The Whitehouse must be getting desperate. In another application of standard US grievous hypocrisy, it has resorted to emotional blackmail in an effort to manufacture consent for the unliteral bombing of a sovereign state. Meanwhile, in an unusually honest manner, the “Villa in the jungle”, Israel’s actual position on the matter is made clear by former Israeli consul general in New York, Alon Pinkas:
. . . This is a playoff situation in which you need both teams to lose, but at least you don’t want one to win — we’ll settle for a tie. Let them both bleed, hemorrhage to death: that’s the strategic thinking here. As long as this lingers, there’s no real threat from Syria . . .
Couldn’t have worked out better for Israel than if the Knesset had planned it all along . . . oh, hang on.
I was reading recently about early Israel settlement idealist Jews. And the Yom Kippur war of 1973 involving attacks by Syria and Egypt. I guess, remembering that, Israelis won’t be too quick to make any move to aid them that will weaken themselves or use up their resources.
“She said: ‘I had just commenced speaking when I felt a hand between my legs on my lower buttocks. I was wearing jeans. I jumped back, turned around, and saw Tony Abbott laughing about two feet away. The people in the audience began laughing and jeering’, Miss Wilson said.”
.. that’s just what’s on the public record. In common parlance he’s known as a bit of a
‘rough diamond’. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Bob Hawke had a colourful
past and broad extra-curricular experience can be an asset for a man of the people ..
but Abbott is leading a party created by royalist Melbourne grandee Bob Menzies,
inhabited by people who often barely deigned to recognise a colourless Sydney suburban personality like John Howard. There was, however, no argument with success ..
It may yet come back to haunt him. With a contracting Australian economy and the end of the China boom, it promises to be an interesting few years .. on both sides of the Tasman.
The common parlance among people I know is “fucked in the head scumbag.” If he’d been born and bred in Paramatta, he would probably have spent time in prison. Instead, he was chosen by the Liberals as something special quite early on and every “indiscretion” had top rank lawyers defending the prick.
Murray O
It sounds a little like John Mortimer’s relentless climber up the political ladder Leslie Titmus – Paradise Postponed and ? Have you read the books Murray? He wrote good books – had a good head for character parts.
Better get a few Aussies over to help with the detent… oops refugee centre building then. They know how to do it, and because we sure don’t have enough houses (and they own a fair chunk of the rentals anyway).
They can also be reassured that if they’re need healthcare, are made redundant or need disaster relief etc that they’re not discriminated against.
Just a final thought on the TV3 poll on Firday putting Cunliffe in front. Fair enough on the general public figures, but TV3 say
“…– but looking at just Labour voters – Cunliffe is even stronger, sitting at 45.6 percent…”
Now, how many Labour party members could they have actually interviewed? The poll was of 500 people. Assuming Labour has, say, 20,000 members then on average TV3 would have only interviewed 4-5 Labour party members. Which leads to another question – how do they know the people on the phone who self-identified as Labour party members actually were NZLP members? Did they poll anyone who answered who was in a union as a NZLP member because their union is an affiliate?
I can’t see any other way around it, TV3’s poll figure for the Labour party membership is very, very fishy. I can’t help but wonder if the whole poll was just part of the TV3 campaign for Shane Jones, trumpeting dodgy figures to promote their man.
TV 3’s poll was done by a company that does online polling with panels of people. So presumably the panels are drawn from people registered with them, and for whom they have a lot of background information. I surmise they call on panels of people, selected for how much they represent the section of society they are researching.
I believe that they we looking at self-identified Labour supporters, ie who vote Labour in the general elections. Which as you say probably doesn’t reflect those members and hurriedly reactivated past members who will be voting in this election.
I’ve been watching these polls and wondering how they identify Labour Party members. It has to be self identified (Labour wouldn’t hand out their list) unless Labour is polling from eligible members?
“Caucus votes are worth more than other votes cast, with 34 MPs making up 40 per cent of the vote; the support of 17 MPs would give Mr Robertson almost 30 per cent of the total allowable vote.”
How did she get 30%, I make it 17 over 34 * 40% = 20%
Despite the popular support for Mr Cunliffe, Mr Robertson still has by far the greatest support in caucus, thought to be at least 17 votes out of 34; with 10 for Mr Cunliffe and five for Mr Jones.
Caucus votes are worth more than other votes cast, with 34 MPs making up 40 per cent of the vote; the support of 17 MPs would give Mr Robertson almost 30 per cent of the total allowable vote.
Her comment that the support of 17 MPs would give Mr Robertson almost 30 per cent of the total allowable vote is clearly wrong. It only gives him 20% of the vote and with distribution of preferences the caucus vote could be all tied up.
“The board said matters of religion were also outside the ERA’s jurisdiction. ” IF that turns out to be true then taxpayer funding should also be outside the jurisdiction of Tamaki College. Was having this discussion with someone yesterday. We both agreed that a school (reluctantly) can be free to be religious based but not a single dollar of taxpayer money should be put into that school. If people want an invisible friend to tell them how to live that is their prerogative but myself and selected taxpayers have no obligation to pay for it.
I find it particularly annoying when you see a Teaching job add, for a State funded school, FFS, which says, “must support the special character of the school”. I.E. Believe in implausable beings in the sky.
Yup. Any “argument” which is deemed by the arguer to be “won” because I can’t prove their invisible friend DOESNT exist actually has no place in education and I am worried that such thinkers are in charge of teaching our children.
National Party MP Alfred Ngaro allegedly punched an atheist teacher at his son’s school for not bowing his head during a prayer.
Ngaro, a list MP and former chairman of the Tamaki College Board of Trustees, was last week dragged into the Employment Relations Authority dispute between Tamaki College and former art teacher Christopher Scott Roy.
Roy claims he was constructively dismissed because he is an atheist and Tamaki College saw Christianity as “a core responsibility to which he was indifferent”.
Roy added a new allegation to his employment claim, telling ERA member Tania Tetitaha that in 2009 he was assaulted by Ngaro as he was leaving a First XV rugby after-match function at Kings College.
. . . Kings College officials had asked if anyone objected to a prayer or karakia being said before they ate.
Roy said he did not take part due to his atheism but rather looked around the room as everyone else bowed their head.
Ngaro, whose son was in the Tamaki First XV, came up to him and got “right in my face” after the prayer, Roy told the ERA hearing, eyeballing him just a few centimetres from his face.
Representatives from Kings College saw the behaviour and asked after his well-being, and if he wanted security guards present, Roy said. As he went to leave he was confronted outside by Ngaro, who lashed out at him, punching him on the back of his head.
One of the then-Tamaki First XV members, Unaloto Pita, confirmed to the Sunday Star-Times that a scuffle had taken place involving Roy as he left the Kings College function. Pita said he did not see who assaulted the teacher.
Ngaro, appearing in person at the ERA hearing, categorically denied the assault.
Roy said not going to the police was “the worst mistake of my life” but at the time he thought he would jeopardise any future employment opportunities.
he has an interesting background. Until your article I hadn’t heard of him
“Ngaro is of Cook Islands descent.[1] Ngaro’s father Daniel Ngaro from Aitutaki[2] and Pukapuka he was a union delegate, and the family has a long tradition of voting for the Labour Party.[1] His mother, Toko Kirianu, is from Mangaia.[2]
Ngaro trained as an electrician and was self-employed in the trade for five years.[3] As per his grandmother’s wish,[2] he then completed a theology degree and became a pastor at the Tamaki Community Church.[4] He later won a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award for his work on the Tamaki Transformation Project.[5]
Ngaro served as the Auckland District Health Board’s Pacific committee chairman and as the Tamaki College board of trustees chairman.[1] He is a member of various advisory committees for the Ministry of Social Development
There has been a 60 per cent increase in the amount of ocean covered with ice compared to this time last year, they equivalent of almost a million square miles.
In a rebound from 2012’s record low an unbroken ice sheet more than half the size of Europe already stretches from the Canadian islands to Russia’s northern shores, days before the annual re-freeze is even set to begin.
This sounds like old news, I seem to recall it was predicted there would be an increase in cooling , some time back.
IPCC better get those wheels spinning to come up with something in its reports which stacks up, regarding these anomalies .
Ice surface areas is a completely daft measurement suitable for the simple and jonolists. A moments thought would tell you that there is a massive difference in cooling potential between thick sea ice and a thin coverage, most notably in how much energy is required to melt it. Anyone who has had to deice an old fridge is well aware of that. The ice cover referred to in the article is a very thin surface freeze liable to be broken up (and melted) in the next storm.
However idiots do rather like surface area as a measurement presumably because it is simple enough for them to grasp.. And I guess that defines you muzza.
The rest of the article is more interesting even though it highlights just a handful of climatologists (ie Curry) and refers to all of the others as being the IPCC – the sign of a jonolist’s “balance”.
Climate is multi-cyclic and there is an expectation of a leveling off and even a fall in average global temperatures because of the pacific oscillations and a number of other local climatic patterns. The nett effect is that more energy has been pushed into the oceans for later release than would happen on average. It makes absolutely no difference to the overall heat balances over a century – it is just a decadal shift. Furthermore the expectation was in the 2000’s that we’d see some falls in average work temperatures, but in fact we have seen peaks above 1997 several times.
That was despite the much higher than expected loss of cooling ice masses in the Arctic ice sheet, Greenland’s ice sheet, and in the West Antarctic. There were also increases in ice volumes in East Antarctica that are hard to explain unless more water vapour is getting in past the jetstream (paradoxically snowfall is a indicator of increased temperatures if you’re at the coldest and therefore driest place in the world).
Effectively heat going into melting ice masses keeps overall world temperatures down for a time, but gets less and less effective as those ice masses disappear. But if you’re focused on a single value of temperature over a decade or two to define changes in climate, then you’d have to be a fool…
“In a rebound from 2012′s record low”… “a 60 per cent increase in the amount of ocean covered with ice compared to this time last year”.
Surface area /= ice volume; the thickness of the ice-sheet will be minimal thus far – we’ll have to wait until later in the season to see how that results.
Sea ice extent for August 2013 averaged 6.09 million square kilometers (2.35 million square miles). This was 1.03 million square kilometers (398,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average for August, but well above the level recorded last year, which was the lowest September extent in the satellite record. Ice extent this August was similar to the years 2008 to 2010. These contrasts in ice extent from one year to the next highlight the year-to-year variability attending the overall, long-term decline in sea ice extent.
So much more accurate when you get it from the scientists rather than newspapers with an ideological bent.
Wow, Emirates Team New Zealand absolutely smoked Oracle in race 3 of the America’s Cup just now. Isn’t it great to see New Zealanders being recognised as fearless builders of advanced, world beating technology rather than constantly patronised Hobbits?
And I must say I am starting to look forward to all the parties that’ll be happening in Auckland’s downtown.
yup, see comment above, they are sailing better than us but we have the faster boat. In 3 of the 4 races so far we made BIG sailing blunders… only one of them resulted in a loss.
The predicted huge response from the public and a financial bonanza, has been a huge fizzer. So if NZ should win will it be a poisoned chalice for Auckland?
sporting public loves a winner. So if the team wins the public will be temporarily happy, imo.
given the lead of TNZ seems to be the result of the designers, then the spin-off tot he boat building industry should continue provided the designers are based in NZ.
I also understand if TNZ wins they might move to the 45s and dump the 75s. The other day I saw the youth Amercias cup or something in the 45s and there were far more countries and log jams at the marks. Looked exciting.
Raising the minimum wage leads to more unemployment???, only if your economic education stopped at 101,
Yet another in the series of links which whips those with an infants education into silence over their false claims on the effects of raising the minimum wage…
What is broken SSLands is your self made delusion of economic genius, of more import of course is that not inconsiderable fact that after November 2014 the Neoliberal consensus will have been finally smashed,
Now if you have been reading the many links that have been provided to you over the past week we here at the Standard might have moved your economic education past that of a simpleton’s 101 level,(tho i have my doubts about your ability to do so as you give every appearance of having a love of wallowing in a simpletons level of intellect,
For your further education i will kindly provide you with this:
”Out-put growth in the measured sector averaged 2.6% per annum from 1978 to 2007″,
The main driver of this out-put growth was LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY of +2% per annum”,
Seeing as you consider yourself to be the economic genius perhaps you could explain this little gem for us all,
”In Nevada USA where the minimum is $7.25 an hour the jobless rate is 10.2 percent”,
”In Vermont USA where the minimum is $8.60 an hour the unemployment rate is 5.1 percent’,
My explanation of that glaring difference in minimum wages and unemployment figures in 2 different states of the USA would simply say that those on the higher minimum are spending that money into their local economy thus creating the far better figures for unemployment than what the other State suffers,
Plan B for Syria:
5 or 6 prime targets identified. (A palace, a communication centre or two, barracks etc)
A date set.
The general area surrounding the targets swamped with leaflets/broadcasts warning civilians to leave the areas before target date.
Missiles fired as warned on date given.
Damage done with minimal collateral damage.
How about that as my plan?
From what’s being said, the list is growing. Once you decide to hit, you start looking for ways to get more bang for your buck. More birds to kill with the stone, as it were.
the talk now about changing the outcome of the war, in favour of moderate elements of the FSA suggests that Assad’s assets won’t be the only thing targeted. The FSA can’t compete with the extremist groups.
It’s looking more and more like Lebanon in the eighties, with w whole bunch of wars being faught in the sme place and between the same people.
eg, Iran + Hezb +Assad + US + FSA vs AQ.
Iran + Assad + Hezb vs FSA + AQ +US
AQ + Hezb + Assad Vs FSA + US
In Lebanon the different fights wern’t just in theory. Groups actively killing each other in one of the wars, were trading weapons and intelligence and co-operating on the battlefield in another.
With a sprinkling of The Shadow and dim lights for atmosphere indicating the forces of evil and smiling assassins with madness and megalomania in their eyes.
What’s in it for the USA apart from more armament sales to the government? Are they working their way along the Middle East? Is it a practice place to trial their latest weaponry? Is the Defence budget too big to fall over? Is it a proxy war for Israel, and what have Israel done for them as a quid pro quo? Where are the Saudis in this? Bush was supposed to be close to some Saudis who were close to Al Queda.
Now that is confusing. Don’t anybody try to provide me a rational answer, in fact anything at all. I don’t want to know acshually. It’s an idle thought and I already have my worrying time all allocated. Some mathematician could provide some interesting stats on the permutations of all the countries in the world who are involved in war at some level at any one time.
Here is a link to a page from the Daily Mail. No it is no longer on the official site (funny that) but on the waybackwhen site. (awesome archive of stuff we wouldn’t otherwise have access too anymore) the page is an article published on 29th of January 2013 and tells of a leaked email and gives us a view into the secret machinations leading up to the pending attack on Syria and whattayaknow… they were gagging for a false flag chemical attack on Syrian civilians to force an invasion into Syria!
No wonder that page has been removed from the official DM site and replaced with the most hideous war mongering propaganda.
But conspiring? No Sir never! Not our modern enlightened governments in our “really” Democratic countries! They would never do that to us!
Yeah, nah. An unproven email from people who may or may not exist sarcastically referring to Washington’s supposed support for a single CW bombing is hardly evidence of anything. Ev.
I think the clues that this reference is bullshit can be found in the names ‘Daily Mail’ and ‘Infowars’.
Infowars seems to bother you doesn’t it. You keep mentioning it in relation to links while I probably linked to well backed up and linked articles from that site about maybe 5 times over the last 8 years. Or do you mention INFOWARS in the hope to smear whatever I post?
And a well linked to other sources article it was too so no problem there for me but again it is a problem for you. Ok, maybe 6 times in the last 8 years? Dipshit.
Ha! I think you and I both know who the didpshit is here, Ev. Next time read the link before posting. Or, better, yet, save the right wing fantasies for your own site.
Funny how you do that right wing fantasy thing again. Just smearing and trolling. I think many would actually classify me as left wing as my preference for the MANA party is no secret. Not that it matters to me. I think that left and right are a paradigm pushed on us to keep us separated from each other and to stop us from fighting the 0.01% owning everything and you are a dumbass for complying. Have a nice day dipshit! 😈
Sorry, pal, having no class understanding is not a defence. You are right wing. You run a right wing website. You publish right wing comments here and get abusive when the narrow perspective you push gets highlighted. Like it or not, using rightwing sites such as the Daily Mail and Infowars to back your fantasies does not make you left wing. Funny that. Particularly so when you don’t even appear to have read the link you posted. Here’s a clue for ya; the headlines don’t always tell the full story.
For those of you not familiar with TRP smearing and trolling techniques here is what I believe in and stand for:
I believe in a just society where there is far more equality than there is now. I believe in workers rights and the need to protect them. I believe in fair taxes and that includes the rich. I believe that the weak and poor should be protected and that in a civilized country there should be free healthcare and a social support system. I believe in open and accountable government. I believe in the protection of our ecosystems and the protection of them. I believe in equality and marriage rights for all regardless of their gender. I believe that greed is serious disease and that people suffering from the obsessive need to have more than they could possibly need should be in hospitals for the criminally insane and expect that some day they will be.
In my ideal world there would be no war, no corruption and peace based on respect, love and compassion.
So tell me again why I am right wing? And to show I understand this should come from both sides I’ll refrain from calling you a dipshit again, how’s that?
Cheers about the restraint, Ev. I hope you stick to it.
My estimation of your politics is based entirely on what you write. That’s the only way I know you. The list above is all very well, but it’s not backed up by what you do online, which primarily is run a rightwing blog narrowly focussed on absurd conspiracy theories. You are a climate change denier, a supporter of the racist theory that Barack Obama is not an American and a fevered believer that 9/11 was an inside job. These last 3 are all righty obsessions and they define your digital presence.
When your blog starts regularly featuring articles about workers’ rights, healthcare etc., I might reassess my view of you. But for the moment your output is overwhelmingly right wing. And, btw, if you deny the need for class analysis (your right/left paradigm), then why are you upset as being identified as right wing anyway?
I am not. It says more about you and your need to classify me than about me. Absurd is the fact that you deny the science which tells us that buildings do not collapse in freefall speed into dust clouds after an office fire.
But other than that. What do you find so right wing about my writings?
Ok, I’ll bite. Can you cite any comment of mine that denies the science? I’m picking not, because it’s the science that proves 9/11 deniers wrong. That and the intervening 12 years without any actual evidence of a gummint/NWO/illuminati conspiracy 😉
So not a single one of my writings then? And I don’t think you ever gave good solid evidence to the contrary. You are a troll who smears and throws mud in the hopes that something will stick. You are what I would call a sad case
When NZ Labour get in they should speak to the Oz government in their regular confabs and stress that we want to be treated fairly when we are in Oz. Then they should ask when they will be changing those laws that discriminate against us, their friends and allies. And if they won’t do anything by a certain time, then we should withdraw social assistance for Oz people here.
Why should we be paying for the health treatment of Oz managers and their families, who come here to utilise our ‘sub-human’ resources (less developed beings than those in Oz). Education, would no doubt be a choice of free or private (which includes government funding) up to tertiary, and then they can study in Oz or if in NZ pay on the same basis that we do in Oz. They won’t even let NZ students have student transport travel concessions I understand. Also there are people that have NZ family (Mr Abbott!) who may be able to utilise health treatment if they can organise themselves around our regulations. I have heard of that being considered.
We can’t afford to carry these shiralees. (Oz Swag, burden, load. Etymology: From one of the Australian Aboriginal languages).
And we don’t want the same rotten treatment that Oz has meted out to their Aborigines in the past. They have made some attempt to respect, repair past wrongs and honour them lately. But then having all that racism and negativism loose and available, they have combined it, focussed it and fired it at us.
Do you really think the OZ Labor or Liberal government gives a f… about this especially as this is a significant budget item.
I am not supporting what the OZ labor and Liberal government are doing but I do understand the what is happening.
Sometime down the track the OZ government will say this is unfair (maybe via a court decision) and the solution will be Kiwis will be entitled to the same benefits and right as say a Brit moving to OZ by something along these lines:
Kiwi’s will need a work visa (i.e meet OZ immigration selection policy) if they want to stay beyond say 2 years. To uphold previous agreement with NZ kiwis will be allowed open travel to OZ BUT the open work visa will now have a time frame. It allows OZ to pick off the qualified and those with money in their pocket (especially Kiwis returning down under).
Yeah Watching wasn’t that what we had. You had to be in Oz for a while before you qualified, you had to be working. And do I think that Oz gives it time of day? Well I already commented on the possibility of them not doing so, as they apparently have when the matter has been raised with them. Or that’s what we are told, I haven’t got any spy info on that, no tapes over the teacups, no gps over the glasses, no leaks from the lagers. So who knows what has been said by our pollies apart from sqawk or sfa.
The point is that it is easy for the Aussies to find excuses for not reversing this discriminatory abuse of our political ally relationship. And for our own respect, and savings on expenditure on the undeserving, we should follow suit. And put the money instead into an insurance scheme that NZs there and/or family can pay into which will provide the wherewithal to get them back here when the dream of better opportunities crashes. The stories of destitution are building up.
Aye!
In Australians’ eyes, since Howard – we’ve become lesser beings than bloody Tasmanians! (unless of course we achieve some sort of fame and can be claimed as an Okker).
I remember as a kid growing up in Victoria, thinking that NZ was another state until I was put right. A journey to Sydney by road meant a mandatory stop at the border where one’s boot was searched for fruit and any contraband. Kiwis owned half of Bondi (now by South Africans, who are treated somewhat better than the Kiwis in the ‘ANZAC brotherhood’). The Kiwi dollar was on a par or worth more, and my primary school contemporaries were somewhat jealous.
(That was because the only “bloody Abbos” they encountered were those living rough in the park, or during school holidays when parents would send their kids to the big smoke for us t babysit, and they had to deal daily with greesers and bloody spiks daily)
Nah – fuk ’em. Let em rot in their bigotry and mine themselves to death. Thank God I no longer have an Australian passport (not that one ever required a passport to travel between Australia and NZ).
Agreed – and until they do, they should drop the NZ in “ANZAC”. Supposedly something that represents a fair suck of the save for Kiwi and Okker brothers and sisters alike. Instead, all it represents is a morning one day a year to acknowledge hard times during war, a statue or two, and a way of forgetting that only 40 or so years ago – the tables were turned and opposite (with NZ being a more attractive prospect)
It’s not all bad. There are possibly more Kiwi PhD students in Australia on Australian scholarships than there are in Aotearoa on Kiwi scholarships. Any Kiwi gets free hospital care in Oz, on the same basis that Aussies get it in Aotearoa. Although I couldn’t access any benefits if I had to stop working, I get free medical care under Medicare. This is probably better than what I’d get back home. Since I’ve got liver cancer and am now waiting for a transplant, this means something significant to me.
There is discrimination against us, but not really in the health area. Benefits, yeah, and lack of access to student loans, plus we can’t go and help them fight for Amerika unless Key sends us, but I think you’ve got some of the details a bit wrong, GW. Anyway, I agree that it stinks that we pay tax and don’t receive all the things paid for by that tax.
I am trying to find a speaker for my students on the Privacy Act. Specifically I am trying to find someone who can talk to them about why “nothing to fear so nothing to hide” is NOT a good reason to breach privacy?
Anyone have any ideas and contact details of
potential speakers. My students are first and foremost sport students, not law students.
Here is a link to a trailer for a 5 hour (English) documentary released by Luogocomune.net named The new Pearl Harbor. The makers of this film are keen for it to be shared far and wide and don’t hold on to copyrights so I’m happy to oblige.
At least I’m not the only one. Your’e on to it.
Cheers for bringing that to my attention.
But wait, there’s more.
SYRIA.
Don’t turn off your TV. Keep watching.
WW3 in real time.
An answer for CV. who asked me You say that “printing” money (in reality, electronically crediting it to a Treasury account) will cause the debt loading to go up. Why?
The reason CV this creates debt is because credit gets spent by real people for real goods and real services.
Credit does not exist in a vacuum, if it is generated to pay for existing interest on debt made possible by prior credit creation somewhere somebody has a claim against it. Credit is either for expenditure for something real, or more latterly something to enable debts to be propped up whilst current expenditure continues.
Its about that point when things get really strange….logically if you print dollars the total available against goods and services in exchange should by rights diminish the value of the dollar (inflation) but as we know recessions are deflationary….I could explain but Illargi at theautomaticearth.com does better.
Firstly the issuance of money can be done debt free and it is not the same as extending, or creating credit.
If the government prints 100 x $100 notes, it has created $10,000 in money, with no associated creation of debt.
That $10,000 in cash can then be used to destroy $10,000 worth of existing debt. Interestingly, the physical cash still exists at the end of this process, and can continue to circulate in the economy.
.logically if you print dollars the total available against goods and services in exchange should by rights diminish the value of the dollar (inflation) but as we know recessions are deflationary
A high level of monetary inflation is extraordinarily hard to achieve. It usually requires some or all of the following:
– Massive war.
– Currency collapse.
– Massive destruction of infrastructure and productive capavity.
– Failure of government tax and tax enforcement systems.
The bit you have missed is that money (once created) gets spent….whether you classify it as a debt or a credit is debatable. The goods it is spent on must be paid for somewhere some how with good / services / work etc….are you proposing to pay for everything with thin air?
He also doesn’t get that the money created increases the supply of money and therefore lowers its speculative value. So it will work when used with a deft touch, but increasing use exponentially increases the probability of a currency collapse.
Currently the government/RB simply use interest rates as a method of adjusting the money supply, but the shortcoming there is that it doesn’t really circulate the new money outside of the banking sector.
but increasing use exponentially increases the probability of a currency collapse.
Reference please. Relating to any one of the major central banks openly acknowledged to be printing money in the last few years eg. BoJ, BoE, Fed, ECB etc. will be fine.
Indeed.
My point is not that it shouldn’t be done, just that it’s not a consequence-free blank cheque for all our economic and inequality ills. It requires more skill and subtlety than your anti-intellectualism is capable of.
He also doesn’t get that the money created increases the supply of money and therefore lowers its speculative value.
Which happens every day/year as the private banks print huge amounts of money. Of course, most of that just goes back to the bankster sector making them richer and neither causing the currency collapse or inflation.
EDIT:
To be more precise, what you see is inflation in mortgages and share prices – areas where a few people (the rich) get access to the tools of high finance for speculative gambling but this is seen as a Good Thing.
Currently the government/RB simply use interest rates as a method of adjusting the money supply,
Which doesn’t work because the private banks then add extra interest on top of that. The real effect is that the private banks are incentivised to massively over produce money and they do so with little or no constraint.
Which doesn’t work because the private banks then add extra interest on top of that. The real effect is that the private banks are incentivised to massively over produce money and they do so with little or no constraint.
Doesn’t that contradict itself? If interest rates provide an incentive one way or another to banks to overproduce $$$, then they do affect the money supply, if indirectly.
“People and their visions, you’ll see them everywhere
Atomic people, they’ll all move away
It’s a mass Exodus day, today; Non Stop Sex (or, “What Lesbians think about penises”).
This site translates the key remarks this way: “The Syrian people have suffered much during the past two years. More than 100,000 were killed and seven to eight million have become displaced. Prisons are overflowing with people and they have turned stadiums into prisons. On the one hand the people have suffered a chemical attack by their own government. On the other, they have to await for US bombs today”
I already dealt with the crock of crap the other day. But really, linking to *the* home of really stupid jonolists (now that the News of the world is dead)..
Basically in classic Telegraph style, it adopts an attitude that thin ice extent similar to the average for the last decade (apart from the last two years) is astonishing and essentially repudiates a decades long thinning of the ice volume in in Arctic.. It poses a single person Curry as being of equal weight as the whole IPCC.
Basically written by a scientifically illiterate gormless fool, and now linked to by another one…
He had to fight his way through a lot from QoT duelling with a Ramsay and others at the beginning. Is that then trielling or quatelling or quarelling? Abortion etc. Very important but I wish that discussion about the Constitution could arouse as much heat, which could then be piped to my house and save a day’s electricity.
There were also some very long and detailed ones. It’s asking a bit much of these pollies rushing around NZ and trying to remember where and who they are each morning to pick out too many queries.
Ah, the bloggers. Shearer wants to dismiss it as background noise, saying that that is all it is worthy of.
“The influence of people sitting anonymously in front of computer screens behind darkened curtains is not something I think we should be taking as seriously as we do.”
He characterises it as “certainly a concerted effort to attack right before a Labour Party conference”.
Was discussing the national well-being later yesterday with a manager of a Youth Health centre; like Alice, the funders are ‘going the wrong way’. According to her, “they (Ministry, DHB’s) are not allowing them to do what needs to be done”: Integrated case-management.
I dislike Greg O’Connor. He is supposed to represent the Police trade union and has always seemed quite right wing and an apologist for all their new useful tools for hitting shooting people etc. But when the police do need some advocacy as now, he is all uncertain and equivocal.
It’s a yes for police to work in pairs especially when working from a car. It’s no time for police to be macho, or spout that crap you hear too often, ‘If the crims did what they were supposed to do, it (whatever) wouldn’t be needed’. That’s the very reason we have police.
The pollies have to either allow for this in the budget or stop this mass netting of the thousands of the public with road blocks and breath testing and looking into police records hoping to get 100 unpaid fines and people over the alcohol limit. And then there’s the causing damage and injury chasing the excitable ones to prevent them causing damage and injury.
Stop this (expensive) madness, this setting of unreasonable targets by pollies many of whom are themselves not meeting the expectations of the public because of their incompetency. It’s dumbarse right wing economics. The sort that wanted to penalise a funeral director in the 1980’s I think, for not calculating his likely future earnings right so he could pay tax in advance of such earnings. Which of course were mostly gathered from the estates of people who had just died. Which can only be guessed at in advance, unless you are the Syrian government.
There is also a possibility that a rogue unit of the Syrian government forces, or some mid level commanders were responsible – i.e. nothing to do with Assad or the senior levels of the Syrian govt.
So what is the US going to do? Strike at and degrade Syria’s command and control infrastructure, because there was chemical weapons use due to unsatisfactory command and control?
I was reading a Jane’s defence article today work that was updated over the weekend and all arrows/ evidence points to the Assad regime as the FSA does not have the capacity to mount a CW attack. But in saying that the report also stated there are Hard-core elements of the FSA that are openly seeking WMD’s (CW and BW argents) and if they did conduct that attack last week then its now gotten very untidy or heading that way very fast.
I’m starting to think this Civil war could the West’s Munich moment “dam with do and dam if we don’t”.
I thought there will be one deadline for all the votes and then they will be counted up so caucus does not, before voting, get advance information of the membership and affiliates votes.
If otherwise, then the rules would have explicitly stated that.
I think it’s correct that the two section of the party are represented.
Is it the position or symbol or just that its an ABC Hipkins doing the counting.
Actually look to tims barnetts background if one is concerned, not that I am.
The count will go in the second round to cunliffe then the real fight begins…can’t wait.
Who is overseeing the conuting process?
What are the checks and balances?
I don’t trust Hipkins to count my online vote, or to maintain confidentiality about the tally from the caucus.
If this become a stitch up job by the old hands welding the power of the old party behind the scenes then the new found democratic rights of the members have been tramples upon.
What are they so scared of…unsettling the staus quo and the trough perhaps.
Time to see off the old non reactionaries and then the Tory raiders…
I think Shane Jones name being announced as leader of the NZLP is a very realistic possibility. An SJ led party would have no real difference to the 5th Labour and 5th National governments, which some of the establishment wouldnt mind.
Six days to go and it’s all rumours, speculation, gossip, sniping. Time for nerves of steel, folks. Let’s not get caught up in all the crap that’s flying around. That’s just playing into the Nats’ hands, and the likes of Duncan Garner. No time for galloping paranoia
Also, I haven’t got my voting papers yet, or the email with a pin number. I desperately want to vote so it’s hard to be patient. Got to thinking about people in other countries where democracy is much more fragile. Asked myself how far would I walk to be able to cast my vote? How long would I stand in the rain? Answers: 25 miles; 4 hours. (I hope I don’t ever have to prove it.)
I would get on phone to head office and demand that they send you an email immediately. How hard can it be to ensure emails go out the day you contact them
Just caught up with an episode of Backbenches from a couple of weeks ago in which Trevor Mallard claimed that The Standard is an “anti-Labour” website.
Which is a bit like a borer claiming that the pesticides are anti-timber.
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
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Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
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Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
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Officially, they’re called ‘memecoins,’ but Kōura Wealth founder Rupert Carlyon says the crypto world has another name for them: ‘shitcoins’.In digital finance, that phrase is used for tokens that have no true value – in essence, a money-grab.A few days before his inauguration, US President Donald Trump launched his own ...
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‘
The Whitehouse must be getting desperate. In another application of standard US grievous hypocrisy, it has resorted to emotional blackmail in an effort to manufacture consent for the unliteral bombing of a sovereign state. Meanwhile, in an unusually honest manner, the “Villa in the jungle”, Israel’s actual position on the matter is made clear by former Israeli consul general in New York, Alon Pinkas:
Couldn’t have worked out better for Israel than if the Knesset had planned it all along . . . oh, hang on.
That’s quite a candid admission.
Unfortunately the average Israeli, is as much a sacrifice as the Americans, or Arab tribes have been, and are going to be.
I was reading recently about early Israel settlement idealist Jews. And the Yom Kippur war of 1973 involving attacks by Syria and Egypt. I guess, remembering that, Israelis won’t be too quick to make any move to aid them that will weaken themselves or use up their resources.
“We didn’t think that it would Blow up with such might…even the ghost came.
Get on with it guys. Abbott will soon be asking Key for pointers ..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/9140853/Key-expects-strong-ties-with-Abbott
This country needs an effective opposition ..
Tony’s a real charmer.
“She said: ‘I had just commenced speaking when I felt a hand between my legs on my lower buttocks. I was wearing jeans. I jumped back, turned around, and saw Tony Abbott laughing about two feet away. The people in the audience began laughing and jeering’, Miss Wilson said.”
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/17/1089694611809.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/17/1089694611809.html
.. that’s just what’s on the public record. In common parlance he’s known as a bit of a
‘rough diamond’. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Bob Hawke had a colourful
past and broad extra-curricular experience can be an asset for a man of the people ..
but Abbott is leading a party created by royalist Melbourne grandee Bob Menzies,
inhabited by people who often barely deigned to recognise a colourless Sydney suburban personality like John Howard. There was, however, no argument with success ..
It may yet come back to haunt him. With a contracting Australian economy and the end of the China boom, it promises to be an interesting few years .. on both sides of the Tasman.
The common parlance among people I know is “fucked in the head scumbag.” If he’d been born and bred in Paramatta, he would probably have spent time in prison. Instead, he was chosen by the Liberals as something special quite early on and every “indiscretion” had top rank lawyers defending the prick.
Murray O
It sounds a little like John Mortimer’s relentless climber up the political ladder Leslie Titmus – Paradise Postponed and ? Have you read the books Murray? He wrote good books – had a good head for character parts.
Haven’t read those, sorry.
Prediction: Kiwis will be coming back home in their thousands. A Coalition gift to the Cunliffe Labour Government.
Better get a few Aussies over to help with the detent… oops refugee centre building then. They know how to do it, and because we sure don’t have enough houses (and they own a fair chunk of the rentals anyway).
They can also be reassured that if they’re need healthcare, are made redundant or need disaster relief etc that they’re not discriminated against.
Just a final thought on the TV3 poll on Firday putting Cunliffe in front. Fair enough on the general public figures, but TV3 say
“…– but looking at just Labour voters – Cunliffe is even stronger, sitting at 45.6 percent…”
Now, how many Labour party members could they have actually interviewed? The poll was of 500 people. Assuming Labour has, say, 20,000 members then on average TV3 would have only interviewed 4-5 Labour party members. Which leads to another question – how do they know the people on the phone who self-identified as Labour party members actually were NZLP members? Did they poll anyone who answered who was in a union as a NZLP member because their union is an affiliate?
I can’t see any other way around it, TV3’s poll figure for the Labour party membership is very, very fishy. I can’t help but wonder if the whole poll was just part of the TV3 campaign for Shane Jones, trumpeting dodgy figures to promote their man.
TV 3’s poll was done by a company that does online polling with panels of people. So presumably the panels are drawn from people registered with them, and for whom they have a lot of background information. I surmise they call on panels of people, selected for how much they represent the section of society they are researching.
I believe that they we looking at self-identified Labour supporters, ie who vote Labour in the general elections. Which as you say probably doesn’t reflect those members and hurriedly reactivated past members who will be voting in this election.
I’ve been watching these polls and wondering how they identify Labour Party members. It has to be self identified (Labour wouldn’t hand out their list) unless Labour is polling from eligible members?
Voted last week anyway so polls mean shit to me.
Audrey Young – from the mornings NZ Herald
“Caucus votes are worth more than other votes cast, with 34 MPs making up 40 per cent of the vote; the support of 17 MPs would give Mr Robertson almost 30 per cent of the total allowable vote.”
How did she get 30%, I make it 17 over 34 * 40% = 20%
Am I doing something wrong?
Audrey is better at the qualitative than the quantitative. Without even bothering to startup a calculator you are correct
Yes, you can BS the qualitative, but not the quantitative…but it didn’t stop Audrey from trying.
yeah but who reading it will check her numbers?
She’s massaging the numbers a bit. Young is estimating Robertson has the support of more than 17 MPs. She says:
Her comment that the support of 17 MPs would give Mr Robertson almost 30 per cent of the total allowable vote is clearly wrong. It only gives him 20% of the vote and with distribution of preferences the caucus vote could be all tied up.
Whatever the maths, Caucus… ignore your Labour voters at your peril.
What do you mean at your peril?
What peril will there be if Caucus votes differently to the Party?
Always knew there was something wrong with that little cryptofascist.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/8572418/National-MP-possibly-rabid-and-drooling
“The board said matters of religion were also outside the ERA’s jurisdiction. ” IF that turns out to be true then taxpayer funding should also be outside the jurisdiction of Tamaki College. Was having this discussion with someone yesterday. We both agreed that a school (reluctantly) can be free to be religious based but not a single dollar of taxpayer money should be put into that school. If people want an invisible friend to tell them how to live that is their prerogative but myself and selected taxpayers have no obligation to pay for it.
I find it particularly annoying when you see a Teaching job add, for a State funded school, FFS, which says, “must support the special character of the school”. I.E. Believe in implausable beings in the sky.
Yup. Any “argument” which is deemed by the arguer to be “won” because I can’t prove their invisible friend DOESNT exist actually has no place in education and I am worried that such thinkers are in charge of teaching our children.
This goes to this now.
A teacher claims he was forced to quit his job at Auckland’s Tamaki College because he was an atheist.
Dont know what happened.
They’ve massively altered the story to edit out all mention of Ngaro punching the teacher in the back of the head. Same for the Herald article.
I guess his lawyers have been busy this morning.
Original text of the article:
IF true, the PM will sack him immediately.
pause for laughter
he has an interesting background. Until your article I hadn’t heard of him
“Ngaro is of Cook Islands descent.[1] Ngaro’s father Daniel Ngaro from Aitutaki[2] and Pukapuka he was a union delegate, and the family has a long tradition of voting for the Labour Party.[1] His mother, Toko Kirianu, is from Mangaia.[2]
Ngaro trained as an electrician and was self-employed in the trade for five years.[3] As per his grandmother’s wish,[2] he then completed a theology degree and became a pastor at the Tamaki Community Church.[4] He later won a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award for his work on the Tamaki Transformation Project.[5]
Ngaro served as the Auckland District Health Board’s Pacific committee chairman and as the Tamaki College board of trustees chairman.[1] He is a member of various advisory committees for the Ministry of Social Development
Select Committees
Social Services
Justice & Electoral”
His maiden speech
http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?ArticleID=37747
I thought Tamaki was a state school and therefore that no teacher or student had to be forced to kowtow to religious beliefs.
National MP possibly rabid and drooling?
Whose the wry humourist at stuff then?
* doh make that ‘who is the wry humourist at stuff then?’
lol, you can make stuff urls say anything you like. Everything after the last “/” is a playground.
e.g. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/8572418/John-Key-promises-higher-standards-Alfred-Ngaro-delivers
Aha. Well played, I may be able to have fun with that little bit of learning.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/10294082/Global-warming-No-actually-were-cooling-claim-scientists.html
This sounds like old news, I seem to recall it was predicted there would be an increase in cooling , some time back.
IPCC better get those wheels spinning to come up with something in its reports which stacks up, regarding these anomalies .
Ice surface areas is a completely daft measurement suitable for the simple and jonolists. A moments thought would tell you that there is a massive difference in cooling potential between thick sea ice and a thin coverage, most notably in how much energy is required to melt it. Anyone who has had to deice an old fridge is well aware of that. The ice cover referred to in the article is a very thin surface freeze liable to be broken up (and melted) in the next storm.
However idiots do rather like surface area as a measurement presumably because it is simple enough for them to grasp.. And I guess that defines you muzza.
The rest of the article is more interesting even though it highlights just a handful of climatologists (ie Curry) and refers to all of the others as being the IPCC – the sign of a jonolist’s “balance”.
Climate is multi-cyclic and there is an expectation of a leveling off and even a fall in average global temperatures because of the pacific oscillations and a number of other local climatic patterns. The nett effect is that more energy has been pushed into the oceans for later release than would happen on average. It makes absolutely no difference to the overall heat balances over a century – it is just a decadal shift. Furthermore the expectation was in the 2000’s that we’d see some falls in average work temperatures, but in fact we have seen peaks above 1997 several times.
That was despite the much higher than expected loss of cooling ice masses in the Arctic ice sheet, Greenland’s ice sheet, and in the West Antarctic. There were also increases in ice volumes in East Antarctica that are hard to explain unless more water vapour is getting in past the jetstream (paradoxically snowfall is a indicator of increased temperatures if you’re at the coldest and therefore driest place in the world).
Effectively heat going into melting ice masses keeps overall world temperatures down for a time, but gets less and less effective as those ice masses disappear. But if you’re focused on a single value of temperature over a decade or two to define changes in climate, then you’d have to be a fool…
Nice one LP, you’re about as predictable as a bowel movement.
Yep. I prefer that people know what I think – then they don’t have to waste time trying to guess.
“In a rebound from 2012′s record low”… “a 60 per cent increase in the amount of ocean covered with ice compared to this time last year”.
Surface area /= ice volume; the thickness of the ice-sheet will be minimal thus far – we’ll have to wait until later in the season to see how that results.
A Real Hole Near The Pole
So much more accurate when you get it from the scientists rather than newspapers with an ideological bent.
Wow, Emirates Team New Zealand absolutely smoked Oracle in race 3 of the America’s Cup just now. Isn’t it great to see New Zealanders being recognised as fearless builders of advanced, world beating technology rather than constantly patronised Hobbits?
And I must say I am starting to look forward to all the parties that’ll be happening in Auckland’s downtown.
Yup, it looks like unless our boat breaks Oracle are fucked.
Of course Barker will now have to get knighted even though it appears the designers are the ones who have made this for us by making a faster boat.
Oracle just won
yup, see comment above, they are sailing better than us but we have the faster boat. In 3 of the 4 races so far we made BIG sailing blunders… only one of them resulted in a loss.
The predicted huge response from the public and a financial bonanza, has been a huge fizzer. So if NZ should win will it be a poisoned chalice for Auckland?
If you look at our high end boat building industry the bonanza is happening. One of nationals few good investments.
sporting public loves a winner. So if the team wins the public will be temporarily happy, imo.
given the lead of TNZ seems to be the result of the designers, then the spin-off tot he boat building industry should continue provided the designers are based in NZ.
I also understand if TNZ wins they might move to the 45s and dump the 75s. The other day I saw the youth Amercias cup or something in the 45s and there were far more countries and log jams at the marks. Looked exciting.
Always thought it should be in 45’s.
The 40′ multihull racing in Europe, with their tight courses and thrills and spills, is awesome.
Even as a sailing enthusiast I have to admit that watching 12 metres was like watching grass grow.
I just hope they do not revert to monohulls.
me too @ monohulls. 45s are like dodgems on water. I havent seen 40s multi hulls.
Raising the minimum wage leads to more unemployment???, only if your economic education stopped at 101,
Yet another in the series of links which whips those with an infants education into silence over their false claims on the effects of raising the minimum wage…
http://www.policymic.com/…/minimum-wage-bill-obama-s-9-proposal-won-t-i...
The link is broken
here you go
http://www.policymic.com/articles/41325/minimum-wage-bill-obama-s-9-proposal-won-t-increase-unemployment
Studies
http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/min-wage-2013-02.pdf
http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/workingpapers/157-07.pdf
http://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jecsur/v22y2008i1p187-212.html
How raising the minimum wage will boost the economy
http://www.epi.org/files/2012/ib341-raising-federal-minimum-wage.pdf
Nice to see you here bright an early on a Monday morning.
“Nice to see you here bright an early on a Monday morning.”
It is hardly early at 0957. Or were you drunk yet again last night?
9:29am in NZ but not in Australia where you live.
Oh, and you are welcome for the fresh links.
Well that made me smile this morning, thanks Tracey.
What is broken SSLands is your self made delusion of economic genius, of more import of course is that not inconsiderable fact that after November 2014 the Neoliberal consensus will have been finally smashed,
Now if you have been reading the many links that have been provided to you over the past week we here at the Standard might have moved your economic education past that of a simpleton’s 101 level,(tho i have my doubts about your ability to do so as you give every appearance of having a love of wallowing in a simpletons level of intellect,
For your further education i will kindly provide you with this:
”Out-put growth in the measured sector averaged 2.6% per annum from 1978 to 2007″,
The main driver of this out-put growth was LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY of +2% per annum”,
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/tprp/08-02/05.htm
Seeing as you consider yourself to be the economic genius perhaps you could explain this little gem for us all,
”In Nevada USA where the minimum is $7.25 an hour the jobless rate is 10.2 percent”,
”In Vermont USA where the minimum is $8.60 an hour the unemployment rate is 5.1 percent’,
My explanation of that glaring difference in minimum wages and unemployment figures in 2 different states of the USA would simply say that those on the higher minimum are spending that money into their local economy thus creating the far better figures for unemployment than what the other State suffers,
What’s your explanation SSLands…
Lolz, thanks Tracey, saved me again, i have a dream as per M.L. King, nothing so lofty as Martin tho, i just want my links to work…
got your back
for Bill owed sails,
Toads.
Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life?
Can’t I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off?
Six days of the week it soils
With it’s sickening poison-
Just for paying a few bills!
That’s out of proportion.
Lots of folk live on their wits:
Lecturers, lispers,
Losels, loblolly-men, louts-
They don’t end as paupers;
Lots of folk live up lanes
With fires in a bucket,
Eat windfalls and tinned sardines-
They seem to like it.
Their nippers have got bare feet,
Their unspeakable wives
Are skinny as whippets- and yet
No one actually starves .
Ah, were I courageous enough
To shout Stuff your pension !
But I know, all too well, that’s the stuff
That dreams are made on:
For something sufficiently toad-like
Squats in me, too;
Its hunkers are heavy as hard luck,
And cold as snow,
And will never allow me to blarney
My way to getting
The fame and the girl and the money
All at one sitting.
I don’t say, one bodies the other
One’s spiritual truth;
But I do say it’s hard to lose either,
When you have both.
just Larkin’ about. 🙂
They fuck you up, your boss and supervisor …
Plan B for Syria:
5 or 6 prime targets identified. (A palace, a communication centre or two, barracks etc)
A date set.
The general area surrounding the targets swamped with leaflets/broadcasts warning civilians to leave the areas before target date.
Missiles fired as warned on date given.
Damage done with minimal collateral damage.
How about that as my plan?
Anyone heard anything from Mrs Assad recently?
the lady from Wainuiomata?
I wonder if visa mastercard could remove her cards as a protest??
or Britain could revoke her citizenship…
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/the-controversial-life-of-syrian-first-lady-asma-al-assad-193241101.html
But they won’t they’ll prob go for the usual list of targets, which if the Syrians have any common sense are now just empty buildings.
From what’s being said, the list is growing. Once you decide to hit, you start looking for ways to get more bang for your buck. More birds to kill with the stone, as it were.
the talk now about changing the outcome of the war, in favour of moderate elements of the FSA suggests that Assad’s assets won’t be the only thing targeted. The FSA can’t compete with the extremist groups.
It’s looking more and more like Lebanon in the eighties, with w whole bunch of wars being faught in the sme place and between the same people.
eg, Iran + Hezb +Assad + US + FSA vs AQ.
Iran + Assad + Hezb vs FSA + AQ +US
AQ + Hezb + Assad Vs FSA + US
In Lebanon the different fights wern’t just in theory. Groups actively killing each other in one of the wars, were trading weapons and intelligence and co-operating on the battlefield in another.
Babylon 5
With a sprinkling of The Shadow and dim lights for atmosphere indicating the forces of evil and smiling assassins with madness and megalomania in their eyes.
What’s in it for the USA apart from more armament sales to the government? Are they working their way along the Middle East? Is it a practice place to trial their latest weaponry? Is the Defence budget too big to fall over? Is it a proxy war for Israel, and what have Israel done for them as a quid pro quo? Where are the Saudis in this? Bush was supposed to be close to some Saudis who were close to Al Queda.
Now that is confusing. Don’t anybody try to provide me a rational answer, in fact anything at all. I don’t want to know acshually. It’s an idle thought and I already have my worrying time all allocated. Some mathematician could provide some interesting stats on the permutations of all the countries in the world who are involved in war at some level at any one time.
Here is a link to a page from the Daily Mail. No it is no longer on the official site (funny that) but on the waybackwhen site. (awesome archive of stuff we wouldn’t otherwise have access too anymore) the page is an article published on 29th of January 2013 and tells of a leaked email and gives us a view into the secret machinations leading up to the pending attack on Syria and whattayaknow… they were gagging for a false flag chemical attack on Syrian civilians to force an invasion into Syria!
No wonder that page has been removed from the official DM site and replaced with the most hideous war mongering propaganda.
But conspiring? No Sir never! Not our modern enlightened governments in our “really” Democratic countries! They would never do that to us!
Yeah, nah. An unproven email from people who may or may not exist sarcastically referring to Washington’s supposed support for a single CW bombing is hardly evidence of anything. Ev.
I think the clues that this reference is bullshit can be found in the names ‘Daily Mail’ and ‘Infowars’.
Infowars seems to bother you doesn’t it. You keep mentioning it in relation to links while I probably linked to well backed up and linked articles from that site about maybe 5 times over the last 8 years. Or do you mention INFOWARS in the hope to smear whatever I post?
The quote that forms the basis for the Mail article comes from Infowars. Do you not read your own links before posting them?
And a well linked to other sources article it was too so no problem there for me but again it is a problem for you. Ok, maybe 6 times in the last 8 years? Dipshit.
Ha! I think you and I both know who the didpshit is here, Ev. Next time read the link before posting. Or, better, yet, save the right wing fantasies for your own site.
Funny how you do that right wing fantasy thing again. Just smearing and trolling. I think many would actually classify me as left wing as my preference for the MANA party is no secret. Not that it matters to me. I think that left and right are a paradigm pushed on us to keep us separated from each other and to stop us from fighting the 0.01% owning everything and you are a dumbass for complying. Have a nice day dipshit! 😈
Sorry, pal, having no class understanding is not a defence. You are right wing. You run a right wing website. You publish right wing comments here and get abusive when the narrow perspective you push gets highlighted. Like it or not, using rightwing sites such as the Daily Mail and Infowars to back your fantasies does not make you left wing. Funny that. Particularly so when you don’t even appear to have read the link you posted. Here’s a clue for ya; the headlines don’t always tell the full story.
Pal assumes a gender I am not.
For those of you not familiar with TRP smearing and trolling techniques here is what I believe in and stand for:
I believe in a just society where there is far more equality than there is now. I believe in workers rights and the need to protect them. I believe in fair taxes and that includes the rich. I believe that the weak and poor should be protected and that in a civilized country there should be free healthcare and a social support system. I believe in open and accountable government. I believe in the protection of our ecosystems and the protection of them. I believe in equality and marriage rights for all regardless of their gender. I believe that greed is serious disease and that people suffering from the obsessive need to have more than they could possibly need should be in hospitals for the criminally insane and expect that some day they will be.
In my ideal world there would be no war, no corruption and peace based on respect, love and compassion.
So tell me again why I am right wing? And to show I understand this should come from both sides I’ll refrain from calling you a dipshit again, how’s that?
Purgatory? Must have been the T=words I used.
Cheers about the restraint, Ev. I hope you stick to it.
My estimation of your politics is based entirely on what you write. That’s the only way I know you. The list above is all very well, but it’s not backed up by what you do online, which primarily is run a rightwing blog narrowly focussed on absurd conspiracy theories. You are a climate change denier, a supporter of the racist theory that Barack Obama is not an American and a fevered believer that 9/11 was an inside job. These last 3 are all righty obsessions and they define your digital presence.
When your blog starts regularly featuring articles about workers’ rights, healthcare etc., I might reassess my view of you. But for the moment your output is overwhelmingly right wing. And, btw, if you deny the need for class analysis (your right/left paradigm), then why are you upset as being identified as right wing anyway?
I am not. It says more about you and your need to classify me than about me. Absurd is the fact that you deny the science which tells us that buildings do not collapse in freefall speed into dust clouds after an office fire.
But other than that. What do you find so right wing about my writings?
Ok, I’ll bite. Can you cite any comment of mine that denies the science? I’m picking not, because it’s the science that proves 9/11 deniers wrong. That and the intervening 12 years without any actual evidence of a gummint/NWO/illuminati conspiracy 😉
So not a single one of my writings then? And I don’t think you ever gave good solid evidence to the contrary. You are a troll who smears and throws mud in the hopes that something will stick. You are what I would call a sad case
When NZ Labour get in they should speak to the Oz government in their regular confabs and stress that we want to be treated fairly when we are in Oz. Then they should ask when they will be changing those laws that discriminate against us, their friends and allies. And if they won’t do anything by a certain time, then we should withdraw social assistance for Oz people here.
Why should we be paying for the health treatment of Oz managers and their families, who come here to utilise our ‘sub-human’ resources (less developed beings than those in Oz). Education, would no doubt be a choice of free or private (which includes government funding) up to tertiary, and then they can study in Oz or if in NZ pay on the same basis that we do in Oz. They won’t even let NZ students have student transport travel concessions I understand. Also there are people that have NZ family (Mr Abbott!) who may be able to utilise health treatment if they can organise themselves around our regulations. I have heard of that being considered.
We can’t afford to carry these shiralees. (Oz Swag, burden, load. Etymology: From one of the Australian Aboriginal languages).
And we don’t want the same rotten treatment that Oz has meted out to their Aborigines in the past. They have made some attempt to respect, repair past wrongs and honour them lately. But then having all that racism and negativism loose and available, they have combined it, focussed it and fired it at us.
Do you really think the OZ Labor or Liberal government gives a f… about this especially as this is a significant budget item.
I am not supporting what the OZ labor and Liberal government are doing but I do understand the what is happening.
Sometime down the track the OZ government will say this is unfair (maybe via a court decision) and the solution will be Kiwis will be entitled to the same benefits and right as say a Brit moving to OZ by something along these lines:
Kiwi’s will need a work visa (i.e meet OZ immigration selection policy) if they want to stay beyond say 2 years. To uphold previous agreement with NZ kiwis will be allowed open travel to OZ BUT the open work visa will now have a time frame. It allows OZ to pick off the qualified and those with money in their pocket (especially Kiwis returning down under).
Yeah Watching wasn’t that what we had. You had to be in Oz for a while before you qualified, you had to be working. And do I think that Oz gives it time of day? Well I already commented on the possibility of them not doing so, as they apparently have when the matter has been raised with them. Or that’s what we are told, I haven’t got any spy info on that, no tapes over the teacups, no gps over the glasses, no leaks from the lagers. So who knows what has been said by our pollies apart from sqawk or sfa.
The point is that it is easy for the Aussies to find excuses for not reversing this discriminatory abuse of our political ally relationship. And for our own respect, and savings on expenditure on the undeserving, we should follow suit. And put the money instead into an insurance scheme that NZs there and/or family can pay into which will provide the wherewithal to get them back here when the dream of better opportunities crashes. The stories of destitution are building up.
Aye!
In Australians’ eyes, since Howard – we’ve become lesser beings than bloody Tasmanians! (unless of course we achieve some sort of fame and can be claimed as an Okker).
I remember as a kid growing up in Victoria, thinking that NZ was another state until I was put right. A journey to Sydney by road meant a mandatory stop at the border where one’s boot was searched for fruit and any contraband. Kiwis owned half of Bondi (now by South Africans, who are treated somewhat better than the Kiwis in the ‘ANZAC brotherhood’). The Kiwi dollar was on a par or worth more, and my primary school contemporaries were somewhat jealous.
(That was because the only “bloody Abbos” they encountered were those living rough in the park, or during school holidays when parents would send their kids to the big smoke for us t babysit, and they had to deal daily with greesers and bloody spiks daily)
Nah – fuk ’em. Let em rot in their bigotry and mine themselves to death. Thank God I no longer have an Australian passport (not that one ever required a passport to travel between Australia and NZ).
Agreed – and until they do, they should drop the NZ in “ANZAC”. Supposedly something that represents a fair suck of the save for Kiwi and Okker brothers and sisters alike. Instead, all it represents is a morning one day a year to acknowledge hard times during war, a statue or two, and a way of forgetting that only 40 or so years ago – the tables were turned and opposite (with NZ being a more attractive prospect)
It’s not all bad. There are possibly more Kiwi PhD students in Australia on Australian scholarships than there are in Aotearoa on Kiwi scholarships. Any Kiwi gets free hospital care in Oz, on the same basis that Aussies get it in Aotearoa. Although I couldn’t access any benefits if I had to stop working, I get free medical care under Medicare. This is probably better than what I’d get back home. Since I’ve got liver cancer and am now waiting for a transplant, this means something significant to me.
There is discrimination against us, but not really in the health area. Benefits, yeah, and lack of access to student loans, plus we can’t go and help them fight for Amerika unless Key sends us, but I think you’ve got some of the details a bit wrong, GW. Anyway, I agree that it stinks that we pay tax and don’t receive all the things paid for by that tax.
I am trying to find a speaker for my students on the Privacy Act. Specifically I am trying to find someone who can talk to them about why “nothing to fear so nothing to hide” is NOT a good reason to breach privacy?
Anyone have any ideas and contact details of
potential speakers. My students are first and foremost sport students, not law students.
I am in Auckland
Maybe try the Rev. Mua Strickson-Pua, Tracey. He can do a good rendering of Pastor Niemoller.
Here is a link to a trailer for a 5 hour (English) documentary released by Luogocomune.net named The new Pearl Harbor. The makers of this film are keen for it to be shared far and wide and don’t hold on to copyrights so I’m happy to oblige.
At least I’m not the only one. Your’e on to it.
Cheers for bringing that to my attention.
But wait, there’s more.
SYRIA.
Don’t turn off your TV. Keep watching.
WW3 in real time.
Pacific leaders’ meeting exposes hypocrisy of US rhetoric about Syria and WMDs:
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2013/09/wmds-sinful-in-syria-but-forgettable-in.html
I don’t know if many of you actually watch Russia Today but yesterday a 12 minutes segment aired world wide actually alleges that 9/11 was indeed a false flag event.
Russian TV? Oh well, chances are good that they’d know.
Got through most of the report. Same old bunk. Gladio led to some interesting reading, though.
An answer for CV. who asked me You say that “printing” money (in reality, electronically crediting it to a Treasury account) will cause the debt loading to go up. Why?
The reason CV this creates debt is because credit gets spent by real people for real goods and real services.
Credit does not exist in a vacuum, if it is generated to pay for existing interest on debt made possible by prior credit creation somewhere somebody has a claim against it. Credit is either for expenditure for something real, or more latterly something to enable debts to be propped up whilst current expenditure continues.
Its about that point when things get really strange….logically if you print dollars the total available against goods and services in exchange should by rights diminish the value of the dollar (inflation) but as we know recessions are deflationary….I could explain but Illargi at theautomaticearth.com does better.
Firstly the issuance of money can be done debt free and it is not the same as extending, or creating credit.
If the government prints 100 x $100 notes, it has created $10,000 in money, with no associated creation of debt.
That $10,000 in cash can then be used to destroy $10,000 worth of existing debt. Interestingly, the physical cash still exists at the end of this process, and can continue to circulate in the economy.
A high level of monetary inflation is extraordinarily hard to achieve. It usually requires some or all of the following:
– Massive war.
– Currency collapse.
– Massive destruction of infrastructure and productive capavity.
– Failure of government tax and tax enforcement systems.
The bit you have missed is that money (once created) gets spent….whether you classify it as a debt or a credit is debatable. The goods it is spent on must be paid for somewhere some how with good / services / work etc….are you proposing to pay for everything with thin air?
He also doesn’t get that the money created increases the supply of money and therefore lowers its speculative value. So it will work when used with a deft touch, but increasing use exponentially increases the probability of a currency collapse.
Currently the government/RB simply use interest rates as a method of adjusting the money supply, but the shortcoming there is that it doesn’t really circulate the new money outside of the banking sector.
Reference please. Relating to any one of the major central banks openly acknowledged to be printing money in the last few years eg. BoJ, BoE, Fed, ECB etc. will be fine.
How’s the USD going again?
That’s why you have Government spend the money into circulation.
Indeed.
My point is not that it shouldn’t be done, just that it’s not a consequence-free blank cheque for all our economic and inequality ills. It requires more skill and subtlety than your anti-intellectualism is capable of.
Which happens every day/year as the private banks print huge amounts of money. Of course, most of that just goes back to the bankster sector making them richer and neither causing the currency collapse or inflation.
EDIT:
To be more precise, what you see is inflation in mortgages and share prices – areas where a few people (the rich) get access to the tools of high finance for speculative gambling but this is seen as a Good Thing.
Which doesn’t work because the private banks then add extra interest on top of that. The real effect is that the private banks are incentivised to massively over produce money and they do so with little or no constraint.
Doesn’t that contradict itself? If interest rates provide an incentive one way or another to banks to overproduce $$$, then they do affect the money supply, if indirectly.
That is exactly how it is done now, apart from a small % of transactions which occur with physical cash.
I’m not stating anything theoretical, just what is happening now, every day.
just getting back to the really serious stuff for a mo’…
..this is really something everyone should hear..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i93-hlwULUk
..it’s a singer called little willie john..(unsure if that is a hookers’ in-joke/typecast..or what..)..
..and he is doing the standard ‘fever’ like you have never heard it done before..
..i just found it..and it has jumped to the top of my shake-people-by-the-shoulders-and-say:’you must listen to this!’-music-list..
..and it is so good i am putting out there with a money back guarantee..
..and i am just trying to un-peel myself from the ceiling – after listening to it twice in a row..
..(i think i need a cup of tea..and a you-know-what..)
..and i mean it when i say..’enjoy,..!’
phillip ure..
it aint the size, it’s what you do with IT
“People and their visions, you’ll see them everywhere
Atomic people, they’ll all move away
It’s a mass Exodus day, today; Non Stop Sex (or, “What Lesbians think about penises”).
“..it aint the size, it’s what you do with IT..
i pulled this out of my archives..
..and i think you need to listen to this guy..
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/sep/06/norm-macdonald-me-doing-standup
..he starts off ruminating on death..and then moves onto penis size..
..and in particular..
..that chimera you quote..
(he is also very very funny..with it..)
phillip ure..
so..so; I’m a Jimeoin fan (and other Irish comedians). Michael McIntyre’s observations can be very funny. 😉
Nah There is only one version of Fever Just Miss Peggy Lee with drums and bass.
Absolutely amazing singer
yes..of course ron..you can’t go past peggy lee doing it..
..but (good as it is) we have all heard that multiple times..
..didn’t this one have the shock/delight of the new..?..
..for you..?
..i mean..hasn’t he got the most fucken amazing voice..?..
..and his timing..?
..and the minimalism/tightness of the backing/production..?
..whoar..!..
..phillip ure..
But those were Foreign Children and really didn’t matter.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/sarin-syrian-chemical-weapons-cameron
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/world/middleeast/with-the-world-watching-syria-amassed-nerve-gas.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
saw Kerry on the newz off drumming up more Tin Soldiers in Britain to jump into the fire.
sigh
This site translates the key remarks this way: “The Syrian people have suffered much during the past two years. More than 100,000 were killed and seven to eight million have become displaced. Prisons are overflowing with people and they have turned stadiums into prisons. On the one hand the people have suffered a chemical attack by their own government. On the other, they have to await for US bombs today”
http://www.juancole.com/2013/09/president-gassing-divisions.html
and another little hate-piece in the MSM today:
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Robertson-vs-Cunliffe/tabid/674/articleID/37760/Default.aspx
Deniers:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/10294082/Global-warming-No-actually-were-cooling-claim-scientists.html
I already dealt with the crock of crap the other day. But really, linking to *the* home of really stupid jonolists (now that the News of the world is dead)..
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09092013/#comment-693411
Basically in classic Telegraph style, it adopts an attitude that thin ice extent similar to the average for the last decade (apart from the last two years) is astonishing and essentially repudiates a decades long thinning of the ice volume in in Arctic.. It poses a single person Curry as being of equal weight as the whole IPCC.
Basically written by a scientifically illiterate gormless fool, and now linked to by another one…
So did Grant Robertson ever bother to turn up and respond to any of the many questions his post triggered?
Nah, didn’t think so. He must have one of those one-way internets.
He did not answer questions individually, but he did answer several in one go:
http://thestandard.org.nz/grant-robertson-2/#comment-693066
felix
http://thestandard.org.nz/grant-robertson-2/#comment-693066
He had to fight his way through a lot from QoT duelling with a Ramsay and others at the beginning. Is that then trielling or quatelling or quarelling? Abortion etc. Very important but I wish that discussion about the Constitution could arouse as much heat, which could then be piped to my house and save a day’s electricity.
There were also some very long and detailed ones. It’s asking a bit much of these pollies rushing around NZ and trying to remember where and who they are each morning to pick out too many queries.
Yeah it’s probably impossible. I wonder how Cunliffe managed it?
Not that blogs matter anyway, of course…
I hope your curtains are pulled tight.
Why’s that CV?
Must conform to the stereotype…
Ah, so.
Here is Bryce Edwards on the media circus around this ‘primary’ and Jones etc. The Standard gets a link.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11121797
“Brighter Future”?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11121457
“nearly 2/3, that’s Two Thirds , 66% (or thereabouts) of young New Zealanders showing signs of depressed mood”.
Was discussing the national well-being later yesterday with a manager of a Youth Health centre; like Alice, the funders are ‘going the wrong way’. According to her, “they (Ministry, DHB’s) are not allowing them to do what needs to be done”: Integrated case-management.
Then the pollies wonder why kids self medicate.
It’s not just integrated case management though – it’s the constrained life we’re presenting to them, imo.
and Manufacturing dips in June 1/4 (Drought)
Said , Assad to Charlie Rose ( Ivan to G.I Joe); “there is no evidence, and if there is, the US administration should show it” (para.)
“Anything but sleep you rogue
glow’ring at the moon…
skirlin’ like a kenna-what…
waukenin’ sleepin’ folk
Wearit is the mither that has a stoorie wean”.
+1 ghostrider….sounds good
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/maori-voters-want-shane-jones-labour-leader-poll-5577770
Would be interesting to compare Jones with Nanaia in a poll of Maori voters.
Well done Clare Curran, you’ve cemented your title as Captain Stupid.
Interesting typo on the TV3 website.
Looks like slippery’s already in training for his next career move!
I dislike Greg O’Connor. He is supposed to represent the Police trade union and has always seemed quite right wing and an apologist for all their new useful tools for hitting shooting people etc. But when the police do need some advocacy as now, he is all uncertain and equivocal.
It’s a yes for police to work in pairs especially when working from a car. It’s no time for police to be macho, or spout that crap you hear too often, ‘If the crims did what they were supposed to do, it (whatever) wouldn’t be needed’. That’s the very reason we have police.
The pollies have to either allow for this in the budget or stop this mass netting of the thousands of the public with road blocks and breath testing and looking into police records hoping to get 100 unpaid fines and people over the alcohol limit. And then there’s the causing damage and injury chasing the excitable ones to prevent them causing damage and injury.
Stop this (expensive) madness, this setting of unreasonable targets by pollies many of whom are themselves not meeting the expectations of the public because of their incompetency. It’s dumbarse right wing economics. The sort that wanted to penalise a funeral director in the 1980’s I think, for not calculating his likely future earnings right so he could pay tax in advance of such earnings. Which of course were mostly gathered from the estates of people who had just died. Which can only be guessed at in advance, unless you are the Syrian government.
Anyone who doesn’t suspect that O’Connor is a paid mouthpiece for the weapons industry first and a union rep second is naive in the extreme.
I’ll include most of the media in that too, as they usually introduce him as the “Police Commissioner”. He never corrects them btw.
So has anyone seen the evidence the US says it has that the Syrian Government chemicaled their people?
Has John Kerry done anything to provide that evidence to an open and transparent third party for verification by that party and the public?
Has John Kerry said what the evidence is?
Has the USA said anything which is not hyperbole?
Where is the evidence?
What is the evidence?
Is it the same as that for Iraq and WMD?… because it sounds so far exactly like Iraq and WMD.
Where is it? Where is the evidence?
+1 vto….reckon they are blaming the wrong side …ie the rebels did it …they have more reasons to
……more to the point, where is the evidence the rebels didnt do the gassing?
….and if the US backed rebels did the gassing …..how wicked is that, if the US bombs Syria?
The crucial question: Where is the evidence?
There is also a possibility that a rogue unit of the Syrian government forces, or some mid level commanders were responsible – i.e. nothing to do with Assad or the senior levels of the Syrian govt.
So what is the US going to do? Strike at and degrade Syria’s command and control infrastructure, because there was chemical weapons use due to unsatisfactory command and control?
It’s dumbass day.
I was reading a Jane’s defence article today work that was updated over the weekend and all arrows/ evidence points to the Assad regime as the FSA does not have the capacity to mount a CW attack. But in saying that the report also stated there are Hard-core elements of the FSA that are openly seeking WMD’s (CW and BW argents) and if they did conduct that attack last week then its now gotten very untidy or heading that way very fast.
I’m starting to think this Civil war could the West’s Munich moment “dam with do and dam if we don’t”.
Chris Trotter better be wrong. He thinks caucus may attempt to ‘fix’ the leadership vote.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/09/09/is-someone-planning-to-fix-labours-leadership-election/
I thought there will be one deadline for all the votes and then they will be counted up so caucus does not, before voting, get advance information of the membership and affiliates votes.
If otherwise, then the rules would have explicitly stated that.
Hipkins should not be involved in counting votes. That’s the concern.
That too.
I think it’s correct that the two section of the party are represented.
Is it the position or symbol or just that its an ABC Hipkins doing the counting.
Actually look to tims barnetts background if one is concerned, not that I am.
The count will go in the second round to cunliffe then the real fight begins…can’t wait.
Who is overseeing the conuting process?
What are the checks and balances?
I don’t trust Hipkins to count my online vote, or to maintain confidentiality about the tally from the caucus.
Cleverly, Labour have subcontracted out the process to electionz.
If this become a stitch up job by the old hands welding the power of the old party behind the scenes then the new found democratic rights of the members have been tramples upon.
What are they so scared of…unsettling the staus quo and the trough perhaps.
Time to see off the old non reactionaries and then the Tory raiders…
It wouldnt suprise me if they did.
I think Shane Jones name being announced as leader of the NZLP is a very realistic possibility. An SJ led party would have no real difference to the 5th Labour and 5th National governments, which some of the establishment wouldnt mind.
Six days to go and it’s all rumours, speculation, gossip, sniping. Time for nerves of steel, folks. Let’s not get caught up in all the crap that’s flying around. That’s just playing into the Nats’ hands, and the likes of Duncan Garner. No time for galloping paranoia
Also, I haven’t got my voting papers yet, or the email with a pin number. I desperately want to vote so it’s hard to be patient. Got to thinking about people in other countries where democracy is much more fragile. Asked myself how far would I walk to be able to cast my vote? How long would I stand in the rain? Answers: 25 miles; 4 hours. (I hope I don’t ever have to prove it.)
I would get on phone to head office and demand that they send you an email immediately. How hard can it be to ensure emails go out the day you contact them
Just caught up with an episode of Backbenches from a couple of weeks ago in which Trevor Mallard claimed that The Standard is an “anti-Labour” website.
Which is a bit like a borer claiming that the pesticides are anti-timber.
😀 (Mallard is such a sitting duck).
If the ABC Labour MPs are successful in dumping Cunliffe who will they select as the deputyJones?