Prime Minister John Key made the transtasman exodus of New Zealanders a major election issue in 2008 but, as the Herald reported last week, far from dwindling, that flow has increased under his watch … unquote
-0.3% growth inreal terms since coming to power with the best commodity prices for years trickle down is actually trickle up as the OECD has pointed out.Spread some moiney around History has proven that it works!
If anyone needs the perfect example of why I grin and grimace at the same time when NZ First is described as being on the left of the political spectrum then newbie MP Richard Prosser has provided one.
His proposal to ban the burqa is dog whistle racist cant. Why using the full force of the law to stop women from deciding to wear a small piece of material is beyond me.
Not only this but he wishes to arm taxi drivers and bring back compulsory military training.
He has that loud opinionated shrill and stupid approach to politics that I despise.
NZF has always had its share of loony MP’s; Prosser is just a slightly less subtle Michael Laws. Have to disagree with your assessment of why women wear the burqa though; it’s not from their own choice, its a culturally enforced symbol of patriarchal ownership.
Once skimmed a column Richard Prosser penned in Ian Wisharts “Investigate” magazine, (in a waiting room) he appeared to have all the blustering insight of an inebriated talk back caller.
The sound of barrels being scraped must be quite usual at NZ1 candidate selections. Will Winston operate the choker chain on this loose cannon once he gauges reaction to his utterances?
I’ve noticed that virtually every medical-related waiting room I’ve been in for a couple of years, both at home and in Auckland, has been heavily stocked with “Investigate”. Way out of proportion to its small market niche. And while I’m thinking, I can think of a few public ‘bureaucratic’ waiting rooms stocked with many copies too.
I’m guessing Wishart either ‘donates’ them, or facilitates actual buyers doing so.
I don’t like the way the waiting room stacking (however it comes about) seems to lend the magazine a bit of undeserved credibility. You don’t expect to find extremist fringe propaganda, including religious dogma in such places.
“…it’s not from their own choice, its a culturally enforced symbol of patriarchal ownership…”
From a western perspective looking in, it may be a culturally enforced symbol etc etc. I’m not excusing the modern/practical abuses that are entertained under the guise of Islam by certain regimes and the kind of general manipulative ignorance found anywhere in the world, any more than I will say that Christianity is the sum total if it’s abuses. There are for sure “muslims” who would not wish to be muslims, but have no choice because of chance of birthplace. There will be those who barely fullfil the basic concepts of Islam and think themselves devout. But then there are true muslims who would take deep offence at being asked to remove symbols of the surrender to Allah.
From a muslim perspective looking out (going from memory here so apologies to any muslim readers) it is an attempt to bring the individual into the sanctuary of the temple, recreating the closeness to Allah; Allah is everywhere at all times, and a muslim can be close to Allah anywhere, but in the temple is to be closest. It is the act of submission and moving towards Allah that is responded to by Allah moving twice as rapidly towards the disciple – that makes a large theological difference.
I’ve strained most of the poetic beauty out of the concept as it was told to me originally, but just thought I’d offer that idea as I believe a better world encourages understanding of others from their perspective, not just that of the observer.
If we truly embrace the diversity of ideas, then we would accept that there are people who are different. Mr Prosser for example can have his opinion even if we disagree. Mr Brash can have his ideas about decriminalisation and Mr Banks can have his racist ideas and Mr Key can have his mean-spirited ideas about Education and Welfare. And those who wear the burqa are entitled to do so. We welcome diversity of ideas -don’t we?
Oh yes please, but they must live their ideals, themselves, and not be allowed to push them on the vulnerable or those who reject them. Any arguments that a muslim should in no way offend a taxi driver while a taxi driver may offend a muslim should be discussed. Please begin.
And would Banks, Brash and others please put forward the basis of their ideology too, explained in full from all angles, so we can see clearly what they stand for and what they seek.
The difference you’ll soon discover is that a muslim is obliged to reveal and face the source of their morality, whereas Banks and others will twist, turn and lie to either conceal theirs or avoid facing the truth. A muslim (theoretically) is not concerned with philosophy and politics, because his god outlines all there is, via the prophet. A politician will believe only in expediency because he is moving too fast or using false ideas.
RNZ breakfast show inter view with Prosser said a lot of these comments were taken out of context he said read investigate articles and see the real story.
The Right wing have selectively released parts of sentences and not the whole sentence.
Prosser also said he adheres to NZFirst policy and is a team player .
Depends on the person – I have a friend who wears the niqab from choice. Her husband would be quite happy for her not to. Many women wear the niqab/burqa for modesty or tradition – there was a most interesting RNZ item some time ago on this very subject.
Gross generalisations do not apply to most situations.
Annette – Gross generalisations do not apply to most situations.
We need to know more about the subject when referring to niqab/burqa as if they are just a different form of ordinary female clothing. These are extreme forms of human camouflage.
Burqa refers to the whole body covering that is needed in a country where in some places, in more traditional country areas, a woman can be condemned as loose if her eyes meet a man’s. And loose women may be dealt with terminally. (There have been many books written about the harsh penalties such as Burned Alive by Souad.) So the niqab which shows the eyes must seem quite an advance.
Many women and some men have fought for women’s rights and respect in New Zealand and it is an unsatisfactory situation if some women retreat from what has been achieved and cover themselves in tents even if it they say it’s their choice.
But there are other coverings that Islamic women wear that suffice to give comfort, modesty and religious conformity. The khima and chador both cover well leaving the face open. The niqab does this then other head coverings that are less extensive are hijab, al-amira and shayla. All these should be accepted by all as respecting Islamic choice and precepts, just as we accept Sikh headgear. It is only the burqa that obliterates the person’s appearance to others.
Here is a good information link. http://www.apologeticsindex.org/505-muslim-veils-hijab-burqa
Sorry, while I can’t speak personally, I do know a woman, a divorced, single, educated, professional woman, who chooses to wear the burqa and who challenges anyone who thinks she does it because she’s been forced to by anyone – she wears it because she wants to. That is all.
Prosser raised some ‘interesting’ ideas, none of which have much chance of progressing. You have to wonder why he was put at 4 on the NZ First list, but one of his quips…
“As recently as 1973 every bank in New Zealand had a pistol under the counter and tellers undertook regular revolver training.
“Whose brilliantly stupid idea was it for that policy to be abandoned?”
In a firm I worked for in the sixties the pay clerk who collected the weekly pay from the bank carried a gun, and the briefcase containing the money was handcuffed to his left wrist.
NZ1st is left of Labour but not actually of the left. They’re also far more authoritarian – almost as much so as National and Act – which is where the cries for conformity come from. John Banks is another good example of this authoritarianism.
BTW, The burqa is the full body covering so not a small bit of cloth. That would be the niqab. Plenty of women wear them voluntarily and it’s not our place to tell them what to wear.
Yep pays to remember that NZ First originally appeared out of the socially conservative, though far more socially responsible wing of the National Party. The one which rejected the tenets of corporatist neo-liberalism. Old fashioned ‘wet’ Tories in other words.
Apparently Walt was obsessed with the idea that his writers were all closeted reds and that they were manipulating the various cartoon characters to undermine capitalism. He used to pore over scripts looking for signs of a pink tinge before OK’ing production and once referred to the Screen Actors Guild as a communist front, which must have come as a surprise to the organisation’s leaders, who included the well known lefty Ronald Reagan.
Prosser from NZFirst is a strange individual but it’s even stranger that Labour supporters are complaining about a member of a possible coalition party they were happy to utilize under MMP.
Politics makes for strange bed fellows it seems.
[source for Labour complaining about Prosser? Eddie]
How is it strange that Labour Party members are complaining about someone who is advocating introducing firearms on to our streets, who is a climate change denier, and who is dismissive of others’ religious and cultural traditions to the point of authoritarianism?
Jester – look at the vile racist filth that inhabits comments on Kiwiblog and Whale Oil. And National was in coalition with the Maori Party for three years. At least here the focus is the man’s ideas, not the colour of his skin.
Data obtained by Amnesty International shows that the US has repeatedly transferred ammunition to Egypt despite security forces’ violent crackdown on protesters.
The capitalist running dogs are profiting from the unrest. One wonders if they intentionally create conflicts to keep their weapons manufacturers happy.
Well, US corporations had lucrative existing munitions supply contracts with the Mubarak regime (even if most of them were paid for out of US Government funds anyway), why cancel them just because a new dictatorship is now in charge? Another day, another dollar.
Really Vernon? Shearer was endearing last night but hardly ‘landslide’ worthy and everyone I spoke to after the meeting was having trouble choosing and couldn’t make up their minds. Why? All four were superb.
But made up my mind last night. Cunliffe and Mahuta. Cunliffe needs to do some work on how he presents but he hit the right points for me last night – and both of them were able to provide more specific answers when pressed on how to fix things.
Again, it was a superb evening. National should be crapping their pants.
I was watching all of them through the Crosby Trextor lens last night – ie. what spin lines will stick in critiquing them. Cunliffe comes across as a little ‘smarmy’ – his jokes are a little forced, a little ‘I’m funny and you know it’. And he’s got to do something about his smile when he’s listening, waiting. He’s very polished and that might actually work against him against Shearer (and indeed Key) who come off as a bit rougher.
It’s all style though, CV, something that a good PR expert could fix in no time. I hate having to pick people apart like this but it’s the game the Nats have excelled in with Key and we need to take the fight to them. Substance-wise I’ve always been impressed by him and last night he sealed it for me.
I’d generally say – relax. Try not to be so earnest and precise about nearly everything. Show a bit of fun and spontenaity. You have a huge smile- use it naturally. Humanise your opponent, don’t talk about him as ‘my opponent’ – you guys are going to have to work together no matter what the outcome so make it clear that bygones will be bygones after the vote and that party unity is paramount.
(note that I’ve not seen much of the two in the last few days, this is based on the election campaign and immediate post election period so he may be presenting slightly differently. With Shearer I’d say he needs to sharpen up in look and ideas. He is way too vague and the over relaxed image may not survive the hard grillings he’s likely to get in the selection process. I think he needs more solidity behind his vague concepts of ‘reform’. A bit too ‘third way’ for my liking.)
From what I have seen on the blogs, party members and supporters seem to largely prefer Cunliffe while those who get to vote reportedly favour Shearer. This leaves me hoping to hell that they listen to us, and are not just going through an “inclusive” exercise trundling them around the country.
I am most concerned that those who get to vote may consider that “we have lost the centre & need to move to the centre to get it back” – a concern exacerbated by Shearer’s use of the term “the hopes & aspirations of all NZers.” My question is, move to the centre from where?”
A brief potted history: By the 70s, liberal politics joined class politics, & while they were not 100% compatible at all times, they were able to function as a left wing. In the eighties Labour dumped the class politics and retained what remained its left wing credentials through liberal politics. The Clark government moved toward the centre from the Rogernomic outskirts, reasonably thinking that people had put up with enough disruption, & that the markets had matured enough for a new accommodation to be wrought, one that was not so unjust. This hope became untenable by 2008, but was reasonable at the time. Enter John Key who did not so much move toward the centre as woo it and bide his time, with a second term in mind. He wooed the centre so as to allay the fear many had of a right wing government, and this is the point of this whole paragraph: those who think that the centre is where it’s at forget about the fear factor.
Both Helen Clark and John Key moved decisively to the centre (or in Key’s case pretended to) at least partly to allay fears. No one presently fears the Labour Party, and if it is going to gain traction, it needs someone who is going to scare the horses a bit. Cunliffe is far more likely to do that than Shearer.
All four are impressive but quite different. My main worry about Cunliffe is that although he is a very good speaker, he doesn’t seem to be a team player and could quite easily alienate people.
Actually, if you look at his bio & Standard posts, Cunliffe seems to have worked very well in teams before he got into politics. And comments from people active in his electorate describe him as working very well in his electorate team.
The fact that there are millions of assault weapons in civilian US hands and a few hundred thousand vets from recent Afghanistan and Iraqi campaigns kicking around the US, makes me think that the original rationale for ‘the right to bear arms’ might just be coming valid again.
I used to be a consummate Pacifist but if I was in the US right now, I’d be carrying. Better to go down fighting instead of being a sheeple. Absolutely terrifying.
Auckland Council vs occupy auckland is currently being heard in an Auckland court. Penny Bright has been on the stand critquing the Auckland Council actions and statements on the issue, making some references to law, Bill of Rights etc.
I’ve been reading Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber. I’m only a couple of chapters in but it’s got these sentences in it:-
In [Adam] Smith’s time, at least it could be said that reliable information on Native American economic systems was unavailable in Scottish libraries. But by mid-century, Lewis Henry Morgan’s descriptions of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, among others, were widely published – and they made it clear that the main economic institution among the Iroquois were longhouses where most goods were stockpiled and then allocated by women’s councils, and no one ever traded arrowheads for slabs of meat. Economists simply ignored this information.
He’s going on about the Myth of Barter (Chapter 2). It seems even the most basic assumption of economists, that people started bartering and thus invented money to make things easier, is wrong.
If you want to study economics then study history – you’ll learn more and what you learn is more likely to be correct than if you study an economics text book.
Karl Polanyi also provided an interesting debunking of the myth that humans are naturally inclined to “truck and barter” in his 1940s tome “The Great Transformation”. Prior to the advent of Western capitalism, most societies got by just fine on the systems of economic reciprocity, redistribution, and domestic householding.
Several other people arrested in the drug bust also appeared in court, including a company director, but they sought continued name suppression.
Now this guy, once found guilty, needs to be banned from being a director/manager or business owner for a time. I’d go for 5 years – same as bankruptcy. Why? Because he’s shown himself unfit to be such.
To be a company director all you need to do is pay $150 to Companies Office to get a company registered and get yourself listed as a director. I wouldn’t get too excited about what he calls himself.
it’s not about size it’s about relevance. lots of people commit crimes like assault but don’t get banned from say driving. It appears you just want to ban him because you assume he is a rich prick
Auckland-based
Company Director
Chair – IAG New Zealand Limited; IAG New Zealand Holdings Limited
Director – Fletcher Building Limited; Rubicon Limited; Vector Limited; Insurance Australia Group Limited; IAG Finance (New Zealand) Limited; NGC Holdings Limited; NZI Staff Superannuation Fund Nominees Limited
Member – Australian and New Zealand Advisory Board of L.E.K. Consulting
Trustee – Dilworth Trust; New Zealand Portrait Gallery; The University of Auckland Foundation
First appointed 10 June 2002 – current term expires 9 June 2012
And a member of the trilateral commission just like Mike Moore. That’s the old boy network at work for ya!
Just think how much better things are than they were. In the past those who got in the way of rampant capitalism were killed ‘security’ forces.
‘On May 4, l970 members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine Kent State students.’
‘The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914.
The massacre resulted in the violent deaths of between 19 and 25 people; sources vary but all sources include two women and eleven children, asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent. The deaths occurred after a day-long fight between strikers and the Guard.’
Better not mention the Maori Land Wars. They had ‘nothing’ to do with rampant capitalism.
Whereas those who worked for rampant capitalism got terrible diseases or died as a consequence.
Even those unfortunate enough to be born near industrial activity frequently suffer, of course,
‘study history – you’ll learn more and what you learn is more likely to be correct than if you study an economics text book.’
Very true.
The problem is, which version of history. Much of what is promulgated as history by the mainstream is not what actually happened, or has been given spin by the empire. The events of 9/11 are a prime example.
Modern economics is a complete fabrication, built on misinformation and bizarre theories, some of which are fairly recent and others that go right back to the time of John Locke (they may not have seemed bizarre to people of his time).
The fundamental [false] assumptions of economics are what are going to bring the current sytem crashing down shortly.
One way of thinking about modern economics is that we are caught up in a ‘game’ that has a life expectancy of 420 years (plus or minus 15 years) and we are now in the 402nd year.
The problem is, which version of history. Much of what is promulgated as history by the mainstream is not what actually happened, or has been given spin by the empire.
Agreed. That’s why I tend to read multiple sources and then to think about what I’ve read.
Modern economics is a complete fabrication, built on misinformation and bizarre theories…
One of the fairly recent ones is the myth based around the Tragedy of the Commons. In the economic myths this is used to promote privatisation over common ownership. They ignore the simple fact that such commons have always had rules and regulations about their use which completely removes the tragedy. They also ignore the fact that privatisation without regulation is what’s leading to resource depletion, pollution and Climate Change.
Talking about new MPs – I was impressed with Andrew Little on Back Benchers last night – he and Catherine Delahunty made David Bennett look the inept MP he appears to me to be. Andrew should go far.
The history of ancient climate changes, which occurred over millions of years in the planet’s history as it moved in and out of ice ages, offers the best insight into how humans’ greenhouse gas emissions will alter the planet, Hansen said here today (Dec. 6) at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting. And his research suggests the climate is more sensitive to greenhouse gas emissions than had been suspected.
“What the paleoclimate record tells us is that the dangerous level of global warming is less than what we thought a few years ago,” Hansen said. “The target that has been talked about in international negotiations for 2 degrees of warming is actually a prescription for long-term disaster.”
Paleoclimate data yield our best assessment of climate sensitivity, which is the eventual global temperature change in response to a specified climate forcing. A climate forcing is an imposed change of Earth’s energy balance, as may be caused, for example, by a change of the sun’s brightness or a human-made change of atmospheric CO2. For convenience scientists often consider a standard forcing, doubled atmospheric CO2, because that is a level of forcing that humans will impose this century if fossil fuel use continues unabated.
the Clark government (nine years of it! ) set up all the preconditions for the collapse we will witness over the next three years
like those disastrous surpluses. Fortunately the fiscally prudent Nats have have remedied that problem
No, when thinking of the failures of the Clark government I was thinking more in terms of the promotion of an economy predicated on perpetual growth (which is impossible on a finite planet and is grinding to halt right now because it is a mathematical impossibility) and the promoting of looting of natural resources and turning them into waste by corporations.
I was thinking more in terms of the abysmal failure of the Clark government with respect to local government of 2002 (ever read any of it Brooklyn?), i.e. permitting city and district councils to present, and then accepting from them, so-called 10 year plans which do not mention one factor that will determine the future ,plans that read like touurism brochures and are much use to the community as tourism brochures.
I was thinking more in terms of Cullen pouring hundreds of milions of dollars into the banksters’ international Ponzi scheme and losing much of it for us.
I was thinking in terms of the national debt, which went up under Clark, raher than the government’s fiscal balance.
I was thinking of the urban sprawl and in-fill housing, the leaky home sydrome, the box-store ‘development’ and covering of agricultural land that the Clark government encouraged. I was thinking of the huge waste of resources that went into road transport infrastructure when we were ‘at or close to peak oil’, as acknowledged by Helen Clark.
Sabotage (especially of the next generation’s future) is the word that always comes to mind when I think of Helen Clark and Michael Cullen.
Of course, those who only look at superficialities never see the big picture.
[lprent: And I’m thinking that you’re getting way off the point of the post and moved into speech mode. So I have moved your comment to OpenMike. ]
afew that ponzi scheme has grown by nearly $6billion since this govt took office without any further contribution. Clark and Cullen rescued and resuscitated rail. you such a pessimist time to go and get your prescription filled out. Better still join the Scientology movement they have plenty of conspiracy theories and doomsday dates.
AFKTT is pretty much right on this one. There aren’t enough chairs to go around and the bankster owned DJ is about to stop playing. Europe goes down first., and soon.
r0b – I don’t think Tigger is referring to the govt. The article is about how WINZ will now be requiring those with HIV/AIDS on the sickness benefit to be work-tested. Tigger is alluding (ironically) to “solution” preferred by Adolf Hitler and co.
Cameron Slater and his Wail oily mates were most vehemently and frothingly accusing the Greens and Labor of being virtually culpable for murder over the Pike River mine tragedy.
Now under oath evidence is coming out about the covering of gas safety sensors with plastic bags to prioritize profits over safety, and also other serious Health&Safety regulatory deficiencies…
I’m wondering if Mr Slater and his cohorts will take a step back and acknowledge that the environmental policies of the Labor and the Greens weren’t the actual cause for this tragedy.
My gut feeling is you won’t hear a peep from them about these revelations. I really can’t be assed dredging through whaleoil to see if that’s the case, so if Slater/team-WO is trolling this forum: What is your take on these revelations?
Full credit to this enlightened and sensible policing by Auckland Central Police which is respecting the basic democratic rights of New Zealanders.
1) “…Police is aware that Council has issued trespass notices to the occupiers of Aotea Square. Having considered all the circumstances, including that the occupiers are protestors exercising rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, Police has formed the view that there is not currently legal justification for Police to forcibly remove those in the square pursuant to a criminal trespass…”
Andrew D Coster
Inspector
Area Commander
Auckland City Central
(Quote from ‘Letter for Consideration in the Auckland District Court Auckland Council v The Occupiers of Aotea Square, Auckland CIV-2011-404-002497 7 December 2011 )
2) How many Kiwibloggers support Auckland ratepayers monies being wasted on unnecessary Court proceedings because the Auckland Council Manager for Risk and Assurance Natalie Verdouw didn’t properly double-check her purported and unsubstantiated telephone conversation with Andrew Hendrie “He told me no resolutions had been made”, regarding a collective response from the Occupy Auckland General Assembly to requests from Mayor Len Brown?
This was NOT true, and the evidence to support this is a letter addressed to Mayor Len Brown dated 27 November 2011, which was was annexed to the ‘Supplementary Affidavit of Natalie Louise Verdouw dated 2 December 2011′.
Why weren’t these unnecessary and precipitious court proceedings immediately stopped, once it was realised that Ms Verdouw had made this serious FACTUAL error?
Doesn’t the buck for ‘operational’ matters stop with the CEO of Auckland Council Doug McKay?
Why didn’t HE step in and stop proceedings?
How come he didn’t even put in an affidavit?
There were a number of affidavits filed by some of the Auckland Council ‘Indians’ – how about the ‘Chief’?
How ‘accountable’ is THAT?
Or is this really all about unlawful discrimination on the basis of political opinion, by some senior Auckland Council staff and some elected representatives?
(Tomorrow should be VERY interesting in Court! 🙂
Penny Bright
Named ‘Respondent’ in the above-mentioned proceedings – who did not ask to go to Court.
(But who WILL defend herself). [email deleted]
Re: Andrew Little – At Pike River, Miners union (EPMU and forerunner) failed in representing workers industrial health and safety interests – with pay and benefits the most basic of workers welfare interests – (which of course includes monitoring performance by Dept. Labour of mining safety responsibilities). Basically this is the fault of trade union membership who have permitted a takeover of their union (and trade unions generally) by people from the urban educated liberal elite who see themselves more as part of the “labour movement” than as trade union activists. This description appears to fit Andrew little miners union/EPMU Little General Secretary for 11 years until recently – 2011 election Labour candidate for New Plymouth (and perhaps also predecessor Rex Jones) during which 11 years the rot set into mining safety – following the destruction of regulation by previous National Governments (left unremedied). Both Jones and Little found time to be President of the NZ Labour Party at the same time as being EPMU General Secretary. Mr Little apparently wasn’t likely to robustly challenge the industrial safety policy failures of Labour Government Ministers of Labour and dereliction of public duty by Dept.of Labour chiefs.
[lprent: IMHO: just another fool from offshore ranting about something that they know even less on than I do (and I have never been in a union). Why do I get the impression that this has all just been copied from somewhere, given a theoretical faith driven spin and dumped here by a troll. If someone wants to convince people then this isn’t the way. It is just meaningless drivel where assertions are mixed with fact without a sustaining argument. It is symptomatic of the idiots that I usually just trash first comments from. I figure that if they can’t argue then they are unlikely to survive here. I’ll let this one through for peoples amusement. ]
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Always Playing Catch-Up: Throughout the 1970s, the purchasing power of the ordinary worker’s pay packet – the only meaningful measure of his or her wealth – was being eaten away every passing year by seemingly inexorable rises in the cost-of-living. ...
The Interim Climate Change Committee's report on Action on agricultural emissions: Evidence, analysis and recommendations was finally released today, and as you might guess from the title, it is recommending that we actually act, rather than let farmers keep ...
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...
Agriculture is our biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 48% of the total. It follows that meeting any credible emissions reduction target requires cutting agricultural emissions, most likely by having fewer cows. But National thinks people shouldn't be ...
How scummy is the UK Home Office? This scummy:The Home Office lied to EU member states to remove victims of human trafficking and modern slavery in breach of European law, according to whistleblowers. Legal experts have said the practice is ...
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...
“We wuz robbed!” is the classic cry of the disappointed losers of a closely contested sporting contest – it is very much to the credit of the Black Caps that we heard no such sentiment from them following the stunning ...
The Youth Parliament is being held this week, and some of the youth MPs are campaigning for a lower voting age:Molly Doyle, 17, is one Youth MP who wants this to change. She is part of a non-partisan campaign run ...
Up till now, Australia has made its living by digging up coal and exporting it to other countries, destroying the global climate in the process. But now they have a new option: exporting solar power:The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep ...
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association says it will take an active role in the debate on proposed firearm law changes to ensure any future legislation is fair, reasonable and meets the needs of both firearm owners and the general public. ...
The latest Safety of Children in Care report reveals the scale of the challenge facing social workers as they act to better protect children / tamariki and young people / rangatahi in Oranga Tamariki in the system. While the statistics ...
The next round of proposed Arms Act Amendments will further alienate law abiding firearms licence holders from the Government, according to the NZ Outdoors Party. ...
The current law for dividing property on separation is out of date and in need of reform, the Law Commission concludes in its report, Review of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 – Te Arotake i te Property (Relationships) Act 1976 ...
First National Real Estate Chief Executive Bob Brereton is predicting that homes currently being built as part of a KiwiBuild development, in Te Kauwhata, will not sell and that the Government will be left with 175 homes and few, if ...
A short time ago, kaumatua and kuia representing mana whenua from Te Kawerau ā Maki, Te Ākitai Waiohua, and Tainui, walked onto the land that Fletcher Building owns at Ōruarangi Road, known as Ihumātao, and asked protestors to leave. ...
The Greenpeace climb of the Majestic Tower in Wellington is ignorant grandstanding says the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ). ...
Tuesday, July 23: The two Greenpeace climbers who are scaling the outside of the tallest building in Wellington have unfurled the first of a series of banners. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer's decision to fire three warning shots to stop a fleeing driver from reversing towards him was not justified. ...
Government figures out today are consistent with what working people have told the Council of Trade Unions in our own survey, that a significant group of working Kiwis are unhappy and dissatisfied at work. Now the Government must act to ...
Deputy State Services Commissioner John Ombler has today announced the outcome of an examination of what led Inland Revenue to commission a public poll that included a question about the political leanings of taxpayers. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Tracey Martin for wasting money on a meaningless “translation” of a written press statement into a sign language video, when the vast majority of any deaf or hard-of-hearing persons are perfectly capable of reading ...
Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust (Te Mana) and Tūhourangi Tribal Authority (TTA) have announced that they will jointly negotiate with the Crown for the return of the lands at Waimangu and Otūkapuarangi. These lands have been at the centre ...
Government documents reveal the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) approved a shipment of cattle last month, despite the Government announcing a review into live export five days earlier. ...
“The Government’s second round of firearms reforms has hunters concerned that they will be burdened with onerous and unnecessary compliance and costs,” says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) are concerned at the statements by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Police Minister Stuart Nash at the Post-Cabinet Press Conference this afternoon stating that firearm ownership and licences should ...
National’s Climate Change spokesperson Todd Muller told Q+A he has “total confidence” that technology will be developed to mitigate the effects of climate change. “To simply take the New Zealand agriculture sector which is the most emissions efficient ...
PM can’t say whether the Government will meet its KiwiBuild goals. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern couldn’t say whether the Government would meet its goal of building 16-thousand KiwiBuild homes by the end of its first term. She was interviewed on ...
Greenpeace climbers are scaling the outside of the Majestic Centre, the tallest building in Wellington, to reach the headquarters of Austrian oil giant, OMV. ...
Media statement on behalf of Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie and Donna Marie Tai Tokerau Hall: Māori Television has admitted publishing false allegations about former High Court justice, Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie, and his wife, Donna Hall, and it has ...
Announcement today by the Prime Minister of further gun law reform is being shrouded by fear, so that scrutiny of the law is seen as an affront to the victims of the horror attack in March. The Prime Minister acknowledged ...
Misgivings about the practicality and cost of a firearms register is likely to dominate feedback from rural areas on the second round of proposed Arms Act amendments, Federated Farmers says. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ organisers Sophie Handford and Raven Maeder delivered a clear message to over 600 local government mayors, chairs, chief executives and councillors at the recent LGNZ conference : make climate change a priority. ...
The Police Association, Te Aka Hāpai backs the government’s emphasis on public safety as the driver of its second tranche of amendments to New Zealand’s firearms law, announced today. ...
The growing housing shortage crisis about more than supply and demand- it is about inequity. Recently released analysis by Kiwibank shows that last year’s “severe” shortage of housing has worsened, with the shortfall growing from 100,000 to 130,0000 ...
One of the country’s largest district health boards has a severe shortage of hospital specialists, says the senior doctors’ union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is joining opposition to possible regulations on the strength of nicotine vaping liquid. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “The Government would certainly benefit from regulations on the strength ...
The Meat Industry Association (MIA) is calling for significant changes to the Zero Carbon Bill with a new analysis using the Government’s preferred modelling indicating that the proposed methane targets are excessive if all other gases go to net zero. ...
Victoria University Feminist Organisation and ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa, in conjunction with the VUW Feminist Law Students, Organise Aotearoa, Fem Force, and with the support of VUW Student Association announced they are sponsoring a march ...
With the Government's firearm buyback scheme starting to draw over 30,000 police man hours away from fighting crime, the safety of law abiding citizens is being compromised. ...
Social Credit Party leader Chris Leitch is calling on the sale of Westland Milk to Chinese company Yili to be put on hold pending an approach to the Government by Westland Milk for funding assistance. ...
Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa seems intent on ensuring the Government’s vaping legislation will heavily target flavours and nicotine levels – a move that would be completely counterproductive to helping Kiwis quit smoking and achieving ...
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...
Hundreds of whanau and Maori leaders gathered at a hui in Mangere last weekend where they voted unanimously for an inquiry into Oranga Tamariki. The historic meeting called for a child welfare framework to be developed by Maori, for Maori. ...
The Head of the New Zealand Maori Council has called for the Government to hold an immediate investigation into the global cosmetics company Sephora after they were caught dumping waste hundreds and thousands of waste paper products embedded with ...
Simon Shepherd: The government says its agreement with farmers, that they should pay for agricultural emissions, is historic. But there's no agreement on how. One proposal says farmers should pay a 5 per cent emissions tax. Another suggests farmers ...
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health at Calgary University has just released their report on fluoridation. This institute has, up to now, been staunchly in favour of fluoridation. However, yesterday, with regards to fluoride’s effect on the brain, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...
After months of protest, the last occupants were moved off Ihumātao in south Auckland by police this afternoon. Don Rowe reports. Most of the occupants of Ihumātao had been moved on. The police, numbering at least 30, had finally made good ...
Hundreds of people marched to Parliament today calling for reform of New Zealand's abortion laws, as Cabinet prepares to consider a bill that would remove abortion from the Crimes Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The two Centre Alliance senators, Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick will often be pivotal to the fate of government legislation. The smaller non-Green Senate crossbench ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chongyi Feng, Associate Professor in China Studies, University of Technology Sydney Australian authorities have been told to stop interfering in the case of the Chinese-Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun who has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Newton Cain, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is visiting Australia this week, his first overseas ...
The Greens may have achieved their sought-after mainstream credibility, and scored some wins in government, but commentators warn this will not necessarily result in more votes. On the contrary – it might even result in a loss of enthusiasm from ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsThe supposed end of the 20-year standoff between environmentalists and farmers was announced last week, with the release of the Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on “Action on agricultural emissions”. It was celebrated as an “historic consensus” ...
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 contentGovernment Joseph Nunweek (Spinoff): Jacinda Ardern and bringing the ...
The 2019 budget put aside $300m for venture capital for small to medium-sized startups with the hope it will allow businesses to grow locally and stay in New Zealand for longer. In a small rural town on the east coast ...
To give the Pacific a fighting chance Australia and NZ need to take a stand, writes a Fijian litigator and activist.Climate change is now an everyday reality for the Pacific. Its impact on our countries is undeniable. To remain within ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Educational Psychologist and Lecturer, Monash University Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...
Questions about political leanings in surveys by Inland Revenue, DOC and Stats NZ were inappropriate and had the potential to undermine political neutrality, a report has found. ...
Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little says he cannot understand why the previous government ever accepted Ngāpuhi's problematic Tūhoronuku mandate. ...
The Electricity Authority’s latest take on transmission prices has softened the expected hike in power prices for Aucklanders from $176 per year to $21 a year. ...
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas.Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go ...
Infrastructure investor Infratil is looking for potential buyers of a group of mature investments across Australia and NZ's health, education and prison sectors,according to the AFR. ...
A nightmarish and near-fatal high-speed pursuit of a New Zealand Chinese family concluded with a judge rejecting the prosecution’s request for hate crime sentencing. Tze Ming Mok discusses why New Zealand’s approach to hate crime is utterly useless.I don’t like ...
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded.*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involvedNewsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt ...
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers.Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine ...
Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin has recently been taught by ancestors in Hawai’i the skills of beating tapa or barkcloth, reviving as contemporary form a Māori art largely lost after the extinction of the aute plant in Aotearoa. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has stopped short of committing to a declaration of climate emergency in Parliament, despite again saying she supports such a move. ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the Australian authorities to drop all charges against four French TV journalists who – in what RSF called an “unacceptable attack on investigative journalism” – were arrested yesterday ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neville Nicholls, Professor emeritus, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University This month the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. But this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide Viral photo app FaceApp has taken the world by storm. Launched in 2017, the app has recently enjoyed mass popularity due largely to Hollywood ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University A key element in the success of countering terrorism in Australia has been a series of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Around one-quarter of the world’s population menstruate. That’s more than 1.9 billion people in the world who will bleed, on average, for 65 days ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National University There is a case for not proceeding with, or at least further deferring, the legislated increase in employers’ compulsory superannuation contributions from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Ostling, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University Review: Margaret Olley: A Generous Life, and Quilty, QAGOMA Margaret Olley’s exhibition at QAGOMA is titled A Generous Life, referring to ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Second round of gun law changes announced, hundreds with conditions like Down syndrome get early Kiwisaver, and a major refusal to participate in March 15 inquiry.The second major phase of ...
Almost as soon as it was announced, the Royal Commission tasked with probing the lead-up and response to the terrorist attacks in March attracted criticism, both over the process and its engagement with Muslim groups. Former race relations commissioner Joris ...
Following the Silver Ferns’ World Cup victory, another New Zealand team playing korfball – netball’s European cousin - are about to make world championship history of their own. ...
A victim of domestic violence has had to find alternative accommodation after Oranga Tamariki breached her privacy for the second time in three years. ...
While researching NZ on Air for a recent history, Duncan Greive noticed a shocking 30 year trend.News broke over the weekend that Love Island NZ, Three’s biggest announcement of the year, will now not screen in 2019, and realistically is unlikely ...
Joseph Nunweek joins the adoring throngs gathered at the Melbourne Town Hall to watch the New Zealand prime minister. The warm feeling is contagious, but a question hangs in the airThursday, 18 July: a big night for New Zealanders in ...
Open mike 08/12/2011 
My idealistic position on the role of MPs was articulated by Edmund Burke: ‘Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.’read more ...25 mins ago
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled on the pillage of swamp kauri, stating clearly that export was forbidden unless it had been clearly turned into a finished product. But less than a month later, MPI was again approving minimally carved ...4 hours ago
Having spent the last 3 months in these countries and getting some appreciation of their dependence on fossil fuels – oil, gas, coal – one realises how loopy is the idea popular in societies like New Zealand that have negligible ...9 hours ago
I have been unimpressed with Western corporate media coverage of the tensions involving Iran in the Straits of Hormuz. They repeat the line that Iran is the source of current tensions, that it is a major sponsor of terrorism, that ...2 days ago
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Much like Tuvalu, the manmade climate change Cult love to tell people the Maldives is almost totally underwater. In fact the dishonest Maldives Govt d on the same bandwagon, believing they would receive billions of dollars aid from other Countries ...3 days ago
As the entry on Wikipedia shows (and no, one doesn’t necessarily have to regard Wikipedia as the be-all and end-all of truth, because it isn’t on a great many things, to agree with the following): “…a fallacious argument that concludes ...3 days ago
by Daphna Whitmore The story of how the world awoke to a big injustice is starting to be told. The Pacific Games held this month in Samoa is another chapter. On the podium was Laurel Hubbard, the giant transgender weightlifter, ...3 days ago
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...4 days ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...4 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...6 days ago
6 days ago
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...1 week ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...1 week ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...1 day ago
The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association says it will take an active role in the debate on proposed firearm law changes to ensure any future legislation is fair, reasonable and meets the needs of both firearm owners and the general public. ...3 hours ago
The House: Youth MPs have laid down another climate challenge to their real counterparts in the form of an open letter. ...35 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...55 mins ago
After months of protest, the last occupants were moved off Ihumātao in south Auckland by police this afternoon. Don Rowe reports. Most of the occupants of Ihumātao had been moved on. The police, numbering at least 30, had finally made good ...2 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Newton Cain, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is visiting Australia this week, his first overseas ...2 hours ago
3 hours ago
The 2019 budget put aside $300m for venture capital for small to medium-sized startups with the hope it will allow businesses to grow locally and stay in New Zealand for longer. In a small rural town on the east coast ...4 hours ago
To give the Pacific a fighting chance Australia and NZ need to take a stand, writes a Fijian litigator and activist.Climate change is now an everyday reality for the Pacific. Its impact on our countries is undeniable. To remain within ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Educational Psychologist and Lecturer, Monash University Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...5 hours ago
The Electricity Authority’s latest take on transmission prices has softened the expected hike in power prices for Aucklanders from $176 per year to $21 a year. ...6 hours ago
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas.Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go ...6 hours ago
Infrastructure investor Infratil is looking for potential buyers of a group of mature investments across Australia and NZ's health, education and prison sectors,according to the AFR. ...7 hours ago
Mistakes happen but this one was a biggy, and a lack of proactive correction did not look good for the Government. ...7 hours ago
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded.*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involvedNewsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt ...8 hours ago
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers.Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine ...9 hours ago
Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin has recently been taught by ancestors in Hawai’i the skills of beating tapa or barkcloth, reviving as contemporary form a Māori art largely lost after the extinction of the aute plant in Aotearoa. ...9 hours ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the Australian authorities to drop all charges against four French TV journalists who – in what RSF called an “unacceptable attack on investigative journalism” – were arrested yesterday ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neville Nicholls, Professor emeritus, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University This month the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. But this ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide Viral photo app FaceApp has taken the world by storm. Launched in 2017, the app has recently enjoyed mass popularity due largely to Hollywood ...12 hours ago
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Now the Herald finds its voice – strange that, and within a week of the election.
Quote http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10767717
Exodus to Oz swells under Nats
Prime Minister John Key made the transtasman exodus of New Zealanders a major election issue in 2008 but, as the Herald reported last week, far from dwindling, that flow has increased under his watch … unquote
-0.3% growth inreal terms since coming to power with the best commodity prices for years trickle down is actually trickle up as the OECD has pointed out.Spread some moiney around History has proven that it works!
If anyone needs the perfect example of why I grin and grimace at the same time when NZ First is described as being on the left of the political spectrum then newbie MP Richard Prosser has provided one.
His proposal to ban the burqa is dog whistle racist cant. Why using the full force of the law to stop women from deciding to wear a small piece of material is beyond me.
Not only this but he wishes to arm taxi drivers and bring back compulsory military training.
He has that loud opinionated shrill and stupid approach to politics that I despise.
NZF has always had its share of loony MP’s; Prosser is just a slightly less subtle Michael Laws. Have to disagree with your assessment of why women wear the burqa though; it’s not from their own choice, its a culturally enforced symbol of patriarchal ownership.
Once skimmed a column Richard Prosser penned in Ian Wisharts “Investigate” magazine, (in a waiting room) he appeared to have all the blustering insight of an inebriated talk back caller.
The sound of barrels being scraped must be quite usual at NZ1 candidate selections. Will Winston operate the choker chain on this loose cannon once he gauges reaction to his utterances?
I have this overwhelming urge to replace the “Pr” in his surname with a “T” …
I’ve noticed that virtually every medical-related waiting room I’ve been in for a couple of years, both at home and in Auckland, has been heavily stocked with “Investigate”. Way out of proportion to its small market niche. And while I’m thinking, I can think of a few public ‘bureaucratic’ waiting rooms stocked with many copies too.
I’m guessing Wishart either ‘donates’ them, or facilitates actual buyers doing so.
I don’t like the way the waiting room stacking (however it comes about) seems to lend the magazine a bit of undeserved credibility. You don’t expect to find extremist fringe propaganda, including religious dogma in such places.
“…it’s not from their own choice, its a culturally enforced symbol of patriarchal ownership…”
From a western perspective looking in, it may be a culturally enforced symbol etc etc. I’m not excusing the modern/practical abuses that are entertained under the guise of Islam by certain regimes and the kind of general manipulative ignorance found anywhere in the world, any more than I will say that Christianity is the sum total if it’s abuses. There are for sure “muslims” who would not wish to be muslims, but have no choice because of chance of birthplace. There will be those who barely fullfil the basic concepts of Islam and think themselves devout. But then there are true muslims who would take deep offence at being asked to remove symbols of the surrender to Allah.
From a muslim perspective looking out (going from memory here so apologies to any muslim readers) it is an attempt to bring the individual into the sanctuary of the temple, recreating the closeness to Allah; Allah is everywhere at all times, and a muslim can be close to Allah anywhere, but in the temple is to be closest. It is the act of submission and moving towards Allah that is responded to by Allah moving twice as rapidly towards the disciple – that makes a large theological difference.
I’ve strained most of the poetic beauty out of the concept as it was told to me originally, but just thought I’d offer that idea as I believe a better world encourages understanding of others from their perspective, not just that of the observer.
If we truly embrace the diversity of ideas, then we would accept that there are people who are different. Mr Prosser for example can have his opinion even if we disagree. Mr Brash can have his ideas about decriminalisation and Mr Banks can have his racist ideas and Mr Key can have his mean-spirited ideas about Education and Welfare. And those who wear the burqa are entitled to do so. We welcome diversity of ideas -don’t we?
Oh yes please, but they must live their ideals, themselves, and not be allowed to push them on the vulnerable or those who reject them. Any arguments that a muslim should in no way offend a taxi driver while a taxi driver may offend a muslim should be discussed. Please begin.
And would Banks, Brash and others please put forward the basis of their ideology too, explained in full from all angles, so we can see clearly what they stand for and what they seek.
The difference you’ll soon discover is that a muslim is obliged to reveal and face the source of their morality, whereas Banks and others will twist, turn and lie to either conceal theirs or avoid facing the truth. A muslim (theoretically) is not concerned with philosophy and politics, because his god outlines all there is, via the prophet. A politician will believe only in expediency because he is moving too fast or using false ideas.
RNZ breakfast show inter view with Prosser said a lot of these comments were taken out of context he said read investigate articles and see the real story.
The Right wing have selectively released parts of sentences and not the whole sentence.
Prosser also said he adheres to NZFirst policy and is a team player .
TVOR
I acknowledge the cultural complexities relating to Burqas. I just don’t think criminalising Burqa wearers is the solution.
+1 Voice of Reason. I agree, although I suspect Dick Prosser isn’t coming at it from the angle of protecting women from religious oppression!!
Depends on the person – I have a friend who wears the niqab from choice. Her husband would be quite happy for her not to. Many women wear the niqab/burqa for modesty or tradition – there was a most interesting RNZ item some time ago on this very subject.
Gross generalisations do not apply to most situations.
Annette and Arandar
We need to know more about the subject when referring to niqab/burqa as if they are just a different form of ordinary female clothing. These are extreme forms of human camouflage.
Burqa refers to the whole body covering that is needed in a country where in some places, in more traditional country areas, a woman can be condemned as loose if her eyes meet a man’s. And loose women may be dealt with terminally. (There have been many books written about the harsh penalties such as Burned Alive by Souad.) So the niqab which shows the eyes must seem quite an advance.
Many women and some men have fought for women’s rights and respect in New Zealand and it is an unsatisfactory situation if some women retreat from what has been achieved and cover themselves in tents even if it they say it’s their choice.
But there are other coverings that Islamic women wear that suffice to give comfort, modesty and religious conformity. The khima and chador both cover well leaving the face open. The niqab does this then other head coverings that are less extensive are hijab, al-amira and shayla. All these should be accepted by all as respecting Islamic choice and precepts, just as we accept Sikh headgear. It is only the burqa that obliterates the person’s appearance to others.
Here is a good information link. http://www.apologeticsindex.org/505-muslim-veils-hijab-burqa
Sorry, while I can’t speak personally, I do know a woman, a divorced, single, educated, professional woman, who chooses to wear the burqa and who challenges anyone who thinks she does it because she’s been forced to by anyone – she wears it because she wants to. That is all.
Prosser raised some ‘interesting’ ideas, none of which have much chance of progressing. You have to wonder why he was put at 4 on the NZ First list, but one of his quips…
…prompted some good anecdotes on bank security in the good old days – NZ First, and bank security
In a firm I worked for in the sixties the pay clerk who collected the weekly pay from the bank carried a gun, and the briefcase containing the money was handcuffed to his left wrist.
in marked contrast to you???
NZ1st is left of Labour but not actually of the left. They’re also far more authoritarian – almost as much so as National and Act – which is where the cries for conformity come from. John Banks is another good example of this authoritarianism.
BTW, The burqa is the full body covering so not a small bit of cloth. That would be the niqab. Plenty of women wear them voluntarily and it’s not our place to tell them what to wear.
Yep pays to remember that NZ First originally appeared out of the socially conservative, though far more socially responsible wing of the National Party. The one which rejected the tenets of corporatist neo-liberalism. Old fashioned ‘wet’ Tories in other words.
Thanks Draco and apologies for my cultural insensitivity. You learn something new every day!
NZFirst are not leftist, they are muldoonist conservatives.
Muldoon, in one of his books, Rise & Fall of a Young Turk, described himself as an old fashioned liberal.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=466
Fox news accuses the muppets of braiinwashing kids.
Well they would know!
So funny. Imagine what they think of that arch-liberal Walt Disney inventing Scrooge McDuck way back when.
Apparently Walt was obsessed with the idea that his writers were all closeted reds and that they were manipulating the various cartoon characters to undermine capitalism. He used to pore over scripts looking for signs of a pink tinge before OK’ing production and once referred to the Screen Actors Guild as a communist front, which must have come as a surprise to the organisation’s leaders, who included the well known lefty Ronald Reagan.
Yeah, Walt was crazy about pinko infiltration… but not as crazy as Fox, it seems. I’d be struggling with that thought if I wasn’t laughing at them.
Prosser from NZFirst is a strange individual but it’s even stranger that Labour supporters are complaining about a member of a possible coalition party they were happy to utilize under MMP.
Politics makes for strange bed fellows it seems.
[source for Labour complaining about Prosser? Eddie]
How is it strange that Labour Party members are complaining about someone who is advocating introducing firearms on to our streets, who is a climate change denier, and who is dismissive of others’ religious and cultural traditions to the point of authoritarianism?
You must not know what Labour stands for.
Jester – look at the vile racist filth that inhabits comments on Kiwiblog and Whale Oil. And National was in coalition with the Maori Party for three years. At least here the focus is the man’s ideas, not the colour of his skin.
USA repeatedly shipped arms supplies to Egyptian security forces
The capitalist running dogs are profiting from the unrest. One wonders if they intentionally create conflicts to keep their weapons manufacturers happy.
Well, US corporations had lucrative existing munitions supply contracts with the Mubarak regime (even if most of them were paid for out of US Government funds anyway), why cancel them just because a new dictatorship is now in charge? Another day, another dollar.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6104643/Numbers-firm-up-in-Shearers-favour Vernon Small says most members last night preferred Shearer.
Really Vernon? Shearer was endearing last night but hardly ‘landslide’ worthy and everyone I spoke to after the meeting was having trouble choosing and couldn’t make up their minds. Why? All four were superb.
But made up my mind last night. Cunliffe and Mahuta. Cunliffe needs to do some work on how he presents but he hit the right points for me last night – and both of them were able to provide more specific answers when pressed on how to fix things.
Again, it was a superb evening. National should be crapping their pants.
Tigger, what could Cunliffe do to sharpen his presentation up a bit? I’ll get word to his team.
I was watching all of them through the Crosby Trextor lens last night – ie. what spin lines will stick in critiquing them. Cunliffe comes across as a little ‘smarmy’ – his jokes are a little forced, a little ‘I’m funny and you know it’. And he’s got to do something about his smile when he’s listening, waiting. He’s very polished and that might actually work against him against Shearer (and indeed Key) who come off as a bit rougher.
It’s all style though, CV, something that a good PR expert could fix in no time. I hate having to pick people apart like this but it’s the game the Nats have excelled in with Key and we need to take the fight to them. Substance-wise I’ve always been impressed by him and last night he sealed it for me.
Ah thanks. Useful.
I’d generally say – relax. Try not to be so earnest and precise about nearly everything. Show a bit of fun and spontenaity. You have a huge smile- use it naturally. Humanise your opponent, don’t talk about him as ‘my opponent’ – you guys are going to have to work together no matter what the outcome so make it clear that bygones will be bygones after the vote and that party unity is paramount.
(note that I’ve not seen much of the two in the last few days, this is based on the election campaign and immediate post election period so he may be presenting slightly differently. With Shearer I’d say he needs to sharpen up in look and ideas. He is way too vague and the over relaxed image may not survive the hard grillings he’s likely to get in the selection process. I think he needs more solidity behind his vague concepts of ‘reform’. A bit too ‘third way’ for my liking.)
From what I have seen on the blogs, party members and supporters seem to largely prefer Cunliffe while those who get to vote reportedly favour Shearer. This leaves me hoping to hell that they listen to us, and are not just going through an “inclusive” exercise trundling them around the country.
I am most concerned that those who get to vote may consider that “we have lost the centre & need to move to the centre to get it back” – a concern exacerbated by Shearer’s use of the term “the hopes & aspirations of all NZers.” My question is, move to the centre from where?”
A brief potted history: By the 70s, liberal politics joined class politics, & while they were not 100% compatible at all times, they were able to function as a left wing. In the eighties Labour dumped the class politics and retained what remained its left wing credentials through liberal politics. The Clark government moved toward the centre from the Rogernomic outskirts, reasonably thinking that people had put up with enough disruption, & that the markets had matured enough for a new accommodation to be wrought, one that was not so unjust. This hope became untenable by 2008, but was reasonable at the time. Enter John Key who did not so much move toward the centre as woo it and bide his time, with a second term in mind. He wooed the centre so as to allay the fear many had of a right wing government, and this is the point of this whole paragraph: those who think that the centre is where it’s at forget about the fear factor.
Both Helen Clark and John Key moved decisively to the centre (or in Key’s case pretended to) at least partly to allay fears. No one presently fears the Labour Party, and if it is going to gain traction, it needs someone who is going to scare the horses a bit. Cunliffe is far more likely to do that than Shearer.
All four are impressive but quite different. My main worry about Cunliffe is that although he is a very good speaker, he doesn’t seem to be a team player and could quite easily alienate people.
Actually, if you look at his bio & Standard posts, Cunliffe seems to have worked very well in teams before he got into politics. And comments from people active in his electorate describe him as working very well in his electorate team.
While here we are still labouring under the illusion we are with the good guys and the US is the land of the free and home of the brave I thought I’d inject some reality: http://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/low-level-terrorists-the-2012-defence-bill-and-the-activation-of-fema-camps-and-crowd-control-weapons-were-watching-the-terrifying-end-of-america-the-home-of-the-free-and-the-brave/
The fact that there are millions of assault weapons in civilian US hands and a few hundred thousand vets from recent Afghanistan and Iraqi campaigns kicking around the US, makes me think that the original rationale for ‘the right to bear arms’ might just be coming valid again.
Bad times.
I used to be a consummate Pacifist but if I was in the US right now, I’d be carrying. Better to go down fighting instead of being a sheeple. Absolutely terrifying.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/black-friday-gun-sales-break-records
Ah, zerohedge, nice.
One writer’s experience of an Occupy arrest. Beautifully expressed.
http://myoccupylaarrest.blogspot.com/
Sobering and distressing Tigger. The Land of the Free?
Auckland Council vs occupy auckland is currently being heard in an Auckland court. Penny Bright has been on the stand critquing the Auckland Council actions and statements on the issue, making some references to law, Bill of Rights etc.
http://occupyauckland.org/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/6102227/Row-delays-Occupy-protesters-court-case/
I’ve been reading Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber. I’m only a couple of chapters in but it’s got these sentences in it:-
He’s going on about the Myth of Barter (Chapter 2). It seems even the most basic assumption of economists, that people started bartering and thus invented money to make things easier, is wrong.
If you want to study economics then study history – you’ll learn more and what you learn is more likely to be correct than if you study an economics text book.
Karl Polanyi also provided an interesting debunking of the myth that humans are naturally inclined to “truck and barter” in his 1940s tome “The Great Transformation”. Prior to the advent of Western capitalism, most societies got by just fine on the systems of economic reciprocity, redistribution, and domestic householding.
Yep. The so-called ‘gift economy’.
Dmitri Orlov speaks about it as a way to continue economic activity post-collapse and to improve social cohesion to boot.
Lotta posts today, but it is always somewhat reassuring to see bent coppers, in this case non sworn ‘copettes’ subject to the same rules as the rest of us for once.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/6107933/Police-staff-in-drug-bust-court-reveals
All those confiscated sacks of dak, piles of Andean climbing powder and happy pills must be very tempting for some of the bluebellies.
Quoting article:
Now this guy, once found guilty, needs to be banned from being a director/manager or business owner for a time. I’d go for 5 years – same as bankruptcy. Why? Because he’s shown himself unfit to be such.
To be a company director all you need to do is pay $150 to Companies Office to get a company registered and get yourself listed as a director. I wouldn’t get too excited about what he calls himself.
Oh, so according to you it’s all about how big the company is and not about the simple fact that he’s proven himself immoral?
it’s not about size it’s about relevance. lots of people commit crimes like assault but don’t get banned from say driving. It appears you just want to ban him because you assume he is a rich prick
No, I want to ban him because of his influence upon society is such a position of power.
Indeed. Company directors are the captains of a capitalist economy.
insider- Not if you are banned.
I understand from the media that the Chinese company buying the Crafar farms gave the National Party $50,000 as a campaign contribution.
Really? Link?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10771749
Just Koha! ROFL.
Here is a link someone put on a post on my blog: http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/about/whoweare/0092967.html connecting the Reserve bank with Fletcher building and assorted other conflicts of interests:
Mr Hugh Fletcher (Deputy Chair)
Auckland-based
Company Director
Chair – IAG New Zealand Limited; IAG New Zealand Holdings Limited
Director – Fletcher Building Limited; Rubicon Limited; Vector Limited; Insurance Australia Group Limited; IAG Finance (New Zealand) Limited; NGC Holdings Limited; NZI Staff Superannuation Fund Nominees Limited
Member – Australian and New Zealand Advisory Board of L.E.K. Consulting
Trustee – Dilworth Trust; New Zealand Portrait Gallery; The University of Auckland Foundation
First appointed 10 June 2002 – current term expires 9 June 2012
And a member of the trilateral commission just like Mike Moore. That’s the old boy network at work for ya!
Just think how much better things are than they were. In the past those who got in the way of rampant capitalism were killed ‘security’ forces.
‘On May 4, l970 members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine Kent State students.’
http://dept.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/lewihen.htm
‘The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914.
The massacre resulted in the violent deaths of between 19 and 25 people; sources vary but all sources include two women and eleven children, asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent. The deaths occurred after a day-long fight between strikers and the Guard.’
Better not mention the Maori Land Wars. They had ‘nothing’ to do with rampant capitalism.
Whereas those who worked for rampant capitalism got terrible diseases or died as a consequence.
Even those unfortunate enough to be born near industrial activity frequently suffer, of course,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326201751.htm
Better turn a blind eye to what is going on in China and India etc. so we can cheap consumer goods too.
DTB
‘study history – you’ll learn more and what you learn is more likely to be correct than if you study an economics text book.’
Very true.
The problem is, which version of history. Much of what is promulgated as history by the mainstream is not what actually happened, or has been given spin by the empire. The events of 9/11 are a prime example.
Modern economics is a complete fabrication, built on misinformation and bizarre theories, some of which are fairly recent and others that go right back to the time of John Locke (they may not have seemed bizarre to people of his time).
The fundamental [false] assumptions of economics are what are going to bring the current sytem crashing down shortly.
One way of thinking about modern economics is that we are caught up in a ‘game’ that has a life expectancy of 420 years (plus or minus 15 years) and we are now in the 402nd year.
Agreed. That’s why I tend to read multiple sources and then to think about what I’ve read.
One of the fairly recent ones is the myth based around the Tragedy of the Commons. In the economic myths this is used to promote privatisation over common ownership. They ignore the simple fact that such commons have always had rules and regulations about their use which completely removes the tragedy. They also ignore the fact that privatisation without regulation is what’s leading to resource depletion, pollution and Climate Change.
A refutation of Garrett Hardin’s argument found on a really interesting website:
Rewriting the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’
Talking about new MPs – I was impressed with Andrew Little on Back Benchers last night – he and Catherine Delahunty made David Bennett look the inept MP he appears to me to be. Andrew should go far.
Yeah I agree. Andrew Little was good wasn’t he.
I also noticed David Shearer, Darien Fenton and David Farrar having a good ole chin wag at the end.
I hope Back benchers is going to be back next year.
James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies: 2 Degrees of Warming a Recipe for Disaster.
The history of ancient climate changes, which occurred over millions of years in the planet’s history as it moved in and out of ice ages, offers the best insight into how humans’ greenhouse gas emissions will alter the planet, Hansen said here today (Dec. 6) at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting. And his research suggests the climate is more sensitive to greenhouse gas emissions than had been suspected.
“What the paleoclimate record tells us is that the dangerous level of global warming is less than what we thought a few years ago,” Hansen said. “The target that has been talked about in international negotiations for 2 degrees of warming is actually a prescription for long-term disaster.”
Earth’s Climate History: Implications for Tomorrow
Paleoclimate data yield our best assessment of climate sensitivity, which is the eventual global temperature change in response to a specified climate forcing. A climate forcing is an imposed change of Earth’s energy balance, as may be caused, for example, by a change of the sun’s brightness or a human-made change of atmospheric CO2. For convenience scientists often consider a standard forcing, doubled atmospheric CO2, because that is a level of forcing that humans will impose this century if fossil fuel use continues unabated.
Moore: “Wall Street Has Their Man And His Name Is Barack Obama”
Brooklyn
the Clark government (nine years of it! ) set up all the preconditions for the collapse we will witness over the next three years
like those disastrous surpluses. Fortunately the fiscally prudent Nats have have remedied that problem
No, when thinking of the failures of the Clark government I was thinking more in terms of the promotion of an economy predicated on perpetual growth (which is impossible on a finite planet and is grinding to halt right now because it is a mathematical impossibility) and the promoting of looting of natural resources and turning them into waste by corporations.
I was thinking more in terms of the abysmal failure of the Clark government with respect to local government of 2002 (ever read any of it Brooklyn?), i.e. permitting city and district councils to present, and then accepting from them, so-called 10 year plans which do not mention one factor that will determine the future ,plans that read like touurism brochures and are much use to the community as tourism brochures.
I was thinking more in terms of Cullen pouring hundreds of milions of dollars into the banksters’ international Ponzi scheme and losing much of it for us.
I was thinking in terms of the national debt, which went up under Clark, raher than the government’s fiscal balance.
I was thinking of the urban sprawl and in-fill housing, the leaky home sydrome, the box-store ‘development’ and covering of agricultural land that the Clark government encouraged. I was thinking of the huge waste of resources that went into road transport infrastructure when we were ‘at or close to peak oil’, as acknowledged by Helen Clark.
Sabotage (especially of the next generation’s future) is the word that always comes to mind when I think of Helen Clark and Michael Cullen.
Of course, those who only look at superficialities never see the big picture.
[lprent: And I’m thinking that you’re getting way off the point of the post and moved into speech mode. So I have moved your comment to OpenMike. ]
afew that ponzi scheme has grown by nearly $6billion since this govt took office without any further contribution. Clark and Cullen rescued and resuscitated rail. you such a pessimist time to go and get your prescription filled out. Better still join the Scientology movement they have plenty of conspiracy theories and doomsday dates.
AFKTT is pretty much right on this one. There aren’t enough chairs to go around and the bankster owned DJ is about to stop playing. Europe goes down first., and soon.
http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/2/article_11165.php
This will open your eyes to exactly what a bunch of heartless aholes this govt is
Next up, let’s just shoot them all. Don’t think that’s coming…? Give them time.
[I’m having a bit of a crack down on calls for shooting at the moment – please don’t. Ta — r0b]
r0b – I don’t think Tigger is referring to the govt. The article is about how WINZ will now be requiring those with HIV/AIDS on the sickness benefit to be work-tested. Tigger is alluding (ironically) to “solution” preferred by Adolf Hitler and co.
Cameron Slater and his Wail oily mates were most vehemently and frothingly accusing the Greens and Labor of being virtually culpable for murder over the Pike River mine tragedy.
Now under oath evidence is coming out about the covering of gas safety sensors with plastic bags to prioritize profits over safety, and also other serious Health&Safety regulatory deficiencies…
I’m wondering if Mr Slater and his cohorts will take a step back and acknowledge that the environmental policies of the Labor and the Greens weren’t the actual cause for this tragedy.
My gut feeling is you won’t hear a peep from them about these revelations. I really can’t be assed dredging through whaleoil to see if that’s the case, so if Slater/team-WO is trolling this forum: What is your take on these revelations?
The good thing is about this was that it was on TV 1 news and I am amazed they rolled with it
Makes Whittle out to be the creep he is.
A fuking bully.
He needs to be charged over this
Charter Schools
Yet another way for Companies to launder their tax accounts no doubt, and get good publicity…
Full credit to this enlightened and sensible policing by Auckland Central Police which is respecting the basic democratic rights of New Zealanders.
1) “…Police is aware that Council has issued trespass notices to the occupiers of Aotea Square. Having considered all the circumstances, including that the occupiers are protestors exercising rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, Police has formed the view that there is not currently legal justification for Police to forcibly remove those in the square pursuant to a criminal trespass…”
Andrew D Coster
Inspector
Area Commander
Auckland City Central
(Quote from ‘Letter for Consideration in the Auckland District Court Auckland Council v The Occupiers of Aotea Square, Auckland CIV-2011-404-002497 7 December 2011 )
2) How many Kiwibloggers support Auckland ratepayers monies being wasted on unnecessary Court proceedings because the Auckland Council Manager for Risk and Assurance Natalie Verdouw didn’t properly double-check her purported and unsubstantiated telephone conversation with Andrew Hendrie “He told me no resolutions had been made”, regarding a collective response from the Occupy Auckland General Assembly to requests from Mayor Len Brown?
This was NOT true, and the evidence to support this is a letter addressed to Mayor Len Brown dated 27 November 2011, which was was annexed to the ‘Supplementary Affidavit of Natalie Louise Verdouw dated 2 December 2011′.
Why weren’t these unnecessary and precipitious court proceedings immediately stopped, once it was realised that Ms Verdouw had made this serious FACTUAL error?
Doesn’t the buck for ‘operational’ matters stop with the CEO of Auckland Council Doug McKay?
Why didn’t HE step in and stop proceedings?
How come he didn’t even put in an affidavit?
There were a number of affidavits filed by some of the Auckland Council ‘Indians’ – how about the ‘Chief’?
How ‘accountable’ is THAT?
Or is this really all about unlawful discrimination on the basis of political opinion, by some senior Auckland Council staff and some elected representatives?
(Tomorrow should be VERY interesting in Court! 🙂
Penny Bright
Named ‘Respondent’ in the above-mentioned proceedings – who did not ask to go to Court.
(But who WILL defend herself).
[email deleted]
Interesting….
Well done Penny Bright.
“Doesn’t the buck for ‘operational’ matters stop with the CEO of Auckland Council Doug McKay?
Why didn’t HE step in and stop proceedings?”
Because the ex ‘sell lolly water with a kick to teenagers’ is too busy readying the local government assets for sale.
Re: Andrew Little – At Pike River, Miners union (EPMU and forerunner) failed in representing workers industrial health and safety interests – with pay and benefits the most basic of workers welfare interests – (which of course includes monitoring performance by Dept. Labour of mining safety responsibilities). Basically this is the fault of trade union membership who have permitted a takeover of their union (and trade unions generally) by people from the urban educated liberal elite who see themselves more as part of the “labour movement” than as trade union activists. This description appears to fit Andrew little miners union/EPMU Little General Secretary for 11 years until recently – 2011 election Labour candidate for New Plymouth (and perhaps also predecessor Rex Jones) during which 11 years the rot set into mining safety – following the destruction of regulation by previous National Governments (left unremedied). Both Jones and Little found time to be President of the NZ Labour Party at the same time as being EPMU General Secretary. Mr Little apparently wasn’t likely to robustly challenge the industrial safety policy failures of Labour Government Ministers of Labour and dereliction of public duty by Dept.of Labour chiefs.
[lprent: IMHO: just another fool from offshore ranting about something that they know even less on than I do (and I have never been in a union). Why do I get the impression that this has all just been copied from somewhere, given a theoretical faith driven spin and dumped here by a troll. If someone wants to convince people then this isn’t the way. It is just meaningless drivel where assertions are mixed with fact without a sustaining argument. It is symptomatic of the idiots that I usually just trash first comments from. I figure that if they can’t argue then they are unlikely to survive here. I’ll let this one through for peoples amusement. ]