Great Britain shows once more that tories hate freedom: ASBOs set to become IPNAs. George Monbiot describes the almost-passed bill for injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance. Anyone aged ten or more can be locked up for causing “annoyance”. As Monbiot puts it:
The new injunctions and the new dispersal orders create a system in which the authorities can prevent anyone from doing more or less anything. But they won’t be deployed against anyone. Advertisers, who cause plenty of nuisance and annoyance, have nothing to fear; nor do opera lovers hogging the pavements of Covent Garden. Annoyance and nuisance are what young people cause; they are inflicted by oddballs, the underclass, those who dispute the claims of power.
Have fallen for Giles cartoons at last. He would have had something to draw about this.
But one was appropriate in the Daily Express of 5/7/1979 Policeman addressing leader of toddlers trespassing on the grass in a park.
‘You realise, sir, you are contributing to the ‘avalanche of lawlesness threatening to engulf our civilisation’. http://www.gilescartoons.co.uk/keywordlist3.asp
I love the one highlighted during the Cold War – as seen through the eyes of MI5 and MI6? And the Giles family… don’t you love the dear little children.
It was fictitious family but Giles did admit that some of the characters were based on members of his own family.
Not as far as I am aware. However akismet got removed because they kind of fell over in the silly season.
I’m using a system that looks much more closely at *how* the comments are posted to the site with a few quiet details that should be done by anything talking to wordpress. Are you using a RSS feeder?
BTW: The site software only appears to have a colour discrimination against people with polkadots with high amounts of puce. Some kind of stylistic folly methinks…. Either that or a coulrophobia issue.
Xox
New low for RNZ on Summer program with Suzie and Caitlin. Topic : Auckland University study into blood spray patterns from bullets to the human head! Using a USA pistol, (not used in NZ.) The relevance and lack of judgement by RNZ in broadcasting this item is appalling. What has happened to, once proud, RNZ? It’s gone the way of TVNZ. Lead by Jim, Kathryn, Suzie, Simon, Noelle, it’s off to the sewer. Makes Matinée Idle appear ok! RNZ R. I. P. Where to turn to for sensible, informed media in NZ?
There is often talk about blood splatter in murder cases. It’s relevant because of the violence that is inherent in society and not repressed. Police and experts are interested. I think it was a factor in the Bain case. Sorry but it can’t be dismissed as sensational crap from the USA. Wish we could. Or blame it on Canada, or anywhere.
Why is RODNEY HIDE’s nonsense on the Editorial page?
The “news” is as biased, ridiculous and untrustworthy as ever
Q—What do you do for a living?
A—I am a communicator.
Q—What do you communicate? Scarlet fever? Apprehension?
—A.J. Liebling, The Press (Pantheon, 1961)
If you read the newspapers, listen to the radio or—worst choice of all—watch television in order to see what’s going on in the world, you will occasionally, even regularly, feel a sense of despair: not only at the events being described, but at the flagrantly partisan and irresponsible treatment of those events by the “reporters” and studio anchors, as well as the headline writers and copywriters for not only third-rate tabloids like the New Zealand Herald, but also for quality broadsheets ( 😀 ) like the Waikato Times, Dom-Post and ODT.
Here’s a representative sample, scribbled in disbelief and anger at odd moments during the last few days….
“Sharon was known for bold tactics and an occasional refusal to obey orders.”
—Ian Deitch (AP), in the NZ Herald, 3 January 2014
“…Ramadi and Fallujah, where U.S. forces once fought desperate battles against al-Qaeda…”
—David Martin, CBS, on Prime TV’s 5:30 News, 4 January 2014
“Fallujah was pacified by U.S. troops in 2004…”
—Paul Brennan, 9 a.m. News, Radio NZ National, 5 January 2014
“Biggs has the last word”. “Cheeky floral tribute a final statement from Great Train Robber”
—an entirely laudatory AP, AAP report of Ronald Biggs’ funeral “celebration”, Herald on Sunday, 5/1/14
“Death by dogs disputed”. “Commentators debate truth about death of Korean leader’s uncle”
—Herald on Sunday, 5/1/14
But as bad as this floodtide of trivia, this mountain of distortion and falsehood, this monumental failure by the “news” organisations might be, there is actually something much worse than people like David Martin of CBS, who are after all only acting as functionaries in the service of corporations much bigger and more powerful than they are. The most chilling feature of the “news”—more disturbing than hard-working servants like Martin, Blitzer, Ananpour, Paxman, Wark, Espiner and (shudder) Dallow—is the ideological fanatic who operates as a “commentator”. In spite of the neverending moaning by some that journalists are “liberals” and “leftists”, anyone who actually looks at a few papers and watches TV and listens to the radio will see that the right wing—and usually the most extreme, unhinged part of the right wing—is running wild, unchecked and unhindered over the Op-Ed pages of the mainstream press and in the chairs reserved for guest commentators and “pundits”.
You know the phenomenon of the extreme right wing commentator very well. He (or she) has stunned you on occasion and has left you shaking your head, or screaming at the television screen, and wondering: why the HELL is Bill O’Reilly talking about this?—Karl du Fresne knows NOTHING!—Bat Ye’or is bat-freaking INSANE! The roll-call of this cadre of ideological despots is long and inexhaustible; there are right wing “think tanks” and journalism schools producing these vacuous but self-important talking heads as regularly and reliably as India churns out top-class cricketers. In North America, there is Glenn Beck, David Brooks, David Frum, Sean Hannity, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Maher, Daniel Pipes, Bill O’Reilly, William Safire—and hundreds more. In Great Britain there is Niall Ferguson, Simon Heffer, Boris Johnson, Dame Ann Leslie, Melanie Phillips, Nick Robinson, Bat Ye’or—and hundreds more.
New Zealand and Australia‘s round-up of right-wing reactionaries let loose in the top paddock is equally dismal. It includes: John Ansell, Dr. Michael Bassett, Andrew Bolt, Karl du Fresne, Stephen Franks, Matthew (“I loved Mandela”) Hooton, Alan Jones, Steve Price, David Round, John Tamihere and hundreds of others too dim, depressing and outrageous to mention. (Tune in to Jim Mora’s Panel show if you want to hear some of the worst of them indulge in an uninterrupted rant.)
To compound the faux news that dominated its pages, the 5 January edition of the Herald on Sunday carried a typically bizarre piece by the notorious ACT loon and science-denier Rodney Hide, entitled “Heat gone out of climate claims”. The great thinker opens his barrage of crap with this pearler: “Future historians may point to this one ironic event as the trigger that finally ended the public fear of global warming.” He goes on to sneer at Al Gore and at the “nuttiness” of climate scientists. Hide uses the word “nuttiness” three times, and his sub-editors at the Herald on Sunday compound his mischief by using it a fourth time—in an enlarged, highlighted excerpt: “That’s the climate alarmists’ nuttiness in a nutshell: nothing proves them wrong; everything proves them right.” Hide’s garbage appears on the editorial page, which some people might have thought was for considered and serious writing. Such a placement, aided and abetted by the highlighting of the “nuttiness” quotation, bestows a degree of ex cathedra authority on a piece of writing which, in its poverty of thought and its infelicity of expression, as well as its lame attempts at humour, would embarrass a moderately intelligent Year 9 student.
The overall effect of this is not just to confuse and mislead the listener, or viewer, or reader. Intelligent consumers of this willfully dishonest and/or fantastical and/or depraved “product” realize that it is a vital part of a disinformation regime in which everything we see and understand is cast into doubt. News coverage like this creates a situation in New Zealand, and in every country where people like David Martin of CBS are entrusted with reporting on Iraq and people like Rodney Hide are allowed to write crazed rants against science, very like the situation which pertained in Soviet-bloc countries in the 1970s, where nobody trusted APN or TASS or Pravda, and the intelligentsia simply recognized that they were not to be believed at all. And CBS, as anyone who remembers its bloodthirsty cheerleading from its flag-bedecked studios during the aggression against Iraq in both 1990 and 2003 will know, is a de facto official news channel—along with the other flag-wavers and Obama-cultists at ABC, NBC and CNN, as well as the BBC, Radio New Zealand and TVNZ.
Now you might be thinking: at least there’s Bryan Crump on nights on Radio NZ National. At least there’s one place we can go to hear intelligent and civilized talk. At least there is an island of civilization and rationality amongst all the nonsense. But not so fast! Among the mostly excellent line-up of guests for this year’s “Monday Night Thinkers” feature is…. Rodney Hide. For such a prospect, there is really only one appropriate response….
How can NZ get a non commercial radio network that does not require you to check your brain before listening.
We have what I believe is one of the highest radio station per head of population in the world but they are all the same. National Radio used to provide intelligent programming but these days it is starting to sound like one of the commercial networks.
I would be more than happy to pay a subscription for a decent quality Radio service. I would love to have good quality music, documentaries, radio plays, book discussions, interviews where the subject is more important than the interviewer and all the other items that make up good station.
Also would like to announcers to be capable of stringing two words together with out sounding like idiots.
Is this too much to hope for?
“Shell country manager Rob Jager told the Otago Daily Times no decision had been made on where the company would base its shore operations, but it was between Dunedin and Invercargill…. [Otago Chamber of Commerce past-president] Mr McIntyre said Southland would surely be ”putting its best foot forward” and Dunedin should waste no time showing it could host Shell.”
So any effective protest action by the Dunedin public will be met with threats to relocate south. It’s further from the drilling site, but with the smelter on the verge of shutting down; Invercargill will agree to almost anything for jobs (especially since the spill modelling doesn’t show much immediate risk for Southland west of the Catlins). But this ploy will not prevent protest action from the Dunedin Green Party at least:
“Oceans spokesman, Gareth Hughes, said his party opposed all deep sea drilling, as it was too risky.
”This is a particularly risky environment – it’s between the roaring forties and the furious fifties. We saw one of the world’s largest oil companies Exxon Mobil pull out in 2010 because they said the conditions were too harsh and the location remote. Those conditions still exist for Shell.” “
I’m not at all interested in clicking on one of your links without any indication of what cess-pit it’ll land me in (probably something to do with; data massaged by National’s pet pollster by the look of it). If you could quote some part of it in your comments, then I might be interested in that.
Thanks PR-always worth reading what the opposition are saying to get some perspective.
My reading of the graphs is that Labour/Greens/Mana are more likely to get in next time than National, with Winston as the possible deal breaker. I reckon’ he will get 4.8% and miss out. Colin Crayfish is too loony to have much influence.
Speaking of that old cod Winston Peters, I hear he could be going head to head with his sister (Labour) in the rat abandoning ship (Phil Heatley) seat of Whangarei. That’s if Peters sister beats a tranny for the Labour candidacy. All we need now is for bible basher Colin Craig to stand there too, the place is full of god botherers. So maybe Key will ask his blue ribbon lot from the North to vote Craig. Perhaps Dot Blob can add to an interesting electorate contest?
Ok sorry no malice intended, in hinsight speaking loosely. I like the tranny & Peters to a degree, the god botherers are mostly fine, however the brethrens up here are a weird bunch & Colin Craig has some dim views on the likes of Maori & reintroducing beat the kids is plain dumb. I’m no spring chicken myself 🙂
yep – Skinny – from this point of view, it looks like it might be a verrrrry interesting selection for Labour ! Like you, I’m no spring chicken but I look forward to the revelations this election will bring forth in Whangarei ! It might be fun… for a change!
As long as idiots don’t drag the party through the mud in the process. The candidate will need to be sharp & fast on their feet and street wise so that narrows the field down some what. The last election the candidate was woeful as was his campaign crew, I understand the unions now hold sway, which is probably a good thing as organising is their thing.
You’ve got it wrong Skinny – I’m not so sure the unions hold sway – that’s just big talk, no real do, happening. A couple of those unionists are all talk …. no real reputation for doing anything real.
fascinating you thought the last election candidate was woeful – I thought he was pretty good but then i was part of his campaign crew so biased
Dear Skinny as the supposed woeful candidate last time, Id love to know what u based yr comment on… Easy to hide malicious uninformed comments behind a pseudonym isn’t it… I’m guessing from yr nasty personal comments, that you probably would be a member of a Whangarei Nutters Group. The results achieved here last election by the way, don’t point to me being a woeful candidate….
Sorry if I offended you, however i am from the school of hard knocks as should any aspiring MP be. Therefore I will contradict you Mr Newman the last election result;
clearly shows you achieved below the national average for the NZP. Why so? because you and your campaign crew were woeful. You lot gave it your best crack which was simply not good enough.
So rather than front up with an inferior ‘patsy’ candidate why don’t you and your self serving bunch of glorified teachers pull your heads in and get behind the soon to be chosen candidate, think of the big picture.
Lastly, dollars for doughnuts the Unions hold sway alright, that is why Kelly will get the candidacy. But hey it’s a democracy… bring it!
Old grudges up North against Heatley (tho he has done his dash) & Mike Sabin who he hates like no other MP, + he gets votes from Maori & the senior voters rounded out by the church goers and racehorse set. He setup quite a good office in Whangarei last year & his brother & family are locals. Of course the likes of Shane Jones and Winston prefer being list MP’s as they can goof off without being tied down like an electorate MP who has to do some mundane work locally.
In reply to Skinny at 9.2.2.111 on 10 Jan “Therefore I will contradict you Mr Newman the last election result ” the 2011 election result in Whangarei for Labour was on a par with every electorate result for Labour that year. The Labour vote throughout the country went down from the previous election. Whangarei was no different to the rest. An No – it won’t be the Unions who’ll be supporting Kelly : it’ll be the lawyers and others – get your actual facts right, nutcase !
Wrong you old trout the seat was all about the party vote, Newman gathered around a poultry 20 percent, which was pitiful considering the previous electorate results. You ran a poor campaign with a lazy candidate amongst many other things, that’s why your services as chairperson are no longer required.
I’ve spoken to the main Union leaders here and they have confirmed they will not put their own contender up, instead will back the justice lawyer. The only conditions are the candiate must be fully funded to the maximum allowed in all regards, and they push a pro worker platform directed by the union affiliates.
Here is a final tip ‘don’t bother’ trying to get back on the Executive as your not wanted by the majority of the members, your an unwelcome distraction to the task at hand. Now pull that hook out of your nose and sling it further North!
Hey Skinny – for someone who has NEVER run in a campaign, let alone WIN one, you do speak a lot of malicious tosh. The “main union leaders here” (in Whangarei ?)
all TWO of them ! not much help coming from that lot …. as you should know from previous campaigns – but that’s right, you haven’t actually done any organising in a campaign, nor been very much use in a campaign except for banging the odd nail in a hoarding ….. so what do YOU know about it . All bloddy nothing …. just a load of old crock yourself. about time you were put out to rest ….. in those paddocks of yours.
Self serving bunch of glorified teachers eh skinny… You must have been strapped when at school to have such an opinion of teachers like that… Pity as u obviously come from Whangarei that you didn’t actually help out at the last election.. Then as I said earlier, its too easy to criticize from anonymity… By the way note Phil heatleys result was down over 10% on previous election
…..
Another nail in the coffin for Labours hopes at the next election but at least you can guarantee a win in 2017
[lprent: Idiot. Where was there *anything* about the Labour party in that post? FFS: bsprout is a well known green.
Basically we do know where your brain appears to be – but you don’t have to tug on it here just to prove it again.
And you just collected a 2 week ban for intimating this site was a Labour party site (see the about and the policy), and a 2 week ban for being a stupid trolling fool doing diversions at the top of posts.
And moved it to OpenMike as being irrelevant to the post. ]
Is that what you think? I think you might be forgetting a certain John Banks in the dock, and a certain Kim.com appeal hearing in April. And that’s assuming your confidence in the economic tea-leaves proves well-founded, as opposed to just some cocaine-addled banker talking shite.
No one believes a word Krim.con says, the sooner the thieving fat Kraut is sent to the USA and locked up the better. There is to much news about Labour’s Pant’s Down Brown the serial masturbator for anyone to remember John Banks minor memory lapse.
I wonder if the Russians will melt down that Gween Peace ship to make some more drilling pipes
may as well use the steel for a worth while cause.
PS Labour and the Gween Taliban are sunk.
Sure. No-one believes him except the judge, who keeps on ruling in his favour.
Poor wingnuts are especially reality-challenged today. That, and determined to demonstrate that they’re twelve years old – seriously, “gween”? Tee hee, speech impediments are so funny.
Xox
Thanks Morrissey.
Your contribution made me feel a little better. Good to know I’m not the only one thinking along these lines. TV is dead now that quality Public Broadcasting has gone the way of the dodo.
The only encouraging thing in this video is the fact it was teenagers that stepped in to the situation to try to help the kid. Maybe the message is at least getting through to some young people….
crap – a – roo. I had replied to pukish rogue at 9.2.1 (1.39pm) and it has disappeared. When I refreshed the page I got the Standard Banner only and a blank page. I think this happened to phil ure the other day. Just saying.
Long story short, in response to PR I had mentioned Dunne’s influence as a support “party” – far too much in regards to his damaging voting choices: Asset sales, GCSB and TICS Act’s, Sky City and his intention to not vote for Hone’s Feed the Kids Bill (just off the top of my head)
Before clicking on the “submit comment” button, I generally select the whole field and ctrl+C it; that way if it vanishes into the glitch zone, I can get it back with a quick ctrl+V.
I heard that Gareth Hughes is considering going list-only next election, so it may be that Labour’s candidate will be only up against a nominal Green opponent in Ohariu-Belmont. Given his conduct this term, and a coordinated left alternative; I think Dunne and Untied History are done.
Hi Pasupial. Ha ha! I did that little trick last time and it worked………….
Tane Woodley has been selected as the Green party candidate for Ohariu this year, and there is still no word on the Labour candidate. I even emailed the NZLP through their website to ask them but no word as yet. I’m busting to know.
Yes, Dunne absolutely has to go this year, especially as it will be his 30th anniversary of holding the seat. I’m in Ohariu and will be working alongside a non party affiliated group to see what we can do to help move him out. I think it can be done but it will require hard work because he is like a comfortable pair of old slippers for many voters here. Mind you, 64.6% of Ohariu voters said NO in the asset sales referendum, so hopefully the wind is changing direction.
It seems that we will have to wait another six weeks to find out who the Labour Party candidate for Ohariu will be. The LP sent out a candidate selection update just before Christmas, Apparently nominations have closed for Ohariu with two people nominated and so a contested selection. A confirmation meeting is scheduled for 22 February. Names of the nominees were not provided in the update.
Nominations for LP candidates for many electorates do not close until 28 February.
Thanks! Thats very helpful veutoviper and something to look forward to.
I’m hoping the selection of the candidate will reflect the “specialness” of this electorate, in that there have been mutterings of discontent in the street from actual Dunne voters vs. the glue like nature of Dunne’s presence. A crow bar may still be required but the right candidate will be able to harness the section of the community that is waking and feeling pissed off and sold down the river by Dunne.
But it found much of their discussion supported fewer MPs because participants “did not trust politicians to represent them with integrity”.
/facepalm
The number of MPs has no bearing on them representing with integrity. That requires being able to hold them to account as the John Banks saga has shown. The problem that we have don’t have systems in place to ensure that the MPS are upholding the necessary standards and neither the police nor the MSM seem willing to even when there is obvious breaks in an MPs integrity.
I know a couple of smokers who answered NO to the are you a smoker question, but I don’t know anyone ‘pretending’ to be an MP, other than the obvious..
Al Sharpton and Michael Moore versus two hateful bigots
The Rev. Al Sharpton—one of those black leaders in whose memory the likes of Matthew Hooton need never feel obliged to make a mock tribute on Public Address—and Michael Moore try their best to keep things rational and civilized here. Valerie Plame also pitches in on the side of decency and tolerance, but this is Bill Maher‘s show, and with his watery English henchman Richard Dawkins he won’t be having any liberal crap about tolerance and understanding and context spoiling things this evening.
Valerie Plame’s very first contribution to this conversation is a vacuous statement, chiming in to support Bill Maher just after he’s assured everyone that he is “not racist.” But after that vapid beginning, she does get better. She, like Bill Maher, is out of her intellectual depth though—I got the impression she was not overly bright when I read her (much redacted) book a year or so ago.
Bill Maher, on the other hand, only gets worse as this clip goes on. Every single utterance he makes is bumptious, hateful and obnoxious. He is backed up, languidly, by Richard Dawkins, who is at his hypocritical worst here. If Dawkins has ever uttered even a mild statement condemning Christian or Jewish violence, could someone please post it up?
Observers of this kind of pretentious but empty upper class drawing room honking will be aware Dawkins has taken up some of the burden since Christopher Hitchens died. At first glance, he would seem to fill Hitchens’ two key roles perfectly: 1.) the steady dripping of hateful slurs against all Muslims, at the same time scoffing at anyone who dares point out that there is also massive Christian and Jewish and Buddhist violence; and 2.) playing the suave and sophisticated Englishman, the sine qua non at any smart Manhattan soirée, where you will also hear the sort of ignorant, racist opinionating that Maher and Dawkins specialize in. A few generations it was “the Jews” on the receiving end of such vile bigotry; now it’s Arabs and Iranians.
But watch carefully and you’ll see that there’s something gravely wrong here. Dawkins has not really bought in to the role that Maher expects him to play. Dawkins seems detached; he seems to be phoning it in instead of engaging in the scenery-chewing, snarling and faux outrage of a committed role-player like Hitchens. He nods wanly in support of Maher, but he doesn’t really seem to have his heart in it. Unlike Hitchens, he is incapable of summoning up the display of bogus rage needed when one engages in the kind of needling provocation Bill Maher expects of his back-up men.
As for the pitiful Maher: his intellectual level is perfectly illustrated by the very last words he utters on the clip: “Hitchens said a great thing—” he burbles—and then he is cut off.
Now I find Bill O’Reilly a distasteful man most of the time. But today, he crossed a line, from being distasteful idiot on the right, to a numb skull who deserves to be retired from the media forever. This is from my libertarian capitalist mates, even they are finding him and fox news nothing more than propaganda for arch-conservatives. I wont repeat what they said as children may be watching, except to say, this is an example of out of touch conservatives, whose grip on reality has failed.
A full world
Nineteenth century economists assumed that the economy would stop growing naturally, reaching “a very pleasant steady state,” said UC Berkeley economist Richard Norgaard, chairman of the Delta Independent Science Board advising California on water issues, and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “People would have more time for the arts and less time spent working.”
Sometime in the 20th century, the idea that the economy must grow became a truism, he said, yet “there is no theoretical reason why the economy has to keep growing.”
In fact an economy must not keep growing as that will destroy the environment totally.
The first thing we need to do is to tell the politicians and business people that we will no longer support more growth. We’ve had massive growth over the last three decades and yet poverty is worse than ever and so it’s obvious that growth is not the panacea to poverty.
The scary thing about that is just how accurately it describes humans but, then, art has been doing that in subtle and not so subtle ways for millennia.
But I will not sit idly back and let this discussion be derailed by the Speaker of the House and the dominant culture or by Māori men justifying gender essentialism based on a context that no longer afflicts our interactions with each other. Tikanga is fluid. It can adapt. But its up to Māori to decide if they will adapt.
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The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...
Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...
When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...
by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...
The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...
Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...
As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...
Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...
by Daphna Whitmore Every Sunday for the past two months unionists from First Union, with supporters from other unions, have set out to the Ihumatao land protest, put up gazebos and gas barbeques, and cooked food for a few hundred locals and supporters who have come from across the country. ...
Newsroom today has an excellent, in-depth article on pine trees as carbon sinks. The TL;DR is that pine is really good at soaking up carbon, but people prefer far-less efficient native forests instead. Which is understandable, but there's two problems: firstly, we've pissed about so long on this problem that ...
Canan Kaftancioglu is a Turkish politician and member of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Like most modern politicians, she tweets, and uses the platform to criticise the Turkish government. She has criticised them over the death of a 14-year-old boy who was hit by a tear gas grenade during ...
Hi there, just call me Tim.We face tough problems, and I’d like to help, because there are solutions.An Auckand District Health Board member has nominated me for as a candidate for the ADHB, because her MS-related pain and fatigue is reduced with hemp products from Rotorua. Nothing else helped her. If I ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security has published their report on whether the SIS and GCSB had any complicity in American torture. And its damning. The pull quote is this:The Inquiry found both agencies, but to a much greater degree, the NZSIS, received many intelligence reports obtained from detainees who, ...
Bewhiskered Cassandra? Professor Hugh White’s chilling suggestion, advanced to select collections of academic, military and diplomatic Kiwi experts over the course of the past week, is that the assumptions upon which Australia and New Zealand have built their foreign affairs and defence policies for practically their entire histories – are ...
For most of the time I was a British MP, my party was out of government – these were the Thatcher years, when it was hard for anyone else to get a look-in. As a front-bencher and shadow minister, I became familiar with the strategies required in a parliamentary democracy ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh On August 29th a video in which veteran FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) commander Iván Márquez announced that they had taken up arms again was released. There was no delay in the reaction to it, from longtime Liberal Party figure and former president Uribe, for ...
Air New Zealand couldn’t believe its luck that this seemingly ideal piece of real estate had so far gone entirely unnoticed. Air New Zealand’s search for a site to build a second Auckland Airport may have made a breakthrough this afternoon, after employees scanning Google satellite imagery spotted a huge, ...
No-one on the anti-capitalist left in this country today puts forward a case that Labour is on the side of the working class. There are certainly people who call themselves ‘socialist’ who do, but they are essentially liberals with vested interests in Labourism – often for career reasons. Nevertheless, there ...
When National was in government and fucking over the poor for the benefit of the rich, foodbanks were a growth industry. And now Labour is in charge, nothing has changed: A huge demand for emergency food parcels means the Auckland City Mission is struggling to prepare for the impending arrival ...
Gayford, pictured here on The Project, before things got wildly out of control. A bold public relations move by the Government to encourage parents to vaccinate their children has gone horribly wrong. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared on tonight’s episode of Three’s The Project, where the plan was for her ...
Mr. Whippy’s business model has driven it down a dark road of intimidation. Residents in major centres around the country are becoming disgruntled by the increasingly aggressive actions of purported ice cream company Mr. Whippy, who have taken to parking on people’s front lawns and doorsteps in a desperate attempt ...
Today the government released its Action Plan for Healthy Waterways, aimed at cleaning up our lakes and rivers. Its actually quite good. There will be protection for wetlands, better standards for swimming spots, a requirement for continuous improvement, and better standards for wastewater and stormwater. But most importantly, there's a ...
Today I appeared before the Environment Committee to give an oral submission on the Zero Carbon Bill. Over 1,500 people have asked to appear in person, so they've divided into subcommittees and are off touring the country, giving people a five minute slot each. The other submitters were a mixed ...
Anti-fluoride activists have some wealthy backers – they are erecting billboards misrepresenting the Canadian study on many New Zealand cities – and local authorities are ordering their removal because of their scaremongering. Many New Zealanders ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
FIRST Union today welcomed Westpac’s public admission of the significant gender pay gap in its workforce and reiterated its call for employers to work with unions to close this disparity, arguing that this work must begin at the bottom of the pay ...
Changes to the work visa system announced by the Minister of Immigration are not all positive for employers or migrants, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the ...
The Dairy Workers Union (DWU) has welcomed the announcement from dairy company, Synlait, that they will be boosting parental leave entitlements significantly for working parents. ...
In June, the Children’s Commissioner announced a thematic review into Oranga Tamariki’s policies, processes and practice relating to care and protection issues for tamariki Māori aged 0-3 months. Today the Children’s Commissioner has released the full ...
“Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues of the Western Bay region. We believe that this is ...
In response to DairyNZ's attempt to dismiss an economic report that highlighted dairy's role in the New Zealand economy is only three per cent of GDP, Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says: "If DairyNZ wishes to reject a report ...
Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has successfully guided the mana whenua of lhumaatao to reach a consensus on the future of their whenua. ...
Two activists disguised as shareholders interrupted the AGM of a gold mining company in central Auckland this morning to inform shareholders their plans to mine for gold in conservation estate in the Karangahake Gorge were unwelcome. ...
The Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) has been labelled ‘NATO’ (no action, talk only) when it comes to child mental health, with just 0.6 full time staff (24 hours per week) for inpatient child psychology and just 0.8 full time staff ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has awarded three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union , in partnership with the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance , has today published this year's Ratepayers' Report – online local government league tables – at www.ratepayersreport.nz . ...
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...
The recent NZIER report trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said ...
This week, the New Zealand Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will jointly host a seminar on tackling the global spread of illicit weapons. ...
In a landmark judgment issued this morning, the Court of Appeal confirmed that the Southern Response Concealment Class Action will proceed issued on an "opt out” basis. ...
Mainstream media, as the purveyors of truth and source of balanced information, took another backward step today with the announcement by Stuff that most New Zealand organisations had joined 170 media outlets from around the world in the “Covering ...
The goal of one million Kiwis having basic conversations in te reo by 2040 is unrealistic if more is not done to get serious about reo acquisition says the Māori Party. “While small steps have been taken to bolster efforts to increase the numbers of speakers, ...
Changes announced today by the Immigration Minister to employer-assisted visas will help businesses, but more work is needed to boost economic growth says Business Central. ...
DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is welcoming today’s announcement that the Government will be streamlining the employer assisted work visa process to help businesses and farms fill skills shortages. ...
Lawrence Yule MP wrote to our Office with concerns about the Department of Corrections' approach to procuring design and build services for rapid deployment of prison accommodation. We have published our response to Mr Yule on our website . ...
That from the chair of the Wellington Region of the College of Midwives, Siobhan Connor, following the news that Hutt Valley District Health Board is targeting midwives from overseas to help fill gaps in maternity units. ...
70% of New Zealand’s surface water take is allocated to Meridian’s Manapouri Power Scheme. But when Environment Minister David Parker asked to exempt the Scheme from his Freshwater Action Plan, he didn’t tell Cabinet that. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that officers responded in a timely and appropriate manner as soon as they were aware that a fleeing driver had hit a pedestrian. ...
prevention and intervention. Following Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s post-Cabinet press conference we are encouraged to see the acknowledgement of the mistakes made and the need to address this. The five points outlined in the action plan, which ...
A surge in teen vaping rates and a series of deaths being linked to vaping has resulted in a number of bans on the sales of flavoured Vape juice products in the United States. Though it is widely acknowledged that vaping is far less harmful than smoking tobacco, ...
The governments’ new environmental proposals will further accentuate the move of good, productive farmland into forestry according to environmental lobby group 50 Shades of Green. ...
17 September 2019: New Zealanders are acutely aware of the impact food production processes have on our planet according to new research released today by the 5+ A Day Charitable Trust. ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL is awarding three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
On 14 September 2017, the pipeline that brings diesel, petrol, and jet fuel from Marsden Point Oil Refinery into Auckland ruptured. It leaked jet fuel into rural properties and stopped the transmission of fuels into Auckland for 10 days. The rupture ...
Victims Advocate Louise Nicholas - Labour should have brought in “specialist support” “When there is a complaint especially a serious complaint of sexual assault, the first thing that should have happened was specialist support brought in to ensure ...
Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods says New Zealand is ‘not close’ to bringing in oil reserves after the attack on Saudi fields. “We would have to see prices rise by about $20 per barrel in order for some of those strategic reserves ...
New Zealand's new fresh water regulation rules will have no major impacts on the national economy, according to an independent report just out. The report by independent economic consultancy New Zealand Institute of Economic Research shows that dairying ...
Fish & Game New Zealand has welcomed the findings of a New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report, which rejects claims the Government’s freshwater proposals will have a significant economic impact. ...
The Council of Licensed Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the Government should take its proposed firearms legislation to the people with a touring Select Committee, as it just has with the Zero Carbon bill. ...
Water reforms and the long term sustainability of water will be a key focus at the Water New Zealand conference and expo this week (18-20 September) in Hamilton. ...
“Kiwi ex-smokers are mobilising against the Government’s plans to drastically limit vaping flavours. Flavours have been key to them quitting tobacco and they now just want other smokers to have the same chance,” says Jonathan Devery, co-owner ...
Oil company Tamarind Resources has reportedly halted drilling at its Tui oil field off the Taranaki coast after the first of the three planned wells came up dry and bad weather caused delays. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the left-wing campaign group “ActionStation” to front up and be transparent about how much taxpayer funding it takes from the Government to underwrite its activism activities. Earlier in the month, the Taxpayers’ ...
The ‘ Unplanned ’ movie is here and Family First has secured one of the first screenings in New Zealand tonight. ‘Unplanned’ brings an eye-opening look inside the abortion industry from a woman who was once its most passionate advocate. All ...
James Renwick claim that NZ is failing on climate change is valid, and since James has been receiving widespread media coverage that we outline most of it again here now as we gear up for the ‘Global climate change conference’ beginning next week. ...
Protestors will be outside the venue of the fourth hearing for Operation Burnham Inquiry on Monday morning from 8.30am to give a message to former and current military officers as they arrive to speak about the ongoing coverup of the 2010 attack on ...
People in central and eastern Europe take a different view on climate change than many in the west, writes the Hungarian news site Index, for the Covering Climate Now project. ...
The power balance of the incoming Auckland Council could be decided by two overheated local debates about a golf course and a carpark. Hayden Donnell reports.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Albert-Eden local ...
Covering Climate Now:Carys Goodwin reflects on giving up, and what convinced her to take up the fight again. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Four years ago, while working for the Green Party in parliament, I did a brief stint ...
By RNZ Pacific Vanuatu and Solomon Islands have raised the issue of human rights abuses against West Papuans at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The two governments made a statement which also noted that Indonesia had not yet given access to Papua for the UN Human Rights ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Rogue construction union boss John Setka is already in fights with the Labor party and the ACTU leadership. Now he faces a battle with parliament. Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick is moving to refer an ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paxton Loke, Paediatric Allergist and Immunologist, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Spring has sprung and if you’re one of the one in five Australians who get hay fever, you’ve probably noticed some of those pesky symptoms: sneezing; an itchy, runny or stuffy nose; ...
Covering Climate Now: Alex Casey watches 2040, a climate change documentary determined to let the light in. I’ve seen enough documentaries about climate change to know what I don’t want to see anymore. I don’t want Leonardo DiCaprio stroking his goatee on a sheet of ice and saying “folks: it’s bad”. ...
Covering Climate Now: We need to broaden our measures of success if we want to have any chance of reaching blunt targets for reducing emissions, writes Catherine Leining.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Since 1992, multiple rounds of greenhouse gas ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has acknowledged the Labour sexual assault scandal risks hurting New Zealand's reputation on the world stage as she heads abroad. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has acknowledged the Labour sexual assault scandal risks hurting New Zealand's reputation on the world stage as she heads abroad. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Thousands of forest fires have been burning across Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra, disrupting air travel, closing schools and sickening thousands of people, reports the New York Times. Officials have said that about 80 per cent of the fires were intentionally set to make room for lucrative ...
After over a month of discussions, Kiingitanga has announced that mana whenua at Ihumātao want to keep the land. Fletcher Buildings still owns it, so what comes next in the movement to protect Ihumātao?After over a month of discussion between divided mana whenua over the land at Ihumātao, the Māori ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Climate change Sharon Murdoch (Stuff): 4000 Days: A climate change story where you choose the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Orrman-Rossiter, PhD Research Student, History & Philosophy of Science, University of Melbourne If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How big is the International Space Station? – Isla, aged 6, Australia. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle O’Shea, Lecturer Sport Management, Western Sydney University In March this year, photographer Michael Willson captured an image of AFL footballer Tayla Harris kicking for a goal. The image shows Harris in athletic flight, right leg extended skyward and muscles flexed as ...
It’s a hard road getting attention for outsider candidates in local elections. Alex Braae, writer of The Bulletin and stout defender of the political little guy, thought he’d lend a hand by moderating a rebel Wellington mayoral debate.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more ...
Covering Climate Now: A midweek update from the Spinoffers who have ditched dairy (and eggs, and meat, and fish…) for the week. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Read this for the background on what this plant-based palaver is all about.Three ...
Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is defending his use of the words "sieg heil" during last night's lively political debate with Phil Goff, despite being lambasted for it on social media. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Belinda Xie, Scientia PhD Scholar, School of Psychology, UNSW This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. This Friday in the lead-up to the United Nations ...
Covering Climate Now: It’s easy to indulge in the idea that individual actions can’t have an impact on climate change. But a few simple ideas from economics show how wrong that is, argues Waikato University lecturer in environmental economics Zach Dorner.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Laurenceson, Acting Director and Professor, Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), University of Technology Sydney Last week’s Asian-Australian Leadership Summit in Melbourne saw the release of valuable new survey data on the discrimination some Australians face. A survey conducted by the Australian National ...
Last night Auckland mayoral contender John Tamihere said “sieg heil” when answering a question on diversity. Sadly that has forced us to put together a cheat sheet on how not to say Nazi phrases in debates.About one hour and 18 minutes into a pub politics debate at Chapel Bar on ...
In a special video interview ahead of the big UN Climate Action Summit, UN Secretary General Antonion Guterres says he is hopeful rather than desperate in the face of the climate emergency. ...
The Future of Work at Hutt City’s Dowse Art Museum makes visible our changing work conditions. Mark Amery took a tour, and even got some work done himself while he was there.I’ve gone to work at the gallery. And I’m making an exhibition of myself. Making my labour visible. I’m ...
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council was the first in New Zealand to vote in Māori ward seats. This election, the region’s longest-standing Māori councillor is up against some fierce competition from a former broadcaster who’s already put his skills to use in a viral video.The Spinoff local election coverage ...
With only a few more sleeps until the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Tara Ward looks at the variety of ways you can watch the tournament from the comfort of your own home.Set your clocks, sound the alarms and gird your scrum-loving loins for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which kicks ...
Covering Climate Now: As part of The Spinoff’s commitment to Covering Climate Now, the food section has gone vegan. Today, a delicious recipe to herald the arrival of spring. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Roman-style vignarolahas great appeal at ...
Covering Climate Now: Connecting your everyday choices at the supermarket to a crisis half a world away might be a hard concept get your head around, but we all have power to effect change, writes Hannah McGowan.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan University When we think of a bank robbery, we might imagine a safe with the door blown open. But nowadays it might be more accurate to picture criminals accessing our bank account online ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Senior Fellow, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University In the hit biopic Rocket Man, the ambitious young Reginald Dwight is counselled to hide his working-class roots if he wants to make it in “showbiz”: You gotta kill the person ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Senior Lecturer, University of Western Australia Countries around the world, including Australia, are using different ways to get parents to vaccinate their children. Our new research, published this week in the journal Milbank Quarterly, looks at diverse mandatory vaccination policies ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bill Hare, Director, Climate Analytics, Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University (Perth), Visiting scientist, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research This piece is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. ...
Open mike 08/01/2014 
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...8 hours ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...15 hours ago
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...16 hours ago
Just when I was thinking that Palmerston North's mayoral race (which includes a convicted child molester / public wanker and a convicted child beater) was the worst in the country, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere opened his mouth:Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is being slammed for using the words "sieg ...16 hours ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...20 hours ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...22 hours ago
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In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...2 days ago
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Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...3 days ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...3 days ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...3 days ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...4 days ago
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...5 days ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...6 days ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...6 days ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...7 days ago
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By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...1 week ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 1 week ago
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Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...1 week ago
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Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...1 week ago
Bewhiskered Cassandra? Professor Hugh White’s chilling suggestion, advanced to select collections of academic, military and diplomatic Kiwi experts over the course of the past week, is that the assumptions upon which Australia and New Zealand have built their foreign affairs and defence policies for practically their entire histories – are ...1 week ago
Air New Zealand couldn’t believe its luck that this seemingly ideal piece of real estate had so far gone entirely unnoticed. Air New Zealand’s search for a site to build a second Auckland Airport may have made a breakthrough this afternoon, after employees scanning Google satellite imagery spotted a huge, ...2 weeks ago
Gayford, pictured here on The Project, before things got wildly out of control. A bold public relations move by the Government to encourage parents to vaccinate their children has gone horribly wrong. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared on tonight’s episode of Three’s The Project, where the plan was for her ...2 weeks ago
Mr. Whippy’s business model has driven it down a dark road of intimidation. Residents in major centres around the country are becoming disgruntled by the increasingly aggressive actions of purported ice cream company Mr. Whippy, who have taken to parking on people’s front lawns and doorsteps in a desperate attempt ...2 weeks ago
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The power balance of the incoming Auckland Council could be decided by two overheated local debates about a golf course and a carpark. Hayden Donnell reports.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Albert-Eden local ...1 hour ago
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i made a major discovery about colin craig this morning..
..that i feel i should share with you..
..i joined two pulsating/obvious dots..
..and was then driven to cannabilise/re-write the lyrics..
..of a kim carne song..
..and yes..colin craig really has..
..’ann coulter eyes’..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/ann-coulter-does-what-she-does-and-whoar-colin-craig-really-has-ann-coulter-eyes-video/
phillip ure..
Great Britain shows once more that tories hate freedom: ASBOs set to become IPNAs. George Monbiot describes the almost-passed bill for injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance. Anyone aged ten or more can be locked up for causing “annoyance”. As Monbiot puts it:
Yay, turn our cities into giant privately owned malls where “loitering without intent to shop” is a punishable offense.
That’s the libertarian paradise, isn’t it? Every space controlled by private hands.
Libertarianism = privatisation of dictatorship.
So you are saying that a love of liberty leads to private dictatorship.
I would suggest that inept love of liberty, like that exhibited in the American Republican party, is doing so.
Have fallen for Giles cartoons at last. He would have had something to draw about this.
But one was appropriate in the Daily Express of 5/7/1979 Policeman addressing leader of toddlers trespassing on the grass in a park.
‘You realise, sir, you are contributing to the ‘avalanche of lawlesness threatening to engulf our civilisation’.
http://www.gilescartoons.co.uk/keywordlist3.asp
Thank you for reminding me of Giles greywarbler. A cartoonist supremo. Nobody was sacrosanct.
feast on them
I love the one highlighted during the Cold War – as seen through the eyes of MI5 and MI6? And the Giles family… don’t you love the dear little children.
It was fictitious family but Giles did admit that some of the characters were based on members of his own family.
Otherwise known as feudalism.
One word. Totalitarian.
Getting a lot of moderation lately. Was it something I said? Is it ‘cos I is black?
I’m not aware of any gravitar moderation.
Perish the thought felix!
Akismet does some strange things sometimes.
Not as far as I am aware. However akismet got removed because they kind of fell over in the silly season.
I’m using a system that looks much more closely at *how* the comments are posted to the site with a few quiet details that should be done by anything talking to wordpress. Are you using a RSS feeder?
BTW: The site software only appears to have a colour discrimination against people with polkadots with high amounts of puce. Some kind of stylistic folly methinks…. Either that or a coulrophobia issue.
Xox
New low for RNZ on Summer program with Suzie and Caitlin. Topic : Auckland University study into blood spray patterns from bullets to the human head! Using a USA pistol, (not used in NZ.) The relevance and lack of judgement by RNZ in broadcasting this item is appalling. What has happened to, once proud, RNZ? It’s gone the way of TVNZ. Lead by Jim, Kathryn, Suzie, Simon, Noelle, it’s off to the sewer. Makes Matinée Idle appear ok! RNZ R. I. P. Where to turn to for sensible, informed media in NZ?
What’s wrong with it?
You a little squeamish or something?
There is often talk about blood splatter in murder cases. It’s relevant because of the violence that is inherent in society and not repressed. Police and experts are interested. I think it was a factor in the Bain case. Sorry but it can’t be dismissed as sensational crap from the USA. Wish we could. Or blame it on Canada, or anywhere.
Why is RODNEY HIDE’s nonsense on the Editorial page?
The “news” is as biased, ridiculous and untrustworthy as ever
Q—What do you do for a living?
A—I am a communicator.
Q—What do you communicate? Scarlet fever? Apprehension?
—A.J. Liebling, The Press (Pantheon, 1961)
If you read the newspapers, listen to the radio or—worst choice of all—watch television in order to see what’s going on in the world, you will occasionally, even regularly, feel a sense of despair: not only at the events being described, but at the flagrantly partisan and irresponsible treatment of those events by the “reporters” and studio anchors, as well as the headline writers and copywriters for not only third-rate tabloids like the New Zealand Herald, but also for quality broadsheets ( 😀 ) like the Waikato Times, Dom-Post and ODT.
Here’s a representative sample, scribbled in disbelief and anger at odd moments during the last few days….
“Sharon was known for bold tactics and an occasional refusal to obey orders.”
—Ian Deitch (AP), in the NZ Herald, 3 January 2014
“…Ramadi and Fallujah, where U.S. forces once fought desperate battles against al-Qaeda…”
—David Martin, CBS, on Prime TV’s 5:30 News, 4 January 2014
“Fallujah was pacified by U.S. troops in 2004…”
—Paul Brennan, 9 a.m. News, Radio NZ National, 5 January 2014
“Biggs has the last word”. “Cheeky floral tribute a final statement from Great Train Robber”
—an entirely laudatory AP, AAP report of Ronald Biggs’ funeral “celebration”, Herald on Sunday, 5/1/14
“Death by dogs disputed”. “Commentators debate truth about death of Korean leader’s uncle”
—Herald on Sunday, 5/1/14
But as bad as this floodtide of trivia, this mountain of distortion and falsehood, this monumental failure by the “news” organisations might be, there is actually something much worse than people like David Martin of CBS, who are after all only acting as functionaries in the service of corporations much bigger and more powerful than they are. The most chilling feature of the “news”—more disturbing than hard-working servants like Martin, Blitzer, Ananpour, Paxman, Wark, Espiner and (shudder) Dallow—is the ideological fanatic who operates as a “commentator”. In spite of the neverending moaning by some that journalists are “liberals” and “leftists”, anyone who actually looks at a few papers and watches TV and listens to the radio will see that the right wing—and usually the most extreme, unhinged part of the right wing—is running wild, unchecked and unhindered over the Op-Ed pages of the mainstream press and in the chairs reserved for guest commentators and “pundits”.
You know the phenomenon of the extreme right wing commentator very well. He (or she) has stunned you on occasion and has left you shaking your head, or screaming at the television screen, and wondering: why the HELL is Bill O’Reilly talking about this?—Karl du Fresne knows NOTHING!—Bat Ye’or is bat-freaking INSANE! The roll-call of this cadre of ideological despots is long and inexhaustible; there are right wing “think tanks” and journalism schools producing these vacuous but self-important talking heads as regularly and reliably as India churns out top-class cricketers. In North America, there is Glenn Beck, David Brooks, David Frum, Sean Hannity, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Maher, Daniel Pipes, Bill O’Reilly, William Safire—and hundreds more. In Great Britain there is Niall Ferguson, Simon Heffer, Boris Johnson, Dame Ann Leslie, Melanie Phillips, Nick Robinson, Bat Ye’or—and hundreds more.
New Zealand and Australia‘s round-up of right-wing reactionaries let loose in the top paddock is equally dismal. It includes: John Ansell, Dr. Michael Bassett, Andrew Bolt, Karl du Fresne, Stephen Franks, Matthew (“I loved Mandela”) Hooton, Alan Jones, Steve Price, David Round, John Tamihere and hundreds of others too dim, depressing and outrageous to mention. (Tune in to Jim Mora’s Panel show if you want to hear some of the worst of them indulge in an uninterrupted rant.)
To compound the faux news that dominated its pages, the 5 January edition of the Herald on Sunday carried a typically bizarre piece by the notorious ACT loon and science-denier Rodney Hide, entitled “Heat gone out of climate claims”. The great thinker opens his barrage of crap with this pearler: “Future historians may point to this one ironic event as the trigger that finally ended the public fear of global warming.” He goes on to sneer at Al Gore and at the “nuttiness” of climate scientists. Hide uses the word “nuttiness” three times, and his sub-editors at the Herald on Sunday compound his mischief by using it a fourth time—in an enlarged, highlighted excerpt: “That’s the climate alarmists’ nuttiness in a nutshell: nothing proves them wrong; everything proves them right.” Hide’s garbage appears on the editorial page, which some people might have thought was for considered and serious writing. Such a placement, aided and abetted by the highlighting of the “nuttiness” quotation, bestows a degree of ex cathedra authority on a piece of writing which, in its poverty of thought and its infelicity of expression, as well as its lame attempts at humour, would embarrass a moderately intelligent Year 9 student.
The overall effect of this is not just to confuse and mislead the listener, or viewer, or reader. Intelligent consumers of this willfully dishonest and/or fantastical and/or depraved “product” realize that it is a vital part of a disinformation regime in which everything we see and understand is cast into doubt. News coverage like this creates a situation in New Zealand, and in every country where people like David Martin of CBS are entrusted with reporting on Iraq and people like Rodney Hide are allowed to write crazed rants against science, very like the situation which pertained in Soviet-bloc countries in the 1970s, where nobody trusted APN or TASS or Pravda, and the intelligentsia simply recognized that they were not to be believed at all. And CBS, as anyone who remembers its bloodthirsty cheerleading from its flag-bedecked studios during the aggression against Iraq in both 1990 and 2003 will know, is a de facto official news channel—along with the other flag-wavers and Obama-cultists at ABC, NBC and CNN, as well as the BBC, Radio New Zealand and TVNZ.
Now you might be thinking: at least there’s Bryan Crump on nights on Radio NZ National. At least there’s one place we can go to hear intelligent and civilized talk. At least there is an island of civilization and rationality amongst all the nonsense. But not so fast! Among the mostly excellent line-up of guests for this year’s “Monday Night Thinkers” feature is…. Rodney Hide. For such a prospect, there is really only one appropriate response….
A pic of wealth inequality in the USA. I wonder what a NZ version look like.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/If-us-land-mass-were-distributed-like-us-wealth.png
About the same – we have similar levels of inequality after all.
How can NZ get a non commercial radio network that does not require you to check your brain before listening.
We have what I believe is one of the highest radio station per head of population in the world but they are all the same. National Radio used to provide intelligent programming but these days it is starting to sound like one of the commercial networks.
I would be more than happy to pay a subscription for a decent quality Radio service. I would love to have good quality music, documentaries, radio plays, book discussions, interviews where the subject is more important than the interviewer and all the other items that make up good station.
Also would like to announcers to be capable of stringing two words together with out sounding like idiots.
Is this too much to hope for?
The old divide and rule trick in action once more:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/287558/dunedin-urged-show-it-can-support-shell
“Shell country manager Rob Jager told the Otago Daily Times no decision had been made on where the company would base its shore operations, but it was between Dunedin and Invercargill…. [Otago Chamber of Commerce past-president] Mr McIntyre said Southland would surely be ”putting its best foot forward” and Dunedin should waste no time showing it could host Shell.”
So any effective protest action by the Dunedin public will be met with threats to relocate south. It’s further from the drilling site, but with the smelter on the verge of shutting down; Invercargill will agree to almost anything for jobs (especially since the spill modelling doesn’t show much immediate risk for Southland west of the Catlins). But this ploy will not prevent protest action from the Dunedin Green Party at least:
“Oceans spokesman, Gareth Hughes, said his party opposed all deep sea drilling, as it was too risky.
”This is a particularly risky environment – it’s between the roaring forties and the furious fifties. We saw one of the world’s largest oil companies Exxon Mobil pull out in 2010 because they said the conditions were too harsh and the location remote. Those conditions still exist for Shell.” “
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2014/01/polls_december_2013.html
– In case anyones interested
PR
I’m not at all interested in clicking on one of your links without any indication of what cess-pit it’ll land me in (probably something to do with; data massaged by National’s pet pollster by the look of it). If you could quote some part of it in your comments, then I might be interested in that.
Likewise.
Thanks PR-always worth reading what the opposition are saying to get some perspective.
My reading of the graphs is that Labour/Greens/Mana are more likely to get in next time than National, with Winston as the possible deal breaker. I reckon’ he will get 4.8% and miss out. Colin Crayfish is too loony to have much influence.
Well even if he gets in he won’t have much influence anyway, how much influence have any of the support parties really had?
John Banks has had plenty of influence, all detrimental from memory except his interest in animal welfare with regards to party drug testing.
Speaking of that old cod Winston Peters, I hear he could be going head to head with his sister (Labour) in the rat abandoning ship (Phil Heatley) seat of Whangarei. That’s if Peters sister beats a tranny for the Labour candidacy. All we need now is for bible basher Colin Craig to stand there too, the place is full of god botherers. So maybe Key will ask his blue ribbon lot from the North to vote Craig. Perhaps Dot Blob can add to an interesting electorate contest?
^^ so much worthless abuse, so little content.
Oh great we have the content police amongst us! Touch a nerve did I old coot?
Bigotry such as your does tend to piss me off.
Ok sorry no malice intended, in hinsight speaking loosely. I like the tranny & Peters to a degree, the god botherers are mostly fine, however the brethrens up here are a weird bunch & Colin Craig has some dim views on the likes of Maori & reintroducing beat the kids is plain dumb. I’m no spring chicken myself 🙂
yep – Skinny – from this point of view, it looks like it might be a verrrrry interesting selection for Labour ! Like you, I’m no spring chicken but I look forward to the revelations this election will bring forth in Whangarei ! It might be fun… for a change!
As long as idiots don’t drag the party through the mud in the process. The candidate will need to be sharp & fast on their feet and street wise so that narrows the field down some what. The last election the candidate was woeful as was his campaign crew, I understand the unions now hold sway, which is probably a good thing as organising is their thing.
You’ve got it wrong Skinny – I’m not so sure the unions hold sway – that’s just big talk, no real do, happening. A couple of those unionists are all talk …. no real reputation for doing anything real.
fascinating you thought the last election candidate was woeful – I thought he was pretty good but then i was part of his campaign crew so biased
Dear Skinny as the supposed woeful candidate last time, Id love to know what u based yr comment on… Easy to hide malicious uninformed comments behind a pseudonym isn’t it… I’m guessing from yr nasty personal comments, that you probably would be a member of a Whangarei Nutters Group. The results achieved here last election by the way, don’t point to me being a woeful candidate….
Sorry if I offended you, however i am from the school of hard knocks as should any aspiring MP be. Therefore I will contradict you Mr Newman the last election result;
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/mpp/electorates/data/DBHOH_Lib_EP_Whangarei_Data_3/whangarei-electoral-profile
clearly shows you achieved below the national average for the NZP. Why so? because you and your campaign crew were woeful. You lot gave it your best crack which was simply not good enough.
So rather than front up with an inferior ‘patsy’ candidate why don’t you and your self serving bunch of glorified teachers pull your heads in and get behind the soon to be chosen candidate, think of the big picture.
Lastly, dollars for doughnuts the Unions hold sway alright, that is why Kelly will get the candidacy. But hey it’s a democracy… bring it!
Why doesn’t Winston stand in North harbour. Wouldn’t that make things interesting?
Old grudges up North against Heatley (tho he has done his dash) & Mike Sabin who he hates like no other MP, + he gets votes from Maori & the senior voters rounded out by the church goers and racehorse set. He setup quite a good office in Whangarei last year & his brother & family are locals. Of course the likes of Shane Jones and Winston prefer being list MP’s as they can goof off without being tied down like an electorate MP who has to do some mundane work locally.
In reply to Skinny at 9.2.2.111 on 10 Jan “Therefore I will contradict you Mr Newman the last election result ” the 2011 election result in Whangarei for Labour was on a par with every electorate result for Labour that year. The Labour vote throughout the country went down from the previous election. Whangarei was no different to the rest. An No – it won’t be the Unions who’ll be supporting Kelly : it’ll be the lawyers and others – get your actual facts right, nutcase !
Wrong you old trout the seat was all about the party vote, Newman gathered around a poultry 20 percent, which was pitiful considering the previous electorate results. You ran a poor campaign with a lazy candidate amongst many other things, that’s why your services as chairperson are no longer required.
I’ve spoken to the main Union leaders here and they have confirmed they will not put their own contender up, instead will back the justice lawyer. The only conditions are the candiate must be fully funded to the maximum allowed in all regards, and they push a pro worker platform directed by the union affiliates.
Here is a final tip ‘don’t bother’ trying to get back on the Executive as your not wanted by the majority of the members, your an unwelcome distraction to the task at hand. Now pull that hook out of your nose and sling it further North!
Hey Skinny – for someone who has NEVER run in a campaign, let alone WIN one, you do speak a lot of malicious tosh. The “main union leaders here” (in Whangarei ?)
all TWO of them ! not much help coming from that lot …. as you should know from previous campaigns – but that’s right, you haven’t actually done any organising in a campaign, nor been very much use in a campaign except for banging the odd nail in a hoarding ….. so what do YOU know about it . All bloddy nothing …. just a load of old crock yourself. about time you were put out to rest ….. in those paddocks of yours.
Self serving bunch of glorified teachers eh skinny… You must have been strapped when at school to have such an opinion of teachers like that… Pity as u obviously come from Whangarei that you didn’t actually help out at the last election.. Then as I said earlier, its too easy to criticize from anonymity… By the way note Phil heatleys result was down over 10% on previous election
…..
Nah. (@pukish)
Another nail in the coffin for Labours hopes at the next election but at least you can guarantee a win in 2017
[lprent: Idiot. Where was there *anything* about the Labour party in that post? FFS: bsprout is a well known green.
Basically we do know where your brain appears to be – but you don’t have to tug on it here just to prove it again.
And you just collected a 2 week ban for intimating this site was a Labour party site (see the about and the policy), and a 2 week ban for being a stupid trolling fool doing diversions at the top of posts.
And moved it to OpenMike as being irrelevant to the post. ]
Is that what you think? I think you might be forgetting a certain John Banks in the dock, and a certain Kim.com appeal hearing in April. And that’s assuming your confidence in the economic tea-leaves proves well-founded, as opposed to just some cocaine-addled banker talking shite.
Labour/Green for the win in 2014.
No one believes a word Krim.con says, the sooner the thieving fat Kraut is sent to the USA and locked up the better. There is to much news about Labour’s Pant’s Down Brown the serial masturbator for anyone to remember John Banks minor memory lapse.
I wonder if the Russians will melt down that Gween Peace ship to make some more drilling pipes
may as well use the steel for a worth while cause.
PS Labour and the Gween Taliban are sunk.
You put an N there instead of Cr….i.e: Craki Man..
Sure. No-one believes him except the judge, who keeps on ruling in his favour.
Poor wingnuts are especially reality-challenged today. That, and determined to demonstrate that they’re twelve years old – seriously, “gween”? Tee hee, speech impediments are so funny.
Slater appears to have sprung a leak in his sewer.
Xox
Thanks Morrissey.
Your contribution made me feel a little better. Good to know I’m not the only one thinking along these lines. TV is dead now that quality Public Broadcasting has gone the way of the dodo.
There are still many excellent programmes, though, Phil. And then there’s ConcertFM—still the best radio station in Australasia.
This has to be shared: http://e2nz.org/2014/01/08/8-year-old-boy-caught-drinkingdrugged-and-family-allow-it/
The only encouraging thing in this video is the fact it was teenagers that stepped in to the situation to try to help the kid. Maybe the message is at least getting through to some young people….
crap – a – roo. I had replied to pukish rogue at 9.2.1 (1.39pm) and it has disappeared. When I refreshed the page I got the Standard Banner only and a blank page. I think this happened to phil ure the other day. Just saying.
Long story short, in response to PR I had mentioned Dunne’s influence as a support “party” – far too much in regards to his damaging voting choices: Asset sales, GCSB and TICS Act’s, Sky City and his intention to not vote for Hone’s Feed the Kids Bill (just off the top of my head)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1311/S00216/unitedfuture-will-oppose-harawira-bill.htm
Rosie
Before clicking on the “submit comment” button, I generally select the whole field and ctrl+C it; that way if it vanishes into the glitch zone, I can get it back with a quick ctrl+V.
I heard that Gareth Hughes is considering going list-only next election, so it may be that Labour’s candidate will be only up against a nominal Green opponent in Ohariu-Belmont. Given his conduct this term, and a coordinated left alternative; I think Dunne and Untied History are done.
Hi Pasupial. Ha ha! I did that little trick last time and it worked………….
Tane Woodley has been selected as the Green party candidate for Ohariu this year, and there is still no word on the Labour candidate. I even emailed the NZLP through their website to ask them but no word as yet. I’m busting to know.
Yes, Dunne absolutely has to go this year, especially as it will be his 30th anniversary of holding the seat. I’m in Ohariu and will be working alongside a non party affiliated group to see what we can do to help move him out. I think it can be done but it will require hard work because he is like a comfortable pair of old slippers for many voters here. Mind you, 64.6% of Ohariu voters said NO in the asset sales referendum, so hopefully the wind is changing direction.
Morning Rosie
It seems that we will have to wait another six weeks to find out who the Labour Party candidate for Ohariu will be. The LP sent out a candidate selection update just before Christmas, Apparently nominations have closed for Ohariu with two people nominated and so a contested selection. A confirmation meeting is scheduled for 22 February. Names of the nominees were not provided in the update.
Nominations for LP candidates for many electorates do not close until 28 February.
Thanks! Thats very helpful veutoviper and something to look forward to.
I’m hoping the selection of the candidate will reflect the “specialness” of this electorate, in that there have been mutterings of discontent in the street from actual Dunne voters vs. the glue like nature of Dunne’s presence. A crow bar may still be required but the right candidate will be able to harness the section of the community that is waking and feeling pissed off and sold down the river by Dunne.
A real-time map of global winds to waste your day away.
http://earth.nullschool.net/
Thanks, awesome like the Flightrader and the Marinetraffic links you supplied some time ago Joe90.
Type something (slowly) and tele-port around the world.
http://www.instantstreetview.com/
Seems to be making the rounds.
Too many MPs in that House
/facepalm
The number of MPs has no bearing on them representing with integrity. That requires being able to hold them to account as the John Banks saga has shown. The problem that we have don’t have systems in place to ensure that the MPS are upholding the necessary standards and neither the police nor the MSM seem willing to even when there is obvious breaks in an MPs integrity.
lol
I know a couple of smokers who answered NO to the are you a smoker question, but I don’t know anyone ‘pretending’ to be an MP, other than the obvious..
That included Hawaii, where it was -8 degrees Celsius atop Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano…
Al Sharpton and Michael Moore versus two hateful bigots
The Rev. Al Sharpton—one of those black leaders in whose memory the likes of Matthew Hooton need never feel obliged to make a mock tribute on Public Address—and Michael Moore try their best to keep things rational and civilized here. Valerie Plame also pitches in on the side of decency and tolerance, but this is Bill Maher‘s show, and with his watery English henchman Richard Dawkins he won’t be having any liberal crap about tolerance and understanding and context spoiling things this evening.
Valerie Plame’s very first contribution to this conversation is a vacuous statement, chiming in to support Bill Maher just after he’s assured everyone that he is “not racist.” But after that vapid beginning, she does get better. She, like Bill Maher, is out of her intellectual depth though—I got the impression she was not overly bright when I read her (much redacted) book a year or so ago.
Bill Maher, on the other hand, only gets worse as this clip goes on. Every single utterance he makes is bumptious, hateful and obnoxious. He is backed up, languidly, by Richard Dawkins, who is at his hypocritical worst here. If Dawkins has ever uttered even a mild statement condemning Christian or Jewish violence, could someone please post it up?
Observers of this kind of pretentious but empty upper class drawing room honking will be aware Dawkins has taken up some of the burden since Christopher Hitchens died. At first glance, he would seem to fill Hitchens’ two key roles perfectly: 1.) the steady dripping of hateful slurs against all Muslims, at the same time scoffing at anyone who dares point out that there is also massive Christian and Jewish and Buddhist violence; and 2.) playing the suave and sophisticated Englishman, the sine qua non at any smart Manhattan soirée, where you will also hear the sort of ignorant, racist opinionating that Maher and Dawkins specialize in. A few generations it was “the Jews” on the receiving end of such vile bigotry; now it’s Arabs and Iranians.
But watch carefully and you’ll see that there’s something gravely wrong here. Dawkins has not really bought in to the role that Maher expects him to play. Dawkins seems detached; he seems to be phoning it in instead of engaging in the scenery-chewing, snarling and faux outrage of a committed role-player like Hitchens. He nods wanly in support of Maher, but he doesn’t really seem to have his heart in it. Unlike Hitchens, he is incapable of summoning up the display of bogus rage needed when one engages in the kind of needling provocation Bill Maher expects of his back-up men.
As for the pitiful Maher: his intellectual level is perfectly illustrated by the very last words he utters on the clip: “Hitchens said a great thing—” he burbles—and then he is cut off.
Now I find Bill O’Reilly a distasteful man most of the time. But today, he crossed a line, from being distasteful idiot on the right, to a numb skull who deserves to be retired from the media forever. This is from my libertarian capitalist mates, even they are finding him and fox news nothing more than propaganda for arch-conservatives. I wont repeat what they said as children may be watching, except to say, this is an example of out of touch conservatives, whose grip on reality has failed.
http://reason.com/blog/2014/01/07/bill-oreilly-makes-millions-of-marijuana
Read at own peril – it will disturb.
Efforts to curb unbridled growth that’s killing the planet
In fact an economy must not keep growing as that will destroy the environment totally.
The first thing we need to do is to tell the politicians and business people that we will no longer support more growth. We’ve had massive growth over the last three decades and yet poverty is worse than ever and so it’s obvious that growth is not the panacea to poverty.
Classifying the human species
The scary thing about that is just how accurately it describes humans but, then, art has been doing that in subtle and not so subtle ways for millennia.
Pōwhiri and gender essentialism