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!
1. A thread on something that's been bothering me: How on earth was Trump losing money on his casinos while competitors were making bank? https://t.co/EsrkuLkHCV
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.
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The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
The Green Party have secured legislative amendments in a bill expected to pass third reading this week, to ensure better rules for school teachers and staff, so they can de-escalate children with diverse needs and cognitive differences, such as autism, rather than using unnecessary and often traumatising force. ...
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says.Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has ridiculed the National Party "circus", with the politician saying it was in "chaos" after the resignation of another MP.Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon announced on Monday he would retire from politics after he allegedly sent inappropriate pornographic images to a young woman. Following a ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today outlined what he saw as the requirements to re-open New Zealand's borders for tourists and travellers. If New Zealand was dealing solely with an Australian state such as Tasmania, we wouldn't need a vaccine, said Mr Peters, but these moves were complicated by the ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have prompted last-minute alterations to proposed legislation for commercial landlords and their tenants. Mr Peters told reporters on Wednesday said that he was making sure the proposed bill was in step with what the parties had actually agreed to. He said he ...
Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprise and New Zealand First List MP Shane Jones attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new NZ Post "super depot" in Wellington. The state-owned postal service, which got $280 million from the Coalition Government last month, is expanding its operations to handle surging parcel volumes. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYIntroduction Good afternoon. Welcome to you all here today and party supporters watching from around the country. We appreciate your hard work keeping New Zealand First strong; thank you for keeping the faith. Sixty-three days out from Election Day, ...
The diversity of conservation boards around Aotearoa is increasing with 47 appointments to 14 of the 15 conservation boards across New Zealand announced today by the Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party is honoured to be remembering former co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons today at a public memorial service in the heart of Wellington at the Cathedral of St. Paul’s. Following her passing in March, this celebration of her life brings together her friends, family and colleagues to honour her life ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced a $2.5 million boost for South Westland to help a regional alliance of local businesses and government agencies provide nature based jobs. ...
Investing in infrastructure is one major way we can create jobs, stimulate the economy, and keep New Zealand moving post COVID-19. That's why this week we rolled out a massive number of infrastructure announcements - in Tairāwhiti, Wairarapa, Otago, Southland and more! ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters says the National Party’s Auckland Transport announcement today is a breath-taking plan on the never never. While it is promising to see that National all of a sudden has rediscovered railways in Auckland, including trains ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP A range of projects announced by the Hon Shane Jones in Southland and Otago will build communities and create jobs, according to New Zealand First List MP Mark Patterson. The town of Gore received funding to build a new public library and ...
News that Rio Tinto has announced that it is planning to wind-down operations at the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter could not have a come at a worse time for the people of Southland. While it has been clear that Rio Tinto was never going to support Southlanders over the long haul, ...
Whenua/land, roto/lakes and awa/rivers in the central North Island will benefit from increased habitat protection with new biosecurity investment across iwi and Crown-managed lands and lakes announced Conservation and Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage in Rotorua today. ...
As part of a broader plan to reduce the increasing amount of rubbish ending up in New Zealand’s landfills, the Government is to fund new recycling infrastructure and expand the national waste levy scheme.$124 million Government investment in recycling infrastructurePlans confirmed to increase and expand the waste ...
The Government is providing an investment totalling more than $100 million for regions to protect against and mitigate the effects of climate change, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones have announced. Six regions will receive funding from the $3 billion allocated to infrastructure projects from the ...
Three major local projects at Te Kuiti and Otorohanga have been given the money to get moving after the impact of Covid 19, says the Minister of Māori Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta. The projects range from a Sports Centre for Te Kuiti, a redevelopment of the Otorohanga Kiwi House and ...
The Coalition Government has extended three New Zealand Defence Force deployments to the Middle East and Africa by two years, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “These deployments promote peace in the Middle East and Africa by protecting civilians and countering the spread of ...
The release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment shows that the progress this Government has made to solve the climate crisis is essential to creating cleaner and safer communities across New Zealand. “Because of this report, we can see clearer than ever that the action our Government is taking ...
The second round of the Community Resilience Fund is now open for applications for sport and recreation organisations experiencing financial hardship between 1 July and 30 September 2020. “The fund opens today for five weeks – closing on September 6. The amount awarded will be decided on a case-by-case basis ...
Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today declared Rakitū Island, off the coast of Aotea/Great Barrier Island, predator free. “I’m delighted to announce that with rats now gone, Rakitū is officially predator free. This is a major milestone because Rakitū is the last DOC administered island in the Hauraki Gulf Marine ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.75 million to restore significant historic sites at Ōhaeawai in the Far North, upgrade marae and fund fencing and riparian planting. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones made the announcements following a service at the historic St Michael’s Anglican Church at Ōhaeawai today. Just ...
The Chatham Islands will receive close to $40 million for projects that will improve its infrastructure, add to its attraction as a visitor destination, and create jobs through a planned aquaculture venture, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has announced. “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the islands, first ...
The Government is delivering more initiatives to reduce energy hardship and to give small electricity consumers a voice, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods said today. “In addition to the initiatives we have already delivered to support New Zealand families, we are responding to the Electricity Price Review with further ...
Government, iwi, NGOs and rehabilitation groups are working together to turn around the fortunes of the nationally endangered hoiho/yellow-eyed penguin following a series of terrible breeding seasons. The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage helped launch the Five Year Action Plan at the annual Yellow-Eyed Penguin symposium in Dunedin today. “I ...
The membership of the Tourism Futures Taskforce has now been confirmed, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced at an event at Whakarewarewa in Rotorua today. “The main purpose of the independent Tourism Futures Taskforce is to lead the thinking on the future of tourism in New Zealand,” Kelvin Davis said. Joining ...
More than $300 million in funding has been approved to protect strategic tourism businesses, drive domestic tourism through regional events and lift digital capability in the tourism industry, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. A $400 million Tourism Recovery Package was announced at Budget 2020, and with today’s announcements is ...
From 2021 permits will be required for New Zealanders wanting to export hard-to-recycle plastic waste. The Associate Minister for the Environment, Eugenie Sage, today announced the requirements as part of New Zealand’s commitments to the Basel Convention, an international agreement of more than 180 countries which was amended in May ...
The building and construction sector is still showing strong growth, with the number of new dwellings consented up more than 8 per cent compared to last year, reflecting a welcome confidence in the Government’s COVID-19 response package, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. “While it is still too ...
Government investment of $23 million for Bay of Plenty flood protection will allow local communities to address long-standing flood risks and provide jobs, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced in Rotorua today. These projects are being funded by the Infrastructure Reference Group’s (IRG) shovel ...
Investment for projects that will create hundreds of jobs in Rotorua were announced today by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. These projects will provide opportunities for economic development in a region that has been hard hit by COVID-19,” Winston Peters said. Fletcher ...
For the first time, primary schools will have access to funding for counsellors for their students, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. “A major investment of $75.8 million will provide greater access to guidance counsellors to help primary and secondary school students deal with mental health and wellbeing issues,” ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark today welcomed the release of the Report of the Government Inquiry into Operation Burnham and related matters, and the Government response. “I thank the Inquiry for their thorough and detailed report, on a highly complex issue. I accept the recommendations of the report, and fully support ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones has announced $6 million of One Billion Trees funding for seven regional initiatives to create jobs and provide long-lasting environmental and economic benefits. The projects range from improving one of the poorest-quality water catchments in Otago to restoring 52km of waterways around Hokianga Harbour. Six of the ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today announced $5.5 million in funding from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) for two Kawerau projects and says this is a significant boost for the people of Kawerau. “These projects will bring much-needed investment and will create up to 60 jobs for locals,” Mr Peters ...
Kaingaroa Village in the Bay of Plenty is to get $5 million to help fund a comprehensive upgrade of its infrastructure, facilities and housing, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. Mr Tabuteau travelled to the remote village to make the announcement, telling Kaingaroa residents how the funding ...
The Rangiuru Business Park project near Te Puke is getting $18 million from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This is all about unlocking the potential of this region. When it’s finished, the Rangiuru Business Park will be the Bay of Plenty’s ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has today announced that a $26 million investment in Ōpōtiki will see important public amenities upgraded and further progress made on new aquaculture opportunities. “The people of Ōpōtiki have been waiting decades for real investment in key infrastructure, and support for the incredible aquaculture opportunities ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio wishes to congratulate the Cook Islands community throughout Aotearoa for the 9th year of Te ‘Epetoma o Te Reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani, the Cook Islands Language Week. “This is a proud milestone that reflects on the huge effort made by the Cook ...
Aucklanders in the Eastern Suburbs will soon have more ways to get around, with Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter kicking off construction on Section 2 of Te Ara Ki Uta Ki Tai, the Glen Innes to Tāmaki Drive Shared Path today. The Glen Innes ...
The Government is stepping up the fight against measles and protecting hundreds of thousands more young adults by investing up to $40 million for a year-long measles-catch-up campaign and $23 million to fully fund and develop the National Immunisation Solution, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced at Mangere ...
Attorney-General David Parker has today released the findings of the Government inquiry held into Operation Burnham and related events. The operation took place on 21-22 August 2010 in Tirgiran Valley, Afghanistan, and was carried out by NZSAS troops and other nations’ forces operating as part of the International Security Assistance ...
From tomorrow, community groups around New Zealand can apply to a $36 million fund established to encourage locally-led solutions as communities rebuild and recover from COVID-19, announced Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni and Minister for Community and Voluntary Sector Poto Williams. “The Community Capability and Resilience Fund (CCRF) builds ...
The Government has committed to improving Māori health and wellbeing over the next five years. The Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) today released Whakamaua: Māori Health Action Plan 2020-2025 which sets the pathway towards achieving healthy futures for all Māori. “As kaitiaki of the system, the Ministry of Health ...
New environmental standards will make the re-consenting of existing marine farms more consistent across the country. The new regulations for the National Environmental Standards for Marine Aquaculture (NES-MA) will come into effect on 1 December, Environment Minister David Parker and Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash said. “The NES-MA removes complexities and ...
Today marks a milestone as the Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni and Minister for Māori Development Nanaia Mahuta co-sign an Addendum – with the Iwi Chairs of Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto and Te Aupōuri – to the Te Hiku o Te Ika Iwi-Crown Social Development and Wellbeing Accord (the ...
The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill (No 2) passed its third reading today and will become law, announced Minister for Veterans Ron Mark. This amends the Veterans’ Support Act 2014 in response to recommendations from the 2018 review of the operation of the Act by Professor Ron Paterson. “Veterans have been ...
Minister for Racing Winston Peters says race courses can improve safety with this year’s first round of funding from the Racing Safety Development Fund. The Racing Safety Development Fund makes available $990,000 for distribution over two funding rounds for the 2020/21 financial year. “The racing industry is integral to the ...
The Government’s commitment to increase primary sector jobs and opportunities has been further boosted today with the re-opening of the Taratahi Agriculture Centre, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The Wairarapa-based training centre is reopening its doors after two years to deliver industry taster and familiarisation courses, to help workers displaced ...
New Zealanders are being invited to help recognise the work of the many “unsung heroes” in our ethnic communities during COVID-19. “Aotearoa New Zealand is home to 920,000 people who identify their ethnicity as Middle Eastern, Latin American, African, Asian, and Continental European. During the extraordinary time of the COVID-19 ...
The Government is allocating $40 million to assist with the cost of mediation and arbitration for New Zealand businesses and landlords to resolve issues about adjusting rent as they face the economic impacts of COVID-19, Justice Minister Andrew Little said. The Government had previously announced funding to improve access to ...
The Government has announced details of a planned new law to give Police the power to conduct random roadside drug testing of drivers, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter and Minister of Police Stuart Nash announced today. The Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill was introduced to the house today ...
More warmer, drier homes and a big building boost for regional centres across New Zealand are two of the major benefits from a $500 million investment in the upgrade and renewal of state homes. Associate Housing Minister Kris Faafoi has confirmed the multi-million dollar expansion of the Kāinga Ora – ...
The Government will provide $8 million towards the revitalisation of the Paihia waterfront in the iconic Bay of Islands, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Bay of Islands is the cornerstone of Northland tourism and Paihia the hub for maritime-based tourism and recreation in the area. “Weather and economic ...
Health Minister Chris Hipkins welcomes confirmation of Canterbury DHB’s move into state-of-the-art Christchurch Hospital Hagley building which will serve the community well for decades to come. The Ministry of Health is on track to hand over the facility on 10 August 2020. Sterile Services is due to be operational on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Household Finances, Grattan Institute The announcement of stage 4 restrictions in Victoria marks a new, and depressing, stage in Australia’s response to COVID-19. The new measures will close non-essential retailers and most child-care centres across Melbourne, and impose ...
China said on Monday it will suspend its extradition agreement with New Zealand in response to Wellington suspending its existing extradition treaty with Hong Kong, Reuters reports. ...
China said on Monday it will suspend its extradition agreement with New Zealand in response to Wellington suspending its existing extradition treaty with Hong Kong, Reuters reports. ...
On Saturday the man behind Game of Thrones hosted the ceremony for the prestigious Hugo Awards. Sam Brooks recaps. In a blog post just over a year ago, American writer George R.R. Martin said that New Zealand had “formal written permission” to jail him if he didn’t have The Winds of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Wood, Chief executive officer, Grattan Institute How do you occupy a child for long enough to get any work done? This will be the question confronting more than 150,000 Melbourne families for at least the next six weeks. The Stage 4 ...
China said on Monday it will suspend its extradition agreement with New Zealand in response to Wellington suspending its existing extradition treaty with Hong Kong, Reuters reports. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Non-essential retailers across Melbourne will be shut except for “click and collect” and delivery sales, and industries including meatworks and construction will be drastically scaled back, under Victoria’s unprecedented lockdown. The business shutdown details came ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Russo, Associate Professor, Director Cabrini Monash University Department of Nursing Research, Monash University Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced sweeping changes to businesses across metropolitan Melbourne, including closure of retail stores and restrictions on some industries, including construction. The new constraints ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan University In what seems to be a common occurrence, Chinese video-sharing app TikTok is once again in the headlines. After months of speculation about national security risks and users’ data being harvested by ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Controversial Papua New Guinea citizen Joe Chan has been arrested in Malaysia – this time under the name Djoko Soegiarto Tjandra. And also this time as an Indonesian, a wanted and convicted fugitive and graft convict, reports the PNG Post-Courier. He has been on the run ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a ...
We need to crack on with building the systems and infrastructure necessary to be able to safely accommodate far more travellers than the system can currently handle. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Trigg, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor of English Literature, University of Melbourne In our series Art for Trying Times, authors nominate a work they turn to for solace or perspective during this pandemic. The Greeks are at the gates, and the city ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there are plans to increase testing of staff at airports and isolation facilities and to equip GPs to ramp up testing. ...
What happens when New Zealand’s queen of K-Pop rallies a room full of kids to become homegrown popstars? You get TVNZ On Demand’s K-Pop Academy.Korean pop music – or “K-pop” – is, arguably, the biggest musical genre on the planet. BTS is its most famous name, but South Korea is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University Creative destruction “is the essential fact about capitalism”, wrote the great Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter in 1942. New technologies and processes continuously revolutionise the economic structure from within, “incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is condemning Kaikoura District Council and Tararua District Council for failing to identify earthquake-prone buildings , as required by law. Union spokesperson Louis Houlbrooke says, “These Councils broke the law ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has welcomed today’s release of the first National Climate Change Risk Assessment , but say that unless it’s paired up with a framework that enables councils to act on the assessments, communities will be ...
With women leading both major parties and the highest number of female MPs (38%) since women were first allowed to stand for Parliament in 1919, it’s time that proper attention was paid to one of the most fatal of women’s cancers. ...
Taxpayer handouts to electric car buyers will not save the planet, says the car review website dogandlemon.com . Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who has studied electric cars for over a decade, says: “The lobby group Drive Electric , which wants the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, UNSW With Victorians heading into a new round of even harsher lockdown measures, there will again be a focus on how people will cope — the ...
Respected business journalist Rod Oram visits the Nelson region next week to give two talks on the opportunities that Covid-19 presents for New Zealand to tackle climate change, poverty and what he calls “other deeply systemic failures”. Oram has ...
Transparency and clear disclosure of actions and policies have been key to the COVID-19 response, Reserve Bank Head of Financial System Policy and Analysis Toby Fiennes said delivering a speech in Wellington today. Market discipline is one of the three ...
Latest from the Beehive- The tourist industry is the biggest beneficiary of government funding distributed as loans or grants from an array of programmes and pots in the past few days. The $311 million of funding involved has resulted in the $400 million Tourism Recovery Package being fully allocated. Invitations, ...
As Victoria locks down again over a second wave of Covid-19, Andrew Geddis looks at how New Zealand might respond should community transmission be again detected here Melbourne’s adoption of “stage 4” restrictions to combat its Covid-19 outbreak - stay-at-home orders, limited exercise time, a night-time curfew - are a timely warning to us here ...
A major new report has outlined the biggest and most pressing risks New Zealand faces from climate change, and they go well beyond the science of changing weather patterns. What’s all this then?One of the most dangerous and concerning aspects of climate change is the unpredictability of it all. Some ...
The country's first national climate change risk assessment has identified 10 significant areas that need to be urgently addressed by the government in the next six years. ...
The first ever National Climate Change Risk Assessment has found 'New Zealand’s climate is warming, sea levels are rising, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe', Marc Daalder reports Over the next 70 years, wildfires and extreme storms will become more common in New Zealand, vast swathes ...
Time is running out to make voting easy in the 2020 General Election and referendums. About 500,000 eligible New Zealanders still haven’t enrolled to vote and half of them are under the age of 30. “Make voting easy this year by getting your enrolment ...
By Bryan Kramer, Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Police Assistant Commissioner Lesa Gale of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) staged a press conference to announce the arrest of five members of an Australian drug syndicate connected to the recent drug bust in PNG. This was a multi-agency operation that had ...
Announcing eight new episodes coming soon to The Spinoff and RNZ.Good news for people who love Bad News – Alice Snedden’s docu-comedy series tackling some of Aotearoa’s most contentious social and political issues is back for a second season.Like the first, which saw Alice go head-to-head with Don Brash in ...
One of the puzzling aspects of the global Coronavirus pandemic has been the absence of an international accord to grapple with the greatest challenge since the Second World War. After the global financial crisis of 2008-9, world leaders agreed to devise solutions – US presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama, ...
The Crazy Rich Asians author creates froth that may in fact be genius, says Sam Brooks. Kevin Kwan’s first novel Crazy Rich Asians had the kind of success every populist author dreams of. It became a beloved bestseller, which turned into a slightly less beloved trilogy, which then turned into ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Labour's economic plan is to focus on Covid recovery with investment in training and jobs, and that National's plan to reduce debt would mean $80 billion in cuts. ...
heTruly making a difference to New Zealanders’ mental health means addressing factors that go far beyond the health system’s remit. There’s a plan ready to go, writes Shaun Robinson of the Mental Health Foundation, and the next government must put it into action. “I need help.” That’s how many of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Celia Harris, Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, Western Sydney University We are all living through a major historical event, a once-in-a-century pandemic that has radically changed how we work, learn, travel, socialise and spend our free time. But for many of us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Howard Manns, Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University Things are really jeffed up for Karens right now. The Miley (“coronavirus”) did a Melba (“made yet another a comeback”), and Joe and Jane Bloggs are being drongos. In the process, “Karen” has become the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn Moore, Social Researcher, School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania In his book Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe writes that settler Australians wilfully misunderstood, hid and destroyed evidence of Aboriginal Australians’ farming practices. My analysis of secondary school textbooks shows this behaviour ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carl Grodach, Professor and Director of Urban Planning & Design, Monash University COVID-19 and the growing recession concentrated in the services sector will not just increase social inequality, but accelerate the growing spatial divide in our cities. As our new research report ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Glennda Scully, Professor, Curtin University The COVID-19 pandemic has driven a surge of calls to domestic violence support services, as survivors of violence spend more time at home with their abusers due to lockdowns and other restrictions. Many feel they can’t leave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carly Osborn, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide In our series Art for Trying Times, authors nominate a work they turn to for solace or perspective during this pandemic. There is a genre of novel that I have relied upon for many ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 3, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz7.45am: PM defends limited border chargesJacinda Ardern has defended the government’s decision to only charge Kiwis returning back into ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Exploring the rapid rise of Billy TK’s NZ Public Party, report finds senior military officers misled ministers over Operation Burnham, and Lake Taupō water monitoring to be led by iwi.Within the space of a few months, Billy Te Kahika Jr ...
There are four big decisions to get ready to make in this year's elections. As well as picking a preferred party and candidate, voters will vote on the End of Life Choice Bill and whether they support a bill which would legalise cannabis. Here are the basics on the Cannabis Legalisation and ...
The Health Ministry ticked off the aged care sector for restricting visitors to rest homes before the national lockdown. David Williams reports On March 17, the coronavirus outbreak was seemingly in its infancy – yet it was closer to pushing politicians into drastic action than many thought. Ministry of Health ...
As the cannabis referendum draws nearer, Finlay Macdonald takes note of a new book about New Zealand's attitude towards marijuana Like any number of New Zealanders, I have a rich store of anecdote about my personal relationship with weed. Youthful adventure, horticultural experimentation, bad cabbage, Thai sticks and close shaves ...
We are more comfortable than ever telling stories about intimate experiences in public, so why is miscarriage still such a taboo subject? I recall my mother telling me a story, many years ago, about losing a baby to miscarriage. She had experienced bleeding and been told by her doctor to go home, put ...
Whether in the boardroom, or behind the lens, Angela Ruske has played a crucial part in the Otago Nuggets' golden NBL basketball season. As the Otago Nuggets were on their way to grasping their first men's NBL title, Angela Ruske was trying to stay calm courtside by focusing through her camera lens. ...
When do we get a prime minister who looks like New Zealand, asks Laura O’Connell Rapira.I want a Māori prime minister. I want a trans Samoan deputy prime minister and I want a former refugee as speaker of the house.I want a Muslim mayor. I want a disabled deputy mayor ...
People like me already don’t know when we will see ‘home’ again, thanks to the forthcoming border fees, writes Jai Breitnauer. We don’t need to be judged for it too.About eight weeks ago we got a message we had been dreading – my father-in-law was in hospital having been in ...
New Zealanders are about to vote on two of the most polarising social issues of our time - how much do you know about the cannabis and end of life referendums? In less than five weeks, New Zealanders will vote on two polarising issues in referendums, held at the same ...
What's in the diary for this week? Newsroom Pro collates the newsworthy events you need to know about. Today | 6 July sdfsdf sfsdf sfds Tuesday | 7 July sdfsdf sfsdf sfds Wednesday | 8 July sdfsdf sfsdf sfds Thursday | 9 July sdfsdf sfsdf sfds ...
Social Credit has prevailed in the first round of its High Court challenge to the Overseas Investment Office decision to grant Chinese owned company Hong Kong Jingang permission to take over New Zealand’s second largest milk processing company, Westland ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As Melbourne moved to an extraordinary 8pm to 5am daily curfew and Stage 4 restrictions, and Victoria declared a “state of disaster”, Scott Morrison took to social media with a message for the embattled residents. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rodney Tiffen, Emeritus Professor, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney James Murdoch is not the most obvious candidate for editorial heroism. His route to resigning from the News Corp board because of “disagreements over certain editorial content” has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Twomey, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Sydney A “state of disaster” has been declared for the whole of Victoria from 6pm, Sunday August 2, for a month. How is this different from the existing “state of emergency” and what powers ...
As the state of Victoria continues to record shocking new Covid-19 numbers – 671 cases today – a strict new stage 4 lockdown is being imposed. Adrian Esterman, an epidemiologist at the University of South Australia explains what the means.Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that metropolitan Melbourne will move ...
Jacinda Ardern’s “kind” government rather unkindly wants to push through under urgency this week amendments to residential rental tenancy law that are both unworkable and vicious, Tenancies War spokesman Mike Butler said today. If the Residential Tenancies ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Esterman, Professor of Biostatistics, University of South Australia Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that metropolitan Melbourne will move to “stage 4” restrictions from 6pm Sunday, as new cases of COVID-19 continue to rise. The state recorded another 671 cases and ...
“We welcome the protest letter signed by European Ambassadors against Israel's plans to commence construction in the illegal settlement of "Givat Hamatos" and possibly the so-called E1 Area on the outskirts of occupied Jerusalem. However, ...
By RNZ Pacific Nineteen more cases of covid-19 have been confirmed in Papua New Guinea, taking the total number so far in the country to 91. The Pandemic Response Controller, David Manning, announced the new cases in the capital Port Moresby where almost 80 of PNG’s cases had been confirmed ...
Linguist and author Noam Chomsky says decades of neoliberal policies that shredded the social safety net and public institutions have left the country ill-prepared for a major health crisis.By Democracy Now!As the US coronavirus death toll tops 150,000, Democracy Now! spends the hour with world-renowned political dissident, linguist ...
Open Mike 08/01/2017 
Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a 2010 SAS killing raid in Afghanistan. The most recent Colmar Brunton ...7 hours ago
In New Zealand, we've just had the report of the Hit and Run inquiry, which found that a New Zealand led raid had accidentally killed civilians, including a child. meanwhile, around the same time, the British SAS was conducting its own raids in Afghanistan, and theirs were a hell of ...7 hours ago
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study Finds As climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will ...10 hours ago
"Who's youse accusin' of innference?" Without the timely intervention of a team of top American political consultants and campaign experts, Boris Yeltsin would never have won his second term as President of the Russian Federation. The Russians waited 20 years to return the favour.WHEN IT COMES to the disinformation game, ...13 hours ago
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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.
Director Alex Gibney on ‘Zero Days’ Documentary, Stuxnet & Cyberweapons
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.
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.”
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.
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
🙂
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.