If you ever wanted evidence of the power of the military industrial complex, the influence of the Israeli lobby and the involvement of the Saudis in US politics , here it is.
It is the armaments industries of Iran and Russia that will benefit the most: no one else in the world will be prepared to work around the sanctions now proposed by the US.
Israel already has Iran on its border since it controls Lebanon through Hezbollah, has military bases and strong influence over the government of Syria, and strong influence within the government of Iraq which may increase this weekend through the elections. This is a world now with Iran unconstrained.
Israel is no winner from this.
How Saudia Arabia would benefit when it is trying to get enough money together from oil sales to exit oil entirely – when this decision by Trump will collapse the oil price yet again – is something you will have to explain.
There are no winners in this decision.
There is certainly no Plan B from Trump.
It’s a decision made in his usual spite that he couldn’t stand a deal holding that his predecessor Obama had put in place.
Why would any other state – such as North Korea – go into a binding deal with this President after this action? President Trump kills international deals.
World peace is certainly not a winner in this decision.
President Trump has a faster and better chance of ending the human world than climate change.
It’s a decision made in his usual spite that he couldn’t stand a deal holding that his predecessor Obama had put in place.
That’s exactly what I thought as I listened to the dangerous buffoon pontificating just now.
He lurched between saying in one breath that the action against Iran was because of the desire for nuclear weaponry and then it was their support of terrrorism. Which is it?
And then he said something like that he would not stand for US cities being threatened with nuclear weapons and that the US would not be blackmailed. Isn’t that North Korea he’s talking about, not Iran?
– No UN reform
– Withdraw from Paris climate agreement
– Withdraw from Cuban agreement
– Withdraw from CPTPP
– Withdraw from Iran
It’s a pretty weird world when the United States shrinks from diplomatic leadership so fast that the last rational states of any leadership note still standing are France and Germany.
Trump said there will be “maximum sanctions” on Iran, and sanctions on anyone who doesn’t comply with US sanctions.
Trump is an utter fool. The Europeans won’t withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. They will keep trading with Iran. Will Trump really impose sanctions on the Europeans to try and force them into line? He just might, he is that stupid. If he does try to force the Europeans into line, he’ll fail. If he doesn’t, he’ll be a blowhard laughing stock. Either way, US isolationism in this matter will simply underline the faltering power of the United States to unilaterally influence world affairs.
It is likely the European companies will comply with the US secondary sanctions. They mostly have far more to lose than continue trading with Iran, unless of course Iranian trade is their main business. For instance would Airbus sell Iran any aircraft if they then risked access to the US market.
However, Russian and Chinese companies won’t comply with US secondary sanctions if they are hit by them. China in particular may well impose their own secondary sanctions against US companies if that happens. It seems unlikely that China will by any more Boeing aircraft. Airbus will be the winner.
So the US withdrawal could easily trigger a wider trade war, and the US won’t necessarily be the winner.
Overall the main effect may be to strengthen the appeal of China as a fundamentally more reliable financial and trade partner. It is likely to spur the Chinese push to make the renminbi a global reserve currency.
So the US withdrawal could easily trigger a wider trade war, and the US won’t necessarily be the winner.
I, for one, hope like hell the US loses big time.
Can’t speak for anyone else, but the average American voter needs to be kicked over a steep cliff into oblivion – metaphorically speaking of course. They brought this appalling state of affairs on themselves and millions of innocents around the world will accordingly suffer.
I feel sorry for those who did not vote for Trump but where are they now? It looks like some sort of Civil War is the only solution if the US is going to regain any form of international respect. At the moment it deserves nothing but derision and disrespect and I suspect in the long run that is exactly what it is going to get.
Figure of speech Wayne. I said “some sort of” Civil War. It doesn’t follow it has to end up with one side fighting the other with guns although ummm… this is the US of A. (yes that is a bit naughty)
2 and half years away. Too long. God only knows what damage he will have done by then. 👿
Trying to conjure up an equivalence to National not accepting they lost a MMP election? Won’t work.
The concern re -Trump is that he is unfit to be a leader of anything let alone US President. In short, he’s a screw loose and incredibly ignorant. He also has traits in him that could be likened to Hitler or Mussolini. Of course a large portion of the American population are also a screw loose and incredibly ignorant. That is why they voted for him.
It is time they upgraded their generally poor educational systems then maybe these nut-bars wouldn’t get anywhere near the seats of power in the first place.
“Trying to conjure up an equivalence to National not accepting they lost a MMP election? Won’t work.”
No, I’m pointing out it looks like civil war because the left (in the USA) don’t/can’t/won’t accept Trump won the election
“The concern re -Trump is that he is unfit to be a leader of anything let alone US President.”
Says who? A media that doesn’t want him or the population that didn’t vote for him?
“In short, he’s a screw loose and incredibly ignorant.”
I suspect most of his act is mostly bluster
“He also has traits in him that could be likened to Hitler or Mussolini. Of course a large portion of the American population are also a screw loose and incredibly ignorant. That is why they voted for him.”
Or maybe because he said he’d lower unemployment and unemployment is lowering:
“It is time they upgraded their generally very poor educational standards then maybe these nut cases wouldn’t get anywhere near the seats of power in the first place.”
Thats quite an arrogant statement, right up there with deplorables, and a major reason why Trump won
Yes Trump shows the naked truth of US foreign policy. It has never been about peace, ask the Palestinians. He is a moron but his speech was written for him.
The problem now as ever is Israel emboldened to act and suck the US into furthering their Zionist ambitions.
Agreed. The consequence of secondary sanctions will be that US will wind up with no mates. That’s not really good for anyone except of course the corporate military industrial folks who, I’d wager, will be needing a change of shorts this morning.
This was new Secretary of State Pompeos testimoney last year during his confirmation for CIA director.
“With the information I’ve been provided, I’ve seen no evidence that they are not in compliance today,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
and again
“It was largely described in a 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which said that U.S. spies “judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.”
That was ‘before Obama’
But the lies have already started
But some U.S. officials fear it will, and they cite a mistake by the White House press office Monday night, which issued a news release saying that Iran “has” a “robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program.”
The White House later corrected the statement on its website, but never sent out a corrected news release — blaming the mistake on a “clerical error.”
There are calls for the Government to bring in an empty home tax with tens of thousands of unused properties around the country and even more struggling to find housing.
In Auckland alone, more than 33,000 houses were registered as unoccupied in 2013 census data – some with residents away but more than two thirds listed as empty…..
……However Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford told Stuff the Government was not considering an empty homes tax.
“The Labour-led government has a comprehensive plan to address the housing shortage including cracking down on offshore speculators and changing rules around negative gearing,” Mr Twyford said.
Maybe occupancy can be added to the LIM Report and be compulsory information to be provided at time of sale (and obtaining a mortgage + insurance, of course).
There are quite a few older motels around that have become full time renters.
Normal Motels are rented on a day by day basis, but were always cheaper if you rented say for 2 weeks or more. If WINZ took a 6 month lease on a motel but provided the tentants it would be cheaper again.
Our PM will do her best, and at least admits there is a problem, growing as NZers return, migrants still come and we are now suffering a building skill shortage caused by short sighted Nat policies regarding education and training.
She has tried to get hidebound bureaucrats to be flexible and kind. And those Ministers concerned should pay close attention, as they will want to keep her confidence, and get the direction started.
NZers are stepping up to the plate, offering help, and those in ministries who have not enacted the memos are finding the public going to a listening ear at their local pollies office.
There will be big changes for those who will/can not change their attitudes.
This Government means to change things… it will be a snowball,,,, slow but gathering strength and speed as more come on board. So some bureaucrats earning over $300 000 need to be sure they are following the new directives.
A house next to me had the same tenants for 7 years and when they left , the house was put up for rent but was empty for about 6 weeks. Some work needed to be done as well.
You would have to know those that are long term “empty”, ie say 3 months or more.
Plus some homes are occupied by owners who have more than one home ( surprisingly common).
My own house was empty for a while when I was renting in another city for work on a 18 month contract .
I know a friend who rents from an elderly lady on the same site, she can be away staying with her family for 6 weeks at a time.
Bridges is doing a marvelous job of making sure NZF will never go with the Nats in the future by attacking Peters on the rise in overseas aid and diplomatic services budget.
(Incidentally, this brings NZ overseas aid to 0.28% of GDP as opposed to a world average of 0.4% and I seem to remember a UN target of 0.7%.)
Peters was scathing in reply to Bridges calling National’s reaction “myopic”.
And not explicitly supporting an electoral deal with Act means Bridges has a ballsy game thinking he can win an outright majority of seats with no coalition partners at all.
He said as much in a recent speech. He said 44% wasnt enough they needed to get more. He then pretended Nats are becoming an environmentally friendly party… but
Opposed end to offshore drilling
Opposes reduction in dairy cows
Opposes fuel tax rises under Labour
Etc
Etc
They are targeting the soft green party vote in wealthy national seats.
It has two purposes, trys to get Greens below 5% ( and become wasted vote, a very hard task though ) and of course adds to their party vote if they switch to national.
The winning double would be to get Greens and NZ First below 5%, say 4.5% each. Thats 9% wasted vote, plus the other groups that dont get above 5% could make the total wasted vote 12%.
44% then looks winnable, and the only strategy that makes sense with ‘no mates’
He says they will be environmental. You want them to be. You want less fucking over of the environment. But they had 9 years of fucking it over, you voted for them last year? And now you feel comforted that they will be more environmental cos Bridges says they will but there is no evidence before and since his statement that they have changed, at all.
By all means vote for them again but do not say it is cos they are being Greener
Like Labour and NZF wanted to bop capitalism on the nose but Robeetson is following the same NL/Cap “rules”
Nope, I don’t vote for National on their environmental policies
“He says they will be environmental.”
Good on them
“You want them to be.”
It’d be nice yeah
“You want less fucking over of the environment.”
Sure, as a generalisation
“But they had 9 years of fucking it over, you voted for them last year?”
They did some things well and some things not so well and yes i did vote for them
“And now you feel comforted that they will be more environmental cos Bridges says they will but there is no evidence before and since his statement that they have changed, at all.”
Thats a rather large jump from I’m for National becoming more environmental to “comforted that they will be more environmental cos Bridges says they will” don’t you think
“By all means vote for them again but do not say it is cos they are being Greener”
I’m not voting for them because they’re Greener
“Like Labour and NZF wanted to bop capitalism on the nose but Robertson is following the same NL/Cap “rules”
I recall it was Labour that bought in Rogernomics and no one from Labour has ever come out and repudiated it yet
Peters will never go with National. He is having far to much fun as the Supremo in the present Government. Once he gets his arse in the PM’s chair on the ninth floor when Ardern goes off they will never get him out of the office.
Can you imagine National allowing the leader of a minor party to threaten members of the Main party like Mahuta and Jackson that they will lose the Ministerial warrants if they don’t do what Peters tells them.
What do you think Helen Clark would have done? Can you imagine her ignoring it and instead telling her local paper what he favourite songs are?
It doesn’t really matter of course. Both the Greens and New Zealand First will be dog tucker after the next election. They certainly won’t be missed.
NZFirst gone for sure but the Greens only need to fool one in twenty voters they’re an environmental party so I reckon they’ll be around for a few more years
Yep, they’ll be around as long as most of NZ is still above water despite rising sea levels and tourists flock to Franz Josef snowfield in winter months only.
He’s threatening them as the deputy prime minister. As such he is perfectly entitled to discipline any ministers as he has seniority over them.
If Michael Cullen had done the same then I doubt Clark would have an issue with it. Likewise, if Bill English had done the same I doubt John Key would have had a problem with.
We live in an MMP political environment now, do try and keep up.
What is with the MSM trying to claim some of the new government policy is all the work of Crusher Collins?
They are trying to position her as responsible for a lot of the work on having online retailers pay GST and looking into the petrol companies pricing policies.
It seems like National’s MSM cronies are trying to rewrite the history of the last 9 years of the National government to look like they actually did some stuff instead of all the delays in implementing stuff and ignoring of recommendations till they are to little too late.
Must have got the polling numbers back showing hitting back at oil companies and offshore retailers paying tax is very popular. So they are doing a #metoo
“MSM trying to claim some of the new government policy is all the work of Crusher Collins?”.
The reason is very simple. The work was done by people in the departments at Collin’s behest. It has simply been picked up by the new lot in the Beehive.
Whether Collins would have progressed the proposals if National had been returned is of course unknown, but irrelevant. The proposals are the work of the last Government however.
Didn’t you notice, and probably complain, about how National took over things being planned by the Clark led Government when they came in?
Actually if you look at what Parliament has been up to nearly everything has been a carryover from the English Administration. Labour simply weren’t ready for the election result they never expected.
Actually if you look at what Parliament has been up to nearly everything has been a carryover from the English Administration.
I know you RWNJs like to rake up the past and especially Roger Douglas at every opportunity but to go back to William Hobson is stretching it a bit, don’t you think, Alwyn?
That is actually rather a funny comment. Quite unlike you I must say.
It is a pity there are a few minor errors but a good first attempt.
If you knew your history you would have realised that Hobson died in 1842 and the first NZ Parliament was not until 1854.
But then you LWNJs never were very careful about the accuracy of your statements.
Following up on the issue at WINZ Central Hamilton.
I have just left their office having spoken with the manager after being challenged by the on site security guards for taking pictures of coned mobility parking.
I am positive (as much as I can be) that they understand there are serious issues and are making appropriate changes.
Spoke to someone a couple of weeks ago who had just wrote a complaint to Porirua Community Link (winz FYI) about not being able to park in the mobility parks.
Heh! I did ask today if there was someone in the Hamilton Central WINZ office with mobility issues….hence the coned mobility park…and was told no…
I know its really difficult sometimes to make the appropriate amount of fuss for fear of retribution, but there seems to be a high tolerance for access activism for the simple reason that so often those who fail to provide access or those who abuse access provisions made for those who need them largely do so out of sheer ignorance.
They simply have never, ever been forced to see things from the point of view of the person with the disability.
Sometimes kicking up a bit of shit is like doing them a favour….
“Today I helped a family member who had to take a Medical Certificate to the Hamilton central WINZ office.
In the past we’ve waited in the queue inside the building. Today we had to wait in a queue of 12 people standing outside on the footpath. One of the three security guards said he had been told to only let one person through the door when someone else left. The footpath cue included a very frail elderly lady and a person with one leg using crutches. It took around 40 minutes waiting on the footpath just to get into the building.
The five parking spaces directly outside were blocked with orange cones. I asked why and was told that only WINZ staff could park there.
The fact that any government department can treat people like this is truly shocking and humiliating.”
Many of us agreed, and for me it seemed ironic that on Friday our PM is exhorting WINZ to be kind to people seeking help, and on the following Monday we hear of shit like this happening.
Not. Good. Enough.
And not going to go unchallenged, not within the reach of my arm.
An email was sent to Sepuloni’s office which was sent on to Brendan Boyle, CEO of MSD. A follow up email from me,
“Thank you .
I am anticipating that this will be rectified today.
Tomorrow I will be onsite taking photographs and speaking with clients
waiting outside…if this is still happening.
I will also be ensuring that the parking spaces in front of the
building are available for client use, especially for those with
mobility issues.
Sincerely,
Rosemary McDonald”
So about 10 am this morning after a successful (yay!! 🙂 ) COF check on my Bus we were parked just up the road from WINZ, Central Hamilton.
There is nothing quite so off putting as a random person taking photographs.
Not of people, as the only person in sight was the security guard, but of five bright orange cones blocking the five ‘visitor only’ parking spaces…including the mobility park.
The security guard politely asked what I was doing and I said ‘photographing the coned carparks.’
This security guard was very quickly joined by another who proceeded to demand who I was and where was I from.
“I am a NZ Citizen doing a follow up to a report from Monday of blocked parking spaces and long waits for WINZ clients outside in the cold.”
“These carparks are for visitors.” said 2nd security guard. “Is that for visiting clients….” “No! Visitors to the office!”.
Fortunately, he could see how circular the discussion could have got so he disappeared inside to get the Manager.
TBH, I was not expecting to speak to management. I had to quickly gather my wits and prepare to do battle.
The battle, such as it was, appeared to have mostly been fought as the manager was polite, attentive, communicative and most importantly apologetic.
She was well aware of the complaints…and the following discussion indicated that there was at least one other complainant. Someone acting as a support person to a client had not been allowed inside with the client when they were finally allowed inside.
The manager was emphatically in agreement that this was a major departure from expected treatment of clients. The security guard was perhaps a little over zealous.
Thanks to Fireblade’s detailed description I was able to mention the amputee and the elderly lady (“Both of whom could have benefited greatly from the blocked mobility park.”) and the security guards only allowing some inside after someone had left. Cones were being moved as I left.
It transpires that about four weeks ago WINZ Hamilton Central had to leave their usual premises on Victoria St because of a leak in the roof. This building on Anglesea St was clearly not fit for purpose. Largely because of floor space.
I was taken inside to see for myself and I could see the problem. Better premises are being sought but in the meantime they are going to try to make the available space work better for clients.
Allowing too many people inside would cause privacy issues for the client speaking with the reception staff. Point taken, but the available space could be better utilised. A couple of the computer terminals for client use could go, and the reception desk moved back to allow more room inside for waiting clients.
A crew is coming to the office after 5pm tonight to do this.
I said I didn’t understand why, if clients attend the office by appointment only, would there have been so many people waiting? She agreed, and said that Monday was a particularly busy day. ” A lot if foot traffic.” was how she described it, so maybe some did not have appointments or had made appointments at short notice.
I asked about availability of toilets for clients and was told there is one available. I suggested that it would perhaps be more dignified if the toilets were sign posted and clients did not have to ask to use them. I also suggested (while I had a receptive ear ;-)) that there was a water cooler available and perhaps an area for children to play.
Without climbing high on my soap box with my megaphone,I hope I conveyed to the manager just how terribly disappointed I was hearing about this unacceptable treatment of WINZ clients within days of the PM heralding a culture change.
I mentioned Ashburton, and how I understood the Workplace Health and Safety issues, risk assessment and the like….but I also (drawing on the comments of others here the other day…take this as recognition :-)) pointed out that ‘security guards not much use against an armed person’, and it’d ‘be easier to wait outside at 5 pm if one wanted to harm WINZ staff’, and seriously…considering the ‘toxic culture that has built up around WINZ over the past decade its a miracle there has been only the one tragic incident’. There was more, but hopefully you’ll get the drift.
I think I have a fairly good BS detector, especially konohi ki kanohi, and I believe this manager was genuinely sorry that this happened. I got the decided impression that there is going to be change…please, gods…and if the attitude of this particular manager is indicative of anything then serious thought is going to be put into improving not only the physical environment but also the culture.
or, I was beguiled, hood winked, a victim of a charm offensive….
“Did TS go down for anyone else from about 11.30 to 12 this morning?” Yes.
Happens often for me…feel your pain at losing your work. Funny thing happened the other day as i was compiling an OIA request on this laptop. As I hit ‘send’ poof! gone! I found myself with an error message and when relogged into gmail all was lost as I had not saved the draft. Repeatedly kicked myself as this is not the first time this has happened. Half an hour later I happened to be checking something on my cheapy android phone when I noticed an extra item in the gmail…there it was…my draft OIA request! I will never, ever get the tech…
With all the amazing things this government was promising to accomplish by now I would have thought there would be more posts celebrating the wins of this government?
Why no post about light rail from south west to north west?
I’d be surprised if most politicians didn’t as like him or loathe him (I stooped supporting him a whiles back) he does get some dirt every now and then but yeah admitting to it isn’t good
This is the politics where imperialism is seen only as coming from one country, or one alliance of countries, and is contrasted to the “national sovereignty” of various regimes – no matter how autocratic, rather than in favour of the self-determination and autonomy of peoples. Lebanese journalist Joey Hussein Ayoub has given the name “essentialist anti-imperialism” to the same phenomenon: “defined solely in relation to [one’s] own governments rather than on the basis of a universal opposition to all forms of imperialism.”
Amar Diwarkar argues that this is not so much a conscious embrace of Fascist politics, but:
a tactical tolerance of the far-right’s nativist anti-establishment logic to accelerate the dissolution of the ruling order and bring about a transitional phase preceding social transformation. However, by eliminating the dimension of the international from its purview, what remains is a strikingly non-radical relativism. Its underlying logic is one that is infused with a colonial unconscious; a conviction that Western agency is the eternal subject and locus of motion – the prime mover of History.
The right wing contributions here are largely monosyllabic and occasionally a little more precocious e.g. ‘and so”, “so what”, “your point” etc.
It is that they all lack critical thinking and general IQ; or has Bridges made AI in the image of himself.
Seems to be one could waste a lot of time answering monosyllabic irritants who have no interest in conversation, only opposition. So they just carry on…
“meaning”
“and then?”
“says who”
I’m just going to ignore RW contributors unless they’re actually contributing to the debate, not obfuscating progress.
The RW contributors are just ‘diverting us from real conversation here’ as PR did when we were having a deep human conversation with Rosemary, and she was showing great humanity.
But PR just butted in, with some mindless jaba-jaba nonsense, that was a waste of consideration.
So it was just gribble to stop a deep from the heart conversation going on.
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ...
Yesterday the Greater Wellington Regional Council unanimously declared a climate emergency. They've also set themselves a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, though this only applies to their direct emissions. Still, its a good step, and as usual it invites the question: where is Parliament? When are we going ...
That's the only way to describe the government's plans for a Parliamentary Budget Office to allow opposition parties to get an independent costing of their policies. When the idea was first floated back in 2016 as an office within Treasury, I thought that wasn't independent enough and argued that it ...
Today is a Member's day, and after the third reading of Hamish Walker's KiwiSaver (Oranga Tamariki Guardians) Amendment Bill, Parliament will be continuing the committee stage of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. The bigots have put up another pile of amendments in an effort to delay or wreck ...
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...
It looks like the government has won over the public on its vehicle feebate scheme:A feebate scheme that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from buyers of higher-emission cars into the pockets of people buying EVs and other more fuel-efficient vehicles has been winning favour with submitters, the Government ...
When people suggest lowering the voting age, others argue that the young are too uneducated or silly to exercise the duties of citizenship. Australian John Quiggin has just blown that argument out of the water:Looking at the array of ignorant and vindictive old men attacking Greta Thunberg and other young ...
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to pass on information to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques now that the period for submissions has been extended to 27 September. ...
An application was filed in the Employment Relations Authority in Wellington today, seeking an injunction to prevent the Board of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation from removing the President from office. ...
The Government’s commitment to support literacy and numeracy training in the workplace is a strong signal from Government on recognising the importance of upskilling, reskilling and increasing productivity alongside their commitment to address the challenges ...
“The infrastructure sector sees a major role for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga in lifting the nation’s sagging infrastructure performance,” says Paul Blair, incoming CEO of Infrastructure NZ. ...
The AA is calling on the Government to bring forward critical highway projects while time is spent properly developing the plans for a rapid transit system in Auckland. ...
Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, DHBs spent $280 million treating patients due to adverse drug reactions, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in its latest briefing paper on health productivity . ...
The Pay Equity Coalition Auckland (PECA) is pleased the gender pay gap has decreased slightly. Statistics released today show the gap is now 11.9%, nearly 2 percent less than last year. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to make sure they pass on any information they have to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques before submissions close tomorrow (Friday). ...
The big electricity companies consider solar energy “disruptive” and want pricing to suppress it. In contrast, advocates of local energy say that solar, energy efficiency, and other local energy solutions are the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions. ...
The Earthquake Commission and Shine Lawyers are delighted to announce that EQC has reached an agreement with the Gibling family, agreeing to cover the cost of repairs of remaining earthquake damage on their property. ...
Four months into the inquiry, the Royal Commission is gathering significant information and continues to receive valuable submissions from the public, from current and former State servants, experts and community groups. ...
While Fish & Game New Zealand is pleased to see Federated Farmers Environment Spokesperson Chris Allen say that 'we all want good, fresh water', he conveniently overlooks some key facts. ...
What: Wellington demo “Save the Amazon Forest/Salve a Amazônia!” When: Friday, 6 September 2019 from 12:30-13:30 Where: Embassy of Brazil in Wellingtona ...
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, welcomes the visit of His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. ...
A cross political Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing group will be launched on Wednesday 28 August hosted by Sir John Kirwan and Moe Milne (ONZM) who have both been at the forefront of our country’s often difficult conversations about mental ...
Confirmation that the government will be progressing an independent Parliamentary Budget Office is great news for democracy and transparency, Federated Farmers says. ...
At first glance, Simon Bridges’ strident opposition to the government’s proposal to establish an independent office to cost political parties’ election spending plans looks childish and petty. ...
Euthanasia-Free NZ is appalled that Parliament spent so little time debating Part 2 of the End of Life Choice Bill and voted to leave it full of holes. ...
Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and its nationwide sister group the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Auckland Mayor Phil Goff for his comments today that John Tamihere would need the Government’s support to ...
A ‘one size fits all’, inflexible and punitive regulatory regime for water quality just gets backs - and costs - up and most importantly will not work, Federated Farmers says. ...
Mediation yesterday between secondary principals and the government has resulted in a deal that the principals' negotiating team is recommending to its members. ...
Clubs New Zealand welcomes the decision of Justice Minister Andrew Little to put forward a bill amending the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow all licensed premises to remain open for Rugby World Cup matches. ...
The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation has ordered a review looking at labelling of added sugars in food and drinks. An option under investigation is ‘a pictorial approach applied to sugary beverages / sugar-sweetened beverages’ ...
Labour market data released by Statistics New Zealand today indicates that a gender pay gap persists in New Zealand, despite improvement in some areas. ...
In the midst of the 6th Great Extinction Event the coalition, STOP Trashing Our Planet is urging voters to take full responsibility for the legacy we are leaving our children. ...
LGNZ will carefully consider the proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to assess if it meets the Government’s aim of enabling urban development or simply adds more red tape to the planning process. ...
Statistics out today from the Government show that the gender wage imbalance, or gap, in the average wage is 11.9%, a strong 2 percentage point improvement from 13.9% last year. The gender pay imbalance in the median wage is 9.3%. ...
Newstalk ZB Drive host and Herald on Sunday columnist Heather du Plessis-Allan is taking on the challenge of keeping 2019 Auckland Mayoral contenders Phil Goff and John Tamihere in line and on point in tonight’s live NZ Herald Newstalk ZB debate. ...
After twenty years Napier residents have endured heavy sleep and health disruptive noise and air pollution from freight trucks gridlock operations to and from the Napier port and other regions. ...
The EMA says much is riding on the board and chief executive of the new National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) announced by Infrastructure Minister Hon Shane Jones today, with a difficult task ahead to deliver on its purpose. ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the introduction of workplace standards by the State Services Commission that make it clear public services should expect positive and safe workplaces. ...
The Financial Services Federation (FSF) - the voice of responsible lenders and leasing companies - and FinCap - working with consumers facing financial hardship - are signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) this Thursday 22 August in Auckland. It will ...
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...
The Government’s decision to establish and independent Parliamentary Budget Office, outside of Treasury, is a taxpayer victory and will improve democracy, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It's ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ministry of Transport and used to advise Ministers on the Government’s Clean Car Standard and ‘Feebate’ policies has serious flaws which undermine justifications for the ...
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) welcomes new proposals for prison reform put forward by the Minister of Corrections and non-government organisations recently. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called on the nation to address all forms of racism and not to shy away from an honest conversation about where it’s taking hold. The call comes after the Nelson Club decided to keep a member after his comments became ...
Wellington (20 August 2019): The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomes the Coalition Government’s announcement of an Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister James Shaw ...
Drs Say No agree with Chris Penk’s amendment to protect vulnerable patients from coercion, although the organisation still maintains that no safe euthanasia legislation can ever be drafted and continues to urge MPs to defeat the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says the Northland Regional Corrections Facility is persisting with policies that are preventing it from achieving its full potential. ...
The second national hui in the Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki concluded yesterday ahead of schedule after a capacity audience formally ratified the terms of reference that determines the scope and purpose of the independent investigation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Even Scott Morrison, with his abundant self-belief, couldn’t have imagined that on Saturday’s first anniversary of his seizing the prime ministership, he’d be winging his way to France for a G7 meeting, where Australia has ...
A group of students, including some Youth MPs, have been banned from Parliament for a year, after singing a waiata in the public gallery in support of the Ihumātao hīkoi. ...
National MP Nick Smith has lodged a serious accusation against Parliament's Speaker calling him "biased" after once again being booted out of the debating chamber. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people again took to the streets in Hong Kong to protest against the government – the 11th straight weekend of demonstrations that began in June over a proposed extradition bill. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Hamilton, Strategic Advisory Panel Member, Australian-German Energy Transition Hub, University of Melbourne Australia’s primary federal renewable energy target – to have 33 terawatts of renewable energy by 2020 – has essentially been achieved. There is much uncertainty as to what is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lewis Mitchell, Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, University of Adelaide I swear by Hypatia, by Lovelace, by Turing, by Fisher (and/or Bayes), and by all the statisticians and data scientists, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Just when we thought Australia was getting serious about shifting priorities away from the Middle East to its own neighbourhood, the prime minister has announced another Middle East step up. Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Keogh, ARC DECRA Fellow, Queensland University of Technology In the last three months, the Australian Classification Board has “refused classification” for at least four video games – effectively banning them in Australia. The latest is zombie-survival shooter DayZ. Despite being previously ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle The Heart Foundation now recommends full-fat milk, cheese and yoghurt or reduced-fat options as part of its updated dietary advice released yesterday. This moves away from earlier advice that recommended only reduced-fat ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Paris Georgia co-founders Paris Mitchell Temple and Georgia Cherrie.This week’s podcast features a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, who has died aged 73 of cancer, leaves a political and personal legacy as a man of courage, conviction and congeniality. The support that Fischer as National Party leader ...
One part telenovela, one part family drama, one part addictive love story. Sam Brooks reviews Jane the Virgin, the great show with an unfortunate name that should be your next Netflix binge.The following piece contains very mild spoilers for Jane the Virgin.While watching the last season of Jane the Virgin, ...
Before Zumba, before Just Dance, before it was cool again to move in public group settings, there was Jump Jam. Madeleine Chapman reflects.Jump Jam entered the lives of New Zealand kids in 2001, a year filled with historic cultural movements. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in 2001; ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Jensz, Research associate professor, University of Münster Donald Trump is not the first US President to make an offer of buying Greenland from Denmark – but he might be the last. Home of some 56,000 people and around 80% covered by ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Tara Ward taste-tests the best hot chips in the country. Everyone loves a hot chip because they’re a) hot, and b) a chip, but there’s nothing more disappointing than a bad chip experience. A ...
Sky Network Television has written down the value of large parts of its business and scrapped paying a dividend as it changes direction to counter falling pay TV subscribers. ...
Strict word limits for Māori translations of local body election candidate profiles is a form of "institutional racism" and should be changed, a candidate says. ...
ACT Party leader David Seymour's voluntary euthanasia bill has cleared another stage in Parliament with a suite of changes aimed at securing support. ...
A finalist for New Zealander of the Year for her work with Māori smokers is at war with academics because her research is funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris. Guyon Espiner reports. ...
Keith Rankin’s Chart Analysis Auckland Māori exodus after 2014The 2018 census has had such a low compliance rate, that it really acted as a large convenience sample (therefore a biased sample) of the New Zealand population. (See my Census Survey from March 2018.) Despite the assurances we are getting, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Housing Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): Lecturing councils won’t work for Labour either Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ‘Nice pointers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Prudence Flowers, Lecturer in US History, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Flinders University As the abortion decriminalisation bill gradually makes its way through the NSW parliament, opponents have been increasingly drawing on their long relationship with the right-to-life movement in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation With the advent of online ancestry DNA testing, and advancements in genetic screening for various medical aliments, we’re able to know more than ever about the genes that make us who we are. But is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda Galligan, Associate professor, University of Southern Queensland If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How was maths discovered? Who made up the numbers and rules? – Bianca, age 12, Strathfield, Sydney. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Borroz, PhD candidate in international business and comparative political economy, University of Auckland India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has settled into lunar orbit, ahead of its scheduled Moon landing on September 7. If it succeeds India will join a very select club, now ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Twyford and Parker propose new urban development policy statement, Tamihere unveils transport plans, and Māori King issues challenge on child abuse.For a lead today, a nudge towards one of those deeply dense announcements that could end up having a huge ...
Just like its National predecessor, this Labour-led Government is trying to lecture councils into growing the 'right' kinds of cities without giving them the funding tools or help to do it. ...
Part three of our debate on the state of New Zealand fiction continues as Chris Else, whose opening essay was strongly rebutted last week by Catherine Robertson, returns to put the boot in once more. ...
This morning the five shortlisted songs for the 2019 Silver Scroll Award were announced. Here, exclusively for The Spinoff, the finalists discuss each other’s nominated songs.Tom Scott of Avantdale Bowling Club on ‘The Barrel’ by Aldous Hardingit’s such a beautiful stunt to witness. breaking just before the cliff edge. the ...
A group is currently holding seminars around NZ which appear to be based on misinformation about vaccines. Dr Helen Petousis-Harris fact checks some of their claims. ...
The Football Ferns are at a crossroads - they need to move on from simply being "competitive" to make a serious impression on the world football stage. ...
Countless stories from women who have a right to be safe on campus still go unanswered, writes Kate Hannah, deputy director equity and inclusion, Te Pūnaha MatatiniDespite the hashtags and the headlines, universities in New Zealand seem to have largely avoided facing up to their own “#MeToo moment”. It is ...
The government’s plan to avoid another ‘fiscal hole’ fiasco has an unlikely fan: the chief economist of the corporate think tank New Zealand Initiative. Eric Crampton explains what else it could do.Have you ever driven past one of those stores that mostly sells blinds but calls itself ‘Not Just Blinds’ ...
Over the course of the local elections period, The Spinoff will be publishing primers on some of the most interesting races around the country. Today, Alex Braae casts his eyes over the Otago Regional Council contest.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about ...
By Michael Andrew Journalists across Papua New Guinea have spoken out in support of EMTV news director Neville Choi after his “unacceptable” termination from a role he had held for six years. A public statement released on Monday listed the reasons for his termination, one of which was his ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camellia Webb-Gannon, Lecturer, University of Wollongong Last weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny). Police stormed the students’ dorm and used teargas ...
Open Mike 09/05/2018 
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...7 hours ago
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...7 hours ago
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ... 9 hours ago
Donald Trump seems to be eager to start a war with Iran, and naturally Australia is yapping at its heels like a good little vassal. The UK also asked New Zealand to get involved, but fortunately, we had a good excuse: we simply didn't have the toys available:Britain asked New ...14 hours ago
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...2 days ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...3 days ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...3 days ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...5 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...5 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...6 days ago
7 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...7 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...1 week ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...1 week ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...1 week ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...1 week ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...1 week ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 1 week ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...1 week ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...2 weeks ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...2 weeks ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...8 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Even Scott Morrison, with his abundant self-belief, couldn’t have imagined that on Saturday’s first anniversary of his seizing the prime ministership, he’d be winging his way to France for a G7 meeting, where Australia has ...5 hours ago
By distorting the climate truth Federated Farmers is making its members complacent about their performance and blind to the threats they face. ...6 hours ago
ANALYSIS: By Camellia Webb-Gannon of the University of Wollongong Last weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny). Police stormed the students’ dorm and used teargas to force them out, ...7 hours ago
A group of students, including some Youth MPs, have been banned from Parliament for a year, after singing a waiata in the public gallery in support of the Ihumātao hīkoi. ...9 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people again took to the streets in Hong Kong to protest against the government – the 11th straight weekend of demonstrations that began in June over a proposed extradition bill. ...9 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Hamilton, Strategic Advisory Panel Member, Australian-German Energy Transition Hub, University of Melbourne Australia’s primary federal renewable energy target – to have 33 terawatts of renewable energy by 2020 – has essentially been achieved. There is much uncertainty as to what is ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Keogh, ARC DECRA Fellow, Queensland University of Technology In the last three months, the Australian Classification Board has “refused classification” for at least four video games – effectively banning them in Australia. The latest is zombie-survival shooter DayZ. Despite being previously ...11 hours ago
Government agencies are taking an unconventional approach to family violence solutions. ...11 hours ago
Sky Network Television has bought the rights to put its name on Wellington's Westpac Stadium. ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle The Heart Foundation now recommends full-fat milk, cheese and yoghurt or reduced-fat options as part of its updated dietary advice released yesterday. This moves away from earlier advice that recommended only reduced-fat ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Libby Porter, Professor of Urban Planning, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University The Victorian government has announced it is seeking heritage listing for parts of the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne. We heard this news on Wednesday as we sat under a grandfather ...13 hours ago
A flood and a botched insurance job has left a Howick couple out of their home for almost two years. But it's a story with some strange twists. ...13 hours ago
One part telenovela, one part family drama, one part addictive love story. Sam Brooks reviews Jane the Virgin, the great show with an unfortunate name that should be your next Netflix binge.The following piece contains very mild spoilers for Jane the Virgin.While watching the last season of Jane the Virgin, ...15 hours ago
Before Zumba, before Just Dance, before it was cool again to move in public group settings, there was Jump Jam. Madeleine Chapman reflects.Jump Jam entered the lives of New Zealand kids in 2001, a year filled with historic cultural movements. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in 2001; ...15 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Jensz, Research associate professor, University of Münster Donald Trump is not the first US President to make an offer of buying Greenland from Denmark – but he might be the last. Home of some 56,000 people and around 80% covered by ...15 hours ago
Live updates: Around 150 are taking part in the hīkoi to the PM's electorate office from Ihumātao in a bid to get her to visit the site. ...16 hours ago
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Tara Ward taste-tests the best hot chips in the country. Everyone loves a hot chip because they’re a) hot, and b) a chip, but there’s nothing more disappointing than a bad chip experience. A ...16 hours ago
Sky Network Television has written down the value of large parts of its business and scrapped paying a dividend as it changes direction to counter falling pay TV subscribers. ...17 hours ago
A finalist for New Zealander of the Year for her work with Māori smokers is at war with academics because her research is funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris. Guyon Espiner reports. ...18 hours ago
Air New Zealand's full-year profit has hit headwinds as higher fuel costs and slower passenger growth hit its earnings. ...18 hours ago
Keith Rankin’s Chart Analysis
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Prudence Flowers, Lecturer in US History, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Flinders University As the abortion decriminalisation bill gradually makes its way through the NSW parliament, opponents have been increasingly drawing on their long relationship with the right-to-life movement in ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation With the advent of online ancestry DNA testing, and advancements in genetic screening for various medical aliments, we’re able to know more than ever about the genes that make us who we are. But is ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda Galligan, Associate professor, University of Southern Queensland If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. How was maths discovered? Who made up the numbers and rules? – Bianca, age 12, Strathfield, Sydney. ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Many of us do not need to hear any more warnings from the IPCC, David Attenborough or climate activists like Greta Thunberg. We have seen enough to be convinced ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Borroz, PhD candidate in international business and comparative political economy, University of Auckland India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has settled into lunar orbit, ahead of its scheduled Moon landing on September 7. If it succeeds India will join a very select club, now ...20 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Twyford and Parker propose new urban development policy statement, Tamihere unveils transport plans, and Māori King issues challenge on child abuse.For a lead today, a nudge towards one of those deeply dense announcements that could end up having a huge ...21 hours ago
Just like its National predecessor, this Labour-led Government is trying to lecture councils into growing the 'right' kinds of cities without giving them the funding tools or help to do it. ...22 hours ago
Part three of our debate on the state of New Zealand fiction continues as Chris Else, whose opening essay was strongly rebutted last week by Catherine Robertson, returns to put the boot in once more. ...22 hours ago
This morning the five shortlisted songs for the 2019 Silver Scroll Award were announced. Here, exclusively for The Spinoff, the finalists discuss each other’s nominated songs.Tom Scott of Avantdale Bowling Club on ‘The Barrel’ by Aldous Hardingit’s such a beautiful stunt to witness. breaking just before the cliff edge. the ...22 hours ago
Concerns about the rugby team’s name emerged when it was conceived, Crusaders’ management tells sponsors. ...22 hours ago
Newsroom literary editor Steve Braunias announces the coolest writer's residency in New Zealand. ...22 hours ago
A group is currently holding seminars around NZ which appear to be based on misinformation about vaccines. Dr Helen Petousis-Harris fact checks some of their claims. ...23 hours ago
The Football Ferns are at a crossroads - they need to move on from simply being "competitive" to make a serious impression on the world football stage. ...23 hours ago
Unravelling who's to blame for our rocketing petrol prices. ...23 hours ago
By Michael Andrew Journalists across Papua New Guinea have spoken out in support of EMTV news director Neville Choi after his “unacceptable” termination from a role he had held for six years. A public statement released on Monday listed the reasons for his termination, one of which was his ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camellia Webb-Gannon, Lecturer, University of Wollongong Last weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny). Police stormed the students’ dorm and used teargas ...1 day ago
If you ever wanted evidence of the power of the military industrial complex, the influence of the Israeli lobby and the involvement of the Saudis in US politics , here it is.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/356918/trump-announces-us-withdrawal-from-iran-nuclear-deal
Cui bono?
1. Saudi Arabia
2. Israel.
3. The armaments industries.
and
4.Israel Folau and his mates, evangelical Christians.
Armageddon just got closer.
Morning Ed, Al Jazeera are streaming live at the moment from Tehran as Iran responds to Trump.
Thank you.
It is the armaments industries of Iran and Russia that will benefit the most: no one else in the world will be prepared to work around the sanctions now proposed by the US.
Israel already has Iran on its border since it controls Lebanon through Hezbollah, has military bases and strong influence over the government of Syria, and strong influence within the government of Iraq which may increase this weekend through the elections. This is a world now with Iran unconstrained.
Israel is no winner from this.
How Saudia Arabia would benefit when it is trying to get enough money together from oil sales to exit oil entirely – when this decision by Trump will collapse the oil price yet again – is something you will have to explain.
There are no winners in this decision.
There is certainly no Plan B from Trump.
It’s a decision made in his usual spite that he couldn’t stand a deal holding that his predecessor Obama had put in place.
Why would any other state – such as North Korea – go into a binding deal with this President after this action? President Trump kills international deals.
World peace is certainly not a winner in this decision.
President Trump has a faster and better chance of ending the human world than climate change.
It’s a decision made in his usual spite that he couldn’t stand a deal holding that his predecessor Obama had put in place.
That’s exactly what I thought as I listened to the dangerous buffoon pontificating just now.
He lurched between saying in one breath that the action against Iran was because of the desire for nuclear weaponry and then it was their support of terrrorism. Which is it?
And then he said something like that he would not stand for US cities being threatened with nuclear weapons and that the US would not be blackmailed. Isn’t that North Korea he’s talking about, not Iran?
– No UN reform
– Withdraw from Paris climate agreement
– Withdraw from Cuban agreement
– Withdraw from CPTPP
– Withdraw from Iran
It’s a pretty weird world when the United States shrinks from diplomatic leadership so fast that the last rational states of any leadership note still standing are France and Germany.
Cui bono, Exactly Ed.
Trump said there will be “maximum sanctions” on Iran, and sanctions on anyone who doesn’t comply with US sanctions.
Trump is an utter fool. The Europeans won’t withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. They will keep trading with Iran. Will Trump really impose sanctions on the Europeans to try and force them into line? He just might, he is that stupid. If he does try to force the Europeans into line, he’ll fail. If he doesn’t, he’ll be a blowhard laughing stock. Either way, US isolationism in this matter will simply underline the faltering power of the United States to unilaterally influence world affairs.
It is likely the European companies will comply with the US secondary sanctions. They mostly have far more to lose than continue trading with Iran, unless of course Iranian trade is their main business. For instance would Airbus sell Iran any aircraft if they then risked access to the US market.
However, Russian and Chinese companies won’t comply with US secondary sanctions if they are hit by them. China in particular may well impose their own secondary sanctions against US companies if that happens. It seems unlikely that China will by any more Boeing aircraft. Airbus will be the winner.
So the US withdrawal could easily trigger a wider trade war, and the US won’t necessarily be the winner.
Overall the main effect may be to strengthen the appeal of China as a fundamentally more reliable financial and trade partner. It is likely to spur the Chinese push to make the renminbi a global reserve currency.
So the US withdrawal could easily trigger a wider trade war, and the US won’t necessarily be the winner.
I, for one, hope like hell the US loses big time.
Can’t speak for anyone else, but the average American voter needs to be kicked over a steep cliff into oblivion – metaphorically speaking of course. They brought this appalling state of affairs on themselves and millions of innocents around the world will accordingly suffer.
I feel sorry for those who did not vote for Trump but where are they now? It looks like some sort of Civil War is the only solution if the US is going to regain any form of international respect. At the moment it deserves nothing but derision and disrespect and I suspect in the long run that is exactly what it is going to get.
Anne
Civil War?
How about just winning the 2020 election, which is only 2 and half years away. That is normally how deficient leaders are dealt to in democracies.
Figure of speech Wayne. I said “some sort of” Civil War. It doesn’t follow it has to end up with one side fighting the other with guns although ummm… this is the US of A. (yes that is a bit naughty)
2 and half years away. Too long. God only knows what damage he will have done by then. 👿
Trump will win the next election
Fair and square 😉
It looks like civil war because those on the left can’t accept that Trump won
Trying to conjure up an equivalence to National not accepting they lost a MMP election? Won’t work.
The concern re -Trump is that he is unfit to be a leader of anything let alone US President. In short, he’s a screw loose and incredibly ignorant. He also has traits in him that could be likened to Hitler or Mussolini. Of course a large portion of the American population are also a screw loose and incredibly ignorant. That is why they voted for him.
It is time they upgraded their generally poor educational systems then maybe these nut-bars wouldn’t get anywhere near the seats of power in the first place.
“Trying to conjure up an equivalence to National not accepting they lost a MMP election? Won’t work.”
No, I’m pointing out it looks like civil war because the left (in the USA) don’t/can’t/won’t accept Trump won the election
“The concern re -Trump is that he is unfit to be a leader of anything let alone US President.”
Says who? A media that doesn’t want him or the population that didn’t vote for him?
“In short, he’s a screw loose and incredibly ignorant.”
I suspect most of his act is mostly bluster
“He also has traits in him that could be likened to Hitler or Mussolini. Of course a large portion of the American population are also a screw loose and incredibly ignorant. That is why they voted for him.”
Or maybe because he said he’d lower unemployment and unemployment is lowering:
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-05-04/black-unemployment-is-at-an-all-time-low-but-there-s-a-catch
“It is time they upgraded their generally very poor educational standards then maybe these nut cases wouldn’t get anywhere near the seats of power in the first place.”
Thats quite an arrogant statement, right up there with deplorables, and a major reason why Trump won
Don’t rubbish their education systems.
We used to hear how ours was world leading and hear the sneers and ‘what the hell’s that about?’ about theirs. Naturally we decided to copy them.
It’s American, it’s great and Hekia would find some data to prove it so it could be done here.
Agreed PR.
Give trump his due he sticks by his word, better or worse he does this better than most of our politicians do.
The middle east is a very disruptive area to negotiate, as they often do the opposite to what they said they would do.
Very deceptive political region they are.
Yes Trump shows the naked truth of US foreign policy. It has never been about peace, ask the Palestinians. He is a moron but his speech was written for him.
The problem now as ever is Israel emboldened to act and suck the US into furthering their Zionist ambitions.
Agreed. The consequence of secondary sanctions will be that US will wind up with no mates. That’s not really good for anyone except of course the corporate military industrial folks who, I’d wager, will be needing a change of shorts this morning.
This was new Secretary of State Pompeos testimoney last year during his confirmation for CIA director.
“With the information I’ve been provided, I’ve seen no evidence that they are not in compliance today,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
and again
“It was largely described in a 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which said that U.S. spies “judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.”
That was ‘before Obama’
But the lies have already started
“30,000 empty homes in Auckland: Is it time to tax the owners?”
Newshub May 9, 2018
Maybe occupancy can be added to the LIM Report and be compulsory information to be provided at time of sale (and obtaining a mortgage + insurance, of course).
Related posts:
Ghost houses and the invisible hand
By: ANTHONY R0BINS June 16th, 2015
The ghost house epidemic and the invisible hand
By: ANTHONY R0BINS June 13th, 2016
The social damage wrought by homes as commoditites
By: ANTHONY R0BINS March 4th, 2017
Dealing with ghost homes
By: No Right Turn August 3rd, 2017
The Prime Minister has pledged that there will be no homeless living on the streets this winter.
Bravo
I would add to this – not when there are tens of thousands of perfectly good houses still standing empty.
Jacinda Ardern pledges shelter for all homeless people within four weeks
In motels and hotels I assume? At high costs? I am not advocating leaving them in the street
There are quite a few older motels around that have become full time renters.
Normal Motels are rented on a day by day basis, but were always cheaper if you rented say for 2 weeks or more. If WINZ took a 6 month lease on a motel but provided the tentants it would be cheaper again.
Thanks duke
Have you seen the numbers based on how it is being done now?
Our PM will do her best, and at least admits there is a problem, growing as NZers return, migrants still come and we are now suffering a building skill shortage caused by short sighted Nat policies regarding education and training.
She has tried to get hidebound bureaucrats to be flexible and kind. And those Ministers concerned should pay close attention, as they will want to keep her confidence, and get the direction started.
NZers are stepping up to the plate, offering help, and those in ministries who have not enacted the memos are finding the public going to a listening ear at their local pollies office.
There will be big changes for those who will/can not change their attitudes.
This Government means to change things… it will be a snowball,,,, slow but gathering strength and speed as more come on board. So some bureaucrats earning over $300 000 need to be sure they are following the new directives.
Its risky assuming they deliberately ’empty’
A house next to me had the same tenants for 7 years and when they left , the house was put up for rent but was empty for about 6 weeks. Some work needed to be done as well.
You would have to know those that are long term “empty”, ie say 3 months or more.
Plus some homes are occupied by owners who have more than one home ( surprisingly common).
My own house was empty for a while when I was renting in another city for work on a 18 month contract .
I know a friend who rents from an elderly lady on the same site, she can be away staying with her family for 6 weeks at a time.
Bridges is doing a marvelous job of making sure NZF will never go with the Nats in the future by attacking Peters on the rise in overseas aid and diplomatic services budget.
(Incidentally, this brings NZ overseas aid to 0.28% of GDP as opposed to a world average of 0.4% and I seem to remember a UN target of 0.7%.)
Peters was scathing in reply to Bridges calling National’s reaction “myopic”.
And not explicitly supporting an electoral deal with Act means Bridges has a ballsy game thinking he can win an outright majority of seats with no coalition partners at all.
He said as much in a recent speech. He said 44% wasnt enough they needed to get more. He then pretended Nats are becoming an environmentally friendly party… but
Opposed end to offshore drilling
Opposes reduction in dairy cows
Opposes fuel tax rises under Labour
Etc
Etc
They are targeting the soft green party vote in wealthy national seats.
It has two purposes, trys to get Greens below 5% ( and become wasted vote, a very hard task though ) and of course adds to their party vote if they switch to national.
The winning double would be to get Greens and NZ First below 5%, say 4.5% each. Thats 9% wasted vote, plus the other groups that dont get above 5% could make the total wasted vote 12%.
44% then looks winnable, and the only strategy that makes sense with ‘no mates’
Will be easier to get NZFirst under 5% than the Greens but Labour is helping by taking Green votes for themselves
In other words, turn MMP into FPP through underarm and middle finger actions.
I think, like gorse, possums rabbits and other undesirables, you’ll never get rid of the Greens but NZFirst will be gone eventually
The strongest and clearest endorsement of MMP and Democracy in NZ I’ve seen in ages, bravo!
You’re one of the finest advocates for National and ACT; please keep up the good work.
Tip of the hat to you as well
You’ve got manners and a sense of humour; what happened?
Buggered if know to be honest
🙂
Your forgetting NZF has the snake Jones in it . If Winston leaves next election it’s all on.
I don’t think the rural voters will forget NZFirsts betrayal and I’m pretty sure National will remind them every chance they get
Hopefully NZFirst is gone for good
What betrayal. Any one thick enough to think Winston could have gone with national after years of trying to destroy his party is to thick to vote
Good, Winston is a much better fit for Labour
PR how do you feel about the Nats becoming a more environmentally friendly party?
I’m for it
And so you fall for the ploy, again.
He says they will be environmental. You want them to be. You want less fucking over of the environment. But they had 9 years of fucking it over, you voted for them last year? And now you feel comforted that they will be more environmental cos Bridges says they will but there is no evidence before and since his statement that they have changed, at all.
By all means vote for them again but do not say it is cos they are being Greener
Like Labour and NZF wanted to bop capitalism on the nose but Robeetson is following the same NL/Cap “rules”
“And so you fall for the ploy, again.”
Nope, I don’t vote for National on their environmental policies
“He says they will be environmental.”
Good on them
“You want them to be.”
It’d be nice yeah
“You want less fucking over of the environment.”
Sure, as a generalisation
“But they had 9 years of fucking it over, you voted for them last year?”
They did some things well and some things not so well and yes i did vote for them
“And now you feel comforted that they will be more environmental cos Bridges says they will but there is no evidence before and since his statement that they have changed, at all.”
Thats a rather large jump from I’m for National becoming more environmental to “comforted that they will be more environmental cos Bridges says they will” don’t you think
“By all means vote for them again but do not say it is cos they are being Greener”
I’m not voting for them because they’re Greener
“Like Labour and NZF wanted to bop capitalism on the nose but Robertson is following the same NL/Cap “rules”
I recall it was Labour that bought in Rogernomics and no one from Labour has ever come out and repudiated it yet
Jacinda Ardern said she agreed with Jim Bolger’s assessment that neoliberalism had failed
https://www.google.co.nz/search?source=hp&ei=QU3yWpn5N4Gx0gS2qobYBQ&q=neoliberlsam+hasfailed+jacindaardern+&oq=neoli
So what, hes not infalible
Correct, but he has wisened up.
Or maybe hes gone senile
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/88438169/think-of-it-what-you-will-but-neoliberalism-works
Oscar Wilde
No need to question Bolger’s cognitive health, me thinks. There’s hope for all of us but some simply have a better chance.
Incognito,
PR is just having fun with wracking us up, PR doesn’t have a clue about the environment or how to save it.
Ignore it all as i do, and he/she will go away.
remember they tried a compassionate conservative line before as well. Look at how thin that was.
DOU see my response to Puck
Well good riddance to Act. Nasty bunch of tightly whities.
Questioning the billion dollar spendfest is the first agreeable thing Bridges has done.
Peters will never go with National. He is having far to much fun as the Supremo in the present Government. Once he gets his arse in the PM’s chair on the ninth floor when Ardern goes off they will never get him out of the office.
Can you imagine National allowing the leader of a minor party to threaten members of the Main party like Mahuta and Jackson that they will lose the Ministerial warrants if they don’t do what Peters tells them.
What do you think Helen Clark would have done? Can you imagine her ignoring it and instead telling her local paper what he favourite songs are?
It doesn’t really matter of course. Both the Greens and New Zealand First will be dog tucker after the next election. They certainly won’t be missed.
NZFirst gone for sure but the Greens only need to fool one in twenty voters they’re an environmental party so I reckon they’ll be around for a few more years
Yep, they’ll be around as long as most of NZ is still above water despite rising sea levels and tourists flock to Franz Josef snowfield in winter months only.
Labour will win in 2020 !!!
As the full knowledge of the Pike river mine disaster and the 11 billion hole are all reviled.
The nat’s will scuttle of their sinking ship pronto by then..
Stop calling me a fool
He’s threatening them as the deputy prime minister. As such he is perfectly entitled to discipline any ministers as he has seniority over them.
If Michael Cullen had done the same then I doubt Clark would have an issue with it. Likewise, if Bill English had done the same I doubt John Key would have had a problem with.
We live in an MMP political environment now, do try and keep up.
What is with the MSM trying to claim some of the new government policy is all the work of Crusher Collins?
They are trying to position her as responsible for a lot of the work on having online retailers pay GST and looking into the petrol companies pricing policies.
It seems like National’s MSM cronies are trying to rewrite the history of the last 9 years of the National government to look like they actually did some stuff instead of all the delays in implementing stuff and ignoring of recommendations till they are to little too late.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/comment-is-judith-collins-politically-immortal/ar-AAwY5vc?li=BBqdg4K
They did begin that work didnt they?
Must have got the polling numbers back showing hitting back at oil companies and offshore retailers paying tax is very popular. So they are doing a #metoo
Touche
It is the only #metoo the Nats woukd do
“MSM trying to claim some of the new government policy is all the work of Crusher Collins?”.
The reason is very simple. The work was done by people in the departments at Collin’s behest. It has simply been picked up by the new lot in the Beehive.
Whether Collins would have progressed the proposals if National had been returned is of course unknown, but irrelevant. The proposals are the work of the last Government however.
Didn’t you notice, and probably complain, about how National took over things being planned by the Clark led Government when they came in?
Actually if you look at what Parliament has been up to nearly everything has been a carryover from the English Administration. Labour simply weren’t ready for the election result they never expected.
I know you RWNJs like to rake up the past and especially Roger Douglas at every opportunity but to go back to William Hobson is stretching it a bit, don’t you think, Alwyn?
That is actually rather a funny comment. Quite unlike you I must say.
It is a pity there are a few minor errors but a good first attempt.
If you knew your history you would have realised that Hobson died in 1842 and the first NZ Parliament was not until 1854.
But then you LWNJs never were very careful about the accuracy of your statements.
Not bad
Holy mackerel I feel old.
Of Prime Minister Ardern’s top 10 favourite songs, I only knew 6 of them.
http://spy.nzherald.co.nz/spy-news/these-are-jacinda-s-fave-nz-songs/
I think this qualifies her as cool. To me at least.
This seems appropriate
Following up on the issue at WINZ Central Hamilton.
I have just left their office having spoken with the manager after being challenged by the on site security guards for taking pictures of coned mobility parking.
I am positive (as much as I can be) that they understand there are serious issues and are making appropriate changes.
Full report in a couple of hours.
Fireblade was not the only complainant.
Good stuff Rosemary, I hope you get somewhere with it.
Read a timely article from John Tamihere today, he touched a bit on what’s been discussed and leans more towards your POV…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12047397
Well done Rosemary. We have to help the Government defeat the hard core well paid bureaucrats. Yes John Tamihere had it right!!
Hey I just read this.
Spoke to someone a couple of weeks ago who had just wrote a complaint to Porirua Community Link (winz FYI) about not being able to park in the mobility parks.
Heh! I did ask today if there was someone in the Hamilton Central WINZ office with mobility issues….hence the coned mobility park…and was told no…
I know its really difficult sometimes to make the appropriate amount of fuss for fear of retribution, but there seems to be a high tolerance for access activism for the simple reason that so often those who fail to provide access or those who abuse access provisions made for those who need them largely do so out of sheer ignorance.
They simply have never, ever been forced to see things from the point of view of the person with the disability.
Sometimes kicking up a bit of shit is like doing them a favour….
On Monday evening Fireblade wrote
“Today I helped a family member who had to take a Medical Certificate to the Hamilton central WINZ office.
In the past we’ve waited in the queue inside the building. Today we had to wait in a queue of 12 people standing outside on the footpath. One of the three security guards said he had been told to only let one person through the door when someone else left. The footpath cue included a very frail elderly lady and a person with one leg using crutches. It took around 40 minutes waiting on the footpath just to get into the building.
The five parking spaces directly outside were blocked with orange cones. I asked why and was told that only WINZ staff could park there.
The fact that any government department can treat people like this is truly shocking and humiliating.”
Many of us agreed, and for me it seemed ironic that on Friday our PM is exhorting WINZ to be kind to people seeking help, and on the following Monday we hear of shit like this happening.
Not. Good. Enough.
And not going to go unchallenged, not within the reach of my arm.
An email was sent to Sepuloni’s office which was sent on to Brendan Boyle, CEO of MSD. A follow up email from me,
“Thank you .
I am anticipating that this will be rectified today.
Tomorrow I will be onsite taking photographs and speaking with clients
waiting outside…if this is still happening.
I will also be ensuring that the parking spaces in front of the
building are available for client use, especially for those with
mobility issues.
Sincerely,
Rosemary McDonald”
So about 10 am this morning after a successful (yay!! 🙂 ) COF check on my Bus we were parked just up the road from WINZ, Central Hamilton.
There is nothing quite so off putting as a random person taking photographs.
Not of people, as the only person in sight was the security guard, but of five bright orange cones blocking the five ‘visitor only’ parking spaces…including the mobility park.
The security guard politely asked what I was doing and I said ‘photographing the coned carparks.’
This security guard was very quickly joined by another who proceeded to demand who I was and where was I from.
“I am a NZ Citizen doing a follow up to a report from Monday of blocked parking spaces and long waits for WINZ clients outside in the cold.”
“These carparks are for visitors.” said 2nd security guard. “Is that for visiting clients….” “No! Visitors to the office!”.
Fortunately, he could see how circular the discussion could have got so he disappeared inside to get the Manager.
TBH, I was not expecting to speak to management. I had to quickly gather my wits and prepare to do battle.
The battle, such as it was, appeared to have mostly been fought as the manager was polite, attentive, communicative and most importantly apologetic.
She was well aware of the complaints…and the following discussion indicated that there was at least one other complainant. Someone acting as a support person to a client had not been allowed inside with the client when they were finally allowed inside.
The manager was emphatically in agreement that this was a major departure from expected treatment of clients. The security guard was perhaps a little over zealous.
Thanks to Fireblade’s detailed description I was able to mention the amputee and the elderly lady (“Both of whom could have benefited greatly from the blocked mobility park.”) and the security guards only allowing some inside after someone had left. Cones were being moved as I left.
It transpires that about four weeks ago WINZ Hamilton Central had to leave their usual premises on Victoria St because of a leak in the roof. This building on Anglesea St was clearly not fit for purpose. Largely because of floor space.
I was taken inside to see for myself and I could see the problem. Better premises are being sought but in the meantime they are going to try to make the available space work better for clients.
Allowing too many people inside would cause privacy issues for the client speaking with the reception staff. Point taken, but the available space could be better utilised. A couple of the computer terminals for client use could go, and the reception desk moved back to allow more room inside for waiting clients.
A crew is coming to the office after 5pm tonight to do this.
I said I didn’t understand why, if clients attend the office by appointment only, would there have been so many people waiting? She agreed, and said that Monday was a particularly busy day. ” A lot if foot traffic.” was how she described it, so maybe some did not have appointments or had made appointments at short notice.
I asked about availability of toilets for clients and was told there is one available. I suggested that it would perhaps be more dignified if the toilets were sign posted and clients did not have to ask to use them. I also suggested (while I had a receptive ear ;-)) that there was a water cooler available and perhaps an area for children to play.
Without climbing high on my soap box with my megaphone,I hope I conveyed to the manager just how terribly disappointed I was hearing about this unacceptable treatment of WINZ clients within days of the PM heralding a culture change.
I mentioned Ashburton, and how I understood the Workplace Health and Safety issues, risk assessment and the like….but I also (drawing on the comments of others here the other day…take this as recognition :-)) pointed out that ‘security guards not much use against an armed person’, and it’d ‘be easier to wait outside at 5 pm if one wanted to harm WINZ staff’, and seriously…considering the ‘toxic culture that has built up around WINZ over the past decade its a miracle there has been only the one tragic incident’. There was more, but hopefully you’ll get the drift.
I think I have a fairly good BS detector, especially konohi ki kanohi, and I believe this manager was genuinely sorry that this happened. I got the decided impression that there is going to be change…please, gods…and if the attitude of this particular manager is indicative of anything then serious thought is going to be put into improving not only the physical environment but also the culture.
or, I was beguiled, hood winked, a victim of a charm offensive….
But I’m hoping not. 🙂
Rosemary, Thank You xx
Well done Rosemary excellent insight there thanks.
The world needs more people like you. Thank you.
Did TS go down for anyone else from about 11.30 to 12 this morning?
I lost a comment with information gathered and links. Damn.
“Did TS go down for anyone else from about 11.30 to 12 this morning?” Yes.
Happens often for me…feel your pain at losing your work. Funny thing happened the other day as i was compiling an OIA request on this laptop. As I hit ‘send’ poof! gone! I found myself with an error message and when relogged into gmail all was lost as I had not saved the draft. Repeatedly kicked myself as this is not the first time this has happened. Half an hour later I happened to be checking something on my cheapy android phone when I noticed an extra item in the gmail…there it was…my draft OIA request! I will never, ever get the tech…
Yes briefly. Couldn’t bring up the site, but did lunch and it was up again later.
Hate it when that happens. You need this
Lazarus: Form Recovery – Add-ons for Firefox
With all the amazing things this government was promising to accomplish by now I would have thought there would be more posts celebrating the wins of this government?
Why no post about light rail from south west to north west?
Couple of years to get consents and a few more to build.
That’s why.
Ad…the light rail project will surely be fast-tracked?
Ridiculous questions Tuppence.
I know right. Ridiculous because there haven’t been any achievements. You and I both thought opposition was a tough gig right haha!
You are a total Troll
Why flatter him with your attention?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12048134
He said “too much tweeting maketh a twat”.
Hes learnt from KFC that if you mess up, own it in a self deprecating way and you can move on
Dunno about that, but we just learned that the guy who wants the nats to avoid dirty politics follows the slug on twitter.
I’d be surprised if most politicians didn’t as like him or loathe him (I stooped supporting him a whiles back) he does get some dirt every now and then but yeah admitting to it isn’t good
The dude is supposedly leader of the opposition. Monitoring the deranged fringes of social media is what his staff are there for.
Fancy Bridges exposing his true self by choosing “Like” for an anti Gayford rumour online at Whaleoil. Claims it was mistake but really???
His denial is plausible but it’d also be a good idea if he didn’t anything similar for a while
Yes Puck. Plausible but for such a clever chap who points a preciser finger at others, somewhat less plausible.
Well we’ve all fallen victim to fat thumb syndrome I’m guessing, I mean i don’t tweet or follow anyone on twitter
The Red-Brown “zombie plague”: how fascist ideas are becoming popular on the Left – PART ONE
By DAPHNE LAWLESS, May 9, 2018
The right wing contributions here are largely monosyllabic and occasionally a little more precocious e.g. ‘and so”, “so what”, “your point” etc.
It is that they all lack critical thinking and general IQ; or has Bridges made AI in the image of himself.
Seems to be one could waste a lot of time answering monosyllabic irritants who have no interest in conversation, only opposition. So they just carry on…
“meaning”
“and then?”
“says who”
I’m just going to ignore RW contributors unless they’re actually contributing to the debate, not obfuscating progress.
What?
DB Brown, Yes I will as well….. They just want attention.
DB brown
The RW contributors are just ‘diverting us from real conversation here’ as PR did when we were having a deep human conversation with Rosemary, and she was showing great humanity.
But PR just butted in, with some mindless jaba-jaba nonsense, that was a waste of consideration.
So it was just gribble to stop a deep from the heart conversation going on.