I’d suggest to the Greens (and others) that they’ll get more support if, rather than playing rich against poor,, they argued on the merits of a Capital Gains Tax rationally rather than pandering to envy emotion.
SS, go chomp on some nuts. Your moaning is no more effectual than a spoilt child who knew only of Automatic Dishwashers being told they must now use soap and water in the kitchen sink.
Languaging in Right Wing terms of envy and greed now?
Maybe you don’t think that the massive wealth and income inequity this country suffers from should be a factor in the discussions around a CGT but you would be wrong.
Why ? If you take the article at face value it suggests he votes for policies not because he belongs to a tribe who votes for the same team regardless of how crap they are.
Well, friends of mine reckoned that the moment they realised the 4th labour government was irretrievably sold to the dark side was when the ODT started editorialising in favour of it…
I am sure Collins and Bennett will love reading this,
” It’s a handy way of reaching out to women who would be otherwise put off by the bolshier characters in the party such as Judith Collins and Paula Bennett.”
Does Andrea Vance know that the Pm’s wife is not actually a Member of Parliament? On that note,
is Bronagh actually a member of the Party at all?
The article in Woman’s Day was sickly sweet – the Bronagh (rhymes with Mona in case you didn’t know – are Woman’s Day readers that tick?) and John show had nearly as many pictures of the smiling assasin, cooking, ironing and being a new age man – as if!
Seriously, the charm offensive needs nailing, we cannot have another three years of this won by virtue of Woman’s Day et. al.
Ratigan, a finance talking head, Eliot Spitzer the former Wall street sheriff who like Dominic Strauss Kahn was caught with his pants down and thrown out of his job just before he planned to march down Wall street with his posse to start cleaning the town up and comedian Sherrod Small play a game of credit rating theatre.
This is how John Key made his money.
Watch this little video and spread it around and while your at it here is Max Keiser about the Greek collapse and Professor Michael Hudson tells you why John Key with his huge financial interest in BoA has a vested interest in keeping the corrupt banking system going and that means the looting of every Nation in the world and that includes New Zealand
It’s pretty obvious the US is going to have to default or hyper-inflate their currency to get out of the mess they’re in. The only question is when that’s going to happen.
Such are the screaming headlines from a huge paid advertisement by the ACT Party in the New Zealand Herald today.
Typically such advertisements cost thousands of dollars.
Well well, for a party that claims to have the economic answers for the country, it is very telling that ACT choose to run their electoral campaign on an emotive race issue.
The real message of this advertising campaign is that we at ACT have no answers but we will give you a scape goat instead.
We cynically hope to divert all your disillusionment with the economy onto Maori, while the banksters and financiers who wrecked the economy and who gave us the money for this sick racist electoral campaign, are left alone, to continue quietly plundering the economy and the country.
Both Goff and Key fronted up to a question session with Family First. According to the Herald in “Goff, Key reveal core beliefs” on the moral issues that concerned Mr McCoskrie, they were “surprisingly akin”.
On euthanasia Mr Key said:
… he voted for the first reading of a private member’s bill to legalise it in 2003 and would vote for a bill to go to a select committee if it came up again.
Mr Goff said:
that when his mother was terminally ill three years ago, stopped eating and wanted to die, the family refused to let her.
“She lived for three months, but those three months were entirely without quality and all of us now wonder whether we did the right thing,” he said.
“It’s a hard question. I think we should keep discussing it. I would want to have the choice.”
Being closely involved with an extended death can be harrowing for the person who dies and their family. There has to be a better way, in limited situations, where comfort and dignity are given much more priority than archaic law.
I particularly liked the comments, especially No 3, but the info in No 2 disappointed me for two reasons;
One – if the Chinese agreement includes them being treated to ‘national’ equality are all profits kept in New Zealand and used in New Zealand for New Zealanders? Is the money being spent on rail coaches (being built in China, at the expense of our economy and our workers’ employment) staying in New Zealand and the Chinese spending that money in New Zealand for New Zealanders? Obviously not, but that is what ‘national equality’ should be about.
Surely when a country’s workers are unemployed that must take precedence over impersonal and greedy business transactions. The Dunedin debacle where workers lost their jobs and this New Zealand government led by America’s men Key and his PR man Joyce rejected its own people’s welfare was a reprehensible decision made purely for profit over people.
Tenders never have to be about the cheapest price, so Key/Joyce had an opt out choice.
Two – If the Chinese do not allow ownership in their land/assets then that is not ‘national’ equality of treatment if we are selling ours to them and this government, via Bill -in denial- English’s visit to China with the knowledge that the Chinese government have $6 billion put aside to buy our assets, is preparing to sell us off. They’ve already spent over $6 million on preparation work for something there is no mandate for, not to mention cooking their budget books with the $6 billion from asset sales. Key’s behaviour in signing off on English’s un-mandated budget is outrageous.
This NActMU government is allowing China to take us over; they have the money, we will have less because we will have less dividends coming in because they will soon own all our productive assets if NActMU gets in on 26 November. There is no way we can compete with global low wages, and nor should we; hopefully we have more respect for our workers.
So with low wages which would rightfully never be lower than China’s, no productive assets, no dividends, a widening gulf between rich and poor for income and health (both emotional and physical) New Zealand will become the fifth rate country this fifth rate government wants it to be, ripe for takeover and plundering by the American-driven Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement and any New Zealander who thinks that is a good result is scum.
In the 2008 election the scum content of New Zealand was higher than the egalitarian reasoning of the thinking Kiwi. Pre-election 2008 there was more than enough evidence that National was lying in its intentions; dead fish – swallow… I do hope that situation reverses on 26 November and I can be a proud New Zealander once again.
Scum = greedy and selfish aggrandisement at the expense of all our children’s futures, for the benefit of the few. Not to mention stupidity in the majority of these NActMU voters imagining the ‘few’ will invite them in to enjoy the plunder.
Probably a little bit off the point, but there will be a time when the Chinese will put away their chequebooks and use bombs and machine guns instead.
The NACToids and their pro-Chinese quislings supporters, such as Hooten and Shipley may become part of a Vichy government here, but us plebs wont be so lucky..
Probably a little bit off the point, but there will be a time when the Chinese will put away their chequebooks and use bombs and machine guns instead.
Not quite.
The Chinese don’t like to use bombs and guns directly on a foreign populace. What they sometimes do is install (or help keep in power) a rump government and supply them with the money and weapons needed to tame their own people.
When Eddie of The Standard described the Maori Party leadership as ‘kupapa’, was he insulting Sharples and Turia, or nineteenth century rangatira like Waka Nene? Is it historically appropriate and politically useful to use the word ‘kupapa’ in a derogatory way?
New Zealand war heroes in their 90s ended up paying to attend commemorations in Europe while the taxpayer funded the Defence Minister’s luxury travel, personal assistant and top hotels.
The treatment of the veterans on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Crete shocked observers, who had expected to see them treated as the centrepiece of the New Zealand contingent.
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp spent more than $26,000 on flights and top hotels for himself and a secretary, in luxurious suites overlooking the Bay of Chania.
But New Zealand’s war heroes were forced to pay out of their own pockets, arrange their own itineraries and stay in modest accommodation, with just $2000 Government support – less than a return airfare.
Australian veterans were flown over by their Government and cared for by provided doctors. They stayed at the same upmarket lodgings as Australia’s defence and government officials.
Crete veteran Malcolm Coughlan said he had travelled on his own savings, and the Government grant only covered about 15 per cent of his expenses.
…
The Australian party had arranged everything for its veterans and their families to attend, and at ceremonies Australian officials stood behind the old troops, he said.
“All the focus was clearly on the veterans. Meanwhile, it seemed like the New Zealand top brass and minister were sitting safely in their seats and the New Zealand veterans had to make do.”
…
He said the attitude of Australian officials towards their veterans was “whatever they want, our pleasure to provide”.
“With New Zealanders there was just no recognition – no deference paid them for what they went through.”
…
Country Calendar tonight, so inspirational – 60yo Maori woman single handedly running a northland farm. Has more understanding of the issues with our agriculturual industry than the entire fed farmers/National govt rolled together..
She just made an interesting comment on modern grasses – it won’t re-seed itself, so if it dies off in a drought you have to sow more seed (ie buy more) or weeds will be all that comes back.
Today, the Act Party ran a racist and divisive advertisement in the New Zealand Herald. The advertisement is headed Fed up with pandering to Maori radicals? Act’s assumptions are completely ludicrous to anybody with half a brain…
Ian we lost you when you held up The Standard as the be ll and end all of sane and rational logic when it comes to running internet commenting policy.
and
When The Standard authors make themselves public will be about the same time that we will. So far there are only two of the prepared to own their hate filled posts under their own names, and those two generally are more mild since they started using their own names.
I didn’t realise I was associating (albeit electronically) with such nasty people!
They are rather lost in the past. In no particular order..
lprent = Lynn Prentice
Mike Smith
Ben Clark
Anthony Robins = r0b
rocky = Rochelle Rees
I guess that they are too stupid to make the jump from a pseudonym to a real name. But personally I couldn’t care less if it is a pseudonym or a real name, and neither does the law. It is really only if you want to pursue extra-legal attacks that it becomes an issue.
I don’t think you can escape the reality that real names have more credibility.
If you post under a real name you remove most speculation about associations and motives. I acknowledge there can be good reasons for using a pseudonym, especially for commenters.
But I think your chances of being taken seriously as a blog poster are enhanced considerably by being open and transparent about your identity. Especially in politics.
You have weird ideas on why people blog. At least you do from the view of someone who has participated in online discussion for most of my life through BBS’es to usenet and now to blogs.
I don’t care one way or the other for other people’s opinion of how I or others write. Most people around blogging are not writing for effect – they are writing to express themselves on topics that they feel are important about why they feel they are important. This can be anything from politics to cars. Readers can take from it what they will and comment on it how they know or feel. The interactions and conflicts of commentary are just fun. But isn’t hard to find blogs with excellent posts and no comments or readers where people are writing for them for the sheer joy of expression.
Sure it has a wider influence, as do the comments. But personalities and knowlege express regardless of if it is on arbitrary label or another. Someone’s name is just an arbitrary label, and has very little to do with who they are.
So as I said, wanting to know who someone is in real life is pretty much a sign of someone who doesn’t understand the world of blogging / usenet / bbs. People who insist on it in my opinion usually have online symptoms of being a bully, or a gossip, or a narcissist.
Of course there is an exception to that generalization. Journalists have this creed of real names – largely as far as I can see for litigation reasons. So people with aspirations towards being a journalist or something similar tend to assume that bloggers should be the same. But that is simply a pile of hogwash.
I think the strengths of journalism and blogging are best combined, it’s become a mega media mix. Both have to keep adapting to a rapidly changing medium.
It’s possible your long history of blogging clouds your view of how the wider world may see it. Most people probably don’t care about identities if they are prattling and entertaining themselves.
But when it comes to politics most people want openness and honesty, things badly and sadly lacking in politics.
Some parties may prefer to keep things undercover, that won’t improve public perceptions of deviousness and deceit.
Well this site isn’t run by a party. Most political parties have problems finding their arse with any hands when it comes to online presences. Quite simply the only reason that kiwiblog and the standard got so dominant in the political debate online is because the parties were so late and incompetent. Frogblog is pretty good, but for a party that is off the mainstream. Red Alert is a bit constrained. The Nats and Act are just pathetic.
That is much the same as internationally.
But I suspect that you simply don’t understand the social dynamics of online. But just look around at what works. The social experiment has been in full swing for decades and what you think theoretically is a lot less interesting than just observing happens in practice.
The journos have their own blogs. Look at something like pundit or the comments off nzherald. They have this one basic trait – they tend towards the boring, and people don’t argue with each other enough to shake anything loose. The social dynamic doesn’t work.
The blogs that have very high participation rates all allow pseudonyms in the comments – which is where most of the writing goes. Some blogs have authors who use pseudonyms, some do not, and some have pseudonyms where the identities are also known. It does not appear to make any difference apart from people like yourself who try to use it as a hammer.
Perhaps you should look at online as is rather than blathering on about how you’d like it to be – ie being a critic. if you want to try something different then just do it and see how well it works – that is the way that the net tests theories.
I’m not disputing the need to allow anonymous posts, that’s essential. I’m talking about the blog posters. What are the three most viewed political blogs? Kiwiblog, The Standard and The Dim-Post?
How many of those operate under the blogger’s name? The “theories” have already been tested.
Each blog can obviously do things however it likes. I only expressed my opinion that I think posts with an identifiable author usually have more credibility. I don’t think that’s blathering on.
Read open parachute listings you are a little short, and you missed public address
But out of the three ones you’ve mentioned. My rough count says… There are four authors using their own names – three of them here. Three using pseudonyms with known names (like myself) attached – two here. Remainder (all here as the other two sites are effectively single person blogs) are pseudonyms only
So what exactly are you waffling about? How you are unobservant?
Quite simply what you are blathering about is simply your opinion. A not very well informed opinion, one that doesn’t have anything to back it up, and one that clearly has never exercised their brain to think about what is going on at a social level.
It is an opinion you’re putting up against that of someone who has been studying and participating in the type of social media we’re discussing for decades, and who is helping to run a successful example.
The tens of thousands of readers and commentators on this site have been voting with their fingers. They’re using what they read and discuss here out in the communities where politics actually happens. The journo’s come here to read and pick up ideas – but they are merely doing their job. The site isn’t run for them, they are just parasitical on it.
The participants, authors, commentators, and readers come here to just have fun playing with ideas and words.
And meanwhile you’re busy touting some theoretical model of how such social media should operate. You’re as pathetic as that polsci lecturer from Canterbury that John Drinnan was quoting. Understanding why people participate in these sites is really the key to them. And the people who participate really don’t give a crap if a author or a commentator is a name or a pseudonym. It is a meaningless distinction if they cannot contribute, and they certainly cannot contribute if they trade on their name because the usual reason to do it is to shut down debate.
Those few who have an anal reaction of the sphincter clenching when they deal with pseudonyms can always find somewhere boring that doesn’t offend them. Basically they are almost by definition too boring to be around people who like to argue because they always want to appeal to some kind of ‘authority’ which really doesn’t exist. If they were any good then they’d just point to supporting material and convince others.
Had to come back to this – got called away. I was insufficiently sarcastic in the first draft.
“But when it comes to politics most people want openness and honesty, things badly and sadly lacking in politics.’
Most people have know idea what they really want SS, they’re just following the crowd and the latest fashions, until we start practicing what we preach, there will be no openness in politics, expecting our poly’s to do what we have no intention of doing ourselves is a bit rich, don’t you think.
The individual generally sees little advantage in openness and honesty, instead we copyright and patent still, until people come to understand, that our poly’s are just a projection of ourselves, following the crowd, while doing whatever is popular (fashion) to stay in power. Little will change until it is forced upon us.
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A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
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. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
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 ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
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The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry ...
I’d suggest to the Greens (and others) that they’ll get more support if, rather than playing rich against poor,, they argued on the merits of a Capital Gains Tax rationally rather than pandering to envy emotion.
SS, go chomp on some nuts. Your moaning is no more effectual than a spoilt child who knew only of Automatic Dishwashers being told they must now use soap and water in the kitchen sink.
This site has been debating the merits of the CGT for the past few days. Didn’t you notice?
LOLZWUT
Languaging in Right Wing terms of envy and greed now?
Maybe you don’t think that the massive wealth and income inequity this country suffers from should be a factor in the discussions around a CGT but you would be wrong.
Wow – John Roughan likes CGT and Labour.. Read and weep Mr Key. This is gettting very interesting
I feel exhilarated but worried that he is thinking of voting Labour …
Why ? If you take the article at face value it suggests he votes for policies not because he belongs to a tribe who votes for the same team regardless of how crap they are.
Well, friends of mine reckoned that the moment they realised the 4th labour government was irretrievably sold to the dark side was when the ODT started editorialising in favour of it…
Roughan’s last three paragraphs are spot on.
I see your John Roughan and raise you a Fran O’Sullivan:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10737284
You’re not raising much with Fran O’Sullivan (certainly not standards)
She was ok in her time and has lost her shine and been more of a yesterday’s commentator.
Not bothered to read her pieces these days.
THE TRADER (from Songs Of Expedience)
By William Blank
Trader! Trader! polling bright
In the bullpen of the right,
What opposing gal or guy
Could front thy frank expediency?
In what Hawaiian deeps or skies
Burst the framing of thine lies?
On what cycleway dare he perspire?
Will the left dare face the liar?
And what Textor, & false start
Could twist the media to thy heart?
And will thy Banksy get a seat,
What right hand? are ACT dead meat?
What the capital? tax the gain?
In what furnace was thy train?
What the angle? what fiscal grasp
Dare its policy errors clasp?
When the Maori threw down their spears,
And watered cows replaced the shears,
Did he smile their work to see?
Will he who defended Rog defeat thee?
Trader! Trader! polling bright
In the bullpen of the right,
What opposing gal or guy
Dare front thy frank expediency?
And over at http://www.billenglish.co.nz 61% of nearly 5,700 votes support the CGT. Epic social media fail!
I’d say that was social media win 😀
Kudos to the lefties for (finally) learning from and implementing ideas from the VRWC
Welcome to the dark side
(Seriously Bill what were you thinking putting an internet based poll up on your site…)
On line poll, must be accurate. In light of these results, lets just call the election off and put labour in.
Seems he might have learnt something. The poll currently asks:
“Do you support Govt steps to improve NZ’s infrastructure?”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5258992/PMs-wife-the-medias-new-darling
I am sure Collins and Bennett will love reading this,
” It’s a handy way of reaching out to women who would be otherwise put off by the bolshier characters in the party such as Judith Collins and Paula Bennett.”
Does Andrea Vance know that the Pm’s wife is not actually a Member of Parliament? On that note,
is Bronagh actually a member of the Party at all?
The article in Woman’s Day was sickly sweet – the Bronagh (rhymes with Mona in case you didn’t know – are Woman’s Day readers that tick?) and John show had nearly as many pictures of the smiling assasin, cooking, ironing and being a new age man – as if!
Seriously, the charm offensive needs nailing, we cannot have another three years of this won by virtue of Woman’s Day et. al.
Ratigan, a finance talking head, Eliot Spitzer the former Wall street sheriff who like Dominic Strauss Kahn was caught with his pants down and thrown out of his job just before he planned to march down Wall street with his posse to start cleaning the town up and comedian Sherrod Small play a game of credit rating theatre.
This is how John Key made his money.
Watch this little video and spread it around and while your at it here is Max Keiser about the Greek collapse and Professor Michael Hudson tells you why John Key with his huge financial interest in BoA has a vested interest in keeping the corrupt banking system going and that means the looting of every Nation in the world and that includes New Zealand
BMB
The country stands with Dunedin today at 1pm for their Kiwirail rally. Best wishes.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/168440/speakers-ready-support-hillside
Save Hillside jobs:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/168455/hillside-protest-sends-strong-message
Ok this is scary.
Jane Young writing in Pundit
Are the Tea Party deliberately trying to force the US to default so they can get power!!
http://pundit.co.nz/content/americas-ugly-ideological-hostage-takers
It’s pretty obvious the US is going to have to default or hyper-inflate their currency to get out of the mess they’re in. The only question is when that’s going to happen.
Civil war, they could manipulate that in various ways, Mexican immigrants, race riots, etc.
‘
Such are the screaming headlines from a huge paid advertisement by the ACT Party in the New Zealand Herald today.
Typically such advertisements cost thousands of dollars.
Well well, for a party that claims to have the economic answers for the country, it is very telling that ACT choose to run their electoral campaign on an emotive race issue.
The real message of this advertising campaign is that we at ACT have no answers but we will give you a scape goat instead.
We cynically hope to divert all your disillusionment with the economy onto Maori, while the banksters and financiers who wrecked the economy and who gave us the money for this sick racist electoral campaign, are left alone, to continue quietly plundering the economy and the country.
We have to say that ACT wins first prize for playing the politics of envy and hate.
“FED UP WITH PANDERING TO MAORI RADICALS” ?
Nope. Fed up with the pandering to ‘free market’ radicals.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/59632488/MaoriRadicals in case anyone wants to read their drivel
Damn! Should check the Jackals emails a bit more often. BBC asked me to talk on their World have your Say program about the recent dismissal of Alasdair Thompson. They had read the article I wrote about the asshole!
Cool…
Both Goff and Key fronted up to a question session with Family First. According to the Herald in “Goff, Key reveal core beliefs” on the moral issues that concerned Mr McCoskrie, they were “surprisingly akin”.
On euthanasia Mr Key said:
Mr Goff said:
There’s a topic on this on Kiwiblog, and I’ve written on my recent experience in detail.
Being closely involved with an extended death can be harrowing for the person who dies and their family. There has to be a better way, in limited situations, where comfort and dignity are given much more priority than archaic law.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5090982/Case-weak-for-selling-assets
I particularly liked the comments, especially No 3, but the info in No 2 disappointed me for two reasons;
One – if the Chinese agreement includes them being treated to ‘national’ equality are all profits kept in New Zealand and used in New Zealand for New Zealanders? Is the money being spent on rail coaches (being built in China, at the expense of our economy and our workers’ employment) staying in New Zealand and the Chinese spending that money in New Zealand for New Zealanders? Obviously not, but that is what ‘national equality’ should be about.
Surely when a country’s workers are unemployed that must take precedence over impersonal and greedy business transactions. The Dunedin debacle where workers lost their jobs and this New Zealand government led by America’s men Key and his PR man Joyce rejected its own people’s welfare was a reprehensible decision made purely for profit over people.
Tenders never have to be about the cheapest price, so Key/Joyce had an opt out choice.
Two – If the Chinese do not allow ownership in their land/assets then that is not ‘national’ equality of treatment if we are selling ours to them and this government, via Bill -in denial- English’s visit to China with the knowledge that the Chinese government have $6 billion put aside to buy our assets, is preparing to sell us off. They’ve already spent over $6 million on preparation work for something there is no mandate for, not to mention cooking their budget books with the $6 billion from asset sales. Key’s behaviour in signing off on English’s un-mandated budget is outrageous.
This NActMU government is allowing China to take us over; they have the money, we will have less because we will have less dividends coming in because they will soon own all our productive assets if NActMU gets in on 26 November. There is no way we can compete with global low wages, and nor should we; hopefully we have more respect for our workers.
So with low wages which would rightfully never be lower than China’s, no productive assets, no dividends, a widening gulf between rich and poor for income and health (both emotional and physical) New Zealand will become the fifth rate country this fifth rate government wants it to be, ripe for takeover and plundering by the American-driven Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement and any New Zealander who thinks that is a good result is scum.
In the 2008 election the scum content of New Zealand was higher than the egalitarian reasoning of the thinking Kiwi. Pre-election 2008 there was more than enough evidence that National was lying in its intentions; dead fish – swallow… I do hope that situation reverses on 26 November and I can be a proud New Zealander once again.
Scum = greedy and selfish aggrandisement at the expense of all our children’s futures, for the benefit of the few. Not to mention stupidity in the majority of these NActMU voters imagining the ‘few’ will invite them in to enjoy the plunder.
Jum,
Probably a little bit off the point, but there will be a time when the Chinese will put away their chequebooks and use bombs and machine guns instead.
The NACToids and their pro-Chinese
quislingssupporters, such as Hooten and Shipley may become part of a Vichy government here, but us plebs wont be so lucky..Not quite.
The Chinese don’t like to use bombs and guns directly on a foreign populace. What they sometimes do is install (or help keep in power) a rump government and supply them with the money and weapons needed to tame their own people.
When Eddie of The Standard described the Maori Party leadership as ‘kupapa’, was he insulting Sharples and Turia, or nineteenth century rangatira like Waka Nene? Is it historically appropriate and politically useful to use the word ‘kupapa’ in a derogatory way?
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2011/07/should-kupapa-be-swear-word.html
Veterans made do as minister basked in luxury
New Zealand war heroes in their 90s ended up paying to attend commemorations in Europe while the taxpayer funded the Defence Minister’s luxury travel, personal assistant and top hotels.
The treatment of the veterans on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Crete shocked observers, who had expected to see them treated as the centrepiece of the New Zealand contingent.
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp spent more than $26,000 on flights and top hotels for himself and a secretary, in luxurious suites overlooking the Bay of Chania.
But New Zealand’s war heroes were forced to pay out of their own pockets, arrange their own itineraries and stay in modest accommodation, with just $2000 Government support – less than a return airfare.
Australian veterans were flown over by their Government and cared for by provided doctors. They stayed at the same upmarket lodgings as Australia’s defence and government officials.
Crete veteran Malcolm Coughlan said he had travelled on his own savings, and the Government grant only covered about 15 per cent of his expenses.
…
The Australian party had arranged everything for its veterans and their families to attend, and at ceremonies Australian officials stood behind the old troops, he said.
“All the focus was clearly on the veterans. Meanwhile, it seemed like the New Zealand top brass and minister were sitting safely in their seats and the New Zealand veterans had to make do.”
…
He said the attitude of Australian officials towards their veterans was “whatever they want, our pleasure to provide”.
“With New Zealanders there was just no recognition – no deference paid them for what they went through.”
…
Source:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10737384
(Wow the Hearld does occasionally have good articles!)
Wow. Nothing to moderate for the entire day… No warnings. A few bad tempered comments, but nothing of concern…..
Country Calendar tonight, so inspirational – 60yo Maori woman single handedly running a northland farm. Has more understanding of the issues with our agriculturual industry than the entire fed farmers/National govt rolled together..
She just made an interesting comment on modern grasses – it won’t re-seed itself, so if it dies off in a drought you have to sow more seed (ie buy more) or weeds will be all that comes back.
Older grasses keep producing their own seed.
Gotta love Monsanto
And Agria.
GE grass?
Not so much the GE aspect DtB but the possibility that countries major supplier of grass seed could have China Inc as a controlling share holder.
Some worrying news emerging from Malaysia, a country with which we have a free trade agreement.
http://news.google.co.nz/news?edchanged=1&ned=en_my
What is the NZ Government’s public response to the Malaysia Government?
“Good on ya mate”
Hero of the Week Award – The Dominion Post
Today, the Act Party ran a racist and divisive advertisement in the New Zealand Herald. The advertisement is headed Fed up with pandering to Maori radicals? Act’s assumptions are completely ludicrous to anybody with half a brain…
From our friends at Vote for Change….
and
I didn’t realise I was associating (albeit electronically) with such nasty people!
If you want to join me in asking them questions and not getting any answers they are at https://www.facebook.com/voteforchangenz
They are rather lost in the past. In no particular order..
lprent = Lynn Prentice
Mike Smith
Ben Clark
Anthony Robins = r0b
rocky = Rochelle Rees
I guess that they are too stupid to make the jump from a pseudonym to a real name. But personally I couldn’t care less if it is a pseudonym or a real name, and neither does the law. It is really only if you want to pursue extra-legal attacks that it becomes an issue.
I don’t think you can escape the reality that real names have more credibility.
If you post under a real name you remove most speculation about associations and motives. I acknowledge there can be good reasons for using a pseudonym, especially for commenters.
But I think your chances of being taken seriously as a blog poster are enhanced considerably by being open and transparent about your identity. Especially in politics.
You have weird ideas on why people blog. At least you do from the view of someone who has participated in online discussion for most of my life through BBS’es to usenet and now to blogs.
I don’t care one way or the other for other people’s opinion of how I or others write. Most people around blogging are not writing for effect – they are writing to express themselves on topics that they feel are important about why they feel they are important. This can be anything from politics to cars. Readers can take from it what they will and comment on it how they know or feel. The interactions and conflicts of commentary are just fun. But isn’t hard to find blogs with excellent posts and no comments or readers where people are writing for them for the sheer joy of expression.
Sure it has a wider influence, as do the comments. But personalities and knowlege express regardless of if it is on arbitrary label or another. Someone’s name is just an arbitrary label, and has very little to do with who they are.
So as I said, wanting to know who someone is in real life is pretty much a sign of someone who doesn’t understand the world of blogging / usenet / bbs. People who insist on it in my opinion usually have online symptoms of being a bully, or a gossip, or a narcissist.
Of course there is an exception to that generalization. Journalists have this creed of real names – largely as far as I can see for litigation reasons. So people with aspirations towards being a journalist or something similar tend to assume that bloggers should be the same. But that is simply a pile of hogwash.
So where on those axes do you see you yourself.
I think the strengths of journalism and blogging are best combined, it’s become a mega media mix. Both have to keep adapting to a rapidly changing medium.
It’s possible your long history of blogging clouds your view of how the wider world may see it. Most people probably don’t care about identities if they are prattling and entertaining themselves.
But when it comes to politics most people want openness and honesty, things badly and sadly lacking in politics.
Some parties may prefer to keep things undercover, that won’t improve public perceptions of deviousness and deceit.
Well this site isn’t run by a party. Most political parties have problems finding their arse with any hands when it comes to online presences. Quite simply the only reason that kiwiblog and the standard got so dominant in the political debate online is because the parties were so late and incompetent. Frogblog is pretty good, but for a party that is off the mainstream. Red Alert is a bit constrained. The Nats and Act are just pathetic.
That is much the same as internationally.
But I suspect that you simply don’t understand the social dynamics of online. But just look around at what works. The social experiment has been in full swing for decades and what you think theoretically is a lot less interesting than just observing happens in practice.
The journos have their own blogs. Look at something like pundit or the comments off nzherald. They have this one basic trait – they tend towards the boring, and people don’t argue with each other enough to shake anything loose. The social dynamic doesn’t work.
The blogs that have very high participation rates all allow pseudonyms in the comments – which is where most of the writing goes. Some blogs have authors who use pseudonyms, some do not, and some have pseudonyms where the identities are also known. It does not appear to make any difference apart from people like yourself who try to use it as a hammer.
Perhaps you should look at online as is rather than blathering on about how you’d like it to be – ie being a critic. if you want to try something different then just do it and see how well it works – that is the way that the net tests theories.
I’m not disputing the need to allow anonymous posts, that’s essential. I’m talking about the blog posters. What are the three most viewed political blogs? Kiwiblog, The Standard and The Dim-Post?
How many of those operate under the blogger’s name? The “theories” have already been tested.
Each blog can obviously do things however it likes. I only expressed my opinion that I think posts with an identifiable author usually have more credibility. I don’t think that’s blathering on.
Read open parachute listings you are a little short, and you missed public address
But out of the three ones you’ve mentioned. My rough count says… There are four authors using their own names – three of them here. Three using pseudonyms with known names (like myself) attached – two here. Remainder (all here as the other two sites are effectively single person blogs) are pseudonyms only
So what exactly are you waffling about? How you are unobservant?
Quite simply what you are blathering about is simply your opinion. A not very well informed opinion, one that doesn’t have anything to back it up, and one that clearly has never exercised their brain to think about what is going on at a social level.
It is an opinion you’re putting up against that of someone who has been studying and participating in the type of social media we’re discussing for decades, and who is helping to run a successful example.
The tens of thousands of readers and commentators on this site have been voting with their fingers. They’re using what they read and discuss here out in the communities where politics actually happens. The journo’s come here to read and pick up ideas – but they are merely doing their job. The site isn’t run for them, they are just parasitical on it.
The participants, authors, commentators, and readers come here to just have fun playing with ideas and words.
And meanwhile you’re busy touting some theoretical model of how such social media should operate. You’re as pathetic as that polsci lecturer from Canterbury that John Drinnan was quoting. Understanding why people participate in these sites is really the key to them. And the people who participate really don’t give a crap if a author or a commentator is a name or a pseudonym. It is a meaningless distinction if they cannot contribute, and they certainly cannot contribute if they trade on their name because the usual reason to do it is to shut down debate.
Those few who have an anal reaction of the sphincter clenching when they deal with pseudonyms can always find somewhere boring that doesn’t offend them. Basically they are almost by definition too boring to be around people who like to argue because they always want to appeal to some kind of ‘authority’ which really doesn’t exist. If they were any good then they’d just point to supporting material and convince others.
Had to come back to this – got called away. I was insufficiently sarcastic in the first draft.
“But when it comes to politics most people want openness and honesty, things badly and sadly lacking in politics.’
Most people have know idea what they really want SS, they’re just following the crowd and the latest fashions, until we start practicing what we preach, there will be no openness in politics, expecting our poly’s to do what we have no intention of doing ourselves is a bit rich, don’t you think.
The individual generally sees little advantage in openness and honesty, instead we copyright and patent still, until people come to understand, that our poly’s are just a projection of ourselves, following the crowd, while doing whatever is popular (fashion) to stay in power. Little will change until it is forced upon us.