She had a background in the sciences so would have been better able to comprehend the future problems related to the Greenhouse Effect. It’s the one thing for which she can be given some credit. Pretty much the only one as far as I am aware.
I have no problem believing that her ideology would have trumped any scientific training. At best, if she had seen an opportunity for English finance capital to make a few quid from it, she would have taken a position against global warming. I don’t think her attacks on the miners were a sign of environmental consciousness either, but I may be biased.
I think it is critical we understand the secret travesty of how this bill came into law in the US last week — and these are people and a government we are supposed to trust in a secret agreement like TPPA ?
Jon Stewart of The Daily Show has the full story — yes, told comedically obviously, but it is the most astute analysis I have seen of what happened. It is beyond unimaginable — it was not only secret, it was anonymous. Take a few minutes please and see how it worked and duped everyone …
We are sitting ducks to Monsanto’s GM plans for our food crops. Beware, here there be muilti-headed dragons ..
I know we should not speak ill of the dead but Thatcher is perhaps the strongest case there is against this. Single handedly she wrecked the UK and it is in a mess now because of what she did.
“Give her a state funeral – because a lot of people will want to pay their last respects, and a lot more people will want proof that she’s really dead”.
“It’ll be the first time that the 21 gun salute shoots the coffin.”
“What’s the point of holding the funeral in London? Surely if they held it up North there’d be a lot better turnout, because there’d be loads of people in the streets having a party.”
(The state funeral). “How much do you think it’s gonna cost? 3 million. For 3 million we could give everyone in Scotland a shovel and they would dig a hole so deep that we could hand her over to Satan personally.”
So you need it to be spelled out in a simpler fashion? OK.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Thatcher knew of any of Savilles crimes and to insinuate that Thatcher may have aided or abetted one of the most serious pedophiles in modern history based entirely on personal speculation is pretty low indeed.
I resent your insinuation toward me. There is no evidence whatsoever that I have insinuated any such thing about that horrible subhuman cretin Thatcher.
Homicidal psychopaths are pretty firm in their beliefs too,
does not make them right or good or worthy of the unending platitudes that will vomit forth from the chambers she ruled with that never tiring Iron Fist.
lol. Right about the Euro. fair enough, but that’s not the only things she believed.
laws passed on her watch banning councils from doing anything that might ‘support homosexuality’.
opposed the reunification of Germany.
and that’s without getting into the famous stuff about the Mandela, or South American despots.
She’s a complicated figure, but I find the defence of her that she was ‘strong’ to be an odd one. SFW? Lot’s of awful people are strong as well as good people.
To be fair to chris, there’s not a hell of a lot nice anyone can write about her without resorting to vague generalised value judgments about supposed character traits.
The nasty factual stuff is easy cos it’s all a matter of public record.
Dali Tambo, son of former ANC president Oliver Tambo.
My gut reaction now is what it was at the time when she said my father was the leader of a terrorist organisation. I don’t think she ever got it that every day she opposed sanctions, more people were dying, and that the best thing for the assets she wanted to protect was democracy.
Many lives were lost. It’s a shame that we could never call her one of the champions of the liberation struggle. Normally we say that when one of us goes, the ANC ancestors will meet them at the pearly gates and give them a standing ovation. I think it’s quite likely that when Margaret Thatcher reaches the pearly gates, the ANC will boycott the occasion.
and that big chair with the unpleasant aroma and the spiky cushions in the corners is for Kissinger when he finally shakes loose the mortal coil, the little stools surrounding it are reserved for the Bush family and their cohorts
And your reality check is she was leader for 11 years, for 11 years the public of Great Britain voted her in and irrespective of what some lazy miners “up north” and (admittedly quite talented) musicians said or say she was a great leader and the UK is better off because of her decisions
A minority supported her, and she left Britain more unequal and divided. Perhaps you may have heard that Scotland will hold a referendum on secession next year.
I do wonder, truely, if you have ever done a day’s hard labour in your entire life ?
Let alone day after day in conditions not fit for moles let alone human beings. Have you ever had to watch your entire industry get stolen by foreign profiteers as your daily wage shrinks and your communities crumble, all so a hegemony of hate can be dumped on you from above. (wow that sounds familiar) Maybe then you would begin to understand what all those people fought and died for. A livelihood. Self respect. Families and Communities. However faulted and mistaken the Industry was, coal built the Industrial Revolution and subsequently the tool that you now yield with the aplomb of a rabid meerkat.
A revolution that forever altered our world. Built on the broken backs of men women and children, enslaved by circumstance, but still proud enough to know that they were contributing to their Nation. Now when that Nation [ie some genetic inbreds who have their mates sit in silly wigs and spout meaningless bs to other twits who then lie to the people that asked them to represent them] decides that the industry that revolutionised the world can be run cheaper elsewhere, did they get thanks for the generations of sacrifice? Did they get new jobs? Whole communities were destroyed as severely as if the very bombs their coal had helped to build were used against them. You have the gall to call coal miners lazy.
All I know is I am glad The Standard has very clear rules because yet again, my self-restraint was most certainly tested by your ignorance. Chris73, I ask you to reconsider your foolish words, on this and many many topics. Maybe just spend some time thinking on this life you obvioulsy have no respect for, and the lives lost for you to have it.
Besides, chris lost any last glimmer of respectability when he admitted that his anecdotes, which he writes as if they’re true stories from his own life, may or may not be true.
Excellent work freedom! Excellent! now considering “work” anecdotes “chris”, I dare ya. Go on, I mutherfuckin wager you; (all this mornings comments by the rider shall be moderated from Belarus, CCCP)
dont forget she was never voted out by the public, never lost an election, so the people voting must have seen that the great policys of Thatcher were working.
All people like Thatcher, Key, and Douglas do is take the infrastructure and social benefits built up by generations of workers under conditions of union militancy and social democracy and destroy it to the advantage of the bank accounts of their own mates. They create nothing except division, bigotry, and hatred. There is no great talent to what they do apart from that needed to deceive the electorate. They contribute less to society than any of the beneficiaries or unionists they enjoy marginalising. They are truly scum.
I mourn their deaths as I would mourn the eradication of cancer.
Can’t believe you posted that chris. It shows her as either barking mad, ill-informed, or deliberately deceptive – depending on how charitable you feel.
Certainly didn’t “skewer” anyone in this clip, although her good mates Suharto and Pinochet did, as did many of her family’s clients around the world.
“With the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend. As a grocer’s daughter who rose to become Britain’s first female prime minister, she stands as an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered.”
The proof is there, how the Ministry of Social Development has through the controversial Dr David Bratt, who is their “Principal Health Advisor”, and who follows a similar approach while interpreting and applying the perverted “bio psycho social model” for assessing and rehabilitating sick and disabled as Professor Mansel Aylward from Cardiff University, is INFLUENCING how DOCTORS assess and fill out WORK CAPACITY MEDICAL ASSESSMENTS for WINZ.
A look at a document found online, issued by the MEDICAL SERVICE of the AUCKLAND CITY MISSION for starters, exposes the result of intensive lobbying of GPs by so-called “Health and Disability Coordinators” that MSD and WINZ employ:
Doctors working for the Mission’s “Calder Centre” appear to willingly accept the “expectations” that MSD and hard line, indeed biased, Dr David Bratt impose on them, by even quoting comments made by him, that were published in a NZ Doctor article titled ‘Harms lurk for benefit addicts’ on 01 August 2012:
That article raised concern by a well educated, independent reader, whose partner is a doctor, but who like many doctors in NZ prefers not to “comment” on the conduct of colleagues:
Health and Disability Coordinators are special advisory and liaison staff that MSD use to “advise” GPs on expectations the Ministry and therefore also WINZ have of doctors, and they “inform” about policies, are involved in the selection process of GPs to work as “designated doctors” for WINZ, and naturally are managed, mentored and instructed by the Principal Health Advisor and the Principal Disability Advisor.
For years now, Health Work Force NZ (staffing and training agency as part of the Ministry of Health, headed by Dr Des Gorman, another “hard liner” in the medical profession), and the Medical Council and naturally the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners have worked, to bring about “changes” to the training program of GPs. One does not need to speculate too much, that there are also “messages” sent through the senior “trainers” and the heads of mentioned organisation, that impact on how training will be conducted, what it will include, and that certain “expectations” by government ministries will flow in.
(a summary of his back-ground, he will be a key senior speaker again at this year’s GP conference in Wellington, and his controversial past role as advisor and assessor for ACC is not forgotten).
Another likely speaker at this years GP conference, is also expected to be Dr Bratt in his role as “Principal Health Advisor” – from MSD, who is likely to once again present his “views” and pseudo scientific findings on the “benefits” of work, and the “harm of being on a welfare benefit” for his employer Work and Income:
But what is clear from the document issued by the doctors working for the Medical Service at the Auckland City Mission is, MSD do assert strong influence now on how doctors in general work with them, as most doctors will at some time have to complete medical certificates that WINZ expects from clients and doctors’ patients to establish benefit entitlement on health and work capacity grounds.
HOW INDEPENDENT ARE DOCTORS IN NEW ZEALAND – in view of such developents?
The draconian, in some ways almost “fascist”, “work sets you free” approach to illness, disability and welfare appears to become commonly accepted in the wider medical profession, due to very concerning developments!
Well said Xtasy. This goes directly to Karol’s post on Thatcher.
“…action, political will, and policies based in sound evidence and humane values is not enough. In order to work towards a more inclusive, fairer world without poverty and destructive divisions, there is a need to find a way to counter the extensive networks, power and reach of the “neoliberal” elites.”
For further info – or correction:
There appears to be another annual conference for GPs in Rotorua, at which Dr David Bratt from MSD is listed as speaker on health and welfare issues: http://www.gpcme.co.nz/speakers.php
Professor Mansel Aylward, former Chief Medical Officer for Department of Work and Pensions in the UK – under Maggie Thatcher’s government, by the way, will also speak at that Rotorua annual conference for GPs just mentioned, see the Sunday sessions, 23 June 2013, at the ‘Main Conference’ (click program on the website, for which the link is provided).
AND Dr Des Gorman will speak there also! Talk about all the “work ability” hardliners mixing and mingling at such places.
So under the radar, not mentioned by MSD, Paula Bennett, Tony Ryall and others, the highly controversial “Sir” Prof. Mansel Aylward is still doing his tours in NZ, lobbying hard for the work test approaches and regimes that have been introduced into the UK, and in 2011 led to over 1,100 deaths, due to people not coping with stress, work requirements while they could not work, and due to committing suicide.
The agenda is progressing, and NO public consultation is taking place, how damned revealing! ANY TRUST in welfare reforms, and how doctors and specialists in NZ operate, risking to breach their own professional codes???
I’m in favour of the legalisation of recreational drugs, except for the one which causes neoliberalism. I think your description of Bratt’s views as perverted is totally accurate. His followers in the UK are, in my opinion, already responsible for deaths among the disabled. The guy is an enemy of humanity.
In the article “Ex-spy boss lashes out at PM’s claims” by Adam Bennet there is a curious bit right at the end which I found interesting Senior sources have told the Herald that the person suspected of leaking information to Labour about that briefing – including claims Mr Key was not only briefed about the Dotcom surveillance, but joked about it – had been identified and had now “lawyered up”.
Sir Bruce Ferguson says Key “is smoking dope on that one.” Key’s statement is “outrageous.”
This former civil servant is not going to take any sh*t from the PM. He is fighting back. So far Ferguson has landed two hard right hooks. Key is looking wobbly.
He was a former fighter pilot based at Ohakea. Those fighter pilots were the creme de la creme of the Air Force. He rose to Squadron Leader and it’s my understanding he was a popular leader who put the safety and welfare of his pilots first. He became Commander of the Air force Base at Whenuapai in the early 1990s and the rest is history. A born leader.
With a background like that he out-classes John Key in every way. Key knows it and he’ll continue to discredit him at every turn. Good luck John. You’ll probably end up in a courtroom like your idol, Rob Muldoon.
I’d debate your definition of attack pilots as the “creme de la creme” of the RNZAF, Anne. My pedantic hat tells me that the Skyhawks were not fighters, but attack bombers. While the pilots undoubtedly were very skilled, they also needed tibia no longer than a certain length. Too long, and they couldn’t use the ejection seat and were therefore not eligible for Skyhawks. There well may have been helicopter, transport, or maritime reconnaissance pilots with equal skills, but a couple of cm taller. This is without thinking of the ground staff, navigators etc.
Skyhawks were multirole aircraft, and in the 1960’s and 1970’s were considered fairly capable air to air interceptors. For instance they were used for many years at TOPGUN as the main adversary aircraft. But yes, they were usually used in the ground strike role.
Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette
by GLENN GREENWALD, The Guardian, 8 April 2013
‘News of Margaret Thatcher’s death this morning instantly and predictably gave rise to righteous sermons on the evils of speaking ill of her. British Labour MP Tom Watson decreed: “I hope that people on the left of politics respect a family in grief today.” Following in the footsteps of Santa Claus, Steve Hynd quickly compiled a list of all the naughty boys and girls “on the left” who dared to express criticisms of the dearly departed Prime Minister, warning that he “will continue to add to this list throughout the day”. Former Tory MP Louise Mensch, with no apparent sense of irony, invoked precepts of propriety to announce: “Pygmies of the left so predictably embarrassing yourselves, know this: not a one of your leaders will ever be globally mourned like her.”
This demand for respectful silence in the wake of a public figure’s death is not just misguided but dangerous. That one should not speak ill of the dead is arguably appropriate when a private person dies, but it is wildly inappropriate for the death of a controversial public figure, particularly one who wielded significant influence and political power. “Respecting the grief” of Thatcher’s family members is appropriate if one is friends with them or attends a wake they organize, but the protocols are fundamentally different when it comes to public discourse about the person’s life and political acts. I made this argument at length last year when Christopher Hitchens died and a speak-no-ill rule about him was instantly imposed (a rule he, more than anyone, viciously violated), and…
This Sunday is North East derby day – Newcastle United will play Sunderland at St. James’ Park, a fixture that is usually overloaded with bile from both sets of supporters.
If the powers-that-be think that a minute’s silence for the Iron Lady will be appropriate, they’ll find that the fans are more unified in their response than they’ve ever been.
One of Christopher Hitchens’ unfunny little ongoing jokes was his his insistence that he had a powerful lust for Mrs Thatcher.
If only there was an infernal edition of Big Brother being livestreamed, we could sit back and enjoy the spectacle of the unspeakable in full pursuit of the insufferable.
I am quite concerned about the bad changes being pushed through our Parliament. This is no small matter and the changes will make our our people and country very much worse off.
Some comments from eminent and respected people on RNZ Morning Report:
yes, apparently there are some clear Human rights, democratic rights abuses in this surreptitious legislation; could be time for the rider to re-arm (ha ha ha P. shine a light on yourselves why don’t you). 😉
and an increased demand for “natural burials”; well thank the Lord for that; all that prime real estate… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49G1A1aw3A4
(thanks to Japan’s QE, TWI now 78.14)
Read em’ and weep
these “85” spied upon could have breached the Defense Act and the Privacy Act; (how much are people gonna take up the back door? hmmm? hmmm?)
meanwhile, Lester Levy (now that IS a funny handle); “decreased, increased, funding” in the health sector; while there is a general decrease in majority of OECD countries.
-however, in NZ, according to ASMS, there is lack of overall strategic direction in health.Do Not Worry says Lester, we are workin on the internal culture of DHBs.
But wait, there’s more; David Round (Independent Constitutional Review chairman) “putting principles of treaty into constitutional review will be “disasterous” “. Really! Is that right? well, te Mob may disagree wit chu. 🙂
The full enchilada – passwords, access to alter financial transactions, and access to sensitive personal information all wide open (apparently from the website).
I remember the haughty, hectoring old bag Thatcher for the hissing reaction she gave some poor journalist at the time of the French bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, when it was suggested the bombing as state-sponsored terrorism merited the same denunciation she gave other complicit states.
She was a mad control freak, liar, obssessive, and to come right down to it…….a cheap snob. That particularly despicable breed of Tory, the snob. No tears for her here. In her vainglory she was instrumental in the deaths of many, many, many. And in retirement she personally gave succour to Pinochet when the High Court confined him to some country estate in Surrey.
See YouTube “The Day Margaret Thatcher Dies” – Pete Wylie I think.
so, “if NZ is better than what we see in other parts of the world (La garde, you freakin mis-pronouncing idiots)” then who is BS-ing who we ask you.
must say, the Govt. appeared muted for a change; maybe a reality check going on; i.e. what a liability Key, English, Brownlee, Parata, Bennett et al are turning out to be for Noo Zillund.
do you think Amy Adams, and Katrina Shanks might have a touch of “Downs” themselves? Projection much, we ask you:
Cosgrove on MRP; “66 Thousand and 600 and 66 Dollars in fees per person?” you have to be pullin’ our legs…
David Carter-“I wonder whether…” (asks acting PM for more detail).
re this Kitteridge Report; Excellent questioning by Dr Russell Norman; apparently the “leaked” document was ‘locked” in the PM’s office…FFS
btw, DPS, when the rider has ridden over Bennett, he will then roll on down the road to that idiot fascist Sabin and on round the bend to the blonde bimbo Macindoe (where do we get these people from, some swamp?)
Brownlee: EQC staff cannot yet e-mail attachments and must stay back after school for sanding.
(shut-down of e-mail until some “certainty”; well, who is the tail, and who are the dogs..)
and to further the point Gareth Hughes on the supplementary leg. to the Crown Minerals Bill
“BOR breaches, International Law breaches and breaches of democratic rights! Baa.
National Party have a mock up of spoof news like a pop magazine. The blurb for Maggie Barry says she writes on Roses, Wisteria and Radical Welfare Reform. The flowers that most likely grow in that garden area would be Love-Lies-Bleeding.(Tassel flower or Amaranthus).
It appears that was the last debate and vote that occured a short time ago tonight in Parliament – on the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill!
Votes were 59 against and 61 in favour. Yes, that is IT!
The Maori Party voted with 2 votes against, so one of their MPs appears to have abstained or whatever.
The Na(t)zis have – with their “support” muppets Banks and Dunne – pushed throught he most mean spirited, draconian and senseless “welfare reforms”, which will from the time of introduction and implementation in mid July this year see to it, that many beneficiaries (most of whom have NO DAMNED CLUE what will hit them) will face radical changes, severe restrictions, harsh and firm expectations and sanctions if they do not cooperate.
This will change New Zealand, I am sure, and while this country has already become a rather divided, untrusting, competing and mean place, it will get even worse.
The damned SHIT MEDIA of this land has not even reported one damned bit about it, the political current affairs and news reporters have treated it as insignificant, and consequently the public has very little ideas what is involved.
So the last speaker, I think it was that stupid “cop” from up north, a Nat MP, even cheekily teased the opposition, what the problem was, he asked, as there was nobody protesting in the streets, nobody discussing it on talkback and nobody being opposed.
Hey, does anybody not realise yet? NZ is run like a DICTATORSHIP of sorts, where key powers are in the control of certain key decisionmakers and lobby-groups. Welcome to the Dictatorship of Aotearoa NZ.
Thank you “Dear Leader”, John The Shining Light and Key to Hell!
If that is anything to go by, perhaps we will see Shearer’s Labour “warm” to the newly passed “welfare reforms” pushed through by Na(t)zis here in NZ also, once they have been implemented and are running?
I am waiting with interest, to see how Labour will stand on welfare at the coming elections!
NO TRUST, I must say, despite of the odd good speech against the new bill in Parliament tonight. Thanks to Sua William Sio, though.
But the only truly great speech that an opposition MP held tonight, that was the one by Jan Logie, Greens!
Thank you Jan!
Stay firm on course in welfare matters, please, many of us need this and rely on you!!!
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Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
A Māori Purposes Bill is an omnibus bill that enables minor, technical, and non-controversial amendments to legislation relating to Māori affairs. This Māori Purposes Bill aims to modernise some legislation relating to Māori Affairs. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Campbell, Lecturer, Performing Arts, UniSA Creative, University of South Australia Matt Byrne/STCSA Housework, a new play by Emily Steel, lifts the rock off politics to expose its crawling, ruthless, yet undeniably comic underside. The result is masterful, hilarious and deeply ...
After two years of major damage from storms, a key government unit has made an abrupt change to focus on cyber security over and above natural disasters. ...
Pacific Media Watch Papua New Guinea’s civic space has been rated as “obstructed” by the Civicus Monitor and the country has been criticised for pushing forward with a controversial media law in spite of strong opposition. Among concerns previously documented by the civil rights watchdog are harassment and threats against ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Younger, Lecturer in Southern Ocean Vertebrate Ecology, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania Australia’s Antarctic territory represents the largest sliver of the ice continent. For decades, Australian scientists have headed to one of our three bases – Mawson, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Dwyer, Research Director, Energy Futures, University of Technology Sydney 24K-Productions Our cars sit unused most of the time. If you have an electric vehicle, you might leave it charging at home or work after driving it. But there’s another step ...
Everything you missed from day four of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard two hours of submissions.Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.Parliament’s Room 3 was the same old, same old on Thursday morning for the fourth Treaty principles bill hearing – brown ...
By Melina Etches of the Cook Islands News A motion of no confidence has been filed against the Prime Minister and his Cabinet following the recent fiasco involving the now-abandoned Cook Islands passport proposal and the comprehensive strategic partnership the country will sign with China this week. Cook Islands United ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Dwyer, Research Director, Energy Futures, University of Technology Sydney 24K-Productions Our cars sit unused most of the time. If you have an electric vehicle, you might leave it charging at home or work after driving it. But there’s another step ...
The December results are reported against forecasts based on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2024 (HYEFU 2024), published on 17 December 2024, and the results for the same period for the previous year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ajay Narendra, Associate Professor of Insect Neuroethology, Macquarie University Pranav Joshi Jumping spiders – one of the largest spider families – get their name from the extraordinary jumps they make to hunt prey, to navigate and also to evade predators. Male ...
Both ministers have confirm they shared a phone call on Thursday morning, with the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement due to expire next month. ...
The final designs for the long-awaited Courtenay Place revamp have been released. Joel MacManus takes a closer look at the details. At an embargoed media briefing on Wednesday, Wellington mayor Tory Whanau and a team of council staff showed journalists a 3D-printed model of Courtenay Place. For about an hour, ...
The Economic Growth Minister is targeting increasing competition in the banking, grocery, and electricity sectors for the government to address this year. ...
Ecomatters Bike Hub has helped 30,000 Aucklanders start cycling. Shanti Mathias rides over to understand the impact of these community bike workshops.When An Na moved with her husband and two kids to Auckland in 2022, it took a while to start learning their way around. “We started taking our ...
Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. Labour leader Chris Hipkins is on the war path – the path being the overthrowing of Act leader David Seymour, and hopefully ...
Callaghan Innovation told 63 workers their roles were being made redundant, including 16 commercialisation roles, 14 scientists and engineers, 6 Māori Innovation roles, and others working in data, digital, product design, risk and audit, marketing, government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Sheedy, Professor – Risk governance, culture, remuneration, Macquarie University This week the corporate regulator is taking on executives and directors of Star Entertainment in the Federal Court, in a landmark case for Australian corporate governance. ASIC will allege that despite multiple ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Allen, Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Shutterstock It’s hard to remember a time the United States seemed as tense and divided as it does today. That should serve as a stark reminder of just how important it is to monitor ...
I’m a proud atheist who outgrew my religious upbringing. So why am I getting antsy about the rapture all of a sudden? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nz Dear Hera,I’m a proud atheist and since I managed to move past the childhood trauma of my religious upbringing ...
Analysis: A couple of hours ago, Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown posted a Facebook picture from a visit to China’s National Deep Sea Centre in Qingdao, 700km north of Shanghai. The centre’s crewed submarine ‘Jiaolong’ has just been given a major upgrade and is set for sea trials in March. This is no ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kaitlin Barham, Wildlife ecology researcher, The University of Queensland Australia Zoo Crocodiles are hardy creatures, capable of adjusting their behaviour to cope with the heat of the tropics. But there’s a limit to their endurance. Our new research shows the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Damien O’Meara, Lecturer, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University Stan Stan’s new series Invisible Boys follows four young gay men as they understand and explore their identities while living in Geraldton, a regional town in Western Australia. Charlie Roth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pandanus Petter, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National University The upcoming federal election will see the incumbent Labor prime minister, Anthony Albanese, face off against Liberal opposition leader, Peter Dutton. We’ll likely see a strong focus on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Barnes, Lecturer in Physics, Western Sydney University An artist’s impression of a high-energy particle travelling through the KM3NeT neutrino telescope.KM3NeT Three and a half kilometres beneath the Mediterranean Sea, around 80km off the coast of Sicily, lies half of a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Jensen, Associate professor, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, University of Canberra Kemarrravv13/Shutterstock Hate speech on X was consistently 50% higher for at least eight months after tech billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media platform, new ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Ufuk Zivana/Shutterstock Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wants New Zealand to “go for growth”. But his plan, focused on reforming foreign investment, planning and competition laws, as well as boosting the ...
Eighty-five. Who’s going to be miffed if they aren’t on the GCSB’s list?
That’s a pretty big fail, from Key and Clark. “Control”, says the law.
I note the release of the Kitteridge report has been brought forward.
Timing is everything.
it’s funny that a report which, among other things, deals with leaks from the GCSB is also leaked.
THE WITCH IS DEAD !
Your turn now Roger
Helen Clark is dead ?
Condolences to her family and friends.
“Mummy” has gone. Roger Douglas et al are in deep mourning.
She insisted something be done about the Greenhouse Effect. I suspect she saw it as competition.
She had a background in the sciences so would have been better able to comprehend the future problems related to the Greenhouse Effect. It’s the one thing for which she can be given some credit. Pretty much the only one as far as I am aware.
au contraire Anne, she was a woman of considerable talent:
http://au.businessinsider.com/margaret-thatcher-helped-invent-soft-serve-ice-cream-2013-4
Considerable talent she did have Chris 73, but she used it in a despotic and cruel way.
I have no problem believing that her ideology would have trumped any scientific training. At best, if she had seen an opportunity for English finance capital to make a few quid from it, she would have taken a position against global warming. I don’t think her attacks on the miners were a sign of environmental consciousness either, but I may be biased.
May God have mercy on her soul: I reckon at least 6 million years in Purgatory.
With her good friends Pinochet, Suharto and Hussein. Funny she wasn’t keen on Mandela apparently.
As long as the family are paying for the bloody funeral, I’m happy.
Nuclear reactor industry, American style!
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/43556350/
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Your opportunity to speak out against the TPPA – and we must use every opportunity!
❤ http://www.ourconstitution.org.nz/
errrr… it’s got nothing to do with it
TPPA will affect the way we make our laws in that we will have to consider outside corporate interests
question Roflcopter…
in your world does the recently passed ‘Monsanto is now above the Law’ Bill in the USA affect the TPP here in NZ ?
P.S. It is a trick question, because no-one knows what is in the TPP.
I think it is critical we understand the secret travesty of how this bill came into law in the US last week — and these are people and a government we are supposed to trust in a secret agreement like TPPA ?
Jon Stewart of The Daily Show has the full story — yes, told comedically obviously, but it is the most astute analysis I have seen of what happened. It is beyond unimaginable — it was not only secret, it was anonymous. Take a few minutes please and see how it worked and duped everyone …
We are sitting ducks to Monsanto’s GM plans for our food crops. Beware, here there be muilti-headed dragons ..
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-3-2013/you-stuck-what-where-now-
( Rosy .. hope you see this.)
(No edit button ?) I should have said that Jon Stewart’s is the ONLY astute analysis of what actually occurred last week. Please, watch if you can.
I know we should not speak ill of the dead but Thatcher is perhaps the strongest case there is against this. Single handedly she wrecked the UK and it is in a mess now because of what she did.
May she rest in peace.
https://mobile.twitter.com/jdpoulter/status/321337758574604289?p=p
RIP? Mozza says NO!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/08/morrissey-thatcher-was-a-terror-without-an-atom-of-humanity.html
“The Queen Is Dead”.
Yes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcXi-VYy_Yw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4BCUWopQQ4
Hahahaha – some gems here 🙂
“Give her a state funeral – because a lot of people will want to pay their last respects, and a lot more people will want proof that she’s really dead”.
“It’ll be the first time that the 21 gun salute shoots the coffin.”
“What’s the point of holding the funeral in London? Surely if they held it up North there’d be a lot better turnout, because there’d be loads of people in the streets having a party.”
(The state funeral). “How much do you think it’s gonna cost? 3 million. For 3 million we could give everyone in Scotland a shovel and they would dig a hole so deep that we could hand her over to Satan personally.”
Madame Medusa – UB40:
Fav line so far is the plans for her grave have been released and there’s concern the dancefloor isn’t big enough.
“Looking forward to hearing about who found all the horcruxes”
https://twitter.com/frankieboyle/status/321263969199345666
Elvis Costello interview and a solo performance of Tramp the Dirt Down.
nice. It’s been a great day to listen to the musicians that became my political tsachets..
*teachers. Note to self… Do not comment when using a tablet with autocorrect.
Aww, I thought I’d learned a new word!
Rosy … you might like to look at 5.1.2.1 above witht more on our previous chat …
Saw a great picture. It just had the Grim Reaper with one word – “GOTCHA!”
A brave woman, firm in her beliefs. Beliefs which weren’t massively changed by Blair or Major and she was right about the Euro.
Yeah, a lovely lady….
/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/08/conservatives-outraged-over-cnn-photo-of-thatcher-with-pedophile-jimmy-savile/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jimmy-savile-letter-to-margaret-thatcher-1508069
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/28/jimmy-savile-access-margaret-thatcher
Are suggesting she aidded and abetted Jimmy Saville? Thats pretty low even for a leftie.
Only if it’s not true.
Considering there is no evidence Thatcher was aware of Savilles behavior anymore than the next person then yes it is pretty low.
That depends entirely on who the next person is.
So you need it to be spelled out in a simpler fashion? OK.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Thatcher knew of any of Savilles crimes and to insinuate that Thatcher may have aided or abetted one of the most serious pedophiles in modern history based entirely on personal speculation is pretty low indeed.
I resent your insinuation toward me. There is no evidence whatsoever that I have insinuated any such thing about that horrible subhuman cretin Thatcher.
Very low, Contrarian, even for a contrarian.
Sure they will
Purple flakes on Friday.
Thatcher explained for the younger folks:
https://mobile.twitter.com/BeardedGenius/status/321377516902309888?p=v
Don’t be silly Felix, Friday is for apple walrus.
@PB: amazing.
If there’s one thing Thatcher hated, it was people taking low shots, we should respect that.
chris73
But only low lefties can get right down to dig up the dirt, such horrid manual labour wot!
Yes, and her son was a terrorist too.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4169557.stm
To be fair, at least he was kind of useless at it.
“firm in her beliefs”
That’s not actually a compliment if the beliefs are vicious, anti-human and abhorrent.
“Beliefs which weren’t massively changed by Blair or Major”
Further harsh condemnation of the dead from chris73.
Oops, should have written policies not beliefs
Why? The exact same criticism applies equally to either.
True but I like to make sure that what i write is what i mean otherwise i end up apologizing for something, which i don’t like doing
Homicidal psychopaths are pretty firm in their beliefs too,
does not make them right or good or worthy of the unending platitudes that will vomit forth from the chambers she ruled with that never tiring Iron Fist.
Hitlor had very firm views as well …
Goodwin’s law strikes again …
lol. Right about the Euro. fair enough, but that’s not the only things she believed.
laws passed on her watch banning councils from doing anything that might ‘support homosexuality’.
opposed the reunification of Germany.
and that’s without getting into the famous stuff about the Mandela, or South American despots.
She’s a complicated figure, but I find the defence of her that she was ‘strong’ to be an odd one. SFW? Lot’s of awful people are strong as well as good people.
To be fair to chris, there’s not a hell of a lot nice anyone can write about her without resorting to vague generalised value judgments about supposed character traits.
The nasty factual stuff is easy cos it’s all a matter of public record.
she did wear well tailored clothes and was only rarely witnessed skeet shooting puppies 🙂
and wrong about everything else. Really, beliefs should not be used to govern a country.
Even today Tony Blair agrees with her views on alot of policys.
So she supported, and is supported by, war criminals. You make a good case.
Welcome to Hell, Mrs Thatcher
We have a special chamber ready just for you.
Your infernal friends,
Saddam Hussein
Milton Friedman
General Pinochet
Ronald Reagan
General Suharto
Dali Tambo, son of former ANC president Oliver Tambo.
My gut reaction now is what it was at the time when she said my father was the leader of a terrorist organisation. I don’t think she ever got it that every day she opposed sanctions, more people were dying, and that the best thing for the assets she wanted to protect was democracy.
Many lives were lost. It’s a shame that we could never call her one of the champions of the liberation struggle. Normally we say that when one of us goes, the ANC ancestors will meet them at the pearly gates and give them a standing ovation. I think it’s quite likely that when Margaret Thatcher reaches the pearly gates, the ANC will boycott the occasion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2013/apr/08/miliband-clegg-local-elections-cameron-madrid
and that big chair with the unpleasant aroma and the spiky cushions in the corners is for Kissinger when he finally shakes loose the mortal coil, the little stools surrounding it are reserved for the Bush family and their cohorts
Little stools? Lovely.
Here she is skewering socialists
It’s time for your reality check.
Strawman ≠ skewer.
And your reality check is she was leader for 11 years, for 11 years the public of Great Britain voted her in and irrespective of what some lazy miners “up north” and (admittedly quite talented) musicians said or say she was a great leader and the UK is better off because of her decisions
Reality check No.2:
A minority supported her, and she left Britain more unequal and divided. Perhaps you may have heard that Scotland will hold a referendum on secession next year.
” irrespective of – some lazy miners “up north” ”
I do wonder, truely, if you have ever done a day’s hard labour in your entire life ?
Let alone day after day in conditions not fit for moles let alone human beings. Have you ever had to watch your entire industry get stolen by foreign profiteers as your daily wage shrinks and your communities crumble, all so a hegemony of hate can be dumped on you from above. (wow that sounds familiar) Maybe then you would begin to understand what all those people fought and died for. A livelihood. Self respect. Families and Communities. However faulted and mistaken the Industry was, coal built the Industrial Revolution and subsequently the tool that you now yield with the aplomb of a rabid meerkat.
A revolution that forever altered our world. Built on the broken backs of men women and children, enslaved by circumstance, but still proud enough to know that they were contributing to their Nation. Now when that Nation [ie some genetic inbreds who have their mates sit in silly wigs and spout meaningless bs to other twits who then lie to the people that asked them to represent them] decides that the industry that revolutionised the world can be run cheaper elsewhere, did they get thanks for the generations of sacrifice? Did they get new jobs? Whole communities were destroyed as severely as if the very bombs their coal had helped to build were used against them. You have the gall to call coal miners lazy.
All I know is I am glad The Standard has very clear rules because yet again, my self-restraint was most certainly tested by your ignorance. Chris73, I ask you to reconsider your foolish words, on this and many many topics. Maybe just spend some time thinking on this life you obvioulsy have no respect for, and the lives lost for you to have it.
Well said Freedom. That is the gist of it.
I wouldn’t mind betting I’ve done more hard labour and in worse conditions then you sunshine
And yet you’re happy to use the term, lazy towards workers under conditions, which in all liklihood you have never experienced.
that i sincerely doubt my good friend, I sincerely doubt
I’ve done more hard labour and in worse conditions then you sunshine
Nobody who has worked hard has such a contemptuous view of workers as you have expressed on this forum. You are a liar.
+1.
Besides, chris lost any last glimmer of respectability when he admitted that his anecdotes, which he writes as if they’re true stories from his own life, may or may not be true.
Excellent work freedom! Excellent! now considering “work” anecdotes “chris”, I dare ya. Go on, I mutherfuckin wager you; (all this mornings comments by the rider shall be moderated from Belarus, CCCP)
“she was a great leader and the UK is better off because of her decisions”
You’re an idiot. 😆
dont forget she was never voted out by the public, never lost an election, so the people voting must have seen that the great policys of Thatcher were working.
Also, she was ritually slaughtered and thrown on the heap by her own cabinet colleagues.
“the people voting must have seen that the great policys of Thatcher were working.”
You terminal fool, Thatcher’s great policies had nothing to do with working.
here’s a round up of some pommy fromt pages:
http://sandsmediaservices.blogspot.co.nz/2013/04/thatcher-regionals-capture-mood.html?spref=tw
All people like Thatcher, Key, and Douglas do is take the infrastructure and social benefits built up by generations of workers under conditions of union militancy and social democracy and destroy it to the advantage of the bank accounts of their own mates. They create nothing except division, bigotry, and hatred. There is no great talent to what they do apart from that needed to deceive the electorate. They contribute less to society than any of the beneficiaries or unionists they enjoy marginalising. They are truly scum.
I mourn their deaths as I would mourn the eradication of cancer.
when maggie thatcher dies we,re all avin a party
And here she is saying good things about the Khmer Rouge.
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.number10.gov.uk/Page12166
And also saying not so nice things as well
As was so often her way.
Can’t believe you posted that chris. It shows her as either barking mad, ill-informed, or deliberately deceptive – depending on how charitable you feel.
Certainly didn’t “skewer” anyone in this clip, although her good mates Suharto and Pinochet did, as did many of her family’s clients around the world.
from Obama
“With the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend. As a grocer’s daughter who rose to become Britain’s first female prime minister, she stands as an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered.”
and where does a shattered glass ceiling go ?
If I can quote myself, she didn’t shatter the glass ceiling, she was teleported above it.
“…there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered.”
Especially when you send your Air Force to Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and Iraq to bomb the houses with the glass ceilings in them.
The proof is there, how the Ministry of Social Development has through the controversial Dr David Bratt, who is their “Principal Health Advisor”, and who follows a similar approach while interpreting and applying the perverted “bio psycho social model” for assessing and rehabilitating sick and disabled as Professor Mansel Aylward from Cardiff University, is INFLUENCING how DOCTORS assess and fill out WORK CAPACITY MEDICAL ASSESSMENTS for WINZ.
A look at a document found online, issued by the MEDICAL SERVICE of the AUCKLAND CITY MISSION for starters, exposes the result of intensive lobbying of GPs by so-called “Health and Disability Coordinators” that MSD and WINZ employ:
http://www.aucklandcitymission.org.nz/uploads/file/Calder%20Centre/Sickness%20Benefit%20explanation.pdf
Background report, showing from where the Missions Medical Centre evolved:
http://www.theaucklander.co.nz/news/mission-possible/1036109/
Doctors working for the Mission’s “Calder Centre” appear to willingly accept the “expectations” that MSD and hard line, indeed biased, Dr David Bratt impose on them, by even quoting comments made by him, that were published in a NZ Doctor article titled ‘Harms lurk for benefit addicts’ on 01 August 2012:
http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/in-print/2012/august-2012/1-august-2012/harms-lurk-for-benefit-addicts.aspx
(try to “google” it if it does not show)
That article raised concern by a well educated, independent reader, whose partner is a doctor, but who like many doctors in NZ prefers not to “comment” on the conduct of colleagues:
http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/in-print/2012/august-2012/29-august-2012/questioning-the-direction-of-msd-policy.aspx
(“google” ‘Questioning the direction of MSD policy’ by Tim Walker Nelson, NZ Doctor 29 Aug. 2012 if not showing)
Health and Disability Coordinators are special advisory and liaison staff that MSD use to “advise” GPs on expectations the Ministry and therefore also WINZ have of doctors, and they “inform” about policies, are involved in the selection process of GPs to work as “designated doctors” for WINZ, and naturally are managed, mentored and instructed by the Principal Health Advisor and the Principal Disability Advisor.
A “summarised” job description for such a position recently advertised can be found here:
http://www.jobseeker.co.nz/job/Disability-Coordinator-0b3f38117d62c6a6d6a8471d26ca3c98
(I have a more detailed, official one in PDF file format at hand)
For years now, Health Work Force NZ (staffing and training agency as part of the Ministry of Health, headed by Dr Des Gorman, another “hard liner” in the medical profession), and the Medical Council and naturally the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners have worked, to bring about “changes” to the training program of GPs. One does not need to speculate too much, that there are also “messages” sent through the senior “trainers” and the heads of mentioned organisation, that impact on how training will be conducted, what it will include, and that certain “expectations” by government ministries will flow in.
Dr Des Gorman is holding high positions in many institutions:
http://www.conference.co.nz/gp13/speakers/panel_session_speakers/des_gorman
(a summary of his back-ground, he will be a key senior speaker again at this year’s GP conference in Wellington, and his controversial past role as advisor and assessor for ACC is not forgotten).
Another likely speaker at this years GP conference, is also expected to be Dr Bratt in his role as “Principal Health Advisor” – from MSD, who is likely to once again present his “views” and pseudo scientific findings on the “benefits” of work, and the “harm of being on a welfare benefit” for his employer Work and Income:
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/GP%20CME/Friday/C1%201515%20Bratt-Hawker.pdf
Of general info, but not revealing much here:
http://www.rnzcgp.org.nz/developments-in-general-practice-training
But what is clear from the document issued by the doctors working for the Medical Service at the Auckland City Mission is, MSD do assert strong influence now on how doctors in general work with them, as most doctors will at some time have to complete medical certificates that WINZ expects from clients and doctors’ patients to establish benefit entitlement on health and work capacity grounds.
HOW INDEPENDENT ARE DOCTORS IN NEW ZEALAND – in view of such developents?
The draconian, in some ways almost “fascist”, “work sets you free” approach to illness, disability and welfare appears to become commonly accepted in the wider medical profession, due to very concerning developments!
Well said Xtasy. This goes directly to Karol’s post on Thatcher.
“…action, political will, and policies based in sound evidence and humane values is not enough. In order to work towards a more inclusive, fairer world without poverty and destructive divisions, there is a need to find a way to counter the extensive networks, power and reach of the “neoliberal” elites.”
For further info – or correction:
There appears to be another annual conference for GPs in Rotorua, at which Dr David Bratt from MSD is listed as speaker on health and welfare issues:
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/speakers.php
His name is shown there, and for memory, last year he appears to have presented this PDF and verbal presentation to doctors at such a meeting:
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/2012/Fri_DaVinci_1400_Bratt_Medical%20Certificates%20are%20Clinical%20Instruments%20too%20-%20June%202012.pdf
(pages 3, 16 and 33 display his now well known “view” that benefit dependence has the same “dangers” as “drug dependence”)
This conference is apparently organised by the New Zealand Medical Association.
Professor Mansel Aylward, former Chief Medical Officer for Department of Work and Pensions in the UK – under Maggie Thatcher’s government, by the way, will also speak at that Rotorua annual conference for GPs just mentioned, see the Sunday sessions, 23 June 2013, at the ‘Main Conference’ (click program on the website, for which the link is provided).
AND Dr Des Gorman will speak there also! Talk about all the “work ability” hardliners mixing and mingling at such places.
So under the radar, not mentioned by MSD, Paula Bennett, Tony Ryall and others, the highly controversial “Sir” Prof. Mansel Aylward is still doing his tours in NZ, lobbying hard for the work test approaches and regimes that have been introduced into the UK, and in 2011 led to over 1,100 deaths, due to people not coping with stress, work requirements while they could not work, and due to committing suicide.
The agenda is progressing, and NO public consultation is taking place, how damned revealing! ANY TRUST in welfare reforms, and how doctors and specialists in NZ operate, risking to breach their own professional codes???
Revealing, all this, is it not?
http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosbusiness.html
http://mikesivier.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/unum-atos-the-dwp-and-the-wca-who-gets-the-blame-for-the-biopsychosocial-saga/mansel_aylward/
http://mikesivier.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/unum-atos-the-dwp-and-the-wca-who-gets-the-blame-for-the-biopsychosocial-saga/
http://atosvictimsgroup.co.uk/2012/05/31/how-many-disabled-people-will-the-dwp-atos-kill-eventually-the-crematoriums-and-graveyards-will-be-overflowing-at-this-rate/
I’m in favour of the legalisation of recreational drugs, except for the one which causes neoliberalism. I think your description of Bratt’s views as perverted is totally accurate. His followers in the UK are, in my opinion, already responsible for deaths among the disabled. The guy is an enemy of humanity.
In the article “Ex-spy boss lashes out at PM’s claims” by Adam Bennet there is a curious bit right at the end which I found interesting
Senior sources have told the Herald that the person suspected of leaking information to Labour about that briefing – including claims Mr Key was not only briefed about the Dotcom surveillance, but joked about it – had been identified and had now “lawyered up”.
If the report establishes a leak, the GCSB’s legislation carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.
By Adam Bennett Email Adam
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10876297
What is “senior sources” usually journo code for?
GCSB’s legislation carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.
Yes spying on NZ citizens, is also a criminal offence providing for a couple of semesters at rock college.A very dangerous game for the plantiffs.
.
Read the article:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10876297
Sir Bruce Ferguson says Key “is smoking dope on that one.” Key’s statement is “outrageous.”
This former civil servant is not going to take any sh*t from the PM. He is fighting back. So far Ferguson has landed two hard right hooks. Key is looking wobbly.
Key may have met his match in Ferguson AmaKiwi.
He was a former fighter pilot based at Ohakea. Those fighter pilots were the creme de la creme of the Air Force. He rose to Squadron Leader and it’s my understanding he was a popular leader who put the safety and welfare of his pilots first. He became Commander of the Air force Base at Whenuapai in the early 1990s and the rest is history. A born leader.
With a background like that he out-classes John Key in every way. Key knows it and he’ll continue to discredit him at every turn. Good luck John. You’ll probably end up in a courtroom like your idol, Rob Muldoon.
I’d debate your definition of attack pilots as the “creme de la creme” of the RNZAF, Anne. My pedantic hat tells me that the Skyhawks were not fighters, but attack bombers. While the pilots undoubtedly were very skilled, they also needed tibia no longer than a certain length. Too long, and they couldn’t use the ejection seat and were therefore not eligible for Skyhawks. There well may have been helicopter, transport, or maritime reconnaissance pilots with equal skills, but a couple of cm taller. This is without thinking of the ground staff, navigators etc.
Skyhawks were multirole aircraft, and in the 1960’s and 1970’s were considered fairly capable air to air interceptors. For instance they were used for many years at TOPGUN as the main adversary aircraft. But yes, they were usually used in the ground strike role.
I see Ian Wishart has written a penetrating book on politics or apparently. Daylight Robbery – anyone read this?
The only people who read Ian Wishart books are people who do not read.
that is funny
No. I found some bamboo to grow under my fingernails instead.
If you pay me.
And provide a large bottle of fine whisky to numb the pain of Wishart’s fail.
Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette
by GLENN GREENWALD, The Guardian, 8 April 2013
‘News of Margaret Thatcher’s death this morning instantly and predictably gave rise to righteous sermons on the evils of speaking ill of her. British Labour MP Tom Watson decreed: “I hope that people on the left of politics respect a family in grief today.” Following in the footsteps of Santa Claus, Steve Hynd quickly compiled a list of all the naughty boys and girls “on the left” who dared to express criticisms of the dearly departed Prime Minister, warning that he “will continue to add to this list throughout the day”. Former Tory MP Louise Mensch, with no apparent sense of irony, invoked precepts of propriety to announce: “Pygmies of the left so predictably embarrassing yourselves, know this: not a one of your leaders will ever be globally mourned like her.”
This demand for respectful silence in the wake of a public figure’s death is not just misguided but dangerous. That one should not speak ill of the dead is arguably appropriate when a private person dies, but it is wildly inappropriate for the death of a controversial public figure, particularly one who wielded significant influence and political power. “Respecting the grief” of Thatcher’s family members is appropriate if one is friends with them or attends a wake they organize, but the protocols are fundamentally different when it comes to public discourse about the person’s life and political acts. I made this argument at length last year when Christopher Hitchens died and a speak-no-ill rule about him was instantly imposed (a rule he, more than anyone, viciously violated), and…
Read more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-etiquette
Ya gotta love football fans.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/margaret-thatcher-dead-saw-what-1818338
This Sunday is North East derby day – Newcastle United will play Sunderland at St. James’ Park, a fixture that is usually overloaded with bile from both sets of supporters.
If the powers-that-be think that a minute’s silence for the Iron Lady will be appropriate, they’ll find that the fans are more unified in their response than they’ve ever been.
well, Christopher Hitchens is putting out fires, continuously, as we write, so, he is unable to come to the phone right now…
One of Christopher Hitchens’ unfunny little ongoing jokes was his his insistence that he had a powerful lust for Mrs Thatcher.
If only there was an infernal edition of Big Brother being livestreamed, we could sit back and enjoy the spectacle of the unspeakable in full pursuit of the insufferable.
The original quote of the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible works very well if translated into Portuguese.
CRIMINALISING PROTEST AT SEA IS ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE IN A ‘FREE AND DEMOCRATIC’ COUNTRY AS NEW ZEALAND IS SUPPOSED TO BE!
Please SHARE SHARE SHARE!!!
Sign the Statement Now
http://www.greenpeace.org
Protect the right of New Zealanders to protest at sea: Reject the Anadarko Amendment!
This is important folks!
If you don’t know your rights – you don’t have any.
If you don’t defend the rights you’re supposed to have – you lose them.
New Zealand for multinational companies and overseas investors?
I don’t think so.
HUMAN RIGHTS – NOT CORPORATE RIGHTS!
Penny Bright
Thanks for pointing this out.
I am quite concerned about the bad changes being pushed through our Parliament. This is no small matter and the changes will make our our people and country very much worse off.
Some comments from eminent and respected people on RNZ Morning Report:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2551447/prominent-new-zealanders-fight-for-%27freedom-of-expression%27.asx
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/take-action/Take-action-online/reject-the-Anadarko-Amendment/
Simon Bridges believes Laws do not need scrutiny, this is one small way we can let him know what we think of that idea
yes, apparently there are some clear Human rights, democratic rights abuses in this surreptitious legislation; could be time for the rider to re-arm (ha ha ha P. shine a light on yourselves why don’t you). 😉
So who dreaded the thought of everyone going on about how wonderful MT was when they read about her death??
while i am here; for a freakin’ small country, we sure generate some news;
there is just too many people asking for money from the queen,
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10876345
while another judge hits out at “drinking culture”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10876295
could be Key is “smokin dope” himself; (brother John)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10876297
thank the Lord for whakapapa
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/maori/news/article.cfm?c_id=252&objectid=10875389
finally, the Reserve Bank makes some noise; how far shall we stretch the bubble?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10876259
and an increased demand for “natural burials”; well thank the Lord for that; all that prime real estate…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49G1A1aw3A4
(thanks to Japan’s QE, TWI now 78.14)
Read em’ and weep
furthermore, in the neo-lib paradise MICHAEL;
from ONE News, Key appears to have reverted to Denial mode now.
another ‘thin edge of the wedge’- FB charging to message those beyond ‘ friends of friends’.
Post Tenebras Lux
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754367/
(you are in the wrong League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Pop)
these “85” spied upon could have breached the Defense Act and the Privacy Act; (how much are people gonna take up the back door? hmmm? hmmm?)
meanwhile, Lester Levy (now that IS a funny handle); “decreased, increased, funding” in the health sector; while there is a general decrease in majority of OECD countries.
-however, in NZ, according to ASMS, there is lack of overall strategic direction in health.Do Not Worry says Lester, we are workin on the internal culture of DHBs.
But wait, there’s more; David Round (Independent Constitutional Review chairman) “putting principles of treaty into constitutional review will be “disasterous” “. Really! Is that right? well, te Mob may disagree wit chu. 🙂
for Ennui;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8wxj8dI5bQ
for louise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIPNBIwqZNY
for the non-drinkers amongst us…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFYOHrwi-W8
(some Hot Chocolate)
and, imho, the song of the month…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbQ0Cb6h3Ew
oops, stomp on that one, meant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kq0vPSadqU
(Glory, Glory, Hallelujah 🙂 )
or,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zufpr8BwY9U
…in HB, they like to keep things fresh and light, so bring your Big City weary arse down here.
Nice one Ghost, the voice of a goddess.
Oh wow, and this week’s government privacy breach comes from…. The Ministry of Justice.
The full enchilada – passwords, access to alter financial transactions, and access to sensitive personal information all wide open (apparently from the website).
Fuck sake.
Yep. The Technological Society- “the end of democracy”- Ellul.
concede?
nah.
Tory Governments and a depleted public service- “the end of confidentiality”. 🙂
you forward the fare, and I will come visit you in your “cubby hole”. 🙂
I remember the haughty, hectoring old bag Thatcher for the hissing reaction she gave some poor journalist at the time of the French bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, when it was suggested the bombing as state-sponsored terrorism merited the same denunciation she gave other complicit states.
She was a mad control freak, liar, obssessive, and to come right down to it…….a cheap snob. That particularly despicable breed of Tory, the snob. No tears for her here. In her vainglory she was instrumental in the deaths of many, many, many. And in retirement she personally gave succour to Pinochet when the High Court confined him to some country estate in Surrey.
See YouTube “The Day Margaret Thatcher Dies” – Pete Wylie I think.
Deranged.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/04/07/1831081/denier-delingpole-wishes-for-climate-nuremberg-says-hanging-is-far-too-good-for-climate-scientists/
well, observations from the Q.T.
so, “if NZ is better than what we see in other parts of the world (La garde, you freakin mis-pronouncing idiots)” then who is BS-ing who we ask you.
must say, the Govt. appeared muted for a change; maybe a reality check going on; i.e. what a liability Key, English, Brownlee, Parata, Bennett et al are turning out to be for Noo Zillund.
do you think Amy Adams, and Katrina Shanks might have a touch of “Downs” themselves? Projection much, we ask you:
Cosgrove on MRP; “66 Thousand and 600 and 66 Dollars in fees per person?” you have to be pullin’ our legs…
David Carter-“I wonder whether…” (asks acting PM for more detail).
re this Kitteridge Report; Excellent questioning by Dr Russell Norman; apparently the “leaked” document was ‘locked” in the PM’s office…FFS
btw, DPS, when the rider has ridden over Bennett, he will then roll on down the road to that idiot fascist Sabin and on round the bend to the blonde bimbo Macindoe (where do we get these people from, some swamp?)
Brownlee: EQC staff cannot yet e-mail attachments and must stay back after school for sanding.
(shut-down of e-mail until some “certainty”; well, who is the tail, and who are the dogs..)
and to further the point Gareth Hughes on the supplementary leg. to the Crown Minerals Bill
“BOR breaches, International Law breaches and breaches of democratic rights! Baa.
Freakin sleepy Hobbits, or what.
If they’re not freakin now, they will when they wake up.
Angelina (on Hauraki: sigh)
30,000 Greek households disconnected from power every month
None of this is going to end well.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-07/30000-greek-households-lose-electricity-each-month
This too.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-commission-concludes-germany-owes-billions-in-war-reparations-a-893084.html
no clock here so ave a gander at these (while i peruse the Thatcher threads) 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC3KcX8eQ3c
(last night, another soldier)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFECyiPS9Tg
(Propaganda)
Eye Candy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUu0HUMJLPo
THE REAL THING budgies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9otg_Cm50RE
The Queen is Dead, Long Live The Queen!!!
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh6KCehWE8M )
2001 (for R.socrates)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3sqvxnJ3Cw
(who needs to eat; bananas anyone?)
Increased CO2 in oceans can cause crabs to grow bigger.
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/6088/20130408/carbon-emissions-create-giant-crabs-oyster-industry-trouble.htm
And the potential to destroy export industries.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8256622/Acidic-oceans-threaten-shellfish-industry
National Party have a mock up of spoof news like a pop magazine. The blurb for Maggie Barry says she writes on Roses, Wisteria and Radical Welfare Reform. The flowers that most likely grow in that garden area would be Love-Lies-Bleeding.(Tassel flower or Amaranthus).
the best Sweet Jane, Ever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHRFZFmEq9o
yet, there is always The Cranberries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Kspj3OO0s
Night prism, keep on defracting.
So WE HAVE IT NOW!
It appears that was the last debate and vote that occured a short time ago tonight in Parliament – on the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill!
Votes were 59 against and 61 in favour. Yes, that is IT!
The Maori Party voted with 2 votes against, so one of their MPs appears to have abstained or whatever.
The Na(t)zis have – with their “support” muppets Banks and Dunne – pushed throught he most mean spirited, draconian and senseless “welfare reforms”, which will from the time of introduction and implementation in mid July this year see to it, that many beneficiaries (most of whom have NO DAMNED CLUE what will hit them) will face radical changes, severe restrictions, harsh and firm expectations and sanctions if they do not cooperate.
This will change New Zealand, I am sure, and while this country has already become a rather divided, untrusting, competing and mean place, it will get even worse.
The damned SHIT MEDIA of this land has not even reported one damned bit about it, the political current affairs and news reporters have treated it as insignificant, and consequently the public has very little ideas what is involved.
So the last speaker, I think it was that stupid “cop” from up north, a Nat MP, even cheekily teased the opposition, what the problem was, he asked, as there was nobody protesting in the streets, nobody discussing it on talkback and nobody being opposed.
Hey, does anybody not realise yet? NZ is run like a DICTATORSHIP of sorts, where key powers are in the control of certain key decisionmakers and lobby-groups. Welcome to the Dictatorship of Aotearoa NZ.
Thank you “Dear Leader”, John The Shining Light and Key to Hell!
So UK Labour seem to be warming to the adjusted Atos work capacity testing regime again, as atosvictimsgroup have detected:
http://atosvictimsgroup.co.uk/2013/04/07/liam-byrne-and-the-labour-party-finally-joins-up-with-the-nasty-party-did-we-really-expect-anything-else/
If that is anything to go by, perhaps we will see Shearer’s Labour “warm” to the newly passed “welfare reforms” pushed through by Na(t)zis here in NZ also, once they have been implemented and are running?
I am waiting with interest, to see how Labour will stand on welfare at the coming elections!
NO TRUST, I must say, despite of the odd good speech against the new bill in Parliament tonight. Thanks to Sua William Sio, though.
But the only truly great speech that an opposition MP held tonight, that was the one by Jan Logie, Greens!
Thank you Jan!
Stay firm on course in welfare matters, please, many of us need this and rely on you!!!