Further returns heading offshore coupled with falling commodity prices will negatively impact our current account, yet the Government continues to seek offshore investment facilitating further profits to head offshore .
B Waghorn, what is your take on this? http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201757604/dairy-broker-says-fonterra's-milk-supply-share-will-shrink
From my limited understanding (but may have misinterpreted this), Fonterra have to pick up milk at farm gate, from Fonterra farmers and deliver to non-Fonterra processors (many foreign owned) at same price (for milk) as what Fonterra farmers are given (as this is the legislation and Fonterra cannot charge over and above the farm price).
In effect, the non-Fonterra processors are free riding on the infrastructure and logistics that Fonterra have built up as a cooperative over years.
Are we absolutely nuts in this country, as this is the craziest thing I have heard?
Yes they are required to supply milk to competition companies at cost , but I’m not involved in dairy (I’m Shepherd) you would have to know how much profit leaves the country and is the tax paid here IMO as to how bad a situation it is. It has allowed more factories to be built without farmers having to stump up the cash which will of helped the massive expansion,.
It has allowed more factories to be built without farmers having to stump up the cash which will of helped the massive expansion,.
Where did the resources to build those factories come from? If, as I suspect, all those resources came from NZ then foreign money allowed nothing at all.
In effect, the non-Fonterra processors are free riding on the infrastructure and logistics that Fonterra have built up as a cooperative over years.
Fonterra was, and is, a near monopoly and thus gets controls that monopolies get.
BTW, selling at cost should give the farmers more than enough to live on. After all, their living costs are most definitely part of the over all costs of farming.
Agreed that Fonterra are a near monopoly, and (I think!) I have no problem with that WHEN they were a true cooperative, owned and run by farmers. Collective bargaining for global trade is a logical governance model. However, with the extending of shareholding to non-farmers coinciding with regulation around (farm gate) pricing, especially pricing control vis-a-vis competing processors, the government has given a free pass to these non-Fonterra processors …..and are these not the processors who have special access to China (for milk solids). Draco, do you know which companies these are – is Oravida one of them?
Draco, regarding selling at cost, the radio snippet said that non-Fonterra processors were offering 10c more per litre. Farmers who are peeved with Fonterra (for selling out on them) are switching to non Fonterra processors -reciprocating a lack of allegiance. If so, it’s a short term gain for the farmers, could lead to a demise of Fonterra. Long term, it’s not good for Fonterra, in my humble understanding of it.
The simple fact of the matter is that the government should never engage offshore firms to do work as it is the government doing stuff that ultimately builds and develops our economy.
And FFS, in this case it’s obvious that we have the capability as both Xero and MYOB show. And there’s no way that the could have been cheaper than NZ.
hi draco,
like kiwi rail awarding contracts to chinese companies (coz they were 25% cheaper than a kiwi bid), these decisions are too short sighted and limited in the thinking.
award the contracts locally and you may pay more but there are lots of tangible and intangible benefits. granted they will not all appear on your balance sheet, however, (especially) the government, are not constrained by greedy shareholders barking for a return on their investment.
a wonderful oppurtunity to model good community behaviour.
yeah… kind of a no-brainer i would have thought. also not sure if they ended up being 25% cheaper considering the product was substandrd. on the other hand hillside workshops was closed down and sold off, soooo….
Over on The Daily Blog, Chris Trotter implies Labour could do with a shake up. Why? Oh because they are too rich, not Tongan enough etc etc. He even takes some time to bash beneficiaries, with his appropriation of “a Tongan cleaners’ views”, and purposeful omission of how and why people become unemployed. That’s great Chris, don’t own your bene-bashing, project it onto “a Tongan”. There’s a name for that, you know. For a long time now I have suspected Chris Trotter isn’t left-wing anything, but he sure got a lot of air-time on that ticket.
Yes Chris, what Labour needs now is a self-inflicted continuation of the problems that acerbated* some poor polls. That’s sarcasm, Chris. No Chris, it doesn’t much matter at this time whether they are rich or not, because they appear to know which way is up, right now, (you see, even fringe lefties can see past “class war” long enough be pragmatic for the good of the wider movement) and if any “shake ups” in senior MP line-ups happen it should happen on the back of electoral success, and to support the direction they say they are taking as outlined in the electoral review that was recently “released”.
*Yes, that’s right, in hindsight, compared to what NZders have voluntarily supported and have been complicit in since, it is no longer certain that anything Labour did in running their campaign, in changing leaders multiple times, or even in the “Sickness Beneficiary Painting the Roof” moment of stupid, was in any way the reason for poor polling.
Key rejected the idea of a one-off payment for heating, instead backing current provisions despite current provisions attributing the death of Emma-Lita Bourne.
Under current provisions the family couldn’t afford to heat their home, but apparently it was insulated.
And while the cost of implementing minimum standards for rentals will be less than the cost of a comprehensive rental warrant, there will still be a fiscal burden that (unless it’s made tax deductible) landlords will seek to pass on.
Costs are often passed on, thus would negatively impact tenants. Leaving them with less to heat their newly insulated homes. Therefore, is a problem that will require to be overcome.
Moreover, the loss of disposable income to higher rents will hurt the wider economy, negatively impacting on consumer demand, business return, thus jobs.
Heating costs (which also attributed to the damp home, thus death) are largely being overlooked with Key failing to support changes to current provisions.
Everything you say there tells us that what we really need to do is to get rid of private landlords and shift all rental to government ownership and set as a percentage of household income.
The high cost of heating can only be brought down by the installation of insulation in existing houses and improving the housing code so that new houses meet or exceed the Passive House standard. There is no short term solution.
Might be better to nationalise power rather than rentals. There are advantages to private rentals, a better solution there is to regulate more specifically.
As a farm worker I’m required to live on the job so we rent our house out so that if something goes wrong we’ve got a home to go to, and its the safest place I can think of to have most of our money.
Yes, but that doesn’t remove the high costs of heating the house. They’re still there ergo it’s not a solution at all.
As I say, once you start thinking in terms of physical resources the economy looks a lot different than it does when you think in terms of money. When thinking in terms of money then what we need is nationalisation of power, have it run as a government service with every household getting a free amount which is enough to run a house for a year.
Do that and watch as the bludgers whinge about not making a profit.
Only if we, as a people, allow it to become a pipe dream. We need to change the narrative and tell people how much better it will be compared to privatisation. There’s still enough of us around that remember that it was better. Not perfect but certainly better than the BS that we have now.
so we collectively pay for the services these tenants need while the landlord gets to keep making capital gain and or yield. sounds fair given the landlord class seem to hate bludgers off the taxpayers
Imagine if you had a system where tenants could dob in landlords for not providing minimum housing standards. Weekly fines could be put on the landlord until the requirements were met and the landlord would be forced to stop rent increases for the next 5 years. You would get a big improvement of housing stock quite quickly!
Bollocks there would be more homeless, there would suddenly be a glut of houses for sale, & market forces would mean they would go for less, & anyway not all landlords are scum sucking parasites, some are quite happy to have their tenants live in safe houses.
Creating a glut of poor quality homes for sale merely shifts the problem onto first home buyers, who in the short-term are seldom fiscally better off than tenants.
If you’ve got enough money to buy a crappy overvalued New Zealand house, then you’ve got enough money to factor in doing some basic repairs on the house and bringing it up to a liveable standard.
The “no rent increase” for a set time is to try and stop the transfer of the landlord costs onto the tenants. There’s probably other ways you could do it, but that was my intention.
The “no rent increase” for a set time is to try and stop the transfer of the landlord costs onto the tenants.
I’m interested in this concept that landlords’ costs for maintaining and upgrading rental properties shouldn’t be passed on to tenants. Are you envisaging renting flats to people as a kind of charitable or philanthropic exercise, or is it more that you see being a landlord as such an enjoyable hobby that those participating surely won’t mind paying for the enjoyment they derive from it?
It’s more about the line between making a Lin
living and greed. There’s also the issue of housing costs in NZ being far too high relative to income. If that ratio was lower, rent rises would be less of an issue.
If you’re remodelling the house’s kitchen to attract different clientele then raising the rent makes sense. But if you’re fixing draughty rooms, leaks coming into the house, putting insulation in where there was none before, repainting some rooms and the exterior and passing those costs onto the renters then you’re not a good landlord in my book.
Why? If you’re renting, your rent covers the cost of the property – since when did maintenance cease being a cost of ownership? And if your landlord upgrades the property, eg by putting insulation in the walls or under the floor, or installing a heating system, it’s not because they’re philanthropists who love giving money away, it’s because they can recover the cost of the upgrade via rent. Nobody gets into the landlord business because they love losing money.
It’s lucky I’ve never had a landlord who thinks like that because I would think they’re an arsehole. As soon as the dishwasher breaks.. up goes the rent. It’s the duty of care of the landlord to look after your tenants and provide what they need in the house. I would like to think that the motivation behind installing a heatpump in a house is because you knew that the house got cold and would be cheaper for your tenants to run, not that you would only do it if your tenants agreed that their rent would go up.
The motivation behind installing a heat pump is to see that the tenants have a relatively cheap means of heating the place, sure. But if you don’t recover the costs of doing things like that via the rent, you’re a philanthropist, not a landlord.
So as you believe there’s a strong causation effect to actual costs and rents charged no doubt you’ll believe that landlords reduce rents when their costs decrease eg interest rate drops, paying the mortgage off.
I know several landlords who have no mortgage on their rental properties yet they still increase their rents when the “market” moves.
The profiteering in Christchurch has showed some of our landlords at their very bastard worst. Rents there increased well beyond any actual increase in costs.
Tenants have been lining landlords pockets for years and now they are crying because they might have to meet some habitable standards.
What about all the excess rent they’ve got over the years.
What about all the personal tax they didn’t pay cause they could offset their losses against it. I couldn’t do that with my house but I’ve spent a darn sight more than most landlords to maintain and insulate my home to keep my family warm and healthy.
What about all the tax free capital gains many have made.
Bastards lots of them.
They’ve been subsidised by both tenants and the tax system for years.
You know some bad landlords? Funnily enough, lots of landlords know some bad tenants. If only our Lord would return and bring the day of judgement upon us, then all this wickedness would cease.
You know like there’s good beneficiaries eg superanuitants and bad beneficiaries eg sole parents.
But what’s a good landlord – one that has maintained his property well, ensured it is repaired and suitable for habitation. One that would meet the warrant of fitness maybe.
And therein lies the difficulty – you’re arguing for a subsidy for those landlords that have reaped the profit and the tax advantages. but not invested back into the property.
Saw the same thing with commercial buildings. Conscientious landlords not touching buildings that clearly needing strengthening or paying for the strengthening work out of their rentals only to find those that didn’t bother or bought cheaply then asking for a handout to do so.
What has happened to the mantra of self-responsibility or caveat emptor in this situation?
( keep it up Labour Party ….we need one of these Labour Party policies every day on Morning Report and/or an attack on this jonkey nact government policies)
Mihingarangi Forbes was on Native Affairs last night for the last time I think. She traversed the mis-spending of funds
but of special interest was an interview with a tired fearful looking John Key.
He didn’t relax until the last few moments.
Every time he diverted she quietly politely bought him back on task. Re the first-refusal of land for housing. A first rate interview and no wonder pressure has been brought to bear to eliminate Mihi. Not online yet but repeats on Wed at 10:30pm.
A masterful interviewer!
look forward to seeing it…hopefully it will be linked here
imo jonkey nactional is trying to kill off any media that asks the hard real questions of him and his government…he is very fearful of this!…he much more comfortable with infotainment
….this is why jonkey’s friend Slater is now turning his attention on attacking blog sites like this ….where the hard questions are asked and the real news is discussed
jonkey nactional is trying to bring in thought control …in other words fascism by stealth
He seemed not to be able to grasp the difference between a collective set up to deal with 3 specific issues and the iwi most involved, Ngati Whatua and Tainui but Mihingarangi politely and firmly brought him back several times.
[lprent: Why? All first (ie pseudonym + email combinations) comments have to be approved by a moderator. Silly comments like this either get spammed or passed with probation. We view them identifying you as a person of suspicion. And if you are doing it on a post then make sure that the comment relates to either the post of the content of the whoever you are replying to. Otherwise use Open Mike. Read the policy. ]
I was battling some very pernicious malware. I had done a re-install of OS to try to remedy the situation and the above was me entering the wrong email.
New OS Didn’t solve it though 🙁 Which is odd as I am on Ubuntu and never really have to bother with viruses etc. So anyway, after lots and lots of reading what other similarly frustrated people had written, a solution was found. A new router.
If anyone else has met “Ads by Lu” you may want to save yourself the headache and replace your router before attacking your OS
– there are some &*%$* advertisers out there
As well as throwing popups everywhere, (adblockers don’t have any affect btw) it really loves to insert itself into news articles by replacing words in the article with hyperlink advertisements. Just nasty and basically a big frikkin headache, but all better now after finding a replacement router 🙂
In the late 1990s and early 2000s I was heavily involved in a NZ-based marxist magazine called ‘revolution’. We had readers all over the world and quite a range of people wrote for the mag at various times, including the moderator of this list and (then) up-and-coming sci-fi writer Ken MacLeod. Ken is now well-established as a sci-fi novelist.
today i was reading parts of interview with waterside workers from 1951. some of the stuff including references to company profits while crying poor put me in mi d of POA dispute… 60+ years later
By the way, Trotter’s stupid comment about ‘‘beneficiary tucked up warmly in bed’ was a crap of a shallow comment.
However, I liked the two ideas, attributed to Danyl McLauchlan, mentioned in his article. [ How to select Labour candidates and about their take home pay].
Any comments on these two ideas and the possible immediate and long term implications for the Labour party?
I thought that Chris raised questions that need to be raised. If we think that MP’s are there to robustly represent constituencies, then we should be shocked at some of the findings of the Labour Party review – most particularly the undermining effect of disunity within the caucus. Can you imagine National losing an election partly due to open caucus disunity? It is hard to imagine because National’s constituency has the power to scare its MP’s into line. We have come to think and behave as if we cannot expect much better – to wearily hope that things will improve now that we have Andrew at the helm.
Labour voters are not powerful enough to scare Labour politicians into line. In fact the people who can scare Labour politicians are exactly the same ones who can scare National politicians – the powerful (who can withhold or give donations) and their media mates, (who are able to build or destroy reputations). However, many of these people benefit from the very injustices that Labour exists to challenge. Even if Chris’s suggested solution does not prove to be workable, he is spot-on in identifying the problem, and the two qualities that he is indirectly pointing to, conviction and real solidarity, are much needed parts of its solution.
Well said. If the two ideas are implemented, it will serve many purposes, such as…
The members will be the ultimate judges of the type of candidates they want the Labour party to be represented by. There is a greater chance that good people of quality will get selected as our MPs. If the MPs are not good enough, it is easy for members to replace them or rank then lower at the next candidate list selection. It is more likely that we will get more patriotic, more intelligent, more idealistic and more caring MPs representing the party.
It also means that the MPs are there for the right reasons of working selflessly without excessive greed, for the people and the betterment of the country rather than for personal benefits to themselves.
I fail to see how the damaging effects of disunity in caucus would be shocking – they’ve been evident for years. And has the discunity in the party membership, and the friction between factions in membership and factions in caucus, and vice versa…
But while it’s been bad over the past few years, it’s improving. I see it as repercussions from the departure of a particularly strong and disciplined leader and some of her caucus stalwarts, like water rushing into a vacuum. And then the membership and affiliates took some control of the caucus leadership from caucus itself, and that caused waves as well (but made the seabed more stable).
Quite frankly, “shock” leads to searches for explanation, which leads to witch hunts, which leads to more division and disunity.
Labour in general seem to have a pretty good response to the review: it is what it is, and we’ll learn the lessons.
If government wants to do this in the health system how about doing the same in the social welfare benefit system where benefit numbers are dropping without any information about what’s really happening to the people behind each statistic?
There’s a ton of anecdotal evidence about what’s really happening which is that people are being turned away at the counter without proper assessment, MSD are making decisions that ignore medical evidence, the whole process is made deliberately onerous to create a “can’t be bothered appyling” attitude amongst the poor and so on and so on.
Woohoo, a new replacement for Campbell Live has been announced.
After being forced to get our daily dose of empathy and human kindness from Roadcops, from next week we now will be able to witness genuine suffering and human interest with…… Come Dine With Me.
I can’t wait. Err, no, yes I can !!
I’m surprised the flag roadshow wasn’t turned into a reality programme.
Each week the viewers could have voted off a contender and at the end the winning designer would get to have their flag used for the next 100yrs, free movie passes (only Warner Bros films) and a signed poster of John Key. (Txts cost 99cents per minute).
I quite like ‘Come Dine with Me’ – watching the dynamics of personalities and interactions on it can be fascinating in a sort of appalling way.
But if this is the replacement for Campbell Live, it’s a massive dumbing down and the viewing audience will be down as well.
CDWM is an amusing little diversion, but people who have just watched ‘news’ that consists of soundbites about serious stories and fluff about ‘celebs’ want something a bit meatier afterwards, like a chunk of the stories that appeared on ‘Campbell Live’, not more vacuous ‘entertainment’. And five nights a week?!!!
Mind you, some of the opinions expressed around the dinner table on CDWM are probably better-informed than anything out of the mouth of that little airhead with the spikey hair over on TV1 at 7pm.
Good grief, could TV3 dumb down any more? Obviously yes they can, and will. I once spent 5 minutes watching the British CDWM which was excruciatingly ghastly. Campbell Live is sorely missed.
American singer and actor Ronnie Gilbert, of the legendary folk group The Weavers (blacklisted during the McCarthyite 1950s) died on Saturday. The inspiration for a string of female folk singers from Mary Travers to Holly Near, Ms Gilbert was in her 89th year.
She certainly had a long and fruitful life, even remarrying in 2004, second time round to her manager and longtime partner Donna Korones, during a short period where the mayor of San Francisco had instructed the city clerk to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples.
Bugger. That’s so very sad. Pete was a great guy, always so kind and generous and very forgiving of economic illiterates like myself. He had a real strength to him, but didn’t need to shout to make that apparent. I really can’t believe it. Crying now. Shit.
Of course not. First and foremost you have to make money (lots of it) at what you’re doing and all he did was sit around and think about the workers. In other words a bleeding heart. (profound sarcasm)
I’m on the periphery of workers rights these days and never knew Peter Conway personally but was very aware of his presence and effect within the movement.
I don’t know if this has been covered or not, but Peter Dunne has, after dragging his feet as long as he could during petition signing and protests, made a call on which way the wind is blowing and allowed the family of a young man in a coma to import and try a medical cannabis product. (The product is coming from the US, the original home of Nixon’s quaint old ‘war on drugs’ vote winner). http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/69243877/medicinal-cannabis-application-approved-for-teenager-in-coma
The comments below are pretty unanimous. Isn’t it time we joined the 21st century on this issue?
Thanks, ianmac. Quite right re: Mihi and she wouldn’t let Johnboy off the hook either, no matter how much he slithered. I suspect he has the emotional quotient of a 15 year old.
Good Morning Mr Prentice, Your site and its contents have been brought to my attention yesterday. Your posts concerning me are malicious and deliberately false. I was not present in the High Court in the Blomfield matter and certainly did not take pictures of you. I have absolutely no interest in your narcissistic delusions of your own self importance. I have written to the High Court requesting details of any security footage of that day, if it exists. I suggest you do the same. I was not there so do not know the date. It might assist if you contact the registry and request details and supply the dates. Your mendacious malevolent threats of ongoing abuse have been taken seriously. Please desist from your conduct and the promotion of the nonsense on the web site Lauda finem scam. I have emailed you and cc Mr Matt Amon of the High Court Registry. I will be filing a copy of your posts and my response with the District Court this morning. Continued conduct will result in legal action Lyn ( apologies if that is not how you spell your name ).
[lprent: Bullshit. Go ahead, make my day. I do so love the concept of discovery and the court ordered allocation of costs.
BTW: for others reading this, the Nottingham brothers are highly likely to be the blowhards who run Lauda Finem and who delight in attacking anyone that Cameron Slater dislikes.
Prior to my appearance on The Nation, I’d deliberately avoided leaving images of myself as an adult on any part of nets, and have done so for more than 3 decades.
These clowns took the photos of me in the high court on the net and then published them on Lauda Finem. Needless to say, I was and are still rather annoyed about that.
Since I appeared on The Nation, there is no longer a reason to maintain a neither confirm nor deny policy on those photos, nor to refrain from naming the arseholes who did it. ]
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One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
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http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1506/S00128/ird-contract-set-to-benefit-us-economy-not-nz.htm
How stupid can keys pursuit of globalization get.
This stupid?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11461963
Brown rig are a brethren out fit I believe.
Come on b wagon you know Key and Co don’t give a rat’s about the majority of NZ business – it jobs for the mates, ideology, then bugger the rest.
I wonder if nz even gets the tax back from that billion ? I doubt it somehow.
Further returns heading offshore coupled with falling commodity prices will negatively impact our current account, yet the Government continues to seek offshore investment facilitating further profits to head offshore .
It;s almost like we are a broker rather than a nation.
Well, that’s how you turn a nation into serfs for Key’s corporate masters.
B Waghorn, what is your take on this?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201757604/dairy-broker-says-fonterra's-milk-supply-share-will-shrink
From my limited understanding (but may have misinterpreted this), Fonterra have to pick up milk at farm gate, from Fonterra farmers and deliver to non-Fonterra processors (many foreign owned) at same price (for milk) as what Fonterra farmers are given (as this is the legislation and Fonterra cannot charge over and above the farm price).
In effect, the non-Fonterra processors are free riding on the infrastructure and logistics that Fonterra have built up as a cooperative over years.
Are we absolutely nuts in this country, as this is the craziest thing I have heard?
Same as NZ Post having to deliver DX Mail (In places that DX Mail cannot make a profit).
Yes they are required to supply milk to competition companies at cost , but I’m not involved in dairy (I’m Shepherd) you would have to know how much profit leaves the country and is the tax paid here IMO as to how bad a situation it is. It has allowed more factories to be built without farmers having to stump up the cash which will of helped the massive expansion,.
Where did the resources to build those factories come from? If, as I suspect, all those resources came from NZ then foreign money allowed nothing at all.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10863663
Chinese money is what’s talked about to build this one.
Money is not a resource.
Where’d the resources come from? Where were they refined? Where were they produced into building materials and tools? Where the people come from?
Fonterra was, and is, a near monopoly and thus gets controls that monopolies get.
BTW, selling at cost should give the farmers more than enough to live on. After all, their living costs are most definitely part of the over all costs of farming.
Agreed that Fonterra are a near monopoly, and (I think!) I have no problem with that WHEN they were a true cooperative, owned and run by farmers. Collective bargaining for global trade is a logical governance model. However, with the extending of shareholding to non-farmers coinciding with regulation around (farm gate) pricing, especially pricing control vis-a-vis competing processors, the government has given a free pass to these non-Fonterra processors …..and are these not the processors who have special access to China (for milk solids). Draco, do you know which companies these are – is Oravida one of them?
Draco, regarding selling at cost, the radio snippet said that non-Fonterra processors were offering 10c more per litre. Farmers who are peeved with Fonterra (for selling out on them) are switching to non Fonterra processors -reciprocating a lack of allegiance. If so, it’s a short term gain for the farmers, could lead to a demise of Fonterra. Long term, it’s not good for Fonterra, in my humble understanding of it.
The simple fact of the matter is that the government should never engage offshore firms to do work as it is the government doing stuff that ultimately builds and develops our economy.
And FFS, in this case it’s obvious that we have the capability as both Xero and MYOB show. And there’s no way that the could have been cheaper than NZ.
Short sighted idiots the lot of them.
hi draco,
like kiwi rail awarding contracts to chinese companies (coz they were 25% cheaper than a kiwi bid), these decisions are too short sighted and limited in the thinking.
award the contracts locally and you may pay more but there are lots of tangible and intangible benefits. granted they will not all appear on your balance sheet, however, (especially) the government, are not constrained by greedy shareholders barking for a return on their investment.
a wonderful oppurtunity to model good community behaviour.
I read once that a dollar only needs to be spent 3 times and it all ends up as tax so awarding contracts to nz companies is almost doing it for free,
yeah… kind of a no-brainer i would have thought. also not sure if they ended up being 25% cheaper considering the product was substandrd. on the other hand hillside workshops was closed down and sold off, soooo….
Speaking of “The left” undermining The Left…
Over on The Daily Blog, Chris Trotter implies Labour could do with a shake up. Why? Oh because they are too rich, not Tongan enough etc etc. He even takes some time to bash beneficiaries, with his appropriation of “a Tongan cleaners’ views”, and purposeful omission of how and why people become unemployed. That’s great Chris, don’t own your bene-bashing, project it onto “a Tongan”. There’s a name for that, you know. For a long time now I have suspected Chris Trotter isn’t left-wing anything, but he sure got a lot of air-time on that ticket.
Yes Chris, what Labour needs now is a self-inflicted continuation of the problems that acerbated* some poor polls. That’s sarcasm, Chris. No Chris, it doesn’t much matter at this time whether they are rich or not, because they appear to know which way is up, right now, (you see, even fringe lefties can see past “class war” long enough be pragmatic for the good of the wider movement) and if any “shake ups” in senior MP line-ups happen it should happen on the back of electoral success, and to support the direction they say they are taking as outlined in the electoral review that was recently “released”.
*Yes, that’s right, in hindsight, compared to what NZders have voluntarily supported and have been complicit in since, it is no longer certain that anything Labour did in running their campaign, in changing leaders multiple times, or even in the “Sickness Beneficiary Painting the Roof” moment of stupid, was in any way the reason for poor polling.
This is white, male, middle class Chris Trotter, yes?
Waitakere Man is never unemployed. If he loses his job he gets another one. Never gets sick either.
trotter doesnt go there much then 😉
Wasn’t it Trotter who came up with the “Waitakere Man” dogwhistle in the first place? When did he convert to favouring ‘identity politics’?
Key rejected the idea of a one-off payment for heating, instead backing current provisions despite current provisions attributing the death of Emma-Lita Bourne.
Under current provisions the family couldn’t afford to heat their home, but apparently it was insulated.
And while the cost of implementing minimum standards for rentals will be less than the cost of a comprehensive rental warrant, there will still be a fiscal burden that (unless it’s made tax deductible) landlords will seek to pass on.
cost, cost, cost. Those poor employers having their profits or investment income eroded for the safety of human beings.
Costs are often passed on, thus would negatively impact tenants. Leaving them with less to heat their newly insulated homes. Therefore, is a problem that will require to be overcome.
Moreover, the loss of disposable income to higher rents will hurt the wider economy, negatively impacting on consumer demand, business return, thus jobs.
Heating costs (which also attributed to the damp home, thus death) are largely being overlooked with Key failing to support changes to current provisions.
Everything you say there tells us that what we really need to do is to get rid of private landlords and shift all rental to government ownership and set as a percentage of household income.
It still overlooks a fundamental part of the problem, namely the high cost of heating.
The high cost of heating can only be brought down by the installation of insulation in existing houses and improving the housing code so that new houses meet or exceed the Passive House standard. There is no short term solution.
Might be better to nationalise power rather than rentals. There are advantages to private rentals, a better solution there is to regulate more specifically.
Name 1.
BTW, I think nationalising power and telecommunications is a must.
As a farm worker I’m required to live on the job so we rent our house out so that if something goes wrong we’ve got a home to go to, and its the safest place I can think of to have most of our money.
DTB-No No! we used to have nationalised power and telecommunications in my parents’ day and it didn’t w ..oh wait…..yes it did.
With electricity costs exceeding the rate of inflation, a number still find the cost of heating an insulated home excessive.
Subsidies for low income earners is a short-term solution that could be considered.
Yes, but that doesn’t remove the high costs of heating the house. They’re still there ergo it’s not a solution at all.
As I say, once you start thinking in terms of physical resources the economy looks a lot different than it does when you think in terms of money. When thinking in terms of money then what we need is nationalisation of power, have it run as a government service with every household getting a free amount which is enough to run a house for a year.
Do that and watch as the bludgers whinge about not making a profit.
It’s a stop gap measure to be considered which would protect the most vulnerable in the meantime.
Renationalization coupled with providing it as a government service is fast becoming a pipe dream.
Only if we, as a people, allow it to become a pipe dream. We need to change the narrative and tell people how much better it will be compared to privatisation. There’s still enough of us around that remember that it was better. Not perfect but certainly better than the BS that we have now.
so we collectively pay for the services these tenants need while the landlord gets to keep making capital gain and or yield. sounds fair given the landlord class seem to hate bludgers off the taxpayers
makes you wonder why electricity and water changed to being run on a bottom line profit motive then
Imagine if you had a system where tenants could dob in landlords for not providing minimum housing standards. Weekly fines could be put on the landlord until the requirements were met and the landlord would be forced to stop rent increases for the next 5 years. You would get a big improvement of housing stock quite quickly!
There would be no landlords to dob in under your suggested fantasies and the net result more homeless people.
Bollocks there would be more homeless, there would suddenly be a glut of houses for sale, & market forces would mean they would go for less, & anyway not all landlords are scum sucking parasites, some are quite happy to have their tenants live in safe houses.
No no gangnam the poor are meant to be greatful they are allowed to live in houses owned by the likes of Indiana.
Creating a glut of poor quality homes for sale merely shifts the problem onto first home buyers, who in the short-term are seldom fiscally better off than tenants.
If you’ve got enough money to buy a crappy overvalued New Zealand house, then you’ve got enough money to factor in doing some basic repairs on the house and bringing it up to a liveable standard.
With house values several times higher than incomes, buying a house tends to stretch revenue streams, leaving little disposable income.
do you consider substandard homes and high electricity prices are a problem?
Indeed.
An insulated home alone isn’t a warm home without heating.
Weekly fines would be sufficient, you don’t need to put a 5 year ‘no-rent increase’ clause, which is stupid.
The “no rent increase” for a set time is to try and stop the transfer of the landlord costs onto the tenants. There’s probably other ways you could do it, but that was my intention.
Landlords increase rents for many reasons, not just to do (overdue) maintenance on their house.
I appreciate what you’re trying to achieve there, but a blanket rule banning rent rises isn’t fair.
The “no rent increase” for a set time is to try and stop the transfer of the landlord costs onto the tenants.
I’m interested in this concept that landlords’ costs for maintaining and upgrading rental properties shouldn’t be passed on to tenants. Are you envisaging renting flats to people as a kind of charitable or philanthropic exercise, or is it more that you see being a landlord as such an enjoyable hobby that those participating surely won’t mind paying for the enjoyment they derive from it?
It’s more about the line between making a Lin
living and greed. There’s also the issue of housing costs in NZ being far too high relative to income. If that ratio was lower, rent rises would be less of an issue.
If you’re remodelling the house’s kitchen to attract different clientele then raising the rent makes sense. But if you’re fixing draughty rooms, leaks coming into the house, putting insulation in where there was none before, repainting some rooms and the exterior and passing those costs onto the renters then you’re not a good landlord in my book.
Why? If you’re renting, your rent covers the cost of the property – since when did maintenance cease being a cost of ownership? And if your landlord upgrades the property, eg by putting insulation in the walls or under the floor, or installing a heating system, it’s not because they’re philanthropists who love giving money away, it’s because they can recover the cost of the upgrade via rent. Nobody gets into the landlord business because they love losing money.
It’s lucky I’ve never had a landlord who thinks like that because I would think they’re an arsehole. As soon as the dishwasher breaks.. up goes the rent. It’s the duty of care of the landlord to look after your tenants and provide what they need in the house. I would like to think that the motivation behind installing a heatpump in a house is because you knew that the house got cold and would be cheaper for your tenants to run, not that you would only do it if your tenants agreed that their rent would go up.
The motivation behind installing a heat pump is to see that the tenants have a relatively cheap means of heating the place, sure. But if you don’t recover the costs of doing things like that via the rent, you’re a philanthropist, not a landlord.
So as you believe there’s a strong causation effect to actual costs and rents charged no doubt you’ll believe that landlords reduce rents when their costs decrease eg interest rate drops, paying the mortgage off.
I know several landlords who have no mortgage on their rental properties yet they still increase their rents when the “market” moves.
The profiteering in Christchurch has showed some of our landlords at their very bastard worst. Rents there increased well beyond any actual increase in costs.
Tenants have been lining landlords pockets for years and now they are crying because they might have to meet some habitable standards.
What about all the excess rent they’ve got over the years.
What about all the personal tax they didn’t pay cause they could offset their losses against it. I couldn’t do that with my house but I’ve spent a darn sight more than most landlords to maintain and insulate my home to keep my family warm and healthy.
What about all the tax free capital gains many have made.
Bastards lots of them.
They’ve been subsidised by both tenants and the tax system for years.
You know some bad landlords? Funnily enough, lots of landlords know some bad tenants. If only our Lord would return and bring the day of judgement upon us, then all this wickedness would cease.
So we should only subsidise good landlords then.
You know like there’s good beneficiaries eg superanuitants and bad beneficiaries eg sole parents.
But what’s a good landlord – one that has maintained his property well, ensured it is repaired and suitable for habitation. One that would meet the warrant of fitness maybe.
And therein lies the difficulty – you’re arguing for a subsidy for those landlords that have reaped the profit and the tax advantages. but not invested back into the property.
Saw the same thing with commercial buildings. Conscientious landlords not touching buildings that clearly needing strengthening or paying for the strengthening work out of their rentals only to find those that didn’t bother or bought cheaply then asking for a handout to do so.
What has happened to the mantra of self-responsibility or caveat emptor in this situation?
+100.
And the number of landlords who own houses for capital gains rather than to generate income, would be a big percentage now compared to a decade ago.
The tenant who dobbed in the landlord would be given notice immediately for having the temerity to complain.
There’s a disincentive to do so right there.
It’s all the same in New Zealand: renters are powerless and second class citizens.
Andrew Little on form today on Morning Report
Labour has waded into the broadcasting debate saying it wants a a new public-service television broadcaster if it becomes government
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201757643/labour-wants-public-service-television-broadcaster
( keep it up Labour Party ….we need one of these Labour Party policies every day on Morning Report and/or an attack on this jonkey nact government policies)
perhaps sell TVNZ and use it to bankroll Radio NZ’s TV plan as a start.
We can only hope that Julie Christie does not think to duplicate this idea in NZ.
Russell Brand reviews the US reality show: The Briefcase, and just when you think it doesn’t get any worse than The Bachelor, you really have to ask yourself: WTF?
she’s busy being paid to sell us a flag we didn’t know we wanted
Mihingarangi Forbes was on Native Affairs last night for the last time I think. She traversed the mis-spending of funds
but of special interest was an interview with a tired fearful looking John Key.
He didn’t relax until the last few moments.
Every time he diverted she quietly politely bought him back on task. Re the first-refusal of land for housing. A first rate interview and no wonder pressure has been brought to bear to eliminate Mihi. Not online yet but repeats on Wed at 10:30pm.
A masterful interviewer!
look forward to seeing it…hopefully it will be linked here
imo jonkey nactional is trying to kill off any media that asks the hard real questions of him and his government…he is very fearful of this!…he much more comfortable with infotainment
….this is why jonkey’s friend Slater is now turning his attention on attacking blog sites like this ….where the hard questions are asked and the real news is discussed
jonkey nactional is trying to bring in thought control …in other words fascism by stealth
http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/native-affairs/S09E014/native-affairs
Interview with the PM starts 12.30 – 27.20 approx
He seemed not to be able to grasp the difference between a collective set up to deal with 3 specific issues and the iwi most involved, Ngati Whatua and Tainui but Mihingarangi politely and firmly brought him back several times.
+100 …thanks
test
[lprent: Why? All first (ie pseudonym + email combinations) comments have to be approved by a moderator. Silly comments like this either get spammed or passed with probation. We view them identifying you as a person of suspicion. And if you are doing it on a post then make sure that the comment relates to either the post of the content of the whoever you are replying to. Otherwise use Open Mike. Read the policy. ]
apologies lprent, I obviously wasn’t paying attention as to what post i was on – see 8.1
test
[Letting this through. You might have changed a login detail – MS]
I was battling some very pernicious malware. I had done a re-install of OS to try to remedy the situation and the above was me entering the wrong email.
New OS Didn’t solve it though 🙁 Which is odd as I am on Ubuntu and never really have to bother with viruses etc. So anyway, after lots and lots of reading what other similarly frustrated people had written, a solution was found. A new router.
If anyone else has met “Ads by Lu” you may want to save yourself the headache and replace your router before attacking your OS
– there are some &*%$* advertisers out there
As well as throwing popups everywhere, (adblockers don’t have any affect btw) it really loves to insert itself into news articles by replacing words in the article with hyperlink advertisements. Just nasty and basically a big frikkin headache, but all better now after finding a replacement router 🙂
change the default admin password on the new router 😉
+ found a handy resource which has a huge list of router username/passwords –
http://portforward.com/default_username_password/
In the late 1990s and early 2000s I was heavily involved in a NZ-based marxist magazine called ‘revolution’. We had readers all over the world and quite a range of people wrote for the mag at various times, including the moderator of this list and (then) up-and-coming sci-fi writer Ken MacLeod. Ken is now well-established as a sci-fi novelist.
I have put up on Redline blog a couple of pieces Ken wrote for the mag. There’s a very short piece on cultural dumbing down based on comments he made as part of a panel at the 1998 Edinburgh Book Festival. It’s here: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/ken-macleod-on-the-cultural-dumbing-down/
The more substantial piece is on Science fiction after ‘the end of history’, which he wrote for the mag the same year. It’s here: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/from-the-vaults-science-fiction-after-the-end-of-history-1998/
It was quite strange re-reading these and doing them up for Redline, 17 years later. They still ring very very true.
Phil
today i was reading parts of interview with waterside workers from 1951. some of the stuff including references to company profits while crying poor put me in mi d of POA dispute… 60+ years later
well this is… surprising?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/275770/despite-budget-forecast,-books-in-surplus
An excellent article about two great ideas for the Labour party: How to select their candidates and about their take home pay.
I agree with its implication so much, I will link it here for your views and debate regarding the pros and cons of the idea.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/06/09/the-real-deal-how-labour-could-once-again-become-a-workers-party/
By the way, Trotter’s stupid comment about ‘‘beneficiary tucked up warmly in bed’ was a crap of a shallow comment.
However, I liked the two ideas, attributed to Danyl McLauchlan, mentioned in his article. [ How to select Labour candidates and about their take home pay].
Any comments on these two ideas and the possible immediate and long term implications for the Labour party?
No to mention the dismissive ‘Tongan cleaner’ line. Trotter’s a bourgeois prat.
I thought that Chris raised questions that need to be raised. If we think that MP’s are there to robustly represent constituencies, then we should be shocked at some of the findings of the Labour Party review – most particularly the undermining effect of disunity within the caucus. Can you imagine National losing an election partly due to open caucus disunity? It is hard to imagine because National’s constituency has the power to scare its MP’s into line. We have come to think and behave as if we cannot expect much better – to wearily hope that things will improve now that we have Andrew at the helm.
Labour voters are not powerful enough to scare Labour politicians into line. In fact the people who can scare Labour politicians are exactly the same ones who can scare National politicians – the powerful (who can withhold or give donations) and their media mates, (who are able to build or destroy reputations). However, many of these people benefit from the very injustices that Labour exists to challenge. Even if Chris’s suggested solution does not prove to be workable, he is spot-on in identifying the problem, and the two qualities that he is indirectly pointing to, conviction and real solidarity, are much needed parts of its solution.
Well said. If the two ideas are implemented, it will serve many purposes, such as…
The members will be the ultimate judges of the type of candidates they want the Labour party to be represented by. There is a greater chance that good people of quality will get selected as our MPs. If the MPs are not good enough, it is easy for members to replace them or rank then lower at the next candidate list selection. It is more likely that we will get more patriotic, more intelligent, more idealistic and more caring MPs representing the party.
It also means that the MPs are there for the right reasons of working selflessly without excessive greed, for the people and the betterment of the country rather than for personal benefits to themselves.
Keen to hear your varied views.
said white male middle class trotter in his all knowing what the “others” need
I fail to see how the damaging effects of disunity in caucus would be shocking – they’ve been evident for years. And has the discunity in the party membership, and the friction between factions in membership and factions in caucus, and vice versa…
But while it’s been bad over the past few years, it’s improving. I see it as repercussions from the departure of a particularly strong and disciplined leader and some of her caucus stalwarts, like water rushing into a vacuum. And then the membership and affiliates took some control of the caucus leadership from caucus itself, and that caused waves as well (but made the seabed more stable).
Quite frankly, “shock” leads to searches for explanation, which leads to witch hunts, which leads to more division and disunity.
Labour in general seem to have a pretty good response to the review: it is what it is, and we’ll learn the lessons.
Testing after change of email.
If government wants to do this in the health system how about doing the same in the social welfare benefit system where benefit numbers are dropping without any information about what’s really happening to the people behind each statistic?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/69222706/government-to-track-numbers-of-surgical-patients-being-turned-away-from-hospitals
There’s a ton of anecdotal evidence about what’s really happening which is that people are being turned away at the counter without proper assessment, MSD are making decisions that ignore medical evidence, the whole process is made deliberately onerous to create a “can’t be bothered appyling” attitude amongst the poor and so on and so on.
How about some proper information, Anne Tolley?
Woohoo, a new replacement for Campbell Live has been announced.
After being forced to get our daily dose of empathy and human kindness from Roadcops, from next week we now will be able to witness genuine suffering and human interest with…… Come Dine With Me.
I can’t wait. Err, no, yes I can !!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11462265
Of course, its produced by Eyeworks Touchdown. Started by Julie Christie, now owned by Warner Brothers.
her name sprung instantly to mind… the queen of imitation. makes you wonder whose flag she wants us to copy.
I’m surprised the flag roadshow wasn’t turned into a reality programme.
Each week the viewers could have voted off a contender and at the end the winning designer would get to have their flag used for the next 100yrs, free movie passes (only Warner Bros films) and a signed poster of John Key. (Txts cost 99cents per minute).
I should be quiet, they might still do that.
I quite like ‘Come Dine with Me’ – watching the dynamics of personalities and interactions on it can be fascinating in a sort of appalling way.
But if this is the replacement for Campbell Live, it’s a massive dumbing down and the viewing audience will be down as well.
CDWM is an amusing little diversion, but people who have just watched ‘news’ that consists of soundbites about serious stories and fluff about ‘celebs’ want something a bit meatier afterwards, like a chunk of the stories that appeared on ‘Campbell Live’, not more vacuous ‘entertainment’. And five nights a week?!!!
Mind you, some of the opinions expressed around the dinner table on CDWM are probably better-informed than anything out of the mouth of that little airhead with the spikey hair over on TV1 at 7pm.
You mean Mr Sucksessful. Ol Mini Mike.
Good grief, could TV3 dumb down any more? Obviously yes they can, and will. I once spent 5 minutes watching the British CDWM which was excruciatingly ghastly. Campbell Live is sorely missed.
lol
So having lost a ballpark competitor to seven sharp, they’re trying to compete with Shortland St.
Good luck with that. Meanwhile, seven sharp seems to have picked up quite a few viewers from somewhere…
American singer and actor Ronnie Gilbert, of the legendary folk group The Weavers (blacklisted during the McCarthyite 1950s) died on Saturday. The inspiration for a string of female folk singers from Mary Travers to Holly Near, Ms Gilbert was in her 89th year.
She certainly had a long and fruitful life, even remarrying in 2004, second time round to her manager and longtime partner Donna Korones, during a short period where the mayor of San Francisco had instructed the city clerk to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples.
There’s an appreciation of Ronnie Gilbert by veteran Wellington folk musician (and political activist) Don Franks here: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/ronnie-gilbert-singer-with-social-conscience-1926-2015/
In the feeds, to the right of the page is the news of the death of Peter Conway.
Sincere condolences to the family and to all that were close to him. Strength and love to all.
A sad day.
Bugger. That’s so very sad. Pete was a great guy, always so kind and generous and very forgiving of economic illiterates like myself. He had a real strength to him, but didn’t need to shout to make that apparent. I really can’t believe it. Crying now. Shit.
and no knighthood…
Of course not. First and foremost you have to make money (lots of it) at what you’re doing and all he did was sit around and think about the workers. In other words a bleeding heart. (profound sarcasm)
Sorry for your tears trp, let them flow though.
I’m on the periphery of workers rights these days and never knew Peter Conway personally but was very aware of his presence and effect within the movement.
It really is a great shock.
That is a very sad news, Rosie. I admired him from a distance and corresponded with him once.
It is people like him that needed to get the New Zealand awards.
Incidentally, Helen Kelly is another leader that highly deserves a high award.
My heartfelt condolences to his family and to all the people who knew him in the Union movement.
RIP, Peter.
snap
I don’t know if this has been covered or not, but Peter Dunne has, after dragging his feet as long as he could during petition signing and protests, made a call on which way the wind is blowing and allowed the family of a young man in a coma to import and try a medical cannabis product. (The product is coming from the US, the original home of Nixon’s quaint old ‘war on drugs’ vote winner).
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/69243877/medicinal-cannabis-application-approved-for-teenager-in-coma
The comments below are pretty unanimous. Isn’t it time we joined the 21st century on this issue?
The Native Affairs link is up:
http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/native-affairs/S09E014/native-affairs
Interview with Key after 15minutes. Key looks tired and very wary of Mihi.
Mihi is the quietest and most effective interviewer.
A must watch – I think.
tried to watch but can take only a minute of Key’s obfuscation.
Thanks, ianmac. Quite right re: Mihi and she wouldn’t let Johnboy off the hook either, no matter how much he slithered. I suspect he has the emotional quotient of a 15 year old.
+100
Good Morning Mr Prentice, Your site and its contents have been brought to my attention yesterday. Your posts concerning me are malicious and deliberately false. I was not present in the High Court in the Blomfield matter and certainly did not take pictures of you. I have absolutely no interest in your narcissistic delusions of your own self importance. I have written to the High Court requesting details of any security footage of that day, if it exists. I suggest you do the same. I was not there so do not know the date. It might assist if you contact the registry and request details and supply the dates. Your mendacious malevolent threats of ongoing abuse have been taken seriously. Please desist from your conduct and the promotion of the nonsense on the web site Lauda finem scam. I have emailed you and cc Mr Matt Amon of the High Court Registry. I will be filing a copy of your posts and my response with the District Court this morning. Continued conduct will result in legal action Lyn ( apologies if that is not how you spell your name ).
[lprent: Bullshit. Go ahead, make my day. I do so love the concept of discovery and the court ordered allocation of costs.
BTW: for others reading this, the Nottingham brothers are highly likely to be the blowhards who run Lauda Finem and who delight in attacking anyone that Cameron Slater dislikes.
Prior to my appearance on The Nation, I’d deliberately avoided leaving images of myself as an adult on any part of nets, and have done so for more than 3 decades.
These clowns took the photos of me in the high court on the net and then published them on Lauda Finem. Needless to say, I was and are still rather annoyed about that.
Since I appeared on The Nation, there is no longer a reason to maintain a neither confirm nor deny policy on those photos, nor to refrain from naming the arseholes who did it. ]