Next, Tony, is the CB poll on One News tonight! If there's no rise for National, time to do something more desperate. Where's Simon Lusk??
Ben Thomas talks about staging:
There’s a persistent myth that the “ordinary people” travellers to North Korea meet during tightly controlled trips into Pyongyang’s underground commuter train or shopping areas are actors paid to profess to foreigners their loyalty to, and love for, whichever great leader is in power at the time. This claim appears to be baseless.
Instead, they are (like most North Koreans) simply polite, well indoctrinated by a national propaganda apparatus, and shy if not suspicious of outsiders.
In the same way, is it correct to say that the National Party supporters lined up at apparently uniform distances along Ponsonby Road, like the parade markings of many Pyongyang public squares, to greet Judith Collins were “fake”? They were real supporters, after all, dedicated enough to participate in the charade.
If that devotion to performance did make them thespians, then yesterday they would probably have most aptly described as crisis actors, as the walkabout spun out of control. The idea the National is coming apart at the seams is overhyped.
Ben's thesis is that we ought to appreciate the Judith: she's a liberal. Roll her, we end up with a fundie christian. I say, what better way to consign the National Party to the dustbin of history? Bring it on!
Ben Thomas — the man to call when you need a band-aid slapped on a gaping chest wound. "It's really not as bad as it looks. Yes, I know we can see her internal organs, but on a positive note, they all look fairly healthy."
heh, I've been on the verge of feeling sorry for her too. It's good to have some capacity for compassion for people who are doing despicable things, it's part of humanity and not being like them 😉
Did you know there's a basis upon which the rightist rabble has coalesced?
ACT, the New Conservatives and the Advance New Zealand Party are all strong opponents of 1080 and that opposition features prominently in their rallies. NZ First has been much more circumspect up to now.
And that's why Winston
is now planning a campaign trip to Waiheke Island on Thursday to show off a predator control project there which does not use 1080. “I just want to be clear that New Zealand First has never been a believer in 1080,” he said.
“We think there should be alternatives and trapping and hunting and all sorts of other range of initiatives should be taking place. “We believe 1080 is dangerous, but it’s very difficult to get control of this issue, even though we negotiated in the coalition agreement to put millions aside for it when it’s in control of some other minister.”
That ”other Minister” is Eugenie Sage, the Minister of Conservation and a Green. But Peters is running out of time to turn his party’s fortunes around. Figures released last night by the Electoral Commission show that so far 271,369 people have already voted; that’s a 76% increase on the number who voted over the first three days of advance voting last election in 2017.
This doesn’t help Peters, and he obviously needs time, so he made a plea. yesterday to people not to vote early. “Wait and find out everything that is in the mix of policies, because there are clangers after clanger after clanger out there being dropped every day now,” he said. “Only a fool tests the water with both feet. “Know all the facts first.”
This idea of Winston's that facts emerge during an election campaign, and they can be known, and furthermore everyone ought to refrain from advance voting until they have all emerged, is so wacky that even conspiracy theorists will be stunned!!
I've talked to 3 people in the last week who like me had top come in 1st or 2nd on the vote compass, none of us intend to vote for them due to the poor polling.
By the way all of us had labour and the greens as the other 2 in the top 3. So this line that top is right wing is bs.
Those polls should not be taken very seriously. They are massively influenced by how the things which seem most relevant to the election (the questions) distribute peoples views which may be not important at all to them. Then there is the problem you identified with TOP where their policy wonk positions are interpreted as economically left wing by the pollster, which is a debatable interpretation at best.
A $250 ubi, a wealth tax on equity and raising taxes on superannuatants who work so that they dont have to raise the retirement age . Not very right wing.
I struggle with taxing unrealized profit in housing but what do I know.
I see the UBI as being a cut in the existing welfare for the most vulnerable (and its not been suggested as complimentary by TOP).
I see the capital tax as an ineffective attempt to leave housing policy to the market, and its not addressing the underlying problem, but from TOPs point of view they largely ignore other policies such as those Labour is attempting.
And the idea of all these retirement policies is to privatise retirement income. I really don't know why Cullen has been given any left wing cred for his parts because at best its just an offshore investment fund and an attempt to privatise social security.
Basically taxes up=left, taxes down=right is a massive charicature of policy positions, and makes for bad economic policy thinking.
The equity tax is not actually a tax on equity, but a tax on equity's yield However it is applied only when that yield is less than 3%: more than 3% and tax would simply be paid in the normal way in any case.
Probably the largest group, that this tax would affect, would be owners of family homes, whose equity in their property attracts no tax at present. Arguably, applying the tax in this case is justified by the fact that the rent that they save, by living in their own home, represents a sort of quasi income which should be taxed.
But they are taken seriously—by the news media. If they didn't have polls to talk about, or cute animal stories—this morning featured a pesky raccoon annoying a CNN reporter—they would have to report on trivia, like the show trials of political dissenters.
[link deleted]
[Link deleted. You’ve already linked to it @ 10, which is the appropriate thing to do, but in this particular thread it could easily act as a detraction and diversion – Incognito]
I found that too. Seems like they are trying to stear away the Labour/Green vote yea it's bs, but no L/G voter will be sucked in, like you they will see through that.
They're not right wing, they're radical centrists. By positioning (they will support a National govt, so you might want to consider that in your voting choices), and by some of their policies (anti-welfare is the on I am most familiar with, but there are others).
I agree about polling though. We'd be much better off without polling in the month before the election. We'd probably have to ban publication of leaked internally polling too.
TOP are neither left wing nor right wing; but neither are they really centrists. I think they are sufficiently unique as to defy categorization.
By the way they are not opposed to welfare. However they would like to see a UBI replace welfare, though in practice top-ups would probably be necessary.
They are welcome to present a more nuanced welfare reform policy at any time, one which acknowledges positive discrimination has benefits. But when they do so they will probably have to explain that the so called 'efficiency' gains of universalism are a fiction.
Until then I will go with how this has worked in other countries where UBI policies have tried to undermine better functioning welfare regimes.
Chary with the truth mikesh but sounding nicely authoritative.
By the way they are not opposed to welfare. However they would like to see a UBI replace welfare, though in practice top-ups would probably be necessary.
After listening to authoritative commenters for long enough one can start hallucinating about double rainbows – what does it mean..
I recall being taught the answer in a physics class long ago. Vaguely recollect it as refraction plus reflection but don't quote me. Light bouncing off the back wall of the droplet after passing thro, then re-entry into atmosphere at a different angle to the primary refracted beam…
Refraction plus reflection – what I get when I read your thoughtful memos, and further refract though my vision is deteriorating. Wow a double rainbow – I sure look for one just now.
Simmons has an ideological commitment to getting rid of welfare. TOP don't have any real policy around top ups or a range of other issues related to welfare, including an adequate policy for disabled people and others who cannot work. When they change all that, I'll stop calling them anti-welfare, but at the moment their policy is dangerous for vulnerable people and those who may end up needing state assistance in the future.
"though in practice top-ups would probably be necessary."
See that's the problem right there, there's no probably about it and that degree of vagueness is just no ok in political work. TOP's UBI policy is defacto discriminatory against people who cannot work. Imagine TOP negotiating with National and ACT, what sort of UBI do you think we would end up with? Do you think that TOP would take a UBI off the table if NACT refused to treat disabled people well, or do you think that TOP would compromise and let welfare be dismantled before anything else was put in place?
"TOP are neither left wing nor right wing; but neither are they really centrists. I think they are sufficiently unique as to defy categorization."
This is probably true, but I think my description stands. They've positioned themselves to be able to work between the left and right dominant parties ie they're in the centre. And their policies can often be understood in left or right terms as well.
They're certainly not left wing. Some of what they do is progressive, and there are some solid ideas there. Some of what they do is regressive. Some of it is conservative.
'Tens of thousands rallied outside the court, holding banners reading "Fascism, Never Again" and "Freedom for the People, Death to Fascism".
"We must send a message to the younger generations, a message against fascism," said 69-year-old Sophia. "It's our duty to democracy to be here today, to show we are standing up against such criminal actions." '
Big shout out to Auckland Central branch of the National Party for giving us all the unexpected delight of hearing the term “Potemkin Village” introduced into the election campaign.
Yeah, and as a semi-resident of Ponsonby (the road starts one short block away and I grew up there for the first few years of my life), let me tell you that I suspect that description alone will cause blow back on to whatshername Mellon(?) the National candidate.
They may be bovine and like that kind of thing in Parnell or Remmers – but it goes down like a sick balloon around here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village The term comes from stories of a fake portable village built solely to impress Empress Catherine II by her former lover Grigory Potemkin, during her journey to Crimea in 1787.
Thanks wikipedia how would I manage without you. Donation coming up.
Amazingly Republican veteran Lindsey Graham is getting outspent and completely outplayed in the South Carolina Senate race. The Cook Political report has moved it into the toss-up column.
‘None Of It Reported’: How Corporate Media Buried The Assange Trial
by DAVID CROMWELL, Media Lens, 7th October 2020
One of the most imposing features of state-corporate propaganda is its incessant, repetitive nature. Over and over again, the ‘mainstream’ media have to convince the public that ‘our’ government prioritises the health, welfare and livelihoods of the general population, rather than the private interests of an elite stratum of society that owns and runs all the major institutions, banks, corporations and media.
We are constantly bombarded by government ministers and their media lackeys telling us that ‘our’ armed forces require huge resources, at public expense, to maintain the country’s ‘peace’ and ‘security’. We do not hear so much about the realpolitik of invading, bombing or otherwise ‘intervening’ in other countries with military force, diplomatic muscle, and bribes of trade and aid deals to carve up natural resources and markets for the benefit of a few.
For those old enough to remember 2002-2003, who can forget the endless repeated rhetoric of the ‘threat’ posed by Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, of how his ‘weapons of mass destruction’ could be launched within 45 minutes of his order, and how ‘we’ simply had to remove him from power? Or how, in 2011, the US, UK and France had to launch ‘humanitarian intervention’ to stop the ‘mass slaughter’ of civilians by Gaddafi’s forces in Libya. And on and on.
Thanks Morrissey that makes the point strongly. Most of us will have noticed this in much of the media, but not seen how widely practised it is. Will read later. Keeping up is time-consuming don't you think!
Umm, it's an extradition hearing, not a trial. Words have actual meanings, and it's helpful to clear communication to use the words that correctly describe a situation. If, on the other hand, your intent is propaganda and disinformation, then misusing words is quite a useful tool.
I won't be surprised if one of Biden's early actions as president will be to make some statement along the lines of 'Discussions with the incoming Attorney General have affirmed the determination made by Obama and Attorney General Holder in 2013 that it is not in the interest of the United States to prosecute Mr Assange, for the reasons that were publicised at the time. We therefore withdraw the extradition proceedings'.
This article is spin. Ben Thomas is a National Party operative—more pleasant than Matthew Hooton but just as ideological. He's a regular guest on RNZ National—usually billed as a representative of the ludicrously mislabelled “centre-right.” He’s desperate to put the best possible interpretation on this embarrassment.
Ben Thomas is arguing that if Collins goes, then we'll get a religious right replacement whereas Judith is a liberal.
Who cares? Such a retreat to the religious right would mean that the National party would split, as it should.
Who cares? This would mean that National are still in opposition with an illiberal leader. More for ordinary folk to dislike.
The only downside is that NZ would lack an effective opposition which good democracy demands, in the absence of a second chamber, a presidential/governor-general veto, and now with a four year term being promoted.
I have had moments of feeling sorry for judith Collins. Pretty humiliating last few days for her.
but then I remember dirty politics orivida and the lies about her visit to their office and subsequent dinner with a border official. Her association with Cameron Slater. And I think of all the dirty tricks National have pulled over the years too many to list.
Then I feel more comfortable with Collins being the casualty. Their chickens coming home to roost. Long overdue.
hope this is causing Key, Joyce and Bennett some pain, but usually psychopathic types feel very little
These type are fame seekers and loosing face is a body blow to their arrogant egotistical narcissism.
Now their reputations have been exposed that's the end of the line National will have to ditch all these Dirty Political players out of a very small caucus given the back stabbing leaks it's going to be a very painful process. ACT being farther to the right in larger numbers will make hard for National to be a centrist party.
National the strong team is shot to pieces driving around rural areas many farmers who would normally have hoardings up in their paddocks haven't bothered ,
They are not impressed with National money for campaigning is down .
After the election blood letting will be the order of they day.
Bloodletting… and then looking for a new job because you've just been chucked out for behaving like a rapacious brigand, or being content to surround yourself with rapacious brigands. I don't wish Collins any ill-will, but this is pure karma. She's spent her career cultivating a different kind of unpleasantness, one not liberally coated in Teflon. Unlike Saint John of Key, things tend to stick to Judith Collins.
Nats going to ACT could be a disadvantage to the left. When there is a group herd mentality of rightists they will encourage each other to greater corruption. National when it had some real democratic principles guiding it acted as a brake on the rapacious specialising in sly selfishness and material display, and disdain for citizen equality. As the saying goes – be careful what you wish for.
good question. with nzfirst looking like not being in parliament ,next term, would presume winston will retire, opens door for many former nats to come in. think nzfirst will survive, and the corpse is worth $$$. who better to pick up a slightly used political party than pissed off cashed up nats? surprised that experts like frankdennis havent pontificated about this possibility. you can bet that people without a real life, like hooten and farrar, have thought about this.
you can call him a Tory cunt (honestly held opinion). You can't make claims of fact about him that might end up with Lynn and Mike in court. Nothing to do with being offended, so fuck off with that bullshit lying about moderation. If you have a problem with the site policy take it up with Lynn and see how you get on.
You put the site at risk with potentially defamatory content and you think the Moderators are in the wrong protecting the site!? You only seem to be concerned about your own wants & needs on this site and cry foul when you’re moderated, screaming “censorship!”. Commenters like you don’t change their behaviour and are a chronic pain in the arse, IMHO.
Ultimately the trust is responsible for comments put on the site and we will act against anyone who puts us at what we perceive as a legal risk.
…
If we and/or our lawyers feel that the the [sic] comment or post oversteps a legal bound, violates good taste, invades the privacy of people outside the public domain, or goes beyond the scope of our site – then and only then will we do something about it.
As guidelines to consider. Publishing facts that are manifestly false is relevant to our decision, but clearly stated opinion is not.
I know the policy incognito – read what I wrote again, and ask yourself what there is defamation under the law.
What I said about Key is public record, his bank of which he is on the board – [deleted] The fact the jumped up prick said this maybe you might want to start connecting some dots.
P.S. have you read this site lately – your moderation and those of others has stimmed conversation to the level of a total limited borish fuck fest. It’s dull, repetitive, and limp. No one can have free thought and discussion when you do what you do. Censorship at its core is the shutting down of ideas, and quite frankly incognito, you do that more often than not.
[6 month ban for ignoring moderation, and picking a fight with mods. You know how it works here, *all you had to do was provide a link backing up your claim. Instead you chose to repeat the defamation and throw shit at moderators.
This is nothing to do with censorship, and everything to do with setting boundaries to 1. protect the site owners, and 2. protect the moderators so we don’t have to waste time on people who think they can spray shit around the place. Had you in the first or second instance made an actual political argument with evidence there would be no moderation – weka]
Her husband, Warwick Jordan, said she was happy to have as many throat swabs as needed and had even had one before she left Europe to be cautious.
She was becoming increasingly distressed at being labelled a test dodger, he said. It was her eighth day staying at the Ibis Hotel isolation facility in Rotorua, and every morning since day three a tester and a person in military uniform had turned up asking her to take a nasal test, he said.
When in Rome do as the Romans do. Old saying that people coming to NZ need to remember; if you want to be here and we let you in, and we have something good you can't get somewhere else (Covid-19 free) then you don't moan and try to organise things to suit yourself you twits. Stay in isolation, and while you are there see if you can find a way to stop your nose bleeding, do some research. Good might come of the time spent inside. (Diet, less warfarin etc.)
government information given to all guests at the Ibis in Rotorua said though the more sensitive nasal swab was preferred, a throat swab was an option for those who could not tolerate one.
From your link, the medical note from her doctor should be enough to warrant the throat swab option being used, and certainly not a case of piling on and victim blaming/shaming.
Well the Romans in this case are saying a throat swab is an option. From your link,
"That was despite official documents given to guests on arrival that say a throat swab is an option if necessary."
Looks like some local level bullshit and I hope the RNZ coverage gets her some better medical treatment. Coercing people into unsafe medical testing is really not ok. But oh look, the MoH not taking any responsibility.
You don't need 'having or showing great knowledge or learning' to see the article contains a valid reason why the woman has a case for medical exemption from a nasal swab, and that quarantining visitors were given the option by authorities to have throat tests in the first place, so yeah, likely it was only the only people who were busy bashing their chin with their patellas who could see a problem and launch an attack.
quarantining visitors were given the option by authorities to have throat tests in the first place
Hmmm. The copy of the "Welcome pack" on the managed isolation and quarantine site doesn't mention throat swabs at all. Closest it gets is in the appendix: "You should let the person taking the swab know if you have any condition that reduces the strength of your skin, affects the ability of your blood to form clots, or if you are on blood thinning medication. If you have any of these conditions they may decide not to proceed with the test as your health is the primary concern."
The RNZ article also seems to be unclear as to what is a quote from the DHB medical officer, and what the journalist is stating as fact.
So this government information that allows travellers to choose which option they want might bear closer examination by whomever distributed it. And the MoH need to sort out whether the online documentation is the same as the documentation actually given in the hand.
I have an open mind on it at the moment – it could easily be a case of multiple comms and policy failures between ministry, DHB, and isolation staff, just like 'the sticker says on the box', as it were.
But equally, it might be over-egged by a media system that loves emotional pain and also loves sticking unattributed "context" of doubtful accuracy right after direct quotes.
Knowing the media's attention span, it'll all be forgotten tomorrow, but regardless of whether the true facts are revealed, I hope the poor woman can get tested in accordance with her doctor's medical advice.
whatever the veracity/spin of the story, it looks like reasonably serious communication fail to me, compounded by the MoH's response to RNZ that the decision was up to the DHB. Meaning that there is a decision to be made rather than there being a blanket policy? I'm hoping they don't mean that each DHB can determine its own policy.
But as Rosemary and I have said, this is pretty standard DHB and MoH MO. I'm just surprised to see it still happening this far into the pandemic.
Unfortunately, it's also standard practise to go to the media when one doesn't like a fair decision that has been made. Especially during election time.
And there's a lot in this story hinging on whether an unnamed piece of "government information" explicitly stated that throat swabs could be chosen by the person in isolation, chosen as a common alternative by the isolation facility's testing provider/funder, might be considered by testing provider under specific circumstances, or even mentioned throat swabs specifically at all (in which case that "government information" wasn't the same "welcome pack" I linked to earlier from the MIQ website). One thing that is consistent is that throat swabs are more likely to give a false negative, and thereby enable another cluster to form.
So I don't know whether this is another campaign by individuals for a bigger slice of the pie, or another example of shite coordination within the health system crunching people into flour.
yep. As I said in the post, I'm less concerned about the extra time in isolation that I am about the communication. Although people who pay for isolation or those that have jobs or kids to get back to, need to know this stuff in advance.
What makes me give RNZ more of the benefit of the doubt than the MoH, and DHB is that I think it's reasonable to assume that RNZ would have fact checked the hotel info that was given out in that specific facility, and this isn't the first time during covid that there have been mixed or contradictory messages from health authorities. They just need to sort it out, not fob it off.
I also think it's entirely possible that the woman has been treated badly. Or she's overegging it for some reason. Who knows, but the story is theoretically credible.
This is one of the things I like about some NZ media websites – they'd have a pdf or photo of the document itself, clearing up the veracity question right there.
The other query is that they apparently don't have a review process on the ground. I mean, they must have doctors available – what if someone screws up the count on their blood pressure meds? Or was it just easiest for the testing tech to roll their eyes and log it as a refusal, when a doc calling the woman's GP could have gotten more background on why it was an issue?
It could even be some bullshit about the lab only getting contracted for the throat swabs, so there's no reason to tell higher ups about the possible reasons for a throat swab instead.
There's some fuckage afoot, we just don't know what it is.
Looks like some local level bullshit and I hope the RNZ coverage gets her some better medical treatment. Coercing people into unsafe medical testing is really not ok. But oh look, the MoH not taking any responsibility.
Sadly, SSDD.
Some meglomaniacal local bureaucrat willy waving. Encountered so many of their ilk in the disability arena. Even when clearly in error, the higher-ups at the Misery almost always back them up.
They'd feel like failures if they displayed either compassion or clinical common sense.
Nothing like a bunch of smart people who know how to do everything sitting sniping on the sidelines. I think there is a DIploma in that at most universities and erudite educational establishments.
The piece of news did say that the woman could stay in isolation for another week if she wishes. They may be tightening up on throat swabs to get reliable stats, have all taken the same way. Can you give other people the benefit of the doubt that they know a bit more than you? Or offer a suggestion for change rather than a thundering condemnation?
I did offer suggestions for change. And I covered what the issues are. You can sit here and try and guess what is going on, my expectation is that the MoH and DHBs communicate much more effectively during a pandemic than they have here.
Nothing like commenters who don't bother reading a post (and who seem to imply that the author has no expertise).
Give it up, mate. Claiming we're all smart with qualifications to be know alls just makes your point that much weaker when, in fact, it would be easier for you to acknowledge you made a boo boo in a rush to judgement.
Yes, the article states she can stay for an extra week, just like it also states the people have volunteered to have as many throat swabs as required, too.
Assuming the woman is one of those now having to pay for quarantine, why should she shoulder the extra costs involved to stay longer when the people in charge are ignorantly going against the rules they themselves gave to arrivals? And she still has a valid medical reason to avoid nasal poking.
I wouldn't worry about those erudite classes if I were you, but I would look into seeing if there are any compassion courses going.
And who hadn't read the policy. Unfortunately, neither had the defence force person apparently. If they had they could have stepped in and said that a throat swab was fine.
John Campbell talked to James Shaw & Shane Jones for 13 mins this morning & it was extremely good viewing – convivial three-way discourse & to the point. Shane at his best for a change. The segment is viewable here:
Thanks. I tested the theory by going to their site, found the share icon below right as you said, clicked on the email icon. It produced an email with the clip-specific link contained within, which I could then copy to use here. Simple!
nice one! This works from quite a few websites that like to control their URLs. It's also good practice to chop the tracking bits off the end of URLs eg FB links. That's everything after the ?
When your own team has spent decades honing their savage attack skills, then they get a wee bit grouchy with you, it's not a good idea to poke them with a stick.
More good background on The Lincoln Project linked below. Note that very few people are endorsing them, or are under the delusion they are anything other than dangerous operatives opposed to everything progressive. Nevertheless, there is still a very temporary alignment of interests as they vainly attempt to wipe the cheeto-tinged skidmark from their image and reputations.
Oh god no, I'm not watching the debate. I'd rather spend the time shoving red-hot needles up under my fingernails. Sorry.
I'm dubious that there's any value whatsoever in these kinds of political debates, beyond a crude sort of lions vs christians entertainment. Let alone my extreme dislike of the way any kind of video or conversational format is deathly slow and inaccurate at conveying actual information, but masks that communication deficit by generating emotional responses.
Lmao!!! I lasted about 2mins listening to it, work was way too busy.
Thanks for posting those tweets, too funny.
By crikey pence is a mess, crusty eyes and a random fly, that will set the conspiracy theorists into a tail spin. This presidential election could well be the weirdest in US history.
Thanks Ric, re Al Jazeera, come to think of it, they will probably be the best news outlet for a breakdown of the debate.
Enough is enough and more is too much, says Dr Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist at Goldsmiths University of London… He makes his case in his new book Less is More: How DeGrowth Will Save The World. …
The current ecological crisis is systemic, not the result of individual bad behaviour, Hickel says. “It’s ultimately being driven by a system – capitalism – that requires perpetual expansion. “So, we basically become victims of this system and so too does the planet.”
Degrowth and recession are not the same things, he says “A recession is what happens when a growth-oriented economy like capitalism fails to get growth, things fall apart.”…
Much of Europe outperforms the USA with only a third or a half of America’s GDP, he says. “The answer is some countries distribute income more fairly and crucially invest in universal public services like robust education and welfare, affordable housing and public transportation.”
And the growth mantra is fuelling the greatest crisis humanity has faced, he says….
“We’re not really seeing it in our politics yet, except in a few countries, New Zealand being one of them actually where this is a conversation that is happening.”
Hear, hear, here, to this. When do we want it? – We want it now. What did you say? – We want it now. Do we really need it? – Yes we really do!:
“We need economies that can shift into a lower gear without harming people’s lives, so degrowth basically calls for a planned down-shifting of the economy so that we use less fossil fuels, we use less unnecessary resources but at the same time distribute existing income and opportunities more fairly so that people can have access to the things they need to live flourishing lives.”
Well, that's a puzzle! Much mentioned here in recent years by myself & Weka, if not others. But yeah, thanks for posting about that book!
Incidentally, the word just codifies the steady-state economy really, so it's jargon updating the Green alt-economy agenda from almost half a century back…
Mentioned degrowth – yes. Many things have been mentioned over the 20th century and recently but getting everyone to pay attention and then accept and see workable ways of putting the ideas into practice is the task of Sisyphus. Has to go beyond wise guys on political blogs. And by wise guys I mean both the fact of your wisdom, and the flip comment that the general public often makes.
Is it possible to concentrate on getting the election over with left facing parties in and standing shoulder to shoulder in strength and commitment for that and not get onto all the particular wounds we need to address?S Munro?
Haha. Hosking in the Herald says the election is Labour’s to lose and that’s why we’re so nervous. There will be an absolute torrent of this tripe from all the usual suspects over the next few days.
It's OK apparently to scour peoples facebook pages when wanting to employ them – it is time actually that an actual ethical position is taken that it is not. Facebook does not always equal real life.
I can't believe this sort of juvenile memeing/dog-whistling/sexist/racist bull-shit is part of a presentation to employers. But then I can cause having been part of many groups with them involved I have been exposed to their banality. There are good intelligent employers out there but this sought of crap gives them a bad name. And plenty of us baby boomers can't stand Elvis.
Then of course comes the fake apology. The ridiculous we apologise if you were offended. What about just simply saying "we're a bunch of idiots and Ms Sparke is right"
"In a statement, the association (EMA) chief executive Brett O’Riley said the presenter had attempted to “inject some lightness into a complex topic”.
“We apologise if this caused Ms Sparke offence. The deliberately provocative slide of the heavily tattooed and pierced person was used to highlight what employers cannot and must not discriminate against.”
A second slide compared the attitudes of three generations – baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y – to work, sex, money and other influences.
While baby boomers were shown to be prepared to work their way to the top, Gen X were said to be looking for a shortcut, and Gen Y purportedly threatened to quit unless they were given Saturday off."
I have a feeling they were in the cart for the same/similar presentation a few years back as well.
I would say Ms Sparke comes off extremely well there. I don't doubt the EMA would be pushing some form of group identity narrative if it suites their purpose while continuing to claim Green politics is the divisive force.
Trump is pushing for Amy Coney Barrett to reach the Supreme Court, not because he gives a flying fruitcake about the right to life or any other rights. His powerful donors do, though, and he has to keep them happy if he’s to stay in power.
And Trump was standing on that balcony, touting his virility and strength, but leaving out the one drug that contributed to his recovery: Regeneron.
Perhaps you heard the docs talk about monoclonal antibodies. They worked wonders in fighting back Ebola, and scientists have hope for its use in other diseases, though it’s still experimental in COVID-19.
Here’s the rub. The antibodies come from stem cells recovered from human embryos.
How do I know? Regeneron told me so:
From their website:
“As is the case with many other science-focused biotechnology companies, Regeneron uses a wide variety of research tools and technologies to help discover and develop new therapeutics. Stem cells are one such tool. The stem cells most commonly used at Regeneron are mouse embryonic stem cells and human blood stem cells. Currently, there are limited research efforts employing human-induced pluripotent stem cell lines derived from adult human cells and human embryonic stem cells that are approved for research use by the National Institutes of Health and created solely through in vitro fertilization.”
They further explain in a paper in the journal Science, “The cells were originally isolated …from an aborted human fetus.”
For the West Coast audience, that’s, “…an aborted human fetus.”
A quiet read to take the mind of the hubbub of the present . 'What did we do before the world wars Mum and Dad'? Will we have to consider reshaping our lives to achieve similar?
1870 is the setting for the Lark Rise to Candleford book trilogy summarised below.
Flora Thompson's immortal trilogy, containing "Lark Rise", "Over To Candleford" and "Candleford Green", is a heartwarming portrayal of country life at the close of the 19th century.
This story of three closely related Oxfordshire communities – a hamlet, the nearby village and a small market town – is based on the author's experiences during childhood and youth. It chronicles May Day celebrations and forgotten children's games, the daily lives of farmworkers and craftsmen, friends and relations – all painted with a gaiety and freshness of observation that make this trilogy an evocative and sensitive memorial to Victorian rural England.
The stories are available on Project Gutenberg. But I don't know just how and copyright law for one's own country throws a shadow.
Fuck the Warehouse and its associated brands… healthy profit on the back of the wage subsidies… plenty of cash on hand…and they say without it they would have had a 4 million loss, I say keep the 4 million and hand the other 50 million or so back…
Corporations have taken the pissand are lining their executive and shareholder pockets.
The new govt needs to send Ird into these businesses and assess their actual eligibility and contemplate a Covid Koha tax on these pofitable firms
Well, I accidentally watched the Harris Pence debate. Pence would start an answer with a rabbit hole then start to answer the actual question and run over his allotted 2minutes, looking hard done by for not having enough time to answer. Repeatedly. (God would be clutched in the Pence right fist as he would, if he got the chance, like to carry out the very right agenda. Warning! Warning!)
Harris came across as informed, fluent and answered the questions pretty concisely. Make a good President? Yes. (Reminded me of Jacinda???)
There was a live spaced -out masked audience who were completely silent throughout.
The winner was the black fly sitting on Pence's very white hair.
Image of praying/preying mantis woman in church with plastic bottle. Is it ordinary drinking water, christening water, or hand sanitiser all ready to 'cleanse the spot from my hand' – Shakespeare?
Declaims in voice of doom: Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?
National's not having the week Judith Collins would have prayed for. After a couple of strong debate performances some MPs were getting hopeful. Then Denise Lee sent an email and Collins went for a walk.
ASA, a regulator unable to enforce decisions. Very postmodern.
Advertising Standards Authority chief executive Hilary Souter said the Authority was a voluntary organisation; it relied on its members (which include most major media, advertising and marketing groupings) to comply with its rulings. "It's disappointing that we've got really good engagement from all the other parties but that Advance NZ have chosen not to engage," she said. "But we don't have any legislative framework behind us – we haven't needed to in the past."
Last night, the party's co-leader Jami-Lee Ross told Newsroom they would not comply with the ruling against using the advertisements again.
"The ASA should not be trying to interfere in election debate and the free speech of political parties," he said. "They have no standing in regulating free speech. The evidence to back up our claims were in the advert in question at the bottom. We stand by the ads' content."
Last year, Justice Minister Andrew Little said he had little confidence in the Authority, after it rejected his complaint against a National Party advertisement.
"I just think they're not equipped to do the quasi-judicial job of ensuring that somebody who asserts in a paid advertisement that it is in fact," Little said. "The test that the Advertising Standards Authority seems to use now is that if the advertiser believes it to be true then it will be true."
Hi,Before we crack into today’s Webworm, I wanted to acknowledge the fact that Israel is pushing into Rafah. Over 100,000 Palestinians are now attempting to flee the one place that was deemed “safe”.Trouble is, the place they’re fleeing to is already destroyed. Total annihilation is the end goal here.“Israel is ...
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. In 1981, Ginette McDonald stood on the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre and directly addressed Queen Elizabeth II. It was a ...
An essay by Lily Duval from the just-released anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child adjacent.I was 22 when my friend Alice gave birth in the living room of our pokey Addington flat. She laboured in the blow-up pool for hours. Garish fish swam along the inflated ...
Ella Borrie on the best books about motherhood she’s come across so far. Over the past few years I’ve been drawn to books about motherhood. I’m fascinated by the joys and horrors of becoming a parent. The question of children also feels more pressing than it used to. It’s like ...
Out of gift ideas for mum? You can’t go wrong with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a new squeegee. Emily Writes is the writer and editor of Emily Writes Weekly. This week marks five years since I published a post on The Spinoff about Mother’s Day marketing titled ‘A ...
My husband is posted overseas for 12 months and I’m armed with an expensive, newfangled vibrator. Will I miss him? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.A few days after my husband leaves, a new sex toy arrives at the front door. Nestled ...
Jaimie Baird’s new book Here Today Gone Tomorrow is a record of four decades of graffiti and street art in Wellington, told through more than 1,200 photographs. He spoke with Joel MacManus about what inspired the book. How did you first get interested in photographing street art? I remember ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at a busy week where food of all political leanings dominated. Sometimes you’re just going about your week thinking you’ve got a good handle on what might be coming as far as news topics and then someone (usually a politician) says something so ridiculous that ...
In a week of cold rain and frost, the climate in courtroom four upstairs at the Invercargill courthouse was simmering with restrained indignation. At times it felt like the famous Mexican standoff scene from Reservoir Dogs, or, as someone watching the proceedings described it, there was so much throwing of ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
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The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
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Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
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Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down the national book awards. What are the Ockhams?The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are our annual national awards for books published for adults, and have existed in this form since 2016. There are four categories: Fiction, Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction. There ...
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Successive governments have tried, and failed, to count Māori. But with the return of social investment, it’s more important than ever to get good data. The post Government looks for a better way to count Māori appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Forgive me, lefties, for I have sinned. Well almost but not quite, thank goodness.
I almost felt, for a moment, sorry for Judith.
I’ve been a political observer since before I was able to vote, but I’ve never witnessed a train wreck like this Natz campaign under Judith and Gerry.
I was out of the country in 2002 when English managed an epic low: was his campaign so full of hilarious moments as this one?
Merv from Manurewa!
Goldsmith’s holes!
Leaked emails!
‘Private’ moment of prayer!
Shouty leader insisting we don’t diss Samoa!
Sham stroll!
What have I missed – and more importantly, what’s next?
Next, Tony, is the CB poll on One News tonight! If there's no rise for National, time to do something more desperate. Where's Simon Lusk??
Ben Thomas talks about staging:
Ben's thesis is that we ought to appreciate the Judith: she's a liberal. Roll her, we end up with a fundie christian. I say, what better way to consign the National Party to the dustbin of history? Bring it on!
Ben Thomas — the man to call when you need a band-aid slapped on a gaping chest wound. "It's really not as bad as it looks. Yes, I know we can see her internal organs, but on a positive note, they all look fairly healthy."
heh, I've been on the verge of feeling sorry for her too. It's good to have some capacity for compassion for people who are doing despicable things, it's part of humanity and not being like them 😉
Did you know there's a basis upon which the rightist rabble has coalesced?
And that's why Winston
This idea of Winston's that facts emerge during an election campaign, and they can be known, and furthermore everyone ought to refrain from advance voting until they have all emerged, is so wacky that even conspiracy theorists will be stunned!!
Polls need to be outlawed!
I've talked to 3 people in the last week who like me had top come in 1st or 2nd on the vote compass, none of us intend to vote for them due to the poor polling.
By the way all of us had labour and the greens as the other 2 in the top 3. So this line that top is right wing is bs.
Those polls should not be taken very seriously. They are massively influenced by how the things which seem most relevant to the election (the questions) distribute peoples views which may be not important at all to them. Then there is the problem you identified with TOP where their policy wonk positions are interpreted as economically left wing by the pollster, which is a debatable interpretation at best.
A $250 ubi, a wealth tax on equity and raising taxes on superannuatants who work so that they dont have to raise the retirement age . Not very right wing.
I struggle with taxing unrealized profit in housing but what do I know.
I see the UBI as being a cut in the existing welfare for the most vulnerable (and its not been suggested as complimentary by TOP).
I see the capital tax as an ineffective attempt to leave housing policy to the market, and its not addressing the underlying problem, but from TOPs point of view they largely ignore other policies such as those Labour is attempting.
And the idea of all these retirement policies is to privatise retirement income. I really don't know why Cullen has been given any left wing cred for his parts because at best its just an offshore investment fund and an attempt to privatise social security.
Basically taxes up=left, taxes down=right is a massive charicature of policy positions, and makes for bad economic policy thinking.
but what do I know.
Not much, it seems.
The equity tax is not actually a tax on equity, but a tax on equity's yield However it is applied only when that yield is less than 3%: more than 3% and tax would simply be paid in the normal way in any case.
Probably the largest group, that this tax would affect, would be owners of family homes, whose equity in their property attracts no tax at present. Arguably, applying the tax in this case is justified by the fact that the rent that they save, by living in their own home, represents a sort of quasi income which should be taxed.
Those polls should not be taken very seriously.
But they are taken seriously—by the news media. If they didn't have polls to talk about, or cute animal stories—this morning featured a pesky raccoon annoying a CNN reporter—they would have to report on trivia, like the show trials of political dissenters.
[link deleted]
[Link deleted. You’ve already linked to it @ 10, which is the appropriate thing to do, but in this particular thread it could easily act as a detraction and diversion – Incognito]
Nice meiosis.
Pesky Raccoon 2020!
See my Moderation note @ 9:03 AM.
I found that too. Seems like they are trying to stear away the Labour/Green vote yea it's bs, but no L/G voter will be sucked in, like you they will see through that.
"So this line that top is right wing is bs."
They're not right wing, they're radical centrists. By positioning (they will support a National govt, so you might want to consider that in your voting choices), and by some of their policies (anti-welfare is the on I am most familiar with, but there are others).
I agree about polling though. We'd be much better off without polling in the month before the election. We'd probably have to ban publication of leaked internally polling too.
TOP are neither left wing nor right wing; but neither are they really centrists. I think they are sufficiently unique as to defy categorization.
By the way they are not opposed to welfare. However they would like to see a UBI replace welfare, though in practice top-ups would probably be necessary.
They are welcome to present a more nuanced welfare reform policy at any time, one which acknowledges positive discrimination has benefits. But when they do so they will probably have to explain that the so called 'efficiency' gains of universalism are a fiction.
Until then I will go with how this has worked in other countries where UBI policies have tried to undermine better functioning welfare regimes.
Chary with the truth mikesh but sounding nicely authoritative.
By the way they are not opposed to welfare. However they would like to see a UBI replace welfare, though in practice top-ups would probably be necessary.
After listening to authoritative commenters for long enough one can start hallucinating about double rainbows – what does it mean..
what does it mean
I recall being taught the answer in a physics class long ago. Vaguely recollect it as refraction plus reflection but don't quote me. Light bouncing off the back wall of the droplet after passing thro, then re-entry into atmosphere at a different angle to the primary refracted beam…
Refraction plus reflection – what I get when I read your thoughtful memos, and further refract though my vision is deteriorating. Wow a double rainbow – I sure look for one just now.
Simmons has an ideological commitment to getting rid of welfare. TOP don't have any real policy around top ups or a range of other issues related to welfare, including an adequate policy for disabled people and others who cannot work. When they change all that, I'll stop calling them anti-welfare, but at the moment their policy is dangerous for vulnerable people and those who may end up needing state assistance in the future.
"though in practice top-ups would probably be necessary."
See that's the problem right there, there's no probably about it and that degree of vagueness is just no ok in political work. TOP's UBI policy is defacto discriminatory against people who cannot work. Imagine TOP negotiating with National and ACT, what sort of UBI do you think we would end up with? Do you think that TOP would take a UBI off the table if NACT refused to treat disabled people well, or do you think that TOP would compromise and let welfare be dismantled before anything else was put in place?
"TOP are neither left wing nor right wing; but neither are they really centrists. I think they are sufficiently unique as to defy categorization."
This is probably true, but I think my description stands. They've positioned themselves to be able to work between the left and right dominant parties ie they're in the centre. And their policies can often be understood in left or right terms as well.
They're certainly not left wing. Some of what they do is progressive, and there are some solid ideas there. Some of what they do is regressive. Some of it is conservative.
golden dawn…nazis convicted. Awesome !
'Tens of thousands rallied outside the court, holding banners reading "Fascism, Never Again" and "Freedom for the People, Death to Fascism".
"We must send a message to the younger generations, a message against fascism," said 69-year-old Sophia. "It's our duty to democracy to be here today, to show we are standing up against such criminal actions." '
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/427834/greece-s-far-right-golden-dawn-declared-a-criminal-group
Big shout out to Auckland Central branch of the National Party for giving us all the unexpected delight of hearing the term “Potemkin Village” introduced into the election campaign.
Yeah, and as a semi-resident of Ponsonby (the road starts one short block away and I grew up there for the first few years of my life), let me tell you that I suspect that description alone will cause blow back on to whatshername Mellon(?) the National candidate.
They may be bovine and like that kind of thing in Parnell or Remmers – but it goes down like a sick balloon around here.
“Potemkin Village
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village The term comes from stories of a fake portable village built solely to impress Empress Catherine II by her former lover Grigory Potemkin, during her journey to Crimea in 1787.
Thanks wikipedia how would I manage without you. Donation coming up.
Lynn, can you please have a look at that comment in Pending.
The PM is heading to East Cape today to give Kiri Allan’s already good chances of taking this seat a further push.
Amazingly Republican veteran Lindsey Graham is getting outspent and completely outplayed in the South Carolina Senate race. The Cook Political report has moved it into the toss-up column.
https://cookpolitical.com/analysis/senate/south-carolina-senate/south-carolina-senate-moves-toss
All sorts of murmuring about who might have what to hold over that broken reed.
New post debate, post Trump Covid diagnosis Quinnipiac Poll
FLORIDA: Biden 51%, Trump 40%
PENNSYLVANIA: Biden 54%, Trump 41%
IOWA: Biden 50%, Trump 45%
Looks good. We need a landslide to render any electoral f*ckery by the Republican machine ineffectual.
Likely Milestone coming up:
–Labour– hitting the 1 mill+ mark for the first time ever.
They came so close yet so far in 2005 (935k) & 2017 (956k).
–Nats–, meanwhile, are likely to fall below 1 mill for the first time since they hit that particular milestone way back in 2008.
🙂 That is good news.
BTW: I like the way you used the colours..
Wow Yahoo!!! I am one of that million !!You go Jacinda and team.
‘None Of It Reported’: How Corporate Media Buried The Assange Trial
by DAVID CROMWELL, Media Lens, 7th October 2020
One of the most imposing features of state-corporate propaganda is its incessant, repetitive nature. Over and over again, the ‘mainstream’ media have to convince the public that ‘our’ government prioritises the health, welfare and livelihoods of the general population, rather than the private interests of an elite stratum of society that owns and runs all the major institutions, banks, corporations and media.
We are constantly bombarded by government ministers and their media lackeys telling us that ‘our’ armed forces require huge resources, at public expense, to maintain the country’s ‘peace’ and ‘security’. We do not hear so much about the realpolitik of invading, bombing or otherwise ‘intervening’ in other countries with military force, diplomatic muscle, and bribes of trade and aid deals to carve up natural resources and markets for the benefit of a few.
For those old enough to remember 2002-2003, who can forget the endless repeated rhetoric of the ‘threat’ posed by Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, of how his ‘weapons of mass destruction’ could be launched within 45 minutes of his order, and how ‘we’ simply had to remove him from power? Or how, in 2011, the US, UK and France had to launch ‘humanitarian intervention’ to stop the ‘mass slaughter’ of civilians by Gaddafi’s forces in Libya. And on and on.
Read more…
https://www.medialens.org/2020/none-of-it-reported-how-corporate-media-buried-the-assange-trial/
Thanks Morrissey that makes the point strongly. Most of us will have noticed this in much of the media, but not seen how widely practised it is. Will read later. Keeping up is time-consuming don't you think!
Frankly, the current hearings are just a preamble.
Not matter the outcome, the losing party will appeal, and the losing party of that will appeal, and so on up to the UK Supreme Court. Again.
Unless the US gets a sane potus, in which case they might drop it.
There are some and I wish more, people would tell him to get off the pot-us.
I'm struggling to think of a good call the current oaf has made.
He's probably only going for extradition because Obama's office reckoned it was too close to the 1st amendment to try.
Umm, it's an extradition hearing, not a trial. Words have actual meanings, and it's helpful to clear communication to use the words that correctly describe a situation. If, on the other hand, your intent is propaganda and disinformation, then misusing words is quite a useful tool.
I won't be surprised if one of Biden's early actions as president will be to make some statement along the lines of 'Discussions with the incoming Attorney General have affirmed the determination made by Obama and Attorney General Holder in 2013 that it is not in the interest of the United States to prosecute Mr Assange, for the reasons that were publicised at the time. We therefore withdraw the extradition proceedings'.
Nats are now officially in save-the-furniture mode as the house burns down
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/08-10-2020/keen-to-see-judith-collins-jettisoned-careful-what-you-wish-for/
This article is spin. Ben Thomas is a National Party operative—more pleasant than Matthew Hooton but just as ideological. He's a regular guest on RNZ National—usually billed as a representative of the ludicrously mislabelled “centre-right.” He’s desperate to put the best possible interpretation on this embarrassment.
Ben Thomas is arguing that if Collins goes, then we'll get a religious right replacement whereas Judith is a liberal.
Who cares? Such a retreat to the religious right would mean that the National party would split, as it should.
Who cares? This would mean that National are still in opposition with an illiberal leader. More for ordinary folk to dislike.
The only downside is that NZ would lack an effective opposition which good democracy demands, in the absence of a second chamber, a presidential/governor-general veto, and now with a four year term being promoted.
I have had moments of feeling sorry for judith Collins. Pretty humiliating last few days for her.
but then I remember dirty politics orivida and the lies about her visit to their office and subsequent dinner with a border official. Her association with Cameron Slater. And I think of all the dirty tricks National have pulled over the years too many to list.
Then I feel more comfortable with Collins being the casualty. Their chickens coming home to roost. Long overdue.
hope this is causing Key, Joyce and Bennett some pain, but usually psychopathic types feel very little
These type are fame seekers and loosing face is a body blow to their arrogant egotistical narcissism.
Now their reputations have been exposed that's the end of the line National will have to ditch all these Dirty Political players out of a very small caucus given the back stabbing leaks it's going to be a very painful process. ACT being farther to the right in larger numbers will make hard for National to be a centrist party.
National the strong team is shot to pieces driving around rural areas many farmers who would normally have hoardings up in their paddocks haven't bothered ,
They are not impressed with National money for campaigning is down .
After the election blood letting will be the order of they day.
Bloodletting… and then looking for a new job because you've just been chucked out for behaving like a rapacious brigand, or being content to surround yourself with rapacious brigands. I don't wish Collins any ill-will, but this is pure karma. She's spent her career cultivating a different kind of unpleasantness, one not liberally coated in Teflon. Unlike Saint John of Key, things tend to stick to Judith Collins.
Nats going to ACT could be a disadvantage to the left. When there is a group herd mentality of rightists they will encourage each other to greater corruption. National when it had some real democratic principles guiding it acted as a brake on the rapacious specialising in sly selfishness and material display, and disdain for citizen equality. As the saying goes – be careful what you wish for.
@Morrissey 11.1
I think most people will have no trouble sifting through the spin and desperation on this one.
How real is the possibility that the National Party could splinter into seperate entities a la Labour post Douglas?
good question. with nzfirst looking like not being in parliament ,next term, would presume winston will retire, opens door for many former nats to come in. think nzfirst will survive, and the corpse is worth $$$. who better to pick up a slightly used political party than pissed off cashed up nats? surprised that experts like frankdennis havent pontificated about this possibility. you can bet that people without a real life, like hooten and farrar, have thought about this.
[deleted]
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12371339
[deleted]
[please don’t post potentially defamatory comments, it puts the site owners at risk – weka]
Key promised to wipe the scourge of P from NZ [deleted]
Cutting police numbers by 880 while the population increased by 20% played right into the Drug Barrons hands.
Crushless Collins and pullya Benefit were police ministers administering cuts, while pretending to be tough on Crime.
[please don’t post potentially defamatory comments, it puts the site owners at risk – weka]
mod note
The worst part weka is you left the link which without comment, which makes it totally fubar.
Key is a Tory cunt and needs to be called out for his shitfuckery, but no. Can't say that, someone will get offended.
you can call him a Tory cunt (honestly held opinion). You can't make claims of fact about him that might end up with Lynn and Mike in court. Nothing to do with being offended, so fuck off with that bullshit lying about moderation. If you have a problem with the site policy take it up with Lynn and see how you get on.
mod note.
Fuck off weka, read some news for fuck sake.
https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/
Key has his hands all over this shit, along with all the other Aussie banks and their bosses.
Totally fucked off with your censorship, it’s fucking tiresome from you and the other moderators.
You put the site at risk with potentially defamatory content and you think the Moderators are in the wrong protecting the site!? You only seem to be concerned about your own wants & needs on this site and cry foul when you’re moderated, screaming “censorship!”. Commenters like you don’t change their behaviour and are a chronic pain in the arse, IMHO.
https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/
I know the policy incognito – read what I wrote again, and ask yourself what there is defamation under the law.
What I said about Key is public record, his bank of which he is on the board – [deleted] The fact the jumped up prick said this maybe you might want to start connecting some dots.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/feb/25/new-zealand-troops-iraq-isis-john-key-parliament-video
P.S. have you read this site lately – your moderation and those of others has stimmed conversation to the level of a total limited borish fuck fest. It’s dull, repetitive, and limp. No one can have free thought and discussion when you do what you do. Censorship at its core is the shutting down of ideas, and quite frankly incognito, you do that more often than not.
[6 month ban for ignoring moderation, and picking a fight with mods. You know how it works here, *all you had to do was provide a link backing up your claim. Instead you chose to repeat the defamation and throw shit at moderators.
This is nothing to do with censorship, and everything to do with setting boundaries to 1. protect the site owners, and 2. protect the moderators so we don’t have to waste time on people who think they can spray shit around the place. Had you in the first or second instance made an actual political argument with evidence there would be no moderation – weka]
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/427849/authorities-insist-on-nasal-swab-despite-woman-s-bleeding-risk
Her husband, Warwick Jordan, said she was happy to have as many throat swabs as needed and had even had one before she left Europe to be cautious.
She was becoming increasingly distressed at being labelled a test dodger, he said. It was her eighth day staying at the Ibis Hotel isolation facility in Rotorua, and every morning since day three a tester and a person in military uniform had turned up asking her to take a nasal test, he said.
When in Rome do as the Romans do. Old saying that people coming to NZ need to remember; if you want to be here and we let you in, and we have something good you can't get somewhere else (Covid-19 free) then you don't moan and try to organise things to suit yourself you twits. Stay in isolation, and while you are there see if you can find a way to stop your nose bleeding, do some research. Good might come of the time spent inside. (Diet, less warfarin etc.)
From your link, the medical note from her doctor should be enough to warrant the throat swab option being used, and certainly not a case of piling on and victim blaming/shaming.
Who is the victim? If any at all, NZ is. Always under attack no matter what we do, and how good the outcomes are.
Well the Romans in this case are saying a throat swab is an option. From your link,
"That was despite official documents given to guests on arrival that say a throat swab is an option if necessary."
Looks like some local level bullshit and I hope the RNZ coverage gets her some better medical treatment. Coercing people into unsafe medical testing is really not ok. But oh look, the MoH not taking any responsibility.
You think people would actually read the articles they link to, eh?
Would save an awful lot of knee jerking injuries.
Anyone looking at the article could draw conclusions from it. Not everyone is as erudite as yourself TA.
You don't need 'having or showing great knowledge or learning' to see the article contains a valid reason why the woman has a case for medical exemption from a nasal swab, and that quarantining visitors were given the option by authorities to have throat tests in the first place, so yeah, likely it was only the only people who were busy bashing their chin with their patellas who could see a problem and launch an attack.
Hmmm. The copy of the "Welcome pack" on the managed isolation and quarantine site doesn't mention throat swabs at all. Closest it gets is in the appendix: "You should let the person taking the swab know if you have any condition that reduces the strength of your skin, affects the ability of your blood to form clots, or if you are on blood thinning medication. If you have any of these conditions they may decide not to proceed with the test as your health is the primary concern."
The RNZ article also seems to be unclear as to what is a quote from the DHB medical officer, and what the journalist is stating as fact.
So this government information that allows travellers to choose which option they want might bear closer examination by whomever distributed it. And the MoH need to sort out whether the online documentation is the same as the documentation actually given in the hand.
Just going from the text in the rnz link at 16 – Part of which I quoted in 16.1
If the info is incorrect I'll retract it as soon as they do, but I will cede to your more informed piece as you appear to have delved in to it.
I have an open mind on it at the moment – it could easily be a case of multiple comms and policy failures between ministry, DHB, and isolation staff, just like 'the sticker says on the box', as it were.
But equally, it might be over-egged by a media system that loves emotional pain and also loves sticking unattributed "context" of doubtful accuracy right after direct quotes.
Knowing the media's attention span, it'll all be forgotten tomorrow, but regardless of whether the true facts are revealed, I hope the poor woman can get tested in accordance with her doctor's medical advice.
I hope she gets help dealing with isolation and that the staff make it clear that she's not being blamed for refusing that particular test.
whatever the veracity/spin of the story, it looks like reasonably serious communication fail to me, compounded by the MoH's response to RNZ that the decision was up to the DHB. Meaning that there is a decision to be made rather than there being a blanket policy? I'm hoping they don't mean that each DHB can determine its own policy.
But as Rosemary and I have said, this is pretty standard DHB and MoH MO. I'm just surprised to see it still happening this far into the pandemic.
Unfortunately, it's also standard practise to go to the media when one doesn't like a fair decision that has been made. Especially during election time.
And there's a lot in this story hinging on whether an unnamed piece of "government information" explicitly stated that throat swabs could be chosen by the person in isolation, chosen as a common alternative by the isolation facility's testing provider/funder, might be considered by testing provider under specific circumstances, or even mentioned throat swabs specifically at all (in which case that "government information" wasn't the same "welcome pack" I linked to earlier from the MIQ website). One thing that is consistent is that throat swabs are more likely to give a false negative, and thereby enable another cluster to form.
So I don't know whether this is another campaign by individuals for a bigger slice of the pie, or another example of shite coordination within the health system crunching people into flour.
yep. As I said in the post, I'm less concerned about the extra time in isolation that I am about the communication. Although people who pay for isolation or those that have jobs or kids to get back to, need to know this stuff in advance.
What makes me give RNZ more of the benefit of the doubt than the MoH, and DHB is that I think it's reasonable to assume that RNZ would have fact checked the hotel info that was given out in that specific facility, and this isn't the first time during covid that there have been mixed or contradictory messages from health authorities. They just need to sort it out, not fob it off.
I also think it's entirely possible that the woman has been treated badly. Or she's overegging it for some reason. Who knows, but the story is theoretically credible.
This is one of the things I like about some NZ media websites – they'd have a pdf or photo of the document itself, clearing up the veracity question right there.
The other query is that they apparently don't have a review process on the ground. I mean, they must have doctors available – what if someone screws up the count on their blood pressure meds? Or was it just easiest for the testing tech to roll their eyes and log it as a refusal, when a doc calling the woman's GP could have gotten more background on why it was an issue?
It could even be some bullshit about the lab only getting contracted for the throat swabs, so there's no reason to tell higher ups about the possible reasons for a throat swab instead.
There's some fuckage afoot, we just don't know what it is.
Looks like some local level bullshit and I hope the RNZ coverage gets her some better medical treatment. Coercing people into unsafe medical testing is really not ok. But oh look, the MoH not taking any responsibility.
Sadly, SSDD.
Some meglomaniacal local bureaucrat willy waving. Encountered so many of their ilk in the disability arena. Even when clearly in error, the higher-ups at the Misery almost always back them up.
They'd feel like failures if they displayed either compassion or clinical common sense.
Looked like classic health system bullshit to me too.
I put up a post.
https://thestandard.org.nz/is-this-woman-being-coerced-into-unsafe-healthcare-by-the-dhbs-handling-of-covid-testing/
Nothing like a bunch of smart people who know how to do everything sitting sniping on the sidelines. I think there is a DIploma in that at most universities and erudite educational establishments.
The piece of news did say that the woman could stay in isolation for another week if she wishes. They may be tightening up on throat swabs to get reliable stats, have all taken the same way. Can you give other people the benefit of the doubt that they know a bit more than you? Or offer a suggestion for change rather than a thundering condemnation?
I did offer suggestions for change. And I covered what the issues are. You can sit here and try and guess what is going on, my expectation is that the MoH and DHBs communicate much more effectively during a pandemic than they have here.
Nothing like commenters who don't bother reading a post (and who seem to imply that the author has no expertise).
Give it up, mate. Claiming we're all smart with qualifications to be know alls just makes your point that much weaker when, in fact, it would be easier for you to acknowledge you made a boo boo in a rush to judgement.
Yes, the article states she can stay for an extra week, just like it also states the people have volunteered to have as many throat swabs as required, too.
Assuming the woman is one of those now having to pay for quarantine, why should she shoulder the extra costs involved to stay longer when the people in charge are ignorantly going against the rules they themselves gave to arrivals? And she still has a valid medical reason to avoid nasal poking.
I wouldn't worry about those erudite classes if I were you, but I would look into seeing if there are any compassion courses going.
And who hadn't read the policy. Unfortunately, neither had the defence force person apparently. If they had they could have stepped in and said that a throat swab was fine.
Sounds like a nondecision made by some jobsworth really. Nagging her about it is just the sort of institutional sadism those people get off on.
There's a bit of that about true.
Five minor party leaders in TVNZ's multi-party debate tonight: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/minor-party-leaders-go-head-in-tvnzs-multi-debate-tonight
In our High Court yesterday the New Conservative party lost its bid to be included :
Political editor Jessica Mutch McKay will moderate, runs 7-8pm on One.
John Campbell talked to James Shaw & Shane Jones for 13 mins this morning & it was extremely good viewing – convivial three-way discourse & to the point. Shane at his best for a change. The segment is viewable here:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/breakfast/clips/james-shaw-and-shane-jones-talk-politics-with-general-election-less-than-two-weeks-away
[fixed the link]
use the share button Dennis. Click on one of them and then cut and past the URL from that. The main Breakfast URL just reverts back to TVNZ.
share button
Where is it?? I put the cursor over all the icons above the reply window & none identified as such…
bottom right, in line with the play button. It's the three dots and two lines in a shape like this <
It will give you a number of options, which might depend on if you have an account with FB, twitter etc, but the email one should work.
Thanks. I tested the theory by going to their site, found the share icon below right as you said, clicked on the email icon. It produced an email with the clip-specific link contained within, which I could then copy to use here. Simple!
nice one! This works from quite a few websites that like to control their URLs. It's also good practice to chop the tracking bits off the end of URLs eg FB links. That's everything after the ?
When your own team has spent decades honing their savage attack skills, then they get a wee bit grouchy with you, it's not a good idea to poke them with a stick.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/7/1984433/–Trump-Goes-Decides-To-Go-Up-Against-Steve-Schmidt-Bad-Move
Result is kinda like:
More good background on The Lincoln Project linked below. Note that very few people are endorsing them, or are under the delusion they are anything other than dangerous operatives opposed to everything progressive. Nevertheless, there is still a very temporary alignment of interests as they vainly attempt to wipe the cheeto-tinged skidmark from their image and reputations.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/12/inside-the-lincoln-projects-war-against-trump
Jesus. That was brutal. Entertaining, but brutal.
https://twitter.com/latelateshow/status/1313673445188620288
that was probably mccartneys best ever song. too good to be given the weird al treatment. get the original and play it LOUD!
Andre, are you going to watch the debate today between Karmala and pence? I'm going to try and listen to it at work.
Would be really interested to know your thoughts about it later on.
Here's a link for a stream if anyone is interested, the debate starts in 14 mins
Oh god no, I'm not watching the debate. I'd rather spend the time shoving red-hot needles up under my fingernails. Sorry.
I'm dubious that there's any value whatsoever in these kinds of political debates, beyond a crude sort of lions vs christians entertainment. Let alone my extreme dislike of the way any kind of video or conversational format is deathly slow and inaccurate at conveying actual information, but masks that communication deficit by generating emotional responses.
It's on Al Jazeera now (2.20pm)
The consensus of commentator opinion seems to be that the fly won it. By being the most interesting character of the evening.
Not wasting time.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1314031047013732352
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-pence-fly-vice-presidential-debate_n_5f7e775fc5b6e48b16832ed4
And the runner-up by general acclamation seems to be the overboiled cauliflower's pink left eye.
https://twitter.com/JReinerMD/status/1314021309333090305
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mike-pences-eye-becomes-hot-topic-on-social-media-during-vp-debate
Lmao!!! I lasted about 2mins listening to it, work was way too busy.
Thanks for posting those tweets, too funny.
By crikey pence is a mess, crusty eyes and a random fly, that will set the conspiracy theorists into a tail spin. This presidential election could well be the weirdest in US history.
Thanks Ric, re Al Jazeera, come to think of it, they will probably be the best news outlet for a breakdown of the debate.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/8/pence-harris-face-off-in-vp-debate-us-election-news
Awesome
Degrowth. Degrowth. DEGROWTH. Trying the word out for size, to get familiarity with it. Not heard it before. How would this be helpful for us?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018766960/jason-hickel-how-degrowth-will-save-the-world
Enough is enough and more is too much, says Dr Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist at Goldsmiths University of London…
He makes his case in his new book Less is More: How DeGrowth Will Save The World. …
The current ecological crisis is systemic, not the result of individual bad behaviour, Hickel says.
“It’s ultimately being driven by a system – capitalism – that requires perpetual expansion.
“So, we basically become victims of this system and so too does the planet.”
Degrowth and recession are not the same things, he says
“A recession is what happens when a growth-oriented economy like capitalism fails to get growth, things fall apart.”…
Much of Europe outperforms the USA with only a third or a half of America’s GDP, he says.
“The answer is some countries distribute income more fairly and crucially invest in universal public services like robust education and welfare, affordable housing and public transportation.”
And the growth mantra is fuelling the greatest crisis humanity has faced, he says….
“We’re not really seeing it in our politics yet, except in a few countries, New Zealand being one of them actually where this is a conversation that is happening.”
Hear, hear, here, to this. When do we want it? – We want it now.
What did you say? – We want it now.
Do we really need it? – Yes we really do!:
😀
Not heard it before.
Well, that's a puzzle! Much mentioned here in recent years by myself & Weka, if not others. But yeah, thanks for posting about that book!
Incidentally, the word just codifies the steady-state economy really, so it's jargon updating the Green alt-economy agenda from almost half a century back…
Mentioned degrowth – yes. Many things have been mentioned over the 20th century and recently but getting everyone to pay attention and then accept and see workable ways of putting the ideas into practice is the task of Sisyphus. Has to go beyond wise guys on political blogs. And by wise guys I mean both the fact of your wisdom, and the flip comment that the general public often makes.
Granny wheels out some fluff copy for shonky john to slap his moniker against about how great Jude's going.
Then shonky john gets to tell everyone why he's voting no on cannabis reform. Zero surprises from the tobacco and alcohol party.
Is it possible to concentrate on getting the election over with left facing parties in and standing shoulder to shoulder in strength and commitment for that and not get onto all the particular wounds we need to address?S Munro?
Haha. Hosking in the Herald says the election is Labour’s to lose and that’s why we’re so nervous. There will be an absolute torrent of this tripe from all the usual suspects over the next few days.
That will have hurt Horeskin to admit but.
The election is on and the world also turns.
Think piece by Yanis Varoufakis:
https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2020/10/06/how-progressives-could-still-win-the-21st-century-the-correspondent/
Slavoj Zizek – how lucky those of us who are isolated can regard ourselves.
.
Julian Assange – https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/sep/30/us-intelligence-sources-discussed-poisoning-julian-assange-court-told
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
Employers still being dinosaurs.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123020092/ema-under-fire-over-gross-employment-presentation
It's OK apparently to scour peoples facebook pages when wanting to employ them – it is time actually that an actual ethical position is taken that it is not. Facebook does not always equal real life.
I can't believe this sort of juvenile memeing/dog-whistling/sexist/racist bull-shit is part of a presentation to employers. But then I can cause having been part of many groups with them involved I have been exposed to their banality. There are good intelligent employers out there but this sought of crap gives them a bad name. And plenty of us baby boomers can't stand Elvis.
Then of course comes the fake apology. The ridiculous we apologise if you were offended. What about just simply saying "we're a bunch of idiots and Ms Sparke is right"
"In a statement, the association (EMA) chief executive Brett O’Riley said the presenter had attempted to “inject some lightness into a complex topic”.
“We apologise if this caused Ms Sparke offence. The deliberately provocative slide of the heavily tattooed and pierced person was used to highlight what employers cannot and must not discriminate against.”
A second slide compared the attitudes of three generations – baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y – to work, sex, money and other influences.
While baby boomers were shown to be prepared to work their way to the top, Gen X were said to be looking for a shortcut, and Gen Y purportedly threatened to quit unless they were given Saturday off."
I have a feeling they were in the cart for the same/similar presentation a few years back as well.
I would say Ms Sparke comes off extremely well there. I don't doubt the EMA would be pushing some form of group identity narrative if it suites their purpose while continuing to claim Green politics is the divisive force.
But he's pro-life!
But riddle me this.
Trump is pushing for Amy Coney Barrett to reach the Supreme Court, not because he gives a flying fruitcake about the right to life or any other rights. His powerful donors do, though, and he has to keep them happy if he’s to stay in power.
And Trump was standing on that balcony, touting his virility and strength, but leaving out the one drug that contributed to his recovery: Regeneron.
Perhaps you heard the docs talk about monoclonal antibodies. They worked wonders in fighting back Ebola, and scientists have hope for its use in other diseases, though it’s still experimental in COVID-19.
Here’s the rub. The antibodies come from stem cells recovered from human embryos.
How do I know? Regeneron told me so:
From their website:
“As is the case with many other science-focused biotechnology companies, Regeneron uses a wide variety of research tools and technologies to help discover and develop new therapeutics. Stem cells are one such tool. The stem cells most commonly used at Regeneron are mouse embryonic stem cells and human blood stem cells. Currently, there are limited research efforts employing human-induced pluripotent stem cell lines derived from adult human cells and human embryonic stem cells that are approved for research use by the National Institutes of Health and created solely through in vitro fertilization.”
They further explain in a paper in the journal Science, “The cells were originally isolated …from an aborted human fetus.”
For the West Coast audience, that’s, “…an aborted human fetus.”
https://medium.com/illumination/the-state-of-the-nation-hypocrisy-version-8f8ff98bcefa
oooh, that's a bit of a pickle isn't it?
Nobel Peace Prize announced 10pm Friday.
How did the Nobel Committee know that was one week before the New Zealand general election?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/10/what-jacinda-ardern-will-receive-if-she-wins-the-2020-nobel-peace-prize.html
As long as trump doesn't get it, that's the main thing 🙂
If they gave it to him in exchange for him immediately resigning, I'd be good with that.
A quiet read to take the mind of the hubbub of the present . 'What did we do before the world wars Mum and Dad'? Will we have to consider reshaping our lives to achieve similar?
1870 is the setting for the Lark Rise to Candleford book trilogy summarised below.
About it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lark_Rise
Flora Thompson's immortal trilogy, containing "Lark Rise", "Over To Candleford" and "Candleford Green", is a heartwarming portrayal of country life at the close of the 19th century.
This story of three closely related Oxfordshire communities – a hamlet, the nearby village and a small market town – is based on the author's experiences during childhood and youth. It chronicles May Day celebrations and forgotten children's games, the daily lives of farmworkers and craftsmen, friends and relations – all painted with a gaiety and freshness of observation that make this trilogy an evocative and sensitive memorial to Victorian rural England.
The stories are available on Project Gutenberg. But I don't know just how and copyright law for one's own country throws a shadow.
This is the Australian entry relating to Gutenberg and the law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gutenberg_Australia
This is the general info about project Gutenberg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gutenberg
These sites are newly available.
https://www.gutenberg.org/help/new_website.html
https://www.gutenberg.org/
Unprecedented recommendation from New England Journal of Medicine to vote Trump out of office
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2029812?fbclid=IwAR1ItqGusykclxzEVo8EmRlWA0H5MNtGfSoxk0RidlrNCaaBsxG074UlUtg
Hoo boy. The cult that SCOTUS nominee Barrett belongs to may literally have been the inspiration for "The Handmaid's Tale".
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amy-coney-barrett-handmaid-people-of-praise_n_5f7dfbd6c5b6fc1dec78c952
Fuck the Warehouse and its associated brands… healthy profit on the back of the wage subsidies… plenty of cash on hand…and they say without it they would have had a 4 million loss, I say keep the 4 million and hand the other 50 million or so back…
Corporations have taken the pissand are lining their executive and shareholder pockets.
The new govt needs to send Ird into these businesses and assess their actual eligibility and contemplate a Covid Koha tax on these pofitable firms
Well, I accidentally watched the Harris Pence debate. Pence would start an answer with a rabbit hole then start to answer the actual question and run over his allotted 2minutes, looking hard done by for not having enough time to answer. Repeatedly. (God would be clutched in the Pence right fist as he would, if he got the chance, like to carry out the very right agenda. Warning! Warning!)
Harris came across as informed, fluent and answered the questions pretty concisely. Make a good President? Yes. (Reminded me of Jacinda???)
There was a live spaced -out masked audience who were completely silent throughout.
The winner was the black fly sitting on Pence's very white hair.
You don't see white doggy doo so much these days.
Pence is like a male fox terrier who has been nutted. The one from the litter behind all the others who missed out on an allocation of 'character'.
Spaced-out. Lol.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/caucus/story/2018767507/collins-and-peters-on-thin-ice-as-ardern-finds-her-feet
Image of praying/preying
mantiswoman in church with plastic bottle. Is it ordinary drinking water, christening water, or hand sanitiser all ready to 'cleanse the spot from my hand' – Shakespeare?Declaims in voice of doom: Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?
It's just possible that Codger's prayers are being answered but not the way she'd like.
The image I refer to might not be in above link.
So –
Collins, Peters on thin ice as Ardern finds her feet about 1 hour ago
National's not having the week Judith Collins would have prayed for. After a couple of strong debate performances some MPs were getting hopeful. Then Denise Lee sent an email and Collins went for a walk.
ASA, a regulator unable to enforce decisions. Very postmodern.
Expert practitioners of postmodernism then, the ASA. ANZ & JLR, expert practitioners of truthiness. Each group deserves the other…