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.
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Bartlett, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle Reports of about 30 deaths among elderly nursing home residents who received the Pfizer vaccine have made international headlines. With Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) expected to approve the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Culum Brown, Professor, Macquarie University How do gills work? Tully, aged 7 Great question, Tully! Animals on land breathe air, which is made up of different gasses. Oxygen is one of these gases, and is made by plants (hug ...
Dairy prices increased by 3.9% across the board at the latest Fonterra global auction. The lift followed rises of 1.3% and 4.3% in the December auctions which took dairy prices to their highest level in 11 months, defying those analysts who believed Covid-19 had disrupted dairy markets. In the latest ...
America's Cup team American Magic has spoken publicly after their boat Patriot capsized when on its way to their first win of the Challenger Selection Series yesterday. Patriot dramatically capsized yesterday, becoming temporarily airborne before crashing back into the water and tipping. The boat, helmed by New Zealander Dean Barker, could not be ...
It’s a seemingly age old question: why do Auckland’s beaches become unswimmable after every single downpour? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates.Ah, the beach. A staple of the New Zealand summer. Unless, of course, you’re based in Auckland and it’s raining. The start of 2021 has been a lot like every other New ...
We have opened a book, among members of the Point of Order team, on how long it will be before the PM offers to sort out the land dispute at Wellington’s Shelly Bay and (to win the double) how much the settlement will cost taxpayers. Just a few weeks ago ...
Breakfast TV news is back for 2021, and Tara Ward got up early to watch. “Thank god it’s almost Christmas,” John Campbell said during the opening minutes of Breakfast’s premiere episode of the year. “2021’s been rough so far. I’m buggered”. We’re all buggered, to be fair, but I’m worried that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Pearson, Professor of Journalism and Social Media, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Griffith University The blame for the recent assault on the US Capitol and President Donald Trump’s broader dismantling of democratic institutions and norms can be ...
Despite a popular and unifying leader of the governing party, divisions both in policy and culture will test the progressive movement, writes Peter McKenzie.‘I think we’re confused.” Marlon Drake is an organiser for the Living Wage Movement. His job takes him all over Wellington, trying to convince businesses to increase ...
Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins says vaccinations should be available to the public by the middle of the year, but other countries are prioritised. ...
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students.From high in the summit ...
Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University It could be argued artificial intelligence (AI) is already the indispensable tool of the 21st century. From helping doctors diagnose and treat patients to rapidly advancing new drug discoveries, it’s our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australia’s political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also kept faith with governmental norms, eschewing the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW Health workers are at higher risk of COVID infection and illness. They can also act as extremely efficient transmitters of viruses to others in medical and aged care facilities. That’s why health workers have been prioritised to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Orchard, Adjunct Lecturer, Monash University Last week, somewhat overshadowed by the events in Washington, the Democrats took control of the US Senate. The Democrats now hold a small majority in both the House and the Senate until 2022, giving President-elect Joe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mittul Vahanvati, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Heatwaves, floods, bushfires: disaster season is upon us again. We can’t prevent hazards or climate change-related extreme weather events but we can prepare for them — not just as individuals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Starting school is an important event for children and a positive experience can set the tone for the rest of their school experience. Some children are excited to attend school for the first ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book – but it was ...
New data from the CTU’s annual work life survey shows a snapshot of working people’s experiences and outlook heading out of 2020 and into the new year. Concerningly 42% of respondents cite workplace bullying as an issue in their workplace - a number ...
An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsella’s cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. “My first tour to Australia, we ...
The dramatic capsize of American Magic brought out the best in the America's Cup sailing fraternity. But, Suzanne McFadden asks, what does it mean to the crippled New York Yacht Club campaign and to the Prada Cup? It was a scene as unreal as it was calamitous. Right at the moment the ...
The current number of members of parliament is starting to get too low for the job we expect them to do, argues Alex Braae. As a general rule, with the possible exception of their families, nobody likes backbench MPs. But it’s nevertheless time we accepted that parliament should have more of ...
The experience in the Brazilian city of Manaus reveals how mistaken, and dangerous, the herd-immunity-by-infection theory really is. As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop ...
As New Zealand gears up to fight climate change, experts warn that we need to actually reduce emissions, not just plant trees to offset our greenhouse gases. ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmu26hkNhrA
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.