Russia is said by the west to have incited the war in Ukraine, others that the US engineered a coup that was resisted by the eastern Ukrainians .
But some are far-right extremists who have set their gaze on Ukraine, a place that has become a destination and training ground for such types in the West. As far-right extremism has risen in the US, so has the interest among American white supremacists in militarized right-wing Ukrainian groups that have had success in growing and mainstreaming their organizations and movements. They include violent neo-Nazis like those from the Rise Above Movement who have gone to Ukraine to meet and train with some of the groups — and then export what they learnedto the US.
Felling trees contributes to climate change because it depletes forest cover, which is vital for absorbing carbon dioxide. Forests are, it’s said, being cleared at a rate of 30 football pitches’ worth a minute.
An agreement to call a halt to this staggering level of deforestation – reached on Tuesday – was one of the high points of Cop26’s first week.
As part of the deal, more than 100 world leaders agreed to reverse deforestation by 2030. Crucially, Brazil –which has cut down huge stretches of the Amazon rainforest in recent years – was among the signatories. However, observers have pointed out that a previous international agreement, in 2014, failed to slow deforestation in any way.
Hard to trust the current Brazilian government on anything that they say at present. Especially bearing in mind the increased rate of Amazon clear felling in the last 4 years.
It is like trusting the Australian Federal government to deal with international and bilateral commitments in a manner that doesn’t simply reflect their idiotic and ineffective political system.
tell the bastards I’ll never be arrested,” the former army captain told the roaring crowd at the September 7 rally. “Only God can take me from the presidency.” It was music to the ears of Bolsonaro’s hardcore supporters, many of whom had travelled hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres to cheer on the politician they believe is saving Brazil from its corrupt institutions: in their eyes a deceitful media, a venal Congress and, most importantly, an imperious Supreme Court. For others, including the nearly 65 per cent of Brazilian voters who now disapprove of the Bolsonaro administration — in power since January 2019 — the comments were a clear warning of the president’s growing radicalism and the risk that he may try to undermine, or even abandon, elections scheduled for October 2022…
The president’s anti-democratic rhetoric has done little to endear him to voters beyond his 20 per cent core support. In addition, he has alienated large parts of Brazil’s influential business community, which backed the former paratrooper as the dark horse candidate in the 2018 race but is now losing faith.
The Freedom and Rights Coalition goes to the Auckland / Northland border to impinge on the freedom and rights of others to go about their lawful business.
"At 8am, many protesters had dropped away, leaving 12 to 15 at the border." (Stuff)
They cast themselves as the great freedom marchers. As we all know, campaigners for Civil Rights in Montgomery and Selma won their battles because they hung around for an hour and then got bored and buggered off.
So about 15000 people in NZ protested today about mandates and govt over reach. Nothing like Jan 6 in America. Politians over reacted and Whipped up fear about over running parliament. Who is crazy, the peaceful protesters or the fear mongers? Get a grip, disagreeing does not make you an enemy of the state.
Now do some reading. It wasn't "disagreeing", was it?
If you genuinely believe we live in a dictatorship then you have a right – no, a duty – to revolt. If you don't believe we live in a dictatorship, don't be an apologist for those who say we do.
Peaceful protesters? We have harrassment, intimidation, threats online and in person and violence in general. I note someone bit a policeman today who was just doing his job. And then there is the racism. A few days ago someone smashed the windows of a vaccination centre for our South Pacific peoples.
Fear mongers? Who is doing the fear mongering and over reacting? The protesters. Spreading crazy conspiracy theories, disinformation, calling people – who are trying to save lives and put their fellow NZers first – Communists, Nazis, Stalinists and a further assortment of highly offensive names.
There's a name for those who transpose their own misconduct onto other people but have forgotten what it is.
What rubbish. Peaceful protest about govt mandates and control. Nothing like Jan 6. It is scary that there is a need to demonise or minimise people who disagree with the populist thinking. If your vaccine works then there is nothing to be afraid of. What has happened that we can't cope with differing voices.
"What has happened that we can't cope with differing voices."
Part of what has happened is the Prime Otherer saying many times a week, the unvaccinated are responsible for; Christmas being threatened, your freedoms being impacted, businesses going to the wall, your safety being jeopardised, travel being curtailed.
This is what othering and scare-mongering does.
The responsibility for our health system being so brittle, vulnerable and understaffed lies at the feet of every centrist Finance, Health and Prime Minister for the last 35 years, not the wary, the contrarians, the reluctant, the immuno-compromised or full-blown anti-vax.
Only just noticed this – to be crystal clear no it's not. I'd hope the cops track this one down and have a talk with the perpetrator. As a starting point.
Otherwise all protests attract idiots on the fringe. The trick is keeping them there and hopefully away from the media.
In usual times I'd probably agree completely with you Ad. A healthy democracy can sustain a fair bit of verbal biffo without much harm.
But it's my sense that many people have been psychologically activated by COVID, by the uncertainty, the social isolation and above all the chronic state of low-grade fear being pumped at them. In these circumstances I'd want to be extra cautious around inflammatory language – especially if it's political.
I recall you're a fan of World War Z – well I've always imagined zombies to be a metaphor for the mind-killed, unthinking mob.
All those protests we went in our tens of thousands in the mid-eighties armed with lots of weapons and shields and heavily orchestrated moves and taking on the state,
in our many thousands in the '90s against union-crushing and benefit reductions and privatisations,
in our lower thousands in the early noughties, …
… look at them now in their hundreds.
WE used to have that same fire. We inflamed wholesale.
We used to forge whole new political movements on it.
All of those leftie marches looked like anarchistic unthinking undead to the majority and to the government.
But probably the Tooth Fairy will get the shits and call in the Minister for SIS for a chat, because actually she's the biggest flake we have. Spare us from brittle authoritarians.
I would normally agree, but the threats on the internet are downright scary. Thanks Observer.
“The tooth etc” Get a grip Ad .You sound flaky. Saying stuff like that at this time is unhelpful.
I think the casual references to lynching etc. that I see and hear across Facebook, among people who have till recently posted interesting, heart-warming things, is very worrying indeed. They seem unaware of the sinister tone of their words. I believe their world-view has been contaminated by the American situation and the influencers who whipped that up.
The UN has assigned Climate Minister James Shaw a key negotiating role in this final week of the CO26 meeting in Glasgow.
He will co-facilitate the Transparency workstream with Sir Molwyn Joseph, Minister of Health, Wellness and the Environment of Antigua and Barbuda, a Caribbean nation. “Since the Paris Agreement does not have compliance and enforcement measures, transparency is a critical component for enabling accountability and trust,” Chatham House, a leading UK policy institute, wrote in a paper shortly before the start of the negotiations. Progress on the workstream is considered vital to ensure comparability of nations’ climate pledges and integrity in measuring and reporting their implementation. It is also vital for the trustworthiness of carbon markets, both regulatory and voluntary.
For the record, the largest single “delegation” of officially registered attendees at COP26 is the 503 people with links to fossil fuel interests, Global Witness, an NGO reported today.
By comparison, Brazil is largest country delegation, with 479 members. The UK, as hosts, has the 10th largest delegation, with 230, and the US has 135 official delegates. New Zealand’s is likely the smallest from a developed country, numbering fewer than 10.
And I bet they're all wearing suits. The visual signal that one is actually part of the control system whilst pretending to be part of the solution is obligatory. I predict only Lab/Nat voters will be fooled by the simulation.
Blah? APEC has managed what the UN couldn't; an online conference.
The largest piece of work facing APEC leaders is putting the finishing touches on an implementation plan for the “Putrajaya Vision” agreed to in 2020, a high-level outline of the organisation’s priorities for the next two decades. “We are working on a set of individual and collective actions that will be measurable, that will be concrete, and that will be dynamic: in other words, this will be a living document that we will be able to review every five years to ensure that it genuinely is fit for purpose for our region,” Vitalis said.
Kiwi diplomat Vangelis Vitalis anticipates "the time for actual action, to actually do something."
18 & 10 Years ago we had a couple of opportunities for the government at the time to buy this gem. Hopefully someone will attract the attention of Hon Kiritapu Allan to IMO.
I posted support to purchasing this way back in 2011, and back then the Labour blog and the then leader Phil Goff urged National to purchase had a post to support such an acquisition !!!
I have seen beaches in the area inundated with balls of jelly, a little offsetting in the area where the waves break but once you get beyond that, the water is perfect for beach activities. Not nice for toddlers playing on the waters edge.
I will say that New Chums/Wainuiototo beach has some dangers attributed to it, that those who are even familiar with the beach can be caught out. A short challenging walk that opens up to a great place that IMO for a small amount can be totally protected for the publics benefit, and with no overseas travel perhaps we should be enhancing local spots to be available for all.
Small school in limbo as all staff refuse mandatory Covid-19 vaccine.
"She said she was not opposed to getting the vaccination herself, but as the only fully registered teacher she had not been able to take time off to get her shot."
A school teacher I know took time off to get her shot recently – in the school holiday break. It was two weeks long.
The principal wants the Ministry of Education to waive the vaccination mandate and instead require weekly testing. I'm not sure how they'll able to "take time off" for that every week.
It's sort of funny when teachers who force people to do things they mightn't want to do rail against being told to do something.
Central King Country Principals' Association chairwoman Maria Gillard said convincing those not wanting to vaccinate to change their minds was tough. Like it being tough to get kids to change their minds I suppose except that in the school environment power rules. Those with the power deem that they know best and the kids should bow to that 'superiority' of knowledge.
Do you think any teacher who wanted to get vaccinated would dare to do so in the face of the display by the Board of Trustees? On your bike would I expect to be their response.
As for the Principal who "hadn't been able to take time off to get vaccinated". There were school holidays from the second to the seventeenth of October. She couldn't find any single day on which to get a vaccination?
I'm trying to think how or why the principal would know the vaccination status of the members of the board and what relevance it would be to her past any requirements made on the non-vaccinated not being accepted in the school.
A board can't get rid of a staff member because they choose to be vaccinated. Members of a board setting out to make sure a principal in such circumstances is unwelcome and seeking to force them out would be showing they are fuckwits who should not have anything to do with a school. That is the sort of stuff for employment courts.
In such a situation if the locals are on about individual choice and no compulsion they would be be taking the choice away from the principal and in some senses forcing the principal to not get a vaccination.
Can't staff the school? No problem. Close it. Bus the kids into Taumarunui or Ongarue. Can't staff those schools because they're backwaters and no-one would want to be there? Some might say the attitude of the locals suggests it is a backwater.
Many people have rightly noted how challenging the logistics of policing Auckland's border will be at Xmas – as 30,000 people a day leave in their cars. I think some of those same people were less convinced of the logistical challenges of doing some other things – such as stopping Covid leaks from MIQ, or rolling out millions of vaccine doses.
Rule of thumb seems to be: if I do want something to happen, the logistics aren't an issue and someone else just needs to do it; if I don't want something to happen, the logistics are impossible and the idea should be abandoned.
People's supposed principles and their logic seem to align uncannily well with their self-interest. Who wouldn't be a misanthrope at times like this?
Everyone needs a plan B every day from now on when it comes to travelling, shopping for non essentials and entertaining. People need to consider being unwell with Covid or having a person unwell with Covid in your household.
It is about doing the right thing for yourself, your home and your neighbourhood.
Protesters are not considering the households of the police, some have babies and young children in the home and are on the frontline. No pay rise and the work conditions would be terrible when it comes to managing groups breaking the rules.
What are the three flags? I recognise a Trumpist banner, a Tino Rangatiratanga flag, but the red-crossed white flag with the top right quadrant infilled?
That knowledge would help identify the influences in this coalition of the silly.
Only a matter of time and an MP will be a Covid case. Probably already cases in the police as they do get deployed around the country. The viral load an infectious protester or an agro person at a check point has would be an additional risk.
Thanks for that…I stumbled across an 'independent reporter's report' earlier when the group was gathering…he was busy scanning the assembled for the white supremacists MSM said were in charge of these anti- vaxxers. Good times.
The hangers on are those people who are using this cause to promote another. AFAIK people from Destiny have been involved in anti-lockdown protests for some time. The hangers on are the pro-trumpites, the anti-1080 crowd etc.
Tamaki is an opportunist using the covid situation. Covid is just an excuse.
Unfortunately there are plenty of morons running here to join in. Here they don't necessarily wear red caps.
Destiny/Tamaki has been involved in being peed off for a long time.
May 1919
"Destiny Church and its leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki have announced a new political party – Coalition New Zealand.
"You're going to see politics with teeth," Brian Tamaki said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon, "you'll see a party led by leaders as leadership is what is lacking right now.
"Labour has been taking us in the wrong direction. Our freedom is endangered due to harmful politics coming from the Government."
Tamaki may well be 'using' Covid for his own agenda, but then so are politicians. My point was he isn't a 'hanger on' in the context of earlier comments. He's made his position on the core issues very clear some time ago. Opponents of 1080 and supporters of Trump are certainly there for very different causes.
In short: It’s a fact we love American stuff. American food, TV and celebrity.
So maybe it should come as no surprise that in New Zealand’s Telegram channels, there’s a love of capitol riots.
“NEXT TUESDAY” they announce in all caps: “There is going to be THE STAND OF ALL STANDS in Wellington at Parliament grounds!”
“It’s time to get Bill Gates and Jacinda. We need to concentrate on physically arresting her.”
“Fuck me” is all I could think. It was a combination of alarming and tragic. It’s alarming because we’re already seeing violence towards the media in New Zealand. Mihingarangi Forbes tweeted about it last week:
“As a journo I have always felt safe at protests, most understand we have a job to do but the “Freedom and Choice” protests feel different. “Fuck the Media” is the new catch phrase. It’s dangerous. Kia kaha te hunga pāpaho.”
Oh, but they're not the real protesters, the real ones are salt of the earth Kiwis (etc, etc … repeat denial ad nauseam).
And if anyone is in any doubt, you can find plenty more of this crap on their social media, which I won't link to or platform (NSFW) but you all have Google too.
He has put his entire credibility on its success with this article, and essentially requests that the GreaterAuckland activists hold off criticising for fear of killing the project as the Auckland Cycle Path was.
This is an unusual move for a Minister to make on multiple counts. In political terms it is pretty bold.
once we hit the magic 90% number and restrictions ease, the community could still be looking at 20 cases of infection arriving in its midst from offshore every week. Hopefully, home isolation will screen some of those out. Or as indicated above, this could just mean that the family/whanau home will become a potential incubator for the disease. Well, the marriage vows did say through sickness and health.
our handling of the Covid threat coming at us from offshore seems out of sync with our handling of the internal threat – if that’s the right word – that Auckland will pose to the rest of the country once the three Auckland region DHBs have hit their magical 90% full vaccination target.
The joke is on… whoever God's will decides. I wonder if the govt will force Aucklanders to wear an identification symbol so we can see them coming and keep our distance?? The yellow star worked well a while back, eh?
At some point it will dawn on the GOP they will have to cast votes for those who died to win elections – I wonder how they will enable this for white voters only, or do they expect SCOTUS to rubber stamp everything put up?
It seems Wellington (on a good day) has flushed out those of profoundly anti-democratic sentiments. From those with throbbing power between their legs (a hint of SA with overtones of ambition to be King Bishop Brian's blackshirts) to those who would like it all to go away and think appeasing the coronavirus will set them free from any resistance struggle (leaving the burden to health workers).
The elitism of the bare-faced contempt for majority opinion and the public good … the uber-romanticisation of social media minority echo chambers displayed … from a self-appointed governing aristocracy of no bodies in the Maori world claiming to represent its sovereignty to affluent PMC (the neo-liberal corporate regime enabling corporate and capitalist dominance ) ideologues manipulating discontent for their political purposes (and we await National waking up their inner Mr Orewa to take advantage of the chaos).
I say prescribe them all ivermectin to be on the way – rid the capitol hill of that small party worm.
"This aligns with an increasing use of Māori voices,narratives, and imagery for agendas of white supremacist individuals and groups," the study noted – the goal being to make Māori as a population appear to be anti-vaccination, which results in "the intensification of anti-Māori racism" and makes them more susceptible to future disiformation campaigns
the goal being to make Māori as a population appear to be anti-vaccination,
Which when they had the lowest vaccination rates was kind of easy to do. And given that this time the usual 'it's all the fault of a racist health system' doesn't quite fly – they're reduced to blaming 'white supremacist people' again.
This constant ethnic power struggle narrative will lead NZ nowhere good.
Maori has a younger age demographic – so were a larger proportion of those who could not vaccinated till September (go to MOH vaccination stats and check the vaccinations by age).
Maori advocated for Maori to be vaccinated earlier so their vaccination rate would not be slower because of their age and because Maori had poorer health. The government chose otherwise (possibly influenced by the He Puapua issue NACT raised) – Maori are saying told ya so.
There are more younger Maori in the provincial NI, these HB's were behind the rest in September and are doing catch up – and in areas where the population is quite spread out.
All good and fair points SPC. They underline my contention that the best explanation for different outcomes is not always racism.
I was equally scathing of Reti's attempt to use the ethnic card on vaccines as well. I'm vividly conscious that in a pandemic there is real potential for the kind of mass psychosis that leads very directly to violence.
Yes racism and ethnic fault lines are real – but using them as a power play is unbelievably dangerous. Sometime in the 90's I remember listening to a 30 min BBC "Foreign Correspondent" report on Yugoslavia and the hell that got unleashed in that country after the fall of the dictators.
The reporter led with a simple question. Why is it that a relatively modern nation fall apart so fast and dramatically? If you had visited the place before these horrors you might have come home and said what warm and friendly people they are. After exploring this question and setting the social and political background the narrative shifted from the general to the specific.
It moved to a small town that had seen some of the worst violence. I still cannot bring myself to type out the atrocity that was described in graphic detail by the correspondent. But the point was – the people who did this to each other were neighbours, they knew each other, as had their families for generations. How the fuck had this happened?
The answer is this. Every society has a small fraction of psychopathic, resentful damaged individuals who will commit horrors for the sheer pleasure and gratification of it. Normally they're kept in check by social boundaries and institutional norms. But they lurk.
But when that leash is loosened by public figures exploiting divisions within any society for their own political purposes – during a period of instability, uncertainty and fear – that first these dangerous people will feel emboldened to act. And then very rapidly – one atrocity upon another – the Yugoslavian nation unraveled into hell.
The irony being that Croat, Serb and Bosnian Moslem probably had the same ancestral group – carving out separate borders occurs by acceptance of then then regional arrangements or by plebiscite or by war (also Pakistan and India and say the land west of the Jordan). Apparently events in Bosnia are worsening, the Serb and Croat political leadership are seeking to divide up the Bosnian military and form their own.
Don't worry the white race God is going to rapture its mammalian Greek brotherhood …
The middle ear contains three tiny bones:
Hammer (malleus) — attached to the eardrum.
Anvil (incus) — in the middle of the chain of bones.
Stirrup (stapes) — attached to the membrane-covered opening that connects the middle ear with the inner ear (oval window)
As they say beware defenestration (1618), Des Gorman would know very well that coming out of a flood of judgment has to be done carefully or there may be consequences.
Northern Ireland's health minister is suing Van Morrison after the singer called him "very dangerous" for his handling of coronavirus restrictions. Morrison, 76, who was knighted in 2016, has dismissed the coronavirus pandemic – the death toll for which surpassed 5 million people last week – as media hype and has criticised Covid-19 restrictions though his music.
He denounced Northern Ireland Health Minister Robin Swann during a gathering at Belfast's Europa Hotel in June after a Morrison concert was canceled at the last minute because of virus restrictions. The defamation suit relates to three incidents in which Morrison criticised Swann, calling him "a fraud" and "very dangerous."
Swann responded in an article for Rolling Stone magazine, calling the "Moondance" singer's claims "bizarre and irresponsible." Swann's lawyer, Paul Tweed, said proceedings "are at an advanced stage with an anticipated hearing date early in 2022."
This is the language used by a main speaker at today's Wellington protest. (Note – not some random drunken vox pop, not a fringe freeloader, but the chosen speaker from "Freedoms and Rights", the Brian Tamaki group).
Ardern trying to create a Communist nation. Auckland "the largest concentration camp in the world". "This is our 9/11 in New Zealand… people have come to signal the collapse of the Government … a dictatorship".
"We are not standing here waiting for another three years when the next election rolls down … We will roll this place and take them out with a revolution of the people."
Standard right wing position. Probably a Dirty Politics memo.
Auckland "the largest concentration camp in the world".
I've seen centre left Aucklanders on TS say similar (with a somewhat more retrained rhetoric)
"This is our 9/11 in New Zealand…
Kind of true. Big even that shifts political and social culture, and includes given the government more powers to control the population.
people have come to signal the collapse of the Government … a dictatorship".
"We are not standing here waiting for another three years when the next election rolls down … We will roll this place and take them out with a revolution of the people."
That will be in the SIS and police files, and it's part of the dangerous that Mihi Forbes is naming. It ties into the right's use of Trumpian politics (also dangerous). It's why we should be concerned and looking at the deeper reasons for the mix of dynamics rather than just framing it as US imports. Those three flags.
At its core it’s the language of fascism – mob activity on the street as the source of political legitimacy.
9/11 – as a pretext to posit "overthrow" of a government.
It's one small step from DT boasting he could shoot and kill and get away with it, to legitimising those serving his empowerment being able to do the same.
The protests today are another downside of wide spread manadates. They pushing what were previously productive members of society into the margins and arms of existing fringe groups emboldened by an influx of numbers and the camouflage they provide.
Add today's lot to groundswell who will be invigorated by three waters reforms its potentially going to get very messy. Especially if Police are mandated and all of a sudden we find ourselves 1200 short in the face of increasingly angry protest groups.
We'll get to 90% vaxxed so for long term societal benefit and to diffuse things a bit we should back away from the wide spread mandates and move towards a rapid testing focused approach as well as recent pcr testing to activate a short term passport.
Not so sure the PCR test passports would reduce angst. Some of these protestors have some pretty weird theories about the tests too…and are against any sort of social cooperation requirement generally.
Yes. One of the demands from the "Freedoms and Rights Coalition" is to shut down testing stations.
The gov't could either a) waste time and energy trying to reason with people who have already decided the gov't are commies/nazis/apartheid/Voldemort.
or b) just carry on with all the public health measures and let the ranters rant.
None of this is uncharted territory. The playbook was written in the USA. Some had deathbed conversions, some didn't. They have to get there in their own time – or not.
It wont make the hard core anti vax conspiracy theorists happy.
But the numbers have built due to unhappiness with mandates. Plenty of people find that a step to far. Get rid of mandates and the crowd will be 100s not thousands. I really feel we need to get some heat out of this having it get ugly isnt good for anyone in the end.
"The protests today are another downside of wide spread manadates."
"We'll get to 90% vaxxed so for long term societal benefit and to diffuse things a bit we should back away from the wide spread mandates and move towards a rapid testing focused approach…"
Thanks for pointing this out.
A bit like current job site drug testing. The P freak can be fried all day and will test negative the next day, the midnight toker will be positive, even if not impaired while at work.
Akin to Paula Bennett's meth hysteria in state housing and the upset that caused to so many. But they were in state housing so 'nothing to see here'.
shopping will cure most of the protests – another free market miracle is it?
You know, I think I'd rather see them run headlong into the rule of law. Waiting for shopping to cure things is how you get an enduring Trumpist movement – screw that. There's incitement going on there, with their Nuremberg and citizens arrest bullshit. Throw the (deleted expletives) in prison and let them out through the courts, where they can get a full measure of the scorn in which they are held.
80 hour weeks at a bakery turned into sub-minimum wage was the opener a day or two back.
Now it includes:
copious threats of detailed harm;
intimidation by associates of the employer;
wage theft from employees to pay for food and accommodation in "appalling conditions"; and
some decisions delayed until the court of appeal rules on "another relevant case".
My coffee card for their cafe is half used. And will remain that way. That's fucking disgusting. I know hospo tends to use wage theft and bullying as a business model, but even for that industry this is pretty extreme.
Good to see some of these cases making it through the ERA, but I would guess there are more we and they just don't know about. And the original complaint was in 2017.
Do we still have a Labour department? Is that who the inspectors were?
Yep. The Labour Inspectorate conducts an investigation and can take a case to the ERA.
With the amount of issues involved, this case would have taken a lot of time, especially as some of the issues apparently occurred during the investigation, so would have needed further examination.
Then there are the complicated financial arrangements, reviewing of documents like timesheets and employees' personal records, then the accounts to see how much gain their might have been.
Throw in a covid delay or two, timeframes for right of response and consultation with lawyers, staff workloads at the inspectorate, an xmas break or three… But the wheels turned inexorably, if slowly, to deliver some justice.
It's almost as if the power structures of the state treat the same crime differently according to the class of the offender… but but that's just crazy talk…
Well, no, a party formed within structural inequality is by nature an incrementalist platform for worker representation, rather than a revolutionary one.
But then revolutionary organisations tend to be self-corrupting.
I guess before the government makes any decision about anything, on any issue, they are meant to ask the population what should happen. I'm not sure whether that's by way of referenda.
Imagine it, February last year the announcement:
"There's a weird new flu-like virus. It looks like it's going to be a pandemic affecting just about every country in the world. It seems probable that many millions will get the virus and many hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, will die.
What do you think we should do? We are inviting written submissions. You have three weeks to get your ideas in. Note: we are inviting submissions from epidemiologists, immunologists and other scientists.
From the submissions we will formulate a plan. The intention is to repeat this exercise each month after implementation so that everyone is involved on our journey."
Apparently too, we had an election not so long ago. A government was elected, to govern.
Malcontents pissed off that their favourites were slaughtered at the ballot booth are throwing their toys out of the cot. For the noisy minority, a rabble including professionals piqued the mass of experts didn't pick their game plan, joined by an assortment of toerags, the terminally disaffected and out and out fruit loops, it's party time.
As COP 26 concludes, one can remember when the last Maunder minimum occurred.
It coincided with the 30 Years War, the English Civil War and the Fronde in France. It got colder and so less agricultural production. Discontent was expressed in printed pamphlets (the bible was weaponised in the social media of the day).
Then there was the period of the Sea Peoples, a century or so of of regional drought and people migrating … with force.
Environmental factors, incl weather, can destablise civil society.
Movement into Greece, the Hittites lost control of western Anatolia, movement out of Greece … the arrival in Gaza … the attacks on Egypt. Peak c 1200BCE.
Circa 1500 BC, maybe a century earlier, according to sources I've read. Dating it is via circumstantial evidence only. But he was referring to a separate climate trigger for those invasions, not the Maunder.
It was the Maunder that killed off the viking settlements in Greenland which had done okay for around five or so centuries. Inuit in Greenland survived due to their more resilient economy. I've even seen it asserted authoritatively that the Greenland vikings died because they refused to catch fish!!
Note how they refuse to ascribe a causal inference to the Maunder even though it looks suspiciously so. They frame it as correlative only: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age
One event impacting economic life c1600-1500BCE would have been the Santorini/Thira eruption.
(Egypt was overun by the Hyksos shortly before this).
As I said, the Sea peoples migrations were consequence of drought.
The interesting thing about the Maunder minimum period 1600's CE, was its coincidence with an early form of social media (printing pamphlets to disseminate dissent).
Environmental factors, incl media transforming the social environment can destablise civil society.
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 ...
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Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
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The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Blowback .
Russia is said by the west to have incited the war in Ukraine, others that the US engineered a coup that was resisted by the eastern Ukrainians .
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/craig-lang-ukraine-war-crimes-alleged
You might be interested in the deployment of migrants by the Russia-backed Belarus regime. EU accuses Belarus of 'gangster' methods as migrants shiver at Polish border | Reuters
On the blah blah blah front we have blah:
Thank blah for that!
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/07/so-what-has-cop26-achieved-so-far
Hard to trust the current Brazilian government on anything that they say at present. Especially bearing in mind the increased rate of Amazon clear felling in the last 4 years.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-55130304
It is like trusting the Australian Federal government to deal with international and bilateral commitments in a manner that doesn’t simply reflect their idiotic and ineffective political system.
"Hard to trust the current Brazilian government "
Yet James Shaw wants to tax kiwis and send the money over there as carbon credits, !! What could go wrong??
The Freedom and Rights Coalition goes to the Auckland / Northland border to impinge on the freedom and rights of others to go about their lawful business.
Love this bit:
"At 8am, many protesters had dropped away, leaving 12 to 15 at the border." (Stuff)
They cast themselves as the great freedom marchers. As we all know, campaigners for Civil Rights in Montgomery and Selma won their battles because they hung around for an hour and then got bored and buggered off.
Aren't they storming the "wasp hive" today? Arresting the PM etc? It's hard to keep up.
Yep, there are anti-1080 flags, trump flags, jeebus flags, something about the Nuremberg trial flags, nazi flags….
They sure want their idea of Freedum, but what the fuck?
It seems so American, like storming the Capitol, we've been swamped by American culture, firstly Hollywood, now the internet and social media
Nov 9, 2021 12:52 PM
RNZ Live
Yep. They're trying to emulate the Capitol Hill riots. Not surprising given the Trump Brigade seem to have taken over the "Freedom" movement.
It is just not the safety of the MPs, people work there, salaried or on contract.
Emboldened fools are chucking these at the press.
Tennis balls were thrown earlier this year during an anti lock down protest – "with not very nice messages on them".
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/london-parliament-government-metropolitan-police-houses-of-parliament-b942797.html
So about 15000 people in NZ protested today about mandates and govt over reach. Nothing like Jan 6 in America. Politians over reacted and Whipped up fear about over running parliament. Who is crazy, the peaceful protesters or the fear mongers? Get a grip, disagreeing does not make you an enemy of the state.
Disagreeing doesn't.
Now do some reading. It wasn't "disagreeing", was it?
If you genuinely believe we live in a dictatorship then you have a right – no, a duty – to revolt. If you don't believe we live in a dictatorship, don't be an apologist for those who say we do.
16,000 people got their second dose yesterday.
A lot of nooses in the crowd for a peaceful protest.
Peaceful protesters? We have harrassment, intimidation, threats online and in person and violence in general. I note someone bit a policeman today who was just doing his job. And then there is the racism. A few days ago someone smashed the windows of a vaccination centre for our South Pacific peoples.
Fear mongers? Who is doing the fear mongering and over reacting? The protesters. Spreading crazy conspiracy theories, disinformation, calling people – who are trying to save lives and put their fellow NZers first – Communists, Nazis, Stalinists and a further assortment of highly offensive names.
There's a name for those who transpose their own misconduct onto other people but have forgotten what it is.
What rubbish. Peaceful protest about govt mandates and control. Nothing like Jan 6. It is scary that there is a need to demonise or minimise people who disagree with the populist thinking. If your vaccine works then there is nothing to be afraid of. What has happened that we can't cope with differing voices.
"What has happened that we can't cope with differing voices."
Part of what has happened is the Prime Otherer saying many times a week, the unvaccinated are responsible for; Christmas being threatened, your freedoms being impacted, businesses going to the wall, your safety being jeopardised, travel being curtailed.
This is what othering and scare-mongering does.
The responsibility for our health system being so brittle, vulnerable and understaffed lies at the feet of every centrist Finance, Health and Prime Minister for the last 35 years, not the wary, the contrarians, the reluctant, the immuno-compromised or full-blown anti-vax.
Is "Hang Ardern" ok? or do want us to believe it is just "a bit of slang".
Only just noticed this – to be crystal clear no it's not. I'd hope the cops track this one down and have a talk with the perpetrator. As a starting point.
Otherwise all protests attract idiots on the fringe. The trick is keeping them there and hopefully away from the media.
Anyone who takes that as a threat needs their head read.
If they get a little chat afterwards from the Police well OK.
Otherwise it's a metaphor. I've seen plenty of effigies of Bolger and Shipley burnt with fireworks and tyres on the street.
Anyone who takes that as a threat needs their head read.
If you can't even be bothered to read the reporting (and there's plenty) then why bother discussing something you choose not to know about?
All over social media, all over news media. Inform yourself.
Just one example:
https://twitter.com/henrycooke/status/1457840568428482562
If someone gets a talking to, I'll believe it's a threat. The Police can assess that better than anyone.
The PM can't handle being shouted at in a media conference.
At the Foreshore and Seabed march the Labour Ministers who fronted were spat at and and abused far worse.
In usual times I'd probably agree completely with you Ad. A healthy democracy can sustain a fair bit of verbal biffo without much harm.
But it's my sense that many people have been psychologically activated by COVID, by the uncertainty, the social isolation and above all the chronic state of low-grade fear being pumped at them. In these circumstances I'd want to be extra cautious around inflammatory language – especially if it's political.
I recall you're a fan of World War Z – well I've always imagined zombies to be a metaphor for the mind-killed, unthinking mob.
All those protests we went in our tens of thousands in the mid-eighties armed with lots of weapons and shields and heavily orchestrated moves and taking on the state,
in our many thousands in the '90s against union-crushing and benefit reductions and privatisations,
in our lower thousands in the early noughties, …
… look at them now in their hundreds.
WE used to have that same fire. We inflamed wholesale.
We used to forge whole new political movements on it.
All of those leftie marches looked like anarchistic unthinking undead to the majority and to the government.
But probably the Tooth Fairy will get the shits and call in the Minister for SIS for a chat, because actually she's the biggest flake we have. Spare us from brittle authoritarians.
Someone sing me Rage Against the Machine.
I would normally agree, but the threats on the internet are downright scary. Thanks Observer.
“The tooth etc” Get a grip Ad .You sound flaky. Saying stuff like that at this time is unhelpful.
I think the casual references to lynching etc. that I see and hear across Facebook, among people who have till recently posted interesting, heart-warming things, is very worrying indeed. They seem unaware of the sinister tone of their words. I believe their world-view has been contaminated by the American situation and the influencers who whipped that up.
Probably only the ones on benefits left!!😏
Rod Oram, economist gone Green:
And I bet they're all wearing suits. The visual signal that one is actually part of the control system whilst pretending to be part of the solution is obligatory. I predict only Lab/Nat voters will be fooled by the simulation.
Blah? APEC has managed what the UN couldn't; an online conference.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/politics/nzs-digital-apec-time-for-actual-action
Beyond blah? I'll believe that if I ever see it…
18 & 10 Years ago we had a couple of opportunities for the government at the time to buy this gem. Hopefully someone will attract the attention of Hon Kiritapu Allan to IMO.
I posted support to purchasing this way back in 2011, and back then the Labour blog and the then leader Phil Goff urged National to purchase had a post to support such an acquisition !!!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tide-turning-on-coastal-property-prices/46VLFYEZAOT2CICJQ3WLSXMMLY/
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2111/S00079/new-chums-headland-for-sale-needs-permanent-protection-says-eds.htm
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/4509605/Message-to-protect-New-Chums-Beach
. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14102011/#comment-385591
ps great to be able to search for posts 10+ years ago well done to the administrators who manage this site 👍🏾
Yes New Chums is a must to preserve. We have been supporting its preservation from development for a good while now as well.
God I was dismayed to see the amount of small plastic pellets all over the beach when I visited last year
I have seen beaches in the area inundated with balls of jelly, a little offsetting in the area where the waves break but once you get beyond that, the water is perfect for beach activities. Not nice for toddlers playing on the waters edge.
I will say that New Chums/Wainuiototo beach has some dangers attributed to it, that those who are even familiar with the beach can be caught out. A short challenging walk that opens up to a great place that IMO for a small amount can be totally protected for the publics benefit, and with no overseas travel perhaps we should be enhancing local spots to be available for all.
https://mymykerikeri.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/balls-of-jelly-all-over-matauri-bay/
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld/audio/2018676118/salps-a-surprising-jelly-like-relative
Kiri is on Facebook.
Small school in limbo as all staff refuse mandatory Covid-19 vaccine.
"She said she was not opposed to getting the vaccination herself, but as the only fully registered teacher she had not been able to take time off to get her shot."
A school teacher I know took time off to get her shot recently – in the school holiday break. It was two weeks long.
The principal wants the Ministry of Education to waive the vaccination mandate and instead require weekly testing. I'm not sure how they'll able to "take time off" for that every week.
It's sort of funny when teachers who force people to do things they mightn't want to do rail against being told to do something.
Central King Country Principals' Association chairwoman Maria Gillard said convincing those not wanting to vaccinate to change their minds was tough. Like it being tough to get kids to change their minds I suppose except that in the school environment power rules. Those with the power deem that they know best and the kids should bow to that 'superiority' of knowledge.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300449404/small-school-in-limbo-as-all-staff-refuse-mandatory-covid19-vaccine
The problem starts at the top:
"None of the school's board of trustees were vaccinated either."
Do you think any teacher who wanted to get vaccinated would dare to do so in the face of the display by the Board of Trustees? On your bike would I expect to be their response.
As for the Principal who "hadn't been able to take time off to get vaccinated". There were school holidays from the second to the seventeenth of October. She couldn't find any single day on which to get a vaccination?
I'm trying to think how or why the principal would know the vaccination status of the members of the board and what relevance it would be to her past any requirements made on the non-vaccinated not being accepted in the school.
A board can't get rid of a staff member because they choose to be vaccinated. Members of a board setting out to make sure a principal in such circumstances is unwelcome and seeking to force them out would be showing they are fuckwits who should not have anything to do with a school. That is the sort of stuff for employment courts.
In such a situation if the locals are on about individual choice and no compulsion they would be be taking the choice away from the principal and in some senses forcing the principal to not get a vaccination.
Can't staff the school? No problem. Close it. Bus the kids into Taumarunui or Ongarue. Can't staff those schools because they're backwaters and no-one would want to be there? Some might say the attitude of the locals suggests it is a backwater.
Crazy that these are the people we are mandated to trust with our childrens education
Many people have rightly noted how challenging the logistics of policing Auckland's border will be at Xmas – as 30,000 people a day leave in their cars. I think some of those same people were less convinced of the logistical challenges of doing some other things – such as stopping Covid leaks from MIQ, or rolling out millions of vaccine doses.
Rule of thumb seems to be: if I do want something to happen, the logistics aren't an issue and someone else just needs to do it; if I don't want something to happen, the logistics are impossible and the idea should be abandoned.
People's supposed principles and their logic seem to align uncannily well with their self-interest. Who wouldn't be a misanthrope at times like this?
Everyone needs a plan B every day from now on when it comes to travelling, shopping for non essentials and entertaining. People need to consider being unwell with Covid or having a person unwell with Covid in your household.
It is about doing the right thing for yourself, your home and your neighbourhood.
Protesters are not considering the households of the police, some have babies and young children in the home and are on the frontline. No pay rise and the work conditions would be terrible when it comes to managing groups breaking the rules.
In case anyone missed it, Daniel Ellsberg was on Kim Hill. He said he believes that JA is the best PM in the world. High praise indeed.
(around 25mins)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018819433
Good interview.Ellsberg was interesting and very sharp @90.
Hill has little sympathy for Assange as she showed once again.
Yes I heard that. The young don't listen to Kim hill or a ninety year old guest, no matter what they say.
Remarkable photo, those three flags at a protest outside of parliament.
https://twitter.com/writeonleah/status/1457793131533856770?s=21
What are the three flags? I recognise a Trumpist banner, a Tino Rangatiratanga flag, but the red-crossed white flag with the top right quadrant infilled?
That knowledge would help identify the influences in this coalition of the silly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Tribes_of_New_Zealand
Predates Te Tiriti.
Trump, independent tribes, strange bedfellows.
I know people who believe in both.
Thanks, weka.
Well there goes Wellington covid free'
And at the same time excited shoppers are waiting for Sylvia Park shopping mall to open, queuing up ahead of opening time 9am tomorrow
Freedom's just another word to shop until you drop
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/covid-19/covid-19-delta-outbreak-people-already-queuing-outside-auckland-shopping-mall-ahead-of-level-3-2/
As long as you do not drop because you queued to shop.
Only a matter of time and an MP will be a Covid case. Probably already cases in the police as they do get deployed around the country. The viral load an infectious protester or an agro person at a check point has would be an additional risk.
That photo was taken at 8.30. Here's the scene later in the morning:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300449296/covid19-live-thousands-descend-on-parliament-in-protest-of-vaccine-mandates
Good to see lots of NZ flags amongst the collection.
Thanks for that…I stumbled across an 'independent reporter's report' earlier when the group was gathering…he was busy scanning the assembled for the white supremacists MSM said were in charge of these anti- vaxxers. Good times.
I'm sure there will be hangers on, that's normal for any protest. But the numbers at this march look to be substantial. Even granny herald are reporting the large numbers.
So who are the "hangers-on" and who are the protesters who aren't?
The organisers are linked to Brian Tamaki and Destiny Church. Are they hangers-on or the regular good guys?
We've been here before, and how did it work out for them?
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0408/S00233/images-enough-civil-unions-is-or-isnt-enough.htm
The hangers on are those people who are using this cause to promote another. AFAIK people from Destiny have been involved in anti-lockdown protests for some time. The hangers on are the pro-trumpites, the anti-1080 crowd etc.
Tamaki is an opportunist using the covid situation. Covid is just an excuse.
Unfortunately there are plenty of morons running here to join in. Here they don't necessarily wear red caps.
Destiny/Tamaki has been involved in being peed off for a long time.
May 1919
"Destiny Church and its leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki have announced a new political party – Coalition New Zealand.
"You're going to see politics with teeth," Brian Tamaki said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon, "you'll see a party led by leaders as leadership is what is lacking right now.
"Labour has been taking us in the wrong direction. Our freedom is endangered due to harmful politics coming from the Government."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/112938679/destiny-church-launches-political-party-promising-politics-with-teeth
Brian Tamaki is a deluded egoist on a personal mission.
Remember this? "In 2004, Tamaki predicted the Destiny Church would be "ruling the nation" before its tenth anniversary in 2008."
I didn't know Tamaki was over 100 y.o. Whats his secret to longevity?
Tamaki may well be 'using' Covid for his own agenda, but then so are politicians. My point was he isn't a 'hanger on' in the context of earlier comments. He's made his position on the core issues very clear some time ago. Opponents of 1080 and supporters of Trump are certainly there for very different causes.
Hang on, is that the a set of Russian flags?
I wonder why
Russian kiwi's?
Samuel Johnson
probably came over with the dolt45 flags.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
Mark Twain
I guess we're there.
https://twitter.com/byroncclark/status/1457857272109879296
https://twitter.com/nealejones/status/1457842894312599552
In short: It’s a fact we love American stuff. American food, TV and celebrity.
So maybe it should come as no surprise that in New Zealand’s Telegram channels, there’s a love of capitol riots.
“NEXT TUESDAY” they announce in all caps: “There is going to be THE STAND OF ALL STANDS in Wellington at Parliament grounds!”
“It’s time to get Bill Gates and Jacinda. We need to concentrate on physically arresting her.”
“Fuck me” is all I could think. It was a combination of alarming and tragic. It’s alarming because we’re already seeing violence towards the media in New Zealand. Mihingarangi Forbes tweeted about it last week:
As if to prove Mihi correct, a OneNews camera operator was attacked by an anti-vax protestor over the weekend.
“Do you want this camera fucking smashed, you c—t?” the man said, before physically assaulting the camera operator.
https://www.webworm.co/p/capitolriots
Oh, but they're not the real protesters, the real ones are salt of the earth Kiwis (etc, etc … repeat denial ad nauseam).
And if anyone is in any doubt, you can find plenty more of this crap on their social media, which I won't link to or platform (NSFW) but you all have Google too.
YEP, MUST BE WHAT THEY MEAN WHEN THEY ORGANISE A CAPITAL RIOT. AN ALL-CAPITAL RIOT.
Normally they would just barricade the doors with planks, this time they were using barriers to prevent entry via the windows.
Minister Wood opines in a long article on the GreaterAuckland blog about the preferred mode for Auckland light rail.
The Minister's View on Light Rail – Greater Auckland
He has put his entire credibility on its success with this article, and essentially requests that the GreaterAuckland activists hold off criticising for fear of killing the project as the Auckland Cycle Path was.
This is an unusual move for a Minister to make on multiple counts. In political terms it is pretty bold.
Surprise!! Gordon Campbell has a sense of humour.
The joke is on… whoever God's will decides. I wonder if the govt will force Aucklanders to wear an identification symbol so we can see them coming and keep our distance?? The yellow star worked well a while back, eh?
"The yellow star worked well a while back, eh?"
How about a Jaffa jammed up each nostril?
… if we can still find those
We will ride by the tens of thousands, swathed in black cloaks, holding our credit cards aloft.
Fascinating story on change in the demographics of Covid 19 deaths in the USA. Compared to the first 100k deaths (no vaccines), the most recent 100k deaths (Delta + vaccines available) are:
Vaccination rates seem to be driving most of it.
Differences in the Covid-19 death rate by political affiliation are also rapidly widening, with Trump-supporting counties suffering three times higher death rates than Biden-supporting counties. Vaccination rates again seem to be key, with 40% of Republican adults unvaccinated compared to only 10% of Democratic adults.
At some point it will dawn on the GOP they will have to cast votes for those who died to win elections – I wonder how they will enable this for white voters only, or do they expect SCOTUS to rubber stamp everything put up?
It seems Wellington (on a good day) has flushed out those of profoundly anti-democratic sentiments. From those with throbbing power between their legs (a hint of SA with overtones of ambition to be King Bishop Brian's blackshirts) to those who would like it all to go away and think appeasing the coronavirus will set them free from any resistance struggle (leaving the burden to health workers).
The elitism of the bare-faced contempt for majority opinion and the public good … the uber-romanticisation of social media minority echo chambers displayed … from a self-appointed governing aristocracy of no bodies in the Maori world claiming to represent its sovereignty to affluent PMC (the neo-liberal corporate regime enabling corporate and capitalist dominance ) ideologues manipulating discontent for their political purposes (and we await National waking up their inner Mr Orewa to take advantage of the chaos).
I say prescribe them all ivermectin to be on the way – rid the capitol hill of that small party worm.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/11/coronavirus-100-fold-increase-in-kiwis-following-disinformation-groups-online-study.html
the goal being to make Māori as a population appear to be anti-vaccination,
Which when they had the lowest vaccination rates was kind of easy to do. And given that this time the usual 'it's all the fault of a racist health system' doesn't quite fly – they're reduced to blaming 'white supremacist people' again.
This constant ethnic power struggle narrative will lead NZ nowhere good.
The explainer
There are more younger Maori in the provincial NI, these HB's were behind the rest in September and are doing catch up – and in areas where the population is quite spread out.
All good and fair points SPC. They underline my contention that the best explanation for different outcomes is not always racism.
I was equally scathing of Reti's attempt to use the ethnic card on vaccines as well. I'm vividly conscious that in a pandemic there is real potential for the kind of mass psychosis that leads very directly to violence.
Yes racism and ethnic fault lines are real – but using them as a power play is unbelievably dangerous. Sometime in the 90's I remember listening to a 30 min BBC "Foreign Correspondent" report on Yugoslavia and the hell that got unleashed in that country after the fall of the dictators.
The reporter led with a simple question. Why is it that a relatively modern nation fall apart so fast and dramatically? If you had visited the place before these horrors you might have come home and said what warm and friendly people they are. After exploring this question and setting the social and political background the narrative shifted from the general to the specific.
It moved to a small town that had seen some of the worst violence. I still cannot bring myself to type out the atrocity that was described in graphic detail by the correspondent. But the point was – the people who did this to each other were neighbours, they knew each other, as had their families for generations. How the fuck had this happened?
The answer is this. Every society has a small fraction of psychopathic, resentful damaged individuals who will commit horrors for the sheer pleasure and gratification of it. Normally they're kept in check by social boundaries and institutional norms. But they lurk.
But when that leash is loosened by public figures exploiting divisions within any society for their own political purposes – during a period of instability, uncertainty and fear – that first these dangerous people will feel emboldened to act. And then very rapidly – one atrocity upon another – the Yugoslavian nation unraveled into hell.
None are immune. Guard against this.
The irony being that Croat, Serb and Bosnian Moslem probably had the same ancestral group – carving out separate borders occurs by acceptance of then then regional arrangements or by plebiscite or by war (also Pakistan and India and say the land west of the Jordan). Apparently events in Bosnia are worsening, the Serb and Croat political leadership are seeking to divide up the Bosnian military and form their own.
I think we have to take it, from the photo, that the COP 26 outcome is a failure and that the dolphins are all leaving.
Can't you hear it whistling "So long and thanks for all the fish"?
I was going for Florida man mulitplying via social media.
The dolphin is only observing.
Cant say I blame them the stupid going on is just getting to much.
Although if I self identify as a cetacean I wonder if they'll take me withim??
Don't worry the white race God is going to rapture its mammalian Greek brotherhood …
The middle ear contains three tiny bones:
Hammer (malleus) — attached to the eardrum.
Anvil (incus) — in the middle of the chain of bones.
Stirrup (stapes) — attached to the membrane-covered opening that connects the middle ear with the inner ear (oval window)
As they say beware defenestration (1618), Des Gorman would know very well that coming out of a flood of judgment has to be done carefully or there may be consequences.
so long and thanks for all the fish…………..
Van the Man lacks a fan:
This is the language used by a main speaker at today's Wellington protest. (Note – not some random drunken vox pop, not a fringe freeloader, but the chosen speaker from "Freedoms and Rights", the Brian Tamaki group).
Ardern trying to create a Communist nation. Auckland "the largest concentration camp in the world". "This is our 9/11 in New Zealand… people have come to signal the collapse of the Government … a dictatorship".
"We are not standing here waiting for another three years when the next election rolls down … We will roll this place and take them out with a revolution of the people."
(citation: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/11/live-updates-latest-on-covid-19-community-outbreak-tuesday-november-9.html)
Now imagine somebody at a leftie demo talking about a National government in those terms. The SIS would be watching them like a hawk. And did.
The cossacks are dancing.
Cannot find image of Massey's Cossacks on quad bikes
You can be confident all those speakers have files on them already.
Anyway, as of tomorrow the shopping will cure most of the protests.
They have body bags on special at Kmart?
Standard right wing position. Probably a Dirty Politics memo.
I've seen centre left Aucklanders on TS say similar (with a somewhat more retrained rhetoric)
Kind of true. Big even that shifts political and social culture, and includes given the government more powers to control the population.
That will be in the SIS and police files, and it's part of the dangerous that Mihi Forbes is naming. It ties into the right's use of Trumpian politics (also dangerous). It's why we should be concerned and looking at the deeper reasons for the mix of dynamics rather than just framing it as US imports. Those three flags.
At its core it’s the language of fascism – mob activity on the street as the source of political legitimacy.
9/11 – as a pretext to posit "overthrow" of a government.
It's one small step from DT boasting he could shoot and kill and get away with it, to legitimising those serving his empowerment being able to do the same.
Some at the rally are soldiers for the endarkenment.
Like the OTT debacle of the Tuhoe Raids. Who can forget the cow catapult.
not the reference you were thinking of, I'm guessing. But still a goodie,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppShcRlJeZI&ab_channel=0707pl
Still enjoy that show.
I'd forgotten how groundbreaking it was.
Yes the words from a megalomaniac, Brian Tamaki.
The protests today are another downside of wide spread manadates. They pushing what were previously productive members of society into the margins and arms of existing fringe groups emboldened by an influx of numbers and the camouflage they provide.
Add today's lot to groundswell who will be invigorated by three waters reforms its potentially going to get very messy. Especially if Police are mandated and all of a sudden we find ourselves 1200 short in the face of increasingly angry protest groups.
We'll get to 90% vaxxed so for long term societal benefit and to diffuse things a bit we should back away from the wide spread mandates and move towards a rapid testing focused approach as well as recent pcr testing to activate a short term passport.
The presence of patched bodgies should raise concerns.
Good points.
Not so sure the PCR test passports would reduce angst. Some of these protestors have some pretty weird theories about the tests too…and are against any sort of social cooperation requirement generally.
Yes. One of the demands from the "Freedoms and Rights Coalition" is to shut down testing stations.
The gov't could either a) waste time and energy trying to reason with people who have already decided the gov't are commies/nazis/apartheid/Voldemort.
or b) just carry on with all the public health measures and let the ranters rant.
None of this is uncharted territory. The playbook was written in the USA. Some had deathbed conversions, some didn't. They have to get there in their own time – or not.
It wont make the hard core anti vax conspiracy theorists happy.
But the numbers have built due to unhappiness with mandates. Plenty of people find that a step to far. Get rid of mandates and the crowd will be 100s not thousands. I really feel we need to get some heat out of this having it get ugly isnt good for anyone in the end.
"The protests today are another downside of wide spread manadates."
"We'll get to 90% vaxxed so for long term societal benefit and to diffuse things a bit we should back away from the wide spread mandates and move towards a rapid testing focused approach…"
Thanks for pointing this out.
A bit like current job site drug testing. The P freak can be fried all day and will test negative the next day, the midnight toker will be positive, even if not impaired while at work.
Akin to Paula Bennett's meth hysteria in state housing and the upset that caused to so many. But they were in state housing so 'nothing to see here'.
shopping will cure most of the protests – another free market miracle is it?
You know, I think I'd rather see them run headlong into the rule of law. Waiting for shopping to cure things is how you get an enduring Trumpist movement – screw that. There's incitement going on there, with their Nuremberg and citizens arrest bullshit. Throw the (deleted expletives) in prison and let them out through the courts, where they can get a full measure of the scorn in which they are held.
On a separate note, this Dunedin story keeps getting worse and worse.
80 hour weeks at a bakery turned into sub-minimum wage was the opener a day or two back.
Now it includes:
My coffee card for their cafe is half used. And will remain that way. That's fucking disgusting. I know hospo tends to use wage theft and bullying as a business model, but even for that industry this is pretty extreme.
Good to see some of these cases making it through the ERA, but I would guess there are more we and they just don't know about. And the original complaint was in 2017.
Do we still have a Labour department? Is that who the inspectors were?
Yep. The Labour Inspectorate conducts an investigation and can take a case to the ERA.
With the amount of issues involved, this case would have taken a lot of time, especially as some of the issues apparently occurred during the investigation, so would have needed further examination.
Then there are the complicated financial arrangements, reviewing of documents like timesheets and employees' personal records, then the accounts to see how much gain their might have been.
Throw in a covid delay or two, timeframes for right of response and consultation with lawyers, staff workloads at the inspectorate, an xmas break or three… But the wheels turned inexorably, if slowly, to deliver some justice.
Imo this should be in criminal court.
Theft as a servant is a criminal matter so should delibrate wage theft. This sort of shit deserves criminal conviction.
It's almost as if the power structures of the state treat the same crime differently according to the class of the offender… but but that's just crazy talk…
If only we had a party started by the workers with its hand on the levers of power, surely then such discrepancies would be urgently addressed…
Well, no, a party formed within structural inequality is by nature an incrementalist platform for worker representation, rather than a revolutionary one.
But then revolutionary organisations tend to be self-corrupting.
so damned either way?
It's a stairway to heaven, but there's a highway to hell.
Funny, watching the bikies in the protest today, more highway to hell than stairway to heaven I think.
The album cover of Bat out of Hell.
https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/plus/1364390831.jpg
@SPC: Brian Tamaki's never looked that good lol
"Theft as a servant is a criminal matter so should delibrate wage theft. This sort of shit deserves criminal conviction."
One thing I have learned is violence travels down the hierarchy, if it ever travels up, it is viewed as abhorrent.
Apparently we have a "dictatorship."
I guess before the government makes any decision about anything, on any issue, they are meant to ask the population what should happen. I'm not sure whether that's by way of referenda.
Imagine it, February last year the announcement:
"There's a weird new flu-like virus. It looks like it's going to be a pandemic affecting just about every country in the world. It seems probable that many millions will get the virus and many hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, will die.
What do you think we should do? We are inviting written submissions. You have three weeks to get your ideas in. Note: we are inviting submissions from epidemiologists, immunologists and other scientists.
From the submissions we will formulate a plan. The intention is to repeat this exercise each month after implementation so that everyone is involved on our journey."
Apparently too, we had an election not so long ago. A government was elected, to govern.
Malcontents pissed off that their favourites were slaughtered at the ballot booth are throwing their toys out of the cot. For the noisy minority, a rabble including professionals piqued the mass of experts didn't pick their game plan, joined by an assortment of toerags, the terminally disaffected and out and out fruit loops, it's party time.
As COP 26 concludes, one can remember when the last Maunder minimum occurred.
It coincided with the 30 Years War, the English Civil War and the Fronde in France. It got colder and so less agricultural production. Discontent was expressed in printed pamphlets (the bible was weaponised in the social media of the day).
Then there was the period of the Sea Peoples, a century or so of of regional drought and people migrating … with force.
Environmental factors, incl weather, can destablise civil society.
Weren't the Sea Peoples ancient Greece, like 1000bc?
Movement into Greece, the Hittites lost control of western Anatolia, movement out of Greece … the arrival in Gaza … the attacks on Egypt. Peak c 1200BCE.
Ah, so not the little ice age. My history order has been a bit off lately, thought this was another instance lol
Circa 1500 BC, maybe a century earlier, according to sources I've read. Dating it is via circumstantial evidence only. But he was referring to a separate climate trigger for those invasions, not the Maunder.
It was the Maunder that killed off the viking settlements in Greenland which had done okay for around five or so centuries. Inuit in Greenland survived due to their more resilient economy. I've even seen it asserted authoritatively that the Greenland vikings died because they refused to catch fish!!
Note how they refuse to ascribe a causal inference to the Maunder even though it looks suspiciously so. They frame it as correlative only: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age
One event impacting economic life c1600-1500BCE would have been the Santorini/Thira eruption.
(Egypt was overun by the Hyksos shortly before this).
As I said, the Sea peoples migrations were consequence of drought.
The interesting thing about the Maunder minimum period 1600's CE, was its coincidence with an early form of social media (printing pamphlets to disseminate dissent).
Environmental factors, incl media transforming the social environment can destablise civil society.