Am I getting old and cynical, or is interviewing Mr. Dotcom in connection with surveillance issues going to simply ignite the usual allergic response from the public? Rather than an intelligent debate about an extremely pressing issue affecting our freedom to think for ourselves, let alone democratic government.
It is all part of the chickens and roosts scenario. KDCom was prominent in the spying revelations – – – sure he messed up and as well as being vilified by Key, his information had to get past a hostile and extremely biased MSM.
As always with Key, when confronted by a difficult situation, he chooses the ad hominem path and revels in the unpleasantness. KDCom, Hager, Norman, Little; it’s all the same to Key. There’s a difference between constructive discussion with opponents and the nastiness that Key portrays.
If ever I heard a lying dissembler, it was Key on Morning Report today. Incredible.
The interesting bit was when Dotcom revealed that the email from Warner Bros was not a document he had in the first instance – he saw it first in the Herald – so why did the Herald keep silent when the media were hounding Dotcom for releasing the email without the header info which could trace where it came from? And, letting everyone believe that Dotcom was presenting a false document? Why don’t the Herald release the FULL email so people can judge its authenticity for themselves?
thanx amirite, what an example for us to follow by our dear leader.
can you imagine being stopped by the constabulary and behaving like that.
“well it depends on what you mean by show you my licence’
“i dont even have a clue what you mean by what is your name”
“that is a random definition of having a warrant of fitness”
i would expect a better performance from a 5yr old with choc icing on the fingers and cake crumbs down their front.
Ooops – only hit the submit button once, but it popped up three times and was only able to delete one. Has been happening a lot recently but previously reply has come up twice with the ability to delete one.
The machine is running faster so you got three rather then the previous two. The problem originates with the browser hitting the ‘submit’ multiple times.
Most likely at the server you hit a cached copy of the previous database query on a different instance so the de-duping didn’t work. The “you’ve already said that” didn’t show…
What I need to do is to fix the client side so that the send is turned off as soon as the first first submit is started.
Full marks to Willow Jean for her stamina during interview on Morning Report.
Her responses were calm and relevant in the face of growing frustration from Ferguson, desperate for that magical soundbite, similar to watching Q&A yesterday with Little.
Amazed that media’s neediness is so blatant these days.
Watching Q&A I thought Andrew Little was very patient repeating the answer to the same question. At a certain point I thought, oh, come on, just tell her like you tell a child – ‘asked and answered’ now move on.
If you have limited time, choose the performances of Te Materae i o Rehu, Te Whanau a Apanui, Opotiki mai Tawhiti, Waihirere, Whangara mai Tawhiti and Te Iti Kahurangi. Also very good was Waka Huia. All of those were on finals day.
Of course, there were some excellent performances in the heats from roopu who never made it to the finals but were nevertheless very entertaining.
And – just a wow moment over the weekend. Who would have thought the bastion of the “Aussie bloke”, would have done this. My team Fremantle are in the game – so feel good news for me. I remember living in Western Australia through the 90’s, and being gay was a criminal offence.
Ever since enclosures and colonialism began turning farming into capitalist agriculture around the world,
Would be interesting to know what dates that they put upon that considering that our property laws are almost fully lifted from Ancient Rome. There’s been some adjustments but not that many and it still protects the rich rather than producing what society needs.
Ah, thanks, but I meant legally and structurally as alternatives to the capitalist, colonising systems (most of the permaculture type initiatives are working within fairly conventional land ownership models). So I was wondering about other cultures and countries and if anyone is doing this well. Will have a think on this today.
I’m also thinking about traditional systems that Māori used where I think hapū had responsibility for areas where they lived and the resources were shared collectively. I don’t know a lot about it, but it strikes me that the belonging to a place and being responsible for it is a crucial aspect that is missing in our current systems.
Jim Crace’s ‘Harvest’ was short-listed for the 2013 Booker Prize. A beautifully written and very dark novel set in a tiny medieval English hamlet . From one review: ‘ ‘Harvest’ is … a mesmerising slow-burner of a novel, both a paean to a lost way of life and a timeless cautionary fable.’
Anyone else hear John Key interviewed on Radio Live this morning?
He had his ‘squeaky’ voice – the one that shows (in my opinion) that at the beginning of the day, he is anything but ‘relaxed’ and ‘comfortable’ about Winston Peters impending victory, in taking Northland off National?
Had Winston Peters not stood in Northland, and if Winston Peters was not leading in (most of) the polls – would Simon Bridges now be making an a announcement this morning about roading in Northland – just before Winston Peters makes an announcement on Northland infrastructure?
If this is the effect Winston Peters can have on Northland NOW – how effective for Northland is he going to be when storms home on 28 March 2015 and becomes their MP?
I am sure the voters from all sides of the political arena, including from National, will clearly see and laugh at National’s electorally expedient manipulations now. But if Key and Bridges will finally try to do something for Northland, that is good. They can’t fool most people any more. But if this magnanimous desperate gesture will impress many voters, if any, is a moot point the answer to which will be clear on Saturday, 28 March by 9 pm.
It would be great if any of our magnificent on-to-it TV channels will broadcast live or at least on line as it will be a widely watched if aired.
he is squeaky at the beginning of the day cos his newly learned lines overnight are, well, new. By the end of the day he is repeating them with all the aplomb of a practised liar.
Is that the prime mincer who delivers fresh pork into Northland pork barrels by promising ten new bridges, or whatever.
This scheme has not been so well thought through, as Simon Bridges and candidate Osbourne allege. It is shown to be an election bribe judging by the wide variance of cost for the bridges.
The cost would be “between $32-69 million”, they say.
If this has been part of the process and not a late addition into the pork barrel, surely costings would be more closely known, rather than be presented with a margin of over 200%.
Northland voters are on a winner here. They get all these by-election promises at pork-barrel rates from the prime mincer, and then can turn around and vote for a non-National candidate, to show they cannot be bought, and that they despise the inference that they can- and then, still get the barrel’s contents all rolled out.
I wonder if other rural National MPs might see the way to getting infrastructure work done in their electorates. Just resign and have a by-election. Best work they all could do!
They could start with the one-way Hurunui bridge on SH1 down our way……..
Stuart Smith, are you there?
And another veteran activist, Daphna Whitmore, looks at how ungrateful to the forces of the left – socialists, women’s liberation activists, trade unionists – right-wing women are. Without the left, the doors of opportunity would never have been opened to them. https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/08/right-wing-women-ungrateful-whingers/
In 2015, is “opposition politics” and Labour politics” the same thing.
Was reading the posts around Northland and Peters (complete with a bunch of insiders bitching at each other over stuff only they understand) and wondered if good “opposition politics” – the nod to Labour supporters to vote for NZF to undermine the Govt – was in Labours best interests.
And assuming it was, then why, nearly 20 years after we got MMP, is it that Her Majestys opposition has a front bench all from the major opposition party? Why arent those who oppose the Govt of the day having a joint opposition front bench (a Govt in waiting so to speak).
Or is it truly every (wo)man for himself in between elections?
Looking at your good question perhaps this will happen, there is no getting around to govern under MMP you need to be in a coalition. Between some people within opposition party’s there is a consensus that we need a handful of sound, exact policies where voters can vote confidently knowing the party’s are on the same page.
An opposition cross party’s front bench with key portfolios spokepeople should strengthen public perception.
Scrapping it out fighting for the same pool of voters is the problem.
* apologies re. little tiff. I will put my hand up to that. Issues resolved.
National has already corralled the left into a “coaltion” through his repeated memes. Seperate identities are crucial and does not preclude working together.
Then there needs to be clear examples visible to the electorate that the Opposition parties can indeed work together on specific issues. 1/2 year into this term already and examples are coming up short.
Now you may be 100% right there Pascals Bookie, but isnt the nod to Peters, a coalition opposition move?
Im struggling to see why the incumbent opposition parties are expected to act independently (and largely acrimoniously too for that matter) in a FPP mindset for 2 years and 10 months, and then are expected to work collegially in the buildup to an election to get rid of the incumbent government.
he hasn’t endorsed Peters at all. It’s more a straight description of reality. Prime is fine candidate in a solid blue seat. If she is going to get in, it will be off the list. All he has said that I’ve seen is that it’s up to the voters and he isn’t going to play the game of saying Prime will win.
The pundits hyperventilating about this being like Epsom are just fucking idiots.
One of the things I managed to get to whilst repairing the server over the weekend was to finally get the dratted php5-fpm server system going on ubuntu 14.04. I have had several cracks at it previously, usually with the result that the system runs slower.
For the techheads, it turns out that fastcgi isn’t available as a deb since ubuntu 13.x. When I upgraded to 14.04 it removed my old mod fastcgi.
A new install Ubuntu 14.10 apache2 on the other system happily ran proxy-fcgi with php5-fpm, but my upgraded 14.04 server did not.
The reason is that after the upgrade, apache2 on ubuntu 14.04 was defaulting to apache2 mpm-prefork rather than mpm-event.
The usual magic in the virtual site conf file to divert php
ProxyPassMatch ^/(.*\.php(/.*)?)$ fcgi://127.0.0.1:9000/var/www/mysite/$1
and then restart
service apache2 restart
And we were running happily on php-fpm.
Most of the pages on the net assume a clean setup of ubuntu 14.04 rather than an upgrade. It may be that your upgraded version is running mpm-worker. I have no idea what happens then.
Simon Bridges couldn’t overlook the first new idea he has had for how long?, when he saw his name under the star on his door at his electorate office. Bridges, that’s the thing? There you are you thought I was just a pretty face.
(Apologies to Simon if he isn’t as simple as I infer, and is the exception to the UNACT rule.)
I think that was an unnecessary apology. His pretty face will fade with time, but so will his intellect. His eagerness to please his superiors makes him a Teina Pora in a suit and tie.
He’s a piss-arse little ex-Crown prosecutor. By and large they are a ‘type’ to which I add there are some (but not many) real and delightful people so vocated. In contrast to that distinct minority, how else would you expect the low-rent Simon to be ? It’s all about low-rent Simon. Always was. Not into your Teina reference there MR. Teina’s a decent person cruelly wronged.
The police were able to frame Teina Pora because the foetal alcohol syndrome had stopped parts of his thinking developing. He was incredibly eager to please the detectives and gave them the answers he thought they wanted to hear. I think much the same eagerness to please saw Bridges rise through the ranks of NAct.
As for Teina Pora being decent, maybe he is now. I find it hard to regard telling lies about five other men in a bid to get reward money and get himself out of trouble with them to be a wee bit on the nose. I don’t think a decent person does that, but that doesn’t take one iota of blame and revulsion away from what ngati poaka did. If anything, it makes it worse because they took full advantage of his deficiencies, probably knowing all along that he was just making stuff up.
He should be compensated not because he was a decent person, but because the state acted in an appalling manner. Sometimes there are no good guys in a story, although I have a huge amount of respect for the Burdett family who wanted Pora freed and know that justice means something different to revenge.
Here is a real skilled workman hero, with high achievement in his valuable specialty equal with Hillary’s achievement, to put on any new banknote. David Fagan.
Fagan, 53, holds five world championship titles, seven world team titles and has 632 open-class wins under his belt.
The farmer from Te Kuiti has won the Golden Shears competition a record 16 times and has said that is probably what he will be remembered for. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/265084/shearing-legend-fagan-to-retire
New era dawns for Golden Shears ( 3′ 27″ ) http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20170100
08:53 It’s called the wimbledon of shearing, and on Saturday night the Golden Shears entered a new era, with the retirement of past winner David Fagan, and its first ever international winner.
Golden Shears Title won – 16 times between 1986 and 2015, now 53 years old. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/267807/golden-shears-begins-today “The big focus will be David Fagan of course, he’s announced recently that he’s retiring at the end of the season, so this will be his last Golden Shears. He’s won the title 16 times, the first time he won it was back in 1986 and here we are almost 30 years later, he’s now the favourite to win it again.
“He’s actually won 12 finals at provincial shows around the country so far this season, in fact he’s won seven on the trot, just right up to the last weekend in which he completed a treble at Taumaranui and Apiti up in Manawatu there and Pahiatua on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that’s the first time that’s been done for 18 years and of course he was the last one that achieved that.”
Let’s hold more contests where workpeople can match their skills and win prizes and acclaim. Let’s bring making things and manual skilled labour back into the hallowed limelight where it should be and must be, when the frivolous butterflies of technology find they can’t eat, dress, have friendship, camaraderie, care for themselves, even experience love, by relying on machines.
edited
The Returned Service Association wants the New Zealand Flag to stay as is….and so does Winnie…John Key is disrespectful …..and NO credibility …and no mana to change NZ’s flag
@ Chooky
Yes where is the mandate for yek and henchpeople to spend on a change of flag when so much else is to be done? And who considered it was democracy for gummint of today to choose for decades to come, to pick out a few flag designs and present them to the people?
The people should be able to have a great time designing their own with a time limit and a final group of about six which would be published in the Sunday newspapers and the Listener. Young college students, old college students could have a special section in this and put in short one-page summaries of the use of flags, what ours means to them, and the value of flags as symbols and disposable protest icons.
Judging to bring down the options to say six would involve a wide panel including people who are in graphics, people who understand flag design where less means more, artists, Maori, Anne Salmond and Jane Kelsey and other political intelligentsia. That would be enjoyable and it could fill the time till the next election. Every time there was something sensitive an update on the progress of flag decision could be trotted out.
Once again, Labour nominated people for this troughing exercise. NZ First stayed out of it on principle. Disappointed in the Greens as well. Why participate in FJK’s games?
This is the sort of thing that causes people to opt out of politics and why people have no respect for government. Some people work there arses off all week and have to try and survive in a city on that amount of money ffs .
I really don’t understand why anyone would want this one no matter what they are paid. It’s a loser. Nobody is going to like you for what you do. And it all looks very expensive compared to putting flags up on a website so the really interested could have a quick vote to pick the front runners. Very yesterday.
And what a weird mix of people – mainly you seem to have to have a name someone will recognise but artistic or visual skills, a sense of history, nah.
What does “not a liar” even mean? How can he possibly be a liar when truth is a dynamic process? I suspect you’re a leftie pinko who never has anything nice to say about our leader. How can we expect him to make a critique of his position without stating every possible position as factual? That might be your truth, but he has others. etc…..
Here’s a funny thing. As noted above, John Key will be making three visits to Northland during the campaign, but none of them will be in the crucial last week. According to Mike Williams he will be overseas, I presume he has an important baseball game to attend or some such.
I’d have thought he’d want to be there. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that a “prominent NZer” is having their name suppression lifted on the 15th.
John Key argues that mass collection of data is not the same as mass surveillance.
Surely this can only be true if the data is not mined.
IMHO if the collected data is mined, then surely this constitutes mass surveillance,
“The purpose of XKeyscore is to allow analysts to search the metadata as well as the content of emails and other internet activity, such as browser history, even when there is no known email account (a “selector” in NSA parlance) associated with the individual being targeted.” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data
All the collected data is available to be searched in this fashion therefore this is mass surveillance.
I mentioned earlier a NZ hero David Fagan, top shearer.
But just listening to Bryan Crump on Radionz interview scientist – a woman who knows about polio and mentioned Henrietta Lacks, an unsung philanthropist to us all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks
Does anyone have the on-record statements of this duplicitous individual (apart from Blips exhaustive list of lies).
It’s about time the journalists called him now.
His “price of being a member of club” when he spelt out the 5eyes members and then within weeks says he meant to say all contributing nations. It is no longer good enough for the media to let him go on this.
And a good one to start would be Hooten. Remember his stance at election time. Where is Hooton now. Surely he has had enough.
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Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
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This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
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:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
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. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
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 ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
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. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
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 A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Does anyone know how the Nats copyright case is progressing?
The next court date is in June.
Ta Lanth
Am I getting old and cynical, or is interviewing Mr. Dotcom in connection with surveillance issues going to simply ignite the usual allergic response from the public? Rather than an intelligent debate about an extremely pressing issue affecting our freedom to think for ourselves, let alone democratic government.
It is all part of the chickens and roosts scenario. KDCom was prominent in the spying revelations – – – sure he messed up and as well as being vilified by Key, his information had to get past a hostile and extremely biased MSM.
As always with Key, when confronted by a difficult situation, he chooses the ad hominem path and revels in the unpleasantness. KDCom, Hager, Norman, Little; it’s all the same to Key. There’s a difference between constructive discussion with opponents and the nastiness that Key portrays.
If ever I heard a lying dissembler, it was Key on Morning Report today. Incredible.
The interesting bit was when Dotcom revealed that the email from Warner Bros was not a document he had in the first instance – he saw it first in the Herald – so why did the Herald keep silent when the media were hounding Dotcom for releasing the email without the header info which could trace where it came from? And, letting everyone believe that Dotcom was presenting a false document? Why don’t the Herald release the FULL email so people can judge its authenticity for themselves?
Not part of the script of picking winners, nobbling Dotcom was. Nice start to week Key gets a strum up on RNZ.
It is to remind NZers that they can trust Mr Key
Slippery again avoids giving assurance NZers not caught in eavesdropping
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20170076
thanx amirite, what an example for us to follow by our dear leader.
can you imagine being stopped by the constabulary and behaving like that.
“well it depends on what you mean by show you my licence’
“i dont even have a clue what you mean by what is your name”
“that is a random definition of having a warrant of fitness”
i would expect a better performance from a 5yr old with choc icing on the fingers and cake crumbs down their front.
amirite
Sorry I tried to listen but after 1 minute the critique centre in my brain cut out. Had to abort the interview.
FJK has an amazing ability to convince run of the mill Kiwis that he’s on their side against FJK. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Oh dear, the PM has learned a new word.
what is it?
Critique.
Lol- new writer on the spin team?
I think he meant cricket
From time to time he introduces a new word into his vocabulary – and then does it to death…. !
But have to share this – for a laugh. Hitting the nail on the head is definitely not his strong point!
https://twitter.com/sexnap/status/574435557536702464
Sheesh, and he’s the common man?
Yeah, the kind you can have a beer with, so long as you pour it for him..
From time to time he introduces a new word into his vocabulary – and then does it to death…. !
But have to share this – for a laugh. Hitting the nail on the head is definitely not his strong point!
https://twitter.com/sexnap/status/574435557536702464
Ooops – only hit the submit button once, but it popped up three times and was only able to delete one. Has been happening a lot recently but previously reply has come up twice with the ability to delete one.
The machine is running faster so you got three rather then the previous two. The problem originates with the browser hitting the ‘submit’ multiple times.
Most likely at the server you hit a cached copy of the previous database query on a different instance so the de-duping didn’t work. The “you’ve already said that” didn’t show…
What I need to do is to fix the client side so that the send is turned off as soon as the first first submit is started.
Thanks for the explanation; my comment was not intended as a criticism etc, but as an explanation of why there were two comments the same.
And a belated thanks for all your work to recover TS the other day and maintaining the site on an ongoing basis. JUST watch your health ….
Edit – success! Only one this time.
Full marks to Willow Jean for her stamina during interview on Morning Report.
Her responses were calm and relevant in the face of growing frustration from Ferguson, desperate for that magical soundbite, similar to watching Q&A yesterday with Little.
Amazed that media’s neediness is so blatant these days.
Watching Q&A I thought Andrew Little was very patient repeating the answer to the same question. At a certain point I thought, oh, come on, just tell her like you tell a child – ‘asked and answered’ now move on.
at least Espiner is asking the right questions,not that John Spy appears to comprehend them!
A Kiwi Blogger is complaining about left wing RNZ Guyon being so mean to PM. Chuckle time.
Loved watching the finals on Māori TV yesterday – so great.
Te Matatini 2015 – First Place Winners: Te Kapa Haka o Te Whānau a Apanui.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/te-matatini-2015/S01E001/te-matatini-2015-first-place-winners-te-kapa-haka-o-te-whanau
cheers marty. I was watching some of the coverage online last night but wasn’t sure which was the best place to start (there’s a lot of video there!).
If you have limited time, choose the performances of Te Materae i o Rehu, Te Whanau a Apanui, Opotiki mai Tawhiti, Waihirere, Whangara mai Tawhiti and Te Iti Kahurangi. Also very good was Waka Huia. All of those were on finals day.
Of course, there were some excellent performances in the heats from roopu who never made it to the finals but were nevertheless very entertaining.
thanks Hateatea, I’ll do that. (It’s more an issue of limited data, so will have to figure out how much watching an hour of streaming will use)
Te Whanau a Apanui also do great work against drilling and mining. Elvis Teddy is from there.
I was there for a while on Thursday, Marty and watched the other three days on Maori Television. Absolutely magic.
Maori Television proving themselves yet again as experts at getting television where the people are 🙂
Some things to think about as we are a heavily farmed country.
http://libcom.org/blog/capitalist-agriculture-class-formation-metabolic-rift-06032015
And – just a wow moment over the weekend. Who would have thought the bastion of the “Aussie bloke”, would have done this. My team Fremantle are in the game – so feel good news for me. I remember living in Western Australia through the 90’s, and being gay was a criminal offence.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-03-05/afl-announces-pride-match
Would be interesting to know what dates that they put upon that considering that our property laws are almost fully lifted from Ancient Rome. There’s been some adjustments but not that many and it still protects the rich rather than producing what society needs.
I agree Draco T Bastard, what I think they we point at was an exaltation of capitalism via enclosures and colonialism.
Couple it with this and I think the argument gets stronger
http://libcom.org/blog/china-land-grabs
Do we have any long term, modern examples of equitable land/resource management?
Thought this was a good start
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
Also like this group
http://www.wildfarmalliance.org/
Ah, thanks, but I meant legally and structurally as alternatives to the capitalist, colonising systems (most of the permaculture type initiatives are working within fairly conventional land ownership models). So I was wondering about other cultures and countries and if anyone is doing this well. Will have a think on this today.
I’m also thinking about traditional systems that Māori used where I think hapū had responsibility for areas where they lived and the resources were shared collectively. I don’t know a lot about it, but it strikes me that the belonging to a place and being responsible for it is a crucial aspect that is missing in our current systems.
Jim Crace’s ‘Harvest’ was short-listed for the 2013 Booker Prize. A beautifully written and very dark novel set in a tiny medieval English hamlet . From one review: ‘ ‘Harvest’ is … a mesmerising slow-burner of a novel, both a paean to a lost way of life and a timeless cautionary fable.’
Anyone else hear John Key interviewed on Radio Live this morning?
He had his ‘squeaky’ voice – the one that shows (in my opinion) that at the beginning of the day, he is anything but ‘relaxed’ and ‘comfortable’ about Winston Peters impending victory, in taking Northland off National?
Had Winston Peters not stood in Northland, and if Winston Peters was not leading in (most of) the polls – would Simon Bridges now be making an a announcement this morning about roading in Northland – just before Winston Peters makes an announcement on Northland infrastructure?
If this is the effect Winston Peters can have on Northland NOW – how effective for Northland is he going to be when storms home on 28 March 2015 and becomes their MP?
Penny Bright
+1.
Well said. I agree.
I am sure the voters from all sides of the political arena, including from National, will clearly see and laugh at National’s electorally expedient manipulations now. But if Key and Bridges will finally try to do something for Northland, that is good. They can’t fool most people any more. But if this magnanimous desperate gesture will impress many voters, if any, is a moot point the answer to which will be clear on Saturday, 28 March by 9 pm.
It would be great if any of our magnificent on-to-it TV channels will broadcast live or at least on line as it will be a widely watched if aired.
Peters easy line:
“if this is what they do when I run, imagine what I can get you as your MP”
you mean other than those who posted about it an hour before you posted this?
he is squeaky at the beginning of the day cos his newly learned lines overnight are, well, new. By the end of the day he is repeating them with all the aplomb of a practised liar.
Our Primed Minister
Primed Mincer
Is that the prime mincer who delivers fresh pork into Northland pork barrels by promising ten new bridges, or whatever.
This scheme has not been so well thought through, as Simon Bridges and candidate Osbourne allege. It is shown to be an election bribe judging by the wide variance of cost for the bridges.
The cost would be “between $32-69 million”, they say.
If this has been part of the process and not a late addition into the pork barrel, surely costings would be more closely known, rather than be presented with a margin of over 200%.
Northland voters are on a winner here. They get all these by-election promises at pork-barrel rates from the prime mincer, and then can turn around and vote for a non-National candidate, to show they cannot be bought, and that they despise the inference that they can- and then, still get the barrel’s contents all rolled out.
I wonder if other rural National MPs might see the way to getting infrastructure work done in their electorates. Just resign and have a by-election. Best work they all could do!
They could start with the one-way Hurunui bridge on SH1 down our way……..
Stuart Smith, are you there?
+100 Penny….the Nacts really are scared of Winston, especially John Key…and he was also scared of Hone Harawira
Veteran activist Don Franks on the left and Winston Peters’ Northland run: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/08/northland-by-election-worker-solidarity-or-winston-peters/
And another veteran activist, Daphna Whitmore, looks at how ungrateful to the forces of the left – socialists, women’s liberation activists, trade unionists – right-wing women are. Without the left, the doors of opportunity would never have been opened to them.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/08/right-wing-women-ungrateful-whingers/
And on the subject of hypocrites, the bosses are pretty quick to drop their “you can’t buck the market” mantra when ‘the market’ doesn’t work the way they want it to: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/so-much-for-bosses-support-for-the-free-market/
Phil
In 2015, is “opposition politics” and Labour politics” the same thing.
Was reading the posts around Northland and Peters (complete with a bunch of insiders bitching at each other over stuff only they understand) and wondered if good “opposition politics” – the nod to Labour supporters to vote for NZF to undermine the Govt – was in Labours best interests.
And assuming it was, then why, nearly 20 years after we got MMP, is it that Her Majestys opposition has a front bench all from the major opposition party? Why arent those who oppose the Govt of the day having a joint opposition front bench (a Govt in waiting so to speak).
Or is it truly every (wo)man for himself in between elections?
A coalition opposition? What would be the point?
Have you ever attended a wedding? The Bride and Bridegroom parties sit in separate groups.
After the marriage is consummated, they mingle. Some of them may even get into the cabinet and mingle some more.
Eh? Pop out the back after signing the register for a quickee? Will the photographer be there?
Sounds like my idea of a great wedding.
Looking at your good question perhaps this will happen, there is no getting around to govern under MMP you need to be in a coalition. Between some people within opposition party’s there is a consensus that we need a handful of sound, exact policies where voters can vote confidently knowing the party’s are on the same page.
An opposition cross party’s front bench with key portfolios spokepeople should strengthen public perception.
Scrapping it out fighting for the same pool of voters is the problem.
* apologies re. little tiff. I will put my hand up to that. Issues resolved.
National has already corralled the left into a “coaltion” through his repeated memes. Seperate identities are crucial and does not preclude working together.
Then there needs to be clear examples visible to the electorate that the Opposition parties can indeed work together on specific issues. 1/2 year into this term already and examples are coming up short.
Now you may be 100% right there Pascals Bookie, but isnt the nod to Peters, a coalition opposition move?
Im struggling to see why the incumbent opposition parties are expected to act independently (and largely acrimoniously too for that matter) in a FPP mindset for 2 years and 10 months, and then are expected to work collegially in the buildup to an election to get rid of the incumbent government.
The ‘nod’ seems pretty weak to me.
he hasn’t endorsed Peters at all. It’s more a straight description of reality. Prime is fine candidate in a solid blue seat. If she is going to get in, it will be off the list. All he has said that I’ve seen is that it’s up to the voters and he isn’t going to play the game of saying Prime will win.
The pundits hyperventilating about this being like Epsom are just fucking idiots.
One of the things I managed to get to whilst repairing the server over the weekend was to finally get the dratted php5-fpm server system going on ubuntu 14.04. I have had several cracks at it previously, usually with the result that the system runs slower.
For the techheads, it turns out that fastcgi isn’t available as a deb since ubuntu 13.x. When I upgraded to 14.04 it removed my old mod fastcgi.
A new install Ubuntu 14.10 apache2 on the other system happily ran proxy-fcgi with php5-fpm, but my upgraded 14.04 server did not.
The reason is that after the upgrade, apache2 on ubuntu 14.04 was defaulting to apache2 mpm-prefork rather than mpm-event.
apt-get remove apache2-mpm-prefork
apt-get install apache2-mpm-event php5-fpm
a2enmod proxy-fcgi
The usual magic in the virtual site conf file to divert php
ProxyPassMatch ^/(.*\.php(/.*)?)$ fcgi://127.0.0.1:9000/var/www/mysite/$1
and then restart
service apache2 restart
And we were running happily on php-fpm.
Most of the pages on the net assume a clean setup of ubuntu 14.04 rather than an upgrade. It may be that your upgraded version is running mpm-worker. I have no idea what happens then.
I’ll leave this here for the search engines.
I had Firefox requesting I send you messages all weekend long Iprent. I did not, as why do you need an email to tell you what you were doing anyway.
Thanks for all the back end work – running well on Chrome, Firefox, Opera and IE this morning.
Cool. Seems to be running pretty fast to me even via my cell. But I am in a 4G zone at present…
top work skipper
straight over my head. But muchos muchos gracias for what you do lp
Simon Bridges couldn’t overlook the first new idea he has had for how long?, when he saw his name under the star on his door at his electorate office. Bridges, that’s the thing? There you are you thought I was just a pretty face.
(Apologies to Simon if he isn’t as simple as I infer, and is the exception to the UNACT rule.)
I think that was an unnecessary apology. His pretty face will fade with time, but so will his intellect. His eagerness to please his superiors makes him a Teina Pora in a suit and tie.
He’s a piss-arse little ex-Crown prosecutor. By and large they are a ‘type’ to which I add there are some (but not many) real and delightful people so vocated. In contrast to that distinct minority, how else would you expect the low-rent Simon to be ? It’s all about low-rent Simon. Always was. Not into your Teina reference there MR. Teina’s a decent person cruelly wronged.
The police were able to frame Teina Pora because the foetal alcohol syndrome had stopped parts of his thinking developing. He was incredibly eager to please the detectives and gave them the answers he thought they wanted to hear. I think much the same eagerness to please saw Bridges rise through the ranks of NAct.
As for Teina Pora being decent, maybe he is now. I find it hard to regard telling lies about five other men in a bid to get reward money and get himself out of trouble with them to be a wee bit on the nose. I don’t think a decent person does that, but that doesn’t take one iota of blame and revulsion away from what ngati poaka did. If anything, it makes it worse because they took full advantage of his deficiencies, probably knowing all along that he was just making stuff up.
He should be compensated not because he was a decent person, but because the state acted in an appalling manner. Sometimes there are no good guys in a story, although I have a huge amount of respect for the Burdett family who wanted Pora freed and know that justice means something different to revenge.
Here is a real skilled workman hero, with high achievement in his valuable specialty equal with Hillary’s achievement, to put on any new banknote. David Fagan.
Fagan, 53, holds five world championship titles, seven world team titles and has 632 open-class wins under his belt.
The farmer from Te Kuiti has won the Golden Shears competition a record 16 times and has said that is probably what he will be remembered for.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/265084/shearing-legend-fagan-to-retire
New era dawns for Golden Shears ( 3′ 27″ )
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20170100
08:53 It’s called the wimbledon of shearing, and on Saturday night the Golden Shears entered a new era, with the retirement of past winner David Fagan, and its first ever international winner.
Golden Shears Title won – 16 times between 1986 and 2015, now 53 years old.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/267807/golden-shears-begins-today
“The big focus will be David Fagan of course, he’s announced recently that he’s retiring at the end of the season, so this will be his last Golden Shears. He’s won the title 16 times, the first time he won it was back in 1986 and here we are almost 30 years later, he’s now the favourite to win it again.
“He’s actually won 12 finals at provincial shows around the country so far this season, in fact he’s won seven on the trot, just right up to the last weekend in which he completed a treble at Taumaranui and Apiti up in Manawatu there and Pahiatua on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that’s the first time that’s been done for 18 years and of course he was the last one that achieved that.”
Let’s hold more contests where workpeople can match their skills and win prizes and acclaim. Let’s bring making things and manual skilled labour back into the hallowed limelight where it should be and must be, when the frivolous butterflies of technology find they can’t eat, dress, have friendship, camaraderie, care for themselves, even experience love, by relying on machines.
edited
The Returned Service Association wants the New Zealand Flag to stay as is….and so does Winnie…John Key is disrespectful …..and NO credibility …and no mana to change NZ’s flag
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/268083/rsa-plans-to-fight-nz-flag-change
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/flag-change-progress-near-anzac-centenary-disrespectful-rsa-6249909
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/winston-peters-slams-flag-referendum-spending-6118950
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10624500
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11360114
John Key plans to spend 26 million dollars on persuading New Zealanders to change their flag….where is his mandate for this?…
@ Chooky
Yes where is the mandate for yek and henchpeople to spend on a change of flag when so much else is to be done? And who considered it was democracy for gummint of today to choose for decades to come, to pick out a few flag designs and present them to the people?
The people should be able to have a great time designing their own with a time limit and a final group of about six which would be published in the Sunday newspapers and the Listener. Young college students, old college students could have a special section in this and put in short one-page summaries of the use of flags, what ours means to them, and the value of flags as symbols and disposable protest icons.
Judging to bring down the options to say six would involve a wide panel including people who are in graphics, people who understand flag design where less means more, artists, Maori, Anne Salmond and Jane Kelsey and other political intelligentsia. That would be enjoyable and it could fill the time till the next election. Every time there was something sensitive an update on the progress of flag decision could be trotted out.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/trending/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=1503539
$600+ a day to rich dick heads while they consider flag options , you’ve got to be joking
Cheap diversion at the taxpayers expense in NACTs eyes.
Don’t forget the flights, buffet lunch and drinks at the end of a hard days deliberations.
@ b waghorn I expect they were all shoulder tapped by the one man band,
Nice work if you can get it, as the song goes.
Once again, Labour nominated people for this troughing exercise. NZ First stayed out of it on principle. Disappointed in the Greens as well. Why participate in FJK’s games?
This is the sort of thing that causes people to opt out of politics and why people have no respect for government. Some people work there arses off all week and have to try and survive in a city on that amount of money ffs .
I really don’t understand why anyone would want this one no matter what they are paid. It’s a loser. Nobody is going to like you for what you do. And it all looks very expensive compared to putting flags up on a website so the really interested could have a quick vote to pick the front runners. Very yesterday.
And what a weird mix of people – mainly you seem to have to have a name someone will recognise but artistic or visual skills, a sense of history, nah.
cash. Probably a gong for all your “hard work”. And people will forget about it after a few years.
Yep, the first three listed comprise a reality tv producer, an internet businessman, and an ad agency boss…….
um
did john key select these people?
stuff.co.nz, march 6:
John Key on tvnz, march 7:
From one day to the next. FFS.
but he is not a liar
John Key is not a liar, he just tells lies and believes them himself.
What does “not a liar” even mean? How can he possibly be a liar when truth is a dynamic process? I suspect you’re a leftie pinko who never has anything nice to say about our leader. How can we expect him to make a critique of his position without stating every possible position as factual? That might be your truth, but he has others. etc…..
He doesn’t do it, every politician does it, at the end of the day it’s “pretty legal”, [shrug] what eva…
Loved your comment, reminds me of a dog scratching it’s fleas. Wherever the dog is looking is where the flea used to be.
Here’s a funny thing. As noted above, John Key will be making three visits to Northland during the campaign, but none of them will be in the crucial last week. According to Mike Williams he will be overseas, I presume he has an important baseball game to attend or some such.
I’d have thought he’d want to be there. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that a “prominent NZer” is having their name suppression lifted on the 15th.
There is no evidence that the case in question has anything to do with either Northland or FJK. It’s been suppressed.
yes it has been suppressed down to gossip and innuendo
Nursery Rhyme for Northland…
“John leads us a merry dance
Gives “Mild Amusement”* not a glance.
Conflicts of Interest are such a breeze
When Judy goes for Tea and cheese.”
etc
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/nursery-rhyme.htm
* Rhymes with 😉
EU army proposed
New cold war coming !
Just perfect for TheLittleChurchillKey !
John Key argues that mass collection of data is not the same as mass surveillance.
Surely this can only be true if the data is not mined.
IMHO if the collected data is mined, then surely this constitutes mass surveillance,
“The purpose of XKeyscore is to allow analysts to search the metadata as well as the content of emails and other internet activity, such as browser history, even when there is no known email account (a “selector” in NSA parlance) associated with the individual being targeted.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data
All the collected data is available to be searched in this fashion therefore this is mass surveillance.
Resign, Mr Key!
I mentioned earlier a NZ hero David Fagan, top shearer.
But just listening to Bryan Crump on Radionz interview scientist – a woman who knows about polio and mentioned Henrietta Lacks, an unsung philanthropist to us all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks
FFS ! Audrey Young fancies she’s on the ramparts does she ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11414366
Still……there does seem to be a ‘trending’ bizo happening. Is it too much to anticipate that TheGodKey will yield to TheYobKey ?
They’re all however still largely a “digrace” the likes of.
A bloke in Florida has solved the climate change and global warming problem. They should probably make him Governor.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/08/florida-banned-terms-climate-change-global-warming
Key is really dancing on a pin head now with trying to make the distinction of surveillance and collection. Never mind what a lawyer might interpret what he says. What did Key mean himself?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/268202/mass-collection-vs-mass-surveillance
Does anyone have the on-record statements of this duplicitous individual (apart from Blips exhaustive list of lies).
It’s about time the journalists called him now.
His “price of being a member of club” when he spelt out the 5eyes members and then within weeks says he meant to say all contributing nations. It is no longer good enough for the media to let him go on this.
And a good one to start would be Hooten. Remember his stance at election time. Where is Hooton now. Surely he has had enough.
Things in the world are complicated but geeze wayne…..
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/26/long-march-yellow/