.
The obsession with reproduction as the important part for the definition of sex and gender excludes everyone who is unable to naturally conceive. Are all those infertile cis-gendered people also to be excluded from this gender binary? If not, why not?
Some females were assigned male at birth, it’s not a complicated thing, we agreed this above, it’s in dictionaries. However your example of a functional definition excludes trans-women because evidently you don’t actually consider them to be female. Why would this be?
… reproduction as the important part for the definition of sex and gender excludes everyone who is unable to naturally conceive.
Sex, not gender – gender's a social construct, nothing to do with physiology. And no the definitions of man and woman don't exclude people unable to conceive – the dictionary doesn't qualify the term "female" with "NB: female reproductive system in question must be proven to function correctly", for fairly obvious reasons.
Some females were assigned male at birth, it’s not a complicated thing, we agreed this above, it’s in dictionaries.
We did. However, we're talking about trans-women, not intersex people. The proportion of trans women who are intersex would be tiny.
…your example of a functional definition excludes trans-women because evidently you don’t actually consider them to be female. Why would this be?
First and foremost, because they're not female. I found that a pretty compelling reason.
Trans-women were assigned male at conception, by physical reality. If they'd rather live as a woman, all good by me and let's make that as straightforward for them as possible, but there isn't any way for them to become female – which leads to debates like the one Jill Abigail was contributing to (or trying to, at least).
So you say trans-women are not female, pray tell, what do you determine them to be?
Male/female is a matter of sex, not gender. We can fuck with gender every which way we feel like because it's a social construct, but so far no-one's come up with the technology for a person to change their sex.
A bit circular, and well removed from your original comment about reproduction requiring two sexes.
Fair cop, that was a silly answer, but it was a silly question. The answer was also not unrelated from my original comment, because male and female refer to the two sexes. The question of why I'd consider someone with a male body not to be female is self-answering.
Tauranga a ghost town at 5pm, Monday. Lots of vacant prime commercial real estate. Anyone who thinks we will keep seeing prices rise is dreaming & it will get worse despite the GST about to be charged on imported goods.
30 odd units vacant (!) on just two roads.
Check it out what mainstream news won’t be telling you.
The Tauranga auction spy reports that this week out of the 11 residential auctions he attended 8 did not get a single bid.
pretty much any town in nz is suffering from this lack of commercial tenants. Reason one: Leases in Tauranga, Rotorua, Tokoroa, Putaruru, Taupo etc are all the same, namely as in AKL. Meaninch 15-25 grand a year ex gst, ex rates, ex building insurance, ex ex ex ex ex ex
and so as long as that is addressed ( and we have the same issue with residential) people don't rent/lease. Simple as that.
Prices will raise, but it ain't the locals buying. And for those that can't sell, fear not, just write of your loss if you can't find a tenant to pay your exuberant rent / lease demands. The government will look after you 🙂
That is the biggest single failing of the current lot running the show in wellington, they could have closed loopholes that allow property owners to keep buildings, dwelling, residential/commercial spaces empty as they still make money of it. They could have regulated rent demands, they could have regulated air bnb, they could have should have but sadly have done fuck all.
With the soaring cost of housing, power, rates, insurance and food it's no wonder people can't afford to go shopping, thus bars and restaurants are struggling and shops are sitting vacant.
The one thing that is growing is queues at the local food bank.
wow – just noticed this – I hope it gets better I really do
Authorities are labelling Queensland's bushfire emergency as historic, as crews continue to battle dozens of blazes.
…"It is an historic event. [We've] never seen this before in recorded history – fire weather has never been as severe, this early in Spring," Inspector Sturgess said.
"So this is an omen, if you will, a warning of the fire season that we're likely to see ahead in the south-eastern parts of the state, the driest parts of the state, where most of our population is."
Acting Queensland Premier Jackie Trad said the severe conditions could be attributed to climate change.
"There is no doubt that with an increasing temperature with climate change, then what the scientists tell us is that events such as these will be more frequent and they will be much more ferocious."
The East Coast Fire Season, has started about 2mths early than normal. In some parts of the east coast it’s so extreme that some towns have next to no water or are likely to run out water in the coming months and as a result of a lack of water the fire crews have to resort to dry fire fighting techniques which is not a effective, but that’s what they do given the circumstances especially around the Tenterfield area in Northern NSW.
I had drinks with my Bushfire Brigade on Thursday here at Dundee NT, where the talk got around the water supply? The local plumber who also supplies water as everyone is on Tank water or they shallow bores are running out of water and it get worse. The local plumber has had to cut back in the water cart business, so he doesn’t run old of water and the community open water supply has run dry. Due to selfish members of the Dundee community have been using our bushfires outlet which feeds out of the bottom tank and at times has stuffed up the bore feeding the water tank. Where as the community outlet is half way up the tank and it’s going to a point if we have fire we may not have water and this water supply supports people out to a radius of 20-30 km’s.
Some communities in the Darwin Rural Area are about run out of water or they have been trucking in water since Xmas and the scary thing is we are expecting to this fire season to extend out to December and water to be very scarce until the Wet Season breaks if it comes at all?
Its getting despite in a lot of places throughout Australia if this current droughts doesn’t break IRT water, food production and whole communities etc.
For various reasons, agriculture in much of Australia will be near impossible in a few decades.
Drought, salinity inclusions into artesian water, air borne erosion of soil, (Dust bowl affect) warmer temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and more frequent storms are already having a serious impact.
Yesterday I watched ABC’s Landline as I do most Sunday’s and this weeks episode was entire on Climate Change. There was some interesting stuff from a whole range of people including a former GG who has a special forces background and who also supported the Maj Les Hiddins aka The Bush Tucker Man at a time when the Army thought Les was a bit of a crackpot. Who has an interest in soil carbon capture and he words about CC are the same POV as mine.
The follow links were on yesterday’s Landline and this is the link for Landline as they will do more episodes on CC in the future. https://www.abc.net.au/landline/
Last years Drought summit held in Canberra before the Federal election, raised the possibility that retiring land has to be now considered as a result of CC in the more marginal areas of Australia. But the sticking point was how to give those Farmers some dignity without the banks etc including Government leaving them penny less as most of the farmers wealth is tired up in land etc, management of the land once its retired from farming and those a effected communities that service the farming sector.
The old man comes from Broken Hill and to see the massive fish kill at the Menindee Lakes almost brought him to tears as the lake system was meant to hold water during the Drought's and hold water for the fish etc. But somewhere along the line some smart ass lobbied the State government to use all that water for farming/ horticulture, instead of it sitting there when the next drought comes along.
Here's a couple of more interesting links and both them I've had some experience in especially from a military planning/ military research side of things at unit level and group level before I was medical discharge.
Aron looks like a national supporter I seen his nihor showing.
Sam the number one cause of suicide is no money. I have seen for my self how professionals lawyers advises accounts and foresters have ripped off people close to me THAT'S CAPTILSIM take all you can from innocent people with their silver TONGUES.
You should have taken the complaints to the police Paula milking it.
BULLSHIT there are deaths from dairydack for years how do we know that you are telling the TRUTH about the numbers and dates. People were making money off the sale of stuff that could kill people this is national mess you are trying to blame others Paul It would never have been a issue if it was stamped out straight away not sold in shops.
There you go America needs to change laws to make tech companies responsible for the content on their platform.
Eric their you go Jacinda is speaking about the haters get exposure on big tech companies sites that will help to highlight the problem and motivate them to take the videos down. It's will be hard when you have old Politicians employed on the big tech companies LOBBYING branches.
I read that colonel sanders was a white supremist I get a sore face when people quote him.
The Coalition Government new approach ZERO lives lost to suicide every life matters is awesome.
Some people are so cruel how can they do that to a human or even a animal those idiots who torchered that poor Wahine WTF.
There he goes again barking up the wrong tree bridges doe not think very well of course we care about the haters who harm inenecint tangata using the Internet to gain support it must be stop.
Let's hope Otago get a good growing season this year. Im hopeing for some wind from Tawhirimate to get my wind turbine turning I had to design if for strong Tawhirimate as things get blown over were we are.
Mike that's gives Eco Maori A sore face all the Tangata and Tamariki wanting to learn Te Reo it is every one in Aotearoa taonga Ka pai.
I have congratulations for our government move to a goal of zero lives lost to suicide . I agree with Mike suicide is a New Zealand problem
It awesome that Te puni korokiri is tau toko Te tangata with building whare on their own whenua that is what Te puni Korokiri did back in the days of old.
Maori tourism is getting links to boost their business and putea Ka pai
Toronto film Festival Tika Waititi Jojo rabbit will show Maori wit and humour awesome.
Turangi A Kiwa celebrating Te Reo Maori Language week kia kaha Whanau. Tawhirimate was celebrating Te Reo Maori Language week to. Pouho Rawiri Marae
Maunatu taonga their tamariki Ka pai I taonga my tamariki so does Ngāti Porou.
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ...
The other big story concerning Leeds Hospital is Boris Johnson's bizzare behaviour at Leeds Hospital, where he was confronted by a journalist and challenged about a four year old boy with suspected pneumonia who was left sleeping on the floor, rather than getting abed like a sick kid would in ...
So, for a brief period of history, it was alleged that a protester had punched Matt Hancock's SPAD (not a euphemism; special adviser) when Hancock visited Leeds Hospital.This was reported by the likes of Robert Peston and Laura Keunssberg, as well as the less credible Guido Fawkes. It also quickly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Last week France passed a law that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It is based on a definition of anti-Semitism that includes criticism of Israel such as: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist ...
Over the past year we've seen major bus problems in Hamilton and Wellington, as drivers have sought better wages and an end to the bullshit of split shifts, which basicly see them "married to the job". And now its Auckland's turn. When NZBus's drivers planned low-level strike action of not ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. But those targets are insufficient. Meanwhile, Denmark is showing us how its done:Denmark’s parliament adopted a new climate law on Friday, committing to reach 70% below its 1990 emissions in ...
Another day, another piece of legislation with a secrecy clause. This time its the innocuous-seeming Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill, which (after establishing a new body and making it subject to the OIA in three different ways) includes the rapidly-becoming-standard clauses enabling it to request information from other public ...
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...
On 27 September, Greta Thunberg addressed a crowd of 500,000 at the School Strike for Climate in Montreal, saying: “You are a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And Sweden is also a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And in both cases, it means absolutely nothing. Because ...
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...
Michael SchulsonWhen Shane Burcaw flies on an airplane, he brings along a customized gel cushion, a car seat, and about 10 pieces of memory foam. The whole arsenal costs around $1,000, but for Burcaw it’s a necessity. The 27-year-old author and speaker — who, alongside his fiancée, Hannah ...
We are very pleased to publish this submission is from Lucinda Stoan. She is a social justice activist, mother, and educator, based in Washington State in the US. This detailed and comprehensive source-linked overview of trans issues and what is at stake will be useful for many people, especially in ...
New Zealand's Underarm Banker: It bears recalling that the “independence” of the Reserve Bank Governor was for decades held up by neoliberal capitalists as the most compelling justification for passing the Reserve Bank Act. Interesting, is it not, how the ruling class’s support for the Bank’s independence lasted no longer than ...
Rubbish In, Rubbish Out: Put all this together, and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that anyone who responds positively to a pollster’s request to “answer a few questions” is just ever-so-slightly weird. Desperately lonely? Some sort of psephological train-spotter? Political party member primed to skew the poll for or against ...
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...
Some people seem to want to close down any critical discussion of the current research into the relationship between water fluoride and child IQ. They appear to argue that claims made by researchers should not be open to critical review and that the claims be accepted without proper consideration ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. Meanwhile, Climate Action Tracker has the shameful reality: those targets are insufficient:While New Zealand is showing leadership by having passed the world’s second-ever Zero Carbon Act in November 2019, under ...
The government introduced a Racing Industry Bill today. As an urban who horse racing as pointless-to-cruel, and gambling as a tax on stupidity and/or hope, this isn't normally a bill which would interest me in the slightest, beyond grumpiness at more government money for a dying industry. But there is ...
Check. Check. One, two, three, four. Is this thing ON? Hello readers, I logged in last night (yeah, it’s been a while) to mark THE END of the landmark legal case, Jordan Williams v Colin Craig, which (gulp) reached The Supreme Court, in which New Zealand’s most-defamed man was suing the politician he ...
Before The Birth: Israel’s most fervent supporters set their clocks ticking in Biblical times. They cite the kingdoms of David and Solomon as proof that, in the words of the Exodus movie’s theme-song: “This land is mine.” The majority of Israel’s backers, however, start their clocks in 1933 – the year Adolf ...
In an unreliable, strange and confusing world, Public Address is proud to present a measure of comfort and stability by annually asking everyone what words or phrases sum up the year that's been – and then giving some of them consumer goods as prizes for being clever or simply lucky.Well, ...
Both my parents are pretty handy – and they seem to have the right tools for most jobs in the garage and they know how to fix practically anything. A similar story could be told about their generation’s experience in the workforce – being a generalist was not unusual and ...
When it was revealed that NZ First had tried to enrich itself from public office via the Provoncial Growth Fund, the Prime Minister assured us that everything was OK as Shane Jones, the Minister responsible for the fund, had recused himself. Except it seems that that recusal came very late ...
Today is a Member's Day, and probably the last one of the year. After the marathon of the End of Life Choice Act, most of the bills up for debate today are uncontentious. First up is the second reading of Chlöe Swarbrick's Election Access Fund Bill. This will be followed ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has reported back on the government's odious and tyrannical control orders bill. As expected, the fraudulent select committee process has made no significant changes (partly because they couldn't agree, but mostly because it was a stitch-up from the start, with no intention of ...
Yesterday, the government released its draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which will be put to a non-binding referendum at the next election. I'm not a drug policy expert, but Russell Brown is, and he thinks its pretty good. And pretty obviously, it will be a massive improvement on the ...
As you're probably aware, the draft bill outlining the proposed legal cannabis regime to be put to a referendum late next year was published yesterday, and has already attracted a flurry of comment. It's notable that a good deal of the comment is about proposals that aren't actually new.A minimum ...
One of the big problems in New Zealand climate change policy is the government working at cross-purposes with itself. It wants to reduce fossil fuel use, but encourages oil and gas exploration. It wants to reduce transport emissions, but then builds enormous new roads. The problem could be avoided if ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzAccording to the United Nations, food shortages are a threat ...
Last year, the government announced it was ending offshore oil exploration by no longer issuing new permits. The idea was that the industry would then die off as permits expired. Except almost immediately the government revealed its bad faith, by saying they would extend permits and alter conditions to keep ...
The government introduced the Education and Training Bill to Parliament yesterday. Its a massive bill, which replaces both existing Education Acts, as well as various other bits of legislation (including some which are still proceeding through the House). I'll leave the serious analysis to teachers and people who actually know ...
Amelia SharmanThere’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to micro-credentials, those bits of bite-sized learning that can help workers stay on top of technological change. What’s a micro-credential? While definitions vary, micro-credentials can be understood as short courses that allow people to learn new skills or have an existing competency recognised. ...
All Smiles Now: Claire Szabo is taking up her presidential role after serving as the CEO of Habitat For Humanity. Which is absolutely perfect! After KiwiBuild was so comprehensively mismanaged by Phil Twyford, the party has not only elected a new president from a thoroughly respectable not-for-profit, but one who ...
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...
by Daphna Whitmore At Golden Oaks, a luxurious country retreat in the Hudson Valley, pregnant women have the best care money can buy. From the organic food, personalised exercise programmes, private yoga instruction and daily massages Golden Oaks looks like a country lodge for the upper class. Set some time ...
When Labour was running for election in 2017, it felt it needed to demonstrate "fiscal responsibility" and signed itself up to masochistic "budget responsibility rules". It was a fool's errand: the sorts of voters who demand fiscal responsibility are also the sorts of voters who believe that labour can never ...
Writing in Stuff, Joel MacManus looks at what we need to do to meet the Zero Carbon Act's targets. The core of it:1. Convert 85 per cent of vehicles on the road to electric. 2. Eliminate fossil fuels from all industrial heating up to 300 degrees Celsius. 3. Double our ...
Professors Janet Hoek and Richard Edwards, Emeritus Professor Phil Gendall, Jude Ball, Dr Judith McCool, Anaru Waa, Dr Becky FreemanRecent media reports have presented conflicting evidence on youth vaping in NZ. While some NZ school principals report concerns about increasing vaping on school grounds and confiscating vapes, ASH Year ...
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...
Image credit:The beginner’s guide to blogging 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 ...
1080 is used to control pests in NZ. Its use is contested by a noisy few. A new report claims high levels of 1080 in rats washed up on a beach. Flora and Fauna of Aotearoa (F&F) won’t name the laboratory that did their testing. It has sparked a hunt ...
What Kind Of Empire? The thing for Kiwis to decide is what kind of empire they want to belong to. The kind that, while offering its own citizens democratic rights, demands absolute obedience from its “friends”? Or, the kind that, while authoritarian at home, takes a relaxed attitude to the ...
It hasn't been a good week for the Conservatives, pollwise. All major recent polls are showing their lead shrinking.Comparing each pollster's current (between 29/11 and 22/11) and previous most recent poll.Com Res - Conservative lead down 3 points.You Gov - Conservative lead down 1 point.Kantar - Conservative lead down 4 ...
Within quick succession, Countdown maths wizard and twitterer Rachel Riley, alleged comedian David Baddiel and prominent lawyer Andrew Julius have all expressed very similar opinions / ideas:
These #3billboards are going round London today, organised by ex-Labour people, horrified by what their party has become. Their principles haven’t changed, they’re ...
So, there have been a bunch of bad polls out for Labour, and even the Leftie's friend, Survation, have recently given the Conservatives a rip-snorting 11% lead. You Gov's much vaunted MRP poll - which pretty much nailed the result in 2015 - is currently predicting a comfortable majority for ...
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to declare a climate emergency:The European parliament has declared a global “climate and environmental emergency” as it urged all EU countries to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The vote came as scientists warned that the world may have already crossed ...
Pure Fear: Worse than Heroin, this drug’s addictive power was terrifying. People under its influence didn’t drift off to Elysium. Nor did it persuade inadequate individuals that they could conquer the world. No, this drug – pure crystal methamphetamine, “P” for short – unlocked the gates of Hell itself. It ...
As the rate of measles infection, and of deaths, continues to climb in Samoa, antivaccination activists infectious disease proponents seem intent on doubling down on their claims about vaccination. (Check pretty much any news-media FB post about measles & you’ll see exactly what I mean.) Unfortunately, some of them have ...
Samoa are experiencing a devastating measles epidemic. It is possible that 2-3% of the population will ultimately be infected by the time it is over. Hopefully the mass immunisation campaign currently under way can mitigate some of this, for many it is too late. The first question many people ask ...
Meghan Murphy is a Canadian writer and journalist She runs the Feminist Current website which she founded in 2012. She was a keynote speaker for the Feminism2020 conference in Wellington this month. When Massey University cancelled the original venue booking Feminism2020 was hosted in Parliament by MP David Seymour. Meghan ...
Text and photos by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Colombia has lived through one week of protests against the economic measures taken by president Duque. What looked like a protest that would fizzle out after its first day on November 21st is still going strong. Part of the reason for the continuance ...
Around a million billion pass through you each second, almost all originating from our sun, but few of them are likely to interact with you enroute. I was reading in a physics magazine earlier in the week about the nature of neutrinos. These are extremely numerous elementary particles, but only ...
By Pallab GhoshThere’s value in covering new research advances, even when the underlying science is unsettled. But there are also risks.The recent announcement that scientists discovered water on the planet K2-18b, 110 light years away, prompted a media swoon. News stories, including a piece written by me, billed ...
I wrote this review a couple of years ago when I was still in the process of getting my head around the politics of transgenderism, and specifically the claim that intersex conditions lend support to the notion that sex is ‘socially constructed’. Since writing this review I have come across ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzHow much does our use of air travel contribute to the ...
Minor planet/asteroid (2309) Mr. Spock is named not for the character in Star Trek, but for a cat that was itself imperturbable, logical, intelligent and had pointed ears. In a preceding blog post I introduced one of my favourite asteroids, (2472) Bradman, and also mentioned (6581) Sobers amongst a few ...
Today the death toll from measles in Samoa rose to 32. All but four of the dead were less than 5 years old. Absolutely terrible, heartbreaking, news. That statistic alone should be enough to give the lie to the common claim by antivaccination activists plague enthusiasts that “measles is a ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh It is late here in Bogotá, almost 11.30pm on Monday the 25th of November as I write this. The day began full of hope with yet more massive marches throughout the country, a mix of the International Day of Non-Violence Against Women and the National Strike. ...
Anti-fluoride activists are rubbing their hands in glee over what they claim is “yet another study” showing fluoride harms the brains of children. But their promotion relies on IQ relationships which the paper’s authors acknowledge disappearing when outliers or other factors are considered. And they completely ignore other relationships ...
The feature below is the conclusion of A History of Economic Thought, whose author was a leading Marxist economist in Russia in the early 20th century, Isaac Ilyich Rubin. The book arose from a course he ran at Moscow University following the Russian Revolution. First published in Russian in 1929, ...
There are many thousands of asteroids with formal names, some humdrum but other more noteworthy (depending on your predilections). One of my favourites, the name of which I was involved in suggesting, is (2472) Bradman, named for the Australian cricketing great. As a minor planet (synonym: asteroid) spotter, I have ...
Tory manifesto: big on austerity, low on promise, non-existent on delivery. The Tories: the party so big on ambition they couldn't be arsed writing a manifesto. MLK: "I have a dream!"BJ: "I'll just have a nap." Labour: Broadband!Tories: Narrow minds! Labour have hope, dreams and ambition. The Tories will save ...
The Ministry of Health has announced that “people under the age of 50 travelling from New Zealand to Samoa, Tonga, Philippines and Fiji” are now on the list of national priorities for MMR vaccination. Given the outbreaks of measles in Samoa, Tonga, Philippines and Fiji, the Ministry of Health is ...
Hong Kong has been protesting for six months for, demanding democracy, human rights, and an end to police violence. Today, they went to the polls in district council elections - a low-level of government with virtually no power, similar to community boards in New Zealand. But while the positions themselves ...
Text and photos by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh On Friday 22nd of November a curfew came into effect and troops were deployed on the streets, here in Bogota. It was the first time since September 1977 that a curfew had been imposed on the city. The decision was a cynical pre-planned ...
Meanwhile, while the government is planning to restore voting rights to prisoners, National is promising to turn our prisons into US-style slave-labour camps:The Opposition is proposing compulsory education, training or employment for prisoners who are serving sentences of two years or more. [...] On Sunday, National Party Leader Simon Bridges ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman Spinifex Press, 2013. Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the second part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
Dalmeet Singh ChawlaIn 2008, psychologists proposed that when humans are shown an unfamiliar face, they judge it on two main dimensions: trustworthiness and physical strength. These form the basis of first impressions, which may help people make important social decisions, from who to vote for to how long a ...
Claas Kirchhelle, University of Oxford; Adam Roberts, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Andrew Singer, Centre for Ecology & HydrologyAntibiotics are among the most important medicines known to humankind, but we are running out of this crucial resource. Decisive action is needed if we are to retain access to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that New Zealand's Cook Islands High Commissioner, Tessa Temata, has died over the weekend. Ms Temata, 52, died in Palmerston North and had returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. She was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands of Cook Island ...
A new defence report has mapped out how New Zealand's soldiers will navigate rising seas, and a year after the Defence Force announced its need to prepare for climate change. In the “Responding to the Climate Crisis” report, the Force restates its operational plan and sets goals to tackle climate ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Human Rights A critical step has been taken to end gender based violence against women and girls in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Human Rights Jenny Marcroft MP has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Crimes (Definition of Female ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says it's time to recognise market forces haven't led to the expected reduction in Māori smoking rates and try a new approach. The Party had recently invoked the agree to disagree clause in their Coalition Agreement with the Labour Party, and will not support ...
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...
The Coalition Government will be banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, ahead of next year’s general elections. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament and passed under urgency – emphasising the need for such restrictions to safeguard our democracy. The bill introduces a new requirement that party secretaries and ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones opened Taipā's $19 million bridge recently, improving transport infrastructure in the Northland region. The two-lane bridge is 107m long with a 2.5m-wide shared walking and cycling path, and will reduce the congestion that the old one-lane bridge was notorious for. The project had also included ...
The Overseas Investment Office have rejected the application of Mercury Agriculture LP, which is 92 per cent controlled by Canadian interests, to purchase more than 2000 hectares of South Canterbury and Otago land. Mercury wanted to buy 2000ha at Rangitata, 1494ha near Ashburton, 816ha near Cromwell and 212ha near Temuka. ...
This weekend was Labour's 103rd Party Conference! We welcomed over 500 of our Labour whānau in red to Whanganui, where we reflected on the last two years in Government, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond. We know the long-term challenges facing New Zealand won't be tackled overnight, but we're making ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Provincial Growth Fund will invest $9.6 million to seal the final unsealed section of State Highway 43 from Stratford to Taumarunui. The Minister said sealing the 12-kilometre gravel section of the highway – also called the “Forgotten World Highway” - through ...
Former Finance Minister and former chair of the Tax Working Group, Sir Michael Cullen, has voiced his support for New Zealand First’s decision to oppose the planned increase in tobacco excise tax. In an interview with The Weekend Collective, he said that increasing the price was no longer effective in ...
Māori are natural storytellers. On the marae we use stories to tell our history, to teach the next generation life lessons and to let people know, in our most creative of ways, who we are and where we have come from. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First has invoked the ‘Agree to Disagree’ provisions of the Coalition Agreement because it cannot support the announced 11.46 percent increase in the tobacco excise from 1 January 2020. “Studies show that the automatic tobacco excise increases are having less effect ...
Taupō-based company Geo40 has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger. Its chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne. Geo40 was founded in 2010 to find ...
Crown research institute AgResearch Ltd, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln. However, those plans seem to have been shelved at the request of the Coalition Government. ...
Ten engineering firms in Southland are receiving a total of $2.13 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding to lift productivity and create new jobs. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Invercargill that the 10 engineering and manufacturing firms would receive funding to assist them with buying equipment that ...
The number of new residents to New Zealand is the lowest it has been in nearly two decades and it has earned the ire of the immigration industry. The industry alleges that 'Trump-style extreme vetting' is being put in place aimed at keeping a lid on immigration numbers. June Ranson, ...
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is one step closer to modernising its fleet after the United States State Department recently approved the sale of five new C-130J Hercules aircraft to New Zealand. Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the aircraft, but as a "foreign military ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones wants to create a log barging facility at Hicks Bay and turn the area into a Special Economic Zone. The move would be part of protecting New Zealand's forests from being depleted by India and China, he said. It follows his announcement last week to strengthen ...
New Zealand First supports the changes recommended by the Winter Grazing Taskforce to improve animal welfare outcomes through the winter months, and the establishment of a pan-sector action group to implement them. New Zealand First Primary Industries Spokesperson Mark Patterson says the report highlights areas of concern about the animal ...
Former prime ministers Helen Clark and Sir John Key, formerly from the Labour and National parties respectively, have joined forces in support of New Zealand First’s plan to relocate Auckland's port to Whangārei. While Ms Clark and Sir John spent their political careers on opposite sides of the political divide, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Japan for the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 grouping of countries as one of nine "invited" countries. He has used the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the plight of Pacific countries, calling out countries which still offered subsidies or Government assistance to ...
It's been a great week of progress: we've celebrated Children's Day, we've made communities safer with 1800 new police, and we've seen almost 90% of eligible schools take up Government funding to scrap school donations - taking pressure off the families of more than 416,000 students. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The Government will further strengthen New Zealand’s wood processing sector as part of our focus on ‘value over volume’ in our forestry industry, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones will today meet with forestry representatives in Northland to signal new measures to help the ...
New Zealand First are celebrating the announcement of an investment of $3.5 million into five new trapping devices. These are a range of bait and trap devices, all designed to be left unattended for long periods of time. NZ First conservation spokesperson Jenny Marcroft says that this latest development will ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Police New Zealand First is proud to have delivered on a key Coalition Agreement commitment to adding 1800 new frontline police, with the graduation of Recruit Wing 332 in Porirua today. Law and Order Spokesperson Darroch Ball says increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Conservation New Zealand First is proud to announce the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has allocated $3.5 million to develop innovative predator control approaches which will reduce the need for repeated 1080 use. $19.5 million of PGF funding was announced for Predator Free 2050 Limited in February ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2021 (APEC 2021) Bill in Parliament today. The temporary bill supports New Zealand’s security preparations for hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum ...
The Government will fund the bulk of the cost of a rural water supply for the Ohakea community affected by PFAS contamination, Environment Minister David Parker announced today at a meeting of local residents. This new water scheme will provide a reliable and clean source of drinking water to the ...
I have had the opportunity to be briefed on the details of the volcanic eruption of Whakaari/White Island, off the coast of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. The eruption happened at 2.11pm today. It continues to be an evolving situation. We know that there were a number of tourists ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare have today confirmed initial Government support of $100,000 for communities affected by the severe weather that swept across the South Island and lower North Island over the weekend. The contribution will be made to Mayoral relief funds across the ...
New Zealand's High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, Tessa Temata, died in Palmerston North over the weekend, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today. Ms Temata, 52, had recently returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. "On behalf of the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we extend ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today announced construction is underway on Wellington commuter rail upgrades which will mean more frequent services and fewer breakdowns. The upgrades include converting the Trentham to Upper Hutt single track section to a double track, with a new signalling system, upgraded stations and level crossings, and ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark and Minister for Climate Change James Shaw have announced the release of a Defence Climate Change Implementation Work Plan, titled Responding to the Climate Crisis: An Implementation Plan. The plan sets out a series of recommendations based on the 2018 New Zealand Defence Assessment, The ...
A medium-scale adverse event has been declared for the South Canterbury district, which will see up to $50,000 in funding made available to support farming communities which have been significantly affected by recent heavy rain and flooding in the area, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two weeks of solid rain ...
Thank you Professor Juliet Gerrard and your team for the comprehensive and extremely helpful report and recommendations. Thank you too to all the stakeholders and interested parties who have contributed ideas and thinking to it. “Making best practice, standard practice” is a great framework for change and the action plan ...
The Government will phase out more single-use plastics following the success of its single-use plastic bag ban earlier this year and the release today of a pivotal report for dealing with waste. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed the Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealandreport, released by her Chief Science Advisor ...
International education continues to thrive as the Government focuses on quality over quantity, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. The tuition revenue from international education increased to $1.16 billion last year with the average tuition fee per student increasing by $960. The total number of international students enrolled in New Zealand ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says new appointments to DHBs represent a significant changing of the guard, with 13 new chairs including four Māori chairs. Today 76 appointments have been announced to complement elected board members, as well as eight elected members appointed as either chair or deputy chair. Four ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Fletcher Tabuteau, is travelling to Germany, Poland, Austria, and Spain next week to bolster New Zealand’s political and trade relationships in Europe. While in Spain, Mr Tabuteau will represent New Zealand at the 14th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Madrid. “New Zealand strongly supports ...
“I’ve spoken to Minister Faafoi, who has apologised for his poor handling of this issue,” Jacinda Ardern said. “I have confidence in Kris as a hardworking and effective Minister, but this should have been dealt with in a much clearer manner, and I’ve made my views on that very clear ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters met with Tongan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa in Wellington today. The pair signed a Statement of Partnership setting out joint priorities for cooperation out to 2023. “We welcomed Prime Minister Tu'i'onetoa on his first visit to New Zealand as Prime Minister. Tonga ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash says his sympathies are with the family of a man who died after being shot by Police in Kurow. “Initial reports are that Police were called by a family member to help the man who was threatening to harm himself,” Mr Nash says. “However ...
Ethnic communities will be able to plan and deliver more community initiatives thanks to an increase in Government funding, Minister for Ethnic Communities Hon Jenny Salesa said today. “Ensuring Aotearoa New Zealand is a place we can all be proud to call home has been a key priority of our ...
Healthier waterways, better productivity and farmer wellbeing are front and centre in a new project involving more than 1000 Southland farmers and growers. Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor today announced that the Thriving Southland Change and Innovation Project is the first region-wide extension programme supported by the $229 million Sustainable ...
Work to look after nature and restore freshwater quality in Te Hoiere/Pelorus River catchment is getting a significant boost, thanks to new Government funding support Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage announced in Canvastown today. “Every New Zealander should be able to swim in their local river without getting sick, and ...
Eight Queen’s Counsel have been appointed under a process that includes the new criterion of a commitment to improving access to justice, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. “The new criterion was included this year. It emphasises that excellence and leadership in the profession can be seen through a wider, community ...
Onslow College in Wellington will get 20 new classrooms for more than 400 students, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. The much-needed investment will relieve growth pressure the school has been experiencing for some time. Seven existing classrooms which have deteriorated over time will also be replaced, bringing the total ...
More than 250 young New Zealanders will add international experience to their education, thanks to the latest Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia (PMSA) and Latin America (PMSLA), Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This round of scholarships supports 252 recent graduates or current students to undertake study, research or internships ...
Consumers will benefit from a more competitive, transparent retail fuel market as a result of changes the Government will be making in response to the findings of the Commerce Commission’s study of the fuel sector. “We accept the Commission’s findings and, as the Prime Minister has said, we’re ready to ...
Five new cancer medicines have now been funded this year, meaning thousands of people have more treatment options PHARMAC has today announced that it has approved two new medicines for funding – fulvestrant for breast cancer and olaparib for ovarian cancer. This follows earlier decisions on advanced lung cancer treatment alectinib, ...
The Minister of Local Government, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says the Government will consider making changes to local electoral legislation before the 2022 elections to fix the problems that have arisen where elections are settled by a coin toss. The Minister says the recount process in the Murupara- Galatea ward at ...
New Zealand will sign up to new international maritime regulations to reduce ship emissions and lift air quality around ports and harbours, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter announced today. Subject to completion of the Parliamentary treaty examination process, New Zealand will sign up to Annex VI of MARPOL, an ...
New legislation to transform our urban areas and create sustainable, inclusive and thriving communities will tomorrow be introduced to Parliament, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said. “The Urban Development Bill gives Kāinga Ora-Homes and Communities the tools it needs to partner with councils, communities, mana whenua and private developers to ...
Today’s launch of He taonga te Tamaiti: Every child a taonga: The Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029 provides the foundation for long-lasting changes to early learning, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. “Early learning will be one of the Government’s top education priorities going into 2020,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
Major decisions made by the Government will now be considered under a climate change lens, Minister for Climate Change James Shaw announced today. “Cabinet routinely considers the effects of its decisions on human rights, the Treaty of Waitangi, rural communities, the disability community, and gender – now climate change will ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced the appointment of Māori education specialist Dr Wayne Ngata and Business NZ head Kirk Hope to the Board of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC). Dr Alastair MacCormick has been reappointed for another term. “Wayne Ngata, Kirk Hope and Alastair MacCormick bring a great deal ...
The next phase of the Pike River Re-entry project is underway, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little says. “Fresh air will be pumped into the Pike River Mine drift this week, following acceptance of the plan for re-entry beyond the 170m barrier by New Zealand’s independent health and ...
New Zealand consumers will have greater certainty about their insurance cover when they need to make claims as a result of proposed government changes. “Insurance is vitally important in supporting consumers and businesses to be financially resilient when unexpected events happen,” Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi said. ...
The Crown is providing an opportunity for the hapu of Ngāpuhi to rebuild its framework from the ground up for collective negotiations to deal with its historical Treaty claims, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little and Minister for Māori Development Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The Crown is also ...
A Bill enabling referendums to be held with the 2020 General Election has passed its third reading. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Act is important for upholding the integrity of New Zealand’s electoral process. “The Government has committed to holding a referendum on legalising recreational cannabis at the next ...
The first release of public information on the two referendums to be held at next year’s General Election was made today with an informative new Government website going live. Additionally, the draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill has been released, showing the strict controls on cannabis that will apply if ...
The Government is taking action to protect New Zealand from foreign interference in our elections by banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament this afternoon and passed under urgency. “There’s no need for anyone other than New ...
Governments and tech companies are holding a two-day workshop, hosted by YouTube/Google in Wellington, to test the Christchurch Call Shared Crisis Response Protocol. The workshop aims to refine and strengthen the response in the event of a terrorist attack with online implications. Companies, governments, civil society experts and NGOs will ...
The new independent Cancer Control Agency has formally opened today, delivering on the Government’s plan to improve cancer care in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Health David Clark marked the occasion by announcing the membership of the Advisory Council that will be supporting ...
Small businesses who deal with government departments are set to be paid faster and have improved cash flow as a result, under a new strategy released today. The Government is backing recommendations from the Small Business Council (SBC) and has agreed to implement three initiatives immediately to support business and ...
The Education and Training Bill 2019, introduced in Parliament today, proposes the biggest education changes in decades and is an important step towards improving success for all our learners, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “The Bill’s rewrite of education legislation is long overdue. Indeed one Education Act, parts of which ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio will travel to Bali to represent New Zealand at the 12th Bali Democracy Forum that will be held on the 5-6 December. “The Forum is a valuable opportunity for Asia-Pacific countries to share experiences and best practice in building home-grown democracy and fostering ...
Looking back on 10 years of wild, weird and wonderful food stories in Aotearoa.It’s been a hell of a decade for food here in New Zealand. Sure, there have been tedious trends aplenty – the rise of bloody kale, bloody coconut oil, bloody poké bowls – but the following list ...
What the hell are you meant to give the person who has everything? Don’t worry, Sam Brooks has you covered with the gift guide for that person in your life.It’s that time of year again – that time of the year when you have to think about your sociopathic friend. ...
Wellbeing may be at the centre of government strategy, but too many children and whānau are remaining on the outer, cautions The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP). In a series of report cards released today, the RACP’s Aotearoa NZ President, ...
"You get this sudden depressurisation, same as sort of taking the top off of a soft drink bottle or pulling the cork out of a bottle of champagne. It depressurises and the materials underneath rise very, very quickly." ...
Looking back on 10 years which saw New Zealand’s media transform from a position of near-limitless power and influence to the deeply humbled reality of today. At the end of 2009 I had resigned from my first good job, convinced that print media was finished. The good job was as editor ...
Sending in armed police is exactly how not to defuse a situation where a person is highly distressed and suicidal, writes someone who has been in a similar situation herself.Last week a man was shot by police. There’d been a call for help – he was suicidal, had a weapon ...
Report into 2017 general election tipped to be published shortly; and higher benefits, more state housing needed to combat child poverty - Children's Commissioner. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed that her Cabinet is in agreement that it "is not viable" for the North Island's main port to remain in Auckland. ...
Anyone watching the news coverage of the debate over Auckland's port would think a move to Northland is a real prospect. It's not, writes Bernard Hickey, who sees it purely as a political oxygen machine for NZ First. ...
Local party members have today selected Jake Bezzant as National’s candidate in Upper Harbour for the 2020 Election. Mr Bezzant is replacing Paula Bennett, National’s Campaign Chair, who isn’t seeking re-election in Upper Harbour but will stand as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jean-Philippe Deranty, Professor, Macquarie University Hardly a week goes by without a report announcing the end of work as we know it. In 2013, Oxford University academics Carl Frey and Michael Osborne were the first to capture this anxiety in a paper ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Asha Bowen, Head, Skin Health, Telethon Kids Institute Antibiotic-resistant infections already cause at least 700,000 deaths globally every year. Although the phenomenon is most concerning for serious infections people are admitted to hospital with, antibiotic resistance means common bacterial infections could one ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Thorpe, Professor in Sociology of Sport and Physical Culture, University of Waikato Recently, several elite sportswomen have spoken out about toxic sport culture and the damage it does to their long-term health. Mary Cain went from being the fastest and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Reid, Professor Emeritus of Education, University of South Australia Since the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) began in 2000, published results have sent commentators and politicians in some countries into meltdown. The release of the 2018 test results last ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Keys, PhD Researcher, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University This is the second article in a series to mark the 50th anniversary of the landmark Melbourne Transportation Plan. Transport models are often singled out as a barrier to providing more sustainable ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Toohey, Professor of Law, University of Newcastle An important part of the World Trade Organization will cease to function from midnight. December 10 is when the terms of two of the remaining three members of its Appellate Body expire. It is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron Burton, Lecturer in Media Arts, University of Wollongong Fans of Ridley Scott’s 1982 masterpiece Blade Runner returned to cinemas last month for an unusual milestone: history catching up with science fiction. Blade Runner opens in Los Angeles, in November 2019. Furnaces ...
Welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Death toll from Whakaari eruption likely to rise, cabinet agrees Auckland port must move, and expensive Christchurch stadium details released.A tragic death toll from the eruption of Whakaari/White Island is likely to rise. The number of those killed is currently five at the time ...
Aerial reconnaissance missions have flown over Whakaari-White Island since the eruption on Monday afternoon and there are no signs of any survivors, police say. ...
The British people have a chance to stop the new age of hostility and belligerence before it is fully unleashed in the country's most significant election in 40 years, writes Neal Curtis. ...
The world number one in long drive golf, Kiwi Phillis Meti, wants to see equal pay for women, and more Maori and Polynesian girls striking the ball ...
How can we protect our privacy online in the face of increasingly clever marketing and retailing ploys? Victoria University of Wellington's Dr Marcin Betkier has some thoughts. ...
Commercial media, a business that requires public trust and goodwill, is in a tough financial position right now. Gaurav Sharma says that’s in part because of its poor job of reaching immigrant communities, in the first of a new monthly column for The Spinoff.Let’s start with a test, about references ...
We don’t normally see these eruptions coming, no matter how much we would like to. Many systems are already ‘primed’ for such events, but the triggers are poorly understood, writes Shane Cronin of the University of Auckland.As of Monday night five people have been confirmed dead, 18 had been rescued ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shane Cronin, Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Auckland Five people have been confirmed dead, 23 have been rescued and several remain unaccounted for after a sudden volcanic eruption on Whakaari/White Island off the east coast of New Zealand. The island is ...
One person is dead, 23 have been rescued and potentially two dozen people are unaccounted for on Whakaari/White Island, after it erupted on Monday. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters are to be commended for their leadership on the Upper North Island port issue, Waterfront 2029 Spokesperson Michael Goldwater said today. The Prime Minister today announced that ...
In partnership with the JR McKenzie Trust and University of Otago, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft has today released the annual Child Poverty Monitor at childpoverty.org.nz which shows more bold and sustainable action is needed. ...
Today’s child poverty figures , revealing that nearly 150,000 children are living in material hardship in New Zealand, show the need for tax relief says the Taxpayers’ Union . ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) welcomes the 2019 Child Poverty Monitor report , and says more can be done to help families who have need of welfare assistance. ...
A rescue operation is under way on Whakaari/White Island in the Bay of Plenty, with reports of up to 20 people injured, some critical.What’s going on?Whakaari/White Island, New Zealand’s most active cone volcano, located 48km off the eastern coast of the Bay of Plenty, is erupting. Large plumes of steam ...
Auckland bus operators are enraged at the inconvenience to passengers affected by continued bus driver strike action. Even those operators not directly affected by strikes are appalled at the behaviour of First Union and Tramways Union and their ...
The publication of the Child Poverty Monitor 2019, released today, is a reminder of the need to accelerate efforts to lift our children / tamariki out of poverty. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniela Kaleva, Associate Head Research and Scholarship, Australian Institute of Music Review: Farnace, composed by Vivaldi, Pinchgut Opera When a performance of Farnace was cancelled at the theatre of Ferrara after the artistic failure of Vivaldi’s opera Siroe re di Persia in ...
OPINION: In the fifth part of the series with our partners at Flick Electric Co to help you make better energy choices, Flick’s Nikki Cockburn breaks down the sources of our electricity.So we know that regardless of which power company we’re with, the electricity we use is at the mercy ...
The recent accident near Kaikoura, where two Malaysian children and their parents were killed in a head-on collision with a truck, was easily preventable, says the car review website dogandlemon.com . ...
Former Auditor-General Martin Matthews is petitioning Parliament to reopen his case, claiming MPs "held a gun to his head" to force his resignation. ...
Auckland Council recently announced a citywide food scrap collection scheme that will be kicking off in 2021. Most of us already know the main gist of composting, but what’s happening to this waste? What will I have to pay? And can I opt out if I don’t need it?New Zealanders ...
Central and local government, including Auckland Council, have been debating the future of the Ports of Auckland but there seems to be something missing in the debate - how much more greenhouse gases will Aotearoa emit if we move the port from the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW Westpac can expect a bumper turnout of shareholders at its annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday, many of them angry at its alleged role in facilitating child exploitation in the Philippines, its 23 million ...
More than a billion dollars has wiped off the value of New Zealand's biggest company this morning following the surprise resignation of A2 Milk's chief executive. ...
Cindy Baxter is at COP25 – her 17th climate change conference – and for the first time, New Zealand is one of the good guys. But are we?As we head into the second week of the climate talks in Madrid, I’ve been reflecting over the first week, and the strange ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David King, Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland Growing up, no one ever gave me the rundown on how or what I should do to keep my penis clean […] I’ve never read any reliable answer beyond washing it with water. ...
You’ve probably never heard of him, but an artist called Cavetown is coming to Auckland in January for a show that’s already sold out. We explain where he came from, how this happened, and why you should be listening.What, pray tell, is a Cavetown?Cavetown is the stage name of Robin ...
Three glaze recipes to take your festive feast from ho-hum to ham-azing.In the middle of November, my aunt suggested in our family WhatsApp group that Christmas lunch should go meat-free in acknowledgement of climate change. I froze at my desk where I’d taken a moment to procrastinate. While I support ...
The Climate Change Minister James Shaw says he is hopeful the final hurdles can be cleared for fixing the final rules of Paris Agreement before it kicks in next year. ...
"Youllbefine, Rockmaster, Cossack Warrior and now Valtteri are the four horses who have been killed on New Zealand race tracks in just three weeks" said Frances Baker, Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) spokesperson. ...
Former finance minister Steve Joyce says an NBR journalist told him its columnist Matthew Hooton had ‘gone completely troppo’ in a column about to be published by the business website about the MP. ...
A truly ambitious solution would keep jobs in Southland, delivering on the promise of the Zero Carbon Act to make NZ all but carbon neutral by 2050, writes Nicola Gaston in a post co-authored with Sally Brooker, Justin Hodgkiss and David Williams of The MacDiarmid Institute.Tiwai Point is in the ...
The housing market is heating up ahead of the holidays, with positive signs of growth, according to ASB's latest quarterly housing confidence survey. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called the latest childhood poverty statistics released by the Children’s Commissioner as appalling for a first world nation and has called upon the Government to do more. Matthew Tukaki, the Councils Executive ...
The next phase in the Democrats’ plan to impeach US President Donald Trump begins at 9am Monday morning Washington DC when the House judiciary committee meets to consider a report from the intelligence committee – and hear academic argument on the way forward. The judiciary committee is expected to draft ...
Open mike 08/09/2019 
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ... 2 hours ago
The other big story concerning Leeds Hospital is Boris Johnson's bizzare behaviour at Leeds Hospital, where he was confronted by a journalist and challenged about a four year old boy with suspected pneumonia who was left sleeping on the floor, rather than getting abed like a sick kid would in ...3 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore Last week France passed a law that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It is based on a definition of anti-Semitism that includes criticism of Israel such as: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist ...20 hours ago
Over the past year we've seen major bus problems in Hamilton and Wellington, as drivers have sought better wages and an end to the bullshit of split shifts, which basicly see them "married to the job". And now its Auckland's turn. When NZBus's drivers planned low-level strike action of not ...21 hours ago
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...3 days ago
On 27 September, Greta Thunberg addressed a crowd of 500,000 at the School Strike for Climate in Montreal, saying: “You are a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And Sweden is also a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And in both cases, it means absolutely nothing. Because ...3 days ago
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...3 days ago
New Zealand's Underarm Banker: It bears recalling that the “independence” of the Reserve Bank Governor was for decades held up by neoliberal capitalists as the most compelling justification for passing the Reserve Bank Act. Interesting, is it not, how the ruling class’s support for the Bank’s independence lasted no longer than ...4 days ago
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...5 days ago
In an unreliable, strange and confusing world, Public Address is proud to present a measure of comfort and stability by annually asking everyone what words or phrases sum up the year that's been – and then giving some of them consumer goods as prizes for being clever or simply lucky.Well, ...5 days ago
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...1 week ago
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...1 week ago
Image credit: The beginner’s guide to blogging 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 ... 1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that New Zealand's Cook Islands High Commissioner, Tessa Temata, has died over the weekend. Ms Temata, 52, died in Palmerston North and had returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. She was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands of Cook Island ...4 hours ago
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...7 days ago
The Government will fund the bulk of the cost of a rural water supply for the Ohakea community affected by PFAS contamination, Environment Minister David Parker announced today at a meeting of local residents. This new water scheme will provide a reliable and clean source of drinking water to the ...18 hours ago
Looking back on 10 years of wild, weird and wonderful food stories in Aotearoa.It’s been a hell of a decade for food here in New Zealand. Sure, there have been tedious trends aplenty – the rise of bloody kale, bloody coconut oil, bloody poké bowls – but the following list ...16 mins ago
The alert was briefly raised to 4 during yesterday's eruption and is now at level 3, classed as "minor volcanic eruption" ...39 mins ago
Among the injured or missing are Australians, Americans, Chinese, British and Malaysians, as well as New Zealanders. ...1 hour ago
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
The Kāpiti Coast District Council has welcomed the recent government announcement of changes to improve road safety in communities. ...3 hours ago
A legal expert says the situation of the Ministry of Transport's former CEO raises worrying questions even if you believe he’s not blameless, ...4 hours ago
"You get this sudden depressurisation, same as sort of taking the top off of a soft drink bottle or pulling the cork out of a bottle of champagne. It depressurises and the materials underneath rise very, very quickly." ...4 hours ago
Report into 2017 general election tipped to be published shortly; and higher benefits, more state housing needed to combat child poverty - Children's Commissioner. ...4 hours ago
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed that her Cabinet is in agreement that it "is not viable" for the North Island's main port to remain in Auckland. ...4 hours ago
Anyone watching the news coverage of the debate over Auckland's port would think a move to Northland is a real prospect. It's not, writes Bernard Hickey, who sees it purely as a political oxygen machine for NZ First. ...4 hours ago
Police do not believe there are any survivors on Whakaari / White Island, as eight people are confirmed missing after yesterday's eruption. ...4 hours ago
Aerial reconnaissance missions have flown over Whakaari-White Island since the eruption on Monday afternoon and there are no signs of any survivors, police say. ...7 hours ago
The British people have a chance to stop the new age of hostility and belligerence before it is fully unleashed in the country's most significant election in 40 years, writes Neal Curtis. ...7 hours ago
An exhibition by Rarotonga-based artist Sam Thomas uses patu to explore questions of cultural exchange. Pat Baskett reviews 'Pakeha Gifts'. ...7 hours ago
The world number one in long drive golf, Kiwi Phillis Meti, wants to see equal pay for women, and more Maori and Polynesian girls striking the ball ...7 hours ago
A critical part of the global trading system may fail this week - what does that mean for NZ? ...7 hours ago
How can we protect our privacy online in the face of increasingly clever marketing and retailing ploys? Victoria University of Wellington's Dr Marcin Betkier has some thoughts. ...7 hours ago
The High Court is told three tweets by a publisher repeated his paper and website's defamation against former National minister Steven Joyce. ...7 hours ago
Bougainville's path to a referendum on independence has been described as NZ's foreign policy success you've never heard of. ...8 hours ago
Ports of Auckland needs to control and run its port operations if it moves to Northport, just as it does now in Auckland. ...15 hours ago
Official advice may not be so hot on moving the port, Shane Jones says. ...17 hours ago
The European Central Bank’s activism on climate change is leading it into uncharted territory. ...20 hours ago
More than a billion dollars has wiped off the value of New Zealand's biggest company this morning following the surprise resignation of A2 Milk's chief executive. ...22 hours ago
The Climate Change Minister James Shaw says he is hopeful the final hurdles can be cleared for fixing the final rules of Paris Agreement before it kicks in next year. ...24 hours ago
Former finance minister Steve Joyce says an NBR journalist told him its columnist Matthew Hooton had ‘gone completely troppo’ in a column about to be published by the business website about the MP. ...24 hours ago
The housing market is heating up ahead of the holidays, with positive signs of growth, according to ASB's latest quarterly housing confidence survey. ...1 day ago
The next phase in the Democrats’ plan to impeach US President Donald Trump begins at 9am Monday morning Washington DC when the House judiciary committee meets to consider a report from the intelligence committee – and hear academic argument on the way forward. The judiciary committee is expected to draft ...1 day ago
How can people who are so adamant that "bloody Labour" and useless "Jacinta who is mucking everything up" and yet don't know the difference between the EU and the Commowealth when the next discussion point is Brexit be allowed to have a vote?
One just has to hope that these ignorants are spread evenly across the political spectrum… so their influence is nil….
Frankly I think that talk back radio is a great weapon of the right –
These sort of lies and drivel are the harvest of the echo chamber known as talk back radio.
Just as the National party has the 'Cabinet Club' ,
Im sure they have a 'Talk Back Club…on call to flood the phone lines.
Talkback suits the Right better with their adamant rather than us with our buts and why-fors. Whatever silly-arse prejudice you have mate it's right. Only the hosts being brought up in social-democracy holds it back.
Yes Barfly. That is true here in Australia as well. Mike Hoskins is another Alan Jones type.
I've been following the Brexit shenanigans and ensuing parliamentary farce on a couple of UK stations, LBC and BBC 5 Live. The differences between them and our so-called news radio is like night and day. Ignoring a couple of the more hoskinesque hosts , the nuanced and informative analysis and commentary from hosts, commentators and expert guests is first rate. And they must have rather good vetting systems to weed out the ranting, partisan, single-issue loons because most of their talk-back callers come across as reasonable, well informed, and worthwhile the time spent listening.
VTO – They used to call it 'brainwashing'.keep saying it so many times until a lie becomes the truth.
Propaganda… Repeat ad nauseam.
Ignore facts and science, just repeat repeat, until it is imprinted.
A tactic as old as politics, and just remember "Who pays the Piper to play the song on repeat?"
The answer is, "Follow the big money"
This is getting beyond a joke now.https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/115592299/young-labour-abuse-victims-barred-from-parliament-offices.
It was a joke up until now?
The way they have handled it has been a joke yes.
The way who have handled it? The Labour Party? In what sense was their handling of it a joke? Neither of us has significant knowledge of how it was handled, so ignorance-based reckons about the quality of the handling could themselves only take the form of jokes, surely?
As an abstract hypothetical, though: when allegations of workplace harrassment and bullying are made against an individual and an investigation finds that the allegations are unsupported, ie it comes down to he says/she says, how would you handle those allegations in a way that treated all parties fairly, respected their privacy, achieved a result satisfactory to all parties and also couldn't be used as propaganda against you by your enemies? Do take your time.
Vance mentions in passing Parliaments inquiry into Bullying etc?
The Journalists have never revisited the shock conclusion that some Journalists around parliament are part of the problem
"A significant number of respondents – not all of them Members – commented on what they perceived as inappropriate behaviour by members of the Press Gallery or media more generally."
https://www.parliament.nz/media/5739/independent-external-review-into-bullying-and-harassment-in-the-new-zealand-parliamentary-workplace-final-report.pdf
and a quote:
““Gallery behaviour is unacceptable… they come in there perfectly nice people and then adopt this persona of the classic bully. You can watch it happen.”
Code of Omerta means people like Vance wont touch that aspect
"In what sense was their handling of it a joke?"
"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Labour Party President Nigel Haworth have delivered an apologetic press conference, admitting major failings by the party. Ms Ardern said the burden of care and responsibility for those allegedly sexually assualted at a summer camp should not have been left to members of Young Labour. "We handled this very, very badly as a party," Ms Ardern said."
"The party is also facing criticism for the presence of alcohol at the event. Young people attended the event with parental consent, but on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Ardern was unable to say whether those consent forms mentioned alcohol. Labour MP Liz Craig was at the event that night. On Wednesday afternoon, she deleted a photo from her Facebook page which showed her seated at a table with a group of young adults who were drinking alcohol."
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/03/labour-accused-of-dropping-the-ball-on-young-labour-sexual-assault-claims.html
"The Prime Minister, parents of the victims, and police were not notified about alleged sexual misconduct at a Young Labour summer camp last month."
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/03/labour-didn-t-tell-police-parents-or-pm-about-sexual-assault-claims.html
There's more, but that's enough. I don't like labelling Labour's handling of this 'a joke'; it rather minimises the damage. Incompetent, inept, useless…these are far better descriptors.
Nigel Haworth has not done Jacinda any favours the way he has handled it. If true that he banned complainants from buildings, why was the accused not banned or stood down why investigation going on? Andrea Vance and Alison Mau seem to have really turned on Labour this weekend.
As an abstract hypothetical: when allegations of workplace harrassment and bullying are made against an individual and an investigation finds that the allegations are unsupported, ie it comes down to he says/she says, how would you handle those allegations in a way that treated all parties fairly, respected their privacy, achieved a result satisfactory to all parties and also couldn't be used as propaganda against you by your enemies? Do take your time.
The accused should have been stood down while investigation underway, not just the accusers being banned from the building. I think this may cost Nigel Haworth his job. The last one cost Andrew Kirton his job.
The Spinoff piece under discussion in today's thread suggests there was no investigation, or at least nothing you could reasonably call an investigation. Like you, I don't see how Kirton could keep his job and still expect anyone to vote Labour – same with the others involved.
Picking on a turn of phrase psycho?
I had to reread the story carefully as from the "heading" it seemed as though the story was in regard to the recent case due to be sentenced later in the year – the word "young" gave, to me, every impression of that. What it is referring to is another completely separate matter that has an element of "employment" attached to it and no charges, as yet, which has a bearing that needs to be sorted but the inference unless studied and read carefully implies something else.
Thanks for the clarification Rapaunzel. It wasn't at all clear from that article what case was being referred to:
The seven complainants have still not laid any complaints with either the police or Parliamentary Services.
I'm not suggesting nothing happened, but I’m starting to smell a big rat over this case.
🙂 It didn;t help that the paper was drenched but the heading led me, and I guess others, up the garden path until I re-read it. No one is suggesting anything did not happen but there are cases that were supposedly being looked at that the public had heard no more of within the National Party that were not disimmilar.
Why can't NZ media stick to the facts and the fact is as you say there are no charges and employment matters have to be handled very carefully for all involved. Allowing media to be judge and jury of what happened, how it "should be handled" and where the "blame" lies is unacceptable. This sort of conjecture and getting to the heart of who, how many people and exactly what needs to be done does nothing to educate on and improve workplace relationships.
... there are cases that were supposedly being looked at that the public had heard no more of within the National Party that were not disimilar.
There was a serious case earlier this year involving a Young Nat (male) and a Young Nat event. It was reported through the MSM and then… nothing. It was suspected at the time the complainant was 'bought off'.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12166768
Nov 2018.
Simon Bridges said:
"In line with our health and safety policies, we acted quickly to offer any support and advice to the person who raised the issue, and this information was passed on to the alleged victim.
"As this is now a matter for the police, we can't comment any further."
And that, as far as I know, was the last we heard of the matter so I am assuming the complainant withdrew her complaint. Did she do it of her own accord or was she coerced? Did any journos bother to check out what happened? The answer appears to be… no.
It would seem there's a big difference how these cases get reported depending on which party the complainant/complainants belong to eh?
If any thing serious happened, surely, at least one complainant must report it to the police (or Parliamentary services?).
The Nat one was reported to police.
Not parliamentary services for that one, as it was in Auckland bar and a apartment. No Parliamentary Services employees from the outline of the event
Anne, the reason your comments are held in in Auto-Moderation is a minor typo in your user name, which I have corrected a number of times now. The system ‘thinks’ that you’re a new user and this needs to be manually approved.
Thank-you Incognito. I picked it up after sending the comment. 😳
That was from about 3 weeks ago , Bennett went full out on it, it was covered by the media as she arranged.
Now Vance who moved out of the Press gallery into management has a slow Sunday scandal day hole to fill ? . Has she been chatting to Bennett who wanted to recycle old news
Their new weekly columnist , the taxpayer funded opinion piece by Seymours staffer seems to disappeared
Well Stuff can get stuf't on a Sunday I'm cancelling my paper and will say exactly why, the same should apply to talkback advertisers such as "magic" radio with its Too Cheap Cars donations. After the $400+k fine for cheating clients only "trmagic's" terminally dim listeners would be an option as clientele anyway.
Marvelous!
After the Revolutionary War, many of the white people who were loyal to Britain moved to the Bahamas, which was largely empty. A lot of those people brought their enslaved Africans with them.
But harsh conditions made many of the white people leave. Then, in 1807, Britain abolished the slave trade. Many of those freed Africans who were liberated on the open seas went to the Bahamas as free people.
When the US basically bought Florida from Spain, thousands of enslaved Africans and Black Seminoles said “fuck this” and escaped to the Bahamas.
So many ran to freedom that the US government had to build a lighthouse in Cape Florida in 1825.
In 1834, Britain freed all the slaves in its territories and shit really got crazy.
[…]
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1170202643672776704.html
It usually raises a red flag for me when some one claims a country was 'largely empty'
Its part of the White Settlers shtick about South Africa too.
The large existing population of the Bahamas was removed by the Spanish for the slave trade at the start of Colonisation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Bahamas
Amber Rudd has resigned from the BJ Cabinet and the Tory whip.
1. BJ is only pretending to seek a deal.
2. the removal of the 21 MP’s.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49623737
So there are significant numbers of Tory MPs with the integrity and spine prepared to stand up to Boorish and say what they think, in full knowledge the likely price is the end of their political career. That really highlights what a bunch of jellyfish the Repugs are in their craven capitulation to Kim Jong Orange.
Quoted for Truth
Turns out the bludger is stupid, too.
A teacher on an individual contract has complained to the Human Rights Commission about payments union members will get after the settling of a protracted pay wrangle.
And he claims non-union teachers have been kept in the dark that they can negotiate their own employment agreements.
Hastings Boys' High head of music Justin Lindsay claims that the Ministry of Education has discriminated on the basis of political opinion in their new Secondary Teachers Collective Agreement (STCA) 2019-2022.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12265580&ref=clavis
I googled him. Looks like he took care to sanitise his online foot print before speaking out. The only thing he shows is that he was employed in the ESOL and tech sector in Japan for a number of years,
"And he claims non-union teachers have been kept in the dark "? Really? And he also claims to be a teacher? I have seen that name before with similar "complaints" but no mention of how many people he represents. How is it that one individual's statement is passed by media as being either a wide-spread issue or movement?
He would have signed this – which is a template
https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Individual-Employment-Agreements/Secondary-Teachers-IEA-2019.pdf
perhaps he should appoint /pay for his own advocate to get better terms than the Union members.
Funny these sort of stories dont sit for long in the NZME 'pending publishing' queue.
Which is why NZ seriously needs some sort of public service information outlet, either a whole channel or something. While I suppose that was clear to me right from the messing with contract thing in the 1990s, more towards the end of that period I gather their are people who don't appear to "know" these things – he does is, spreading misinformation is his intent.
There are lots of basic things beginning with how to register and vote, what "free" medical options families might have, how not to pay insurance unless you know you have met criteria and are fully covered for what you think you've paid for, what are your employment "rights" and obligations are – so as not to jeopardize your employment, along with reliable borrowing or budgeting advice etc. The information is there but it needs to be more readily available and visible and repeated till it sinks in. During the 2014 election I heard from several young people that their employers or other told them "if you don't vote this way you will have no job". They believed it and spread that idea around. If basic information about "rights' was more common and normalised people might start thinking for themselves and/or seeking out the facts when they need them.
There's a Parliament TV channel that has a lot of downtime – even given repeats of QT etc. (and that's just for starters). It could actually be used for educational purposes at various times – providing 'civics'/'social studies', the citizens' rights when dealing with government agencies, the Treaty, BOR et al
No end of things – took my grandson to the medical centre last holidays and they had a number of items running, how many other groups have items of interest, probably local councils and voluntary groups.
Besides that what groups are active in an area may be an incentive to make people more active which is the first step in the right direction to give mental stimulation, company and activities to turn back the tide of health issues putting pressure on services.
Cross contamination (Bacteria) in gene editing experiment.
Yes, that is indeed the kind of thing that happens when technologists use simple sloppy techniques that are more or less how bacteria have been getting their genes into other organisms without any human intervention since forever. Like happened with sweet potato.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150421084204.htm
Genetic transfer has been ongoing in the nature,with subsequent trial and success,over very looooooong time periods.
Mitichondria being a good example.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion
Brexit is my addiction, (I watch it like I used to watch Babylon 5.) Fascinating – what's next.
I like the photo of Boorish that has been captured.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/more-turmoil-boris-johnson-he-loses-another-cabinet-member-over-brexit-fiasco
BBC one good too. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49618242
Amber Rudd not a dead insect encapsulated in gum. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49623737
Rudd is just a careerist first and foremost looking out for herself. She makes Paula Bennett seem like Mary Poppins… the Windrush scandal wa swhen she was in charge….. she smells blood in the water for Johnson and wants to be part of the next cabinet and the next cabinet
This is the person she is :
"Rudd first denied there were targets for the removal of immigrants. Later, she maintained that she had not known of targets. Later still, The Guardian published leaked evidence that Rudd had known about targets: "
Wikipedia. That resulted in one of her many resignations
She should really be going to the Great Tory Boneyard in the Sky… but is likely to reappear somwhow.
If that's true dookydooky, then blobbyjobby should be worried shouldn't he.
If you watch nothing else – watch the first first 2.15 find out if your a socialist or just some sort of wannabe.
Haven't watched it but a muscly govt is vital now to face climate change.
Cleek's law done wrong.
Fox News opinion host Laura Ingraham’s earnest efforts to troll liberals reached a new, if not bizarre, level Friday as she attempted to drink a steak stuffed with incandescent light bulbs through a plastic straw.
“Well, it’s a meal that will trigger all the right … I meant all the left people,” she said to kick off the “Ingraham Angle” segment.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/laura-ingraham-tries-to-drink-light-bulb-steak-to-trigger-liberals_n_5d73c962e4b0fde50c2740cd?
she is so thick – thin lipped zombie who need 'braaaaaaaaaiiinnnnnnnnss'
Dementia Don is clearly contagious.
She really does suck.
The grift continues …
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/09/house-investigation-air-force-crew-trump-turnberry-resort-scotland.html
Meanwhile, let's remind ourselves of Article 2 Section 1 Clause 7 of the Constitution:
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Money from any government source finding it's way into a federal official's pocket from any source other than salary is a direct violation of the constitution, and should be cause for immediate impeachment. But Repugs just don't care, it's not like adults were indulging in any consensual private pleasure or anything like that. (Although grossly inappropriate due to the power imbalance involved)
Thats a beat up about USAF flight stop overs in Prestwick Scotland. Its not really Glasgow which has its own airport close to the city.
They reason they stop. because planes fly 'Great Circle' arcs between origin and destination as much as possible. Prestwick is on the direct route for stop overs between Middle east and US military bases. Plus its less crowded airspace- which causes delays- than military airports in Southern England.
We can see similar occurrences for USAF flights to Antarctica, they stop to refuel at Christchurch, change crew etc .
This Trump Hotel/ Golf club is just outside Prestwick, maybe they offer a cut price deal for all these sort of cargo airlines for crew stop overs.
The idea that they are stopping there so they can stay at that hotel doesnt follow.
Ah – huh …
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/07/scottish-government-criticised-over-us-military-use-of-airport
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/1884091
Cant see Prestwick 'supporting Bombing raids on Syria'
A loaded Bomber definitely wont be landing at a public airport…. they need facilities that can handle live bombs.
Like I said its a beatup about an insignificant thing, not that Trump hasnt loaded up his other hotels and golf clubs with official government events.
this is more important
n three Saturday evening tweets, Donald Trump claims that leaders of the Taliban, as well as Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, were secretly scheduled to land on U.S. soil “tonight.” Trump claimed that, “unbeknownst to almost everyone,” he had separate meetings scheduled with each at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
Trump then claimed that he bailed on the peace talks after the Taliban took credit for a deadly car bombing in Kabul on Thursday, which killed 12 people, including an American soldier.
A Camp David peace deal with the Taliban ?
What could go wrong. Even NZ has the Taliban on its Terrorist List of proscibed groups.
I don't think I would be saying that. There are questions being asked on both sides of the Atlantic. And yes! Trump is benefiting from this cozy arrangement.
Meanwhile – Trump Turnberry lost $4.5 mill in 2017 and with the help of taxpayer $$$, it made $3 mill in 2018. Furthermore Prestwick offered free rounds of golf at Turnberry to visiting US military and civilian air crews. So a fairly clear example of further contravention of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
Nothing quite like an official partnership.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1170137677095669766.html
Wow! That is some thread Joe. Meanwhile Jerry Nadler is preparing for action this week:
Nadler has already sort clarification from the Pentagon on this very matter with a flat refusal to comply. Things could get very interesting this week.
More crazy conspiracy theories.
And of course, man never landed on the moon, the ChCh mosque massacre was all Mossads doing, and my chips tonight are soggy because of Brexit.
Unbelievable. And you are allowed to vote? I despair at times like this.
Yes, I do vote. If it makes you feel better, I'm registered in the California 51st District, so the only time my vote might make the slightest difference is in the Dem primary for the House and Senate. But the House Rep is Juan Vargas who is well-liked, so it's unlikely he'll get a serious challenger, and CA doesn't have a senator up for election in 2020.
I'm also capable of correctly spelling Christchurch.
Meanwhile, you got anything to say about the situation whereby this is the first president ever* to own and operate businesses that sell services to the federal government, in direct contravention of one of the first clauses of the constitution? And where that business has massively increased since he took office with the one branch of government he has the most direct control over, being the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces?
*I s’pose it’s possible Washington’s distillery sold whiskey to the Feds, but I’ve never seen any claim that that actually happened.
And now the dayglo swampzilla is trying to force automakers to pollute more …
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/antitrust-investigation-ford-bmw-justice-department_n_5d728876e4b03aabe35bbd99
Meanwhile…
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/trump-aides-worried-about-mental-state-alabama-hurricane-dorian-2019-9?
He never had "his shit" to lose. All he ever had was a big stack of dodgy dollars, an overactive middle finger that excited the deplorables, and a massive streak of nasty vindictiveness sufficient to cow into submission or at least silence anyone that voluntarily got close to him.
Well yeah I totally agree.
"Sharpiegate" is just another episode in the total clusterfuck of daily shock and horror that is now everyday American politics.
this is effin' hilarious..
a cobb & co training vid from the 80's..
i've never been to a cobb & co..
but for those of you who used to..?…and liked it..?
my god – you used to eat some crap..
(the vid is 12 and a half mins long..but i urge you to watch all of it..
the dessert for two – at the end – is well worth the wait/journey..(it comes with an umbrella..(!)..didn’tyaknow..?..)
https://thespinoff.co.nz/food/14-08-2017/a-play-by-play-of-a-32-year-old-cobb-co-staff-training-video/
i laughed like a drain thru much of it..
the re-heated tinned-mushrooms – the ubiquitous orange-slice..
the foul muck they called sauces – the piped cream..
it just keeps giving and giving…heh..!
Cobbnco was great philly… ngnghchn…
Mmmmmm …. crumbed schnitzel … stuffed with ham and cheese …
Ah, the eighties.
Went to the one in Dunedin a few weeks ago – pretty good I thought. Didn't see much of that on the menu lol
A couple of things stood out – the "express" lunch, with a 35 minute delivery time. Seafood joint near my work has a 15 minute promise today. Sign of the time crunch these days.
Also: why did they put little plastic cow silhouettes in the steaks?! I remembered them as kids as soon as I saw them. What the actual fuck? At least plastic straws were useful!
I'm pretty sure the coloured cows were to indicate the 'doneness' of steak.
lol so they were a little plastic token to tell you what the chef thinks you got, rather than just leaving it for you to assume that what you get is what you ordered?
It was more for the one between the chef and the diner – the wait staff.
So they knew what to announce they had when they got to the table.
Don't be so awful Phil. It was farken sofusticaydid and pretty much the start of it all. Lil ole NuZull had come of age.
..heh..!
and i have just remembered i have been to one..on north shore..just a few yrs ago..
i think it was one..
it was an auntie-do..
and my vegan cousin and i wandered past the offerings..(twice..)
and neither i nor she could bring ourselves to try anything…
the aunties were all tucking in tho'…
no accounting for taste..i'spose
I was a kitchen hand at cobbyco in welly – they really loved burning the bottom of the pots big time – I was also a vege so never ate there just cleaned the filthy meat pots – ahh now that took elbow grease to move that grease.
Thanks for the link, it was a hoot.
chrs..!
i can't get those tinned mushrooms out of my mind..
they must have been vile/puke-inducing..
Along with canned beans and Irish stew, they were a staple on the surf trips of my youth. Easily heated and eaten with white whole loaf bread and washed down with beer or milk, they were pretty damned good.
OMG — I havent been to Cobb and Co since 2000.
The film reviews on RadioNZ – one is of Apollo 11 and the question was raise- was this the event when the USA was really great?
I think actually it was when The New Deal was brought in in USA and also being behind the Marshall Plan that got Europe out of its WW2 hell-hole of poverty of the countries, infrastructure and systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan#Change_in_American_ideology
Incidentally I came across this good article from The Atlantic on Election voting – USA and Germany.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/why-germany-s-politics-are-much-saner-cheaper-and-nicer-than-ours/280081/
Yep, USA was great once. As you say, Marshall Plan etc. Really though, US still is, in general. Most disaster aide in the world today is via US military.
Sadly, the invasion of Iraq pretty much undermined a great country. And as for Vietnam,……. but I guess that is the superpower complex.
What I like about the USA is that it sets itself pretty spectacular ideals. Usually it fails dismally at achieving those ideals (most of the writers of those "self evident" truths about freedom were slaveholders, for example), but sometimes (UN, New Deal, Civil Rights Act, Apollo) it approaches them. And that's pretty spectacular.
But so are their failures (KKK, Vietnam, CIA mcfuckery).
Nothing much I like about America after '45. Took over the world, became an empire.
The War on Poverty was a good attempt.
The tech is nice.
And the thousands if not millions of people who worked together to have 12 people walk on the moon. Awesome not just that they did it, but as an example of what we can do with a united focus.
BJ’s cunning plan?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12265853
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/07/tories-extend-lead-over-labour-to-10-despite-chaotic-week
More corporate welfare.
The White House is considering a plan that would have the government directly purchase uranium from U.S. producers as it contemplates ways to revive the flagging domestic mining industry.
A group set up by President Donald Trump to study the issue is considering a request by the nuclear industry to use the Defense Production Act, a 68-year-old Cold War-era statute once invoked by President Harry Truman to help the steel industry. The plan calls for requiring the government to buy American uranium to replenish their stockpiles and for other purposes, Paul Goranson, chief operating officer for Energy Fuels Inc., said in an interview.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-06/white-house-considering-direct-purchases-of-u-s-mined-uranium
The Greens used to claim to be doing politics differently.
The censoring of an article by veteran Green Jill Abigail suggest the Green leadership have opted for censorship and control freakery. Here is they article they took exception to and banned:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2019/09/03/21871/
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
They had to pick a side: TERF-positive or trans-positive. Either position was going to piss people off.
Seraphir
Your marxist analysis is notably lacking if you genuinely believe that biological sex as a binary model of human physiology holds any water in modern medical science.
Good luck convincing any actual biologists that sexual reproduction doesn't involve two sexes.
Why the preoccupation on sexual reproduction?
Trans people exist, modern medical science understands this, many societies understand this. Unfortunately they are a marginalised, stigmatised minority and articles that present trans-women as a threat in "women-only spaces" are factually wrong and exclusionary. Trans-women are women.
Why the preoccupation on sexual reproduction?
What pre-occupation? You posted a quote saying biological sex isn't binary, and I replied to the effect that biologists would be surprised to hear there are more than two sexes. That's not a "pre-occupation," it's a "reply."
Trans people exist…
No-one, least of all Jill Abigail, is disputing that.
Unfortunately they are a marginalised, stigmatised minority…
Ditto.
Trans-women are women.
However, that's simply untrue for any functional definition of "woman." The fact that "trans-woman" has the prefix "trans" should be a bit of a giveaway about that.
In the complete quote I posted it says sex isn't a binary in human physiology and this is well-known in modern medical science. This has nothing to do with reproduction, nothing to do with biologists so your "reply" was at best a distraction from the topic at hand.
Please provide what you consider to be the 'functional definition of "woman"'.
In the complete quote I posted it says sex isn't a binary in human physiology and this is well-known in modern medical science. This has nothing to do with reproduction…
I've tried parsing the claim that sex has nothing to do with reproduction multiple times, but no matter how I come at it the claim still makes no sense. The term "sex" refers to reproduction, and the term "sex differences" exists exactly because they are differences in the respective reproductive systems (or caused by the reproductive systems.
In my previous experience, references to sex supposedly not being binary are usually based on the existence of intersex people. However, the fact that sexual reproduction isn't 100% perfect and birth defects of the reproductive system can occur the same as they can for any other parts of the body was well-known to ancient medical science, let alone modern. That doesn't alter the fact that sexually-reproducing species have two sexes. Humans are no different in that respect.
Please provide what you consider to be the 'functional definition of "woman"'.
"A" functional definition, not "the." We have dictionaries for that, and the definition is usually "adult female human," or a variation on it. Drop "female" from the definition and it's just a synonym for "person," which would render it non-functional.
The obsession with reproduction as the important part for the definition of sex and gender excludes everyone who is unable to naturally conceive. Are all those infertile cis-gendered people also to be excluded from this gender binary? If not, why not?
Some females were assigned male at birth, it’s not a complicated thing, we agreed this above, it’s in dictionaries. However your example of a functional definition excludes trans-women because evidently you don’t actually consider them to be female. Why would this be?
… reproduction as the important part for the definition of sex and gender excludes everyone who is unable to naturally conceive.
Sex, not gender – gender's a social construct, nothing to do with physiology. And no the definitions of man and woman don't exclude people unable to conceive – the dictionary doesn't qualify the term "female" with "NB: female reproductive system in question must be proven to function correctly", for fairly obvious reasons.
Some females were assigned male at birth, it’s not a complicated thing, we agreed this above, it’s in dictionaries.
We did. However, we're talking about trans-women, not intersex people. The proportion of trans women who are intersex would be tiny.
…your example of a functional definition excludes trans-women because evidently you don’t actually consider them to be female. Why would this be?
First and foremost, because they're not female. I found that a pretty compelling reason.
The dictionary definitions of man and woman don't exclude trans people either, but you seem to think it does
Trans-women were assigned male at birth. That is the definition of a trans-women. Intersexuality isn't relevant here.
So you say trans-women are not female, pray tell, what do you determine them to be?
A bit circular, and well removed from your original comment about reproduction requiring two sexes.
Trans-women were assigned male at birth.
Trans-women were assigned male at conception, by physical reality. If they'd rather live as a woman, all good by me and let's make that as straightforward for them as possible, but there isn't any way for them to become female – which leads to debates like the one Jill Abigail was contributing to (or trying to, at least).
So you say trans-women are not female, pray tell, what do you determine them to be?
Male/female is a matter of sex, not gender. We can fuck with gender every which way we feel like because it's a social construct, but so far no-one's come up with the technology for a person to change their sex.
A bit circular, and well removed from your original comment about reproduction requiring two sexes.
Fair cop, that was a silly answer, but it was a silly question. The answer was also not unrelated from my original comment, because male and female refer to the two sexes. The question of why I'd consider someone with a male body not to be female is self-answering.
um…
You do get that if I have surgery to make me look younger, it hasn't actually made me younger, right?
Luckily sex change surgery merely involves changing organs, rather than resisting the inexorable progression of the universe.
The Greens used to claim to be doing politics differently.
"Used to?" Can you point to the times any mainstream party's had a shitfight over whether it's going to back trans activists or feminists?
i don't think many saw that coming…
"No previous extensions of human rights for new groups have involved taking away the rights of others needing protection."
Really succinct quote.
I'm sure a lot of white folks said that when blacks were suddenly allowed in all sorts of places.
not in the opinion of the author
Hell, they still do. All that "replacement" bullshit.
Upon reading that link it occurred to me that Maggie Thatchers work continues by proxy….or perhaps she was prescient.
Tauranga a ghost town at 5pm, Monday. Lots of vacant prime commercial real estate. Anyone who thinks we will keep seeing prices rise is dreaming & it will get worse despite the GST about to be charged on imported goods.
30 odd units vacant (!) on just two roads.
Check it out what mainstream news won’t be telling you.
The Tauranga auction spy reports that this week out of the 11 residential auctions he attended 8 did not get a single bid.
pretty much any town in nz is suffering from this lack of commercial tenants. Reason one: Leases in Tauranga, Rotorua, Tokoroa, Putaruru, Taupo etc are all the same, namely as in AKL. Meaninch 15-25 grand a year ex gst, ex rates, ex building insurance, ex ex ex ex ex ex
and so as long as that is addressed ( and we have the same issue with residential) people don't rent/lease. Simple as that.
Prices will raise, but it ain't the locals buying. And for those that can't sell, fear not, just write of your loss if you can't find a tenant to pay your exuberant rent / lease demands. The government will look after you 🙂
That is the biggest single failing of the current lot running the show in wellington, they could have closed loopholes that allow property owners to keep buildings, dwelling, residential/commercial spaces empty as they still make money of it. They could have regulated rent demands, they could have regulated air bnb, they could have should have but sadly have done fuck all.
Indeed, A.
With the soaring cost of housing, power, rates, insurance and food it's no wonder people can't afford to go shopping, thus bars and restaurants are struggling and shops are sitting vacant.
The one thing that is growing is queues at the local food bank.
'Murica
wow – just noticed this – I hope it gets better I really do
/open-mike-08-09-2019/#comment-1653159
Hi Everyone,
The East Coast Fire Season, has started about 2mths early than normal. In some parts of the east coast it’s so extreme that some towns have next to no water or are likely to run out water in the coming months and as a result of a lack of water the fire crews have to resort to dry fire fighting techniques which is not a effective, but that’s what they do given the circumstances especially around the Tenterfield area in Northern NSW.
I had drinks with my Bushfire Brigade on Thursday here at Dundee NT, where the talk got around the water supply? The local plumber who also supplies water as everyone is on Tank water or they shallow bores are running out of water and it get worse. The local plumber has had to cut back in the water cart business, so he doesn’t run old of water and the community open water supply has run dry. Due to selfish members of the Dundee community have been using our bushfires outlet which feeds out of the bottom tank and at times has stuffed up the bore feeding the water tank. Where as the community outlet is half way up the tank and it’s going to a point if we have fire we may not have water and this water supply supports people out to a radius of 20-30 km’s.
Some communities in the Darwin Rural Area are about run out of water or they have been trucking in water since Xmas and the scary thing is we are expecting to this fire season to extend out to December and water to be very scarce until the Wet Season breaks if it comes at all?
Its getting despite in a lot of places throughout Australia if this current droughts doesn’t break IRT water, food production and whole communities etc.
For various reasons, agriculture in much of Australia will be near impossible in a few decades.
Drought, salinity inclusions into artesian water, air borne erosion of soil, (Dust bowl affect) warmer temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and more frequent storms are already having a serious impact.
We may be feeding 15 million Australians, yet.
Yesterday I watched ABC’s Landline as I do most Sunday’s and this weeks episode was entire on Climate Change. There was some interesting stuff from a whole range of people including a former GG who has a special forces background and who also supported the Maj Les Hiddins aka The Bush Tucker Man at a time when the Army thought Les was a bit of a crackpot. Who has an interest in soil carbon capture and he words about CC are the same POV as mine.
The follow links were on yesterday’s Landline and this is the link for Landline as they will do more episodes on CC in the future. https://www.abc.net.au/landline/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/family-farms:-new-generation-changing-conventional/11490438
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/corporate-farming:-big-business-investment-in/11490444
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/chicken-free-chicken:-meat-less-meat-substitutes/11490424
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/future-in-cloud:-technology-solving-everyday/11490454
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/future-soil:-excess-carbon-regenerating-soils/11490464
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/climate-chaos:-adapting-to-changing-climate/11490434
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/dollars-from-dirt-the-farmer-making-money-from-healthy-soil/11486346
Last years Drought summit held in Canberra before the Federal election, raised the possibility that retiring land has to be now considered as a result of CC in the more marginal areas of Australia. But the sticking point was how to give those Farmers some dignity without the banks etc including Government leaving them penny less as most of the farmers wealth is tired up in land etc, management of the land once its retired from farming and those a effected communities that service the farming sector.
Interesting links. Ta.
One of my old friends in Oz, was one of the scientists in charge of Victoria's soil salinity project.
Limited water, and artesian wells drawing salt water into farmland, was already a problem several decades ago.
The old man comes from Broken Hill and to see the massive fish kill at the Menindee Lakes almost brought him to tears as the lake system was meant to hold water during the Drought's and hold water for the fish etc. But somewhere along the line some smart ass lobbied the State government to use all that water for farming/ horticulture, instead of it sitting there when the next drought comes along.
Here's a couple of more interesting links and both them I've had some experience in especially from a military planning/ military research side of things at unit level and group level before I was medical discharge.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-11/government-appears-unprepared-for-climate-change/11492886
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-11/fighting-fires-becoming-impossible-task/11497588
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Aron looks like a national supporter I seen his nihor showing.
Sam the number one cause of suicide is no money. I have seen for my self how professionals lawyers advises accounts and foresters have ripped off people close to me THAT'S CAPTILSIM take all you can from innocent people with their silver TONGUES.
You should have taken the complaints to the police Paula milking it.
BULLSHIT there are deaths from dairydack for years how do we know that you are telling the TRUTH about the numbers and dates. People were making money off the sale of stuff that could kill people this is national mess you are trying to blame others Paul It would never have been a issue if it was stamped out straight away not sold in shops.
There you go America needs to change laws to make tech companies responsible for the content on their platform.
Eric their you go Jacinda is speaking about the haters get exposure on big tech companies sites that will help to highlight the problem and motivate them to take the videos down. It's will be hard when you have old Politicians employed on the big tech companies LOBBYING branches.
I read that colonel sanders was a white supremist I get a sore face when people quote him.
Ka kite Ano
No there is just a small amount of real criminal in New Zealand Mark 2%
Kia Ora Newshub
The Coalition Government new approach ZERO lives lost to suicide every life matters is awesome.
Some people are so cruel how can they do that to a human or even a animal those idiots who torchered that poor Wahine WTF.
There he goes again barking up the wrong tree bridges doe not think very well of course we care about the haters who harm inenecint tangata using the Internet to gain support it must be stop.
Let's hope Otago get a good growing season this year. Im hopeing for some wind from Tawhirimate to get my wind turbine turning I had to design if for strong Tawhirimate as things get blown over were we are.
Mike that's gives Eco Maori A sore face all the Tangata and Tamariki wanting to learn Te Reo it is every one in Aotearoa taonga Ka pai.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I have congratulations for our government move to a goal of zero lives lost to suicide . I agree with Mike suicide is a New Zealand problem
It awesome that Te puni korokiri is tau toko Te tangata with building whare on their own whenua that is what Te puni Korokiri did back in the days of old.
Maori tourism is getting links to boost their business and putea Ka pai
Toronto film Festival Tika Waititi Jojo rabbit will show Maori wit and humour awesome.
Turangi A Kiwa celebrating Te Reo Maori Language week kia kaha Whanau. Tawhirimate was celebrating Te Reo Maori Language week to. Pouho Rawiri Marae
Maunatu taonga their tamariki Ka pai I taonga my tamariki so does Ngāti Porou.
Ka kite Ano