Open mike 09/01/2021
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- It’s Time to End Gender-Based Violence at Work
Everyone Deserves Safety and Respect at Work November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This day reminds us of the urgent need to take action against gender-based violence in workplaces across Aotearoa and the globe. C190 is the Path to Safer Workplaces ILO Convention ...4 hours ago - PM Luxon is house proud as David Seymour continues to push the edges of social division
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Luxon Is That Job Interviewee That’s All Sunshine And RainbowsCraig McCulloch (RNZ) has an unbeatable report this morning on Luxon’s reflections of his first year as PM.Allow me to replicate:On ...5 hours ago - Monday 25 November 2024
Maritime workers are joining opposition to the government’s plans for resuming live animal exports on the basis that the country “would benefit from being seen as a kind of modern and progressive exporter”. The TEU is slamming a proposal that would end an invaluable timber machining apprenticeship programme, while the ...5 hours ago
- PM ‘constructively dissatisfied’ with himself
“Look, I don’t really live with regrets,” Luxon said in one of the interviews marking his first year as PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, November 25: The news: COP29 ...9 hours ago - Team of One
Oh, it's a mystery to me We have a greed, with which we have agreed And you think you have to want more than you need Until you have it all, you won't be freeSongwriter: Eddie VedderToday is the last day to subscribe to Nick’s Kōrero at the original price ...9 hours ago - A Bad Day
10 hours ago - A visitor from the Hawkes Bay rides AT’s buses & trains.
This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, an examination on cruise control and speed limits, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. Greater Auckland is brought to you by a ...11 hours ago - Bridges challenges Luxon’s foreign policy
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon last Friday appeared to be starting to moderate his pivot to the United States under the foreign policy reset. Back in August he had told Australia’s Lowy Institute last August that New Zealand’s independent foreign policy was a “nonsense”. But in his latest foreign policy speech, ...14 hours ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, November 17, 2024 thru Sat, November 23, 2024. Story of the week This week, we again asked Gemini to create a topical summary of the articles we shared during ...19 hours ago - End Game
Related articles belowIntroductionRecently, I’ve been having some delays in putting pen to paper.It’s not because I’m short on words -Verbosity seems to be one of the banes of my life. And it’s not because there isn’t enough content: I just whipped up a long list from the past few days.So, ...1 day ago - Rowdy scrappers, beautiful birds
Who doesn't love to watch Tūī? Who doesn't love those colours, almost too good to be true - the deepest, glossiest, most lustrous of deep blue, the iridescent turquoise, the crisp-as-a-vicar's-collar white tuft?Who doesn't love the way they move, swooping as swift as a jet or occasionally bashing the hell ...2 days ago - Fact brief – Has human-caused climate change increased extreme weather?
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- What’s Been Happening? Political Roundup
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Following the 2022 Brazilian general election, election loser Jair Bolsonaro tried to do a Trump, attempting a coup to overturn the election. It failed. But unlike his American friend, he hasn't been allowed to get away with it: The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and some of his closest ...3 days ago - Treasury warns deeper recession worsening Budget deficit
The gift that keeps giving: David Seymour has now opened a split in the coalition over the future of National’s promise to build a new medical school. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / TheKakaKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...3 days ago
- Weekly Roundup 22-November-2024
It’s another Friday and we’re inching closer to the end of the year. Here’s some of the stories that have caught our attention this week. This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and ...3 days ago
- Beyond Question?
Record Numbers: The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, which began at the tip of the North, and the tail of the South, on 11 November, culminated outside Parliament on Tuesday, 19 November 2024, in one of the largest demonstrations in New Zealand’s political history.ACCORDING TO TE ARA, the Ministry of Culture ...3 days ago - The Rush To Blame “The Activists”
Activists are such easy scapegoats. The right and center have been conditioned for decades to roll their eyes at all protests. The left are easily aggravated over students leading movements they see as belonging to grownups, who have more important concerns like the economy and whether the trains come on ...3 days ago - Cutting Through An Inundation of Dipshit Racists
Hi,Watching New Zealand from afar offers a strange perspective. It can be a good thing — distance from Aotearoa helped keep me sane while I reported on abuse at New Zealand’s biggest megachurch over the course of a year. It helps fuel my silly podcast. But it can also be ...3 days ago - This is bad news
The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...4 days ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024
Open access notables Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons, Lopez et al., Science Advances: Future changes to the year-to-year swings between active and inactive North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons have received little attention, yet may have great societal implications in areas prone to hurricane ...4 days ago
- Chicken Kiev
Chatting in the supermarket this morning, I found I needed to lunge for the chicken drumsticks.Coping mechanisms: who hasn’t felt a greater need for them lately?When it all gets too much, I turn to demonstrating handy butchery hacks.It wasn’t that she’d said anything wrong, our friend, not at all. We ...4 days ago - The year is 2024 and it’s 1984
This is written in response to the highly significant open letter from a group of economists that was today addressed to Christopher Luxon. The year is 2024, and it’s 1984. The country is reeling from a record Olympic medal gold haul, while the globe grapples with the choice of the ...4 days ago - The IPCA has failed
Back in 2022, RNZ took an in-depth look at the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority and its handling of killings by police. These are the most serious test of oversight, and you would expect the police's use of lethal force to receive the most severe scrutiny. But despite the police regularly ...4 days ago
- Thursday 21 November 2024
The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...4 days ago
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With Auckland Transport’s future up in the air under Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposed CCO reform, we’ve dug way back into the archives, to unearth this post originally published in March 2010. As you’ll see, many of the debates that were being had when AT was first proposed continue to ...4 days ago
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- 27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year
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- Young Maori take over
Neither Wellington nor Parliament has ever seen anything like it before. The Police said there were more than 40,000 but however many there were, yesterday’s Hikoi to Parliament was a monumental event. It was almost three times the Foreshore and Seabed martch of 2004 and many,many times bigger than ...6 days ago
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The Justice Committee has called for submissions on National's racist and constitutionally radical Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. Submissions can be made at the link above or by post, and are due by Tuesday, 7 January 2025. But I'd get in quick, in case National grows a spine ...6 days ago
- We need to talk about Kevin
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family has a Drunk Uncle Kevin in there somewhere. If your Kevin is anything like the ones I know, he was getting along happily enough without having to think too much about the Treaty Principles Bill apart from bloody good job, onya guys ...6 days ago - The hikoi
Like everyone else (everyone who wasn't there, anyway), I've spent the morning watching the hikoi march on Parliament. The pictures are astounding: parliament grounds and the surrounding streets are full, and there are still people backed up along Lambton Quay. The police are estimating 35,000 people, and that's a floor ...6 days ago
- Why Govt & NZ Inc should boycott & regulate Facebook
6 days ago - How should we talk about change?
A better world isn’t just possible, it’s desirable. And that’s how we should frame a lot of our conversations around making a greater Auckland. As an example take urban climate action. A climate friendly Auckland: Is free from congestion Enables people to travel how they choose Is filled with ...6 days ago
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6 days ago - Discount Code for Webworm Merch!
Hi,So there’s a bunch of new stuff on the Webworm store (www.webworm.store) — just in time for the Holidays. Read more ...6 days ago - Trying to defuse the tension
There were urgent moves yesterday at Parliament to try and defuse the tension building up over ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill. The Bill’s author, ACT leader David Seymour, told reporters that he understood the Justice Select Committee met yesterday to discuss how long it should take to consider submissions on the ...7 days ago
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7 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Arrival, And Tyler Childers
Politicians like to bang on all about the need to heal society’s racial/economic divisions, but in their actions they’re more keen on stoking those divisions, with the Treaty Principles Bill being the classic example. The Bill seeks to dilute the Crown’s responsibilities to Māori at the same time as it ...7 days ago
- Socially Backwards and Fiscally Forwards: the False Ideological Divide and the “Conservative” Li...
7 days ago - Kaamos: Accepted
I appreciate that A Phuulish Fellow has been fairly quiet recently. That’s a combination of two things – comparatively little in the way of relevant material to discuss (at least until The War of the Rohirrim comes out next month), and my general work on The Secret Non-Fiction Writing Project. ...1 week ago - Here’s how governments could fix their Paris climate commitment failures
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Governments around the world face a conundrum. Virtually none are on track to meet their Paris climate commitments. That includes the United States, which committed to cut its emissions at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 but is only on track for 32-43% cuts ...1 week ago
- Unstoppable.
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The era of neoliberalism has been destructive on so many levels, with a huge growth in wealth and privilege for the one percent. A hollowing out of the state; fraying of the safety net; inadequate government investment in infrastructure; and continued environmental degradation has resulted in damage on a vast ...1 week ago - In a Manner of Speaking
In a manner of speakingI just want to sayThat I could never forget the wayYou told me everythingBy saying nothingOh, give me the wordsGive me the wordsThat tell me nothingOh, give me the wordsGive me the wordsThat tell me everythingSongwriter: Winston TongNext Tuesday, the subscription price for Nick’s Kōrero will ...1 week ago - Monday 18 November 2024
The NZNO have announced a nationwide strike for December over its pay dispute with Health NZ, who have put a 1 per cent cap on pay rises. The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti and Treaty Principles Bill remain front and centre in the media, with the impacts of the Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke-led ...1 week ago
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This post was originally published on Linked In by Nicolas Reid. It is republished here with permission. Auckland is now just a year or so away from having the keystone of its urban rail network complete. As I wrote about here, the City Rail Link will be a literal game changer for ...1 week ago
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Take the baitYou pay the priceIt's much too lateFor good adviceYou know and I know that our good things' throughBecause there's consequences for what we doConsequences for me and youWriters: Kevin Robert Hayes, David Nagier, Bonnie Adele Hayes.Fallout from the first readingOne News began last night by saying that tens ...1 week ago - Thank you, driver!
Today, Saturday 16th of November, is Auckland Transport’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day! Saturday 16 November marks the third annual Auckland Transport (AT) ‘Bus Driver Appreciation Day’, and this year we are encouraging all of New Zealand to thank their driver or let the bus go first if you are in ...1 week ago
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Hi,If I was to accurately sum up my mental state over the week, I’d just say that I got a huge fright from my own shadow.I’d nipped out for an 11pm neighborhood stroll, just to calm down after a day of stress and screens. The Cure and Fazerdaze’s new record ...1 week ago - We Are Not Listening
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
1 week ago - More lawlessness from National
On Tuesday, sick of government stonewalling, the Waitangi Tribunal issued a rare court order, ordering the Minister of Health to release unredacted documents within 48 hours showing its reasoning for disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. The government's response to the lawful order of a court? Yeah, ...1 week ago
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Yesterday, under cover the the biggest political fight of the year, National quietly - covertly, even - introduced anti-foreign interference legislation. The bill is the product of a years-long work-program aimed at countering shit like this and this, and there's unquestionably a need to do something to counter foreign states' ...1 week ago
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Targeted consultation on reinstating live cattle exports by sea won’t allow the New Zealand public to have their say. ...3 days ago - NZ’s global climate rankings plummet as Govt removes agriculture from ETS
The Government has passed legislation to remove agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) while Aotearoa’s reputation on climate action plummets. ...4 days ago - Failed boot camp experiment must end
As legislation to set up boot camps passed its first reading, the Green Party urged the Government to abandon this failed policy experiment for the good of our rangatahi. ...4 days ago
- Gender-affirming care must centre evidence and health needs, not political posturing
The Ministry of Health has today released an evidence brief regarding the use of puberty blockers in gender-affirming healthcare, amid moves by the government to limit access. ...4 days ago
- Release: National doesn’t care about manufacturing
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- Release: David Parker speech – Piketty, Inequality and Climate Change
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- Release: Youth mental wellbeing no longer a priority for Child Poverty Minister
Louise Upston has revealed her diminished vision for vulnerable youth against a backdrop of snubbed advice, scrapped priorities, shifted goal posts and thousands more children projected to fall into poverty. ...4 days ago
- Release: National’s lack of climate action taking NZ backwards
National Government’s backward-looking climate policy has seen New Zealand fall seven places on the Climate Change Performance Index to 41 out of 63 countries measured. ...4 days ago
- Release: Simple reason for drop in emergency housing
When the Government says it has reduced the number of people in emergency housing, what it means is it is stopping people from accessing it in the first place. ...4 days ago
- Govt’s child wellbeing strategy ‘shallow and shameful’
The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus in their Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. ...4 days ago
- Release: A historic win for Samoan communities
Labour warmly welcomes the Restoring Samoan Citizenship Bill as it passes its third reading, before becoming law. ...4 days ago
- Government plan to reinstate live animal exports a “national disgrace”
The Government has taken a giant step backwards by reinstating live animal exports. ...5 days ago
- Pasifika justice as Member’s Bill passes final reading
Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, the Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill, has passed its third reading and will become law. ...5 days ago
- Release: Minister of Education thinks New Zealand ends at the Bombay Hills
The Minister of Education has shown complete disregard for rural communities and their school bus routes in Question Time today. ...5 days ago
- Economists sound alarm on Government’s slash-and-burn approach
A group of prominent economists has released an open letter to the Government, raising grave concerns about the far-reaching consequences of its fiscal policy. ...5 days ago
- Release: Smoking numbers up under Costello’s watch
National’s repeal of Labour’s smokefree legislation has taken New Zealand further away from achieving a Smokefree 2025 and a smokefree generation. ...5 days ago
- Release: Call for Palestine recognition by NZ, Australian and Canadian MPs
Parliamentarians from Australia, Canada and New Zealand have written an open letter to their respective Prime Ministers calling on them to recognise Palestine. ...5 days ago
- Justice Select Committee opens floor for Treaty Principles submissions
Today, the Justice Select Committee has decided to officially open submissions for the controversial Treaty Principles Bill. ...6 days ago
- Power of the people on full display as hīkoi approaches Parliament
Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...6 days ago
- Hypocrisy as Te Whatu Ora contractor bill balloons
Te Whatu Ora’s bill for contracting and consulting staff has ballooned by nearly 20 percent under the National Government, breaking a promise they made during the election campaign to cut contractors. ...1 week ago
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- Government’s move to monetise access to nature a slippery slope
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The Green Party condemns the passing of the Treaty Principles Bill at first reading, and is clear that the fight is not over. ...2 weeks ago
- Stand Up for Te Tiriti
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our country’s founding document. It forms the basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown – and the Aotearoa New Zealand we live in today. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Over 15,000 sign Labour’s open letter to Luxon
As the hīkoi to Parliament continues, Labour has sent an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in a last-ditch attempt to get him to kill the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Fast Track Bill threatens environment, climate and reputation
The fast-track legislation passing its second reading in Parliament is another step towards environmental ruin. ...2 weeks ago
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The Prime Minister must answer the call from a group of senior lawyers of the King’s Counsel to abandon the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors
...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors
Labour joins with the Government in unreservedly apologising for the abuse, neglect and trauma including torture in state and faith-based care and for ignoring the voices of survivors for too long. ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party stands in support of survivors of abuse in care
Today, the Green Party stands alongside the survivors of abuse in state care and faith-based care as the Government issues an historic apology. ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party calls for conscience vote on Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt move to exclude journalist risks chilling effect
The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...2 weeks ago
- Without action, an apology will be empty air
For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Concerns remain over tobacco interference
Concerns about the tobacco industry’s ability to interfere in government policy making remain, despite the inability of the Office of the Auditor-General to investigate the Government’s decision to halve the excise tax on heated tobacco products. ...2 weeks ago
- Urgent wake-up call on climate
The Climate Change Commission’s latest advice indicates Aotearoa needs to be stepping up on climate action. ...2 weeks ago
- Green MP’s Meme-ber’s Bill set to save the world
Break out the punchlines and dust off your meme folder: Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill was pulled from the Ballot yesterday. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Poroporoaki: Ta Robert (Bom) Gillies
Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
- Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principles Bill
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 weeks ago
- NZ must pursue independent foreign policy
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The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
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Try out the Catlins good people.
Sealions and Terns.
Rata in bloom to the roadside.
Paua & turban shells if you know where to look, fossils at Curio Bay. Fine trout in the Tahakopa too.
I first cycled the Catlins coast in 1986. Rough gravel roads, plenty of punctures, sea lions and yellow eyed penguins / hoiho. No tourists, though! My brother in law is heading there soon who usually heads overseas, so guesss it will be crowded (comparatively).
Not crowded. OMG. Wanaka? Queenstown? Whangamata anyone?
Can Trump be managed for the next 10 – 11 days?
Andre you were spot on that Trump was going to do something unusual regarding the inauguration.
Some wonder about the Inaugaration in two weeks. Trumpians are taking weapons and Biden may be at risk.
Well, this could be the final straw for the Trump:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/434263/us-president-donald-trump-banned-from-twitter
Permanent now it is.
I do hope the US military brass have redeployed that cupboard in the White House kitchen somebody here was talking about yesterday. Last used in the final days of Richard Nixon for the purpose of redirecting any nuclear command to umm… no-where. That was in case Nixon lost the plot. The chances of Trump contemplating such an act is far greater I should think.
I thought I heard banned permanently from Facebook on Aljazeera TV at midday NZ time. So looks like both.
What about when Trump is not the President do the bans still apply and would he be subject to criminal prosecution for inciting disorder?
Trump is probably being micro managed to avoid a catastrophe.
Facebook ban is indefinitely.
https://twitter.com/AriCohn/status/1347692619929968641
OK Ill bite.
Hypothetically –Biden shot before inauguration.
Who is the president?
Harris.
The twentieth amendment says:
We're now past the time where there's still any ambiguity about the election and succession if there's any death or disability.
Thanks Andre.
News sites are saying that top Generals of the US armed forces have been spoken to and have agreed not to accept any orders to invade another country or launch any nuclear bombs, or other reckless acts without first getting permission from both houses of their government.
The Dems are also meant to be launching a second impeachment attempt on Monday US time. They have also asked the vice president Pence to maybe invoke the 25th amendment to remove him instead.
NZ at its best.
https://twitter.com/jamesdale68/status/1335312375117803521
and in vegan-curious news:
I can report that the dairy-free almond-studded magnum..
..totally nails it…
..in a blind-test..you would swear it is cow-based..
dunno how they did it..
..but did it they did…
I'm not sure yours is the most convincing endorsement.
How long has it been since you've had an in-depth comprehensive acquaintance with the delights of dairy products?
Vegan boysenberry Trumpet works ok.
Lemme guess – lotsa boysenberry stuff in it?
More preservatives than Lancome.
but do preservatives help us look younger ..?
do they also help to preserve us..?
I'm waaaay prettier than those scrote-faced permaculturalists.
Is it genes when it comes to aging and are we changing our genes due to what is consumed?
I'm impressed with such mainstream plant-based options. Our volume-oriented dairy industry really is screwed.
@ sacha..
pretty much…
all of these meat/dairy products can be made locally..
no need for them to be shipped around the world..
I'm guessing the ecological footprint isn't that much better when compared to relocalising food. It's a very industrial product and as such needs big industrial processes, plus the whole global food supply issue. It's a good for vegans and others avoiding dairy, not so good for the environment.
NZ's industrial dairying issue is one of capitalism and export. We could raise enough cows in NZ regeneratively to meet our domestic dairy needs.
The business case for local manufacturing might change when carbon is at full price.
+1
your guess there on the environmental footprint is way out..
It is much smaller than meat…
but I still think the tipping points will be with duplicate vegan options ..
then you have to insist animals must suffer/die..
when the cheaper duplicate cruelty-free kobe-beef/whatever..is sitting next to it…
that cruelty-free option will become the new norm…
and yes..as already noted our animal-based export industries are on a road to nowhere. .
all the analyses I've seen on food impacts on ecosystems are on global figure which don't apply to NZ. Feel free to post some NZ stats, I'd be interested.
Whole ecosystems die for monsantoed, monocropped soy and grains, you don't have moral high ground here.
Biden picked Mr Monsanto as ag sec with a terrible history.
https://www.leftvoice.org/biden-chooses-tom-mr-monsanto-vilsack-as-agriculture-secretary
oh great.
@weka..
soy-fact:…approx 85% of soy is grown to feed animals..
(glad to be able to clarify that for you…so you won't need to repeat that anti-vegan slur used by many..
that is so far off the mark..eh..?..)
NZ regenag doesn't monocrop soy for human or animal consumption.
But good to know you have no NZ stats. Like I said, global stats are not useful for the NZ situation.
Soy cropping in NZ – plenty of potential for growth, some reckon.
Any widespread rebalancing away from NZ's intensive dairy and meat farming might be a way down the track. Reducing cow numbers by (say) 25% and cultivating soy and other grain crops instead could be a way forward – lower greenhouse gas emissions for a start.
Disclaimer: I'm not vegan or vegetarian, nor do I personally advocate for those lifestyle choices.
@ ad
I have been told the vegan trumpets are good..
I am yet to try one..
I also never really was a big fan of the trumpet..
..it always seemed to be trying too hard.
..and just ended up too busy ..
the magnum is quite simple in comparison..
the creamy vanilla centre..
and almond-studded chocolate..
about 23 years..
I rank it up there with the fake meat that fools carnivores..
as a major step forward..
a landscape changer..
..the ideal situation as I see it would be each meat-based option having also a vegan option..
indistinguishable from the animal-based one in taste/texture..
costing no more and hopefully costing less..in all ways..
..then the choice will only be whether or not the consumer insists on an animal being hurt…
then we will see some serious change…
Had those plant based burger patties a few months back – I had the "beef" and compadre had the "chicken". I found the "beef" oddly gritty, and the "chicken" was just mediocre at best. The vegan technology is now at the stage of approximating the worst cuts of actual meat cooked badly.
And yet folks still claim it to be "indistinguishable". Do the taste-testers get the "one animal based, one plant based, side by side – tell us which is which" test? I doubt it.
Knowing my luck, a decent and cheap plant-based scotch fillet will appear on the market just after I drop dead.
Riverton Tavern pull their Blue Cod straight off the boat.
Also you can air freight whole Stewart Island Salmon up. Wrap in tinfoil and pack half a cup of couscous around them. Its a big reveal at the table.
@mcflock..
did you have the 'beyond meat's ones..
or some other approximation..?
'cos there have always been pretend meat things..
..most of them crap..
it is these new ones that are the game-changer…
"Impossible", I think?
Anyhow, how many of the new ones copy scotch fillet?
I remember the same chatter how this was the 'game changer' five years ago.
Apart from a few mega corp burger chains buying in for market share purposes, there's been no wholesale move to frankenfoods, and certainly none of the wishful thinking pole flip.
Regardless, I'd still eat the real stuff anyway, as I do – Organic, free range and locally reared.
my understanding is that duplicates of all current meat-options are being developed..
this is a huge market..
the economic-imperatives are strong..
maybe one day they will actually be "duplicates".
@ mcflock..
a blind taste-test was done @ mystery creek farmers thing…
a chef cooked both the same..they were cubed/tooth-picked..
and passing punters were asked to say which they preferred..
from memory it was about 50/50 .,which is pretty stunning when one of those 50's was the plant-based one..
bugger "preferred". If they're "preferred" there's a difference.
If the question was "which one is meat?" and they only averaged 50/50 correct, that is a "duplicate".
edit: a slightly lesser objection is that if it has to be cooked by a chef to pass muster, it’s no good to me. I’m not a chef. But for such gimmicks one does want to put one’s best foot forward – unlike the opaque milkbottle debacle when journos couldn’t taste the difference lol
" approximating the worst cuts of actual meat cooked badly."
Now that is what I call an enthusiastic product endorsement. I love the review but I think I'll give the product a miss.
I mean, they were better than the tofu sausages of ten years ago that people were swearing were just like the real thing (when the "real thing" they were copying was 50% bread). Now they're at least almost up to something that's 100% meat.
Bit like autonomous cars – who knows where they'll be in ten or twenty years.
Just passed Bowalley Road heading on coast to Kakanui.
Barking and dangerous…
https://twitter.com/byroncclark/status/1347684814132891649
we're still not paying attention. People are mostly writing them off as nutters, did we not learn anything in 2016?
What was the lesson in NZ in 2016?
That whackos can organise and win. We should have learned it in NZ from the US in 2016.
That whackos can organise and win – in a system as wildly undemocratic as the Repug primaries leading in to the Electoral College.
fair call. But then complacency here leads to arms officers phoning in the character checks for an aussie firearms license applicant.
But the NewCons, Advance NZ and the Pubic Party did so well at the polls..
Because ACT and JuCo were poaching their membership.
Are you saying you think there is no issue in NZ with Trumpian politics? (NewCons, Advance NZ and the Pubic Party aren't the problem, it's Nat/Act)
I'm asking what the lesson in NZ in 2016 was. I saw one in the US, sure. Did not see a whole lot of ‘organising and winning’ here.
oh there was organising and there was winning. its just that despite 2016 and the last 4 years, the party that won here is still not inclined to do anything about it, despite their clear majority and the lack of others to blame for their own inaction. Question, is the Labour Party learning? hell, no.
Well, by any objective assessment, they are nutters . The questions is, what to do about them.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2021/01/us-election-nz-based-academic-says-donald-trump-not-to-blame-for-capitol-riots-says-nz-should-butt-out.html
I'm not sure academic is the way to describe this person.
Maybe didn't fall too far from the family tree
From the article:
"I don't see how his saying he's going to contest the election is a dog-whistle for people to go out and get violent. I know that some people argue he's always emitting these dog whistles with his words, but I don't see that at all. I think he wanted to fire up the crowd… only relatively few went up to the Capitol… I think anyone who says what Trump said was sort of a coded call to violence is wrong."
Sounds like a sensible and rational academic, who hasn't been sucked into the hysterical cancel culture to me.
From the article:
"Unlike Benjamin, Dr Hoadley said the rioters were "encouraged by the President", and his attempt at defusing the situation – a one-minute video shot from the safety of the White House lawn – did little to ease tensions, starting with false claims about the election result and praise for the insurrectionists.
"He did say the right thing that they'd made their point they should now go home… but it was a very mixed message," Dr Hoadley said.
"It didn't indicate any remorse or any change of view as to his conspiracy theories that he continues to feed his base."
I would rate Dr. Steve Hoadley (who is recognised as our most experienced analyst of US political affairs) as way above this Benjamin woman who I imagine is a right wing ideologist who supports the US Republican Party.
Sounds like a disingenuous and blinkered adherant.
And Lucy Lawless speaks truth to impotence.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/300201446/xena-star-lucy-lawless-shuts-down-former-hercules-costar-kevin-sorbo-over-farright-conspiracy-theory
Sorbo it seems is a conspiracy theorist who commented that the Capitol terrorists were actually liberals. Lucy Lawless tells him otherwise.
he is peak trump.
There has been some discussion here of the need for increased aerial surveillance in response to Chinese rogue fleets operating near Torres Strait.
But the character of rogue fishing operations is such that aerial evidence will be disputed, making such actions a farce.
In this story, Russia and NZ in 'knock out brawl' over fishing vessel in protected Antarctic waters | Stuff.co.nz Russia defends a rogue ship fishing in our Antarctic waters, with apparent impunity.
Fisheries protection requires the ability to collect physical evidence, and to arrest or confiscate non-compliant vessels. Pressure on these resources is only going to increase – if we mean to keep them, we'd better be prepared to defend them assertively. Russia is known to fire on trespassing vessels. Russia arrests more than 260 North Korean fishermen | Europe News | Al Jazeera
For anyone who truly cares about New Zealand and the conservation estate, I strongly suggest they Google "Lords of Water – Al Jazeera".
It is a documentary series which screened recently, showing how business is taking control of this most precious resource.
We don't want to go the same way in this country, although the warning signs are already there (hence the "NZ Water Forum – Bung the Bore" protest in Canterbury).
Be vigilant and your grandchildren will be grateful.