Open mike 08/01/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 8th, 2013 - 156 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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Step right up to the mike…

156 comments on “Open mike 08/01/2013 ”

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  1. Jenny 1
    8 January 2013 at 6:26 am

    ‘

    In his post, 2013 – the policy year. IRISHBILL, in what I thought was a generous and non sectarian gesture, befitting the season, asked Standardnistas of all parties, (or none) to put forward policy suggestions. IRISH suggested, as being a resource for the LECs, that this could also be a resource for other smaller parties.

    IRISH wrote:

    With this in mind I’d like to suggest that over the next few months we have those discussions and perhaps even provide a manifesto page on the site where generally agreed policies can be placed for LECs to use as a resource to inform remits.

    I thought I would put forward my policy suggestion to combat climate change for further discussion. Hopefully, if people think it is a good idea, to be forwarded to the possible manifesto page to be created; My policy suggestion: A complete ban on coal exports.

    http://thestandard.org.nz/2013-the-policy-year/comment-page-1/#comment-569735

    As New Zealand only produces 0.2% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Our biggest contribution to stopping climate change would be for New Zealand to set an example that others could look too, to follow. If New Zealand put a ban on all coal exports, (and imports) our closest neighbor and closest international friend, Australia, (which is the biggest coal exporter in the world), would almost be guaranteed to follow.

    Colonial Viper asked me; “Why would this be?”

    I thought this might answer Colonial Viper’s question:

    NSW told to prepare for the worst

    …..officials warn residents to prepare for what could be the worst fire danger day in New South Wales’ history on Tuesday.

    A total fire ban will be in place across NSW on Tuesday with temperatures in the state’s far west predicted to hit 45C, while the mercury is forecast to climb to 43C in Sydney — the third highest on record.

    NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell on Monday made an emphatic appeal to all state residents to be fully prepared for the worst.

    “Tomorrow is not just going to be in the 40s, it will perhaps be the worst fire danger the state has ever faced,” he said.

    “Do what emergency services tell you, particular the rural fire service. Act early.

    “Don’t just think, ‘Tomorrow is another bush fire danger day, tomorrow is another summer’s day’. Tomorrow is going to be the worst fire danger day in parts of this state we’ve ever experienced in history.”

    http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Australias_Hobart_experiences_hottest_day_999.html

    Our toady MSM barely mentions it. Our gutless politicians don’t mention it at all. And so, I excuse CV for not noticing it.

    Australia going through it’s worst heat wave ever.

    WEATHER forecasters are predicting the nation will experience its hottest ever day early in the week, the average national temperature set to climb above 40C.

    Within reach is the current record of 40.17 degrees, set on December 21, 1972.

    Heat records have tumbled across the country, including yesterday’s highest ever recorded temperature in Hobart (41.3C) and Thursday’s 48.2C scorcher in the Nullarbor border town of Eucla.

    To give you an example of what that means;

    – 50 degrees is the recommended top temperature for the hot tap in your house. Imagine that, and then you will know why Australians will be NZ’s first wave of Climate Change refugees.

    In my opinion as well as putting a ban on all coal exports this could be accompanied by a ban on all Australian immigrants until Australia does the same.

    I think that might get the message across.

    What do you think?

    • bad12 1.1
      8 January 2013 at 8:04 am

      I think wild-fires have been raging across Australia for millions of years, some of the native trees have evolved in such a way as to require fire to release their seeds so as to be able to regenerate,

      i also think that the Australian temperature records have suffered so much ‘historic rounding’ in their collection over decades that they are unreliable,

      To attempt to link Australian wild-fires to climate change then seems to me to be rather spurious…

      • One Tāne Viper 1.1.1
        8 January 2013 at 8:53 am

        That says something about you, and nothing else whatsoever.

        • bad12 1.1.1.1
          8 January 2013 at 12:30 pm

          Really, can’t come up with FACTS, attack the commentor, what does it say about me buckwheat…

          • One Tāne Viper 1.1.1.1.1
            8 January 2013 at 1:41 pm

            It says that you are clutching at any imagined comfort blankie you can. Oh, and “historic rounding” – citation needed.

          • One Tāne Viper 1.1.1.1.2
            8 January 2013 at 1:45 pm

            PS: “Buckwheat” – keep your racist crap to yourself.

      • Binders full of viper- women 1.1.2
        8 January 2013 at 9:29 am

        +1

      • mike e 1.1.3
        8 January 2013 at 9:54 am

        Sad 12 the past winter drought and wild fires in most of the Australian out back are the worst in history!!
        The result is that the build up of heat in central Australia is forcing the colder wetter weather to form over NZ!
        Get your facts right sad12!

        • bad12 1.1.3.1
          8 January 2013 at 12:28 pm

          Got any proof of your wee claims there buck-wheat,like a link to some science that says that that New Zealands weather is on average colder and wetter this summer???,

          Funnily enough, on RadioNZ National news this morning the Australians were saying that the HIGH rainfalls this winter have grown (a), more fuel in forests for fires to consume, and (b) the same has made grass growth more prevalent, summer having dried this excess of grass out so as to make it even more likely of igniting in lightening strikes,

          Best you cite us some science for your assertion of the ‘winter drought’ as well…

      • Anne 1.1.4
        8 January 2013 at 10:40 am

        To attempt to link Australian wild-fires to climate change then seems to me to be rather spurious…

        Climate Change is causing these things to happen more frequently and with a greater intensity than before. Witness the devastating storms that are occurring… one in one hundred year storms that are now occurring more and more frequently. The general rise in the world temperatures are causing extreme weather patterns to develop, and the intense heat-wave currently affecting large parts of Australia is a good example. In other words, the unprecedented extent of the wild fires, rather than the wild fires themselves, are the inevitable result of C.C.

        • bad12 1.1.4.1
          8 January 2013 at 12:35 pm

          More likely, the awareness of climate change is making us take more notice of ‘these things’,

          Have you got a link to the science that says Australian wild fires are happening more frequently or are more intense, history would tell us that during European occupancy of Australia such fires in the 1800’s burned millions of hectares and ash and smoke from them were evidenced in New Zealand,

          Please provide a link to these 1 in 100 year storms that are occurring more frequently, the recent so called super storm that recently struck New York was just that, the last one of such magnitude to hit New York was 100 or so years ago….

          • aerobubble 1.1.4.1.1
            8 January 2013 at 12:52 pm

            I believe that any reasonable person would admit they cannot know everything, and that they, due to years of experience, will have come to understand that sometimes once the symptoms are upon us the disease is unstoppable. When the disease can cause havoc of global proportions, and many commentators (worthy) say the disease is upon us, the symptoms are all around. It strikes me that anyone who would consciously plan to undermine the risk, as not even plausible, to be rank stupidity. Sure nothing says you cannot say the evidence, the symptons, the loss of north arctic sea ice, the extended storm seasons in N.America, that strong more damaging storms (on the back of sea level rise), aren’t evident. But to then use your own ignorance, argue from ignorance, that the risk is just causing more people to notice. Surely not an argument, for example, how many have been told about sun damaged skin to check and so bring a cancer to their doctors attention. It is so common practice that when we see risk we will as a collective look for the signs, this is not evidence either way, this is just human behavior. So your blather, your ignorance, you false thinking, is all bunkum.

            • Anne 1.1.4.1.1.1
              8 January 2013 at 3:13 pm

              Thanks aero… I couldn’t be bothered. There’s so much reputable evidence out there… let him look it up for him/herself. But he/she presumably won’t because he/she has decided to take a fixed stand based on… deniability? Who knows.

              • bad12 …
                8 January 2013 at 5:05 pm

                So you make assertions without being able to provide a scrap of evidence, such a pathetic means of debate is unworthy of this web-site…

                • Anne …
                  8 January 2013 at 7:56 pm

                  Since you seem incapable of checking it out for yourself (like most grown-u are happy to do) here is something to help you on your way. Took me a few minutes to find:

                  http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/feb/08/global-warming-weather-science

                  Google climate change/australian bush fires and you will find plenty more where that came from.

                  • Anne …
                    8 January 2013 at 7:59 pm

                    Edit function gone.

                  • bad12 …
                    8 January 2013 at 8:46 pm

                    Snigger, i am struck, (with laughter at you), by the first line of the news article you link to,(a real piece of scientific data),

                    ”Scientists are RELUCTANT to link individual weather events to ‘climate change”, unquote,

                    I agree with the scientists, the current ‘record heatwave’ being experienced in parts of New South wales is exactly that, an individual weather event,

                    Should such ‘record heat waves’ continue every summer over a multi-decadal period they would then fit the definition of ‘climate change’…

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      8 January 2013 at 9:01 pm

                      ostrich12

                    • bad12 …
                      8 January 2013 at 9:06 pm

                      Snigger CC’s little victim, milked that one for all it was worth…

                    • Rhinoviper …
                      8 January 2013 at 9:08 pm

                      Yes, every individual event is insignificant in itself. The real point is the frequency of those individual events in a decade or a few decades.

                      all the time, always has and always will

                      OK, let’s use an analogy. Cars stop and go all the time, so suppose that climate is changing, so a change is something we can adapt to, just like a car stopping, right? Now suppose that you apply the brakes and the car slows to a stop. That’s fine, right? OK, now run your car into a wall. That’s stopping it too, but hang on, that way of stopping it is lethal.

                      Given millennia, nature might adapt. Maybe, but millions of years might be easier. Given decades, can civilisation adapt? Ah, well then…

                      Can the economy adapt?

                      Ummm….

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      8 January 2013 at 9:12 pm

                      froginthepot12

                    • bad12 …
                      8 January 2013 at 9:40 pm

                      Rhinoviper, climate changes all the time and civilizations have come and gone, those are 2 repeating themes of both ecological and human history,

                      I dare say tho that the human race having survived ice-ages before will survive albeit in a much reduced form than at present,

                      Economy???, disaster of any sort is the great social leveler, what use is there for millions of dollars of paper money if civilization is reduced to the level of hunter gatherer once more…

                  • bad12 …
                    8 January 2013 at 9:29 pm

                    Pssst, scroll down the page a bit, i provide a link to a NASA satellite photo of wild fires burning in Western Australia in November 2012, not a heatwave in sight…

                • Pascal's bookie …
                  8 January 2013 at 8:53 pm

                  So you make assertions without being able to provide a scrap of evidence, such a pathetic means of debate is unworthy of this web-site…

                  Paging your badself:

                  http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-07012013/comment-page-1/#comment-570950

            • bad12 1.1.4.1.1.2
              8 January 2013 at 5:27 pm

              BLAH, Blah,Blah, another assertion, what is this blather,ignorance, false thinking, and bunkum you accuse me of,

              Worst wild-fires ever, doubt it, as i pointed out above there have been wild fires during European occupancy of Australia that have burned millions of hectares and smoke and ash from these fires has been evident in New Zealand,

              Wild fires in Australia have happened yearly, they are not a symptom of climate change…

              • One Tāne Viper …
                8 January 2013 at 5:34 pm

                they are not a symptom of climate change…

                How about the increasing temperatures that exacerbate the fire risk, and the consequent increased incidence and severity of wildfires?

                Perhaps you need a pacifier to go with your blankie.

                • Rogue Trooper …
                  8 January 2013 at 5:40 pm

                  just like Clockwork
                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1XqbopXH5M
                  Orange Crushed

                • bad12 …
                  8 January 2013 at 6:21 pm

                  Please provide the proof of ”the increased severity and propensity for such wildfires”,

                  The current fires burning in Tasmania at the moment are hardly severe in terms of previous fires,

                  One of those previous fires, from memory in the 1960’s, burned a far greater area of Tasmania than the present, killed 60 odd people and even burned parts of the States capital Hobart,

                  Sorry to aquaint you with an inconvenient truth in your abysmal attempts to link Australian wildfires with ‘climate change,

                  Your continued use of 4 year old’s language such as ‘blankie’ gives me an indication of your intelligence level, perhaps you should stick to debating with children at kindergarten, the other little kiddies with under-developed brains seem more your level…

                  • One Tāne Viper …
                    8 January 2013 at 8:16 pm

                    Wikipedia lists 44 major bush fires since 1851. Nineteen of them occurred in the last decade.

                    PS: I didn’t make the link you allege, I merely noted that increased temperatures increase fire risk. Keep clutching that straw.

          • Colonial Viper 1.1.4.1.2
            8 January 2013 at 12:54 pm

            If you’re curious, feel free to provide evidence that the current record heatewave situation represents no change to the 1800’s.

          • Colonial Weka 1.1.4.1.3
            8 January 2013 at 5:19 pm

            “Have you got a link to the science that says Australian wild fires are happening more frequently or are more intense, history would tell us that during European occupancy of Australia such fires in the 1800′s burned millions of hectares and ash and smoke from them were evidenced in New Zealand,”

            Well, quite. Because the Europeans burnt the bush to ‘create’ farmland (as they also did in NZ). The 1800s is not a good time period to use as a comparison.

            • bad12 1.1.4.1.3.1
              8 January 2013 at 5:44 pm

              Clearing bush for farmland isn’t a wildfire, although i could imagine more than the odd bit of bush clearance got away on them,

              1800,s, 1900’s it makes no difference, the areas that are currently burning, parts of Tasmania, and New South Wales are in fact the area of the highest rate of wildfires in e a Australia over a multi century time frame,

              Here have a read of the record,

              the Google= History of Australian wildfires,

              http://www.home,iprimus.com.au/foo7/fire.html

          • Oscar 1.1.4.1.4
            8 January 2013 at 10:39 pm

            Actually, more like 70 years ago. There was a double storm system to hit in 1934 that was bigger than Sandy.

        • Populuxe1 1.1.4.2
          8 January 2013 at 1:33 pm

          Crap. Biology 101 – the Eucalyptus tree and many other species evolved to take advantage of regular seasonal bush fires to spread their seeds. That’s why Eucalypts are full of volatile oils and why other Australian plants have seeds that only germinate after being baked. The Koori new this, which is why they periodically instigated burn-offs of their own. The problem came about post colonisation and was aggravated by the environmental movement’s protection of wilderness areas and the prevention of burn offs. The massive fires we now see are a direct result of that rather than climate change – though of course climate change is happening and may well exacerbate matters in the future.

    • Colonial Viper 1.2
      8 January 2013 at 9:02 am

      A record heatwave and fires might help convince the Australian government to give up billions in coal exports…not what we do with the piddly amounts we export. If NZ gives up exporting coal today the Australian producers will take up the slack tomorrow.

      • Colonial Weka 1.2.1
        8 January 2013 at 9:27 am

        We should give up coal exports because we will need some of the coal for essential transition processes, and because it’s the right thing to do. The latter is more than symbolic. It demonstrates that we understand that CC is a global problem that affects all of life and that all humans must act in whatever ways they can. It’s about solidarity with the world and with other nations that will face harder futures than us in giving up fossil fuels.

        • Colonial Viper 1.2.1.1
          8 January 2013 at 10:50 am

          We should give up coal exports because we will need some of the coal for essential transition processes, and because it’s the right thing to do.

          This I can get onboard with. And the same rationale goes for our offshore oil and gas as well.

          • aerobubble 1.2.1.1.1
            8 January 2013 at 1:07 pm

            The whole problem is we dug up trapped compounds and unabashedly burnt them. Now to get off the crack we have to fract the last drops oil, gas, and mine the last coal to transition to back to where we should have been had we not gone on our addiction to growth and profits without thinking of limits and consequences. Its like that mother in America, a gun whore, whose mentally hamstrung son killed her and then went on a wild murderous rampage in a school. We consent our own destruction by accepting banality as reasonable.
            We dug up hydrocarbons on mass and dumped them into the biosphere, how could that not have consequences!!!

    • Bill 1.3
      8 January 2013 at 12:57 pm

      Yup. Ban coal exports/imports and all but whatever might be considered to be the most essential mining (and I’m thinking of a very high bar to determine that…probably including disbarring any economic argument from the decision)

      Immediately legislate for car occupancy rates – issuing instant and punative fines to people driving without passengers for no compelling reason.

      Immediately legislate that any new cars coming into the country must have carbon emissions of below 100g per km.

      Immediately halt any non-essential lighting and heating of public places/spaces.

      And shut down the gas fired power stations. I know they are needed for peak load times. But that’ll only remain a problem until we alter our consumption habits…which shouldn’t take long when the alternative is brown or black outs for us all for as long as we persist in pulling extra electicity at the same time every day.

      • Colonial Weka 1.3.1
        8 January 2013 at 5:29 pm

        “Immediately legislate for car occupancy rates – issuing instant and punative fines to people driving without passengers for no compelling reason.”

        How would that work? And wouldn’t my two trips to town a week with an empty car trump someone’s daily trips to town with one passenger?

    • Murray Olsen 1.4
      8 January 2013 at 1:12 pm

      1. Australia is seen as the last hope for many unemployed Kiwis.
      2. They hardly notice us, let alone how much coal we export.
      3. An immigrant war with Australia is the last thing we need.

      Banning coal exports may be a good idea, but not because Australia would follow. The minerals sector has their government by the balls and they’d thank us for the increased market share.

      • Jenny 1.4.1
        8 January 2013 at 5:22 pm

        They hardly notice us, let alone how much coal we export…….

        ……..The minerals sector has their government by the balls and they’d thank us for the increased market share.

        Murray Olsen

        Sorry to be the one to point it out, but I think you just might have a little bit of a dysfunctional logic thing going on here.

        Can do better. I award you a D+ for effort.

        Thank you for your contribution.

        Please try again.

        • Colonial Viper 1.4.1.1
          8 January 2013 at 11:13 pm

          You can’t seriously be criticising others for dysfunctional logic.

          What Murray seemed to be saying was that us stopping coal exports would simply result in some minor benefits for the Australian coal industry.

          Ceding market share to the Australians is not really going to demotivate them is it Jenny – that’s your dysfunctional logic.

          • Jenny 1.4.1.1.1
            9 January 2013 at 6:22 am

            Ceding market share to the Australians is not really going to demotivate them is it Jenny – that’s your dysfunctional logic.

            Colonial Viper

            I think we are talking about opinion here. My opinion is that a world first complete ban on coal exports will set an example and a bench mark for governments around the world to emulate.

            Your opinion is that it will encourage other countries to fill the gap in the market left by New Zealand’s exit.

            I might add that it has always been your opinion over many discussions on many threads of this site, that we should do nothing about climate change.

            For this I have termed you a Climate Change Apologist.

            No matter what the argument is you will always argue for doing nothing.

            Don’t deny it, I don’t want to have to drag up all your CCA dreck.

    • tc 2.1
      8 January 2013 at 7:53 am

      How much is she paying for the dish washing and floor cleaning ? Dunno but it is chch where alot of the able and smart have departed and public transport to/from is a factor.

      Approaching a polytech for graduates is fine if they’ve done a diploma in cleaning and are looking for their first leg up into the world of low paid jobs in franchises.

    • Colonial Viper 2.2
      8 January 2013 at 8:34 am

      Yeah this kind of thing can be a problem. It often stems from youth who have left school and had an extended time unemployed without the benefit of immediate work experience with good role models. Or have been long term unemployed and simply deconditioned to work discipline. Being a bakery I also suspect that the hours of work may have been fairly extreme. Not that many people like 4:30am starts etc. However, advertising overseas to fill these positions seems a bit nuts. It did say the positions were above minimum wage.

    • karol 2.3
      8 January 2013 at 9:07 am

      On the evidence I’ve seen in the past, and given the current requirements for beneficiaries to be constantly looking for work, I’d expect the following:

      * that some people would be responding to job ads who are unemployable for various reasons – such as having anti-social behaviour patterns; being unable to physically or mentally apply themselves to a job for a full day and/or week, etc.

      * I’d also expect that some people will take any job going, especially if it was offering wages above the minimum.

      So Ms McPherson got some of the unemployable, or marginally employable applying, but what about those that are capable and want any work going? Did she just conveniently forget to mention them? Is there something about McPherson, her job or her workplace that puts keen workers off? Or does she just want to recruit from overseas and is looking for an excuse not to employ locals?

      Also, if WINZ stopped pressuring people who are unemployable, or incapable of working a full day/shift to job-seek, maybe Ms McPherson’s job of recruitment would be a lot easier.

      • AsleepWhileWorking 2.3.1
        8 January 2013 at 9:23 am

        Great points Karol.

        I dislike her feigned helplessness because:

        – Business is about solving problems, not bitching to the media when things don’t go your way. Your business, your problem. Offer them free leftovers at the end of each day and you might pick up some savvy family looking to save $$$.

        – If you can’t handle something, the beauty of a business is that you can hire someone else to do it on your behalf. Are we meant to believe there are no recruitment agencies in her area?

        – So her answer is to look OVERSEAS? Duh. The vetting process and cost is likely to be even more unmanageable.

        This is nothing more that a business owner who has taken on too much and prefers to spend her time whining rather than fixing things OR (more likely) the opening shot for the year of some more right wing spin meant to rark up the masses into more bene bashing for 2013.

        • Colonial Weka 2.3.1.1
          8 January 2013 at 9:47 am

          Yeah, how many overseas people are going to want to shift to Chch of all places, where there is a housing shortage and high levels of stress across the population, for $14/hr?

          She also doesn’t say if she is offering full time, regular hours jobs (an issue for any WINZ beneficiary because of the abatement process).

          • Fortran 2.3.1.1.1
            8 January 2013 at 9:53 am

            CW

            If you were to publicise this internationally you would get many many replies from people who will do anything to get away from their own environment into New Zealand, and will take any wages to start.

            • mike e 2.3.1.1.1.1
              8 January 2013 at 10:11 am

              Fartrain even henry ford knew the value of higher wages !

            • Colonial Weka 2.3.1.1.1.2
              8 January 2013 at 10:40 am

              What kind of visa will they have Fortran?

              • David C …
                8 January 2013 at 12:38 pm

                She would be swamped with overseas applicants just as the cantabury farmers hire dairy labourers from overseas. Kiwis are lazy and entitled.

                • Colonial Viper …
                  8 January 2013 at 12:50 pm

                  Cheap foreign labour for higher capitalist profits

                  Kiwis are lazy and entitled.

                  It appears that your thinking is lazy and entitled, shit head.

                  • McFlock …
                    8 January 2013 at 1:11 pm

                    agreed. Lazy and entitled employers, too.

                    • David C …
                      8 January 2013 at 1:31 pm

                      Yeah lazy employers. They should be doing the work for the employees and paying them. Imagine the cheek of a business owner who actually wants to find someone who wants to work!

                    • Populuxe1 …
                      8 January 2013 at 1:38 pm

                      David C, if you can’t afford to pay your employees properly, you probably shouldn’t be in business in the first place.

                    • One Tāne Viper …
                      8 January 2013 at 3:45 pm

                      David C, here is a list of bakeries in Christchurch who aren’t blaming a cherry-picked sample of job-seekers for staff shortages.

                      Are your opinions always this feeble?

                    • One Tāne Viper …
                      8 January 2013 at 3:54 pm

                      Speaking of the employer, perhaps this one comes across as a toxic right wing shill or something, the sort of boss who would rather run right wing attack lines in the media rather than fix her staff shortage.

                • Pascal's bookie …
                  8 January 2013 at 1:08 pm

                  lol, when ‘cantabury farmers’ start paying for the water they use, I’ll take any claims about ‘entitlement’ a bit more seriously.

                  • The Al1en …
                    8 January 2013 at 2:52 pm

                    “Imagine the cheek of a business owner who actually wants to find someone who wants to work!”

                    Imagine the cheek of an employee wanting a fair days pay for a fair days work before they do!

                    Entitlement indeed! 😉

                • Populuxe1 …
                  8 January 2013 at 1:37 pm

                  No, Kiwis live in an OECD country and expect competitive, commensurate wages, not serfdom

                  • David C …
                    8 January 2013 at 1:49 pm

                    $600 a week for an unskilled job is sefdom?

                    entitled indeed.

                    • David C …
                      8 January 2013 at 1:50 pm

                      throw an r into that sefdom willya…. why no edit?

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      8 January 2013 at 1:56 pm

                      “Unskilled” but absolutely critical job…your food site gets a bad hygiene rating you’ll get closed down for a week to sort it out.

                      entitled indeed.

                      Don’t be a consistent shit head, $600 is barely a living wage and that’s for full time work that I presume starts from very early in the morning for a bakery.

                    • David C …
                      8 January 2013 at 2:04 pm

                      and that is exactly the attitude you ‘tards promote isnt it… why would anyone be bothered to get out of bed before 11.00 am for a mere $600 a week! FFS.

                      Bakery work is awesome…finish early arvo and go hunting or to the beach.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      8 January 2013 at 2:15 pm

                      $600/week is not a living wage shit head

                      And its not an 11am start in a bakery its 4:00am or 5am, typically

                    • McFlock …
                      8 January 2013 at 2:15 pm

                      Major difference between “before 11” and “before 4”.

                      And you’re not factoring in chch accommodation costs, either.

                    • McFlock …
                      8 January 2013 at 2:21 pm

                      back when I was working nights, it was relaxing to pop by a particular cafe/bakery at 6am and have b&e or pancakes before heading to bed. Only place open at that time, except the 24dairy of doom… 🙂

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      8 January 2013 at 2:32 pm

                      ‘It’s Doom alone that counts 🙂

                    • David C …
                      8 January 2013 at 2:37 pm

                      $600 pre tax is about $510 after tax? fucking site better than $170 on the dole.

                      But hey..yes you do need to actually want to work and get out of bed to better yourself.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      8 January 2013 at 2:42 pm

                      $510 in hand is not a living wage. I guess you are saying however that serfs should be grateful for crumbs and drippings.

                    • David C …
                      8 January 2013 at 2:54 pm

                      So $510 is not a living wage huh?
                      A mate of mine is living in ChCh at the mo for $200 a week full board.
                      So that is food and shelter taken care of.
                      $310 a week for transport ( a bike!) and clothes isnt bad is it?

                      Entitled Leftard Fuckhead.

                    • Colonial Weka …
                      8 January 2013 at 2:57 pm

                      “$600 pre tax is about $510 after tax? fucking site better than $170 on the dole.

                      But hey..yes you do need to actually want to work and get out of bed to better yourself.”

                      I think you will find that there are very few people on the dole in Chch receiving only $170/wk. Most will have accommodation supplement on top of that. Many people on the dole also have part-time, cash in hand jobs of various kinds, or use their time to mitigate the low income in other ways. If we’re talking about a 20 year old with no dependants who is fit and healthy, then yes the dole can be more attractive than an insecure, deadend, just above minimum wage job that’s structured to go no-where. The longer someone is on the dole, the harder it is to survive, but in the short and medium term, it’s possible.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      8 January 2013 at 3:39 pm

                      A mate of mine is living in ChCh at the mo for $200 a week full board.
                      So that is food and shelter taken care of.

                      not everyone wants to live with their grandma, shit head.

                    • David C …
                      8 January 2013 at 3:49 pm

                      My mate dont live whith his grandma either you charmer CV… he is a tradesman who likes to be able to feed his family so he works in ChCh rather than here…
                      Tho I fail to see why the tax paying NZers should subsidise someones life style choices… if your Gran can offer you a room near a basic job then you must move in … suck it up.

                      Colonial Weka…Yes you reinforce my point beautifully. The dole and subsidies are far too high when there are jobs availible. Why are we paying people so much to be lazy?

                    • One Tāne Viper …
                      8 January 2013 at 3:58 pm

                      to be lazy

                      What of the 80,000-ish extra unemployed since 2008? Do you hate them too, or are you just feeble-minded?

                    • felixviper …
                      8 January 2013 at 4:00 pm

                      The dole isn’t generous, David. It’s just that the jobs you’re comparing it to are really shit.

                    • Te Reo Putake …
                      8 January 2013 at 4:29 pm

                      David, if your mate is a tradesman and only earning the pittance you claim he does, then I have a suggestion. Get your mate to join a union. Clearly your advice isn’t working out for him financially.

                    • Colonial Weka …
                      8 January 2013 at 4:58 pm

                      “Colonial Weka…Yes you reinforce my point beautifully. The dole and subsidies are far too high when there are jobs availible. Why are we paying people so much to be lazy?”

                      We’re not. We are paying people to be the sacrificial goats in a society that prefers to run an economy with an unemployment rate instead of full employment. You’ve also missed the bit about needing to be young and fit and healthy with no dependents (or debt or other financial commitments) in order for the dole to be attractive for a period of time.

                      Why should someone take a job with shit opportunity, conditions and wage, when they have another choice? Oh, that’s right, in your head, people should be forced into situations that make their lives worse. Like someone already said, serfdom.

                      The only time we get to talk about generic laziness in the unemployed is when we have more jobs than jobless. We haven’t had that since the 70s.

                      btw, you do realise that if all the people you call lazy were to get a job, your mate would be unemployed. Think about it.

                    • David C …
                      8 January 2013 at 7:40 pm

                      well where to start here….

                      My mate…a fridgie/sparkie bills around $8k a trip down south. $30K/yr wtf?
                      CV and I were having some banter about what constitutes a living wage…I objected to the fact that he cant run his Aston on a mere $510 a week.

                      felix…having a shit job is a really great way of maybe getting a not so shit job…its always easier to get a job if you already have one and want to better your position. People respect that drive.

                      Te Reo Putake..a Union? you are just taking the piss now arent you 🙂

                      Colonial Weka. How is a job in a bakery poor conditions or no opportunity or bad wages. ? Huh? explain.

                      and no if every other person in NZ got employed my mate would be busier as he is in a support industry as am I. Someone comming off the dole isnt going to take the job of a trademan with 20 years experience.

                      Joe90, I agree small bakery hours suck. But there are usually free pies 😉

                    • North …
                      8 January 2013 at 8:07 pm

                      David C…….an imperious wahanui…….bitterly holding on to his perennial “entitlement” to engage the ideological construct that poverty is just fine……for the unskilled. Poverty ? Bah ! What have they done not to deserve it ?

                      Get a life you ugly fool.

                    • David C …
                      8 January 2013 at 8:27 pm

                      North…care you make a comment that actually says something meaningful?

                      But if your saying that the unskilled deserve to be poor then yes I agree.

                      Study, train , upskill in some way to better yourself but if you sit on the couch and wail that the world owes you a living (as commenters on here suggested you should do) I will fight tooth and nail that my taxes dont suppport you.

                    • Colonial Weka …
                      8 January 2013 at 11:38 pm

                      “Colonial Weka. How is a job in a bakery poor conditions or no opportunity or bad wages. ? Huh? explain.”

                      I’m guessing that she wasn’t offering a 40hr a week, permanent job, with increasing wages over time, and things like sick and holiday pay. As a tradie, you probably don’t realise how poor employment contracts for those on or near minimum wage can be now. If she is offering casual hours or part time work, anyone on the dole is going to get hit by the abatement process. That means that week by week they don’t know what their income is going to be, and some weeks it won’t be enough to live on.

                    • felixviper …
                      8 January 2013 at 11:57 pm

                      “having a shit job is a really great way of maybe getting a not so shit job”

                      Yeah that can still be true at an individual level for some people, but you’re ignoring the big picture. In the new low wage economy, increasingly these jobs aren’t for kids ‘working their way up from the mailroom’. We’re talking about near-minimum wage jobs for life.

                      And for a huge sector of society there’s no job security any more. Everyone’s a ‘contractor’ when it comes to holidays and acc and health and safety, but mysteriously they’re suddenly employees when it comes to where, when, how and what you do. And you can be fired anytime for no reason at all – or rather for no fault of your own.

                      You’re living in the past if you think working in a franchise is a step on the ladder. In John Key’s New Zealand, it’s more like a step on the treadmill.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      9 January 2013 at 12:36 am

                      Forbes: Careers are dead, welcome to your low wage, temp work future

                      The new economy is one which only needs disposable workers.

                      http://www.forbes.com/sites/jmaureenhenderson/2012/08/30/careers-are-dead-welcome-to-your-low-wage-temp-work-future/

                  • Ennui in Requiem …
                    8 January 2013 at 2:10 pm

                    Pop, that statement flies directly in the face of neo lib orthodoxy, the whole thing is designed to lead to the lowest possible wage regardless of country. As an employer who does not wish to depress wages or prices AND wants some harmony in the workplace I can think of no better argument for compulsory unionism.

                  • joe90 …
                    8 January 2013 at 4:59 pm

                    A tradesman on $30somethingK, WTF, is he a clothes line mechanic?.

                    btw, starts between midnight and 3am are the reason both bakers of my acquaintance are perpetually knackered.

                • Binders full of women …
                  8 January 2013 at 8:49 pm

                  +1 Kiwis are lazy and SI dairy farmers are aren’t paying low wages to Filipinos.. just that kiwis like are all gonna be game designers like (or ganstas bro) and grow up to complain about unaffordable houses like as they sup bought coffees and like text like on lol smartphones.

                  • Populuxe1 …
                    8 January 2013 at 11:18 pm

                    Well what is the fucking point of being in the OECD if we can’t? 🙂

                    • The Al1en …
                      9 January 2013 at 6:56 am

                      “that is exactly the attitude you ‘tards promote isnt it… why would anyone be bothered to get out of bed before 11.00 am for a mere $600 a week! FFS.

                      Bakery work is awesome…finish early arvo and go hunting or to the beach.”

                      I’m guessing your loaves are always a few slices short.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.4
      8 January 2013 at 10:44 am

      Nope, she’s BSing.

    • Pascal's bookie 2.5
      8 January 2013 at 10:53 am

      I think she clearly needs to be more flexible around her employment conditions.

      In a market, if you are not having success with an offering, you need to make a better one.

      • Puddleglum 2.5.1
        8 January 2013 at 8:38 pm

        Excellent point.

        Why is it that ‘moral lack’ is always brought out by the right when market signals aren’t in an employer’s favour?

        I guess the argument from the right is that there should be no unemployment benefit as it ‘artificially’ raises wage expectations. These raised expectations then thwart the uptake of their ‘fair’ offers.

        They don’t seem to like the ‘distortions’ of non-market factors, such as collective compassion.

  3. AsleepWhileWorking 3
    8 January 2013 at 9:09 am

    “This, “For many poor students, leap to college ends in a hard fall” is a very well-executed piece in The New York Times. It follows three talented, but terribly disadvantaged, girl students who make it into university but then manage to go no further, and it shows why education doesn’t always lead to social mobility; in fact, it very often holds poor people down while further elevating middle-class and upper-class people.”

    http://bluemilk.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/education-is-a-political-issue-this-is-why/

    Thinking of all those Masters+ students, for whom this year holds particular challenge or possibly an end to their study. Obviously the above article isn’t referring to the post-grads for the most part but here in NZ the cutting of the student allowance for these people is evidence the wedge dividing socio-economic groups and education is being driven further into their working class flesh.

    • Colonial Viper 3.1
      8 January 2013 at 9:14 am

      Education was a panacea for improving class and income mobility in a time of economic growth and increasing job complexity and specialisation.

      Now however, complex manufacturing and scientific jobs in NZ have been cut and cut and cut. Most new jobs created pay less than $20/hr. Many science based positions are affected by 1-2 year funding regimes where continual re-application is necessary.

      Basically if you come out into this environment with a Masters or PhD the chances are that you are going to have to go overseas for any chance at real work, or you can be a Masters or PhD student stacking shelves and serving fries here in NZ. With about $50,000 more student debt than the school leaver next to you being paid the same amount.

    • karol 3.2
      8 January 2013 at 9:26 am

      Good link, ASW. Thanks. Yes social capital is very important. It’s the social and economic inequalities underlying the education system that are the main causes of educational inequalities.

      We need a return to free education and better allowances for all. Also, the content and approach of education provisions need to be more responsive to the requirements of the children of people on low incomes – especially at tertiary level. I think school teachers may be more responsive to such needs, but tertiary education is more focused on middle-class ambitions.

      I say this having taught in schools (in the UK), in Unis (in NZ and Aussie) and in TAFE/Further education colleges in the UK and Aussie.

      I also did a little bit of community/adult education in the east end of London. I had some working class women attend my class who were doing some uni courses. They seemed to be largely looking for some support in dealing with the, to them, alien middle class culture of the Uni. They talked in detail about the differences between their east end London home culture and that of the middle class Uni.

    • just saying 3.3
      8 January 2013 at 9:42 am

      Thanks for the link.
      Best piece of writing on poverty and education I’ve read in a long while.

    • Draco T Bastard 3.4
      8 January 2013 at 11:32 am

      This from the comments is awesome:

      I see so many people like me who go to university and do really well academically but have absolutely no idea what it gets them, they don’t know or imagine what work might be available, or what their labour is worth. I think they are all sessional academics, because their imaginations were never expanded beyond getting to university; getting to university was the aim in itself.

      As I’ve said before: The most important thing about education is teaching people how to think, to expand their imagination. Teaching the three r’s as National Standards does fails to achieve this.

      • aerobubble 3.4.1
        8 January 2013 at 1:19 pm

        Its worse surely than that. Its feedback. As we reward buying and selling homes, we depress the innovative sector, and this flows on to gifting universities with a more leisurely attitude to teaching (and charging more). The money becomes the modus operandi. Then the governments of the day demand that education pay its way, look the politicians say the graduates are racking up income, make them pay for their education too!!! This is yet another incentive to broaden the numbers going into education. In a global information world it doesn’t matter where you are when it comes to information, and so our position as a green summer during the northern winter should have many educational, corporations, and individuals wanting to spend time here. That means we need a service, culinary, techo, tourism fusion. Yet what we have is bulk transfer of foods overseas, lousy protections for tourists… …all to keep our corrupt housing sector afloat.

  4. Morrissey 4
    8 January 2013 at 10:23 am

    Noelle McCarthy’s patsy interview with Mark Bowden
    “Summer Noelle”, National Radio, Tuesday 8 January 2013, 9:09 a.m.

    Most National Radio listeners will know that Noelle McCarthy is a decent person. She has shown in the past that she has the courage to confront hypocrites and liars. She could barely repress her loathing for S.S. man Garth McVicar when she interviewed him in March 2011…
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09032011/#comment-306178

    This morning, she interviewed another advocate of extrajudicial killing—Mark Bowden, author of The Finish: The Killing of Osama. Perhaps because Bowden is far brighter than McVicar, she felt constrained and on edge, but it was still disappointing to hear her let Bowden get away with subtle evasions and distortions, and to hear her accept his use of euphemisms, and to even use them herself. Effectively, this amounts to cynical, willful distortion and apology for state crimes.

    Sadly, Noelle McCarthy, who can be a penetrating and intelligent interviewer, was reduced to giving the sort of patsy interview we see on British State TV or Fox News.

    More in sorrow than anger, I sent her the following e-mail….

    Interview with Mark Bowden was disturbing, and disappointing

    Dear Noelle,

    It was interesting, and chilling, to hear your guest Mark Bowden try to explain away the use of torture by saying it is something that “was in the water”.

    You also several times used the word “rendition” instead of calling it what it is: kidnapping. I am sure I was not the only listener disappointed to hear you had chosen to use this obfuscatory language.

    Yours sincerely,
    Morrissey Breen
    Northcote Point

    • Rogue Trooper 4.1
      8 January 2013 at 1:29 pm

      I bathe in Summer Noelle some mornings when I cannot climb on top of the Hill

    • Populuxe1 4.2
      8 January 2013 at 4:23 pm

      Obviously Sascha Baron Cohen paid her off as part of his secret plan in collaboration with all of the other Jewish comedians in the world (Mel Brookes was their ringleader for years) to take over the world

      • Morrissey 4.2.1
        8 January 2013 at 7:21 pm

        Y’know, your sense of humour is about as lame as your attempt to smear me.

        • North 4.2.1.1
          8 January 2013 at 8:20 pm

          Morrissey……seems like those so keen to yell (or at least imply) “anti-semite” are the ones more artful at defamation. Talks more about them than the subjects of their abuse perhaps ?

          Justice the seed peace the flower !

          • Morrissey 4.2.1.1.1
            9 January 2013 at 8:48 am

            He and a couple of others have been at this for a while now. Although I do not think anyone would believe any of their smears and innuendoes, I don’t think that’s really their point. What they are trying to do is create a din and thereby turn the thread into a farce.

            It’s something for Lin and the other administrators to keep an eye on. I’ll email the site formally and remind them to watch for this ongoing campaign of sabotage.

      • Rogue Trooper 4.2.2
        8 January 2013 at 8:18 pm

        well, I thought Pop was funny 🙂

        History of the World, Part 1
        http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/9200000/Marxism-marx-brothers-9268845-2050-2560.jpg
        “A clown is like aspirin, only he works twice as fast”

        -Marx

        • North 4.2.2.1
          8 January 2013 at 8:23 pm

          You’re right…….if Gaza’s funny.

          • Populuxe1 4.2.2.1.1
            8 January 2013 at 11:26 pm

            Of course Gaza isn’t funny – but Morrissey’s monomaniacal obsession with it on a site about left wing New Zealand politics is, and made moreso by his weird conspiracy rants about Zionist Jewish comedians. Now that’s a SCREAM!

            • Morrissey 4.2.2.1.1.1
              9 January 2013 at 8:42 am

              …weird conspiracy rants about Zionist Jewish comedians.

              Again, you are trying, ham-fistedly, to smear me. My commentary on Baron Cohen’s defamation of that Christian peace activist in occupied Hebron was just as critical of David Letterman, and the braying sycophants in the audience.

              Your repeated attempts to portray my carefully argued points as a “conspiracy” are as inept as they are dishonest.

        • Populuxe1 4.2.2.2
          8 January 2013 at 11:23 pm

          Appreciated RT – methinks Morissey picked his moniker well – I assume he hates it when his friends become successful. And if they’re northern, that makes it even worse…

  5. tracey 5
    8 January 2013 at 11:02 am

    I have a major beef with how companies can conduct themselves in litigation.

    Too often I have observed companies sued, who then defend themselves and their directors, (I am talking civil not criminal cases) putting plaintiffs through the ringer making them expend on experts and lawyers only to reach the judgement, plaintiff wins and company is placed in liquidation.

    In my own leaky home case the company through one of its directors derailed the mediation by taking a legally unsustainable position with lawyer on hand to peddle it), forced us to expend money on experts to refute their claims (which were baseless at law) and took us all the way to a hearing. It then transpired at the hearing that the director had, as we suspected, lied about giving over the names of people from his buidling company who had been onsite.

    The hearing was 5 days.

    Our out of pocket legal and expert expenses were over $130k. We won our judgement and put in an application for costs on the basis of his lying. The day their defence was due they filed for liquidation. We won our costs application but the tribunal decided that lying deliberately withholding important information was only worth $5000. In any event the company cant pay and cant pay its judgment.

    This company should not be able to engage a lawyer and run up expenses for us if it knows as this company surely did) that if it lost it couldn’t pay. If they had not defended we would have gained a settlement from council at a far earlier point and saved over $50,000 in costs.

    This is happening every day in this country across any variety of civil claims, not just mine and not just leaky homes.

    Surely the ‘fix” is relatively simple, if there was any will. We could try and sue him under the companies act for dishonesty but it would cost us more money and is a notoriously hard case to win.

    So why the huge lopsided bias toward directors and companies in this type of situation?

    • Colonial Viper 5.1
      8 January 2013 at 11:05 am

      Criminal contempt of court proceedings should be filable against directors who have knowingly submitted false testimony or fraudulent evidence to a court.

    • Draco T Bastard 5.2
      8 January 2013 at 11:41 am

      To protect the rich which is, from what I can make out, the basis for almost all our commercial laws.

    • North 5.3
      8 January 2013 at 9:27 pm

      I recall some years ago discussing with a lawyer employed by one of the big five commercial firms the reasons for his up and leaving, by all appearances suddenly and inexplicably. I mean, who wouldn’t wanna be in the frame for partnership in one of said firms. Six, seven hundy a year and more ?

      The principal reason advanced was this: he had identified his essential role in this firm on behalf of its often multi-national, inexhaustibly wealthy clients as being to devise endless interlocutory applications to the High Court which had the effect of burning-off relatively financially weak opponents of said clients.

      Repeated exercises of this nature finally had the little guy bruised, scared, and running out of the bucks necessary to last the distance. Easy meat for a settlement favourable to the big guy.

      I always admired that guy for resolving that he could no longer stomach the amorality of it all. I hope he’s found happiness and professional fulfillment. Of course on Planet Key he was only ever a fuckwit.

      • tracey 5.3.1
        10 January 2013 at 9:39 am

        It is also why I left the practice of law in the mid-90’s. It was just amoney-go-round witht he rich defendants quietly strangling the plaintiffs. Had two small business owners who died, one a massive heart attack, the other hung himself following our final attempt to get him the money he was owed.

  6. lprent 6
    8 January 2013 at 12:08 pm

    Primary server had a glitch at ~11:40. Not sure why – will be having a look at the logs.

    It got automatically restarted at ~11:50, but came back up with a read-only filesystem, something else I will have to force a check on (it obviously had something wrong in the file system).

    I rebooted it manually, but it took me some time to get through the security I put in last night from my work system. Was back up at ~12:02

    The joys of a new server…

    • Colonial Weka 6.1
      8 January 2013 at 12:47 pm

      This morning or last night? Last night I got introduced to the Cloud, with its offering of a two day old cached page and pretty layout error message.

      • lprent 6.1.1
        8 January 2013 at 2:10 pm

        New server. There are always a few difficulties.
        Last night I was increasing the CPU available. I didn’t expect it to take an hour.
        This morning there was a just an unexplained crash.

        I’d expect everything to stabilize soon.

        But the nice things about the move are that the servers are now well and truly lost in the “cloud” (which makes them hard to legally shutdown), and the costs have dropped to between a third and a half of the previous costs depending on where it settles at the end of the process.

        • Rogue Trooper 6.1.1.1
          8 January 2013 at 2:27 pm

          To Whom It May Concern,
          I’d just like to say that I’m bored mulling around the berry plant picking up butts; speak, or hold your piece, nothing hard about it, after all, apparently I’m the “fool” 🙂

          Thanks for the “friend” acceptance guys, nothing to fear, nothing to hide. I was chatting with a public servant this morning, he’s on to it, said he read a quote “F.B.I never had it so easy since the rise of FB” (federal bureau of information) Then, I get the latest copy of Best Practice delivered to my door with veges I planted this morning and guess what’s on the cover? Poppies!
          I’ve grown them two years in a row, yet no need for them anymore; being informed’s gettin me high enough 🙂

          an unidentified Friedman object that flew my way this morning
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanton_T._Friedman

          -Klaatu

    • lprent 6.2
      8 January 2013 at 6:14 pm

      Was a spambot. I hadn’t put in the limitipconn module for apache.

  7. Draco T Bastard 7
    8 January 2013 at 12:22 pm

    Key’s stance on broadband decision gob-smacking

    It beggars belief, really. Not to mention beggaring consumers. Prime Minister John Key’s willingness to overrule the Commerce Commission’s reduction of wholesale broadband pricing is gobsmacking. Let’s count the ways.

    John Key goes in to bat for the shareholders and not NZers.

    • aerobubble 7.1
      8 January 2013 at 1:40 pm

      When I heard that the slow uptake of broadband would require a price reduction I thought nice.

      Having had the road recently being dug up and looking at the prices I might have taken a second look.

      Thanks John Key, I don’t have to bother, the shareholders want only rich customers.

      Why is that? Surely there’s more profit the more people use the service, you know the whole
      give them tax cuts means more profitable activities boosting rather than reducing tax revenues.

      Reduce the cost of broadband and more people will pay for it, more profits, more price reductions as more companies offer services, that’s the capitalist way.

      But Key is not a capitalist, he’s a national socialist, who believes interfering to save the wealthy a harder life and ignoring and reducing protective regulation on the lower classes (because they need the spur to get off their back sides).

    • LynWiper 7.2
      8 January 2013 at 1:43 pm

      Just read this myself and was about to link to it. You beat me DTB! Gobsmacking to say the least. I have Facebooked this as it’s the best way I know how to get this kind of info out there. My friends and acquaintances’ may not take politics as ‘seriously’ as I do but at least I can try to get them to engage and be more informed.

    • Ennui in Requiem 7.3
      8 January 2013 at 2:39 pm

      Who we ask might the shareholders include?

      The following own around 60% of the shares:
      National Nominees New Zealand Limited –an Auckland investment house.
      HSBC Nominees (New Zealand) Limited – Hong Kong Shanghai Bank NZ
      JP Morgan Chase Bank

      Now just who and what is our PM?
      Also remember the Kiwisaver funds buy nominee shares etc…..also the government might have large holdings in these banks / companies and or a tangled web of bond obligations / bank debts etc.

      In that light is Keys willingness so gobsmacking?

  8. Rogue Trooper 8
    8 January 2013 at 6:46 pm

    Dear Judith,
    Crushingly, all drug offenders, even minor one, must go through courts
    -2800 imprisoned over last 6 years
    -police oppose legaliZing pipes and needles
    despite
    -Law Commission criticisms of criminal focus on minor offences in recent review
    -NZ drug foundation alarm (Hells Bells) at court focus on minor offences
    (war is lost) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs

    Hagel Chucks antagonistic attitude towards state of Israel

    Support The Big Red Lycopene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopene

    In the second U.S full-page broad-side, I mean sheet, in the Dom in a week, CIA minimize the use of Torture 31 Dark Zero

    contrast with, ( a few sheets further in)

    Chinese vocational students “PRESSED” into manufacturing roles
    when actually (same article)
    -wages RISING in their southern manufacturing sector and are an increasing component of their costs
    -greater uptake of tertiary study, less labour migration to the south, one-child policy factors
    -vocational school grads increase surge 26%
    -only 2.7% of Foxconn workforce students
    -only 8 hour days by law although 12 often worked (same here)
    -they may be paid less, but in general receive the same

    These WOF / COF changes are gonna backfire imo

    70% of NZers cybercrime phishes

    The World Until Yesterday
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/9756597/The-World-Until-Yesterday-by-Jared-Diamond-review.html
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tH8jOP98C0
    hmmm

  9. rosy 9
    8 January 2013 at 8:25 pm

    Another woman dies as a result of family violence and 2 more children are motherless – no telling how much violence they’ve witnessed before this.

    Stuff writes the killing off as a “domestic dispute”.

    Meanwhile secure funding for violence prevention and women’s refuges have to go into >a href=”http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10816644″>crisis talks to secure funding after $700,000 was lopped off their funding in 2011.

  10. North 10
    8 January 2013 at 10:30 pm

    To David C above who says poverty is fine for the unskilled I say only this: one day, one day……karma for you and/or yours.

    And I just know you’d be the snivelling moaner, blaming it all on someone else.

  11. vivaciousviper 11
    8 January 2013 at 11:12 pm

    David C, 170.000 unemployed and rising.
    Having a degree or a certain skill can actually count against you if a prospective employer
    feels you are too qualified for a position.
    The new catch phrase for the right seem to be ‘upskill’, this is to mask the inability of
    the Key govt to create the 170.000 jobs he promised before the last election, what Key
    should have said is that there would be 170.000 + jobs lost in NZ as at the end of 2012,
    perhaps he couldn’t remember what he should have said.
    ‘

    • Colonial Viper 11.1
      8 January 2013 at 11:18 pm

      The new catch phrase for the right seem to be ‘upskill’,

      This at the same time as they are locking down uni funding, wrecking polytechs, and taking away loans and allowances from students. Typical Right Wing tomfuckery.

      David C, 170.000 unemployed and rising.

      I’m guessing that David C regards these people as 170,000 lazy, entitled, unqualified lefty fucktards.

  12. vivaciousviper 12
    8 January 2013 at 11:26 pm

    Totally agree with you CV, David C only turns right and the right give education the
    two finger salute.

  13. Pascal's bookie 13
    9 January 2013 at 12:59 am

    Epic Alex Jones rant:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AtyKofFih8Y#!

    And people say it’s unfair to judge people for linking to ‘infowars’. The guy is a fucking clown. End of. Get a better source.

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    The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    23 hours ago
  • What makes us tick

    This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 day ago
  • Foreshore and seabed 2.0

    In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission report into abuse in care

    Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Weekly Roundup 26-July-2024

    Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 day ago
  • God what a relief

    1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Trust In Me

    Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 26

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care report released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced $802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Radical law changes needed to build road

    The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30 2024

    Open access notables Could an extremely cold central European winter such as 1963 happen again despite climate change?, Sippel et al., Weather and Climate Dynamics: Here, we first show based on multiple attribution methods that a winter of similar circulation conditions to 1963 would still lead to an extreme seasonal ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • First they came for the Māori

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

    Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Will the real PM Luxon please stand up?

    Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?

    Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Care report in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Olywhites and Time Bandits

    About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Why were the 1930s so hot in North America?

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Those who’ve trawled social media during heat waves have likely encountered a tidbit frequently used to brush aside human-caused climate change: Many U.S. states and cities had their single hottest temperature on record during the 1930s, setting incredible heat marks ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • Throwback Thursday – Thinking about Expressways

    Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • The Possum: Demon or Friend?

    Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago
  • Not a story

    Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • A tougher line on “proactive release”?

    The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

    TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.

    I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House

    Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?

    This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government

    Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LXR Takaanini

    As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    3 days ago
  • Four kilograms of pain

    Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Luxon gets caught out

    NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A worrying sign

    Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet…

    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    18 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

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