Anyone got any favorites for the Dunedin South Labour nomination?
Now that the seat stretches into Balclutha, Waihola and Beaumont and beyond it's going to be no sure thing. Those are solid National areas. If Labour lost this seat it would be devastating for morale.
The new candidate is going to have to do some real work.
"At least three people are expected to seek the Labour Party nomination for the Dunedin South electorate to be vacated by sitting member of Parliament Clare Curran at this year’s September general election.
The Star understands that Rachel Brooking, a lawyer specialising in local government and environmental law; Ingrid Leary, broadcaster, lawyer and cultural relations specialist; and Simon McCallum, a senior lecturer in software engineering, are all seeking nomination. It is not known if there are likely to be other nominees."
Apologies @ Andre. Didn't have me specs. I saw Tat Loo in the first line and misread it as him commenting about himself. Far be it for me to accuse you of being 'right'
Here I've been called a RWNJ, a right concern troll, a Clinton stooge and a bunch of other stuff. Suggesting I "could be right" has all the sting of getting savaged by a particularly gentle friendly kitten.
Back in the days of "Red Alert" (remember RA?) Tat was a much appreciated commenter. Glad to hear he's doing the family thing. We might get the old Tat back again.
I never figured out what his grudge actually was – apart from the ongoing row with Clare Curran which exploded into a battle against Labour as a whole.
Could be anything @ WeTheBleeple. Anything from a public relations 'specialist' for gangs trying to improve the ummage going forward, or even a spin doctor for an RNZ management team desperately trying to push their barrow uphill.
Will be interesting to see what comes of the boundary changes. The only group that's happy with them seem to be National Party hacks, presumably so they get multiple bites at the 'fundraising' cherry, and get a new rural electorate in Clutha Taieri (South Dunedin)
Otherwise there's considerable angst around community of interest all around the areas affected by the changes. It looks like the Representation Commission stepped back from a new electorate in Central / Lakes and fudged the boundaries to get constructive feedback, and will come back with something more representative. The changes with South Dunedin and in Central Otago / Upper Clutha can hardly be called representative.
We have so many electorates with MPs who represent the interest of farming so well.
The point is well made that Queenstown-Lakes needs an MP who can represent the interests of tourism.
By the next boundary re-draw it will be more pressing, because Wanaka will be a population of about 10,000 and Queenstown itself will be heading for 16,000.
I think one of the reasons National isn't keen on a Southern Lakes electorate is that it mightn't be as clear-cut as most think. Hamish Walker has ended up looking more like a Labour opposition MP than a National one with health and immigration campaigns. Irony of the situation is he's campaigning again the effects of policies National enacted.
While the place is National voting at present, it is not conservative, but very liberal and green. It sort of inhabits the area around the back between ACT and Green Party. David Parker was a very respected local MP here in the days of the old Otago electorate. I think given a candidate who can understand and is part of the electorate a Southern Lakes electorate could be anyone's.
.
Would certainly make Dunners South more marginal … but easy to overstate implications… Balclutha & Milton, for instance, are Light Blue National-leaners rather than Deep Blue strongholds. (combined Govt Bloc support not too far shy of Nat+ACT).
Will, of course, lose Left-leaning Otago Peninsula to Dunedin North … but again wouldn't want to overstate the ramifications.
Needs an in-depth analysis … but I'm guessing it's still Labour on paper.
Losing port hills and Dunedin south will be a moral crusher. I think we may hold on to Dunedin south but Port hills needs a miracle it was already tight
All of which (above) reminds me – does anyone know what's happened to greywarshark?
My suspicions are maybe she got the biff for some ill-advised remark. No doubt she'll be monitoring though – but it seems she might have been correct about her observations re TDB. It's nice to know Martyn is actually a sensitive wee lad, but I wish there could be a bit of a truce between TS and TDB. (probably not happening though until it all really turns to shit – quite a few egos are at stake)
Waxxing lyrical over on TDB – challenging former TS commenter SaveNZ for the most comments on Open Mic. Also continuing to comment on Bowalley Road – in both cases as greywarbler. What were the observations re TDB?
Didn't get the biff per se, but was pulled up by me and others on Open Mike 21 Dec 2019 for a couple of ill-advised remarks. See the discussion preceding the link below. Has only made a couple of small comments here since.
But be careful using female pronouns or you may be the subject of consderable displeasure as I was for doing so – although may others had done so in the past including moderators, eg weka. Comment:Open mike 21/12/2019 LOL
PS – If you are lurking grey – Happy Birthday.
I seem to recall you posting in late Jan 2019 that you would not be commenting much on TS because it was your 7X birthday in February and you would be focussing on cleaning out possessions etc.
Yep, well – some things just rark me up so much it gets hard to hold my tongue.
Like the Concert FM proposals for example. As for the 7X birthday, I've just become a real person now upon recently receiving my gold card.
After a lifetime of being a Labour suppota (and acknowledging JA's massive contribution), I'm considering turning Green, or even Brown, and if it wasn't for Shane, Black could even be a possibility. And the reason is that there's only a certain amount of dead rats that can be swallowed.
– The way some immigrants have been treated and the bugger's muddle of an institution that handles it all. Reform of an administration that's allowed scams to become normalised and then blaming its victims
– The way people are being exploited and the time its taken for it to be recognised as a problem – ditto the victim blaming
– Worksafe's failure to prosecute on a number of things
– The Archices NZ and Natlib situation
– and now Concert FM and PSB (I might not be around in 2023)
Things might have to get worse before they eventually get better, but as my friends and family keep telling me – Rome wasn't built in a day
Well that's interesting, OWT – you yourself have been reading -and replying to – Greywarbler at TDB.
Indeed, less than two days ago on TDB Open Mic 7 February, you replied to one of a couple of Greywarbler comments* re the Wuhan evacuations of NZers, and Greywarbler then replied to you, ie:
Our compassion, commitment, and organising power is not all used up on one flight is it. Is it? What about those who couldn’t make it the first time? We welcomed people into NZ, and now we must embrace them just as we did in Christchurch. And learn from our failures after then, that goodwill and kindness must be a continuing thing while the need continues, now. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/409002/wuhan-coronavirus-people-still-in-wuhan-urge-further-government-intervention
I did hear somewhere @Greywarbler that ‘officials’ are looking at ways of providing support for those still stuck there. Rome wasn’t built in a day though, and I expect they’ve called for a business case to determine what the best options are in this space going forward. I suspect an announcement will be made soon – in the interests of transparency, transformation and kindness.
The holdup might be that they negotiating with Julie Christie over rights to a ‘Border Force’ style reality TV show
I suspect that you may be right OwT. But loet’s look on the bright side sometimes, it’s good to be wrong about lack of commitment to good principles.
Did you really not connect that "Greywarbler" to" greywarshark"? Grey previously commented here at TS at Greywarbler but changed handle to greywarshark at the time of the Rawshark revelations. (Also used a couple of other handles here prior to that – Prism and a very shortlived Rosetinted.)
[* As an aside, of the seven comments on TDB's Open Mic that day, five were from Greywarbler.]
I'm absolutely useless remembering names!!!! (I can remember my phone number 45 years ago, but names confuse me.) It's poss I've confused a warbler with a shark.
What she was correct about though is that sometimes comments might disappear if they challenge an ego. It might eventually surface.
But again, just like PSB complementing rather than trying to compete, there's a place (or should I say 'space') for both TS and TDB.
Yep, I have confused the warbler and the shark.
Cup of tea and lay down time,
Grey previously commented here at TS at Greywarbler but changed handle to greywarshark at the time of the Rawshark revelations. (Also used a couple of other handles here prior to that – Prism and a very shortlived Rosetinted.
Fascinating. How many others here have that sort of multi-handle history?
There was Paul/Ed/Tammy/Milly plus a few other handles I don't remember.
Then there's the Agora/Paaparakauta situation that Incognito has been trying to put a lid on.
Morrissey and Professor Longhair certainly have an astonishingly similar collection of interests and way of expressing themselves, but haven't been explicitly called out as being one and the same. Perhaps use of different devices going through different ISPs is sufficient differentiation.
Paul is the reason I became a Tim, and the only reason I choose anonymity is in the interests of the family – everyone in NZ with my surname is realated and they're generally nice folks whereas I can be a prat at times. Thinking about it now, I've surprised myself I didn't pick up on how similar a shark and a warbler are. Especially since the other examples are a dead giveaway.
Dude ran around telling people to set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world, while his own fucking house was a shambling, benzo'd to the tits mess.
If we only listened to advice from people whose lives are perfect, we’d be listening to no-one. Gloating about someone’s addictions, no matter how much you dislike that person, is just a bit sick.
As joe said, Jordan Peterson built an empire around that phrase. We might have guessed he himself was not taking his own advice.
Nope, while that transphobic misogynist might deserve sympathy for his plight on a personal level it is important the full picture of the man is revealed.
What really irked me was that he profited from spreading paranoia, hatred and division among impressionable young men.
As someone who has been prone to anxiety attacks much of my life I consider myself fortunate not to have managed not to need drugs to control it. Anxiety disorders are exceedingly common, and are often not treated well.
Whether an individual is more or less sensitive to anxiety seems to be very much hard wired in as part of our genetic legacy, much like other aspects of our personality. Like skin colour, there isn't anything I can do to change this propensity, but I have learned to control it reasonably well most of the time.
And in some extreme scenarios (such as when my mother was dying) I still struggle. I should imagine that when Jordan's wife Tammy was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer, this would rate as highly anxiety provoking. Would you not agree?
To compound matters one of the more common drugs used to treat this condition, the so-called 'benzos', have a track record of causing physiological brain damage. This is a recognised problem.
As for the spreading paranoia, hatred and division among impressionable young men tag; try reading the comment thread under the above linked video. There is now over 23,000 of them, many many of them expressing a heartfelt gratitude to JP for turning around dysfunctional lives, people battling depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, addictions, PTSD and all manner of personal struggles.
I quickly scanned several hundred, and didn't see any expressing paranoia, hatred, misogyny or division. Quite the opposite really.
Having addictions, or whatever other faults, does not make anyone a ‘fraud’. Bill Clinton was a sexual predator, who used his power to indulge his sexual addiction. It’s questionable that makes his successes as president fraudulent.
Women do their aggression in a different way; often by exclusion.
About 18 months ago I had to attend an all day work training session. It was run by a woman who was perfectly competent and professional. (This is in a high tech engineering office context.) I enjoyed her content and from this perspective found the day very worthwhile.
Attending were about 30 people, all except myself under the age of 40, and as is the usual ratio in most engineering offices I've seen, about 4 of them were young women. By lunchtime it was obvious that the presenter was only interacting with these 4 young women, the young men who were the majority in the room were totally ignored. At the lunch break the presenter quite pointedly only socialised with the women. As the day wore on the men became increasingly disengaged, while the women became more animated and were the only ones asking questions.
Now everything on the surface looked perfectly polite and professional, no shouty or people talking over each other, no overt aggression. But when I quietly asked one of the older guys the next day about the covert exclusion that had gone down, his answer was along the lines 'yeah but it's not worth saying anything about it'.
Since I've just admitted to being a prat at times (above), I've often thought – with the trend towards medicalisation – that the solution to the likes of Trump, Putin, Modi, Bolsenaro, Duterte and others would be massive doses of estrogen (daily probably). But then what do you do with a few that are equipped with the Venus factor. Sure as shot it wouldn't be massive doses of testosterone. Just thinking out loud
Actually it’d probably be the same prescription
A disease that only those with a hefty dose of estrogen survive?
MORE MEN INFECTED THAN WOMEN
The study suggested that men may be more susceptible to the virus than women with 68 per cent of the patients being male and just 32 per cent female, with the majority of men aged between 50 and 59.
“The reduced susceptibility of females to viral infections could be attributed to the protection from X chromosome and sex hormones, which play an important role in innate and adaptive immunity,” the report suggested.
OK. I might have to have a rethink. There's an island somewhere (surrounded by water) within another island (surrounded by water – while it all lasts).
Could be the ideal place to parachute them all in together, and leave them to it
Yeah – but Sanders is shouting for things that will do a lot for the material conditions of life of non-elite women. In fact, his policies will do far, far more for non-elite women than anything proposed by the elite woman (Klobuchar) who is not shouting in this image. So at best, your comment is mildly amusing, while still being complete shite.
His policies aren't worth shit if he can't broaden his appeal and poll way better than he did four years ago.
Sanders got just 8 percent support from Iowa caucus-goers 45 and older. And among seniors 65-plus, it was just 4 percent.
While he overperformed among “very liberal” Iowa Dems (43 percent), he underperformed among “somewhat liberals” (19 percent) and moderates (12 percent).
He got just 12 percent support from white women college graduates — arguably the heart of the Dem resistance against Trump.
And maybe most concerning of all for Sanders, he won more than half of the Iowa caucus-goers who said they supported him in 2016. But he barely registered (7 percent) among the 54 percent of all Iowa caucus-goers who said they backed Hillary Clinton four years ago.
So his base — right now — is about half of the Democrats who supported him in 2016.
The mainstream media in the USA have been lying for years – why you swallow their bullshit is beyond me joe90.
I would have thought the whole russian conspiracy theory you pushed via them for the last 3 years proving to be a pack of lies, might have made you realise.
But sadly no, you still burp up their propaganda and bullshit.
Periodically someone says something so completely at odds with my bet at what is the most likely reality that I do sit down and have a quiet think.
Sometimes I can see their point and it adjusts my mental calculus, sometimes it doesn't pan out.
I tend to find, however, that the folks most convinced and utterly certain that the rest of the world has been duped in some way – they're the ones least likely to have anything of value in their perspective. Not so much about abstract opinions, just assertions of objective fact.
This is going to happen to whoever the dem nominee is. If Sanders wins the nomination, dollars to donuts tRump's goons are going to demand and receive Jane Sanders’ FBI/financial records and weaponise them.
The Treasury Department turned over Hunter Biden’s confidential financial records to Republican senators despite refusing to release President Donald Trump’s tax returns as required by law.
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announced that they will investigate Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, and “his associates during the Obama administration” just one hour after the Senate voted to acquit Trump in an impeachment trial with no new witnesses or documents sparked by the president’s push to investigate his political rivals. There is no evidence nor credible allegations that either Hunter or Joe Biden did anything illegal.
Offering $2 billion over two years to a newly established National Bushfire Recovery Agency, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “the surplus is of no focus to me” on January 6.
By comparison, the Queensland government alone spent $7.6 billion in subsidising the coal industry between 2008-14, according to TheAustraliaInstitute. And according to the International Monetary Fund Fiscal Affairs Department, Australian subsidies of fossil fuels reached $29 billionin 2017.
National and Labour neck and neck according to TV3's Reid Research Poll.
Since Reid Research is usually more generous to Labour than the Colmar Brunton, I am surprised Labour didn't do better considering the positive publicity Jacinda has been getting in recent weeks.
What it suggests to me is that National's negative attack strategy is already working in election year – and that is backed up with what I heard among my relatives over Xmas. Some people might not like hearing this, but the "relentless positivity" campaign strategy came in for criticism of Jacinda. That they saw it as unrealistic and a bit plastic would be my summation.
I am inclined to agree – at least in part. A counter attack against the lies and innuendo from National is inevitable if Labour wants to keep the treasury benches. Maintaining a lofty ‘we’re not going to play with you' sentiment will mean nothing to the average voter.
They actually like to see a little bit of mongrel from political parties, and are inclined to regard those who don't play as a bunch of wusses.
Just off to find some secure head gear in preparation for the probable disagreements among fellow standardistas.
I imagine it indicates there are a lot of 'undeciders' this election year. National dropped slightly and Labour rose slightly, yet neither appear to have gained from former Green and NZ First voters.
On that basis it makes for a very bumpy election year.
This outcome differs from a Stuff/YouGov poll released in November, which counted a similar majority for a Labour party at 41 per cent, provided it worked with either the Greens or NZ First, both at 8 per cent.
In both polls, National had no path to power. The party lacked three seats to bring it across the 61 seat threshold in Sunday's poll.
So yeah and that's the trend. National has no path to power.
I am surprised Labour didn't do better considering the positive publicity Jacinda has been getting in recent weeks.
Polls lag. Not that media companies who spend money on them want to tell that story – hence grasping for recent explanations for each single poll. Trends matter.
You must play your intuitive game, Anne. As soon as you depart from what you know you are in trouble.
JA knows positivity. That's what has brought Labour to 43% and that's what she should continue with. For her to wrestle with pigs would be a disaster I think.
If Labour need to get dirty the someone else will have to do it. Normally this would be Phil Twyford but he has had such dismal term and his credibility is so shot that for him to try be the enforcer would also be a disaster.
Lab/Green is 48%. Stick to the plan, it’s working.
If Labour need to get dirty the someone else will have to do it.
Of course. No-one is suggesting Jacinda do it. Her natural personna is special and must be kept that way.
And it isn't a case of Labour getting dirty but rather responding to the Nat Party dirty tricks and misinformation strategy we know is going to be full on this year. Its a sad fact that many people are fooled by such tactics – look at Trump's America – and they are almost as gullible here.
Grant Robertson can do it. Chris Hipkins, Megan Woods and Andrew Little are very smart and experienced and can dish it out when required. There will be others on the back benches who can do it as well.
The criticism of the Labour government's push towards well-being has been called flighty and novel and empty. It's been used to push the claim that Ardern is some sort of airhead.
I'm not on board with a lot of the political PR coming out of this government, but hoisting well-being as being something we should strive for is hardly a flighty and novel and empty concept.
"Well-being" is a pretty good translation of εὐδαιμονία, or eudaimonia.
Critics who claim the drive is flighty and novel and empty need to pick up their ancient Greek philosophy readers.
The idea that the good life – pursing long term strategies for maximizing pleasure and in the name of social harmony and virtue – is hardly new. It’s certainly not flighty, novel, or empty.
It’s a shame that the Ardern government’s critics, some of whom have apparently studied philosophy, were unable or unwilling to grasp this, and engage in a serious, historically and philosophically engaged, and meaningful, way.
The idea *of the good life – pursing long term strategies for maximizing pleasure and in the name of social harmony and virtue – is hardly *a new one.
I would love to see our representatives debating these concepts more substantially in the House. We’ve got millenia to draw on, come on, guys; not to mention the philosophical collieries inherent in Te Ao Māori Tikanga (in many respects I feel the ancients would feel more comfortable on a marae than they would in Parliament. Those worlds were not so far removed from each other).
It would have ben better if Ardern had spent more time learning how to make practise into perfection studying Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics than preaching Marxism to they already-converted at the Socialist Youth International.
Wellbeing is as slippery as a term and as a practise as Whanau Ora. It's a palimpsest.
Bridges was criticized for trying to hold Ardern to political account at precisely the place Ardern invited everyone to do so last year. If the public and the media are so immature that they can't allow her to be criticized with facts when she invited it, we're a long way before we get to definitional niceties as you propose.
Nobody is arguing with any intelligence or knowledge. Hit me up, brother. You’ve got two-and-a-half thousand years of philosophy and literature and history to argue from or with. Don’t see it in your comment.
Aristotle was of a different school from the philosophers I dropped. How is Aristotle relevant to your response? Have you read the Nichomachean Ethics?
I've spent the past three years studying ancient Greek and Latin. Please tell me how Aristotle's conception of virtue is relevant to my argument, and why you brought it up. Thanks.
Don’t let me put you off. Studying the classics has been one of the most fulfilling studies of my life, beside my gardening.
“Start and you are half done. Dare to be wise; begin!”
– Horace
Critics who claim the drive is flighty and novel and empty need to pick up their ancient Greek philosophy readers.
OK how about Isocrates (Areopagiticus)
Therefore, being of this mind, our forefathers did not seek to discover first how they should penalize men who were lawless, but how they should produce citizens who would refrain from any punishable act; for they thought that this was their duty, while it was proper for private enemies alone to be zealous in the avenging of crime.
Now our forefathers exercised care over all the citizens, but most of all over the young. They saw that at this age men are most unruly of temper and filled with a multitude of desires, and that their spirits are most in need of being curbed by devotion to noble pursuits and by congenial labor; for only such occupations can attract and hold men who have been educated liberally and trained in high-minded ways.
However, since it was not possible to direct all into the same occupations, because of differences in their circumstances, they assigned to each one a vocation which was in keeping with his means; for they turned the needier towards farming and trade, knowing that poverty comes about through idleness, and evil-doing through poverty.
Those concerned with eudaimonia had some contempt for the contemporary rhetoricians or sophists of that time, too.
I have noted that some of our contemporary sophists get red in the face in media or other public appearances also. And they, like Isocrates, can afford to drive late model European vehicles. Proves their virtue, I suppose. No time for idleness and evil doing like the gadfly-who-must-be-destroyed.
the gadfly being Socrates, of course. Your Isocrates (note the “I”, a different person) stood by and watched, much like many of you disgraceful liberals have stood back and damned Julian Assange.
Disgraceful then, disgraceful now.
But you don’t need my opinion and nor does history, which will damn you.
We did it! And a new golden age awaits, says ARRON BANKS
AT 11pm on Friday the UK left the European Union after 47 years of membership, an historic moment.
[…]
In the end, the British public always gets what it wants!
I’m in New Zealand for three months, and celebrated Brexit with a glass of Cloudy Bay and a barbecue by the beach.
New Zealand is a country of five million people with a legal system based on English Law, and has an immigration system that suits them. It’s a small country but a terrific one!
Worldwide there are successful independent countries based on our system of government including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Basically, the polls have not moved since the last one. I anticipate the politically flawless start to the year by Labour has bumped them up slightly, if anything.
I don't agree National can go any higher in the polls – they've had a bottomless pit of money and a sympathetic media for their time in opposition, so IMHO their support is as high as it will ever be. Basically, they've been in a permanent campaign since they got turfed out.
Labour has grown it's vote since the last election, but they need to shore things up – Swarbrick needs a clear run in Auckland Central and give Shane Jones Northland and they'lll be home no problems.
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Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
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Anyone got any favorites for the Dunedin South Labour nomination?
Now that the seat stretches into Balclutha, Waihola and Beaumont and beyond it's going to be no sure thing. Those are solid National areas. If Labour lost this seat it would be devastating for morale.
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/south-otago/huge-implications-boundary-changes
The new candidate is going to have to do some real work.
"At least three people are expected to seek the Labour Party nomination for the Dunedin South electorate to be vacated by sitting member of Parliament Clare Curran at this year’s September general election.
The Star understands that Rachel Brooking, a lawyer specialising in local government and environmental law; Ingrid Leary, broadcaster, lawyer and cultural relations specialist; and Simon McCallum, a senior lecturer in software engineering, are all seeking nomination. It is not known if there are likely to be other nominees."
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/three-keen-dunedin-south-labour-nomination
I'd like to know what a cultural relations specialist is.
Tat Loo!
If BloJo can be UK PM and the Tangerine Tantrump can be IMPOTUS, Tat's time to shine has surely come!
🙂
You could be right, or correct, or both
Apologies @ Andre. Didn't have me specs. I saw Tat Loo in the first line and misread it as him commenting about himself. Far be it for me to accuse you of being 'right'
Here I've been called a RWNJ, a right concern troll, a Clinton stooge and a bunch of other stuff. Suggesting I "could be right" has all the sting of getting savaged by a particularly gentle friendly kitten.
He'd be better suited to NZFirst. A proper outlier grumpy.
Young Tat is now married and with a young family. Long term this will either cure the grump or make it worse
That's great to hear.
Back in the days of "Red Alert" (remember RA?) Tat was a much appreciated commenter. Glad to hear he's doing the family thing. We might get the old Tat back again.
Judging by his tweeting, I seriously doubt that. His grudge is still firmly in place.
I never figured out what his grudge actually was – apart from the ongoing row with Clare Curran which exploded into a battle against Labour as a whole.
'I'd like to know what a cultural relations specialist is'
Those people tasked to follow politicians around and check what they're saying. They tap them on the shoulder. 'Pssst, don't be racist'.
Could be anything @ WeTheBleeple. Anything from a public relations 'specialist' for gangs trying to improve the ummage going forward, or even a spin doctor for an RNZ management team desperately trying to push their barrow uphill.
Does Simon McCallum not have a law degree squirreled away? Strike the fellow from the list.
Will be interesting to see what comes of the boundary changes. The only group that's happy with them seem to be National Party hacks, presumably so they get multiple bites at the 'fundraising' cherry, and get a new rural electorate in Clutha Taieri (South Dunedin)
Otherwise there's considerable angst around community of interest all around the areas affected by the changes. It looks like the Representation Commission stepped back from a new electorate in Central / Lakes and fudged the boundaries to get constructive feedback, and will come back with something more representative. The changes with South Dunedin and in Central Otago / Upper Clutha can hardly be called representative.
A good overview from a Lakes pov is this piece. It can be read at a local government level as well and be as pertinent.
We have so many electorates with MPs who represent the interest of farming so well.
The point is well made that Queenstown-Lakes needs an MP who can represent the interests of tourism.
By the next boundary re-draw it will be more pressing, because Wanaka will be a population of about 10,000 and Queenstown itself will be heading for 16,000.
It's the fastest-growing area in New Zealand.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/queenstown-lakes-fastest-growing-nz
It would surely also be one of New Zealand's wealthiest and most National-leaning.
I think one of the reasons National isn't keen on a Southern Lakes electorate is that it mightn't be as clear-cut as most think. Hamish Walker has ended up looking more like a Labour opposition MP than a National one with health and immigration campaigns. Irony of the situation is he's campaigning again the effects of policies National enacted.
While the place is National voting at present, it is not conservative, but very liberal and green. It sort of inhabits the area around the back between ACT and Green Party. David Parker was a very respected local MP here in the days of the old Otago electorate. I think given a candidate who can understand and is part of the electorate a Southern Lakes electorate could be anyone's.
.
Would certainly make Dunners South more marginal … but easy to overstate implications… Balclutha & Milton, for instance, are Light Blue National-leaners rather than Deep Blue strongholds. (combined Govt Bloc support not too far shy of Nat+ACT).
Will, of course, lose Left-leaning Otago Peninsula to Dunedin North … but again wouldn't want to overstate the ramifications.
Needs an in-depth analysis … but I'm guessing it's still Labour on paper.
Losing port hills and Dunedin south will be a moral crusher. I think we may hold on to Dunedin south but Port hills needs a miracle it was already tight
All of which (above) reminds me – does anyone know what's happened to greywarshark?
My suspicions are maybe she got the biff for some ill-advised remark. No doubt she'll be monitoring though – but it seems she might have been correct about her observations re TDB. It's nice to know Martyn is actually a sensitive wee lad, but I wish there could be a bit of a truce between TS and TDB. (probably not happening though until it all really turns to shit – quite a few egos are at stake)
Waxxing lyrical over on TDB – challenging former TS commenter SaveNZ for the most comments on Open Mic. Also continuing to comment on Bowalley Road – in both cases as greywarbler. What were the observations re TDB?
Didn't get the biff per se, but was pulled up by me and others on Open Mike 21 Dec 2019 for a couple of ill-advised remarks. See the discussion preceding the link below. Has only made a couple of small comments here since.
But be careful using female pronouns or you may be the subject of consderable displeasure as I was for doing so – although may others had done so in the past including moderators, eg weka. Comment:Open mike 21/12/2019 LOL
PS – If you are lurking grey – Happy Birthday.
I seem to recall you posting in late Jan 2019 that you would not be commenting much on TS because it was your 7X birthday in February and you would be focussing on cleaning out possessions etc.
Yep, well – some things just rark me up so much it gets hard to hold my tongue.
Like the Concert FM proposals for example. As for the 7X birthday, I've just become a real person now upon recently receiving my gold card.
After a lifetime of being a Labour suppota (and acknowledging JA's massive contribution), I'm considering turning Green, or even Brown, and if it wasn't for Shane, Black could even be a possibility. And the reason is that there's only a certain amount of dead rats that can be swallowed.
– The way some immigrants have been treated and the bugger's muddle of an institution that handles it all. Reform of an administration that's allowed scams to become normalised and then blaming its victims
– The way people are being exploited and the time its taken for it to be recognised as a problem – ditto the victim blaming
– Worksafe's failure to prosecute on a number of things
– The Archices NZ and Natlib situation
– and now Concert FM and PSB (I might not be around in 2023)
Things might have to get worse before they eventually get better, but as my friends and family keep telling me – Rome wasn't built in a day
Voting Green seems like the best way to get a more progressive next govt.
Well that's interesting, OWT – you yourself have been reading -and replying to – Greywarbler at TDB.
Indeed, less than two days ago on TDB Open Mic 7 February, you replied to one of a couple of Greywarbler comments* re the Wuhan evacuations of NZers, and Greywarbler then replied to you, ie:
Did you really not connect that "Greywarbler" to" greywarshark"? Grey previously commented here at TS at Greywarbler but changed handle to greywarshark at the time of the Rawshark revelations. (Also used a couple of other handles here prior to that – Prism and a very shortlived Rosetinted.)
[* As an aside, of the seven comments on TDB's Open Mic that day, five were from Greywarbler.]
I'm absolutely useless remembering names!!!! (I can remember my phone number 45 years ago, but names confuse me.) It's poss I've confused a warbler with a shark.
What she was correct about though is that sometimes comments might disappear if they challenge an ego. It might eventually surface.
But again, just like PSB complementing rather than trying to compete, there's a place (or should I say 'space') for both TS and TDB.
Yep, I have confused the warbler and the shark.
Cup of tea and lay down time,
Fascinating. How many others here have that sort of multi-handle history?
There was Paul/Ed/Tammy/Milly plus a few other handles I don't remember.
Then there's the Agora/Paaparakauta situation that Incognito has been trying to put a lid on.
Morrissey and Professor Longhair certainly have an astonishingly similar collection of interests and way of expressing themselves, but haven't been explicitly called out as being one and the same. Perhaps use of different devices going through different ISPs is sufficient differentiation.
Paul is the reason I became a Tim, and the only reason I choose anonymity is in the interests of the family – everyone in NZ with my surname is realated and they're generally nice folks whereas I can be a prat at times. Thinking about it now, I've surprised myself I didn't pick up on how similar a shark and a warbler are. Especially since the other examples are a dead giveaway.
Some of us were vipers for a while. Such an interesting history that one.
Quite. I had forgotten about that.
Some of us still are – vipers that is!
I also remember quite a few raw sharks for awhile including a wekarawshark no less. LOL
Ha ha, yep. Sorry about the viper thing, it's so weird how people's handles just become their own thing.
Believe nothing until there’s an official denial….
https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1226177517461086208
God smites he with a God complex.
Went to Russia for treatment.
Er…Ok then.
Perhaps there should have been a 13th rule:
Don't dress up in Peaky Blinders suits and whip up paranoia amongst young men while addicted to meds.
https://nationalpost.com/news/jordan-petersons-year-of-absolute-hell-professor-forced-to-retreat-from-public-life-because-of-tranquilizer-addiction
Get well soon, Doktor Peterson.
If you want to gloat, direct it to his daughter. Leave us out of it please.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTwEFa5NW2k
So a person suffering an addiction is fair game because you don’t like their opinions. Nice.
Dude ran around telling people to set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world, while his own fucking house was a shambling, benzo'd to the tits mess.
If we only listened to advice from people whose lives are perfect, we’d be listening to no-one. Gloating about someone’s addictions, no matter how much you dislike that person, is just a bit sick.
As joe said, Jordan Peterson built an empire around that phrase. We might have guessed he himself was not taking his own advice.
Nope, while that transphobic misogynist might deserve sympathy for his plight on a personal level it is important the full picture of the man is revealed.
What really irked me was that he profited from spreading paranoia, hatred and division among impressionable young men.
Now we know he was a fraud all along.
As someone who has been prone to anxiety attacks much of my life I consider myself fortunate not to have managed not to need drugs to control it. Anxiety disorders are exceedingly common, and are often not treated well.
Whether an individual is more or less sensitive to anxiety seems to be very much hard wired in as part of our genetic legacy, much like other aspects of our personality. Like skin colour, there isn't anything I can do to change this propensity, but I have learned to control it reasonably well most of the time.
And in some extreme scenarios (such as when my mother was dying) I still struggle. I should imagine that when Jordan's wife Tammy was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer, this would rate as highly anxiety provoking. Would you not agree?
To compound matters one of the more common drugs used to treat this condition, the so-called 'benzos', have a track record of causing physiological brain damage. This is a recognised problem.
As for the spreading paranoia, hatred and division among impressionable young men tag; try reading the comment thread under the above linked video. There is now over 23,000 of them, many many of them expressing a heartfelt gratitude to JP for turning around dysfunctional lives, people battling depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, addictions, PTSD and all manner of personal struggles.
I quickly scanned several hundred, and didn't see any expressing paranoia, hatred, misogyny or division. Quite the opposite really.
He has his fan base for sure and I'm not sure you're going to get the full picture from a condolence book as it were.
If only he stuck to his self-help books! That's where he might have been doing something worthwhile.
But he used that audience to further his attacks on transgender rights and equality of outcome with respect to women and minorities.
As a regressive he hated these concept and sought to drag a whole lot of young people backwards.
Where was he "transphobic and misogynist"?
The rest of your post isn't worth commenting on
There is plenty of reference to Peterson being transphobic and misogynistic.
Hence the controversy.
Then it shouldn't be too hard to post some.
Again? I'll spare everyone that for now. This was done several times over the last two years.
I'll take that as I don't know any.
Having addictions, or whatever other faults, does not make anyone a ‘fraud’. Bill Clinton was a sexual predator, who used his power to indulge his sexual addiction. It’s questionable that makes his successes as president fraudulent.
And these shouty old men want to run the shop.
/
https://twitter.com/maxthegirl/status/1226190549847166976
Lmfao ! biden and steyer kept talking so much shite and utter dribble, they reminded me a bit of dirtyjohn lololz!
Women do their aggression in a different way; often by exclusion.
About 18 months ago I had to attend an all day work training session. It was run by a woman who was perfectly competent and professional. (This is in a high tech engineering office context.) I enjoyed her content and from this perspective found the day very worthwhile.
Attending were about 30 people, all except myself under the age of 40, and as is the usual ratio in most engineering offices I've seen, about 4 of them were young women. By lunchtime it was obvious that the presenter was only interacting with these 4 young women, the young men who were the majority in the room were totally ignored. At the lunch break the presenter quite pointedly only socialised with the women. As the day wore on the men became increasingly disengaged, while the women became more animated and were the only ones asking questions.
Now everything on the surface looked perfectly polite and professional, no shouty or people talking over each other, no overt aggression. But when I quietly asked one of the older guys the next day about the covert exclusion that had gone down, his answer was along the lines 'yeah but it's not worth saying anything about it'.
Just balancing millennia of the reverse.
Since I've just admitted to being a prat at times (above), I've often thought – with the trend towards medicalisation – that the solution to the likes of Trump, Putin, Modi, Bolsenaro, Duterte and others would be massive doses of estrogen (daily probably). But then what do you do with a few that are equipped with the Venus factor. Sure as shot it wouldn't be massive doses of testosterone. Just thinking out loud
Actually it’d probably be the same prescription
A disease that only those with a hefty dose of estrogen survive?
MORE MEN INFECTED THAN WOMEN
The study suggested that men may be more susceptible to the virus than women with 68 per cent of the patients being male and just 32 per cent female, with the majority of men aged between 50 and 59.
“The reduced susceptibility of females to viral infections could be attributed to the protection from X chromosome and sex hormones, which play an important role in innate and adaptive immunity,” the report suggested.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/how-the-coronavirus-impacts-you-once-you-are-infected/news-story/5f817d2da97006ab390750a0ea14ad2b
OK. I might have to have a rethink. There's an island somewhere (surrounded by water) within another island (surrounded by water – while it all lasts).
Could be the ideal place to parachute them all in together, and leave them to it
Men are smokers in China (from memory about 48%). This causes changes to the lungs which make them more susceptible to nCoV.
Check out the video on this from MedCram on YT.
its gonna by either one of these shouty men or the shouty man currently elevated to top dog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DEqvIk__vk
Yeah – but Sanders is shouting for things that will do a lot for the material conditions of life of non-elite women. In fact, his policies will do far, far more for non-elite women than anything proposed by the elite woman (Klobuchar) who is not shouting in this image. So at best, your comment is mildly amusing, while still being complete shite.
His policies aren't worth shit if he can't broaden his appeal and poll way better than he did four years ago.
Sanders got just 8 percent support from Iowa caucus-goers 45 and older. And among seniors 65-plus, it was just 4 percent.
While he overperformed among “very liberal” Iowa Dems (43 percent), he underperformed among “somewhat liberals” (19 percent) and moderates (12 percent).
He got just 12 percent support from white women college graduates — arguably the heart of the Dem resistance against Trump.
And maybe most concerning of all for Sanders, he won more than half of the Iowa caucus-goers who said they supported him in 2016. But he barely registered (7 percent) among the 54 percent of all Iowa caucus-goers who said they backed Hillary Clinton four years ago.
So his base — right now — is about half of the Democrats who supported him in 2016.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/what-stands-out-after-iowa-bernie-sanders-limited-crossover-appeal-n1132336
btw, near forty years on the public tit and Sanders' isn't an elite?
The mainstream media in the USA have been lying for years – why you swallow their bullshit is beyond me joe90.
I would have thought the whole russian conspiracy theory you pushed via them for the last 3 years proving to be a pack of lies, might have made you realise.
But sadly no, you still burp up their propaganda and bullshit.
Periodically someone says something so completely at odds with my bet at what is the most likely reality that I do sit down and have a quiet think.
Sometimes I can see their point and it adjusts my mental calculus, sometimes it doesn't pan out.
I tend to find, however, that the folks most convinced and utterly certain that the rest of the world has been duped in some way – they're the ones least likely to have anything of value in their perspective. Not so much about abstract opinions, just assertions of objective fact.
This is going to happen to whoever the dem nominee is. If Sanders wins the nomination, dollars to donuts tRump's goons are going to demand and receive Jane Sanders’ FBI/financial records and weaponise them.
The Treasury Department turned over Hunter Biden’s confidential financial records to Republican senators despite refusing to release President Donald Trump’s tax returns as required by law.
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announced that they will investigate Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, and “his associates during the Obama administration” just one hour after the Senate voted to acquit Trump in an impeachment trial with no new witnesses or documents sparked by the president’s push to investigate his political rivals. There is no evidence nor credible allegations that either Hunter or Joe Biden did anything illegal.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/treasury-hands-biden-records-over-to-gop-after-refusing-to-release-trump-tax-returns/
this will happen to anyone who dares not bend the knee, submit fully and start sucking on that orange mushroom.
oh the generosity
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/communities-financially-devastated-bushfires?fbclid=IwAR1m5t0tT7vaaEFcMJz1gCOJP9c7Czt0gGQlQzCRtp6HeMwD9vIW4oE9twg
Echoes of hapless Brash as Winston urges his party officials to go to police over material being shared with media: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12307127
The amusing thing is that he’s going on about a huge breach of ‘party’ material – when most of the bits in the media are about the ‘foundation’
i guess it’s not surprising he’s confused.
Wonder how many people had access to both sets of information..?
National and Labour neck and neck according to TV3's Reid Research Poll.
Since Reid Research is usually more generous to Labour than the Colmar Brunton, I am surprised Labour didn't do better considering the positive publicity Jacinda has been getting in recent weeks.
What it suggests to me is that National's negative attack strategy is already working in election year – and that is backed up with what I heard among my relatives over Xmas. Some people might not like hearing this, but the "relentless positivity" campaign strategy came in for criticism of Jacinda. That they saw it as unrealistic and a bit plastic would be my summation.
I am inclined to agree – at least in part. A counter attack against the lies and innuendo from National is inevitable if Labour wants to keep the treasury benches. Maintaining a lofty ‘we’re not going to play with you' sentiment will mean nothing to the average voter.
They actually like to see a little bit of mongrel from political parties, and are inclined to regard those who don't play as a bunch of wusses.
Just off to find some secure head gear in preparation for the probable disagreements among fellow standardistas.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/02/national-and-labour-neck-and-neck-in-new-newshub-reid-research-poll.html
Interesting that this time in the electoral cycle greens were 13% and Nz first 8%
and this poll was taken before nats rules out Nz first.
I imagine it indicates there are a lot of 'undeciders' this election year. National dropped slightly and Labour rose slightly, yet neither appear to have gained from former Green and NZ First voters.
On that basis it makes for a very bumpy election year.
Yep. A 2% shift in the polls changes the government.
cant imagine the current mob are happy with this after just one term.
So yeah and that's the trend. National has no path to power.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119382109/new-poll-shows-tight-margin-between-labour-and-national-and-nz-first-is-out
Unless there is a 2% shift which puts National in power
or if the greens drop below 5%
not a strong position for the current government after a single term.
This poll shows Labour and the Greens in a very strong position to govern alone.
Not sure there's been a time when the two poll near 50% but that is the case now.
That's also a trend – that the public are getting on board an environmentally, economically, and socially sound left wing government.
Labour + Greens 2014 Election – 36%
Labour + Greens 2017 Election – 43%
Labour + Greens Newshub RR – 48%
That must scare the shit out of National and its supporters.
Not at all.
greens have gone 2011 – 11.06 down to 2014- 10.7 down to 2017 – 6.3 and this year may well end up under 5%.
nz first could also be well gone. Going to be an interesting year for them.
Could be a one term government. Jacinda quits and goes to UN. Labour have no other quality people – stay in opposition for another 9 years. Yay.
That vote has transferred to Labour. And the total is increasing at an alarming (if you are in the National Party) rate.
I, along with an increasing number of New Zealanders, am looking forward to the first Labour/Green government.
Where does Simon go after inevitable defeat? The back-benches. Yay.
Ah, I see. James has been to Kiwiblog to get his opinion and reassurance again.
The 2% is fact not opinion.
I know you have trouble with facts.
You've swallowed Farrar's desperate spin and regurgitated it here. That's all you are capable of.
Like so many of your comments – you are wrong.
All Blacks 3 – 0 Lions.
Yes dear.
Polls lag. Not that media companies who spend money on them want to tell that story – hence grasping for recent explanations for each single poll. Trends matter.
lol
almost like the election was being held under some sort of prortional representation system. Expert analysis from tv3…
+ 1 Anne (Sorry to disappoint.)
You must play your intuitive game, Anne. As soon as you depart from what you know you are in trouble.
JA knows positivity. That's what has brought Labour to 43% and that's what she should continue with. For her to wrestle with pigs would be a disaster I think.
If Labour need to get dirty the someone else will have to do it. Normally this would be Phil Twyford but he has had such dismal term and his credibility is so shot that for him to try be the enforcer would also be a disaster.
Lab/Green is 48%. Stick to the plan, it’s working.
If Labour need to get dirty the someone else will have to do it.
Of course. No-one is suggesting Jacinda do it. Her natural personna is special and must be kept that way.
And it isn't a case of Labour getting dirty but rather responding to the Nat Party dirty tricks and misinformation strategy we know is going to be full on this year. Its a sad fact that many people are fooled by such tactics – look at Trump's America – and they are almost as gullible here.
Grant Robertson can do it. Chris Hipkins, Megan Woods and Andrew Little are very smart and experienced and can dish it out when required. There will be others on the back benches who can do it as well.
A random thought on this sunny afternoon.
The criticism of the Labour government's push towards well-being has been called flighty and novel and empty. It's been used to push the claim that Ardern is some sort of airhead.
I'm not on board with a lot of the political PR coming out of this government, but hoisting well-being as being something we should strive for is hardly a flighty and novel and empty concept.
"Well-being" is a pretty good translation of εὐδαιμονία, or eudaimonia.
Critics who claim the drive is flighty and novel and empty need to pick up their ancient Greek philosophy readers.
The idea that the good life – pursing long term strategies for maximizing pleasure and in the name of social harmony and virtue – is hardly new. It’s certainly not flighty, novel, or empty.
It’s a shame that the Ardern government’s critics, some of whom have apparently studied philosophy, were unable or unwilling to grasp this, and engage in a serious, historically and philosophically engaged, and meaningful, way.
But we’ve come to expect bad faith, haven’t we.
CORRECTION
The idea *of the good life – pursing long term strategies for maximizing pleasure and in the name of social harmony and virtue – is hardly *a new one.
I would love to see our representatives debating these concepts more substantially in the House. We’ve got millenia to draw on, come on, guys; not to mention the philosophical collieries inherent in Te Ao Māori Tikanga (in many respects I feel the ancients would feel more comfortable on a marae than they would in Parliament. Those worlds were not so far removed from each other).
It would have ben better if Ardern had spent more time learning how to make practise into perfection studying Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics than preaching Marxism to they already-converted at the Socialist Youth International.
Wellbeing is as slippery as a term and as a practise as Whanau Ora. It's a palimpsest.
Bridges was criticized for trying to hold Ardern to political account at precisely the place Ardern invited everyone to do so last year. If the public and the media are so immature that they can't allow her to be criticized with facts when she invited it, we're a long way before we get to definitional niceties as you propose.
Nobody is arguing with any intelligence or knowledge. Hit me up, brother. You’ve got two-and-a-half thousand years of philosophy and literature and history to argue from or with. Don’t see it in your comment.
Aristotle was of a different school from the philosophers I dropped. How is Aristotle relevant to your response? Have you read the Nichomachean Ethics?
I've spent the past three years studying ancient Greek and Latin. Please tell me how Aristotle's conception of virtue is relevant to my argument, and why you brought it up. Thanks.
Don’t let me put you off. Studying the classics has been one of the most fulfilling studies of my life, beside my gardening.
“Start and you are half done. Dare to be wise; begin!”
– Horace
Critics who claim the drive is flighty and novel and empty need to pick up their ancient Greek philosophy readers.
OK how about Isocrates (Areopagiticus)
Therefore, being of this mind, our forefathers did not seek to discover first how they should penalize men who were lawless, but how they should produce citizens who would refrain from any punishable act; for they thought that this was their duty, while it was proper for private enemies alone to be zealous in the avenging of crime.
Now our forefathers exercised care over all the citizens, but most of all over the young. They saw that at this age men are most unruly of temper and filled with a multitude of desires, and that their spirits are most in need of being curbed by devotion to noble pursuits and by congenial labor; for only such occupations can attract and hold men who have been educated liberally and trained in high-minded ways.
However, since it was not possible to direct all into the same occupations, because of differences in their circumstances, they assigned to each one a vocation which was in keeping with his means; for they turned the needier towards farming and trade, knowing that poverty comes about through idleness, and evil-doing through poverty.
Ha!
Those concerned with eudaimonia had some contempt for the contemporary rhetoricians or sophists of that time, too.
I have noted that some of our contemporary sophists get red in the face in media or other public appearances also. And they, like Isocrates, can afford to drive late model European vehicles. Proves their virtue, I suppose. No time for idleness and evil doing like the gadfly-who-must-be-destroyed.
And that's why I refuse to accept curbs on speech, my brother, especially by the horse (or whomever is whipping it).
the gadfly being Socrates, of course. Your Isocrates (note the “I”, a different person) stood by and watched, much like many of you disgraceful liberals have stood back and damned Julian Assange.
Disgraceful then, disgraceful now.
But you don’t need my opinion and nor does history, which will damn you.
I guess Cambridge Analytica has arrived.
We did it! And a new golden age awaits, says ARRON BANKS
AT 11pm on Friday the UK left the European Union after 47 years of membership, an historic moment.
[…]
In the end, the British public always gets what it wants!
I’m in New Zealand for three months, and celebrated Brexit with a glass of Cloudy Bay and a barbecue by the beach.
New Zealand is a country of five million people with a legal system based on English Law, and has an immigration system that suits them. It’s a small country but a terrific one!
Worldwide there are successful independent countries based on our system of government including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1236710/brexit-news-brexit-day-leave-european-union
A plague on all their houses?
https://www.sciencealert.com/africa-is-having-its-worst-locust-swarm-in-decades-and-the-destructive-potential-is-unprecedentedhttps:
Let's hope Bob Jones loses his case, although there just a judge which makes me worry for Renae Maihi.
Kia Kaha Renae!
Shouldn’t we hope for justice to be served – not hoping the person you don’t like loses – especially when you don’t have all the info available ?
Best justice money can buy.
I'm surprised Jones thinks the words of Renae Maihi carry so much weight.
She must have struck a nerve.
Basically, the polls have not moved since the last one. I anticipate the politically flawless start to the year by Labour has bumped them up slightly, if anything.
I don't agree National can go any higher in the polls – they've had a bottomless pit of money and a sympathetic media for their time in opposition, so IMHO their support is as high as it will ever be. Basically, they've been in a permanent campaign since they got turfed out.
Labour has grown it's vote since the last election, but they need to shore things up – Swarbrick needs a clear run in Auckland Central and give Shane Jones Northland and they'lll be home no problems.
Kia Ora Newshub
Electric cars are the way of the future Its the Ion age.
The Greens are a good party who will push environmentaly friendly policies that should be good for our futures.
No other species does things that jeopardise their Offsprings servival.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
Tawhirimate is getting more Mana with Global Warming.
It will be good when half Wahine are in all leadership roles.
I would like a Ap to find moles O don't need 1 I'm pretty good at finding them.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
Times are changing to fast for some.
That's is cool Te Tairawhiti studying the economics and health remedies of Kanuka Manuka. Those flowers were Manuka.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
Droughts were predicted by our scientists.
The mess that national created while lining their M8 pockets with gold is still rolling in as predicted.
Those 2 deaths will be directly linked to PEE.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
That's is cool having 2 good Wahine mentoring new musicians.
That will be a great play telling the story of gay people not getting Justice.
Ka kite Ano