Welcome to No Filter Necessary! I had a vision of a space where there was verbal freedom. A no judgement zone, per se. Freedom to discuss anything and everything. Ranging from relationships, psychology, humor, politics and eclectic ideas. Quirky news and interesting shares are welcome, too.
Not particularly satisfactory – and it is an advert rather than the message. I guess I will add this to the nice to code list. Maybe after the UK and jury service.
BTW: the link has a picture of dead whale about to explode.
Her piece had a comment – which has been replaced with something about quora, and it should display the quora 'post' which has two images from the BoredPanda article she is linking to.
(this is kinda interesting – the military unload on the orange sack of pus..)
'..Amid threats spanning the globe, from nuclear proliferation to mined tankers in the Persian Gulf to terrorist attacks and cyberwarfare, those in command positions monitor the president’s Twitter feed like field officers scanning the horizon for enemy troop movements.
A new front line in national defense has become the White House Situation Room, where the military struggles to accommodate a commander in chief who is both ignorant and capricious…'
Thats not really anything new though. I take your point but I think that he is batshit crazy has probably saved the world from a lot of grief. His reluctance to get involved in regime change where predecessors have jumped in at the drop of a hat has been beneficial to world security.
Don’t normally care for your comments phill but I’m on your side this time. To see a corrupt president wrap the White House blanket around him for protection is vomit material and shows that the USA (the leader of the free world) is just a garbage can full of shit you can’t recycle.
Auckland University political scientist examines what the reasons for climate change denial are.
Are these factors levels of religious belief, authoritarian tendency, education, age, sex, or political beliefs? Hint, the article is written by a political scientist…..
And not that I don’t want to discourage reasoned debate, but the article says this, “…… brow-beating deniers with further climate science is unlikely to succeed: their faculty of reason is motivated to defend itself from revising its beliefs.”
Just read Bernard Hickey's piece about "Let’s vote to re-engineer our cities" and the theme is what blocks change and development.
Why don’t councils like public transport, cycling and pedestrians much?
Councillors and mayors know they are voted in by mostly old property-owning ratepayers in the suburbs. They know they mostly want to drive everywhere and not have too many other people living in their suburb and clogging up the roads and curbs. Those voters think everyone should have a house with a back yard for the kids and two cars and be able to drive to work and school within 15 minutes, just like they did when they lived in another smaller city or Auckland 20 years ago.
Public transport, cycling and pedestrian-friendly streetscapes cost a lot for councils and the Government to build and they often take lanes and fuel taxes off drivers. The funds have to come from taxes, rates or borrowing, which many voters think will put up their rates or prevent future tax cuts.
If Bernard had published this sooner it would have caused my Council vote to change. (Why can't Jacinda action those things that need to change?)
I'm not claiming to be a psychologist at all, but the idea that reasoning is affected by factors other than logic or facts such as a judge would use wouls seem to apply to more than climste change denial.
The factors of age, education levels, income, belief in hierarchy, political views, the more religious would tend to favour those with a stake in suburbia and the status quo.
The article spoke of three general factors which influence our reasoning-"values, ideologies and political allegiances".
The other encouraging note in the article referring to climate deniers is that "deniers are in the minority" and that clever discussion using reframing of the issues around acceptable conservative values can win support even among these reasoning-limited folk.
When I gave a recent talk about Cancer and Survival, I put in a plug for universal and free public health which of course is a socialist ideal. I framed it in th econtect of cancer which is no repecter of class, age, income , education, wealth, politics. Ww all are affected and so therefore communially we address it.
All well and good, but who frames conservativism as being patriotic. It's never been patriotic to be a conservative, doing nothing is not patriotism. Patrioticism is standing up against those who destroy our way of life, mostly those who think their safe and have nothing to care about. The universe continues to move on, so inevitably, change, adaptation, are necessary. Hence why conservatism is repugnantism. The most repugnated naturally fall into the conservative camp. Aka Trump. Now that's not to say we don't need repugnant people, we just need them to be on the side of adaptation, coz that is how change happens, the stupid, absurd, and laughable become the new reality. So it's not that nasty people exist, it's that the nasty people are to safe in staying put. I.e the gatekeepers like Murdoch, has had it too easy.
The caveat though, is the Reich,change was essential but Germans were too safe in their denial, the nasty fringe work for them rather than against them. If Hitler had been a liberal, and Germans of the time flocked to him…
Soddenleaf, I think you have it about face.The article writer was saying that a reframing of an issue to persuade conservatives to buy in by reframimg it as a patriotic issue. (Keep NZ safe from overseas invaders, peaceful or otherwise, who see our country as a s haven in the times of tribulation after the climate changes really bite, would be my example).
You are arguing that conservatives cannot be patriotic because they can't be acting as a patriot, motivated by patriotism, as you define it.
The article is saying to use patriotism as one value that conservatives believe they have because they believe it is virtuous to be patriotic.
Whether you are right or not about whether conservatives can be patriotic is not the issue.
The issue is that you can persuade deniers into a support stance by careful reframing of climate change to suit their values, beliefs and ideology.
Te article also instances reframing with an envirinmental purity stance. Keep NZ greener, cleaner, more sanaitary, more disease free, with healthier, cheaper, tastier food grown by Kiwis, and a continuance of a country's natural assets which we can be proud of etc etc etc.
Stephen Colbert, a big fan of Jacinda and NZ, is here in NZ in the next week or two to record the Late Show. The Nobel Peace Prize is announced on Friday… Being picked up at the airport by the just announced winner of the Nobel Peace Prize would be fantastic kudos for Colbert and good for ratings.
Perhaps a sotto voce message has been be passed on to Mr. Colbert? Or to long a bow to draw, dear Standardnistas?
At least the PM has done a damned sight more that is constructive than Obama. He was the master of death and destruction wrapped in eloquent obfuscating speech. Hardly peace prize attributes.
Obama was nominated barely months after being elected. All the drone stuff came later, and hes that sort of smart guy who gets hooked by all the geeky things the military can do
Who remembers the 'other child climate activist' from 30 years ago
"It was 1992 and Severn Cullis-Suzuki, daughter of Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki, was addressing the plenary session of the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
"Severn, [12 yrs old] along with other members of a group she had founded called the Environmental Children’s Organisation, had raised money “to come 5000 miles [to Rio conference] to tell you adults you must change your ways”.
I do and watched her speech at the time she delivered it. Slap-downs by frightened old men didn't follow, so far as I remember; Greta's message hurts more because time has passed, conditions have worsened and the misogynists have grown older still.
I bet they were thinking and saying it, just not with force because Severn wasn't a threat. Greta has so much more power and support and they're rightfully afraid.
DoU Muddyng and deflecting as usual. Where would you be without this blog to come on and strut your stuff? If you have a better hole, why don't you go to it. You seem like Don Brash's brother, or maybe the vandals tearing down the billboards of Council candidates. Wanting nothing to stand, be noticed and be thought about without your imprimatur stamped on or beside it.
Edit
Ardern has a country behind her to represent with conflicting opinions and has to watch her back. She has invested in the future by having a baby and is trying to juggle 1000 balls.
The kid has a large part of the world behind her and represents them and is very focussed without a spectrum of conflicting opinions behind her. She has yet to take on personal responsibility as an adult for a partner to go into the future with her, and a dependent baby. And is not tasked with the difficulty of leading a country to an ability to a better political approach and so break with its present infantile political process and disgracefully precipitous lack of environmental and social responsibility.
Greta can speak up and be angry in direct proportion to the personal responsibilities she bears at present. The knowledgable and thoughtful young have always been at the head of a protest because of not having dependents.
I don't think the parochial and provincial mindset of a lot New Zealanders mentally equips them to fully grasp exactly how big Jacinda's achievement was post-Christchurch. In OUR country 51 Muslims were slaughtered by a white supremacist who targeted them for their religion. A badly handled reaction would have painted a target on the back on every New Zealander in a Muslim country, and practically guaranteed a spiral of violence with anti-western reprisals.
Instead of threats, reprisals, violence and more suffering her response got her image projected onto the side of the Burj Khalifa and New Zealand made a hero in the Muslim world – and remember, our country was the scene of a massacre of Muslims! Jacinda drew our community closer together and she has driven efforts since for gun control that have reverberated right to the Trump Whitehouse and is dragging tech companies into agreements to monitor for far-right violence.
IMHO, just the achievement of protecting New Zealanders everywhere and at the same time diffusing a potential cycle of violence is enough for the peace prize, let alone anything else she symbolises or has done.
It's interesting that her achievements and the positive effect it had around the world is recognised everywhere except in New Zealand. It does not speak kindly of the average NZer's ability to cut through the chaff and see the enormity of that achievement and what it has meant in terms of safety and protection for everyone – friend and foe alike.
Sanctuary is right. It speaks to a parochial and provincial mindset in this country that is both embarrassing and shameful.
"The kid" is only 16. She's an inspiration but she has only just begun her service to mankind.
If indeed it is a toss up between Jacinda Ardern and Greta Thunberg this time around, then it would seem to me Jacinda is the obvious choice. It would also enable her to build on her achievements thus far, and further her ability to make this world a far better place than it is right now.
I think that if Greta were to be recognized, it should be in the form of a new environmental category for Nobels, the idea being that we're going to need and should recognize more people like her.
The younger child (Greta) expresses global concerns about climate change, and would probably continue to do so irrespective of further science presented in support of the proposition, or scientific deliberation put forward by many climate change deniers against it.
On the other hand, the Right Honourable Jacinda Adern appears to express mainly blame, and often in an insulting manner to many of our trade partners in and around the Indo-Pacific, and further afield.
Sadly, instead of presenting any realistic alternatives to the planet's growing energy needs and population growth, she often simply spews out vitriol in relation to would be, could be and should be on energy management and mismanagement as the case might be.
With all due respect, to many, she might be considered similar to a dog barking up a tree that is providing refuge to some other animal, but where she hasn't got a hope in Hell of ever identifying it, let alone catching it.
Many people considered as climate change deniers are getting a general hammering from many moderators on the basis of weight of argument pertaining to global temperature change. That's understandable. But many of them are placed in the same bin as deniers when they put forward the possibility that significant climate change may not entirely be the result of the misuse of relatively high carbon emission/emitting products.
For the record. From what I glean from various sources, the planet probably is warming at an alarming rate. Coal is grubby, jet aircraft, merchant marine and most industry doesn’t run on electricity. Cars to the supermarket, the footy, the bar-b-q and to drop off and pick up the kids from school can most assuredly run on electricity.
On the exact science of climate change, is the school really out yet?
…scientific deliberation put forward by many climate change deniers against it.
There is no scientific ‘science’ against CC. There's a lot of pseudo scientific gobbeldy-gook spread by ignorant naysayers and those who are deluded enough to perceive the subject as a political or ideological issue. They are to be derided and treated with contempt.
As for the piffle about Jacinda Ardern. Get a dose of reality down your throat.
Exact science in relation to meteorology and climatology is still unattainable. Scientists are close to achieving it but there is still a missing link or two in the chain of events that have yet to be discovered. But they know enough to ascertain the increasingly rapid warming of the planet's atmosphere is largely caused by human activity over a long period of time and if we do not turn it around, all living creatures are going to be fried in the not too distant future. End of story.
I should have realised that hostility embedded in rant (resultant of commentators failing to read excerpts in appropriate context) is more likely to have a greater impact and make a larger splash than those honestly expressing opinion for debate.
Scientific deliberation, as opposed to scientific evidence, pilgrim.
"Exact science in relation to meteorology and climatology is still unattainable…".
But attainable enough for those with just a basic knowledge in relation to natural short wave/long wave radiation, diurnal and cloud cover variation on local and regional temperature dynamic, heat pools associated with warmer ocean region, and so on.
These and other factors not usually considered by many of the proponents who would throttle existing fuel use, and who would simultaneously, progressively, conveniently and selectively, outright exclude other viable alternatives because they do not appear to be politically correct.
Wait until they haven't got fuel in their private motor vehicle tanks to drive some long distance to visit granny, attend a job interview, or anything else associated with the comfy mindset, on-demand travel and transport lifestyle choice that New Zealanders have become accustomed to.
Forget vacation travel (mind or otherwise), and check in to the latest global population figures. We are just on eight billion. An almost one billion net population increase in just over a decade.
Wake up.
But both bush scientists, and scientists such as yourself, along with others like-minded could always go whole hog and simply state, using your combined wealth of experience, that deliberation, irrespective of conclusions arrived at, is verboten, and that it is inaccurate based on your own opinion(s).
Perhaps I should be forever indebted to you and others like you for your LOUDNESS. And perhaps too, I could put myself forward as your fag, or whipping bitch as the case may be, if it might bring you some emotional satisfaction or pleasure associated with dominance of opinion.
And why is she not appreciated the same in NZ. Because she heads OUR Government that has been too slow doing everything except gun control. Tick. We’ve never had more money and so little to show for it after two years. If you’re living the pain it’s hard to get enthusiastic about international gain.
I'd be very wary of awarding it to 'the kid.' She would be quite likely to hurl it back in their faces, snarling that she wants meaningful actions in the war against inertia regarding Climate Change – not empty, meaningless words of praise. She said as much in the USA, and she would be quite right to my mind.
The flipside of "it's not the crime, it's the cover-up that gets you". If you've got the shamelessness or whatever to brazenly do it all right out in the open, you're much less likely to be held accountable for it.
A in yesterday's Daily Review put up this link for signing a Petition to hold 5G till its effects are well considered and understood to be beneficial. This has not yet been done and the precautionary principle should be followed not a high dive into a shallow pool. They are aiming for 8000 signatures and going well with about 7050. Please consider signing.
Do you know the differences between 4G and 5G and why you call it a high dive into a shallow pool, when it isnt. Remember the NZ and Europe version isnt the same as US 5G because of the frequencies available
Poor old James Shaw. Even those people he probably regarded as his mates are now getting over him and are starting to tell the truth about their views on National media.
Have a listen to this item from Morning Report today. Activist, and long time senior member of the Green Party, Christine Dann really does seem to have had enough of James Shaw and is quite willing to say so.
About 2 minutes in she says, as accurately as I could transcribe it. "I frankly think he (Shaw) is incompetent as a Minister as we know from Statistics already". Ouch.
Does anyone know whether Christine is still active in the Party? Or has she totally given up on them?
Listened to the interview. She sounds like the sort of person who keeps inventing new direction of complaint when her opinion isn't as important as she thinks it is. Not so much making things up as playing fast and loose with every objection possible, rather than actually presenting a solid argument in favour of what she wants.
Yes she does oppose it. Not sure about whether it is because it's not an enforcement body or whether she has some other preferred organisation type in mind. Either way I suspect it's a "perfect is the enemy of the good" scenario.
She also seems to be under the impression that a politician is incapable of knowing with reasonable reliability the general consensus of MPs unless there is a new vote in the House.
I just kind of got the impression from the interview that she was agin it for some reason, so she was coming up with as many reasons as possible to oppose it. Some of which were mediocre at best.
she sounded primarily pissed off that we're going to end up with something weak, relative to what climate activists submitted on. Which is fair. Not sure why she blames Shaw for that but thought the Stats example was a bit personal.
Why does that mean we should value her opinion of Shaw's performance? I listen closely to one longstanding Green member, another I couldn't give two shits about their opinions. Their membership tenure doesn't mean shit.
"Is there a reasonthose of us with no idea of who Christine Dann is should value her assessment of James Shaw's performance …?"
Well I must say my immediate reaction was to wonder whether Christine was related to the Dann brothers – Corin (RNZ) and Liam (Herald). Still haven't worked that one out but apparently she is a cousin of James Dann's father – James Dann being a leftie blogger who ran for Labour in Ilam in 2014 and also writes for The Spinoff.
Back to Christine, Google initially told me she is a NZ writer based in Canterbury with:
a number of books under her belt published through Bridget Williams Books (BWB);
a few films etc on environmentalists etc including one on Sheila Natusch via her work with Hugh Macdonald Film company;
a blogsite of her own called the Eco Gardener Blog which on a quick read seems worth reading in more depth and which I have now bookmarked for myself. I am sure people like Robert Guyton, WTB etc probably know (or know of) Christine very well.
However, the article below about her on KeyWiki provides much more detail about her long ongoing involvement going right back to the early 1970s as an activist (feminism, environment, etc) including as a member – and a former female co-convenor – of the NZ Green Party.
So probably the “reason” you referred to in your comment would appear to be ignorance – yours as well as mine until I bothered to find out about Christine.
Actually my impressions are that your real “reason” was simply to post a snide ad hominim. IMO shallow as well as ignorant.
The census was developed and funded during the previous 4 years of national and its Stats ministers, not the 3 months under Shaw.
Most telling was the National gave Stats les than half the extra budget in 2017 asked for , to cover the Eathquake problems in wellington and other issues.
The end result of the under funding was the 'on ground' program on census day had a fraction of the money and staff originally intended
Really? Shaw became the Minister on 26 October, 2017. The Census was on 6 March 2018. That is about 4 and a half months by my calculation, rather that your "3 months".
I understand that Shaw took roughly zero interest in the whole affair. He didn't hold regular meetings on the matter with the HoD. He didn't even bother to stay in the country when it was on.
However this has been debated before and about all his apologists could manage was that the brilliant statisticians could sort it all out and the rest of us didn't need to worry. Well they didn't sort it out. Meanwhile for about 18 months Shaw continued his litany that everything was wonderful.
Finally the Government Statistician admitted the truth and is going. Shaw should have joined her exit. What were those words that summed up his performance over the last 18 months? "An orchestrated litany of lies" comes to mind. Now who said that?
In the meantime I suggest you take it up with Ms. Dann.
[“I understand that Shaw took roughly zero interest in the whole affair. He didn’t hold regular meetings on the matter with the HoD. He didn’t even bother to stay in the country when it was on.”
Given it’s all been debated before, you’ll have no trouble providing back up for those three claims (links and quotes). You have until midday tomorrow – weka]
This is a report from 5 March 2018. If you read it you will see that it includes the line "Climate Change Minister James Shaw, who will also be on the trip".
He was up in the Islands on Census day.
[your link doesn’t support your assertion that Shaw was out of the country. The onus is on you to back up what you are saying. Stop wasting my time – weka]
"He didn’t hold regular meetings on the matter with the HoD"
You will probably not accept the source but Shaw never denied the claim.
"Mr Bridges told Morning Report Mr Shaw should have done more to ensure the census was on track and should have asked more questions of Stats NZ, instead of letting things spiral out of control.
"He was asleep at the wheel. He expressed blind confidence when concerns were raised. To give you the contrast, Maurice Williamson as statistics minister in 2013 for that census had 18 meetings on the census six months prior. Shaw didn't have a single one. He had meetings on other things, measurements of our feelings, wellbeing and the like, but not the core business of the census."
Shaw was questioned immediately after this and did not deny it. You are aware of course that everyone went very quiet for almost 18 months about the census aren't you?
Nick Smith brought up exactly the same statement. Shaw, speaking immediately afterward never once denied it. He talked about other things but never ever claimed that any meetings had been held.
What is the third thing you are interested in?
[“Shaw was questioned immediately after this and did not deny it.”
That’s 4 things you now need to back up. You seem to be under the impression that I’m going to do your work for you. I’m not. You have to quote and link support for each of the 4 assertions. You have until midday tomorrow. At that point I’ll be looking up previous bans and moderations. We both know you have a history of telling lies about the Green Party, (and others). I don’t know what you are doing here, but you can either put up the evidence or retract the claims. Read the About/Policy re wasting moderator time – weka]
The comment is in the linked article about the trip to the islands.
It is the sixth sentence from the end in the article. It shows up when I search for it.
That Radio New Zealand report was broadcast on 5 March 2018. It lists all the people who were on the week long trip to the Pacific islands. It says that Shaw was on the trip. The Census was on the 6th March so if Shaw had arrived in Samoa on the 5th, and was away for a week he obviously wasn't in New Zealand on the 6th.
Still, what are facts if you choose to ignore them.
[you may well be right that Shaw was out of the country on the day, but that link doesn’t show that. It says he will be on the trip (future tense) but doesn’t give the dates. The problem here is that you have a history of lying about the Greens, so the standard of evidence required is high. You also seem to still think I’m going to read and parse linked articles. I’m not. The onus is on you to provide clear back-up in the way I have described and which doesn’t require me to have to do anything other than read your comment. 2 week ban, which is double the last one. Expect exponential increases from now on – weka]
Brown Lee argued for the changes that he now rails against in opposition… …now Shaw pick-up the pieces of cutbacks and changes to the census made by National while in govt. It was called dirty politics.
I notice that Alwyn the Shaw Slayer is back from his travels in Fantasia. Predictable and tedious but each to their own. That said, Census 2019 made a strong case for online voting 😉
Lol, Alwyn might be wetting himself at a greenie calling Shaw incompetent on national radio, but I don't know what rock he's been under if he thinks Green Party members criticising the co-leaders or MPs is anything unusual.
"The eventual endgame is that the price of gold skyrockets and the dollar permanently collapses along with the global banking system and modern society as we know it. Black Friday will be everyday as the masses murder each other for a peach pit. This is sure to happen anytime between now and the end of 2018.
Don't believe it? We'll find out soon."
And so we did (find out.) Be prepared, but remember to live a little while preparing.
Brexit heating up. The UK is like a spoiled child, wants the stars though is earth-bound but whines on about its fleeting, unreasonable desires but meanwhile the ground beneath is shifting and soon there will not be a leg to stand on. And the Conservative Party will not do a mea culpa because it is so far up itself that its head is lost to sight, and only its ugly backside is visible.
The groundwork put in over nearly a century settling Europe into a cohesive unit with opportunities to disagree and make some changes is on the way to ruins. But just because some stability has been reached, the UK feels it will take the risk of kicking away the bracing and limiting the reinforcing, and wants to be reborn in another form.
Frankenstein must be released; for a start they could let Assange go. But arresting him was, I fear, the start of this new Britain, no united about it. The Day of the Trafford? Perhaps the history and rise of Trafford Park will parallel events in England that have emboldened the mini-barons to take their present stance. That the previous PM Cameron is apparently watching with trembling lip.
The poor ordinary UK citizen has a lot to get their head around about Brexit. When they stamped their foot on the floor, metaphorically, they didn't have a list written on a roll of toilet paper for convenience, of all the myriad ways that not being on side with the EU would put them out, literally.
Posting to EU for Christmas for instance:
If the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31st October delivery times for parcels to the EU will be longer, as parcels may need to be checked by customs, and all parcels will be subject to customs charges.
People who send or recieve parcels to countries outside the EU will know what a faff it is to fill in customs forms and calulate import taxes – even on gifts.
If you have family and friends in the EU we strongly recommend considering sending your Christmas presents before Halloween to avoid this faff and customs fees.
Infometrics rep was on TV1 on 7 sharp just after 7 suggesting that the surplus could be given to NZers as a rebate rather than a tax cut. Is Infometrics neutral?
It sounds like it. That idea might come as a freeing up idea for minds too constipated to think of anything but tax cuts. It would win some grudging respect from Nats.
All beneficiaries could be given $30 on December 1st to go and spend on Christmas presents or get a bill off their neck, and those with long-term debts to be repaid out of meagre income say prior to Labour getting in, could have them wiped before Christmas. That would be a wise thing to take the burden off shoulders and bring some money into shops.
It's just a one-off tax cut. Still buys into the right's framing that individuals always spend money more wisely than public organisations acting on our collective behalf. Thousands of tropical vacations and slate kitchen counters can't be wrong.
Yep. So play the right at their own game. I am sure that Chinese general Sun Tzu would have a brief snippet of wisdom about understanding the opposition and playing them like a harp.
How about this:
Goodreads helps you follow your favorite authors. Be the first to learn about new releases
“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
― Sun tzu, The Art of War
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Then remind yourself that the greatest enemy can be your own mind, lulled in to a sense of false reality or comfortable with misty situational awareness.
But above all, determine just what it is that you are fighting over.
"The modern British state has distanced itself from the productive economy and is barely able to take an expert view of the complexities of modern capitalism. This was painfully clear in the Brexit impact sectoral reports the government was forced to publish – they were internet cut-and-paste jobs.
The state can no longer undertake the radical planning and intervention that might make Brexit work. That would require not only an expert state, but one closely aligned with business. The preparations would by now be very visible at both technical and political levels. But we have none of that"
This begs the question as to whether any state is capable of dealing with climate change. And if the answer is negative, what does that mean for the future? And then working backwards, what does it mean for the present, the here and now?
…'the State closely aligned with business' would also have to be closely aligned with all sectors of workers, because that is what the state is built on. If not what?
And what about the workers? And the mothers with their children's future to think about, and indeed all the fertile young people; with women having their monthly egg shedding, and males with their millions of sperm all ready for the primordial ritual of ages when we briefly become gods and make life that brought us here today. What about them? Do we allow a minority of twisted, minds with bloated visions, to screw this world up that is so wonderful and aweful.
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Testing quora links
https://qr.ae/TW2iKt
https://www.quora.com/q/rdukxjzcmjiyntov/Australia-Is-The-Land-Of-Nope-And-Here-Are-40-Pictures-Proving-It
Updated: ok – that doesn’t work.
Umm embedly?
Not particularly satisfactory – and it is an advert rather than the message. I guess I will add this to the nice to code list. Maybe after the UK and jury service.
BTW: the link has a picture of dead whale about to explode.
Looks ok to me, apart from the social media links on the right being tucked under the edge of the thread.
Her piece had a comment – which has been replaced with something about quora, and it should display the quora 'post' which has two images from the BoredPanda article she is linking to.
This abbreviates it all.
It also inserts a iframe using script.
We'll soon be in the Halberg Awards swirl.
What chance a win for Grant Robertson? The achievement?
Pulling a $7.5 billion surplus out of Steven Joyce's $11.7 billion fiscal hole.
A Highly Commended too for Simon Bridges and team for hiding up the hole I reckon.
(this is kinda interesting – the military unload on the orange sack of pus..)
'..Amid threats spanning the globe, from nuclear proliferation to mined tankers in the Persian Gulf to terrorist attacks and cyberwarfare, those in command positions monitor the president’s Twitter feed like field officers scanning the horizon for enemy troop movements.
A new front line in national defense has become the White House Situation Room, where the military struggles to accommodate a commander in chief who is both ignorant and capricious…'
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/military-officers-trump/598360/
And the alternatives?
Has the decision making of Presidents more agreeable to the Pentagon been any better?
i think you are missing the point there..kevin..
it illustrates just how batshit-crazy he is…
Thats not really anything new though. I take your point but I think that he is batshit crazy has probably saved the world from a lot of grief. His reluctance to get involved in regime change where predecessors have jumped in at the drop of a hat has been beneficial to world security.
lol and he cares about the environment too
i agree he has not invaded anyone..yet…
that is about the only 'not bad' thing about him..
Don’t normally care for your comments phill but I’m on your side this time. To see a corrupt president wrap the White House blanket around him for protection is vomit material and shows that the USA (the leader of the free world) is just a garbage can full of shit you can’t recycle.
Well worth checking out
https://youtu.be/tfVe–FytU0
Here's another very challenging article published today.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/116409148/climate-explained-why-some-people-still-think-climate-change-isnt-real
Auckland University political scientist examines what the reasons for climate change denial are.
Are these factors levels of religious belief, authoritarian tendency, education, age, sex, or political beliefs? Hint, the article is written by a political scientist…..
And not that I don’t want to discourage reasoned debate, but the article says this, “…… brow-beating deniers with further climate science is unlikely to succeed: their faculty of reason is motivated to defend itself from revising its beliefs.”
Just read Bernard Hickey's piece about "Let’s vote to re-engineer our cities" and the theme is what blocks change and development.
If Bernard had published this sooner it would have caused my Council vote to change. (Why can't Jacinda action those things that need to change?)
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/10/09/848822/lets-vote-to-re-engineer-our-cities
Mac 1. And the Status Quo does suit those who are already "made."
I'm not claiming to be a psychologist at all, but the idea that reasoning is affected by factors other than logic or facts such as a judge would use wouls seem to apply to more than climste change denial.
The factors of age, education levels, income, belief in hierarchy, political views, the more religious would tend to favour those with a stake in suburbia and the status quo.
The article spoke of three general factors which influence our reasoning-"values, ideologies and political allegiances".
The other encouraging note in the article referring to climate deniers is that "deniers are in the minority" and that clever discussion using reframing of the issues around acceptable conservative values can win support even among these reasoning-limited folk.
When I gave a recent talk about Cancer and Survival, I put in a plug for universal and free public health which of course is a socialist ideal. I framed it in th econtect of cancer which is no repecter of class, age, income , education, wealth, politics. Ww all are affected and so therefore communially we address it.
All well and good, but who frames conservativism as being patriotic. It's never been patriotic to be a conservative, doing nothing is not patriotism. Patrioticism is standing up against those who destroy our way of life, mostly those who think their safe and have nothing to care about. The universe continues to move on, so inevitably, change, adaptation, are necessary. Hence why conservatism is repugnantism. The most repugnated naturally fall into the conservative camp. Aka Trump. Now that's not to say we don't need repugnant people, we just need them to be on the side of adaptation, coz that is how change happens, the stupid, absurd, and laughable become the new reality. So it's not that nasty people exist, it's that the nasty people are to safe in staying put. I.e the gatekeepers like Murdoch, has had it too easy.
The caveat though, is the Reich,change was essential but Germans were too safe in their denial, the nasty fringe work for them rather than against them. If Hitler had been a liberal, and Germans of the time flocked to him…
Climate change, thank Murdoch.
Soddenleaf, I think you have it about face.The article writer was saying that a reframing of an issue to persuade conservatives to buy in by reframimg it as a patriotic issue. (Keep NZ safe from overseas invaders, peaceful or otherwise, who see our country as a s haven in the times of tribulation after the climate changes really bite, would be my example).
You are arguing that conservatives cannot be patriotic because they can't be acting as a patriot, motivated by patriotism, as you define it.
The article is saying to use patriotism as one value that conservatives believe they have because they believe it is virtuous to be patriotic.
Whether you are right or not about whether conservatives can be patriotic is not the issue.
The issue is that you can persuade deniers into a support stance by careful reframing of climate change to suit their values, beliefs and ideology.
Te article also instances reframing with an envirinmental purity stance. Keep NZ greener, cleaner, more sanaitary, more disease free, with healthier, cheaper, tastier food grown by Kiwis, and a continuance of a country's natural assets which we can be proud of etc etc etc.
Stephen Colbert, a big fan of Jacinda and NZ, is here in NZ in the next week or two to record the Late Show. The Nobel Peace Prize is announced on Friday… Being picked up at the airport by the just announced winner of the Nobel Peace Prize would be fantastic kudos for Colbert and good for ratings.
Perhaps a sotto voce message has been be passed on to Mr. Colbert? Or to long a bow to draw, dear Standardnistas?
Back in the day, the NPP used to count for something.
Extraordinary, above and beyond….that kinda thing.
I can't see what Our Leader has done to be even in the running.
IMHO
How far back are you going for back in the day?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laureates
At least the PM has done a damned sight more that is constructive than Obama. He was the master of death and destruction wrapped in eloquent obfuscating speech. Hardly peace prize attributes.
'….Obama…?'
My point exactly.
The value of the Prize has been diminished with such winners.
Personally I think politicians should not be eligible. After all..they are just doing their job….occasionally.
Obama was nominated barely months after being elected. All the drone stuff came later, and hes that sort of smart guy who gets hooked by all the geeky things the military can do
NP shouldn't have been awarded on campaign promises, which it effectively was in this case.
obasma didn't do just 'drones'..
he deserves infamy/is a war-criminal for what he did to libya..
he turned the most progressive country in the middle east – libya – into the fundamentalist/war-wracked hellhole it is now…
@ mcdonald..
achieving 'the impossible' – she got the big-tech companies to agree to work to curtail terrorist content online..?
her reaction to chch massacre – showing other countries how to get rid of citizens running around with machine-guns..?
and justified or not – she is the current international model for a thorougtly modern political leader..(baby/house-husband..etc..)
anyone else you can think of who has done more..?
(and the obama factor does kick in..as j.a. is unliky to besmirch the award..invade/bomb anyone anytime soon..)
(i’d say it’s between her and ‘the kid’..)
Time will tell how much substance behind the agreeable words from the tech companies. Talk is cheap and easy.
Ardern has a media profile….no doubt about that…but does that make her deserving of such a major award?
Hmm….I say give it to the kid. Ardern sounded bland and uncommitted at the UN the other day in comparison to the youngster.
i agree the kid should get it – for what she is representing for..
but if they decide she is too young..i see ardern as in with a strong chance..
(and it would be fun – seeing all those tory heads exploding..
and hosking – for one – will have a total meltdown – which would also be fun to watch..)
Who remembers the 'other child climate activist' from 30 years ago
"It was 1992 and Severn Cullis-Suzuki, daughter of Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki, was addressing the plenary session of the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
"Severn, [12 yrs old] along with other members of a group she had founded called the Environmental Children’s Organisation, had raised money “to come 5000 miles [to Rio conference] to tell you adults you must change your ways”.
https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/before-greta-there-was-severn-the-b-c-girl-who-silenced-the-world
I do and watched her speech at the time she delivered it. Slap-downs by frightened old men didn't follow, so far as I remember; Greta's message hurts more because time has passed, conditions have worsened and the misogynists have grown older still.
"Slap-downs by frightened old men didn't follow"
I bet they were thinking and saying it, just not with force because Severn wasn't a threat. Greta has so much more power and support and they're rightfully afraid.
DoU Muddyng and deflecting as usual. Where would you be without this blog to come on and strut your stuff? If you have a better hole, why don't you go to it. You seem like Don Brash's brother, or maybe the vandals tearing down the billboards of Council candidates. Wanting nothing to stand, be noticed and be thought about without your imprimatur stamped on or beside it.
You know you could debate him instead of playing at being the board police, judge and jury?
Edit
Ardern has a country behind her to represent with conflicting opinions and has to watch her back. She has invested in the future by having a baby and is trying to juggle 1000 balls.
The kid has a large part of the world behind her and represents them and is very focussed without a spectrum of conflicting opinions behind her. She has yet to take on personal responsibility as an adult for a partner to go into the future with her, and a dependent baby. And is not tasked with the difficulty of leading a country to an ability to a better political approach and so break with its present infantile political process and disgracefully precipitous lack of environmental and social responsibility.
Greta can speak up and be angry in direct proportion to the personal responsibilities she bears at present. The knowledgable and thoughtful young have always been at the head of a protest because of not having dependents.
I don't think the parochial and provincial mindset of a lot New Zealanders mentally equips them to fully grasp exactly how big Jacinda's achievement was post-Christchurch. In OUR country 51 Muslims were slaughtered by a white supremacist who targeted them for their religion. A badly handled reaction would have painted a target on the back on every New Zealander in a Muslim country, and practically guaranteed a spiral of violence with anti-western reprisals.
Instead of threats, reprisals, violence and more suffering her response got her image projected onto the side of the Burj Khalifa and New Zealand made a hero in the Muslim world – and remember, our country was the scene of a massacre of Muslims! Jacinda drew our community closer together and she has driven efforts since for gun control that have reverberated right to the Trump Whitehouse and is dragging tech companies into agreements to monitor for far-right violence.
IMHO, just the achievement of protecting New Zealanders everywhere and at the same time diffusing a potential cycle of violence is enough for the peace prize, let alone anything else she symbolises or has done.
It's interesting that her achievements and the positive effect it had around the world is recognised everywhere except in New Zealand. It does not speak kindly of the average NZer's ability to cut through the chaff and see the enormity of that achievement and what it has meant in terms of safety and protection for everyone – friend and foe alike.
Sanctuary is right. It speaks to a parochial and provincial mindset in this country that is both embarrassing and shameful.
"The kid" is only 16. She's an inspiration but she has only just begun her service to mankind.
If indeed it is a toss up between Jacinda Ardern and Greta Thunberg this time around, then it would seem to me Jacinda is the obvious choice. It would also enable her to build on her achievements thus far, and further her ability to make this world a far better place than it is right now.
I think that if Greta were to be recognized, it should be in the form of a new environmental category for Nobels, the idea being that we're going to need and should recognize more people like her.
The younger child (Greta) expresses global concerns about climate change, and would probably continue to do so irrespective of further science presented in support of the proposition, or scientific deliberation put forward by many climate change deniers against it.
On the other hand, the Right Honourable Jacinda Adern appears to express mainly blame, and often in an insulting manner to many of our trade partners in and around the Indo-Pacific, and further afield.
Sadly, instead of presenting any realistic alternatives to the planet's growing energy needs and population growth, she often simply spews out vitriol in relation to would be, could be and should be on energy management and mismanagement as the case might be.
With all due respect, to many, she might be considered similar to a dog barking up a tree that is providing refuge to some other animal, but where she hasn't got a hope in Hell of ever identifying it, let alone catching it.
Many people considered as climate change deniers are getting a general hammering from many moderators on the basis of weight of argument pertaining to global temperature change. That's understandable. But many of them are placed in the same bin as deniers when they put forward the possibility that significant climate change may not entirely be the result of the misuse of relatively high carbon emission/emitting products.
For the record. From what I glean from various sources, the planet probably is warming at an alarming rate. Coal is grubby, jet aircraft, merchant marine and most industry doesn’t run on electricity. Cars to the supermarket, the footy, the bar-b-q and to drop off and pick up the kids from school can most assuredly run on electricity.
On the exact science of climate change, is the school really out yet?
What a load of tosh you talk karol121.
There is no scientific ‘science’ against CC. There's a lot of pseudo scientific gobbeldy-gook spread by ignorant naysayers and those who are deluded enough to perceive the subject as a political or ideological issue. They are to be derided and treated with contempt.
As for the piffle about Jacinda Ardern. Get a dose of reality down your throat.
Exact science in relation to meteorology and climatology is still unattainable. Scientists are close to achieving it but there is still a missing link or two in the chain of events that have yet to be discovered. But they know enough to ascertain the increasingly rapid warming of the planet's atmosphere is largely caused by human activity over a long period of time and if we do not turn it around, all living creatures are going to be fried in the not too distant future. End of story.
Sorry Sir/Mam
I should have realised that hostility embedded in rant (resultant of commentators failing to read excerpts in appropriate context) is more likely to have a greater impact and make a larger splash than those honestly expressing opinion for debate.
Scientific deliberation, as opposed to scientific evidence, pilgrim.
"Exact science in relation to meteorology and climatology is still unattainable…".
But attainable enough for those with just a basic knowledge in relation to natural short wave/long wave radiation, diurnal and cloud cover variation on local and regional temperature dynamic, heat pools associated with warmer ocean region, and so on.
These and other factors not usually considered by many of the proponents who would throttle existing fuel use, and who would simultaneously, progressively, conveniently and selectively, outright exclude other viable alternatives because they do not appear to be politically correct.
Wait until they haven't got fuel in their private motor vehicle tanks to drive some long distance to visit granny, attend a job interview, or anything else associated with the comfy mindset, on-demand travel and transport lifestyle choice that New Zealanders have become accustomed to.
Forget vacation travel (mind or otherwise), and check in to the latest global population figures. We are just on eight billion. An almost one billion net population increase in just over a decade.
Wake up.
But both bush scientists, and scientists such as yourself, along with others like-minded could always go whole hog and simply state, using your combined wealth of experience, that deliberation, irrespective of conclusions arrived at, is verboten, and that it is inaccurate based on your own opinion(s).
Perhaps I should be forever indebted to you and others like you for your LOUDNESS. And perhaps too, I could put myself forward as your fag, or whipping bitch as the case may be, if it might bring you some emotional satisfaction or pleasure associated with dominance of opinion.
And why is she not appreciated the same in NZ. Because she heads OUR Government that has been too slow doing everything except gun control. Tick. We’ve never had more money and so little to show for it after two years. If you’re living the pain it’s hard to get enthusiastic about international gain.
Sanctuary +100
When you put it like that, it's a compelling argument.
I'd be very wary of awarding it to 'the kid.' She would be quite likely to hurl it back in their faces, snarling that she wants meaningful actions in the war against inertia regarding Climate Change – not empty, meaningless words of praise. She said as much in the USA, and she would be quite right to my mind.
I'd pay to watch that ! She could hurl it at the Israeli delegates with the comment ‘keep it as you’ll never win one’
Even the Repugs in the senate are now saying there was rooskie fuckery in the 2016 election and they're gonna try again in 2020.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/08/intelligence-committee-russia-trump-report-040736
The flipside of "it's not the crime, it's the cover-up that gets you". If you've got the shamelessness or whatever to brazenly do it all right out in the open, you're much less likely to be held accountable for it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/trumps-brazenness-is-his-greatest-asset/599527/
A in yesterday's Daily Review put up this link for signing a Petition to hold 5G till its effects are well considered and understood to be beneficial. This has not yet been done and the precautionary principle should be followed not a high dive into a shallow pool. They are aiming for 8000 signatures and going well with about 7050. Please consider signing.
https://www.toko.org.nz/petitions/precautionary-principle-for-5g-in-aotearoa-1
Do you know the differences between 4G and 5G and why you call it a high dive into a shallow pool, when it isnt. Remember the NZ and Europe version isnt the same as US 5G because of the frequencies available
Poor old James Shaw. Even those people he probably regarded as his mates are now getting over him and are starting to tell the truth about their views on National media.
Have a listen to this item from Morning Report today. Activist, and long time senior member of the Green Party, Christine Dann really does seem to have had enough of James Shaw and is quite willing to say so.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018716870/climate-activist-objects-to-rod-carr-appointment
About 2 minutes in she says, as accurately as I could transcribe it. "I frankly think he (Shaw) is incompetent as a Minister as we know from Statistics already". Ouch.
Does anyone know whether Christine is still active in the Party? Or has she totally given up on them?
Is there a reason those of us with no idea of who Christine Dann is should value her assessment of James Shaw's performance?
You are obviously not a Green Party member PM. Or at least if you are you are a newby and you can't have been one for very long.
I wouldn't think any veteran member of the Green Party would need an explanation.
That wasn't actually an answer.
Listened to the interview. She sounds like the sort of person who keeps inventing new direction of complaint when her opinion isn't as important as she thinks it is. Not so much making things up as playing fast and loose with every objection possible, rather than actually presenting a solid argument in favour of what she wants.
yes . Its weird that she is complaining about a minor matter. Does she oppose the very idea of a CCC ?
Or more likely in the context, Dann herself was expecting such a job , in which case she would have praised the Minister
Yes she does oppose it. Not sure about whether it is because it's not an enforcement body or whether she has some other preferred organisation type in mind. Either way I suspect it's a "perfect is the enemy of the good" scenario.
She also seems to be under the impression that a politician is incapable of knowing with reasonable reliability the general consensus of MPs unless there is a new vote in the House.
"Not sure about whether it is because it's not an enforcement body or whether she has some other preferred organisation type in mind."
Both was how I heard it in the interview.
I just kind of got the impression from the interview that she was agin it for some reason, so she was coming up with as many reasons as possible to oppose it. Some of which were mediocre at best.
McFlock Were you referring to Dann or alwyn? 🙂
Alwyn's usually in the "making shit up" end of the scale 🙂
she sounded primarily pissed off that we're going to end up with something weak, relative to what climate activists submitted on. Which is fair. Not sure why she blames Shaw for that but thought the Stats example was a bit personal.
So she wants them to get on with it, but not like that. Imperious.
"That wasn't actually an answer".
I actually thought it was sufficient given that I had put in my comment the words
"Activist, and long time senior member of the Green Party".
I thought that description would have been sufficient description of who she was.
Why does that mean we should value her opinion of Shaw's performance? I listen closely to one longstanding Green member, another I couldn't give two shits about their opinions. Their membership tenure doesn't mean shit.
"Is there a reason those of us with no idea of who Christine Dann is should value her assessment of James Shaw's performance …?"
Well I must say my immediate reaction was to wonder whether Christine was related to the Dann brothers – Corin (RNZ) and Liam (Herald). Still haven't worked that one out but apparently she is a cousin of James Dann's father – James Dann being a leftie blogger who ran for Labour in Ilam in 2014 and also writes for The Spinoff.
http://www.rdu.org.nz/archives/podcast/nziff-christine-dann-on-no-ordinary-sheila
Back to Christine, Google initially told me she is a NZ writer based in Canterbury with:
https://www.bwb.co.nz/authors/christine-dann
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/christine-dann-24522332
https://www.christinedann.org/eco-gardener-blog/
However, the article below about her on KeyWiki provides much more detail about her long ongoing involvement going right back to the early 1970s as an activist (feminism, environment, etc) including as a member – and a former female co-convenor – of the NZ Green Party.
https://keywiki.org/Christine_Dann
So probably the “reason” you referred to in your comment would appear to be ignorance – yours as well as mine until I bothered to find out about Christine.
Actually my impressions are that your real “reason” was simply to post a snide ad hominim. IMO shallow as well as ignorant.
TS really doesn't need to be sending traffic to Louden's hate site.
The census was developed and funded during the previous 4 years of national and its Stats ministers, not the 3 months under Shaw.
Most telling was the National gave Stats les than half the extra budget in 2017 asked for , to cover the Eathquake problems in wellington and other issues.
The end result of the under funding was the 'on ground' program on census day had a fraction of the money and staff originally intended
"3 months under Shaw."
Really? Shaw became the Minister on 26 October, 2017. The Census was on 6 March 2018. That is about 4 and a half months by my calculation, rather that your "3 months".
I understand that Shaw took roughly zero interest in the whole affair. He didn't hold regular meetings on the matter with the HoD. He didn't even bother to stay in the country when it was on.
However this has been debated before and about all his apologists could manage was that the brilliant statisticians could sort it all out and the rest of us didn't need to worry. Well they didn't sort it out. Meanwhile for about 18 months Shaw continued his litany that everything was wonderful.
Finally the Government Statistician admitted the truth and is going. Shaw should have joined her exit. What were those words that summed up his performance over the last 18 months? "An orchestrated litany of lies" comes to mind. Now who said that?
In the meantime I suggest you take it up with Ms. Dann.
[“I understand that Shaw took roughly zero interest in the whole affair. He didn’t hold regular meetings on the matter with the HoD. He didn’t even bother to stay in the country when it was on.”
Given it’s all been debated before, you’ll have no trouble providing back up for those three claims (links and quotes). You have until midday tomorrow – weka]
mod note for you.
Well, here is the first one.
"He didn’t even bother to stay in the country when it was on"
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/351722/pm-s-pacific-tour-begins-pacific-reset
This is a report from 5 March 2018. If you read it you will see that it includes the line "Climate Change Minister James Shaw, who will also be on the trip".
He was up in the Islands on Census day.
[your link doesn’t support your assertion that Shaw was out of the country. The onus is on you to back up what you are saying. Stop wasting my time – weka]
And here is a quick note on the other statement
"He didn’t hold regular meetings on the matter with the HoD"
You will probably not accept the source but Shaw never denied the claim.
"Mr Bridges told Morning Report Mr Shaw should have done more to ensure the census was on track and should have asked more questions of Stats NZ, instead of letting things spiral out of control.
"He was asleep at the wheel. He expressed blind confidence when concerns were raised. To give you the contrast, Maurice Williamson as statistics minister in 2013 for that census had 18 meetings on the census six months prior. Shaw didn't have a single one. He had meetings on other things, measurements of our feelings, wellbeing and the like, but not the core business of the census."
Shaw was questioned immediately after this and did not deny it. You are aware of course that everyone went very quiet for almost 18 months about the census aren't you?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/396634/botched-census-statistics-minister-asleep-at-the-wheel-says-bridges
The same thing was brought up in a Parliamentary debate, reported here
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20190820_20190820_24
Nick Smith brought up exactly the same statement. Shaw, speaking immediately afterward never once denied it. He talked about other things but never ever claimed that any meetings had been held.
What is the third thing you are interested in?
[“Shaw was questioned immediately after this and did not deny it.”
That’s 4 things you now need to back up. You seem to be under the impression that I’m going to do your work for you. I’m not. You have to quote and link support for each of the 4 assertions. You have until midday tomorrow. At that point I’ll be looking up previous bans and moderations. We both know you have a history of telling lies about the Green Party, (and others). I don’t know what you are doing here, but you can either put up the evidence or retract the claims. Read the About/Policy re wasting moderator time – weka]
mod note above.
mod note above.
The comment is in the linked article about the trip to the islands.
It is the sixth sentence from the end in the article. It shows up when I search for it.
I put it in here as a simple cut and paste.
that doesn't show that Shaw was out of the country on Census Day. Shall I just go ahead and ban you now?
That Radio New Zealand report was broadcast on 5 March 2018. It lists all the people who were on the week long trip to the Pacific islands. It says that Shaw was on the trip. The Census was on the 6th March so if Shaw had arrived in Samoa on the 5th, and was away for a week he obviously wasn't in New Zealand on the 6th.
Still, what are facts if you choose to ignore them.
[you may well be right that Shaw was out of the country on the day, but that link doesn’t show that. It says he will be on the trip (future tense) but doesn’t give the dates. The problem here is that you have a history of lying about the Greens, so the standard of evidence required is high. You also seem to still think I’m going to read and parse linked articles. I’m not. The onus is on you to provide clear back-up in the way I have described and which doesn’t require me to have to do anything other than read your comment. 2 week ban, which is double the last one. Expect exponential increases from now on – weka]
Good work Alwyn .The arrogance of Weka is breathtaking.Greens and Green policy are immune from critique it would seem.
How bright is the Blaze of your red neck.
as bright as that ray of sunshine called free speech and the right to hold an alternate viewpoint,without fear or favour.
Blazer, if you want to make a safe space for Alwyn to spread bullshit, you are free to do so. Nobody else is obliged to do so.
Is that a skull and crossbones on your icon thing Blazer. You are another jolly Roger perhaps.
In this instance it does not look like Alwyn is spreading b/s at all.
If the message is more important than the messenger maybe objective scrutiny is required instead of kneejerk herd mentality.
Brown Lee argued for the changes that he now rails against in opposition… …now Shaw pick-up the pieces of cutbacks and changes to the census made by National while in govt. It was called dirty politics.
I notice that Alwyn the Shaw Slayer is back from his travels in Fantasia. Predictable and tedious but each to their own. That said, Census 2019 made a strong case for online voting 😉
Lol, Alwyn might be wetting himself at a greenie calling Shaw incompetent on national radio, but I don't know what rock he's been under if he thinks Green Party members criticising the co-leaders or MPs is anything unusual.
(don't know if Dann is a current member or not).
Just checked this site again and wish I had more $ to prepare. Its gotten worse over the last week 🙁
Explanation on the site.
http://didthesystemcollapse.com/
We're doomed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZV3kGRY1j0
Did you ever read "The Money Game" by Adam Smith?
Written 50 years ago but still well worth reading. This was the book that first got me interested in trying to find a way to beat the market.
Never did succeed but it was fun trying.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25706.The_Money_Game
And so we did (find out.) Be prepared, but remember to live a little while preparing.
Brexit heating up. The UK is like a spoiled child, wants the stars though is earth-bound but whines on about its fleeting, unreasonable desires but meanwhile the ground beneath is shifting and soon there will not be a leg to stand on. And the Conservative Party will not do a mea culpa because it is so far up itself that its head is lost to sight, and only its ugly backside is visible.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/400600/brexit-deal-essentially-impossible-no-10-source-says-after-pm-merkel-call
The groundwork put in over nearly a century settling Europe into a cohesive unit with opportunities to disagree and make some changes is on the way to ruins. But just because some stability has been reached, the UK feels it will take the risk of kicking away the bracing and limiting the reinforcing, and wants to be reborn in another form.
Frankenstein must be released; for a start they could let Assange go. But arresting him was, I fear, the start of this new Britain, no united about it. The Day of the Trafford? Perhaps the history and rise of Trafford Park will parallel events in England that have emboldened the mini-barons to take their present stance. That the previous PM Cameron is apparently watching with trembling lip.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafford_Park
The poor ordinary UK citizen has a lot to get their head around about Brexit. When they stamped their foot on the floor, metaphorically, they didn't have a list written on a roll of toilet paper for convenience, of all the myriad ways that not being on side with the EU would put them out, literally.
Posting to EU for Christmas for instance:
If the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31st October delivery times for parcels to the EU will be longer, as parcels may need to be checked by customs, and all parcels will be subject to customs charges.
People who send or recieve parcels to countries outside the EU will know what a faff it is to fill in customs forms and calulate import taxes – even on gifts.
If you have family and friends in the EU we strongly recommend considering sending your Christmas presents before Halloween to avoid this faff and customs fees.
https://www.pharosparcel.com/Christmas-Last-Recommended-Posting-Dates
This article doesn't really help ILG
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116436710/decisions-around-karel-sroubek-residency-debacle-risky
Erdogan and co are going to exterminate the Kurds.
https://twitter.com/IgnatiusPost/status/1181724204233904128
https://twitter.com/IgnatiusPost/status/1181724205567631367
As Colbert put it in last nights monologue – You Kurds have got 24 hours to find some dirt on Biden.
Slap some sanctions on the Turks, make them take a big breath and think again.
Infometrics rep was on TV1 on 7 sharp just after 7 suggesting that the surplus could be given to NZers as a rebate rather than a tax cut. Is Infometrics neutral?
It sounds like it. That idea might come as a freeing up idea for minds too constipated to think of anything but tax cuts. It would win some grudging respect from Nats.
All beneficiaries could be given $30 on December 1st to go and spend on Christmas presents or get a bill off their neck, and those with long-term debts to be repaid out of meagre income say prior to Labour getting in, could have them wiped before Christmas. That would be a wise thing to take the burden off shoulders and bring some money into shops.
It's just a one-off tax cut. Still buys into the right's framing that individuals always spend money more wisely than public organisations acting on our collective behalf. Thousands of tropical vacations and slate kitchen counters can't be wrong.
Yep. So play the right at their own game. I am sure that Chinese general Sun Tzu would have a brief snippet of wisdom about understanding the opposition and playing them like a harp.
How about this:
Goodreads helps you follow your favorite authors. Be the first to learn about new releases
Sun Tzu > Quotes
“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
― Sun tzu, The Art of War
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Do not let your enemy dictate the battlefield. Choose the terrain.
Identify your enemy first.
Then remind yourself that the greatest enemy can be your own mind, lulled in to a sense of false reality or comfortable with misty situational awareness.
But above all, determine just what it is that you are fighting over.
"The modern British state has distanced itself from the productive economy and is barely able to take an expert view of the complexities of modern capitalism. This was painfully clear in the Brexit impact sectoral reports the government was forced to publish – they were internet cut-and-paste jobs.
The state can no longer undertake the radical planning and intervention that might make Brexit work. That would require not only an expert state, but one closely aligned with business. The preparations would by now be very visible at both technical and political levels. But we have none of that"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/09/brexit-crisis-global-capitalism-britain-place-world
Sound familiar?
This begs the question as to whether any state is capable of dealing with climate change. And if the answer is negative, what does that mean for the future? And then working backwards, what does it mean for the present, the here and now?
dosnt bode well, but decades after abdication of responsibility it is unsurprising
…'the State closely aligned with business' would also have to be closely aligned with all sectors of workers, because that is what the state is built on. If not what?
And what about the workers? And the mothers with their children's future to think about, and indeed all the fertile young people; with women having their monthly egg shedding, and males with their millions of sperm all ready for the primordial ritual of ages when we briefly become gods and make life that brought us here today. What about them? Do we allow a minority of twisted, minds with bloated visions, to screw this world up that is so wonderful and aweful.