None of these schemes seem to be UBI’s of the sort suggested by Gareth Morgan and Keith Rankin. Their UBIs would be payable to everyone, rich or poor, employed or unemployed.
…subsidies for parents who choose to stay at home with their pre- schoolers rather than depositing them in state funded day care/early childhood ‘education’.
You are right Rosemary, it is a pity that FF have proposed this. One automatically supposes ulterior motives, just like most homeschoolers and Charter schools.
Why the quotation marks around education, Rosemary? Ece teachers have a three year training qualification just like primary. It is possible you do not understand what education at this level is about, or are you having a well-aimed crack at some of the more commercial, lesser quality centres around since the world and its wife discovered what a wonderful cash cow it can be?
“…or are you having a well-aimed crack at some of the more commercial, lesser quality centres around since the world and its wife discovered what a wonderful cash cow it can be?”
Yes…yes most definitely.
But also I have to question (hence the ‘ ‘) if what pre -schoolers receive in these artificial environment is a better preparation for primary school.
Parents are the best first teachers of their children, and it was a source of personal grief that I was forced into paid work when mine were little. But apart from a brief six weeks in a private ece centre for No 1 son ( he was bored there, so we quit) all three of mine got their preparation for primary school from home.
Within a few days of them beginning school, their teachers wanted to know which pre- school/kindy they had gone to to be so well prepared for primary school. I have a reasonable level of formal education but certainly no teacher training, child development training or any other formal learning that we are now told is vital for very young children to succeed and reach their full potential.
Hmmm…when you think about it…the phenomena of very young children being ‘educated’ by strangers is very recent.
Coincides with the economic necessity of families needing two incomes to keep their heads above water.
The jury is still out on the benefits of mass ece…and I suspicion that much of the research to test the benefits may very well be funded by those with vested interest in maintaining what has become (unfortunately IMO) the norm.
Parents are the best first teachers of their children
How does ignorance translate into better teachers?
You note that you have a reasonable level of education but the majority of people don’t. That’s changing as more people get more and better education but it’s not true at present.
Hmmm…when you think about it…the phenomena of very young children being ‘educated’ by strangers is very recent.
Yes. Just a few thousand years ago they would have been taught by the entire tribe whom they would have known and grown up with.
You are going to have to expand on that DTB…are you saying that all those without formal teaching qualifications are ignorant.
No, I’m saying that the majority of people simply don’t have enough education to raise children. That’s what that really stupid referendum on continuing to allow people to smack their children got so much support.
You’ll note that less than 50% have tertiary education.
We have been told we are not qualified to teach our own under fives…by whom?
Those people who have done the research.
It’s been known for quite some time that those children with better educated parents and social circles tend to end up with better education and life outcomes than those who don’t.
I don’t really think that sending kids off to preschool is a great idea. It’s there to try and break that cycle that I just mentioned but we need to be lifting the parents as well as the children.
Having children qualifies people to comment on the role of parenting, in reality, not through statistics
No children (or raising, caring, fostering etc) does not preclude anyone from offering opinions. But on raising children, they don’t carry much credibility because they lack first hand experience of ‘parenting’
Your comment further below about the UBI and ECE for parents who wish to raise children at home, is a good suggestion. As an example of where non parent opinions can contribute
The education question was not loaded, I was curious as you had not qualified the statement( s)
Having children qualifies people to comment on the role of parenting, in reality, not through statistics
Not really. Or do you really think that the parents of the Kahui twins knew what they were doing?
IMO, we have such high childhood abuse statistics because our parents don’t know how to parent which they learned from their parents.
The education question was not loaded
Yes it was because it couldn’t be answered with an ‘acceptable’ answer. No matter what I put there you would have found a way to use it as an attack.
@Rosemary McDonald
“But on raising children, they don’t carry much credibility because they lack first hand experience of ‘parenting’.”
This.
Not something you can learn from a book.
That’s what a lot of ignorant people say about a lot of things taught in school. You’ll note that those people who do learn it in school do it better at the start than those who don’t.
In other words, you’re talking a load of bollocks.
There was no need to insult anyone, Draco. Perhaps reflect on the projection in your comments as well
That you won’t provide a response on education level (due to an imagined, unforthcoming’attack’) is counter to having a point of reference to begin with
Using the Kahui twins as an example shows me how uneduated you are on this subject, which is why statistics hold appeal to you, along with reference to the ‘smacking referendum’
“Know what they were doing” does not come into a sensible discussion about parenting, Draco. If you were a parent you would understand why your comment is so misplaced. Heck even common sense should help you with that one…parent or not
“High abuse statistics” and their causation are a very different conversation from where I stand, and bringing them into this discussion to support (whatever your position) appears misplaced
Being a parent/carer is a natural phenomenon which has been successfully performed since day one. The ‘education’ I suspect you have in mind was superfluous at anytime outside and including the modern age
Skills and and learnings are still wonderfully transferred through generations in nations around the world through a plethora of different cultures
There is no need for anything other than ensuring informative and skills based training/education/support is available to those who may seek it out, and let people find their way organically
Such courses are fundamental and elementary in form, and compliment the innate capabilities of the overwhelming majority of parents and parents to be..
Is this the sort of ‘education’ you’re referring?
Or am I to join the threads you’re leaving behind and take a path which I believe is somewhat sinister on your part?
Whichever angle it is you’re coming from, it’s not an ‘educated’ one, that much is clear!
Being a parent/carer is a natural phenomenon which has been successfully performed since day one.
Really?
Then why are we so damn bad at it?
Skills and and learnings are still wonderfully transferred through generations in nations around the world through a plethora of different cultures
Except for the fact that they’re not due to the ongoing fragmentation of society through Individualism and Capitalism.
Think about it this way:
It used to be that a household would have three or more generations living in it. The elders would look after the children while the middle generations worked. The middle generations would learn from the elders how to look after the children.
Now we’ve broken that. We have only two generations living in a house – the parents and the children. So the parents aren’t learning from their elders, don’t have the immediate support that they used to have and the children are only getting fragmented experience.
Each generation that passes becomes worse at parenting.
Such courses are fundamental and elementary in form, and compliment the innate capabilities of the overwhelming majority of parents and parents to be..
Mankind doesn’t appear to have any innate capabilities. This is why we need to be taught.
Hmmm…when you think about it…the phenomena of very young children being ‘educated’ by strangers is very recent.
So’s the phenomena of the physically disabled or mentally ill not being regarded as an embarrassment to be hidden away by their relatives. “Recent” != “bad.”
Parents are the best first teachers of their children…
In some cases, maybe. Not that many, though. The people working in my kids’ childcare centres were way better educators of small children than I was, not least because they’d had a shitload of training in it, compared to my “training” of knowing how my parents and my friends’ parents had done it.
“Parents are the best first teachers of their children…
In some cases, maybe. Not that many, though. ”
With respect PM…rubbish.
Following your logic…only those with the requisite years of study and proper qualifications should be caring for and ‘educating’ under five year- olds.
Next great ideologically based legislation will be compulsory early childhood education by ‘professionals’….oh, wait, they already did that…
“Early childhood experts are in shock after a government decision to make education compulsory from the age of 3 for children of welfare beneficiaries.
The decision, announced by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett yesterday, will apply from July to 31,500 children, aged 3 and 4, whose parents are either on sole parent or couple benefits.
Parents will have their benefits halved if they fail to take “all reasonable steps” to keep their children in licensed or certificated early education for at least 15 hours a week from the time they turn 3 until they go to school.
A Cabinet paper estimates that about 2200 beneficiary families might fail the test each year, of which 1300 might fail to comply immediately and have their benefits halved.
Dr Sarah Farquhar of the Child Forum early childhood support network said the decision amounted to “a revolution in our social policy”.”
Unsurprisingly, those with vested interests (read…snouts in the government trough) thought this was a great idea.
“‘From this point of view early childhood education can be viewed as an inoculation for multiple diseases, with these diseases including low achievement at school, criminality, unemployment, and poverty as an adult.’
The requirement to ensure children attend early childhood education had the potential to rescue hundreds of thousands of children from educational underachievement, ‘and the nightmare that could follow from that’.
It was, said Mr Reynolds, ‘one of the most important welfare reforms in recent years’, and was likely to start changing lives the week it was implemented.”
Scaremongering much?
Psycho Milt…you seem to be a fairly intelligent sort of person…for goodness sakes…have a bit more confidence in your own abilities as a parent…and by ‘parent’ I mean all aspects of parenting….giving love, protection from harm, proper housing and nutrition, teaching language and communication skills, teaching morals and ethics, etc. etc.
Following your logic…only those with the requisite years of study and proper qualifications should be caring for and ‘educating’ under five year- olds.
That’s not logic, it’s reductio ad absurdum. We could do the same to your position, by “following its logic” to the conclusion that only a child’s biological parents should be caring for it.
…have a bit more confidence in your own abilities as a parent…and by ‘parent’ I mean all aspects of parenting….giving love, protection from harm, proper housing and nutrition, teaching language and communication skills, teaching morals and ethics, etc. etc.
I did all those things in the time the kids weren’t in childcare, ie by far the greater amount of the time. But while I was at work, it was being handled by trained professionals, and life provides inexhaustible examples of how professionals are better than amateurs. Those guys did a great job and were worth every cent.
I don’t think pre-school education should be compulsory. It, however, should be an accessible choice for any parent who wants it, for whatever reason. And good quality pre-school centres should be available.
The Natz government’s policies are just in the same vein as all their punitive, condescending treatment of beneficiaries.
Parents should also have state supported choice to stay home with pre-schoolers, rather than being pressured into work.
Just wondering what it was that your Kid’s teachers were so much better at teaching your children than you were? The main thing young children need to learn are language and how to get along with other people in their family and community. No matter how good the centre is the ratios of adults to children is much worse than that of a child in a family. Parents can have far more frequent and deeper conversations with children than a childcare teacher with a ratio of one to five for under twos and 1 to ten for overs can possibly do. The same goes with learning social mores. Children who spend their time in large groups of other children do not have as much adult role modeling and guidance in how to behave properly instead learning from other children of a similar age and stage. Hence why I think Rosemary McDondald’s children who had spent most of their time with family arrived at school with advanced social skills which impressed their teachers.
I have no problem with children going into early childhood centres if that meets the needs of their families. However, I think that big commercial interests are selling educational advantages to us that are just not realistic. There is a lot of push down curriculum from school and parents being impressed by children learning school stuff such as numbers and letters instead of playing. I would say that unless a family is very dysfunctional with a lot of problems parents can certainly do just as good a job if not better than a commercial centre.
Children are differnet in the kinds of experiences they learn from – it’s not one-size fits all. Some children may benefit more from the home environment, others may benefit from a pre-school one – and there are probably individual differences in the kind of day care that a child responds to.
A good child care centre would focus a lot on social skills and learning through play – providing a wide range of play experiences. It’s actually more pressure that comes from some parents who think the child care centre should be doing some sort of formal teaching.
A good child care centre should have a small number of children for each staff member.
There are some social skills learned in a child care centre that are not so easily taught “in the home” (although it’s a bit of an assumption that parents and children spend all their time at home). So, learning to engage with people other than family members, with social rules that are not necessarily the same in each home, are useful pre-school skills.
Plus, for some children, the kinds of daily routines in schools are a shock after a more free-form day at home. So having set times for certain activities at a pre-school, can ease some children into a school-type routine.
Also, the skills needed for staff in child care centres, include some not so often practiced in the home – managing small groups of (possibly diverse) children, for instance, in play activities. Also being aware of the health and safety procedures in such situations is an important staff skill.
People who are good with their own children may not be so good with other children in a pre-school setting – different set of skills.
Just wondering what it was that your Kid’s teachers were so much better at teaching your children than you were?
In the early stages, it was stuff like toilet training and how to eat like a human. Later, it was stuff like numbers and writing – my kids could write their own names when they started school and I sure as hell had nothing to do with it. However, the most important thing they taught was how to behave in a group of unrelated strangers, which no kid gets from their family and often makes a very noticeable difference at the year one school level. My experience leads me to a completely different conclusion than yours with regard to learning social mores – childcare was much better for that. (Although, presumably the quality of the childcare is relevant here.)
Ok fair enough. I guess everyone has different ideas about what is important. My kids did not go to childcare but to Playcentre as I did not go back to work until our youngest started school. I think they did know how to write their names from memory but don’t remember teaching them. They didn’t know the alphabet or anything like that but they soon picked all this up at school. I think that learning oral language, and conversing and thinking are more important than reading and writing at that age. They have certainly done OK in the education system with the older two currently doing Masters and Phd degrees. I do believe that school and institutionalised pre-school teaches children how to fit into an institution. I am not too sure if teaching compliance in an institutionalised setting at a very young age is necessarily what they need to learn in our complex and troubled world.
I am not too sure if teaching compliance in an institutionalised setting at a very young age is necessarily what they need to learn in our complex and troubled world.
I can understand that.
Although, a lot of our school system is about funneling people into our dominant institutions, workplaces, etc – our education system does tend to reward compliance. That’s why some parents opt to home school their children and/or send them to alternative schools.
My children went through the state school system. I feel that having their early years predominately with family meant they gained a strong sense of who they are and the ability to cope with the institutionalised education systems without losing the ability to question, be creative, and think for themselves.
“In the early stages, it was stuff like toilet training and how to eat like a human. ”
I’m sorry PM…I have to wonder what sort of role model/s your kids were getting from home in these areas? (And honestly, I and every other honest parent has had a ‘what on earth have I spawned here’ moment. Or three. 😉 )
But seriously, (and moving right on along), did you never read to your kids? Never wrote their name proudly on the latest piece of pre-school artwork? Never counted out the cutlery when setting the table or demonstrated simple fractions when cutting the cake? Never played the ‘count the number of yellow/green/blue cars spotted’ when on a long and boring drive?
“However, the most important thing they taught was how to behave in a group of unrelated strangers, which no kid gets from their family…”
Did you never go shopping with your kids? Exposing them to strangers and crowds of unfamiliar people? To a movie, pantomime or an outdoor concert?
If you answer, “Off course you silly woman I did all of that stuff with my kids when they were under five!”… then you, sir, were their first teacher.
Lessons learned from the people closest to the very young child are the ones that stick.
That’s why those parents less well equipped for the job of parenting need help…
“That’s why those parents less well equipped for the job of parenting need help…”
Which is what organisations such as Playcentre offer, and unfortunately are offering less and less as fewer parents are able to make the choice to stay with their children and are working longer and longer hours. I find it heartbreaking that a beneficiary who in earlier days would have been able to attend Playcentre with their child and upskill themselves at the same time as well as gaining support from the Playcentre community, is less and less likely to be able to do this with WINZ preferring them to attend courses and seminars on things such as CV writing.
All you want is children willing to learn and teachers willing to teach. In Mexico they have that in abundance with one of the highest attendance rates right up to uni, and it’s all free.
So price isn’t a problem in education it’s that education is being destroyed for political reasons. But like any public programs it can be changed by democratising forces
But seriously, (and moving right on along), did you never read to your kids?
I qualified as a professional librarian, so well duh. I’m not saying my kids got nothing from me, I’m saying they got more from professionals than they did from this amateur. Are you under the impression amateurs are better than professionals as a general rule, or is it only professional ECE workers who are less useful than amateurs?
Are you saying that teaching children these skills…
form friendships
play and explore
be courageous and try new things
ask questions and have a say
meet people outside their whānau
learn to relate well to other children in a group
sing, dance, and play games
think and solve problems
take turns, negotiate, and share
understand their own feelings and those of others
learn about disagreements and how to manage these
learn about words, numbers, and how things work
have conversations with children and adults
begin to understand and make sense of the world around them.
….is best done by those who had to go to school for three years to learn how to teach them, or should they be skills all parents have and can impart to their babies long before they toddle of to be educated by the state?
Parents need brakes to. It’s nice to send your kids off to a competent school soo adults can have time to be adults. Otherwise you end up frustrated and that’s known to be a negative learning environment
…best done by those who had to go to school for three years to learn how to teach them…
I’m not saying that. Particularly for the under-twos, the ECE centre my kids went to had staff who hadn’t had any professional education, just a lot of experience. I’m an opponent of 100%-qualified requirements for ECE.
Since when did parenting become a ‘profession’?
I’m tempted to write “Since we implemented the DPB in 1973,” but that could start a flame war. Obviously parenting is not a profession, but professional childcare equally obviously is one.
…subsidies for parents who choose to stay at home with their pre- schoolers rather than depositing them in state funded day care/early childhood ‘education’.
I’d prefer to see a UBI and ECE training available for those parents who choose to stay home.
clearly we can’t pay women to stay at home and raise their children, don’t they know that it is a ‘labour of love’ and something that ‘women have a calling for’ and that ‘is the fulfillment of womanhood’ and that a ‘goodly women knows her place is being an unpaid home maker and helpmeet and child care provider’.
No matter that this is what keeps women poor and depended on state help should the ‘provider’ walk out, die, or fall ill.
seriously and besides won’t somebody please think of the poor blokes that don’t get paid for staying at home and doing nothing much other then a bit of household chores, cooking, cleaning, looking after gods little blessings.
When we were kids we were told how great our Country was because mums could stay at home and raise a family. On the other hand we were told how uncivilised the Russians were for putting all their kids in state care whilst the parents were forced to go out and work, and how that was terrible for the kids and the Country.
Mmmmm.
when you were a kid the mothers that stayed at home would have had a hard time surviving on their own once their provider was gone. Consider as well that if our current government could, the Sole Parent Benefit (used to be the DPB) would be scrapped overnight, cause we all know that it only incentives women into having children that they can’t afford. And for what its worth, I am sure the Widow Key would not have managed on her own without government assistance.
So to have a women stay at home without pay is not helping her ….the point is that she is completely depended on her ‘provider’. You can see how someone who would like to keep women as ‘chattel’ and children as ‘chattel’ would consider the ex USSR an abomination for not only having women work at across the Industries and have easy accessible abortion, birth control etc. Cause godly and such.
But then, its all good, cause we are going back to the good old days and the USSR does not exist anymore. Right?
Interesting conversation going on while I was travelling. It’s pretty apparent that no-one has read the amazing NZ ece curriculum Te Whariki which has earned world-wide acclaim or accessed the Competent Children, Competent Learners study – ho hum!
“It’s pretty apparent that no-one has read the amazing NZ ece curriculum Te Whariki which has earned world-wide acclaim or accessed the Competent Children, Competent Learners study – ho hum!”
I’m not reading it that way Jan M…I’m reading opinions from both sides if the issue.
Sounds wonderful…but ALL of those skills can be learned from properly engaged parents.
form friendships
play and explore
be courageous and try new things
ask questions and have a say
meet people outside their whānau
learn to relate well to other children in a group
sing, dance, and play games
think and solve problems
take turns, negotiate, and share
understand their own feelings and those of others
learn about disagreements and how to manage these
learn about words, numbers, and how things work
have conversations with children and adults
begin to understand and make sense of the world around them.
Exactly, Te Whaariki outlines what a child would receive in a family environment and a good childcare centre tries to be as homelike as possible. Things such as primary caregiving, good ratios, nice environment etc. I don’t believe it does it better than the home environment.
What surprises me is the lack of news stories and reporting on this. I knew little about it and yet it’s of more relevance to NZ than events Syria or the US election by virtue of it affecting us directly.
I can remember the furore over Japanese long lining and drift-netting of a few decades ago and the relative silence on this is quite puzzling. Are the media being muzzled or do people just not see this as important any more?
The problem is that nowadays people don’t know who to believe. Since they can’t see it with their own eyes, they don’t know what to think on the issue.
We used to have a media that would find out about stuff like this but I guess this is to expensive to report on. It’s costs too much money to get video of it happening.
CV, Russia, China and terrorist groups are miles ahead of the US, Israel and most if not all the other western nations in cyberwarfare. Because they know they can’t match us on the battlefield so use they the indrecit route via cyberwarfare ie to attack/ deny/ destroy/ delay/ exploit/ corrupt and spread false information because they know our life style now increasing built around digital connectivity.
Why spend billons on nukes why you can infect a nations power supply or Stock market for example by a simple Stuxnet virus or something even more deadly.
Hell, I still teach the my lads how use a map and compass to move around the bush. To get even more technical, I show them how to use a sun compass and teach astro navigation at night for shits and giggles especially if I’ve got dumb yanks attached to me. The look on the yanks faces is priceless Lol.
For further reading, Out of the mountains “The coming age of the Urban Guerrilla.
By David Kilcullen and the New Zealand DWP 2016
CV, Russia, China and terrorist groups are miles ahead of the US, Israel and most if not all the other western nations in cyberwarfare. Because they know they can’t match us on the battlefield so use they the indrecit route via cyberwarfare
Your rationale is solid, but my read from the Snowden revelations is that the US Gov has co-opted all major US tech providers like Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Amazon, the big banks etc. to put in backdoor access for the NSA, as well as compromising internet cables and network hardware world wide.
In combination with the FVEY surveillance arrangements its a lead that no other nation can match, though of course they do the best they can.
Whereas Russia may have used some kind of password phishing scam to get Podesta’s emails, the NSA can just open up Google’s gmail databases directly.
The Snowden papers I’ve seen seem to deal with Intell gathering ie meta data collecting since 9/11 which in the scheme things is small fry and can defeat this very using snail mail or have internal web system like Iran did after the Stuxnet attack there and China has one.
Russia, China, terrorist groups and their 3rd parties partners are way ahead of us in terms of cyber warfare. Some of the Janes Defence articles and other Defence journals I’ve seen over the years we (the west) really have our head in the sand when it comes to cyber warfare and we (the west) are now playing catch up. Especially what Russia is doing in the Ukraine, the Baltic Nations. No doubt the Russians use the same tactics in the US elections and in the EU. China are doing the same to everyone. On most cases the Russia, China, terrorist groups and their 3rd parties partners were able to pretty much walk in without anymore realizing they were there, in most cases after the event a occur. Very Scary stuff
If you have 3 COA ( Courses of Action) your Enemy will have 4 COA.
Your Enemy is more smarter than you are and don’t treat them as a idiot unless you want to lose.
Maybe it’s because I don’t care about theft of intellectual property why I don’t view China as an enemy. They are brutal but I’m not going to condem them unless they charge over 90 mile beach with tanks. And to be honest, China pays its way in the world and they can handle there piss. If they really want to play Cold War and ramp up a global enterventionist force then fine. I’ll treat them just like America
I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disagree with you about China. I treat China with awful lot suspicion they slowly adopting a global interventionist force posture and no doubt they will take over when the yanks finally go tits up.
They have their finger in quite a few counties I’ve visited in the last few years and locals I’ve spoken too distrust Chinese as they don’t buy local instead import their own food, bring in their workers instead employing locals. Hell they even doing it in New Zealand even my dad ranks them up there with the Indian’s, South Koreans and freedom campers as worst tourists to have. He should know he works in the tourists industry.
China had a crack at doing the same thing here in Oz during boom, but AWU and CFMEU got wind of it and told them to F off.
Please don’t me started on what they do to those Poor Pacific nations and East Timor ATM or in the South China Sea it make my blood boil.
I know this is old news, but this just the tip of the iceberg on what they are doing in Africa ATM.
VENTURES AFRICA – News from the Kenya Railways Corporation suggests that the China Road & Bridge Corporation will send in 5,000 workers to work on the standard gauge railway.
Kenya signed a Sh314.2 billion deal with China for the construction of the Mombassa‐Nairobi railway in May, 2014.
The deal is to be executed in phases starting with the standard gauge railway project which is to cover 609.3km from the port of Mombassa to Nairobi.
Im guessing you would know that All Asian hate the Koreans more.
One slight quibble with your news report. The deal is a good deal. Africa owns it so the profits go straight to them. The quality of there engines is yet to be seen. We’ve spoken about 3rd world development for decades so I’m not going to condem China for actually doing it.
If I was to condem China it would be on there environmental record. The South China Sea claim is bogus because it’s based on a cartoon Chairmen Mao made up during his interlectual purge. That’s concerning but I wonder if America would swallow it’s pride and return Hawaii to its indigenous inhabitants which I find hard to believe given how vital it is to its strategic concerns. Since 5trillion in trade passes through the South China Sea that will be concerning for China.
Paul Buchanan once said, “I wonder how long New Zealander can be a tier 1 strategic partner with America and vital trade relations with China while they’re locked into a dispute.” I want my cake and eat it to so I’ll hold fast to the status quo. But rest assured the moment VT4s role out in anger. I’ll be there.
Too right, Mr Trump. Regardless of what happened, you would have won anyway. Dems are totally out of touch with the American people and are looking for a scapegoat!
I know for a fact that Donald Trump, greatest American President since Reagan, is a tremendous Morrissey fan, and regards him as a great, great, American artist.
While calving is a natural process, it can be driven into overdrive by the warm ocean waters that are lapping away at the ice shelves that fringe Antarctica. When calving events happen too quickly in succession, the glacier-ice shelf system doesn’t have time to rebalance, which can result in glaciers continuing to speed their flow, bringing more and more ice into the oceans and raising sea levels.
This is what happened with Larsen C’s northern neighbors, Larsen A and B, which collapsed spectacularly in 1995 and 2002, respectively. The glaciers that had fed Larsen B flowed six times faster after its demise.
So Fonterra is doing feel good ads and Ritchie maybe has a new bromance appearing on them.
From Stuff:
“Fonterra chief operating officer in global consumer and foodservice Jacqueline Chow said the campaign was designed to promote the goodness of dairy.
She said dairy was a part of the solution to malnutrition, but its image in New Zealand was being affected by “dietary fads and special interest groups”.”
Well it’s great to know that the special interest groups in New Zealand are becoming sufficiently large & influential for Fonterra to actually notice!
But Fonterra could help themselves:
– there has been considerable publicity about the disappearance of mainstream Lewis Road organic milk from supermarket shelves (only one supermarket of the six or so around here has held out) Be interesting to see what ComCom does about this and why Fonterra though that this was a good idea at any level. Don’t forget Fonterra bought the Kapiti label (it was a premium brand) about 15 years ago and promptly closed it down. Will they do the same again once they have swamped Lewis Road so we have to go back to the normal rubbish.
-stop selling stuff in bottles that pretends to be a milk product at milk product prices when it is little more than watered down skim with some additives. I’m not sure how they get away with this under the Fair Trading act. Most of this is simply a milk flavoured drink much as we have juice flavoured drinks
-and then there are all the dirty water issues and ruined swimming places
”and the innovation might even help.” might actually be how a few survive if it gets real rough.
I was more commenting on how lefties love the concept of frank’n food but the hate big pharma/agrichemical companies , when it’s those very companies that will produce your beaker burger
I’m not keen on synthetic food because it taste like saw dust. I imagine they have no nutrition value because they can store it longer. But that makes sense from the point of view of commercialised agriculture, after all you’re in it to make money not to feed people. That drives productive agriculture/farmers out, it’s horrible for the rest of the world. We talk about a supposed immigration problem, a lot of the problem is due to designers of our trade pax attempting to destroy agriculture in other countries. Chinese farms are efficient enough but they couldn’t possible justify (for example) dairy intensification because there population is lactose intolerant.
There is a movement around lake Taupo wanting to better use dairy farming/forest/water, it’s encouraging, it’s competent, well organised and they’re generating valuable data and they’re making money. It isn’t a massive movement but it proves you can divert growth from dairy intensification to sustainable methods and it’s got a lot to show already.
I’d say there is some nutritional value otherwise it wouldn’t be a food. But I take the point.
The biggest issue I see with dairying, even the people that are doing good things, is the focus on export. The whole model is just wrong, from the need for irrigation to the exporting of fertility via milk powder. People are focussed on water quality and run off, but the underlying problem is the model that says we can strip the land to make excess profit and ignore the ecosystem at the same time.
Good to hear about Taupō. I know of a few other diary farms around that are doing good things, but the pressure is always there to keep growing.
It was a good bet that you could grow tomatoes ect and pass it on to your son but that’s a suckers bet now due to political instability, so we keep doubling and not paying attention. Theirs a notion in economics of externalities which are things you don’t pay attention to when carrying out transactions. That’s to say it’s nice to feed more people but what else are we doing. We know what they’re doing to poison the environment and it makes it harder to produce. It’s outside the capacity of our culture to do something about it so solutions have to be imposed on the industry.
People are focussed on water quality and run off, but the underlying problem is the model that says we can strip the land to make excess profit and ignore the ecosystem at the same time.
Yep. People don’t understand that running an economy always costs in resources. To do one thing requires the removal of resources to do another. Intensified farming takes away resources from the environment.
Remember John Key saying something like water going into the sea was wasted?
That’s how these capitalists see it. If a resource isn’t being used to make them richer then it’s wasted. Keeping a healthy environment or a healthy society doesn’t factor into their thinking and so both have resources removed from them to boost profit for the few.
And Hollywood thinks we are a hot bed of piracy. Hahaha.
Rather over-egging it given our 4 million of population compared to the US 340 million. I’d say there is no comparison the US – we’d lose every time.
What have the Left done in the last month to change votes? nothing. That’s why the summer BBQs talk about cricket and not about politics. There will never be another Labour government.
Some these days are programmed to offer suggestions like: “Fisiani, I want you to try those new cricket patties from Canada. Yummy alternative protein. No slave labour, honest.”
The Right have done it all for them. Key took off like a scolded dog after the humiliating Mt Roskill defeat, and they picked the morally corrupt Bill 21% English as his replacement.
And you will do everything in your limited, anti-worker, anti-Kiwi invective to prevent that eventuality.
Seriously. If you spent half the time you do dribbling over US politics on NZ social outcomes then you might claim to be helping the disenfranchised of this country.
Twyford is right. The Asian elite do not care about this country.
Twyford is a careerist dickhead who goes wherever the political wind is blowing. If he thinks anti-asian sentiment is the flavour of the month, that’s where he will go, and repeaters like you will spout it out as wisdom.
So much for lefty respect of cultural and ethnic diversity. Just more insincerity.
What a self centred scum bag you are. I thought you were self centred before but you have cemented it here in your stupid, Trumptastic way.
Are you in Auckland? No, you’re not and as such you know nothing about the place. You judge Twyford but I’m sure you have never met him and so know nothing about his call for accurate information about the Asian spend in Auckland.
What really confuses me is that you ruptured an arsehole about Twyford in your own fucking county but have no issue about Trump in his.
You’re going to leap to Twyford’s defence? Figures. BTW I lived in Auckland for several years. Rodney Hide’s electorate. A lovely city to be 1600km away from.
While I find myself agreeing with most of the sentiments and even some of the expressions you have for CV, I fear that expressing them so bluntly will only result in you picking up a ban while he continues to liberally sprinkle the site with his bullshit.
The so-called democratic Israelis are not shy of interfering with other countries democracies when it suits them. The embassy is distancing itself from the comments by one of its own but you can bet senior political officer Masot’s opinion is reflective of the entire Israeli authority.
Israel’s ambassador to the UK has apologised after a senior member of his staff was secretly filmed saying he wanted to “take down” Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan.
Interesting (scary) speculation on how the relationship between Trump and the intelligence agencies might play out. With a useful reminder that the WMD thing was more about Bush and his senior official misrepresenting info than the agencies giving them bad intel.
Getting back to New Zealand for a moment, Greenpeace wins big against the dairy industry.
This sort of ruling is important for New Zealand rivers because Dairy NZ, Fonterra, and the number 8 wire farmers are no longer allowed to protest against the truth. The truth being that our waterways are under threat.
“What we’re seeing is that dairy industry is doing everything they can to try and confuse people about water pollution but the facts are the facts and ordinary New Zealanders are starting to see that.”
The Greens should own this issue and it should be theirs as an election platform along with renters rights. Labour should focus on housing affordability and worker’s rights. NZ First should focus on immigration concerns. They should all be allowed to comment on lack of infrastructure and the underfunding of social services.
These parties and the people who vote for these parties all want the government changed for the good of the whole country. Tasks need to be delegated.
A coalition government in waiting should have a devolution of tasks, and I think it would help individuals aligned with particular concerns to be able to devote their energies to that concern while at the same time not attacking others’ concerns.
In short, each party in the coalition would own their ground but also have common ground.
The Greens have always said environment, society and economy are indivisible. Labour likewise has policies in all 3 areas. Winston First have usually been a thing unto themselves.
I don’t like the police numbers thing being associated with Labour or Green. Clearly it is the penny pinching current government which has presided over the increase in volume crime in this country but the stick part should be delegated to NZ first.
Fearmongering. That poll shows people’s fears, not whether war is likely or not. It also appears to be showing that the countries where people are happiest have less people concerned about war.
Joyzus !!! … Farrar/ Slater / other prominent Tory shills must be absolutely pissing themselves with glee
You see, there’s a little event coming up in New Zealand politics later this year (maybe even sooner than we think, who knows ?). It’s called … wait for it …
… the 2017 New Zealand General Election.
And what does the premier Left-leaning forum for the New Zealand labour movement do ? – increasingly tears itself apart, … first during the US Presidential Election campaign late last year, then over the rights and wrongs of Superpower involvement in Syria, and now over allegations of Russian interference in the US Presidential Election.
Authors happily abusing each other, expletives being thrown about with wild abandon, regular commenters abusing authors and vice versa, … basically a whole lot of people stridently crossing the line from bona fide robust debate to bitter and waspish personal insults, outright contempt and the determination to win their petty little battles no matter what the long-term cost.
Now the last thing I want to sound like here is some sort of horrendous touchy-feely New Age Middle-Class Hand-Wringing Liberal Hippy “Facilitator”… BUT … the kind of personal abuse that’s been going on almost inevitably ends up emotionally wounding people (even when they’re too proud to admit it), in turn generating long-term grudges and resentment, if not immediate ruptures (with the potential for authors to suddenly pack their up bags and fuck the fuck off, never to be heard of again).
Not something we necessarily need in Election Year … especially when we’re up against ruthless, power-hungry, tightly disciplined opponents.
Despite being firmly in that broad camp I associate with Bill, CV, Morrissey, Olwyn, Puddleglum and various others on these contentious issues – and despite having occasionally thrown a few snide little grenades into the conversation myself – from now on I’m going to discipline myself to avoid any involvement in these specific debates.
Who knows, might be in the Left’s long-term interests if others consider doing likewise.
Or … to put it all another way … Do we always have to live up to the Life of Brian sketch ?
I mean, every single fucking time ?
I’m trying to help NZ communities. You, however, are some sort of egomaniac and retarded keyboard hack who has no empathetic thought for anyone but yourself and this proof is born by the amount of time you spent on USA threads.
It amuses me greatly how a group of people who put so much weight into the concept of the collective, fight to the death over such irrelevant micro issues.
Know it all, never can see another view point egotists will always be the Achilles heel of the left.
“the kind of personal abuse that’s been going on almost inevitably ends up emotionally wounding people (even when they’re too proud to admit it), in turn generating long-term grudges and resentment”
Quite. If left-leaning citizens cannot behave like grown-ups in our own discussion spaces, why would anybody vote for the organisations we champion?
Hey swordfish, I agree with most of your comments, you make a very good point, but can I ask you if you honestly believe that any thing said or stated in this forum will have any influence what so ever over the outcome of the up coming election? My guess is NO.
Trying to change the behaviour of “old men stuck in a mind set” is the same as pissing into the wind.
It’s the largest left wing blog in NZ. The political blogosphere plays a part in the election cycle both directly, via the MSM, and via activism. Of course the website has influence. Whether we make good use of that influence is another matter.
I’m also wanting to focus on other areas so if you or anyone wants to see different content and hopefully different discussion, feel free to put forward ideas.
Ok,hows about moving all mad scientist stuff to a battle ground where they can scratch each others eyes out –not where mortals like me get confused by it all.
Having set up spaces for US election conversations during the election, and then diverting people there I can say it’s a lot of work. If people want to do what they did today, it’s pretty hard to stop them. We can of course set up different kinds of conversations if people want that, but whenever I offer that I generally don’t get too many suggestions.
1. Some new authors. I would be happy to arrange a login for you because your poll analysis is second to none.
2. The fights we have had over US politics is rather difficult. Some of us prefer to pull our fingernails out than support Trump. But that does not sit with others.
Author wise we are now fine. I agree to the onward and upward proposal.
Your second point is a bit like Wittgenstein’s duck-rabbit. Some see an orange greed monster at the helm of a superpower, others see a very compromised left with all the machinery of power behind it finally getting its comeuppance. Broadly speaking, both sides seem to respect Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn and Helen Kelly – perhaps we need to bear that touchstone in mind.
As one of the more vocal people arguing for Clinton here (who would have much preferred Bernie, O’Malley, or a long list of others that didn’t put their hand up), I’m quite happy to see compromised Democrat elites getting their comeuppance.
But the price is that many real, vulnerable people really are going to get damaged over the next few years by the orange greed monster. To a far greater extent than they would be under the compromised Dems. With no guarantee that the next cohort of Democrat elites will be less compromised. To me, that damage to the vulnerable is way way too high a price to pay for the temporary satisfaction of kicking elites who are already well-insulated from any potential pain.
Well the election has been and gone and most of us here didn’t have a vote in it. The result is what it is. In that respect Bernie Sanders has the right idea – to regroup, support what is good and fiercely oppose what is bad.
I can understand the impulse to throw a grenade at a comfortable two party system of political elitists, and I abhor the Democratic parties alignment with imperialist corporations, while, at the same time, I am horrified by Trump..
The election of Trump may be for the best in the end.
A definable enemy is easier to fight than someone who pretends to be on our side, but really isn’t. Like the US Democrats and “third way” Labour parties.
I think it’s appropriate that this all plays out on here. The battle of the collapsing media and political establishment and those more tied up within it and those that aren’t.
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
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Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
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We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
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It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
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Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
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The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Asia Pacific Report A score of Palestine solidarity protesters draped themselves in white shrouds with mock blood in a sombre “die-in” demonstration at Te Komitanga Square — the heart of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city — today as speakers urged people to take a stronger boycott against Israeli products. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tackling violence against women will be the sole agenda item for a national cabinet meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has convened for Wednesday. The meeting, held remotely, follows thousands of Australians attending rallies across ...
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. “You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
I just found out that Art Theorist Jon Berger died earlier this week.
His “Ways of Seeing” TV program changed the way I saw.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/02/john-berger-obituary
UBI is a coming ?
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/ubi-idea-whose-time-has-come.html
None of these schemes seem to be UBI’s of the sort suggested by Gareth Morgan and Keith Rankin. Their UBIs would be payable to everyone, rich or poor, employed or unemployed.
A pity it is Family First who has mooted this….http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11778433
…subsidies for parents who choose to stay at home with their pre- schoolers rather than depositing them in state funded day care/early childhood ‘education’.
Imagine if a parent who chose to care for their child themselves was paid the going rate for ece…..https://www.childforum.com/costs-subsidies-prices/72-government-ece-funding-rates.html
…or childcare….https://www.childforum.com/costs-subsidies-prices/274-childcare-subsidy-a-tax-deduction.html
You are right Rosemary, it is a pity that FF have proposed this. One automatically supposes ulterior motives, just like most homeschoolers and Charter schools.
Why the quotation marks around education, Rosemary? Ece teachers have a three year training qualification just like primary. It is possible you do not understand what education at this level is about, or are you having a well-aimed crack at some of the more commercial, lesser quality centres around since the world and its wife discovered what a wonderful cash cow it can be?
“…or are you having a well-aimed crack at some of the more commercial, lesser quality centres around since the world and its wife discovered what a wonderful cash cow it can be?”
Yes…yes most definitely.
But also I have to question (hence the ‘ ‘) if what pre -schoolers receive in these artificial environment is a better preparation for primary school.
Parents are the best first teachers of their children, and it was a source of personal grief that I was forced into paid work when mine were little. But apart from a brief six weeks in a private ece centre for No 1 son ( he was bored there, so we quit) all three of mine got their preparation for primary school from home.
Within a few days of them beginning school, their teachers wanted to know which pre- school/kindy they had gone to to be so well prepared for primary school. I have a reasonable level of formal education but certainly no teacher training, child development training or any other formal learning that we are now told is vital for very young children to succeed and reach their full potential.
Hmmm…when you think about it…the phenomena of very young children being ‘educated’ by strangers is very recent.
Coincides with the economic necessity of families needing two incomes to keep their heads above water.
The jury is still out on the benefits of mass ece…and I suspicion that much of the research to test the benefits may very well be funded by those with vested interest in maintaining what has become (unfortunately IMO) the norm.
How does ignorance translate into better teachers?
You note that you have a reasonable level of education but the majority of people don’t. That’s changing as more people get more and better education but it’s not true at present.
Yes. Just a few thousand years ago they would have been taught by the entire tribe whom they would have known and grown up with.
“How does ignorance translate into better teachers?”
You are going to have to expand on that DTB…are you saying that all those without formal teaching qualifications are ignorant.
“You note that you have a reasonable level of education but the majority of people don’t.”
Wot? The majority? Data please.
We have been told we are not qualified to teach our own under fives…by whom?
Yes to the UBI…but more importantly better access to ‘confidence in parenting’ courses for those who find being a parent challenging.
Like this…http://www.tipuora.org.nz/parents-as-first-teachers/
oh but wait…http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/304311/funds-cut-from-parents-as-teachers-scheme
There is an agenda here….
No, I’m saying that the majority of people simply don’t have enough education to raise children. That’s what that really stupid referendum on continuing to allow people to smack their children got so much support.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_education_attainment
You’ll note that less than 50% have tertiary education.
Those people who have done the research.
It’s been known for quite some time that those children with better educated parents and social circles tend to end up with better education and life outcomes than those who don’t.
I don’t really think that sending kids off to preschool is a great idea. It’s there to try and break that cycle that I just mentioned but we need to be lifting the parents as well as the children.
Do you know the “majority of people”?
Do you have children?
What level of ‘education’ for parenting is acceptable from your perspective?
Nope. Like everyone I have to go on statistics.
Having children doesn’t make you an expert on children or how to raise them in a healthy environment.
Ah, a loaded question designed to enable you to ridicule me no matter what I say.
Statistics to gauge parental suitability?
Having children qualifies people to comment on the role of parenting, in reality, not through statistics
No children (or raising, caring, fostering etc) does not preclude anyone from offering opinions. But on raising children, they don’t carry much credibility because they lack first hand experience of ‘parenting’
Your comment further below about the UBI and ECE for parents who wish to raise children at home, is a good suggestion. As an example of where non parent opinions can contribute
The education question was not loaded, I was curious as you had not qualified the statement( s)
“But on raising children, they don’t carry much credibility because they lack first hand experience of ‘parenting’.”
This.
Not something you can learn from a book.
Oh god! Imagine reading that 83.4% of three year old boys are 97.6 % toilet trained (including at night.)
Or that 78.3% of two and a half year old girls can use three or more words in an intelligible sentence!
Statistics and parenting…mutually exclusive!
@One Two
Not really. Or do you really think that the parents of the Kahui twins knew what they were doing?
IMO, we have such high childhood abuse statistics because our parents don’t know how to parent which they learned from their parents.
Yes it was because it couldn’t be answered with an ‘acceptable’ answer. No matter what I put there you would have found a way to use it as an attack.
@Rosemary McDonald
That’s what a lot of ignorant people say about a lot of things taught in school. You’ll note that those people who do learn it in school do it better at the start than those who don’t.
In other words, you’re talking a load of bollocks.
There was no need to insult anyone, Draco. Perhaps reflect on the projection in your comments as well
That you won’t provide a response on education level (due to an imagined, unforthcoming’attack’) is counter to having a point of reference to begin with
Using the Kahui twins as an example shows me how uneduated you are on this subject, which is why statistics hold appeal to you, along with reference to the ‘smacking referendum’
“Know what they were doing” does not come into a sensible discussion about parenting, Draco. If you were a parent you would understand why your comment is so misplaced. Heck even common sense should help you with that one…parent or not
“High abuse statistics” and their causation are a very different conversation from where I stand, and bringing them into this discussion to support (whatever your position) appears misplaced
Being a parent/carer is a natural phenomenon which has been successfully performed since day one. The ‘education’ I suspect you have in mind was superfluous at anytime outside and including the modern age
Skills and and learnings are still wonderfully transferred through generations in nations around the world through a plethora of different cultures
There is no need for anything other than ensuring informative and skills based training/education/support is available to those who may seek it out, and let people find their way organically
Such courses are fundamental and elementary in form, and compliment the innate capabilities of the overwhelming majority of parents and parents to be..
Is this the sort of ‘education’ you’re referring?
Or am I to join the threads you’re leaving behind and take a path which I believe is somewhat sinister on your part?
Whichever angle it is you’re coming from, it’s not an ‘educated’ one, that much is clear!
I haven’t insulted anyone.
Really?
Then why are we so damn bad at it?
Except for the fact that they’re not due to the ongoing fragmentation of society through Individualism and Capitalism.
Think about it this way:
It used to be that a household would have three or more generations living in it. The elders would look after the children while the middle generations worked. The middle generations would learn from the elders how to look after the children.
Now we’ve broken that. We have only two generations living in a house – the parents and the children. So the parents aren’t learning from their elders, don’t have the immediate support that they used to have and the children are only getting fragmented experience.
Each generation that passes becomes worse at parenting.
Mankind doesn’t appear to have any innate capabilities. This is why we need to be taught.
I seem to remember some research that Playcentre produced the best results.
Playcentre, of course, relied on parents attending with their children, along with the playcentre associations free courses in parenting.
Educating both parents and children.
+1
Hmmm…when you think about it…the phenomena of very young children being ‘educated’ by strangers is very recent.
So’s the phenomena of the physically disabled or mentally ill not being regarded as an embarrassment to be hidden away by their relatives. “Recent” != “bad.”
Parents are the best first teachers of their children…
In some cases, maybe. Not that many, though. The people working in my kids’ childcare centres were way better educators of small children than I was, not least because they’d had a shitload of training in it, compared to my “training” of knowing how my parents and my friends’ parents had done it.
“Parents are the best first teachers of their children…
In some cases, maybe. Not that many, though. ”
With respect PM…rubbish.
Following your logic…only those with the requisite years of study and proper qualifications should be caring for and ‘educating’ under five year- olds.
Next great ideologically based legislation will be compulsory early childhood education by ‘professionals’….oh, wait, they already did that…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10833412
“Early childhood experts are in shock after a government decision to make education compulsory from the age of 3 for children of welfare beneficiaries.
The decision, announced by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett yesterday, will apply from July to 31,500 children, aged 3 and 4, whose parents are either on sole parent or couple benefits.
Parents will have their benefits halved if they fail to take “all reasonable steps” to keep their children in licensed or certificated early education for at least 15 hours a week from the time they turn 3 until they go to school.
A Cabinet paper estimates that about 2200 beneficiary families might fail the test each year, of which 1300 might fail to comply immediately and have their benefits halved.
Dr Sarah Farquhar of the Child Forum early childhood support network said the decision amounted to “a revolution in our social policy”.”
Unsurprisingly, those with vested interests (read…snouts in the government trough) thought this was a great idea.
https://www.ecc.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=841
“‘From this point of view early childhood education can be viewed as an inoculation for multiple diseases, with these diseases including low achievement at school, criminality, unemployment, and poverty as an adult.’
The requirement to ensure children attend early childhood education had the potential to rescue hundreds of thousands of children from educational underachievement, ‘and the nightmare that could follow from that’.
It was, said Mr Reynolds, ‘one of the most important welfare reforms in recent years’, and was likely to start changing lives the week it was implemented.”
Scaremongering much?
Psycho Milt…you seem to be a fairly intelligent sort of person…for goodness sakes…have a bit more confidence in your own abilities as a parent…and by ‘parent’ I mean all aspects of parenting….giving love, protection from harm, proper housing and nutrition, teaching language and communication skills, teaching morals and ethics, etc. etc.
Following your logic…only those with the requisite years of study and proper qualifications should be caring for and ‘educating’ under five year- olds.
That’s not logic, it’s reductio ad absurdum. We could do the same to your position, by “following its logic” to the conclusion that only a child’s biological parents should be caring for it.
…have a bit more confidence in your own abilities as a parent…and by ‘parent’ I mean all aspects of parenting….giving love, protection from harm, proper housing and nutrition, teaching language and communication skills, teaching morals and ethics, etc. etc.
I did all those things in the time the kids weren’t in childcare, ie by far the greater amount of the time. But while I was at work, it was being handled by trained professionals, and life provides inexhaustible examples of how professionals are better than amateurs. Those guys did a great job and were worth every cent.
I don’t think pre-school education should be compulsory. It, however, should be an accessible choice for any parent who wants it, for whatever reason. And good quality pre-school centres should be available.
The Natz government’s policies are just in the same vein as all their punitive, condescending treatment of beneficiaries.
Parents should also have state supported choice to stay home with pre-schoolers, rather than being pressured into work.
Just wondering what it was that your Kid’s teachers were so much better at teaching your children than you were? The main thing young children need to learn are language and how to get along with other people in their family and community. No matter how good the centre is the ratios of adults to children is much worse than that of a child in a family. Parents can have far more frequent and deeper conversations with children than a childcare teacher with a ratio of one to five for under twos and 1 to ten for overs can possibly do. The same goes with learning social mores. Children who spend their time in large groups of other children do not have as much adult role modeling and guidance in how to behave properly instead learning from other children of a similar age and stage. Hence why I think Rosemary McDondald’s children who had spent most of their time with family arrived at school with advanced social skills which impressed their teachers.
I have no problem with children going into early childhood centres if that meets the needs of their families. However, I think that big commercial interests are selling educational advantages to us that are just not realistic. There is a lot of push down curriculum from school and parents being impressed by children learning school stuff such as numbers and letters instead of playing. I would say that unless a family is very dysfunctional with a lot of problems parents can certainly do just as good a job if not better than a commercial centre.
Children are differnet in the kinds of experiences they learn from – it’s not one-size fits all. Some children may benefit more from the home environment, others may benefit from a pre-school one – and there are probably individual differences in the kind of day care that a child responds to.
A good child care centre would focus a lot on social skills and learning through play – providing a wide range of play experiences. It’s actually more pressure that comes from some parents who think the child care centre should be doing some sort of formal teaching.
A good child care centre should have a small number of children for each staff member.
There are some social skills learned in a child care centre that are not so easily taught “in the home” (although it’s a bit of an assumption that parents and children spend all their time at home). So, learning to engage with people other than family members, with social rules that are not necessarily the same in each home, are useful pre-school skills.
Plus, for some children, the kinds of daily routines in schools are a shock after a more free-form day at home. So having set times for certain activities at a pre-school, can ease some children into a school-type routine.
Also, the skills needed for staff in child care centres, include some not so often practiced in the home – managing small groups of (possibly diverse) children, for instance, in play activities. Also being aware of the health and safety procedures in such situations is an important staff skill.
People who are good with their own children may not be so good with other children in a pre-school setting – different set of skills.
Just wondering what it was that your Kid’s teachers were so much better at teaching your children than you were?
In the early stages, it was stuff like toilet training and how to eat like a human. Later, it was stuff like numbers and writing – my kids could write their own names when they started school and I sure as hell had nothing to do with it. However, the most important thing they taught was how to behave in a group of unrelated strangers, which no kid gets from their family and often makes a very noticeable difference at the year one school level. My experience leads me to a completely different conclusion than yours with regard to learning social mores – childcare was much better for that. (Although, presumably the quality of the childcare is relevant here.)
Ok fair enough. I guess everyone has different ideas about what is important. My kids did not go to childcare but to Playcentre as I did not go back to work until our youngest started school. I think they did know how to write their names from memory but don’t remember teaching them. They didn’t know the alphabet or anything like that but they soon picked all this up at school. I think that learning oral language, and conversing and thinking are more important than reading and writing at that age. They have certainly done OK in the education system with the older two currently doing Masters and Phd degrees. I do believe that school and institutionalised pre-school teaches children how to fit into an institution. I am not too sure if teaching compliance in an institutionalised setting at a very young age is necessarily what they need to learn in our complex and troubled world.
I am not too sure if teaching compliance in an institutionalised setting at a very young age is necessarily what they need to learn in our complex and troubled world.
I can understand that.
Although, a lot of our school system is about funneling people into our dominant institutions, workplaces, etc – our education system does tend to reward compliance. That’s why some parents opt to home school their children and/or send them to alternative schools.
My children went through the state school system. I feel that having their early years predominately with family meant they gained a strong sense of who they are and the ability to cope with the institutionalised education systems without losing the ability to question, be creative, and think for themselves.
“In the early stages, it was stuff like toilet training and how to eat like a human. ”
I’m sorry PM…I have to wonder what sort of role model/s your kids were getting from home in these areas? (And honestly, I and every other honest parent has had a ‘what on earth have I spawned here’ moment. Or three. 😉 )
But seriously, (and moving right on along), did you never read to your kids? Never wrote their name proudly on the latest piece of pre-school artwork? Never counted out the cutlery when setting the table or demonstrated simple fractions when cutting the cake? Never played the ‘count the number of yellow/green/blue cars spotted’ when on a long and boring drive?
“However, the most important thing they taught was how to behave in a group of unrelated strangers, which no kid gets from their family…”
Did you never go shopping with your kids? Exposing them to strangers and crowds of unfamiliar people? To a movie, pantomime or an outdoor concert?
If you answer, “Off course you silly woman I did all of that stuff with my kids when they were under five!”… then you, sir, were their first teacher.
Lessons learned from the people closest to the very young child are the ones that stick.
That’s why those parents less well equipped for the job of parenting need help…
“That’s why those parents less well equipped for the job of parenting need help…”
Which is what organisations such as Playcentre offer, and unfortunately are offering less and less as fewer parents are able to make the choice to stay with their children and are working longer and longer hours. I find it heartbreaking that a beneficiary who in earlier days would have been able to attend Playcentre with their child and upskill themselves at the same time as well as gaining support from the Playcentre community, is less and less likely to be able to do this with WINZ preferring them to attend courses and seminars on things such as CV writing.
All you want is children willing to learn and teachers willing to teach. In Mexico they have that in abundance with one of the highest attendance rates right up to uni, and it’s all free.
So price isn’t a problem in education it’s that education is being destroyed for political reasons. But like any public programs it can be changed by democratising forces
But seriously, (and moving right on along), did you never read to your kids?
I qualified as a professional librarian, so well duh. I’m not saying my kids got nothing from me, I’m saying they got more from professionals than they did from this amateur. Are you under the impression amateurs are better than professionals as a general rule, or is it only professional ECE workers who are less useful than amateurs?
Are you saying that teaching children these skills…
form friendships
play and explore
be courageous and try new things
ask questions and have a say
meet people outside their whānau
learn to relate well to other children in a group
sing, dance, and play games
think and solve problems
take turns, negotiate, and share
understand their own feelings and those of others
learn about disagreements and how to manage these
learn about words, numbers, and how things work
have conversations with children and adults
begin to understand and make sense of the world around them.
….is best done by those who had to go to school for three years to learn how to teach them, or should they be skills all parents have and can impart to their babies long before they toddle of to be educated by the state?
Since when did parenting become a ‘profession’?
Parents need brakes to. It’s nice to send your kids off to a competent school soo adults can have time to be adults. Otherwise you end up frustrated and that’s known to be a negative learning environment
…best done by those who had to go to school for three years to learn how to teach them…
I’m not saying that. Particularly for the under-twos, the ECE centre my kids went to had staff who hadn’t had any professional education, just a lot of experience. I’m an opponent of 100%-qualified requirements for ECE.
Since when did parenting become a ‘profession’?
I’m tempted to write “Since we implemented the DPB in 1973,” but that could start a flame war. Obviously parenting is not a profession, but professional childcare equally obviously is one.
I’d prefer to see a UBI and ECE training available for those parents who choose to stay home.
clearly we can’t pay women to stay at home and raise their children, don’t they know that it is a ‘labour of love’ and something that ‘women have a calling for’ and that ‘is the fulfillment of womanhood’ and that a ‘goodly women knows her place is being an unpaid home maker and helpmeet and child care provider’.
No matter that this is what keeps women poor and depended on state help should the ‘provider’ walk out, die, or fall ill.
seriously and besides won’t somebody please think of the poor blokes that don’t get paid for staying at home and doing nothing much other then a bit of household chores, cooking, cleaning, looking after gods little blessings.
When we were kids we were told how great our Country was because mums could stay at home and raise a family. On the other hand we were told how uncivilised the Russians were for putting all their kids in state care whilst the parents were forced to go out and work, and how that was terrible for the kids and the Country.
Mmmmm.
that might very well be, but
when you were a kid the mothers that stayed at home would have had a hard time surviving on their own once their provider was gone. Consider as well that if our current government could, the Sole Parent Benefit (used to be the DPB) would be scrapped overnight, cause we all know that it only incentives women into having children that they can’t afford. And for what its worth, I am sure the Widow Key would not have managed on her own without government assistance.
So to have a women stay at home without pay is not helping her ….the point is that she is completely depended on her ‘provider’. You can see how someone who would like to keep women as ‘chattel’ and children as ‘chattel’ would consider the ex USSR an abomination for not only having women work at across the Industries and have easy accessible abortion, birth control etc. Cause godly and such.
But then, its all good, cause we are going back to the good old days and the USSR does not exist anymore. Right?
Too true Sabine. I was just pointing out a kind of irony on how things have turned out in “godzone”.
Interesting conversation going on while I was travelling. It’s pretty apparent that no-one has read the amazing NZ ece curriculum Te Whariki which has earned world-wide acclaim or accessed the Competent Children, Competent Learners study – ho hum!
“It’s pretty apparent that no-one has read the amazing NZ ece curriculum Te Whariki which has earned world-wide acclaim or accessed the Competent Children, Competent Learners study – ho hum!”
I’m not reading it that way Jan M…I’m reading opinions from both sides if the issue.
http://parents.education.govt.nz/early-learning/learning-at-an-ece-service/what-your-child-learns-at-ece/#TeWhariki
Sounds wonderful…but ALL of those skills can be learned from properly engaged parents.
form friendships
play and explore
be courageous and try new things
ask questions and have a say
meet people outside their whānau
learn to relate well to other children in a group
sing, dance, and play games
think and solve problems
take turns, negotiate, and share
understand their own feelings and those of others
learn about disagreements and how to manage these
learn about words, numbers, and how things work
have conversations with children and adults
begin to understand and make sense of the world around them.
Exactly, Te Whaariki outlines what a child would receive in a family environment and a good childcare centre tries to be as homelike as possible. Things such as primary caregiving, good ratios, nice environment etc. I don’t believe it does it better than the home environment.
Seems some smokers have been hit far harder than what’s been announced.
Some brands have increased 15%.
With inflation running at around 0.4% and the tax increase is 10%, tobacco companies have some explaining to do.
International trade dispute lawyers aint cheap.
Chuckles.
a few days ago ropata posted some info on China’s plundering of fisheries in the south Pacific;
http://thespinoff.co.nz/society/30-03-2016/how-chinas-illegal-fishing-armada-is-plundering-the-south-pacific/
What surprises me is the lack of news stories and reporting on this. I knew little about it and yet it’s of more relevance to NZ than events Syria or the US election by virtue of it affecting us directly.
I can remember the furore over Japanese long lining and drift-netting of a few decades ago and the relative silence on this is quite puzzling. Are the media being muzzled or do people just not see this as important any more?
The problem is that nowadays people don’t know who to believe. Since they can’t see it with their own eyes, they don’t know what to think on the issue.
We used to have a media that would find out about stuff like this but I guess this is to expensive to report on. It’s costs too much money to get video of it happening.
Some here will find this documentary interesting.
https://youtu.be/Yc7Tk3mwM38?t=2s
Director Alex Gibney on ‘Zero Days’ Documentary, Stuxnet & Cyberweapons
https://youtu.be/qh-er7BAqVA?t=1s
The US and Israel are very far advanced in the field of cyberwarfare innovations.
That’s the irony of the accusations that “Russia did it.”
CV, Russia, China and terrorist groups are miles ahead of the US, Israel and most if not all the other western nations in cyberwarfare. Because they know they can’t match us on the battlefield so use they the indrecit route via cyberwarfare ie to attack/ deny/ destroy/ delay/ exploit/ corrupt and spread false information because they know our life style now increasing built around digital connectivity.
Why spend billons on nukes why you can infect a nations power supply or Stock market for example by a simple Stuxnet virus or something even more deadly.
Hell, I still teach the my lads how use a map and compass to move around the bush. To get even more technical, I show them how to use a sun compass and teach astro navigation at night for shits and giggles especially if I’ve got dumb yanks attached to me. The look on the yanks faces is priceless Lol.
For further reading, Out of the mountains “The coming age of the Urban Guerrilla.
By David Kilcullen and the New Zealand DWP 2016
Greetings exkiwiforces.
Your rationale is solid, but my read from the Snowden revelations is that the US Gov has co-opted all major US tech providers like Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Amazon, the big banks etc. to put in backdoor access for the NSA, as well as compromising internet cables and network hardware world wide.
In combination with the FVEY surveillance arrangements its a lead that no other nation can match, though of course they do the best they can.
Whereas Russia may have used some kind of password phishing scam to get Podesta’s emails, the NSA can just open up Google’s gmail databases directly.
Thank you very much for the reference.
The Snowden papers I’ve seen seem to deal with Intell gathering ie meta data collecting since 9/11 which in the scheme things is small fry and can defeat this very using snail mail or have internal web system like Iran did after the Stuxnet attack there and China has one.
Russia, China, terrorist groups and their 3rd parties partners are way ahead of us in terms of cyber warfare. Some of the Janes Defence articles and other Defence journals I’ve seen over the years we (the west) really have our head in the sand when it comes to cyber warfare and we (the west) are now playing catch up. Especially what Russia is doing in the Ukraine, the Baltic Nations. No doubt the Russians use the same tactics in the US elections and in the EU. China are doing the same to everyone. On most cases the Russia, China, terrorist groups and their 3rd parties partners were able to pretty much walk in without anymore realizing they were there, in most cases after the event a occur. Very Scary stuff
If you have 3 COA ( Courses of Action) your Enemy will have 4 COA.
Your Enemy is more smarter than you are and don’t treat them as a idiot unless you want to lose.
Maybe it’s because I don’t care about theft of intellectual property why I don’t view China as an enemy. They are brutal but I’m not going to condem them unless they charge over 90 mile beach with tanks. And to be honest, China pays its way in the world and they can handle there piss. If they really want to play Cold War and ramp up a global enterventionist force then fine. I’ll treat them just like America
I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disagree with you about China. I treat China with awful lot suspicion they slowly adopting a global interventionist force posture and no doubt they will take over when the yanks finally go tits up.
They have their finger in quite a few counties I’ve visited in the last few years and locals I’ve spoken too distrust Chinese as they don’t buy local instead import their own food, bring in their workers instead employing locals. Hell they even doing it in New Zealand even my dad ranks them up there with the Indian’s, South Koreans and freedom campers as worst tourists to have. He should know he works in the tourists industry.
China had a crack at doing the same thing here in Oz during boom, but AWU and CFMEU got wind of it and told them to F off.
Please don’t me started on what they do to those Poor Pacific nations and East Timor ATM or in the South China Sea it make my blood boil.
I know this is old news, but this just the tip of the iceberg on what they are doing in Africa ATM.
VENTURES AFRICA – News from the Kenya Railways Corporation suggests that the China Road & Bridge Corporation will send in 5,000 workers to work on the standard gauge railway.
Kenya signed a Sh314.2 billion deal with China for the construction of the Mombassa‐Nairobi railway in May, 2014.
The deal is to be executed in phases starting with the standard gauge railway project which is to cover 609.3km from the port of Mombassa to Nairobi.
China has delightful cuisines. I envy China.
Im guessing you would know that All Asian hate the Koreans more.
One slight quibble with your news report. The deal is a good deal. Africa owns it so the profits go straight to them. The quality of there engines is yet to be seen. We’ve spoken about 3rd world development for decades so I’m not going to condem China for actually doing it.
If I was to condem China it would be on there environmental record. The South China Sea claim is bogus because it’s based on a cartoon Chairmen Mao made up during his interlectual purge. That’s concerning but I wonder if America would swallow it’s pride and return Hawaii to its indigenous inhabitants which I find hard to believe given how vital it is to its strategic concerns. Since 5trillion in trade passes through the South China Sea that will be concerning for China.
Paul Buchanan once said, “I wonder how long New Zealander can be a tier 1 strategic partner with America and vital trade relations with China while they’re locked into a dispute.” I want my cake and eat it to so I’ll hold fast to the status quo. But rest assured the moment VT4s role out in anger. I’ll be there.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3owk7vEEOvs
Bill Binney is smarter than most any of the guys who write about cyberwarfare.
Thoroughly enjoyed that thanks. CIA is in active revolution
Didn’t they also claim Bin Laden got past the most sophisticated air defence in the world from a cave in Pakistan?
Donald Trump, greatest President of America since Reagan says “Hacking did NOT affect election results.”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/817701436096126977
Too right, Mr Trump. Regardless of what happened, you would have won anyway. Dems are totally out of touch with the American people and are looking for a scapegoat!
Donald Trump is the greatest President of America since Barack Obama.
https://twitter.com/Khanoisseur/status/817875178470445062
Tip of the ice berg
Respect to my wonderful namesake!
https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/when-morrissey-ruined-bill-cosbys-appearance-on-the-tonight-show
I know for a fact that Donald Trump, greatest American President since Reagan, is a tremendous Morrissey fan, and regards him as a great, great, American artist.
Truth – Post-truth
Large Iceberg Poised to Break Off From Antarctica
Climate change is now accelerating non-linearly.
Climate is a chaotic system.
“While calving is a natural process…”
Temporarily homebound, partner and I have been hitting the Offspring’s Netflix…spellbound by this little gem last night…
So Fonterra is doing feel good ads and Ritchie maybe has a new bromance appearing on them.
From Stuff:
“Fonterra chief operating officer in global consumer and foodservice Jacqueline Chow said the campaign was designed to promote the goodness of dairy.
She said dairy was a part of the solution to malnutrition, but its image in New Zealand was being affected by “dietary fads and special interest groups”.”
Well it’s great to know that the special interest groups in New Zealand are becoming sufficiently large & influential for Fonterra to actually notice!
But Fonterra could help themselves:
– there has been considerable publicity about the disappearance of mainstream Lewis Road organic milk from supermarket shelves (only one supermarket of the six or so around here has held out) Be interesting to see what ComCom does about this and why Fonterra though that this was a good idea at any level. Don’t forget Fonterra bought the Kapiti label (it was a premium brand) about 15 years ago and promptly closed it down. Will they do the same again once they have swamped Lewis Road so we have to go back to the normal rubbish.
-stop selling stuff in bottles that pretends to be a milk product at milk product prices when it is little more than watered down skim with some additives. I’m not sure how they get away with this under the Fair Trading act. Most of this is simply a milk flavoured drink much as we have juice flavoured drinks
-and then there are all the dirty water issues and ruined swimming places
Our traditional agriculture industry may be totally disrupted over coming years anyway: http://pureadvantage.org/news/2016/11/29/lament-nz-farm/
i bet monsanto and co can’t wait to start turning out your frank’n food.
I bet farming practices are going to be far more disrupted by anthropogenic global warming than by innovation, and the innovation might even help.
”and the innovation might even help.” might actually be how a few survive if it gets real rough.
I was more commenting on how lefties love the concept of frank’n food but the hate big pharma/agrichemical companies , when it’s those very companies that will produce your beaker burger
I have no idea what that is, and even less what it might taste like.
Mate, I’ll be eating roadkill before that shit.
You do that and I’ll get the Puha/watercress
Excellent 🙂
Other measures will be needed.
“I bet farming practices are going to be far more disrupted by anthropogenic global warming than by innovation, and the innovation might even help.”
That kind of innovation is a driver in the land/water pollution and farming’s contribution to GHG emissions/CC.
No it isn’t. Vertical farms don’t have any run off as an example.
I’m talking about currently. And note I didn’t say all innovation.
I’m not keen on synthetic food because it taste like saw dust. I imagine they have no nutrition value because they can store it longer. But that makes sense from the point of view of commercialised agriculture, after all you’re in it to make money not to feed people. That drives productive agriculture/farmers out, it’s horrible for the rest of the world. We talk about a supposed immigration problem, a lot of the problem is due to designers of our trade pax attempting to destroy agriculture in other countries. Chinese farms are efficient enough but they couldn’t possible justify (for example) dairy intensification because there population is lactose intolerant.
There is a movement around lake Taupo wanting to better use dairy farming/forest/water, it’s encouraging, it’s competent, well organised and they’re generating valuable data and they’re making money. It isn’t a massive movement but it proves you can divert growth from dairy intensification to sustainable methods and it’s got a lot to show already.
I’d say there is some nutritional value otherwise it wouldn’t be a food. But I take the point.
The biggest issue I see with dairying, even the people that are doing good things, is the focus on export. The whole model is just wrong, from the need for irrigation to the exporting of fertility via milk powder. People are focussed on water quality and run off, but the underlying problem is the model that says we can strip the land to make excess profit and ignore the ecosystem at the same time.
Good to hear about Taupō. I know of a few other diary farms around that are doing good things, but the pressure is always there to keep growing.
It was a good bet that you could grow tomatoes ect and pass it on to your son but that’s a suckers bet now due to political instability, so we keep doubling and not paying attention. Theirs a notion in economics of externalities which are things you don’t pay attention to when carrying out transactions. That’s to say it’s nice to feed more people but what else are we doing. We know what they’re doing to poison the environment and it makes it harder to produce. It’s outside the capacity of our culture to do something about it so solutions have to be imposed on the industry.
Yep. People don’t understand that running an economy always costs in resources. To do one thing requires the removal of resources to do another. Intensified farming takes away resources from the environment.
Remember John Key saying something like water going into the sea was wasted?
That’s how these capitalists see it. If a resource isn’t being used to make them richer then it’s wasted. Keeping a healthy environment or a healthy society doesn’t factor into their thinking and so both have resources removed from them to boost profit for the few.
I can’t wait to start eating it. Then I’ll never feel guilty about Bessie ever again.
She was loved. Always remember that.
test tube seafood anyone?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/08/fish-ocean-warming-migration-sea
And Hollywood thinks we are a hot bed of piracy. Hahaha.
Rather over-egging it given our 4 million of population compared to the US 340 million. I’d say there is no comparison the US – we’d lose every time.
Obama gives his final address with his anger translator in attendance…
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/06/key-peele-s-obama-and-luther-roast-pussy-grabber-trump.html
… and Keith Olbermann has a point for Trump supporters to ponder.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/keith-olbermann-trump-supporters_us_586f0eede4b02b5f858825ca
What have the Left done in the last month to change votes? nothing. That’s why the summer BBQs talk about cricket and not about politics. There will never be another Labour government.
I didn’t know BBQs could talk, oh sorry, your probably pissed, up there on Planet Key.
Some these days are programmed to offer suggestions like: “Fisiani, I want you to try those new cricket patties from Canada. Yummy alternative protein. No slave labour, honest.”
The rest is but a fevered dream ..
The Right have done it all for them. Key took off like a scolded dog after the humiliating Mt Roskill defeat, and they picked the morally corrupt Bill 21% English as his replacement.
Correct. But there may be what they term a “Labour-led Government” which in reality will only be 3/5 Labour, and 2/5 other parties.
And you will do everything in your limited, anti-worker, anti-Kiwi invective to prevent that eventuality.
Seriously. If you spent half the time you do dribbling over US politics on NZ social outcomes then you might claim to be helping the disenfranchised of this country.
Twyford is right. The Asian elite do not care about this country.
Twyford is a careerist dickhead who goes wherever the political wind is blowing. If he thinks anti-asian sentiment is the flavour of the month, that’s where he will go, and repeaters like you will spout it out as wisdom.
So much for lefty respect of cultural and ethnic diversity. Just more insincerity.
What a self centred scum bag you are. I thought you were self centred before but you have cemented it here in your stupid, Trumptastic way.
Are you in Auckland? No, you’re not and as such you know nothing about the place. You judge Twyford but I’m sure you have never met him and so know nothing about his call for accurate information about the Asian spend in Auckland.
What really confuses me is that you ruptured an arsehole about Twyford in your own fucking county but have no issue about Trump in his.
Idiot.
You’re going to leap to Twyford’s defence? Figures. BTW I lived in Auckland for several years. Rodney Hide’s electorate. A lovely city to be 1600km away from.
Twyford doesn’t need defending in any sense.
Jesus Christ, no wonder they threw you out of the Labour Party. You are a real cunt.
MB,
While I find myself agreeing with most of the sentiments and even some of the expressions you have for CV, I fear that expressing them so bluntly will only result in you picking up a ban while he continues to liberally sprinkle the site with his bullshit.
Got em all by the pussy now
The so-called democratic Israelis are not shy of interfering with other countries democracies when it suits them. The embassy is distancing itself from the comments by one of its own but you can bet senior political officer Masot’s opinion is reflective of the entire Israeli authority.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/321989/israel's-ambassador-sorry-over-'take-down'-comment
Interesting (scary) speculation on how the relationship between Trump and the intelligence agencies might play out. With a useful reminder that the WMD thing was more about Bush and his senior official misrepresenting info than the agencies giving them bad intel.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/313123-intel-experts-worry-trump-will-go-rogue
Deep state soft coup against Trump underway
this is very well made. well done Mr. Hamill
🙂
https://twitter.com/HamillHimself/status/817901534948179968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Getting back to New Zealand for a moment, Greenpeace wins big against the dairy industry.
This sort of ruling is important for New Zealand rivers because Dairy NZ, Fonterra, and the number 8 wire farmers are no longer allowed to protest against the truth. The truth being that our waterways are under threat.
– Russell Norman
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/01/greenpeace-trumps-dairy-industry-with-river-pollution-ad-ruling.html
The Greens should own this issue and it should be theirs as an election platform along with renters rights. Labour should focus on housing affordability and worker’s rights. NZ First should focus on immigration concerns. They should all be allowed to comment on lack of infrastructure and the underfunding of social services.
These parties and the people who vote for these parties all want the government changed for the good of the whole country. Tasks need to be delegated.
I doubt they need that much deliberate division of their labours.
I think they do.
A coalition government in waiting should have a devolution of tasks, and I think it would help individuals aligned with particular concerns to be able to devote their energies to that concern while at the same time not attacking others’ concerns.
In short, each party in the coalition would own their ground but also have common ground.
The Greens have always said environment, society and economy are indivisible. Labour likewise has policies in all 3 areas. Winston First have usually been a thing unto themselves.
I don’t like the police numbers thing being associated with Labour or Green. Clearly it is the penny pinching current government which has presided over the increase in volume crime in this country but the stick part should be delegated to NZ first.
Another ally needs to drive this.
Here’s an interesting poll.
WWIII is on it’s way
http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/world-war-iii-is-on-its-way-says-poll-of-western-countries/ar-BBxZaSJ?li=AAavLaF&ocid=spartanntp
Fearmongering. That poll shows people’s fears, not whether war is likely or not. It also appears to be showing that the countries where people are happiest have less people concerned about war.
Yes, and very small sample, 9000 participants across 9 western countries, 1000 per country.
The interesting part is who is frightened of who.
Joyzus !!! … Farrar/ Slater / other prominent Tory shills must be absolutely pissing themselves with glee
You see, there’s a little event coming up in New Zealand politics later this year (maybe even sooner than we think, who knows ?). It’s called … wait for it …
… the 2017 New Zealand General Election.
And what does the premier Left-leaning forum for the New Zealand labour movement do ? – increasingly tears itself apart, … first during the US Presidential Election campaign late last year, then over the rights and wrongs of Superpower involvement in Syria, and now over allegations of Russian interference in the US Presidential Election.
Authors happily abusing each other, expletives being thrown about with wild abandon, regular commenters abusing authors and vice versa, … basically a whole lot of people stridently crossing the line from bona fide robust debate to bitter and waspish personal insults, outright contempt and the determination to win their petty little battles no matter what the long-term cost.
Now the last thing I want to sound like here is some sort of horrendous touchy-feely New Age Middle-Class Hand-Wringing Liberal Hippy “Facilitator”… BUT … the kind of personal abuse that’s been going on almost inevitably ends up emotionally wounding people (even when they’re too proud to admit it), in turn generating long-term grudges and resentment, if not immediate ruptures (with the potential for authors to suddenly pack their up bags and fuck the fuck off, never to be heard of again).
Not something we necessarily need in Election Year … especially when we’re up against ruthless, power-hungry, tightly disciplined opponents.
Despite being firmly in that broad camp I associate with Bill, CV, Morrissey, Olwyn, Puddleglum and various others on these contentious issues – and despite having occasionally thrown a few snide little grenades into the conversation myself – from now on I’m going to discipline myself to avoid any involvement in these specific debates.
Who knows, might be in the Left’s long-term interests if others consider doing likewise.
Or … to put it all another way … Do we always have to live up to the Life of Brian sketch ?
I mean, every single fucking time ?
Sword. A very good point you have raised and I’ve also been concerned about it.
There are some contributors who are all out for themselves, and there are some contributors who are trying to help the disenfranchised.
It is my hope that those posting on ego might stop for a moment to think about people less fortunate than themselves.
Hey great polarising comment there. Which camp do you put yourself in then?
I’m trying to help NZ communities. You, however, are some sort of egomaniac and retarded keyboard hack who has no empathetic thought for anyone but yourself and this proof is born by the amount of time you spent on USA threads.
It amuses me greatly how a group of people who put so much weight into the concept of the collective, fight to the death over such irrelevant micro issues.
Know it all, never can see another view point egotists will always be the Achilles heel of the left.
There are days you have to man up and say you’re wrong but not today. Diluting debate isn’t my style
We know you want your point of view heard, RWNJ, but community based activists have other things on their mind…
“the kind of personal abuse that’s been going on almost inevitably ends up emotionally wounding people (even when they’re too proud to admit it), in turn generating long-term grudges and resentment”
Quite. If left-leaning citizens cannot behave like grown-ups in our own discussion spaces, why would anybody vote for the organisations we champion?
I’d say it’s because there are genuine anti-left people posting on the standard. There are very dumb people like CV taking up a lot of bandwidth.
The problems Labour faces might go a tad wider than that.
More to the left than Labour, thankfully.
The main thing those endless circle jerks over trump and russia etc cause is that they turn off readers new and old.
authors too.
Hey swordfish, I agree with most of your comments, you make a very good point, but can I ask you if you honestly believe that any thing said or stated in this forum will have any influence what so ever over the outcome of the up coming election? My guess is NO.
Trying to change the behaviour of “old men stuck in a mind set” is the same as pissing into the wind.
It’s the largest left wing blog in NZ. The political blogosphere plays a part in the election cycle both directly, via the MSM, and via activism. Of course the website has influence. Whether we make good use of that influence is another matter.
Well said Swordfish.
I’m also wanting to focus on other areas so if you or anyone wants to see different content and hopefully different discussion, feel free to put forward ideas.
Ok,hows about moving all mad scientist stuff to a battle ground where they can scratch each others eyes out –not where mortals like me get confused by it all.
Having set up spaces for US election conversations during the election, and then diverting people there I can say it’s a lot of work. If people want to do what they did today, it’s pretty hard to stop them. We can of course set up different kinds of conversations if people want that, but whenever I offer that I generally don’t get too many suggestions.
Thanks SF.
Two solutions:
1. Some new authors. I would be happy to arrange a login for you because your poll analysis is second to none.
2. The fights we have had over US politics is rather difficult. Some of us prefer to pull our fingernails out than support Trump. But that does not sit with others.
Author wise we are now fine. I agree to the onward and upward proposal.
Your second point is a bit like Wittgenstein’s duck-rabbit. Some see an orange greed monster at the helm of a superpower, others see a very compromised left with all the machinery of power behind it finally getting its comeuppance. Broadly speaking, both sides seem to respect Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn and Helen Kelly – perhaps we need to bear that touchstone in mind.
As one of the more vocal people arguing for Clinton here (who would have much preferred Bernie, O’Malley, or a long list of others that didn’t put their hand up), I’m quite happy to see compromised Democrat elites getting their comeuppance.
But the price is that many real, vulnerable people really are going to get damaged over the next few years by the orange greed monster. To a far greater extent than they would be under the compromised Dems. With no guarantee that the next cohort of Democrat elites will be less compromised. To me, that damage to the vulnerable is way way too high a price to pay for the temporary satisfaction of kicking elites who are already well-insulated from any potential pain.
Well the election has been and gone and most of us here didn’t have a vote in it. The result is what it is. In that respect Bernie Sanders has the right idea – to regroup, support what is good and fiercely oppose what is bad.
I see both actually.
I can understand the impulse to throw a grenade at a comfortable two party system of political elitists, and I abhor the Democratic parties alignment with imperialist corporations, while, at the same time, I am horrified by Trump..
The election of Trump may be for the best in the end.
A definable enemy is easier to fight than someone who pretends to be on our side, but really isn’t. Like the US Democrats and “third way” Labour parties.
I think it’s appropriate that this all plays out on here. The battle of the collapsing media and political establishment and those more tied up within it and those that aren’t.