We have prominent NZer’s court case coming up at long last (justice delayed for so long to that person’s victims)
Bradley Ambrose is suing Key for defamation, as long as he can get the $$$ to cover the court costs.
And by April the sports logo flag will be trampled in the mud in celebratory fashion, along with Key’s ego.
It could be a pretty shitty autumn for them.
Oh, and hows that plagiarism case coming along? You know, the one where the National Party managed to rip off the Eminem tune for their election campaign music in 2014?
Good gains were made in February in regard to public backlash over the Nat govt, with Key copping most of it. Hopefully we can do round two next month.
PS Don’t forget the Clutha Southland kid’s developing problems. A Dirty Politics cub?
In the past, problems with Nat MP’s going a bit astray managed to last a few news cycles and then get forgotten about due to the apparent popularity of Key, not necessarily of the govt, but of Key. But things have changed now. He’s a little less popular. A new side show might do more damage then it once did. That might lessen the boredom.
The love is fading, as the Smiths could tell you. It’s not what it used to be eh?
“Nothing’s changed
I still love you, oh, I still love you
Only slightly, only slightly less
Than I used to, my love”
Heh, good one. You are right that things might liven up a bit as the people steadily find the voice and power to stand up to these bozos – witness clown action in the TPP meeting yesterday.
…. looking forward to the custard pie for Finlayson QC….
At today’s roadshow Auckland mayoral hopeful Penny Bright questioned how TPP could be in New Zealand’s best interests given it doesn’t include our second biggest trading partner, China, and Obama had been quoted as saying “if we don’t write the rules, then China will write the rules in the region”.
…Penny Bright questioned how TPP could be in New Zealand’s best interests given it doesn’t include our second biggest trading partner, China…
Seeing as we already have a satisfactory free trade deal with China, how would including it in the crappy TPPA be in our interests? Still, I guess it makes as much sense as Penny ever does.
The Government is being accused of going easy on Chinese authorities when making trade deals for the infant formula industry.
Dozens of Kiwi brands made by small businesses going down the drain.
There were 200 brands – and now there are just 20.
Michael Barnett of the Infant Formula Exporters Association said “MPI have allowed them to control that process, so we’ve ended up with a small group of privileged exporters.”
He says many of those exporters are Chinese-owned companies based in New Zealand.
Yeah, and the Australian company producing baby formula just saw it’s share price double as in can’t keep up with demand after doubling it’s production this year from 5M units, to 10M units.
You know countries can have more than one trade deal at a time, right?
There’s plenty of better things to criticise about the TPPA than “it doesn’t include China”
After years as an internet wasteland, the Labour Party’s “Red Alert” blog site looks to have been quietly put out of its misery. Once lauded as the new way for MPs to interact with the public, it soon became a bit of an embarrassment, before being ignored. Now, it appears to be no more.
Thats a shame, it was always quite amusing to go there but they did have some very strict moderation going on…but this was my favorite post:
chris73 says:
July 31, 2010 at 12:00 pm
A vote for Phil Goff is a vote for a prosperous NZ
The only way to win an argument these days is to call the other person a troll. As soon as you say it you can walk away from your keyboard feeling fully satisfied.
a clear narrative on the looming impact on provincial NZ, remembering that most of rural NZ only began to recover from a massive hollowing out with land values halving on the back of this once in a lifetime dairy boom that has now come to an end…..back to the future
No, whats worse is the small businesses that have to carry Fonterra debt for 90 days & cut margins by 10%.
I’m a small business, when my clients don’t pay for 30+ days I still have costs to cover from MY suppliers (thank god I have an overdraft) . I understand it’s a business model but it has the potential to kill off many small kiwi contractors. Maybe they are waiting for the TPP to take force so those large overseas operations can come in an carry their debt by employing former local contractors and paying them less?
Haven’t heard much about Nathan Guy’s “export double” recently. Funny when prices are going up it’s all because of what brilliant economic managers the govt are and when they are plummeting it’s all because of world markets and “out of our control”.
That seems to be similar to Fonterra’s attitude, IMO. No mention of bad management or servicing their high debt being a problem, it’s all because of world markets etc…
Have you seen the latest attempt at making the general populace want to be a republic!!!!!???? Talk about blatant mindbending propoganda quiz questions… also asking whether you are right or left winged (of course if right winged you get a 10 and left = 0) such blatant propoganda I don’t think I’ve seen in quite some time.
I turned out to be a Traditionalist … left out in the cold minority with only 14% of the population apparently and obviously living in the past and need to get with the program persay..
Its incredible…. 3 days till TPPA submissions close.. fek!
Definitely more of a push-poll than a genuine quiz. Still, gotta watch them sneaky MSM polls and quizzes. They are often just as much about profiling readers as they are about providing genuine quizzes. By finger-printing the device from which the answers are entered, MSM servers will tailor “product” to best suit your profile so, if you are left wing, you will see more left wing “news”, and so on. Personally, I try to provide as little information as possible to MSM data harvesting operations.
Given half a chance Collins’ would run her very own black sites.
/
Hence Judith Collins’ transparent attempt to re-assert political control. She wants MPs to ask her office before they go into a prison, and she wants to make sure that senior prison officials escort them at every point of their visit.
Her reasons are, of course, spurious. She cites the case of an MP who shared a female Corrections staffer’s contact details with an offender who has a history of sexual violence. That was certainly a stupid and dangerous thing to do, and Davis has since outed himself as the MP.
[…]
Collins’ argument that she is just trying to keep visiting MPs safe from “the country’s most difficult and dangerous people” is cant. Her initiative isn’t about the health and safety of her fellow politicians. It’s about power and control.
It also raises other questions about prisons and accountability. Collins clearly wants prisons to be run out of her office. This means that information about the state of prisons would be entirely in the hands of a hard-line politician who doesn’t think there is anyone in prison who shouldn’t be there and would happily put a lot more people in as well.
I think that a “fag” is a name given to those junior pupils who are virtually slaves to the whims of senior pupils at Public Schools like Eton. In that context….
It’s also a pun given Wee Toddy Baccy’s connections to the tobacco industry. But I take Lanth’s point. I didn’t know about the private school meaning. Does that get used in NZ?
Since those more innocent or ignorant days, fag may have sexual overtones. Not good. It is becoming acceptable with the barbarians in our
midst to snigger at jokes about men in jail not wanting to bend over in the shower if they drop the soap. Can we keep this vile attitude out of this blog.
No, BM, but if you did, that might explain a little about your current misanthropic attitudes. I wasn’t private schooled, myself. Had a few mates who were and heard the stories. Class war in a school uniform.
Speaking of age, here’s the ODT coverage of the student balcony collapse in Dunedin over the weekend. A couple of things stand out for me.
One is the photo in the first link, which shows people on the remaining balconies laughing and taking photos immediately after the collapse where some people had fallen 3m and some people had a balcony collapse on top of them and all of that is visible to the people laughing (it’s much more obvious in the front page version of the hardcopy). Why are they laughing, and why are they not concerned about their own balcony? Alcohol is a factor, but I think there is something else going on here.
The other thing is, why are these people not at a protest 😉 By the time I was that age, I’d already protested against the Tour and marched up the motorway in Dunedin with thousands of people including many students who were at the forefront of organising the protests. Why do we not have that culture now? I’m being a bit facetious, because of course partying hard was part of uni culture then too, but politics were still a thing too.
I wish more people would look at the builder/developers instead of the students all the time, should that balcony have nothing holding it up? The police are not going to investigate, Worksafe have walked away shrugging their shoulders. It’s like a shanty town that area.
Those balconies were pieces of shit. Should have had a post under each corner. Trying to cantilever balconies in that way is complete and utter negligence.
Those buildings aren’t that old either (relative to Dunedin housing in general), but I don’t know if they predate changes to the building code or not.
I agree, the balconies were probably deficient for the use. But they were probably not built to have a full load of jumping students on them either, so might well have been fit for the purpose they were designed for (residential use). I wasn’t quite sure from the articles, but this is a private residence right? And a private party (eg no tickets sold)?
This comes on the back of the annual couch burning fest that happens in Dunedin, and that along with other problems suggests that the culture there isn’t particularly healthy. Maybe this will wake a few people up.
Cantilevers. I looked at the photo and thought, did no-one teach these kids about Cave Creek when they were at school?
Developer/Designer/Builder have a responsibility to specify what is appropriate for that environment. A cantilevered balcony was chosen for one of the rowdiest, destructive streets in the country where its structural capacity would be severely tested. I find it hard to imagine that no one along the design process said, do you think the design of those balconies are ok?
I heard someone knowledgable on radio saying that balconies are supposed to be able to support 200 kg per square metre or something. These days that might not be enough for a load bearing certificate.
As for students worrying about load bearing – they are young, they wouldn’t expect to have to inspect the specifications of a house before they let rip with their party. And worry – that’s SEP.
Really it just underlines how we depend on trusting each other to do the proper job. Those who don’t should have to sit in town stocks for a day so we can see the so and sos and throw tomatoes at them. They would hate that, and it would keep them out of prison and away from those really nasty criminals.
Think about the trust required when flying. We should actually question the pilot each time we get onto a small plane, carry a checklist to go through before we fly with one of these possible adult idiots who run small airlines like Bannerman? in Christchurch. Like the hot air balloon pilate, washed his hands of responsibility for taking care. Ask have they looked at the weather forecast and are planning to fly round storms? Have they enough fuel? Do their emergency beacons work, have they current batteries?
Maybe, maybe not. Last time I looked at floor loadings in a building code (not New Zealand admittedly), you’d have to pack people in pretty tight to get to design load. Then there’s generous safety factors on top of that.
Where a cantilevered joist comes out of the wall turns into a moisture trap really easily. In the right continually wet conditions, even H3 will rot pretty quickly. Looking at the photos, those joists look smallish for the length of cantilever. Then if the builders there pulled a real plonker stunt like they did on the cantilevered deck for my house and notched the joists where they sit on the bearers…
Andre
That is an important point worth considering. Design features can be circumvented by the erectors of whatever, because of long-established methods they prefer to use as known practices and easier to follow, than the actual specified method.
Then there is the question of the allowed width of any cantilevered balcony..
There should be standards set by a professional and knowledgable department of building standards that can be consulted free, and which gives detailed information at low cost. Hah hah NZ I bet we haven’t anything like one of these services from our beloved gummint. Now that’s a mint to chew on.
BRANZ I think might have done that in the past, but now when I looked at it for helpful information, it referred me to the type of private consultant who would provide it.
Looking at their site they seem to be busy with industry information, but for ordinary NZs – do they have a role of informing them and protecting them against the shonky, the makeshift, the fast johnnies?
Perhaps they had abandoned the informative, cautionary role long ago and so did not concern themselves with overseas findings of failures with the cladding systems, that were adopted here, although known to be trouble elsewhere.
This, we know has led to ordinary working people losing their entire investment and savings because of a shonky house, finding that the best resolution would be to demolish the remains of their home and sell the bare land to recover some of their mortgage.
This is from their contact us page under a query box where you can describe your concern.
Our professionals helpline – 0800 80 80 85 – is available free to those who work within the New Zealand building and construction industry.
Our consumer helpline is 0900 5 90 90 – calls cost $1.99 per minute, plus GST. Full knowledge of the details of your enquiry may result in you being referred to someone else.
We regret we are unable to respond to technical queries by email. All helpline responses are strictly on a case-by-case basis and are solely based on the information provided.
If your question is of a non-technical nature, please complete the contact us form above, and we will endeavour to respond to you within 48 hours.
Fair enough but people are idiots aren’t they? That’s why we legislate (Stop signs, ‘flammable’ notices, handrails). Most of these kids would have had no idea, now they do, harsh lesson learnt. (A few landlords are up there now adding strength to their balconies, still looks rough, but who cares each out for their own make a buck & move on).
Do think the young will ever not have a few idiotic moments here & there? & the people hurt were standing underneath the balconies? Fair enough 2 broke their backs?
A few weeks ago at my friend left his five children and headed off to start his morning shift and was killed a few minutes later by a young woman crossing the centre line.
Had she survived there’s little doubt she would’ve been prosecuted as should the idiots who overloaded the balcony. Fair enough?
I was also a little confused about the behaviour of the crowd immediately after the collapse. Footage I’d seen showed people looking at the aftermath and cheering. I saw a guy with two drinks in his hands raise them up. I’m guessing this is just really bad judgement from drunk people, in what would have been a traumatic situation for those with serious injuries.
But then there may have been people that rushed to help. We don’t know. Also the Police asked the band to continue playing after the collapse to distract people away from the scene so they might have had such short attention spans that they, once again, feeling wasted, just got back on with the buzz of it.
Still, there did seem to be a disconnect didn’t there?
As an aside, Mr R experienced a weird crowd reaction yesterday. It was also a disconnection to the seriousness of the situation, or at least a lack of reaction, not appropriate to the situation.
Walking down the street on afternoon tea break he watched as an elderly woman got up from an outdoor table where she was having coffee. He saw her trip on the leg of the table, begin to fall and he went running to her to stop her falling any further. He got there just in time and caught her, but not before she hit her head on the corner of the table.
He held her and held his hand under her wound which was bleeding terribly, all over him , all over her, all over the footpath. By this time there was a crowd standing around them. He asked the crowd to call an ambulance., Nothing. They just stared. He asked again, and still nothing, just more staring at him and the woman. It took him three goes for anyone to get their phone out and call an ambulance. On the third instruction he was yelling at the crowd.
While he was fine with dealing with the injured woman he was totally shocked and annoyed by the lack of response from the crowd.
News reports say that there were plenty of people helping on the ground. The ones higher up seemed to not understand the seriousness of what happened, which is bizarre.
That’s a disturbing story about Mr R. and I think that’s what I was getting at. Are we so disconnected now? Bad shit happening to people is something you see on TV so when it happens in real life there’s confusion about whether to be a spectator or not? In the front page photo in the ODT the number of cell phones being held up to record what is happening sticks out.
The watershed moment for me was listening to the TV reporter talk about the immediate moments after the big Chch quake. She proudly talked about how she was on the streets with a cameraman within 1 minute. They filmed what was going on, including people trying to get other people out of collapsed buildings. That she not only thought this was appropriate behaviour but felt proud of it is mindboggling to me. She was interviewed again recently for the 5 year anniversary. I had to turn the radio off.
I think there are times when it’s appropriate to be removed from such situations. eg critical media reporting has alerted the world to what is going on in war zones. But in Chch that wasn’t necessary, whereas helping people in great pain and distress was. At the scene of an accident, if you can’t help, you get yourself out of the way so that emergency crews and people on the scene can do what is needed. You don’t have to watch.
edit, thinking about it, I wonder if many people now just have no clues what to do in emergencies. I attended to an elderly couple in a store one who were having an acute medical emergency and there were people there who had no idea what to do. Even so, the scene you describe to me seems very odd. Calling 111 isn’t rocket science.
Psychology refers to the “bystander effect”, a phenomenon where the more people there are at an emergency scene the less likely one will come forward to assist. In a situation where there are very few, one is forced to assist, out of a sense of duty.
But I don’t know what psychology would say now days about our apparent reluctance – our disconnection , or inappropriate responses. I’m sure there are theories on it, or theories on whether our behaviour has changed. Have we moved so far away from the concept of collective care, eg, pre neolib days, that the need to respond to another in distress just doesn’t compute? I don’t know if it’s the influence of the culture of political systems or something else entirely. That’s one for the sociologists.
Musings aside, in your situation with the elderly couple and in Mr R’s situation, the most helpful and the easiest thing for bystanders to do is dial 111. Why the blockage around that? I just don’t get it.
PS: I remember tv chanels crowing about the fact they were “first on the scene” with their cameras, vulture like, focused on the victims on 22.02.11. Made me sick.
The other crowd effect relevant to that situation is the “milling” effect, where nobody does anything until somebody does something, then everybody does the same thing.
Some people are switched on and jump to action more than others – a sort of vacancy takes over until they find a familiar thing to latch onto and start working from. Very common startle reflex: fight / flight / freeze.
One trick is to speak to an individual, address them directly – can you call and ambulance, etc. It breaks them out of the spectator mode.
Most people milling from day to day aren’t put into these sorts of situations, and we probably wouldn’t want too many keyed up, leap into action types walking around anyway. Too far the other side are the sort who also get swept away while trying to save others, take on the armed robber over $150 till takings, that sort of thing.
Cops and soldiers can change modes pretty quick (ISTR Ron Mark had an active role in the aftermath of a traffic accident a while back – probably no coincidence that he’s ex-army, IMO), and so are others trained in outdoorsey stuff where you need to plan for these things (one of the best incident bystanders I encountered was in a scuba diving club – practically had everything handled before the ambulance came, and it was a fairly complex case as well).
The “milling effect” you refer to could explain what Mr R encountered yesterday, but really it was more like an overwhelming inertia. After some time did only one person eventually phone 111 when instructed. And I do mean directly instructed.
Understand your explanation “where nobody does anything until somebody does something, then everybody does the same thing.” I’m in the situation where I observe ducks, most days and they do this en masse but humans, in a vacuous state, I could see that applying to.
I guess in Mr R’s circumstance, he is switched on to observation. He’s a health and safety officer at his workplace. He saw it coming where as others who were closer to the person just walked away as it was happening.
As another side note I couldn’t help think of the irony of so many people being so disconnected to daily life and social observation because they have their face in a smart phone all day but in a real life situation they completely fail to act and use the phone for something, well, useful.
A really interesting experiment was to put students in a mock exam situation, all authority figures leave the room, and smoke comes under the door after a while.
All except one of the students were confederates instructed to ignore the smoke, but follow the test subject if they left. The control was to leave the room when the smoke was noticed.
If everyone else acted unconcerned, the test subject usually stayed in the room until the smoke was very thick, despite obvious discomfort and concern for personal safety.
I have been told the best way to deal with such a situation is to directly ask some one in the crowd – make it personal
Like “could you the person in the blue jersey please call 111, and look directly at them.
@dv
Brilliant. That is something I recall and have seen it happen. So that is something to put in our mental notes for emergencies. Make it personal – get a who, me response.
And if the person doesn’t respond say to the next person, ‘Are you a capable person’? Phone for an ambulance, just 111, tell them where, or get the person next to you to do it?
I have read of a woman who collapsed in a main city street, with people carefully going round her, but one man apparently stepped over her, but no one squatting down by her head and trying to communicate or help her. I think she was a nurse, used to helping people in difficulty, and was wounded in her respect for others, when she found that the public didn’t help others in distress, and particularly, return her level of care, to herself when needed.
edited
Rosie
That was interesting. In a world of individuals, apparently people still wait for someone else to take over in an unusual situation. It’s like people are basically conformists and in their mental book of etiquette there is no prior instruction of what to do when there is no-one in authority to take charge. And we often are unaccustomed to acting with initiative. People are not very compassionate these days, more uncaring and censorious than they used to be I think.
I remember the story long ago of the NZ woman and her friend at Hampton Court in London who along with other visitors were confronted by a workman who had been down a manhole and just managed to get up to advise that his mate had collapsed.
She looked around and none of the men moved to do anything, so she went down, no doubt carefully, to check the situation, and with her friend formed a rescue team,
successfully.
But it is amazing that people can’t even call an ambulance. The emotion of shock, coupled with an avid and ghoulish curiosity about this novel event, must produce this unpleasant result of dissociation.
I don’t doubt that for a minute, but how is using the gender specific term in your first clause an example of an intersected statement which improved upon the Bill Haywood observation? It does improve on somewhat but cannot be fully intersected. It seems Haywood is addressing exploitation rather than he is addressing exploitative men.
(Serious question, I’ve just been getting into this whole critical theory of oppressive institutions and its linguistics.)
Maybe it depends on context. If it’s general (which is how I’m reading it not knowing who Haywood is), then make both clauses gender neutral. I think we now have enough women making money off other people to warrant that.
I guess it depends on what you mean by not working, but I know plenty of women doing well off investments and interest on savings. I’m not comparing numbers of women to men or women to women, I’m looking at women in NZ and seeing a big chunk that fit what you are saying.
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Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Clayton Mitchell, Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs The ‘wheel clamping’ Bill that will cap clamper fees to $100 passed its third readinginParliament today. New Zealand First welcomes The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill to combat predatory wheel clamping behaviour in what is currently a largely unregulated business. Cowboy clampers are: gouging ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its first reading in Parliament. “Today’s progress takes serious action on the mental health and addiction crisis the country is facing,” says New Zealand First Health Spokesperson Jenny Marcroft. “The re-establishment ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries Today the Government announced the delivery of the promise to protect New Zealand interests by applying a new National Interest Test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. This further strengthening of the Overseas Investment Act will ...
The Coalition Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high-risk assets to overseas buyers. Under current Overseas Investment Act (OIA) rules, assets such as ports and airports, telecommunications infrastructure, electricity and ...
Rt Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Allegations raised this morning by Stuff Limited / Fairfax concern a party matter but I am confident that New Zealand First has operated within electoral laws, now and for the last 27 years. Declarable donations were declared to the Electoral Commission. Our ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2021 (APEC 2021) Bill in Parliament today. The temporary bill supports New Zealand’s security preparations for hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in 2021. “APEC is the leading economic and trade forum ...
The Government is making progress on improving the wellbeing of the one million New Zealanders under the age of 18,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on World Children’s Day. The Government has today recommitted to the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history – the United Nation’s Convention on ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter has released a new report celebrating the contribution of Māori women in business across Aotearoa New Zealand. “Māori women are leaders in our communities, they employ many people and support our economy and our communities,” Julie Anne Genter said. The report, Ngā wāhine kaipakihi: ...
Four parcels of land have been bought in Omokoroa, in the Western Bay of Plenty District, for an education facility that will accommodate both a primary and secondary school on a campus-like facility, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. Two parcels were acquired from private land owners and two were ...
1 million New Zealanders warmed by the Winter Energy Payment 36,000 families bank the Best Start Payment in first year 6,000 more families received the Family Tax Credit, 220,600 in total They receive an increase too – from an average of $117 to $157 a week for Inland Revenue clients, ...
New rules to clamp down on overzealous wheel clamping and extortionate fees charged in order to release a vehicle have passed their final stage in Parliament today. The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill has now passed its third reading. “These changes mean $100 will be the maximum wheel clamping ...
An independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission is a step closer after it unanimously passed its first vote in Parliament today. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill lays the groundwork for establishing the Commission as a fully independent crown entity – delivering on a key recommendation of He Ara ...
We’ve improved border security with the NZeTA, New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority, which helps us to screen travellers for border and immigration risks off-shore before they travel to New Zealand. It was launched in August and became mandatory on 1 October 2019. More than 500,000 NZeTAs have been issued since ...
A proposed national plan of action to reduce the number of seabirds caught in fisheries is being circulated for public feedback. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage say New Zealand is a global centre of seabird diversity with about 145 species in our waters. It has more ...
The Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. Associate Finance Minister David Parker said under current Overseas Investment Act rules, assets such as ports and ...
The Government is building special housing to accommodate one of Aotearoa’s greatest taonga- our kaumātua, says the Minister for Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. Speaking at a National Kaumātua Service Providers Conference in Rotorua today, the Minister reinforced the importance kaumātua play in maintaining and passing on mātauranga Māori, knowledge, ...
Eleven men from a pilot forestry training programme for prisoners in Northland now have full time jobs or job offers upon release, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Forestry Minister Shane Jones announced today. The ‘release to work’ programme was a collaboration between Te Uru Rākau and the Department of Corrections, ...
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...
The families of more than 416,000 students will be better off next year as their schools have signed up to the Government’s donations scheme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The scheme will see almost $62.5 million in additional Government funding go to schools nationwide next year. “I’m really pleased ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next four weeks,” Mr Peters said. “A New Zealand Medical Assistance ...
Fa’atalofa atu, malo e lelei, Kia ora koutou katoa Thank you to the Child Poverty Action Group for asking me to be here today to provide an update on some of the things that have been happening across my the social development portfolio. Can I firstly acknowledge the vast ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
A flash new playground has been unveiled on Parliament's grounds today, amid growing calls for the government to take more action to help lift Kiwi kids out of poverty. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne Two and a half months before the February 3 Iowa Democratic caucus, the highly regarded Selzer poll for CNN and the Des Moines Register gave Pete Buttigieg 25% in Iowa ...
A bill allowing overseas security agents to carry illegal guns while in New Zealand for the APEC summit has passed its first reading, without support from the Greens. ...
The Labour led coalition government is continuing to create homelessness. The impact of immigration, failure of Kiwibuild, and attacks on the rental market, have resulted in the opposite outcomes that New Zealanders were promised. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Every, Senior Research Fellow in social vulnerability and disasters, CQUniversity Australia If you live in a bushfire-prone area, you’ll likely have considered what you will do in the event of a bushfire. The decision, which should be made well in advance ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni Di Virgilio, Research associate, UNSW Temperatures across many regions of Australia are set to exceed 40℃ this week, including heatwaves forecast throughout parts of eastern Australia, raising the spectre of more devastating bushfires. We have already heard warnings this fire season ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that the Government’s Families Package Monitoring Report shows strong commitment to the intentions outlined in the Child Poverty Reduction Act, specifically with regard to reporting on progressing towards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni Di Virgilio, Research associate, UNSW Temperatures across many regions of Australia are set to exceed 40℃ this week, including heatwaves forecast throughout parts of eastern Australia, raising the spectre of more devastating bushfires. We have already heard warnings this fire season ...
Today leading Māori health and public health organisations called on the Crown to meet its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi as it drafts legislation for the regulation of cannabis. More than 50 Māori leaders joined the call for Māori rights ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claudia Vickers, Director, Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, CSIRO We need to revolutionise agriculture in the next 30 years. In 2050 we may have almost 10 billion people to feed. Farmland is already degraded by existing agriculture, and climate change is putting ...
Between now and March 2020 there is a small window where migrants who work in industries like aged care will have a realistic chance to get residency for the first time. This is due to ANZSCO skill levels being reclassified in Australia and some of those ...
Spinoff Art editor Mark Amery and photographer Ebony Lamb pay a visit to the internationally celebrated jewellery couple at their colonial cottage above Island Bay.The white horses are galloping in from the Cook Strait as photographer and singer-songwriter Ebony Lamb (Eb and Sparrow) and I roll in to Island Bay, ...
New powers to protect strategically-important assets from overseas investors are necessary due to the extremes of global capitalism, the government says. ...
Don’t get sucked in by the jovial banter and the sausage sizzle with Jacinda Ardern. Stephen Colbert is an international criminal mastermind who must be stopped. New Zealand is fizzing today with the exciting news that someone from another country has noticed that we exist. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ...
When the 59 new constables of Wing 332 graduate on Thursday, one of them will be the 1,800th new constable to head to the frontline since October 2017. ...
Extending the amnesty period for the return of banned firearms is utterly pointless unless the compensation period is extended as well, says the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO). ...
The Taxpayers Union denounced the role it seemed the government would require taxpayers to play in resolving the Ihumatao land dispute. But the union further claimed that taxpayers had contributed to the funding of an organisation which has been involved in the prolonged protest action at Ihumatao. This was a ...
Save the Children are extremely pleased by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement today that the Government will recommit to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). ...
David Farrier has been writing about clamping enthusiast Michael Organ for nearly three years. In this latest installment, the totally logical thing happens and the New Zealand government rolls up its sleeves.Catch up with the extraordinary saga of the clamp-happy Bashford Antiques: Parts I to V are hereWhen Michael Organ ...
In October teams of second-year Unitec Architecture students designed, modelled, then constructed interactive light installations in Devonport’s Windsor Reserve for GLOW@Artweek. The brief is strict. Their budget is zero. And the installations must be zero waste too, both in the construction and in the afterlife of the projects. These strict conditions ...
A wave of reviews and inquiries into audit around the globe are raising questions about trust, independence, and freedom from conflicts of interest in the profession, says CAANZ President Stephen Walker. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen, who has previously been shadow treasurer and before that treasurer, wants the study of economics made “more sexy” to attract more students, especially women, to study it. And he thinks young ...
Jenée Tibshraeny of interest.co.nz surveys the issues that have farmers worried right now, and looks at the facts behind the fears.Rumblings from the dairy farming sector are becoming increasingly loud, as both the Government and Reserve Bank (RBNZ) make policy changes that affect the sector.New Zealand has for years milked ...
He Kākano Ahau is a podcast by writer and activist Kahu Kutia (Ngāi Tūhoe) that explores stories of Māori in the city, and weaves together strands of connection. In this episode: what happens when Māori are not ‘urban Māori’ as we know them, but mana whenua.For episode four of He ...
New powers to protect strategically-important assets from overseas investors are necessary due to the extremes of global capitalism, the government says. ...
The Children’s Commissioner is calling on the government to re-prioritise its commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Children’s Convention) on International Children’s Day. ...
National Party leaders Simon Bridges wants Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to take stronger action over allegations that New Zealand First has breached electoral law. ...
"Prince Charles’ visit to Waitangi today, the first by a Royal in a quarter-century, highlights Moana Jackson’s view that it is kāwanatanga that is the Treaty partner," said Lewis Holden, campaign chair of New Zealand Republic. ...
Seriously, if you haven’t seen The Mandalorian, look away now. This article also contains spoilers for Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Return of the Sith, and The Last Jedi.In case you didn’t read the standfirst: this article contains spoilers about The Mandalorian, and also all of Star Wars.The ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Matt Shand (Stuff): What NZ First slush fund was spent on: Campaign HQ, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Cook, Lecturer, Computer and Security Science,Edith Cowan University, Edith Cowan University Fake videos and doctored photographs, often based on events such as the Moon landing and supposed UFO appearances, have been the subject of fascination for decades. Such imagery is often ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evelyn Parr, Research Fellow in Exercise Metabolism and Nutrition, Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University As an aesthetic society, we often demonise body fat and stigmatise people with lots of it. There’s often an assumption that people carrying excess ...
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Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Pressure mounts over NZ First Foundation, range of changes made to overseas investment office, and accusations of bottom trawling destroying coral.The allegations swirling around the NZ First Foundation are serious enough to warrant going back to again today. Party leader Winston ...
Are possible solutions to child maltreatment complicated? Yes. Quantum physics? No. The University of Auckland's Dr Ian Hyslop looks at how we can address child abuse as a social problem. ...
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If what has been reported is both true and not a breach of the rules for political donations, then New Zealand’s reputation for for being squeaky clean looks like a joke, writes electoral law expert Andrew Geddis.Anyone paying attention to New Zealand political parties and how they run their election ...
New Zealanders like to claim moral superiority over their Australian neighbours when it comes to how asylum seekers are treated. But this belief is not based on reality, writes Tim Maurice of the Asylum Seekers Support TrustThe local news media has welcomed Iranian asylum seeker Behrouz Boochani into New Zealand ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government is responding to increasing concern about the faltering economy by bringing forward A$3.8 billion of infrastructure investment into the next four years, including $1.8 billion for the current and next financial years. Scott ...
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Open mike 08/03/2016 
Open mike is your post.
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We need a new government to slag – this one is getting boring
April could be interesting vto.
We have prominent NZer’s court case coming up at long last (justice delayed for so long to that person’s victims)
Bradley Ambrose is suing Key for defamation, as long as he can get the $$$ to cover the court costs.
And by April the sports logo flag will be trampled in the mud in celebratory fashion, along with Key’s ego.
It could be a pretty shitty autumn for them.
Oh, and hows that plagiarism case coming along? You know, the one where the National Party managed to rip off the Eminem tune for their election campaign music in 2014?
Good gains were made in February in regard to public backlash over the Nat govt, with Key copping most of it. Hopefully we can do round two next month.
PS Don’t forget the Clutha Southland kid’s developing problems. A Dirty Politics cub?
In the past, problems with Nat MP’s going a bit astray managed to last a few news cycles and then get forgotten about due to the apparent popularity of Key, not necessarily of the govt, but of Key. But things have changed now. He’s a little less popular. A new side show might do more damage then it once did. That might lessen the boredom.
The love is fading, as the Smiths could tell you. It’s not what it used to be eh?
“Nothing’s changed
I still love you, oh, I still love you
Only slightly, only slightly less
Than I used to, my love”
Heh, good one. You are right that things might liven up a bit as the people steadily find the voice and power to stand up to these bozos – witness clown action in the TPP meeting yesterday.
…. looking forward to the custard pie for Finlayson QC….
8 March 2016
FYI – not all questions were ignored by media at yesterday’s TPPA ‘Rogue Show’.
http://thespinoff.co.nz/08-03-2016/tea-pee-and-pecuniary-gains-amid-the-clowns-at-the-trade-deal-roadshow/
Tea, pee and pecuniary gains: Amid the clowns at the trade deal roadshow
8 MARCH 2016
By Tim Murphy
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1603/S00243/walker-five-other-countries-interested-in-joining-tpp-deal.htm
At today’s roadshow Auckland mayoral hopeful Penny Bright questioned how TPP could be in New Zealand’s best interests given it doesn’t include our second biggest trading partner, China, and Obama had been quoted as saying “if we don’t write the rules, then China will write the rules in the region”.
…Penny Bright questioned how TPP could be in New Zealand’s best interests given it doesn’t include our second biggest trading partner, China…
Seeing as we already have a satisfactory free trade deal with China, how would including it in the crappy TPPA be in our interests? Still, I guess it makes as much sense as Penny ever does.
Some find it far from satisfactory.
The Government is being accused of going easy on Chinese authorities when making trade deals for the infant formula industry.
Dozens of Kiwi brands made by small businesses going down the drain.
There were 200 brands – and now there are just 20.
Michael Barnett of the Infant Formula Exporters Association said “MPI have allowed them to control that process, so we’ve ended up with a small group of privileged exporters.”
He says many of those exporters are Chinese-owned companies based in New Zealand.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/business/infant-formula-agency-accused-government-going-easy-china?autoPlay=4785655384001
Yeah, and the Australian company producing baby formula just saw it’s share price double as in can’t keep up with demand after doubling it’s production this year from 5M units, to 10M units.
The TPPA is NOT a ‘Free Trade Agreement’.
It is an anti-China economic and political ‘pivot’ pushed by USA President Barack Obama.
(Obama has been quoted as saying “if we don’t write the rules, then China will write the rules in the region”.)
It just so happens that China is NZ’s 2nd largest trading partner.
So – how is the TPPA in NZ’s best interests?
Just asking …..
Also – how is the TPPA going to remove subsidies from USA, Japanese and Canadian beef and dairy farmers?
This is on top of tariffs under the TPPA never going to be completely eliminated for NZ dairy and meat exports – both key NZ exports?
So – how is the TPPA In NZ’s best interests?
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
(Who is the only Auckland Mayoral candidate who is actively opposed to the TPPA).
You know countries can have more than one trade deal at a time, right?
There’s plenty of better things to criticise about the TPPA than “it doesn’t include China”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11599571
Red and dead
After years as an internet wasteland, the Labour Party’s “Red Alert” blog site looks to have been quietly put out of its misery. Once lauded as the new way for MPs to interact with the public, it soon became a bit of an embarrassment, before being ignored. Now, it appears to be no more.
Thats a shame, it was always quite amusing to go there but they did have some very strict moderation going on…but this was my favorite post:
chris73 says:
July 31, 2010 at 12:00 pm
A vote for Phil Goff is a vote for a prosperous NZ
One month ban for lying. Trevor
So you were a troll there too. Such lofty ambitions.
I’d suggest that holding the same position for over 6 years now (and counting) suggests a strongly held belief as opposed to trolling
The only way to win an argument these days is to call the other person a troll. As soon as you say it you can walk away from your keyboard feeling fully satisfied.
What was deleted?
TPPA
The Process Of obtaining Pecuniary Advantage over a nation’s sovereignty by multinational corporations
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/298354/fonterra-accused-of-unfair-demands
a clear narrative on the looming impact on provincial NZ, remembering that most of rural NZ only began to recover from a massive hollowing out with land values halving on the back of this once in a lifetime dairy boom that has now come to an end…..back to the future
Dairy co-operative Fonterra has cut its dairy payout forecast, after the milk price dropped from $4.15 to $3.90 per kilo of solids.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/298360/fonterra-drops-forecast-milk-payout
This just keeps getting worse.
Fonterra has a market value of $8.9 billion. However, it has total borrowings of $7.56 billion
Net interest costs have risen from $269 million in the July 2013 year to $518 million in the latest period.
The co-op’s International Farming division had a loss of $44 million for the July 2015 year.
Standard & Poor’s downgraded Fonterra’s long-term rating from “A” to “A-“.
S&P’s “A-” rating assumed a milk price of $4.60 per kilogram of milksolids compared with Fonterra’s latest forecast of $4.15 per kilogram.
Hat tip to greywarshark for the link.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11596222
No, whats worse is the small businesses that have to carry Fonterra debt for 90 days & cut margins by 10%.
I’m a small business, when my clients don’t pay for 30+ days I still have costs to cover from MY suppliers (thank god I have an overdraft) . I understand it’s a business model but it has the potential to kill off many small kiwi contractors. Maybe they are waiting for the TPP to take force so those large overseas operations can come in an carry their debt by employing former local contractors and paying them less?
What would be worse is Fonterra not being able to pay its bills, leaving creditors high and dry.
Haven’t heard much about Nathan Guy’s “export double” recently. Funny when prices are going up it’s all because of what brilliant economic managers the govt are and when they are plummeting it’s all because of world markets and “out of our control”.
+1
@ Cowboy
That seems to be similar to Fonterra’s attitude, IMO. No mention of bad management or servicing their high debt being a problem, it’s all because of world markets etc…
@ pat
Liquidity problem looming? See comment at 5.1.1
is a question that will be asked….and can say that the restructure that McKinsey recommended appears to have been placed on hold.
Have you seen the latest attempt at making the general populace want to be a republic!!!!!???? Talk about blatant mindbending propoganda quiz questions… also asking whether you are right or left winged (of course if right winged you get a 10 and left = 0) such blatant propoganda I don’t think I’ve seen in quite some time.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/kiwimeter-kind-kiwi-you
I turned out to be a Traditionalist … left out in the cold minority with only 14% of the population apparently and obviously living in the past and need to get with the program persay..
Its incredible…. 3 days till TPPA submissions close.. fek!
There was a discussion on this in Open Mike a few days ago.
‘
Definitely more of a push-poll than a genuine quiz. Still, gotta watch them sneaky MSM polls and quizzes. They are often just as much about profiling readers as they are about providing genuine quizzes. By finger-printing the device from which the answers are entered, MSM servers will tailor “product” to best suit your profile so, if you are left wing, you will see more left wing “news”, and so on. Personally, I try to provide as little information as possible to MSM data harvesting operations.
Given half a chance Collins’ would run her very own black sites.
/
Hence Judith Collins’ transparent attempt to re-assert political control. She wants MPs to ask her office before they go into a prison, and she wants to make sure that senior prison officials escort them at every point of their visit.
Her reasons are, of course, spurious. She cites the case of an MP who shared a female Corrections staffer’s contact details with an offender who has a history of sexual violence. That was certainly a stupid and dangerous thing to do, and Davis has since outed himself as the MP.
[…]
Collins’ argument that she is just trying to keep visiting MPs safe from “the country’s most difficult and dangerous people” is cant. Her initiative isn’t about the health and safety of her fellow politicians. It’s about power and control.
It also raises other questions about prisons and accountability. Collins clearly wants prisons to be run out of her office. This means that information about the state of prisons would be entirely in the hands of a hard-line politician who doesn’t think there is anyone in prison who shouldn’t be there and would happily put a lot more people in as well.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/77572241/editorial-collins-seeks-to-crush-the-flow-of-bad-news-coming-out-of-prisons
+100 to that…smacks of police state and persecution of potentially ‘political prisoners’…we need to be protected from Collins
‘Hacker ‘Guccifer,’ who uncovered Clinton’s private emails, to be extradited to US’
https://www.rt.com/usa/334846-romanian-hacker-guccifer-extradition/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/clinton-emails-on-libya-e_b_9054182.html
https://news.vice.com/article/libyan-oil-gold-and-qaddafi-the-strange-email-sidney-blumenthal-sent-hillary-clinton-in-2011
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/01/06/new-hillary-emails-reveal-true-motive-for-libya-intervention/
@BM
And Todd Barclay is Key’s little fag.
[Pointless abuse (or dodgy joke) resulting in derail. Moved to Open Mike. BLiP]
I find that remark offensive.
I think that a “fag” is a name given to those junior pupils who are virtually slaves to the whims of senior pupils at Public Schools like Eton. In that context….
It’s also a pun given Wee Toddy Baccy’s connections to the tobacco industry. But I take Lanth’s point. I didn’t know about the private school meaning. Does that get used in NZ?
I’ve never heard it before.
It’s a very well known term associated with Tom Brown’s school days, etc.
It was the ‘official’ term for a junior boy who would do all the chores for a senior.
Here’s the Wikipedia entry.
Fags were the third form boarders when I was at high school in the early 1980’s. They had a tough life that year.
Since those more innocent or ignorant days, fag may have sexual overtones. Not good. It is becoming acceptable with the barbarians in our
midst to snigger at jokes about men in jail not wanting to bend over in the shower if they drop the soap. Can we keep this vile attitude out of this blog.
Fagging also involved homosexual activity, a lot of it forced, which is probably where the modern term comes from.
Fagging was normal in nz private schools when I was a lad. It may have faded away in these more liberal times.
Bm, I think the word may be Yiddish.
Did you ever have to toast crumpets stuck in your butt cheeks TRP.?
No, BM, but if you did, that might explain a little about your current misanthropic attitudes. I wasn’t private schooled, myself. Had a few mates who were and heard the stories. Class war in a school uniform.
Just spotted the Blackadder clip in the Todd nice but Odd post. I (now) see what you did there BM!
I thought someone would, but it depends on your understanding of the word.
“Fag, a junior boy who acts or acted as servant (“fagging”) to a senior boy at a British public school”
And – separately – I presume you know that Barclay worked for Philip Morris.
Speaking of age, here’s the ODT coverage of the student balcony collapse in Dunedin over the weekend. A couple of things stand out for me.
One is the photo in the first link, which shows people on the remaining balconies laughing and taking photos immediately after the collapse where some people had fallen 3m and some people had a balcony collapse on top of them and all of that is visible to the people laughing (it’s much more obvious in the front page version of the hardcopy). Why are they laughing, and why are they not concerned about their own balcony? Alcohol is a factor, but I think there is something else going on here.
The other thing is, why are these people not at a protest 😉 By the time I was that age, I’d already protested against the Tour and marched up the motorway in Dunedin with thousands of people including many students who were at the forefront of organising the protests. Why do we not have that culture now? I’m being a bit facetious, because of course partying hard was part of uni culture then too, but politics were still a thing too.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/375500/no-criminal-investigation-balcony-collapse
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/375391/two-seriously-hurt-after-balcony-collapse
I wish more people would look at the builder/developers instead of the students all the time, should that balcony have nothing holding it up? The police are not going to investigate, Worksafe have walked away shrugging their shoulders. It’s like a shanty town that area.
Those balconies were pieces of shit. Should have had a post under each corner. Trying to cantilever balconies in that way is complete and utter negligence.
Total negligence in construction.
quelle surprise
the construction sector in NZ is appalling
Those buildings aren’t that old either (relative to Dunedin housing in general), but I don’t know if they predate changes to the building code or not.
I agree, the balconies were probably deficient for the use. But they were probably not built to have a full load of jumping students on them either, so might well have been fit for the purpose they were designed for (residential use). I wasn’t quite sure from the articles, but this is a private residence right? And a private party (eg no tickets sold)?
This comes on the back of the annual couch burning fest that happens in Dunedin, and that along with other problems suggests that the culture there isn’t particularly healthy. Maybe this will wake a few people up.
Cantilevers. I looked at the photo and thought, did no-one teach these kids about Cave Creek when they were at school?
Nope, code says cantilevered joists are okay.
code and negligence have a history of association in nz
they are far from mutually exclusive
Developer/Designer/Builder have a responsibility to specify what is appropriate for that environment. A cantilevered balcony was chosen for one of the rowdiest, destructive streets in the country where its structural capacity would be severely tested. I find it hard to imagine that no one along the design process said, do you think the design of those balconies are ok?
I heard someone knowledgable on radio saying that balconies are supposed to be able to support 200 kg per square metre or something. These days that might not be enough for a load bearing certificate.
As for students worrying about load bearing – they are young, they wouldn’t expect to have to inspect the specifications of a house before they let rip with their party. And worry – that’s SEP.
Really it just underlines how we depend on trusting each other to do the proper job. Those who don’t should have to sit in town stocks for a day so we can see the so and sos and throw tomatoes at them. They would hate that, and it would keep them out of prison and away from those really nasty criminals.
Think about the trust required when flying. We should actually question the pilot each time we get onto a small plane, carry a checklist to go through before we fly with one of these possible adult idiots who run small airlines like Bannerman? in Christchurch. Like the hot air balloon pilate, washed his hands of responsibility for taking care. Ask have they looked at the weather forecast and are planning to fly round storms? Have they enough fuel? Do their emergency beacons work, have they current batteries?
Cantilevered balcony joists snap because idiots overload the structure.
http://www.odt.co.nz/files/story/2016/03/the_flat_minus_its_balcony_photo_christine_o_conno_56da31b8d5.JPG
Maybe, maybe not. Last time I looked at floor loadings in a building code (not New Zealand admittedly), you’d have to pack people in pretty tight to get to design load. Then there’s generous safety factors on top of that.
Where a cantilevered joist comes out of the wall turns into a moisture trap really easily. In the right continually wet conditions, even H3 will rot pretty quickly. Looking at the photos, those joists look smallish for the length of cantilever. Then if the builders there pulled a real plonker stunt like they did on the cantilevered deck for my house and notched the joists where they sit on the bearers…
Andre
That is an important point worth considering. Design features can be circumvented by the erectors of whatever, because of long-established methods they prefer to use as known practices and easier to follow, than the actual specified method.
Then there is the question of the allowed width of any cantilevered balcony..
There should be standards set by a professional and knowledgable department of building standards that can be consulted free, and which gives detailed information at low cost. Hah hah NZ I bet we haven’t anything like one of these services from our beloved gummint. Now that’s a mint to chew on.
BRANZ I think might have done that in the past, but now when I looked at it for helpful information, it referred me to the type of private consultant who would provide it.
Looking at their site they seem to be busy with industry information, but for ordinary NZs – do they have a role of informing them and protecting them against the shonky, the makeshift, the fast johnnies?
Perhaps they had abandoned the informative, cautionary role long ago and so did not concern themselves with overseas findings of failures with the cladding systems, that were adopted here, although known to be trouble elsewhere.
This, we know has led to ordinary working people losing their entire investment and savings because of a shonky house, finding that the best resolution would be to demolish the remains of their home and sell the bare land to recover some of their mortgage.
This is from their contact us page under a query box where you can describe your concern.
Our professionals helpline – 0800 80 80 85 – is available free to those who work within the New Zealand building and construction industry.
Our consumer helpline is 0900 5 90 90 – calls cost $1.99 per minute, plus GST. Full knowledge of the details of your enquiry may result in you being referred to someone else.
We regret we are unable to respond to technical queries by email. All helpline responses are strictly on a case-by-case basis and are solely based on the information provided.
If your question is of a non-technical nature, please complete the contact us form above, and we will endeavour to respond to you within 48 hours.
Fair enough but people are idiots aren’t they? That’s why we legislate (Stop signs, ‘flammable’ notices, handrails). Most of these kids would have had no idea, now they do, harsh lesson learnt. (A few landlords are up there now adding strength to their balconies, still looks rough, but who cares each out for their own make a buck & move on).
A few weeks ago at my friend left his five children and headed off to start his morning shift and was killed a few minutes later by a young woman crossing the centre line.
Had she survived there’s little doubt she would’ve been prosecuted as should the idiots who overloaded the balcony. Fair enough?
Oh, what a terrible loss. So very sorry joe90.
I knew/know the young woman, her partner and their family members too Rosie so a tragedy all round.
What a tragic impact impact on so many lives. Arohanui joe
joe 90
Sympathy to all. Just seconds apart and all would have been different.
Those vital seconds extinguish lifetimes. Hard to accept.
Re the balcony collapse at the six60 gig.
I was also a little confused about the behaviour of the crowd immediately after the collapse. Footage I’d seen showed people looking at the aftermath and cheering. I saw a guy with two drinks in his hands raise them up. I’m guessing this is just really bad judgement from drunk people, in what would have been a traumatic situation for those with serious injuries.
But then there may have been people that rushed to help. We don’t know. Also the Police asked the band to continue playing after the collapse to distract people away from the scene so they might have had such short attention spans that they, once again, feeling wasted, just got back on with the buzz of it.
Still, there did seem to be a disconnect didn’t there?
As an aside, Mr R experienced a weird crowd reaction yesterday. It was also a disconnection to the seriousness of the situation, or at least a lack of reaction, not appropriate to the situation.
Walking down the street on afternoon tea break he watched as an elderly woman got up from an outdoor table where she was having coffee. He saw her trip on the leg of the table, begin to fall and he went running to her to stop her falling any further. He got there just in time and caught her, but not before she hit her head on the corner of the table.
He held her and held his hand under her wound which was bleeding terribly, all over him , all over her, all over the footpath. By this time there was a crowd standing around them. He asked the crowd to call an ambulance., Nothing. They just stared. He asked again, and still nothing, just more staring at him and the woman. It took him three goes for anyone to get their phone out and call an ambulance. On the third instruction he was yelling at the crowd.
While he was fine with dealing with the injured woman he was totally shocked and annoyed by the lack of response from the crowd.
News reports say that there were plenty of people helping on the ground. The ones higher up seemed to not understand the seriousness of what happened, which is bizarre.
That’s a disturbing story about Mr R. and I think that’s what I was getting at. Are we so disconnected now? Bad shit happening to people is something you see on TV so when it happens in real life there’s confusion about whether to be a spectator or not? In the front page photo in the ODT the number of cell phones being held up to record what is happening sticks out.
The watershed moment for me was listening to the TV reporter talk about the immediate moments after the big Chch quake. She proudly talked about how she was on the streets with a cameraman within 1 minute. They filmed what was going on, including people trying to get other people out of collapsed buildings. That she not only thought this was appropriate behaviour but felt proud of it is mindboggling to me. She was interviewed again recently for the 5 year anniversary. I had to turn the radio off.
I think there are times when it’s appropriate to be removed from such situations. eg critical media reporting has alerted the world to what is going on in war zones. But in Chch that wasn’t necessary, whereas helping people in great pain and distress was. At the scene of an accident, if you can’t help, you get yourself out of the way so that emergency crews and people on the scene can do what is needed. You don’t have to watch.
edit, thinking about it, I wonder if many people now just have no clues what to do in emergencies. I attended to an elderly couple in a store one who were having an acute medical emergency and there were people there who had no idea what to do. Even so, the scene you describe to me seems very odd. Calling 111 isn’t rocket science.
Psychology refers to the “bystander effect”, a phenomenon where the more people there are at an emergency scene the less likely one will come forward to assist. In a situation where there are very few, one is forced to assist, out of a sense of duty.
But I don’t know what psychology would say now days about our apparent reluctance – our disconnection , or inappropriate responses. I’m sure there are theories on it, or theories on whether our behaviour has changed. Have we moved so far away from the concept of collective care, eg, pre neolib days, that the need to respond to another in distress just doesn’t compute? I don’t know if it’s the influence of the culture of political systems or something else entirely. That’s one for the sociologists.
Musings aside, in your situation with the elderly couple and in Mr R’s situation, the most helpful and the easiest thing for bystanders to do is dial 111. Why the blockage around that? I just don’t get it.
PS: I remember tv chanels crowing about the fact they were “first on the scene” with their cameras, vulture like, focused on the victims on 22.02.11. Made me sick.
The other crowd effect relevant to that situation is the “milling” effect, where nobody does anything until somebody does something, then everybody does the same thing.
Some people are switched on and jump to action more than others – a sort of vacancy takes over until they find a familiar thing to latch onto and start working from. Very common startle reflex: fight / flight / freeze.
One trick is to speak to an individual, address them directly – can you call and ambulance, etc. It breaks them out of the spectator mode.
Most people milling from day to day aren’t put into these sorts of situations, and we probably wouldn’t want too many keyed up, leap into action types walking around anyway. Too far the other side are the sort who also get swept away while trying to save others, take on the armed robber over $150 till takings, that sort of thing.
Cops and soldiers can change modes pretty quick (ISTR Ron Mark had an active role in the aftermath of a traffic accident a while back – probably no coincidence that he’s ex-army, IMO), and so are others trained in outdoorsey stuff where you need to plan for these things (one of the best incident bystanders I encountered was in a scuba diving club – practically had everything handled before the ambulance came, and it was a fairly complex case as well).
The “milling effect” you refer to could explain what Mr R encountered yesterday, but really it was more like an overwhelming inertia. After some time did only one person eventually phone 111 when instructed. And I do mean directly instructed.
Understand your explanation “where nobody does anything until somebody does something, then everybody does the same thing.” I’m in the situation where I observe ducks, most days and they do this en masse but humans, in a vacuous state, I could see that applying to.
I guess in Mr R’s circumstance, he is switched on to observation. He’s a health and safety officer at his workplace. He saw it coming where as others who were closer to the person just walked away as it was happening.
As another side note I couldn’t help think of the irony of so many people being so disconnected to daily life and social observation because they have their face in a smart phone all day but in a real life situation they completely fail to act and use the phone for something, well, useful.
A really interesting experiment was to put students in a mock exam situation, all authority figures leave the room, and smoke comes under the door after a while.
All except one of the students were confederates instructed to ignore the smoke, but follow the test subject if they left. The control was to leave the room when the smoke was noticed.
If everyone else acted unconcerned, the test subject usually stayed in the room until the smoke was very thick, despite obvious discomfort and concern for personal safety.
I have been told the best way to deal with such a situation is to directly ask some one in the crowd – make it personal
Like “could you the person in the blue jersey please call 111, and look directly at them.
@dv
Brilliant. That is something I recall and have seen it happen. So that is something to put in our mental notes for emergencies. Make it personal – get a who, me response.
And if the person doesn’t respond say to the next person, ‘Are you a capable person’? Phone for an ambulance, just 111, tell them where, or get the person next to you to do it?
I have read of a woman who collapsed in a main city street, with people carefully going round her, but one man apparently stepped over her, but no one squatting down by her head and trying to communicate or help her. I think she was a nurse, used to helping people in difficulty, and was wounded in her respect for others, when she found that the public didn’t help others in distress, and particularly, return her level of care, to herself when needed.
edited
Rosie
That was interesting. In a world of individuals, apparently people still wait for someone else to take over in an unusual situation. It’s like people are basically conformists and in their mental book of etiquette there is no prior instruction of what to do when there is no-one in authority to take charge. And we often are unaccustomed to acting with initiative. People are not very compassionate these days, more uncaring and censorious than they used to be I think.
I remember the story long ago of the NZ woman and her friend at Hampton Court in London who along with other visitors were confronted by a workman who had been down a manhole and just managed to get up to advise that his mate had collapsed.
She looked around and none of the men moved to do anything, so she went down, no doubt carefully, to check the situation, and with her friend formed a rescue team,
successfully.
But it is amazing that people can’t even call an ambulance. The emotion of shock, coupled with an avid and ghoulish curiosity about this novel event, must produce this unpleasant result of dissociation.
Ah yes, dissociation. That’s the word. Thank you grey. I agree, there is less compassion in our society too.
“If some man has a dollar he didn’t work for, some other man worked for a dollar he didn’t get”
Bill Haywood
I’d like to change Big Bill’s comment, to reflect a more intersected movement.
“If some man has a dollar he didn’t work for, someone worked for a dollar they didn’t get”
‘
“If a person receives money for doing no work, someone else has worked for money they never received”
Nah BLiP it’s still men who dominate in exploitation
‘
I don’t doubt that for a minute, but how is using the gender specific term in your first clause an example of an intersected statement which improved upon the Bill Haywood observation? It does improve on somewhat but cannot be fully intersected. It seems Haywood is addressing exploitation rather than he is addressing exploitative men.
(Serious question, I’ve just been getting into this whole critical theory of oppressive institutions and its linguistics.)
I agree, Big Bill Haywood is speaking to exploitation, and in the language of his time.
I just think we can do both with his quote by tweaking it a bit.
It’s a patriarchal society, which we still live in. So we need to talk to power, we do no one any favours by making the first part gender neutral.
Maybe it depends on context. If it’s general (which is how I’m reading it not knowing who Haywood is), then make both clauses gender neutral. I think we now have enough women making money off other people to warrant that.
Disagree weka, women own, well not much. Plus women are exploited more.
Big Bill Haywood.
http://www.britannica.com/biography/William-D-Haywood
I guess it depends on what you mean by not working, but I know plenty of women doing well off investments and interest on savings. I’m not comparing numbers of women to men or women to women, I’m looking at women in NZ and seeing a big chunk that fit what you are saying.
+1
I think the gender neutral term is better. Targeting men only excuses the women also doing it.
Finally.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/77651767/law-commission-wants-strangulation-to-become-its-own-crime
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-unseen-victims-of-traumatic-brain-injury-from-domestic-violence
Seen this?
http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2016/mar/04/councils-outsourcing-local-authorities-contract-services
Public Leaders Network
It’s time for councils to stop out-of-control outsourcing
__________________________
Yep – I agree.
Same issue applies -in my view – to Auckland Council and Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs).
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate