‘Here is what the NZ Herald and Stuff decided was more important than a corporate coup removing NZs economic and political sovereignty the day after the TPPA was signed.
Sports gamblers panicking that the All Blacks won’t win the Rugby World Cup.
A porn renovation TV show might make some more money than they first thought.
A boat falls off a trailer.
A bad bus trip.
The world didn’t end after a religious prophecy
A radio host wears the same togs as the Kylie Jenner.
An Apartment that got flooded by a fish tank was sold.
Government spends $600 000 on flowers
A dog gets put down.
That’s right folks, the single biggest erosion of our political and economic sovereignty for US corporate interests has to struggle to get any attention amongst a sea of Sports gambling feeling depresses, porn renovation TV shows, boats falling off trailers, bad bus trips, world not ending, radio hosts wearing togs, flooded apartments, spending money on flowers and dogs being put down.
This is why we are a nation of sheep.’
Anne posted this excellent synopsis from Paul Buchanan on Key’s trip to Iraq on Daily Review yesterday. Worth reposting.
Highlights.
‘Although all of the coverage was vacuous, that of a print reporter from Wellington takes the cake for most ignorantly obsequious. Among other gems, she claimed more than once in her reports that the PM as well as herself where outfitted in “full body armour.” Photos of the visit suggest otherwise, since Key is seen on base in a flak jacket, shirt, pants and a baseball cap. Most of the military personnel around him were dressed in basic uniforms with no armour or helmets, save Iraqi recruits running drills and his personal protection force (30 “non-deployed” SAS soldiers, which is a bit of overkill when it comes to that sort of thing and makes one wonder from where they were sourced since 30 is a significant chunk of the unit). There is even one photo of Key walking along with some guy in a suit.
According to this particular reporter, her “full body armour” consisted of a flak jacket and a helmet. I reckon that she needs to be briefed on what being fully body armoured entails. And the guy in the suit may want to consider his status if everyone but him in the entourage were given helmets and flak jackets.
The entire gaggle of NZ media regurgitated the line that the NZDF was making a difference and the training was a success. This, after a day at the base and, judging from the tone of their reports, never talking independently with anyone on it (the NZ media were accompanied by “minders” at all times).
In any event what is clear is this. With the complicity of major media outlets, Mr. Key has added troop visits to his pandas and flags repertoire of diversions. ‘
Pablo on the PM's Iraq visit: "This was a PR exercise/photo op/sound bite exercise of the first and crassest order." http://t.co/NWtahR1VfI— Lew (@LewSOS) October 8, 2015
Pablo on the PM's Iraq visit: "This was a PR exercise/photo op/sound bite exercise of the first and crassest order." http://t.co/NWtahR1VfI— Lew (@LewSOS) October 8, 2015
I am reminded of Helen Clark’s visit to the Middle East in 2003. We were told in advance she was going but not given details of the itinerary. There was one film clip showing her strolling with the then Defence Chief, Bruce Ferguson and some of the soldiers. No “full body armour” or even flak jackets – just dressed in fatigues as was appropriate. No breathless spin or side issue stories – just a straightforward factual account of the visit.
this government has mastered the art of wearing as much protective equipment as possible in order to make viewers think they’re actually doing something. All the fluoro vests at ChCh post-quake press conferences, for example.
Really, if they need to wear any of that shit they shouldn’t be dicking around in front of cameras in that place.
Paul you would have thought that many security staff, with hangers on, would be more dangeress Just goes too show , he’s not a donkey, but a show pony.
This would be the same reporter from Wellington and Key fangirl who, when Key came to our town, explicitly instructed her accompanying photographer not to take any photos which included the sizeable protest crowd who had also turned up to greet the PM.
Hero images only of Dear Leader, please.
And so public opinion is manipulated, right under our noses.
I can only conclude they are waiting to see detail of the deal, which obviously leads to the conclusion it’s possible Labour will support the TPP.
Leadership is lacking sadly.
Then why not state that rather than making inconsistent comments?
The inconsistency in the statements being touted are far from the united, competent, professional look they are trying to portray. Leaving a number questioning their credibility and where they actually stand?
Oh piss off, the leader of the opposition works 18 hour days and never gets to see his family. It’s a brutal, relentless job. Let the man see his bloody wife and kids.
Yes it’s been awfully quiet on such an important and long ranged deal…basically taking us forward a generation in policy.
I’m not filled with confidence.
“Then why not state that rather than making inconsistent comments?”
From what I can tell Labour internal structures allow MPs to speak to the public without talking to each other or having a coherent plan. They have a great deal of independence in terms of expressing their own opinions. We’ve seen this many times with Labour (remember Shane Jones running off at the mouth about whatever he wanted?).
It seems odd to me. I don’t know the exact structural details but it’s rare to see the Green Party presenting this kind of inconsistency, they generally have a clear message and channels for communicating it. I can’t imagine a GP MP thinking that their own personal opinion was more important than communicating what the party had decided. It’s not that it hasn’t happened but it’s rare, whereas for Labour it seems to be their base line of operation.
Peeni Henare is another of late that comes to mind, publicly announcing support for a particular charter school.
Labour need a far more coordinated front. So much for dealing to the perception (which National depicted so well in the election) of them rowing in different directions.
Labour can’t even get their own party to tow the line, let alone show they can work in coalition.
They really need to up their game. The clock is ticking.
“Peeni Henare is another of late that comes to mind, publicly announcing support for a particular charter school.”
Indeed, although from what I remember it wasn’t so much a public announcement as him going to a fundraiser for the local iwi initiative. Someone in the MSM got up to mischief and Labour fell right into that trap with a few days of contradictory statements from Henare and Little. It’s like they’re not in the same room and can’t have a conversation about how to present to the public something that is intended to damage Labour (the MSM story) before they leave the room. So the sorting out the message happens in public and leads to those things you name about perception.
I really don’t get it but it does tie in nicely with that idea that people won’t vote for Labour because they look incompetent irrespective of the policy.
“They really need to up their game. The clock is ticking.”
Some of us have stopped expecting them to change 😉 When Cunliffe was leader there was a saying on the standard, just give them a few more months and they’ll sort themselves out. It was entirely sarcastic.
It is possible to say you will not support the TPP in opposition, and in government refuse to be bound by it. In each case you’d have to weigh up your options, which is what Robertson was saying. This is Labour’s position. None of this is inconsistent in any way. I heard Annette give an interview on the radio where she outlined this clearly.
Sure, media will report different bits. People here just seem desperate to attack Labour over the TPP because, like other parties actually, they’re not declaring their opposition yet to something they haven’t seen the detail of.
“It is possible to say you will not support the TPP in opposition, and in government refuse to be bound by it.”
Yes. However, the inconsistency lays with Ardern saying Labour will face the consequences (implying Labour will refuse to be bound by it) and Robertson saying Labour will weigh up the consequences. Implying if the consequences are to severe, Labour will breach their 5 bottom lines. And therefore support the TPP
So why not the whole thing? Because they are deliberately building a particular and slanted viewpoint of the deal, otherwise they would release the whole thing.
I just read the IT fact sheet. It refers to additional costs but no detail and that are offset against the benefits of the TPP. IT is a PR Fact Sheet. Groser must know broadly speaking what the costs will be, just as he can say what the benefits will be (financially).
A few weeks ago I got a note from Fairfax explaining the price was going up. I have stuck with it because it has always enabled me to spend a good leisurely w hours on a Sunday, relaxed and reading through all kinds of interesting articles.
The last few weeks the news section has been tiny. 12 pages last Sunday, 4 of which were full page ads and another page was rugby reporting. 3 more half page ads.
It’s the incredible shrinking newspaper, with a higher price tag.
It’s interesting to read the TPP views being peddled by the other signatories to the deal.
Each is playing the propaganda game and I would expect that.
What I also expect is my party, a party of the left, to have a view that reflects that, not this constant vague and ill defined language.
Surely we have seen in Britain how people are looking to the left for answers to a clearly under performing world economy and war without end.
One genuine problem is that in the rush to finish a deal, any deal, many details are unclear to the countries themselves. This alone is sufficient reason to reject this deal until there is full clarity.
Yes, the Fact Sheets released by Groser are pre pared (obviously) and part of a well-planned charm offensive. VERY hard for opponents (including LIttle) to oppose without the potential to have egg on their faces ( which I think National is hoping for) when the final detail is released.
National will have released those Fact Sheets to selected people before today so they are ready and primed with supportive noise
In that case Little should be praised for learning, remember when John Key played down the last budget and Little said how bad it would be and oops a daisy suddenly some benefits were raised…Little fell right into that trap so at least hes avoiding this one
I think this is a perceptive remark in that a soft deal is signed, that is acceptable publicly, and then the work of a death by a thousand cuts begins.
I simply don’t believe Pharmac is acceptable over the long term within a deal like this.
I suspect most people know that.
You’ve got lefties saying its the end of democracy (it clearly isn’t) and you’ve got the right saying its the best thing since sliced bread (its probably not) so the end result will be somewhere in the middle where the gains outweigh the losses, not by as much as hoped but by a decent amount and in the next few years people will be wondering what the big fuss was about…if they remember it at all
I think perhaps you are underestimating the serious economic deficiency worldwide over the last seven years.
We have a tremendous deflationary bias going on, not to mention war without an end in sight.
The end of the world is hyperbolic and illustrative, but serious difficulties is accurate.
Workers and the poor bear the brunt.
As an aside democracy always has limits and those limits are fluid. Greece as an example.
Not all the Right PR. That’s the thing about this. Republicans in the USA (who are not left by any standard) do not like it either. So when Wayne Mapp says, all self righteously,that it is only the hard left that disapprove, he is not quite right. Now, the reasons for opposition may differ between the two groups but mostly it’s the lawyer in me, never agree to something unless you have read it.
I know Key and Groser have read it but even Key’s supporters say they like him but they don’t believe things he says…
So, if it were as easy to undo as Hooton is suggesting whenever he can (based at present on a 2005 version of the draft), then I wouldn’t be as oppositional.
and yet it’s not just the left who don’t “believe” what he says PR.
If you read below you will see that Kelsey (who Mapps says is just a hard left FTA hater, praises our IT negotiators.
The Republicans are protectionists PR, always have been. They want to be able to trade with other countries but keep USA free of competition from outside, that is why they oppose the TPP
Just curious tracey but based on the little thats been released and not on anyone lese conjecture, do you think the this deal will (even if its not by very much) be of net benefit to NZ?
I don’t know PR. I am only today having time to read the stuff that is coming out from other countries to get an idea of content. I have read all Timmy’s Fact Sheets but they are not all that elucidating due to the obvious focus on $$$ gain and when loss is noted, not figures are given.
I have two work deadlines today (not that you could tell from my posting here 😉 ) – Have just finished one, and maybe this weekend if the sun doesn’t shine I can read much more.
The thing is, to me it cannot be just about adding the money columns. Impacts are always more than just the spreadsheet and that is less tangible and harder to judge.
Despite what some think I WANT the TPP to be great for all NZers. I don’t want it to be a flop that hurts us. But how do we judge it? It can’t be just by GDP because GDP has been predominantly great for over 30 years and yet our disabled citizens (those born that way) are surviving on handouts and subsistence level welfare. Hardly the measure of a thriving society.
So that’s where I come from, how will this benefit our vulnerable, and when.
There are many examples of corporations suing countries using the Investor-State Dispute Settlement procedure.
‘Since the mid 90’s, however, the ISDS has been increasingly exploited by multi-national corporations to bully governments who are trying to protect their environment or people, like Australia. In the early nineties, there were hardly any ISDS cases filed; today there are nearly 60 cases filed annually and over 500 are currently in arbitration.’
‘For example, The Renco Group, owned by U.S billionaire Ira Rennert, filed an ISDS against the government of Peru after they shut down a metal smelter in the town of La Oroya because the company had delayed environmental improvements. La Oroya has been listed as one of the most polluted towns in the world, which has proven harmful to its citizens, especially children. Renco has used the ISDS as a bargaining tool, and as of 2012 got the Peruvian government to allow the smelter to restart its zinc operations.’
‘Another recent example comes between Germany and Sweden. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, the German government, well known for its renewable energy programs, decided to shut down its nuclear power plants to focus on clean renewable, something that every government should be doing for the futures sake. Vattenfall, a Swedish utility company that had operated two nuclear plants in Germany, has sued for compensation through an ISDS provision.’
For more, look here Matthew.
And please. Stop spinning.
You quote the Daily Kos and ask someone else to stop spinning???
Do you have a good reason why Vattenfall shouldn’t be compensated after all the commitments given to it by the German government?
“Do you have a good reason why Vattenfall shouldn’t be compensated after all the commitments given to it by the German government?”
Yes. A democratic decision was made by the German government based on reconsideration of the energy environment and the consequences for public health which meant it was beholden to embark upon a change in policy direction in the public interest. That change in policy direction meant that the German government set a course to phase out the nuclear power plant industry.
I’m assuming, further, that at no time did the German government say to Vattenfall that it would – and had the power to – suspend its national sovereignty to ensure that the commitments would be met into the distant future.
Unless Vattenfall had not done due diligence about the concept of national sovereignty they surely should not have been surprised that such a risk existed? Or were they naive about the concept?
Almost everyone else is entirely familiar with the concept of national sovereignty but, who knows, maybe the board and managers of the company have lived a sheltered life in blissful ignorance of it? If so, it sounds like the company needs a better board and better managers.
All services actually delivered, I presume, will be paid for.
“IF YOU wanted to convince the public that international trade agreements are a way to let multinational companies get rich at the expense of ordinary people, this is what you would do: give foreign firms a special right to apply to a secretive tribunal of highly paid corporate lawyers for compensation whenever a government passes a law to, say, discourage smoking, protect the environment or prevent a nuclear catastrophe. Yet that is precisely what thousands of trade and investment treaties over the past half century have done …“
Yes, I am aware ISDS exists and is used. Why do you think it is a bad thing that companies can seek compensation when governments mislead them into making investments and then change the rules? Domestic companies can seek compensation under those circumstances.
“Companies have learnt how to exploit ISDS clauses, even going as far as buying firms in jurisdictions where they apply simply to gain access to them. Arbitrators are paid $600-700 an hour, giving them little incentive to dismiss cases out of hand; the secretive nature of the arbitration process and the lack of any requirement to consider precedent allows plenty of scope for creative adjudications.”
Like when a government considers a zone change to schools due to growing numbers of pupils in certain areas. Those with money and access to talking heads can get that stopped while the poor with no money and no heady netowrks to engage have to accept decisions made for them.
Interesting you take the side of the mega- corporations of the world.
I guess they have the deepest pockets and as a mercenary, you’ll spin for them then.
I’m not taking sides. But why shouldn’t, say, Zespri, be able to sue the US Federal Government if it regulates to restrict kiwifruit imports from New Zealand for no good scientific reason? You need to make a case why that is wrong. You may also not be aware that the ISDS provisions in TPP require the three adjudicators to be appointed by agreement by the countries in dispute, from countries not involved in the dispute, and for the hearings to be public. What is wrong with this?
‘First, only investors may sue governments in ISDS tribunals; the reverse is not possible. (If Australia wanted to sue Phillip Morris for public health expenses due to smoking-related cancer, for instance, it wouldn’t be able to do so in ISDS courts.) “ISDS sets up a parallel judicial system available only to foreign corporations,” said John Hilary, the executive director of War on Want, a British anti-poverty organization.
This amounts to special rights for investors, according to Scott Sinclair of the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, who studies ISDS cases brought under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “Why should foreign investors have the right to bypass ordinary courts, which have been evolving for hundreds of years as part of our democratic system of justice?” he said. “Investors can win, but the best that governments can do is avoid paying damages.” (Sinclair found that the majority of ISDS claims against Canada under NAFTA have been over environmental protection regulations.)
ISDS courts, unlike normal courts in most democracies worldwide, are for-profit institutions in which practicing lawyers and industry experts, not professional judges, sit as arbitrators. This means “for-profit arbitrators decide whether public policies implemented by democratically elected governments are right or wrong,” said Olivet.
According to Van Harten, ISDS arbitration thus “lacks all safeguards of independence and impartiality … The penalty could cripple a country economically. That a government would face so much unpredictability with so much public money — you have to understand the power of it.”
I’m not taking sides. But why shouldn’t, say, Zespri, be able to sue the US Federal Government if it regulates to restrict kiwifruit imports from New Zealand for no good scientific reason?
Don’t be an ass Matthew, the ISDS tribunals are under no compulsion to consider”good scientific reason.”
NZ is going to be on the losing end of this; further Zespri doesn’t have the resources or expertise to take effective ISDS action. Only billion dollar trans-nationals have any hope.
This transatlantic trade deal is a full-frontal assault on democracy
George Monbiot.
‘he purpose of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is to remove the regulatory differences between the US and European nations. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. But I left out the most important issue: the remarkable ability it would grant big business to sue the living daylights out of governments which try to defend their citizens. It would allow a secretive panel of corporate lawyers to overrule the will of parliament and destroy our legal protections. Yet the defenders of our sovereignty say nothing.
The mechanism through which this is achieved is known as investor-state dispute settlement. It’s already being used in many parts of the world to kill regulations protecting people and the living planet.’
‘Investor-state rules could be used to smash any attempt to save the NHS from corporate control, to re-regulate the banks, to curb the greed of the energy companies, to renationalise the railways, to leave fossil fuels in the ground. These rules shut down democratic alternatives. They outlaw leftwing politics.’
‘Here’s what one of the judges on these tribunals says about his work. “When I wake up at night and think about arbitration, it never ceases to amaze me that sovereign states have agreed to investment arbitration at all … Three private individuals are entrusted with the power to review, without any restriction or appeal procedure, all actions of the government, all decisions of the courts, and all laws and regulations emanating from parliament.”‘
It is the original TPP. Helen Clark then got the Americans to agree to negotiate to enter it. Negotiations began on this basis. It would be astonishing if the withdrawal procedures have been changed, but we shall see.
well, stuff has changed Matthew. Admittedly mainly in the areas where stuff was leaked and the public and experts were able to mount challenges to it. Makes you wonder… if it hadn’t been leaked at all.
And the parts that you are choosing to pin your colours to are interesting. Almost like you feel you are on very safe ground making some of your assertions cos the final text will support you.
10 years seems a long time but as you have decided to hang your hat on this very point I tend to think you have good reason to be on strong ground… not that I am suggesting you know anything more than, say, I do. God forbid, right Matthew? (rhetorical)
I am reliably informed that the TPP will allow for unrestricted, unilateral withdrawal by any state with six months notice, just like the original TPP.
So if, for example, a future Labour government were to find it could not block land sales to foreigners, or the ISDS process was getting out of hand, New Zealand could send a letter to the other countries and we would be out six months later.
I should add, the provision for unrestricted, unilateral withdrawal by any TPP member with six months notice lasts forever, so even in 100 years a New Zealand government could choose to opt out of the new treaty for any reason.
Wish Hooton would actually read Monbiot’s article.
It’s obvious, even to a simpleton, that the TPP is not democratic.
But then, Hooton gets paid for his opinion.
And who pays him?
One of the interesting aspects of ISDS is the chilling aspect it has on legislation – where governments hesitate to enact laws because of possible consequences. Is it true that our own legislation to introduce plain packaging on cigarettes has been allowed to lie on the table awaiting the outcome of Phillip Morris vs Australia? If this is so, then ISDS is already having a effect on this country – and can we expect this to increase in the future?
‘The health select committee last year supported the bill but the Government has delayed bringing it back to the House pending the outcome of the challenges against the Australian law by the tobacco industry.’
‘Canberra is defending its law in two cases: before World Trade Organisation adjudicators in a case brought by tobacco-producing countries including the Dominican Republic, and at a United Nations commission’s Permanent Court of Arbitration in a case linked to Hong Kong and tobacco firm Philip Morris Asia.
Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell rejected the Government’s waiting on the legal challenges. “Waiting for the World Trade Organisation decision means more people die or are sick from smoking-related illnesses. We’re tired of standing at the graveside of loved ones who have had their lives cut short from this highly addictive and poisonous drug.”‘
You don’t like what the present government is doing well tough there was a lot the last labour government did that I didn’t like and a lot of others didn’t like as well and eventually we managed to get enough seats to take power
You’re typical of the left in general in this country and thats whinge, moan and complain when you don’t get your own way
Suck it up
[lprent: I distinctly remember the right doing a “whinge, moan and complain when you don’t get your own way”. I had to listen to the idiots not only before the change of government, but also for many many years afterwards.
I strongly suspect you were one of them. I really don’t like people being hypocrites – so suck this up. 2 day ban.
Always remember the Gosman rule and its derivations. ]
Hey fuckhead my comment was about your lack of understanding and appreciation of democracy, of how ruling in favour of the corporate 0.01% is NOT democracy; it was not about this shitty government.
It’s good to see you back as I hadn’t spotted you around here for a while and was a bit worried.
Are you OK ?
I don’t tend to visit here much anymore as I find it a very depressing angry, shouty place with so many talking over each other and making very little sense – perhaps start your own blog ? i promise to visit !
While not wanting to draw the ire of the moderators, if bans are now going to be handed out for hypocrisy the site will be like a ghost town by the end of the day.
I thought you were talking about the SST until you said this.
” reading through all kinds of interesting articles”.
Has there ever been anything interesting in that rag?
Every so often I get offered free delivery of the SST for periods ranging from about 6 weeks to 6 months. I always accept as it makes a good lining for the neighbours cat litter trays.
After the trial period they always ring up and attempt to persuade me to take a paid subscription. My response is quite consistent. I tell them I will if the subscription is what the paper is worth. Then I add that what I have been paying, nothing, is the appropriate amount.
I don’t know why they keep offering these trials. Can’t they just mark my Dom/Post sub as not being one to promote the SST too?
I suggest you take out a subscription to The Economist.
A 3 year sub is currently $1,020 so it would be about twice the price of the SST but it is well worth the money.
If you only want 1 year it is about $400 and there is a 12 week offer for the digital edition at about $30 at the moment I believe.
Most of the articles are around a page and they are all superbly written. It keeps me informed for most of the week. I just pick it up, read an article and put it down again.
You might want to ignore what they say about Corbyn, but they can be just as harsh about Cameron on occasion.
There is very little about New Zealand of course but it covers the rest of the world.
The first thing I read is the obituary on the back page. I would love to know how they pick the person (or creature) covered.
The last few were
Claus Moser, statistician and culture lover
Max Beauvoir, biochemist and high priest of Haitian voodoo
Jackie Collins, novelist of Hollywood
Yogi Berra, champion baseball player and unwitting philosopher.
A couple of months ago they had one on a cat that was the honorary station master, and vice-president, of a Japanese Railway company.
I accepted 2 weeks of The Herald free a while ago. It took them 3 days to stop delivering to my neighbour instead of me. I acquired all the cat box liners I needed and when they rang to ask if I wanted to continue, I asked them if they still had the copy of the letter I wrote when I cancelled the sub several years ago.
They offer the trials so that they can up the circulation figures to give to advertisers.
If they relied on purely paid subscription figures, the charges would be considerably less. So they operate a rolling – free trial period – and provide free copies to educational facilities, libraries etc and voila! a higher circulation number.
[lprent: Generally you need to say why. Doing a raw link with a uninformative teaser is a troll pattern. In this case it appears to be a diversion from the post. Moving to OpenMike.
Read the policy and consider yourself having had your warning about diversion commenting. ]
Jane Kelsey and others are beginning to release some analyses.
Also, Ms Kelsey and I share a common beef. We both wonder why we can’t see the Government’s cost/benefit anaylsis on the TPP now, and months ago. They ad one, right?
“The request notes that ‘Given that the negotiations have concluded New Zealand’s position could not conceivably be jeopardised by its release; it is not information belonging to any other country in the TPPA negotiations; and the government is currently citing these figures in the current debate on the TPPA but not has not publishing the study on which it is based.’
The Minister’s office has acknowledged the request.
She has also repeated an earlier Official Information request made in January 2015 for ‘any cost-benefit study, impact asessment or similar analysis or evaluation of the proposed agreement as a whole, of specific provisions, or impacts on particular sectors or policies that have been conducted by or for the New Zealand government.’
In February the Minister refused to release any such information. It later transpired that this includes an NZIER study on the Labour Market Effects of TPP. The Ministry said its release during the negotiations would prejudice New Zealand’s ability to get the best outcome, a rationale which Professor Kelsey notes no longer applies.”
and to those who say Kelsey is nothing but a knee-jerking naysayer, peek at this
“New Zealand’s patent laws also apparently meet the final threshold set in the intellectual property chapter. While the transparency annex affecting Pharmac’s processes is problematic, it is not directly enforeable.
‘All that is good news for New Zealanders, although not some other TPPA countries. It will be a massive relief to the public health community and patients, although we still need to know the areas where the Minister says some additional expense will be incurred’.
However, other barriers to health policy remain, especially with investor-state dispute settlement. Even the weak public health exception does not apply to the investment chapter, and the tobacco exception appears to apply on a case-by-case basis only to certain kinds of investment claims, if a government chooses to invoke it, and not to the whole agreement.
Professor <b.Kelsey paid tribute to the pressure brought by doctors, the Australian government’s determination to fight on biologics, and New Zealand’s intellectual property negotiators .”
Also a piece written by Jane Kelsey which links to releases made by other countries. Japan’s is the most extensive but is, understandably, in Japanese.
Reminds me of the report launched in the investigation of MH17 shot down over Ukraine. A small group of victim countries were all involved, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Australia, as well as Ukraine. Russia was stonewalled out. Its a bit like getting a murder victims family to run the murder investigation. Worst of all they have the suspect, the Ukraine, in the investigation!
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike as diversionary. You know the policy. ]
That the USA did not sign up to Protocol I in 1977 makes me think they didn’t want to have their actions in Vietnam independently investigated, and sadly, they seem to have adhered to that view ever since.
Rightly or wrongly, two family members (now deceased) who served int he Pacific in WWII used to say that they fear the US forces far more than the “Japs”.
“Police would not let the group march on the road, so they walked down the footpath ahead of the bikes.
Mr Shaw said they copped some abuse from “smart alecs” in the crowd but most people were positive and open to discussion.
“People asked us, ‘What’s wrong with boobs?’ We’d explain it wasn’t about boobs, it was about the normalisation of pornography and the harm it causes.” ”
“About 50 people took part in the protest – as many as, or more than, participants in the parade.”
“He said the protest was a success because the group were able to take their message directly to a target audience of young men, who made up most of the people lining Queen St, to challenge their way of thinking.”
It is way past the time when Mr. Bruce cared what would become of his reputation if he speaks out against the establishment.
” Like me, Key went on to study at Canterbury University where our tuition fees were paid for by the state. When he finished his degree, he left university, as I did, largely free from debt.
Those things, in themselves gave both the Prime Minister and I a huge boost in life.
Yet today John Key leads a government that thinks of tertiary education as a commodity not a right and that social housing is a burden to be palmed off onto the Australians.
Why is it that our Prime Minister, who benefited hugely from the welfare state, no longer thinks the Government is morally obliged to do for today’s young people what it once did for him? And why is it that I, on the other hand, think we have betrayed our children and our grandchildren by denying them what we were once freely given?”
Yes please. I know people like Mr Key. They have convinced themselves that it is by their own hard work and intelligence that they have succeeded. They have managed to convince themselves they did it all independently. That is a a falsehood which is self evident to anyone with self awareness.
Take stock of today’s media. With a few exceptions, they come from the generation affected by student debt, yet their parents were given a debt-free education. You would think on that basis they would be well aware of the gross hypocrisy of Key’s (and other’s) argument as outlined by Bryan Bruce but no, they’re happy to go along with it and let this government off the hook. Why? Because each and everyone of them knows their continued employment and comfortable life-style is dependent on following the government line. Anyone who dares to step ‘out of line’ will eventually get the chop. The latest developments at the NZ Herald are testament to that!
The number of people taking their own life is rising to a record, even as more effort is put into preventing suicide.
Jacinda Ardern says “the statistics show the Government’s programmes aren’t making inroads.
At the moment it seems we are not joining all the dots… a more comprehensive focus on the links between suicide, deprivation and family violence/childhood abuse is called for.”
Our societal values that are pushed by politics and the media don’t really help either. We’re encouraged that earning more, getting the top job, getting into massive debt through education or a risky business, the flash house and car, going to the mall are the crucial things in life. Then we punish the people who are the furthest from this ideal. Anyone involved in any sort of crime, has mental illness, beneficiaries and generally anyone struggling in life – as in poor people are punished in our society. I don’t have facts to back this up, but if it was measurable we might fiind the costs of this culture are huge.
I had a discussion on a boat recently (a ferry) with someone in the know within Health. She commented that being on anti psychedlics (or similar, cant recall exactly) was shortening people’s lives by 25%? I did google at the time and maybe that is now outdated but what a choice…
Huffpost on how despite knowing how unsuitable their product Risperdal was for some uses the evil pricks said fuck it, we’ll pay the fines, and pushed on pushing it.
Antipsychotics Tracey, and your ‘someone in the know’ doesn’t have the foggiest idea what they’re talking about. Honestly that’s the kind of scaremongering I’d expect from the anti vaccinations lobby i honestly thought you would think twice before posting it here.
“Comparing data from year to year, the researchers found that among those patients who had 90 percent or better compliance with their medication schedules, the risk of death was 25 percent lower compared to those who were less than 10 percent compliant. Over the decade-long study period, taking medication did not increase the risk of death and there was a trend towards reducing the mortality rate. In addition, the researchers found that each additional visit per year to a mental health professional was linked to a 5 percent reduction in risk of death overall.”
well you should know the someone in the know is involved very high up in writing a report about the future of our DHB’s Doc.
Did you miss this rider
“I did google at the time and maybe that is now outdated but what a choice…”
Like you I can also google (I note that the study you refer to is about number 4 on the googled items)
Colton, C. (2006). Congruencies in increased mortality rates, years of potential life lost, and causes of death among public mental health clients in eight states. Preventing Chronic Disease 3 (April).
Joukmaa, M.; Heliovaara, M.; Knekt, P.; Aromaa, A.; Raitasalo, R.; & Lehtinen, V. (2006). Schizophrenia, neuroleptic medication and mortality. The British Journal of Psychiatry 188: 122-127 http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/188/2/122.full (link is external)
Caplan, P.J. (2011). When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
The Hopkins researchers “did not rule out all links between increased mortality and antipsychotic drugs. For example, researchers found that people who took high doses of first-generation antipsychotic medication daily (1,500 mg or greater chlorpromazine equivalents) were 88% more likely to die. She says mortality rates possibly increased in this group because first-generation antipsychotics have been associated with cardiac disease risks, and among those who died while taking the larger doses, 53% died of cardiovascular disease.”
So what is that psycho-tropics act on there nsd? Often serotonin, yes? The uptake of it and what not. But, serotonin (and therefore its effect) has never been measured and cannot be measured. The whole brain candy/ happy pill industry was built off the back a throwaway line that was never intended to be anything beyond ‘thinking aloud’ – mere speculation.
Meanwhile, what about all those psychotropics that leave people feeling suicidally depressed or dead? Or the ones that come with warnings about prescribing to given age groups? Or the ones that are more or less impossible to come off? Or the suggestion that the side-effects for some people who attempt self withdrawal can be a ‘looping out’ with the most dire of consequences, both for themselves and sometimes for who-ever else happens to be ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’?
And then we might move on to the so-called trials that would Volkswagen test technicians blushing at their own comparative inadequacy.
Or we might consider the history of the quackery that became modern psychiatry – you’ve got a thing about those things you consider quackery after-all, no?
Want to run through the list of ‘new diseases’ that the psychiatric ‘profession’ would have pills dispensed for these days? Y’know, things such as ‘moving house syndrome’ – not the actual terminology, but regardless, moving house sits in a distinct category now; one requiring medication.
Tracey made a comment that antipsychotics mortality by 25%. I refuted this with data to suggest that it is exactly the opposite situation.
She then goes on to quote from the same paper regarding 1st generation antipsychotics which were unpleasant medication with fairly vile side effects these have been replaced over the last 20 – 30 years with 2nd and 3rd generation products which have far less severe and lower numbers of side effects.
To suggest that serotonin and it’s effect cannot and has not been measured is drivel.
Regards your other points I agree that their has been an over medicalisation and treatment of normal life situations most especially in western society, however we were discussing antipsychotics which are used for disorders with related psychoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders – Bill I suggest you go back to reading your L Ron Hubbard and manuals on how to make strawmen and defending quacks like your mate from Dunedin.
To suggest that serotonin and it’s effect cannot and has not been measured is drivel.
Really!? Okay then. Point to the studies or the literature or the tables indicating serotonin measurements having been taken from living, functioning brains.
“But, serotonin (and therefore its effect) has never been measured and cannot be measured.”
Which is drivel as you may or may not know, you then change the rules to “Point to the studies or the literature or the tables indicating serotonin measurements having been taken from living, functioning brains.”
I have provided a number of search results which I have not read which i would think would show that serotonin activity and receptor responses can be shown despite that not being your first question and you changing the goalposts.
Rather than continuing playing this game on a Friday evening when I’d prefer to sit down with a beer perhaps you could get to your actual point instead of feebly attacking your keyboard.
Edit from the first link
“These results are in keeping with 5-HT2A binding studies in depressed patients and impulsive animal research. Interestingly, both an increase and a decrease in 5-HT2A binding index seem to normalize with SSRI treatment.”
Rather than continuing playing this game on a Friday evening when I’d prefer to sit down with a beer perhaps you could get to your actual point instead of feebly attacking your keyboard.
You missed the point previously made. The fixation on serotonin comes from a piece of speculation that has (as far as I know, and for the reasons mentioned – eg, direct measurement) no empirical evidence to back it up.
The ‘imaging’ in your previous links is akin (in my mind at least) to mapping the movement of cars as though that could tell you anything about numbers of occupants or why said occupants were traveling.
Of course, if you’ve already decided that each car is carrying two passengers and they are all traveling for a specific predetermined reason (eg – supermarket shopping), then the mapping can claim to show all that you want it to show.
Hope you enjoy your beer and don’t fall prey to any inadvertent urinary dribblings.
Psychiatry is not my area of expertise Bill, however the clinical and scientific evidence for SDAs in the treatment of psychoses and mood disorders is pretty comprehensive as is the science of serotonin and dopamine receptors in mental health disorders.
I’d point you back to the beginning of this thread and the throw away comment regarding a 25% increase in mortality, this is a very poor thing to say in a public forum when there is no evidence to back it up and when the readers of such comments may be on such medications themselves or relay the information to others who are on such medications – I am sure you will accept that the consequence of someone stopping medications such as these without being under medical supervision might be disastrous.
Regarding your other comment – unfortunately benign prostatic hyperplasia is part of the territory at my age.
hey NSD, i come across a lot of people who hate swallowing the pills they are prescribed, hate the effects the pills have on their lives and cant wait to find ways to get off the shite.
Well the fact that they’re visiting a chiropractor suggests that a change of lifestyle may assist with lowering or removing the amount of prescribed medication they are on.
When you know as much about my areas of expertise as me, then I will endeavour to live up to your expectations in your areas of expertise.
Actually I won’t. The information is coming out via this post and that’s good. I don’t profess to know everything about everything (hence I put the rider in my comment which you chose to ignore)
Here is the author.
John Ballingall is deputy chief executive of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. Make your own mind up if he’s got vested interests. http://nzier.org.nz/people/john-ballingall/
This comment below is typical of the ones replying to the neo-liberal ideologue Ballingall.
‘Another uninformed article, and so many all at once in the Herald? This all seems part of a government drum-beat to imprint the idea things are good before they can be properly seen. Any person of sense will regret such an ethic, even if that is perhaps consistent with the kind of thing of the discredited prime minister models for innocent citizens.
At any rate one laments the subservience of a newspaper to its proprietors’ party interests. That road turns a journal into a party political organ.’
It would appear many NZers aren’t falling for the spin.
” the discredited prime minister models for innocent citizens.”
I suggest that innocent is not the right word. On looking over past decades and our slide downwards it has happened because of ‘neglectful’ citizens. We did not watch our assets, and now we have to watch our asses. Or someone will be biting us in the bum to put it crudely but truly.
But observant readers notice their spin. This was one of the best comments to the anonymous Herald editorial.
“By and large, the Government has a good tale to tell about the TPP agreement. For the few disappointments, especially dairy access to the United States, Canada and Japan, there are strong gains in other areas”.
You just spent the entire article telling us that we don’t know whats in the fine print and then you say there are strong gains.
How can you say this if we don’t know whats in the document.
Even Hillary Clinton is against this deal.
More spin from the National Party’s media outlet the NZ Herald.”
The Herald has read the Fact Sheets, assumed they contain all the facts, and regurgitated them. For example in one Fact Sheet it states there will be losses (or costs) but doesn’t state how much. Funny they don’t know that number, just the “good” ones.
The Government is manipulating the information. Otherwise they would follow Japan’s lead and release summaries of all chapters running to 36 pages. If it is such a great deal, release everything, including the cost projections and cost/benefit analysis our entry was based on. But no, Groser is still refusing to release this.
Alex Swney is in prison for 5 years for his fraud on IRD and Heart of the City. He paid back a few hundred thousand (less than 500k I understand) and yet his children still attend a private school in Auckland and live in an expensive home in Herne Bay…
Allegedly Swney threw a party the night before his sentencing and some of the very well heeled of Auckland attended.
It’s not just DotCom with this mindset PR, it is an affliction shared by many of the wealthy in this country.
He’s already been moved to the new Wiri prison where he lives in a house and has had indications he will be out in 8 months on home detention…and could afford a QC at $800-1000 bucks an hour
1. How we treat Remorse expressions in terms of sentencing. Accepting letters, in my view, is problematic. Making defendants speak to their remorse in Court and to scutiny of that remorse by the Judge;
2. Offering reduction in terms if involved in a Rehabiitation programme
3. Offering more rehabilitation programmes and increasing availability of the programmes proven to reduce recidivism.
Recidivism costs us tens of millions (or more) a year.
4. Even with Home Detention orders a minimum of 1 month serve din a medium security prison should be a pre requisite to the Home Detention
One of the interesting things about this is that the Liberal rise first showed up in the Nanos daily tracking polls which were conducted by person-to-person phone calls. All the other automated/online polls were slower to record the shifting voter sentiment.
And in fact, up until yesterday they were all suggesting a Cons minority government or even a possible majority for Harper.
According to the Gobe & Mail today 67% of voters want a change of PM for Canada. The Liberals have made sizeable gains in both Ontario and Quebec where enough seats are in play to determine the outcome of the election.
Mr Trudeau has confounded the pundits by performing much more strongly than expected in the campaign and debates (the Munk debate on Foreign Policy was at a level we can only dream about in NZ). The Liberals have also out-played the NDP in the way that they have been able to articulate the desire for change. They broke with economic orthodoxy at the start of the campaign and pledged infrastructure spending that would result in modest deficits for 3 years, contrary to both the NDP and Cons promises to balance the budget at all costs. It seems to have paid off.
I have to admit that, at the time, I wasn’t Helen Clarks greatest supporter but with the benefit of hindsight and whats come after we’ve been fortunate in NZ that we’ve had Clark/Cullen followed by Key/English
Great frankly for that alone we should be the envy of the world
The Right and its supporters demonised Clark. They essentially stalked her sexuality and that of her husband, they used epithets like HelenGrad and some called her Alan Clark. her appearance was mocked
To say that you feel fortunate to hae had her as leader puts you at odds with those people who are only now singing her praises because they are using her to be a proponent for the TPP (privately I am sure none of them regret the constant direct and indirect attacks. It also makes me wonder how susceptible you are to the PR the right throws about (they’ve only been applauding her for a few days yet here you are)i
Well said Tracey, The same way Abbott and the right and their fellow travellers did the same misogynistic crap on Julia Gillard in Oz. I like the way Julia Gillard tackled Abbott in their parliament over this. It would be one of the best parliamentary speeches I have ever seen.
What a turnabout. Eight years ago she was the devil incarnate. Now, they can’t wait to get a photo with her. Could they be hedging their bets in case she is the new Secretary General?
Interested in what is happening in RW Canada? Tommorrow with Kim on Radionz.
8:12 Heather Mallick: Stephen Harper
Heather Mallick is a staff columnist for the Toronto Star, and has published two books: a diary, Pearls in Vinegar (Penguin), and a collection of essays, Cake or Death (Knopf). Her piece on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, The Nixon of the North, appears in the latest issue of Harper’s magazine.
It’s starting to look more and more likely that Harper’s going to be turfed out as PM of Canada on October 19. Harper has said he will resign immediately if the Conservatives aren’t the largest party in the Commons on October 20th. Current polling suggest the Liberals are edging the seat count.
Nobody in NZ seems to be paying much attention. But it’s instructive for us nonetheless. Like other Westminster parliaments voters in Canada seem to have hit the 10 year fatigue level where they start to look for change. Also Harper was the first of the four conservative Commonwealth leaders to be elected in 2006. His time is up. Guess who’s next? Key was elected in 2008, Cameron in 2010 and Abbott in 2013.
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Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
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From the Daily Blog, Bomber Bradbury writes.
‘Here is what the NZ Herald and Stuff decided was more important than a corporate coup removing NZs economic and political sovereignty the day after the TPPA was signed.
Sports gamblers panicking that the All Blacks won’t win the Rugby World Cup.
A porn renovation TV show might make some more money than they first thought.
A boat falls off a trailer.
A bad bus trip.
The world didn’t end after a religious prophecy
A radio host wears the same togs as the Kylie Jenner.
An Apartment that got flooded by a fish tank was sold.
Government spends $600 000 on flowers
A dog gets put down.
That’s right folks, the single biggest erosion of our political and economic sovereignty for US corporate interests has to struggle to get any attention amongst a sea of Sports gambling feeling depresses, porn renovation TV shows, boats falling off trailers, bad bus trips, world not ending, radio hosts wearing togs, flooded apartments, spending money on flowers and dogs being put down.
This is why we are a nation of sheep.’
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/10/08/why-the-tppa-is-a-corporate-coup-and-stories-the-nz-mainstream-media-thought-were-more-important/
‘
Agree it is exactly why so many people really are ignorant of important matters that go on around and without them
Most people really have no idea
Why does the Herald do this? Would it happen to be owned by a foreign investor perhaps? ….
The NZ Herald – conflicted to hell
WikiLeaks – The US strategy to create a new global legal and economic system: TPP, TTIP, TISA.
Anne posted this excellent synopsis from Paul Buchanan on Key’s trip to Iraq on Daily Review yesterday. Worth reposting.
Highlights.
‘Although all of the coverage was vacuous, that of a print reporter from Wellington takes the cake for most ignorantly obsequious. Among other gems, she claimed more than once in her reports that the PM as well as herself where outfitted in “full body armour.” Photos of the visit suggest otherwise, since Key is seen on base in a flak jacket, shirt, pants and a baseball cap. Most of the military personnel around him were dressed in basic uniforms with no armour or helmets, save Iraqi recruits running drills and his personal protection force (30 “non-deployed” SAS soldiers, which is a bit of overkill when it comes to that sort of thing and makes one wonder from where they were sourced since 30 is a significant chunk of the unit). There is even one photo of Key walking along with some guy in a suit.
According to this particular reporter, her “full body armour” consisted of a flak jacket and a helmet. I reckon that she needs to be briefed on what being fully body armoured entails. And the guy in the suit may want to consider his status if everyone but him in the entourage were given helmets and flak jackets.
The entire gaggle of NZ media regurgitated the line that the NZDF was making a difference and the training was a success. This, after a day at the base and, judging from the tone of their reports, never talking independently with anyone on it (the NZ media were accompanied by “minders” at all times).
In any event what is clear is this. With the complicity of major media outlets, Mr. Key has added troop visits to his pandas and flags repertoire of diversions. ‘
http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2015/10/another-dog-and-pony-show/
The coverage has been an excitement-fest of giddy reporters effusing over their perceived life threatening trip.
Trending …
trending…
I am reminded of Helen Clark’s visit to the Middle East in 2003. We were told in advance she was going but not given details of the itinerary. There was one film clip showing her strolling with the then Defence Chief, Bruce Ferguson and some of the soldiers. No “full body armour” or even flak jackets – just dressed in fatigues as was appropriate. No breathless spin or side issue stories – just a straightforward factual account of the visit.
What a difference.
this government has mastered the art of wearing as much protective equipment as possible in order to make viewers think they’re actually doing something. All the fluoro vests at ChCh post-quake press conferences, for example.
Really, if they need to wear any of that shit they shouldn’t be dicking around in front of cameras in that place.
+1
If they need to wear that shit then they’re getting in the way.
Paul you would have thought that many security staff, with hangers on, would be more dangeress Just goes too show , he’s not a donkey, but a show pony.
This would be the same reporter from Wellington and Key fangirl who, when Key came to our town, explicitly instructed her accompanying photographer not to take any photos which included the sizeable protest crowd who had also turned up to greet the PM.
Hero images only of Dear Leader, please.
And so public opinion is manipulated, right under our noses.
I actually don’t know who the reporter is.
Can you enlighten me?
Tracy Watkins?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/72791643/john-key-in-dramatic-iraq-troop-visit
Just so nobody forgets …..
The TPP will deliver a 1% gain in 15 years time …..
ha ha
fail
Lots here on Investor State clause
TTIP similar to TPP
TTIP: A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing
TPP
Ardern said Labour will face the consequences.
Robertson said Labour will weigh up the consequences.
King said Labour had made it clear it would not support the TPP if it did not meet their bottom lines.
Confused?
Why the inconsistency?
I can only conclude they are waiting to see detail of the deal, which obviously leads to the conclusion it’s possible Labour will support the TPP.
Leadership is lacking sadly.
Then why not state that rather than making inconsistent comments?
The inconsistency in the statements being touted are far from the united, competent, professional look they are trying to portray. Leaving a number questioning their credibility and where they actually stand?
Just curious but what has the leader of Labour said? We’ve heard from the others but whats Little saying?
He’s on holiday with his family. Stephanie posted this when I begged him to front the newly merged Union…
Key leaves the country for a photo Op and Little is on hols.
Well its important to get your priorities right
Oh piss off, the leader of the opposition works 18 hour days and never gets to see his family. It’s a brutal, relentless job. Let the man see his bloody wife and kids.
Yes it’s been awfully quiet on such an important and long ranged deal…basically taking us forward a generation in policy.
I’m not filled with confidence.
“Then why not state that rather than making inconsistent comments?”
From what I can tell Labour internal structures allow MPs to speak to the public without talking to each other or having a coherent plan. They have a great deal of independence in terms of expressing their own opinions. We’ve seen this many times with Labour (remember Shane Jones running off at the mouth about whatever he wanted?).
It seems odd to me. I don’t know the exact structural details but it’s rare to see the Green Party presenting this kind of inconsistency, they generally have a clear message and channels for communicating it. I can’t imagine a GP MP thinking that their own personal opinion was more important than communicating what the party had decided. It’s not that it hasn’t happened but it’s rare, whereas for Labour it seems to be their base line of operation.
Peeni Henare is another of late that comes to mind, publicly announcing support for a particular charter school.
Labour need a far more coordinated front. So much for dealing to the perception (which National depicted so well in the election) of them rowing in different directions.
Labour can’t even get their own party to tow the line, let alone show they can work in coalition.
They really need to up their game. The clock is ticking.
“Peeni Henare is another of late that comes to mind, publicly announcing support for a particular charter school.”
Indeed, although from what I remember it wasn’t so much a public announcement as him going to a fundraiser for the local iwi initiative. Someone in the MSM got up to mischief and Labour fell right into that trap with a few days of contradictory statements from Henare and Little. It’s like they’re not in the same room and can’t have a conversation about how to present to the public something that is intended to damage Labour (the MSM story) before they leave the room. So the sorting out the message happens in public and leads to those things you name about perception.
I really don’t get it but it does tie in nicely with that idea that people won’t vote for Labour because they look incompetent irrespective of the policy.
“They really need to up their game. The clock is ticking.”
Some of us have stopped expecting them to change 😉 When Cunliffe was leader there was a saying on the standard, just give them a few more months and they’ll sort themselves out. It was entirely sarcastic.
Re Peeni Henare, this was as well as attending the fundraiser.
Does the Labour caucus have any plan at all about TPP?
I asked my Labour MP at the last LEC meeting. I was NOT impressed with the answer.
How many Labour MPs are not firmly opposed to TPPA?
In a vacuum there is only silence.
Yes. The leader is on schools holiday
“Does the Labour caucus have any plan at all about TPP?”
King said Labour would discuss its position at its caucus meeting.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/72855597/labours-annette-king-denies-internal-rift-over-tppa-deal
I don’t see what’s inconsistent.
It is possible to say you will not support the TPP in opposition, and in government refuse to be bound by it. In each case you’d have to weigh up your options, which is what Robertson was saying. This is Labour’s position. None of this is inconsistent in any way. I heard Annette give an interview on the radio where she outlined this clearly.
Sure, media will report different bits. People here just seem desperate to attack Labour over the TPP because, like other parties actually, they’re not declaring their opposition yet to something they haven’t seen the detail of.
“It is possible to say you will not support the TPP in opposition, and in government refuse to be bound by it.”
Yes. However, the inconsistency lays with Ardern saying Labour will face the consequences (implying Labour will refuse to be bound by it) and Robertson saying Labour will weigh up the consequences. Implying if the consequences are to severe, Labour will breach their 5 bottom lines. And therefore support the TPP
More details about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement have been released by the Government
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/govt-releases-tppa-details-2015100817#ixzz3o0HOYSWM
So why not the whole thing? Because they are deliberately building a particular and slanted viewpoint of the deal, otherwise they would release the whole thing.
Part of team Key’s charm offensive?
I just read the IT fact sheet. It refers to additional costs but no detail and that are offset against the benefits of the TPP. IT is a PR Fact Sheet. Groser must know broadly speaking what the costs will be, just as he can say what the benefits will be (financially).
As I said to Lprent the other day:
http://thestandard.org.nz/tppa-deal-close/#comment-1078623
Is this misleading to readers?
“Under the agreement, which still needs to be passed by each respective country’s Parliaments,
Does that make it seem, to an ordinary reader, that if Parliament doesn’t approve, it doesn’t go through?
Interestingly the Fact Sheets don’t suggest any downside. That seems slightly odd in a large scale negotiation.
I see that manufacturing gets savings of $10 per year, one of the lowest savings and the lowest when measured against income generated.
Does anyone else read the Sunday Star Times?
A few weeks ago I got a note from Fairfax explaining the price was going up. I have stuck with it because it has always enabled me to spend a good leisurely w hours on a Sunday, relaxed and reading through all kinds of interesting articles.
The last few weeks the news section has been tiny. 12 pages last Sunday, 4 of which were full page ads and another page was rugby reporting. 3 more half page ads.
It’s the incredible shrinking newspaper, with a higher price tag.
It’s interesting to read the TPP views being peddled by the other signatories to the deal.
Each is playing the propaganda game and I would expect that.
What I also expect is my party, a party of the left, to have a view that reflects that, not this constant vague and ill defined language.
Surely we have seen in Britain how people are looking to the left for answers to a clearly under performing world economy and war without end.
Agree, all countries are on PR offensive, ours included. They have the luxury of 30 days unfettered opposition. It’s a Godsend i am sure.
One genuine problem is that in the rush to finish a deal, any deal, many details are unclear to the countries themselves. This alone is sufficient reason to reject this deal until there is full clarity.
Yes, the Fact Sheets released by Groser are pre pared (obviously) and part of a well-planned charm offensive. VERY hard for opponents (including LIttle) to oppose without the potential to have egg on their faces ( which I think National is hoping for) when the final detail is released.
National will have released those Fact Sheets to selected people before today so they are ready and primed with supportive noise
In that case Little should be praised for learning, remember when John Key played down the last budget and Little said how bad it would be and oops a daisy suddenly some benefits were raised…Little fell right into that trap so at least hes avoiding this one
I think this is a perceptive remark in that a soft deal is signed, that is acceptable publicly, and then the work of a death by a thousand cuts begins.
I simply don’t believe Pharmac is acceptable over the long term within a deal like this.
I suspect most people know that.
You’ve got lefties saying its the end of democracy (it clearly isn’t) and you’ve got the right saying its the best thing since sliced bread (its probably not) so the end result will be somewhere in the middle where the gains outweigh the losses, not by as much as hoped but by a decent amount and in the next few years people will be wondering what the big fuss was about…if they remember it at all
they wont remember it because it will only deliver 1% gain in 15 years
it is the most useless business deal I have ever seen
1% in 15 years is a frikkin’ joke
I think perhaps you are underestimating the serious economic deficiency worldwide over the last seven years.
We have a tremendous deflationary bias going on, not to mention war without an end in sight.
The end of the world is hyperbolic and illustrative, but serious difficulties is accurate.
Workers and the poor bear the brunt.
As an aside democracy always has limits and those limits are fluid. Greece as an example.
Not all the Right PR. That’s the thing about this. Republicans in the USA (who are not left by any standard) do not like it either. So when Wayne Mapp says, all self righteously,that it is only the hard left that disapprove, he is not quite right. Now, the reasons for opposition may differ between the two groups but mostly it’s the lawyer in me, never agree to something unless you have read it.
I know Key and Groser have read it but even Key’s supporters say they like him but they don’t believe things he says…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9085347/John-Keys-believability-low
So, if it were as easy to undo as Hooton is suggesting whenever he can (based at present on a 2005 version of the draft), then I wouldn’t be as oppositional.
Well I get the feeling that a lot of the dislike to the TPP in America is more dislike of Obama
Much like whatever Key announces in NZ is immediately disregarded by the left in NZ simply because its Key saying it
and yet it’s not just the left who don’t “believe” what he says PR.
If you read below you will see that Kelsey (who Mapps says is just a hard left FTA hater, praises our IT negotiators.
The Republicans are protectionists PR, always have been. They want to be able to trade with other countries but keep USA free of competition from outside, that is why they oppose the TPP
Just curious tracey but based on the little thats been released and not on anyone lese conjecture, do you think the this deal will (even if its not by very much) be of net benefit to NZ?
I don’t know PR. I am only today having time to read the stuff that is coming out from other countries to get an idea of content. I have read all Timmy’s Fact Sheets but they are not all that elucidating due to the obvious focus on $$$ gain and when loss is noted, not figures are given.
I have two work deadlines today (not that you could tell from my posting here 😉 ) – Have just finished one, and maybe this weekend if the sun doesn’t shine I can read much more.
The thing is, to me it cannot be just about adding the money columns. Impacts are always more than just the spreadsheet and that is less tangible and harder to judge.
Despite what some think I WANT the TPP to be great for all NZers. I don’t want it to be a flop that hurts us. But how do we judge it? It can’t be just by GDP because GDP has been predominantly great for over 30 years and yet our disabled citizens (those born that way) are surviving on handouts and subsistence level welfare. Hardly the measure of a thriving society.
So that’s where I come from, how will this benefit our vulnerable, and when.
It’s not a 2005 version of the draft, its the ratified TPP treaty between NZ, Singapore, Chile and Brunei.
There are many examples of corporations suing countries using the Investor-State Dispute Settlement procedure.
‘Since the mid 90’s, however, the ISDS has been increasingly exploited by multi-national corporations to bully governments who are trying to protect their environment or people, like Australia. In the early nineties, there were hardly any ISDS cases filed; today there are nearly 60 cases filed annually and over 500 are currently in arbitration.’
‘For example, The Renco Group, owned by U.S billionaire Ira Rennert, filed an ISDS against the government of Peru after they shut down a metal smelter in the town of La Oroya because the company had delayed environmental improvements. La Oroya has been listed as one of the most polluted towns in the world, which has proven harmful to its citizens, especially children. Renco has used the ISDS as a bargaining tool, and as of 2012 got the Peruvian government to allow the smelter to restart its zinc operations.’
‘Another recent example comes between Germany and Sweden. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, the German government, well known for its renewable energy programs, decided to shut down its nuclear power plants to focus on clean renewable, something that every government should be doing for the futures sake. Vattenfall, a Swedish utility company that had operated two nuclear plants in Germany, has sued for compensation through an ISDS provision.’
For more, look here Matthew.
And please. Stop spinning.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/11/1361760/-When-Corporations-Sue-Countries-For-Profit#
You quote the Daily Kos and ask someone else to stop spinning???
Do you have a good reason why Vattenfall shouldn’t be compensated after all the commitments given to it by the German government?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kill-the-dispute-settlement-language-in-the-trans-pacific-partnership/2015/02/25/ec7705a2-bd1e-11e4-b274-e5209a3bc9a9_story.html
Replying to Matthew Hooton (11:33am).
“Do you have a good reason why Vattenfall shouldn’t be compensated after all the commitments given to it by the German government?”
Yes. A democratic decision was made by the German government based on reconsideration of the energy environment and the consequences for public health which meant it was beholden to embark upon a change in policy direction in the public interest. That change in policy direction meant that the German government set a course to phase out the nuclear power plant industry.
I’m assuming, further, that at no time did the German government say to Vattenfall that it would – and had the power to – suspend its national sovereignty to ensure that the commitments would be met into the distant future.
Unless Vattenfall had not done due diligence about the concept of national sovereignty they surely should not have been surprised that such a risk existed? Or were they naive about the concept?
Almost everyone else is entirely familiar with the concept of national sovereignty but, who knows, maybe the board and managers of the company have lived a sheltered life in blissful ignorance of it? If so, it sounds like the company needs a better board and better managers.
All services actually delivered, I presume, will be paid for.
Interestingly, The Economist didn’t seem too keen on these ISDS provisions back in 2014 (I see the article has been linked to by tracey too):
“IF YOU wanted to convince the public that international trade agreements are a way to let multinational companies get rich at the expense of ordinary people, this is what you would do: give foreign firms a special right to apply to a secretive tribunal of highly paid corporate lawyers for compensation whenever a government passes a law to, say, discourage smoking, protect the environment or prevent a nuclear catastrophe. Yet that is precisely what thousands of trade and investment treaties over the past half century have done …“
The examples are verifiable, Matthew.
Will the examples provided by the Guardian suffice?
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/10/obscure-legal-system-lets-corportations-sue-states-ttip-icsid
Yes, I am aware ISDS exists and is used. Why do you think it is a bad thing that companies can seek compensation when governments mislead them into making investments and then change the rules? Domestic companies can seek compensation under those circumstances.
Matthew
“Companies have learnt how to exploit ISDS clauses, even going as far as buying firms in jurisdictions where they apply simply to gain access to them. Arbitrators are paid $600-700 an hour, giving them little incentive to dismiss cases out of hand; the secretive nature of the arbitration process and the lack of any requirement to consider precedent allows plenty of scope for creative adjudications.”
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21623756-governments-are-souring-treaties-protect-foreign-investors-arbitration
Like when a government considers a zone change to schools due to growing numbers of pupils in certain areas. Those with money and access to talking heads can get that stopped while the poor with no money and no heady netowrks to engage have to accept decisions made for them.
The New Statesman also has examples.
http://www.newstatesman.com/business/2013/07/trade-deal-allows-corporations-sue-governments-not-about-recovery
Al- Jazeera
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/27/a-eu-us-trade-agreement-could-allow.html
Yes, but, again, what’s wrong with that?
Interesting you take the side of the mega- corporations of the world.
I guess they have the deepest pockets and as a mercenary, you’ll spin for them then.
I’m not taking sides. But why shouldn’t, say, Zespri, be able to sue the US Federal Government if it regulates to restrict kiwifruit imports from New Zealand for no good scientific reason? You need to make a case why that is wrong. You may also not be aware that the ISDS provisions in TPP require the three adjudicators to be appointed by agreement by the countries in dispute, from countries not involved in the dispute, and for the hearings to be public. What is wrong with this?
From the al-Jazeera article.
‘First, only investors may sue governments in ISDS tribunals; the reverse is not possible. (If Australia wanted to sue Phillip Morris for public health expenses due to smoking-related cancer, for instance, it wouldn’t be able to do so in ISDS courts.) “ISDS sets up a parallel judicial system available only to foreign corporations,” said John Hilary, the executive director of War on Want, a British anti-poverty organization.
This amounts to special rights for investors, according to Scott Sinclair of the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, who studies ISDS cases brought under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “Why should foreign investors have the right to bypass ordinary courts, which have been evolving for hundreds of years as part of our democratic system of justice?” he said. “Investors can win, but the best that governments can do is avoid paying damages.” (Sinclair found that the majority of ISDS claims against Canada under NAFTA have been over environmental protection regulations.)
ISDS courts, unlike normal courts in most democracies worldwide, are for-profit institutions in which practicing lawyers and industry experts, not professional judges, sit as arbitrators. This means “for-profit arbitrators decide whether public policies implemented by democratically elected governments are right or wrong,” said Olivet.
According to Van Harten, ISDS arbitration thus “lacks all safeguards of independence and impartiality … The penalty could cripple a country economically. That a government would face so much unpredictability with so much public money — you have to understand the power of it.”
Don’t be an ass Matthew, the ISDS tribunals are under no compulsion to consider”good scientific reason.”
NZ is going to be on the losing end of this; further Zespri doesn’t have the resources or expertise to take effective ISDS action. Only billion dollar trans-nationals have any hope.
This transatlantic trade deal is a full-frontal assault on democracy
George Monbiot.
‘he purpose of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is to remove the regulatory differences between the US and European nations. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. But I left out the most important issue: the remarkable ability it would grant big business to sue the living daylights out of governments which try to defend their citizens. It would allow a secretive panel of corporate lawyers to overrule the will of parliament and destroy our legal protections. Yet the defenders of our sovereignty say nothing.
The mechanism through which this is achieved is known as investor-state dispute settlement. It’s already being used in many parts of the world to kill regulations protecting people and the living planet.’
‘Investor-state rules could be used to smash any attempt to save the NHS from corporate control, to re-regulate the banks, to curb the greed of the energy companies, to renationalise the railways, to leave fossil fuels in the ground. These rules shut down democratic alternatives. They outlaw leftwing politics.’
‘Here’s what one of the judges on these tribunals says about his work. “When I wake up at night and think about arbitration, it never ceases to amaze me that sovereign states have agreed to investment arbitration at all … Three private individuals are entrusted with the power to review, without any restriction or appeal procedure, all actions of the government, all decisions of the courts, and all laws and regulations emanating from parliament.”‘
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/04/us-trade-deal-full-frontal-assault-on-democracy
Matthew
Re: no good scientific reason. Please define. And in your definition take account of the current debate about climate change. TIA.
so it’s not even the treaty being discussed?
Hooton is paid by the multinationals to do their dirty work.
It is the original TPP. Helen Clark then got the Americans to agree to negotiate to enter it. Negotiations began on this basis. It would be astonishing if the withdrawal procedures have been changed, but we shall see.
well, stuff has changed Matthew. Admittedly mainly in the areas where stuff was leaked and the public and experts were able to mount challenges to it. Makes you wonder… if it hadn’t been leaked at all.
And the parts that you are choosing to pin your colours to are interesting. Almost like you feel you are on very safe ground making some of your assertions cos the final text will support you.
10 years seems a long time but as you have decided to hang your hat on this very point I tend to think you have good reason to be on strong ground… not that I am suggesting you know anything more than, say, I do. God forbid, right Matthew? (rhetorical)
Good Morning Tracey
I have some good news for you.
I am reliably informed that the TPP will allow for unrestricted, unilateral withdrawal by any state with six months notice, just like the original TPP.
So if, for example, a future Labour government were to find it could not block land sales to foreigners, or the ISDS process was getting out of hand, New Zealand could send a letter to the other countries and we would be out six months later.
Hope this satisfies some of your concerns.
I should add, the provision for unrestricted, unilateral withdrawal by any TPP member with six months notice lasts forever, so even in 100 years a New Zealand government could choose to opt out of the new treaty for any reason.
reliably informed.
qed
Hey dickhead, since when was rule by the corporate 0.01% against the wishes of the bottom 99% “democracy”?
Your comment clearly shows you have no fucking idea what “democracy” is so please stop talking about it.
Wish Hooton would actually read Monbiot’s article.
It’s obvious, even to a simpleton, that the TPP is not democratic.
But then, Hooton gets paid for his opinion.
And who pays him?
One of the interesting aspects of ISDS is the chilling aspect it has on legislation – where governments hesitate to enact laws because of possible consequences. Is it true that our own legislation to introduce plain packaging on cigarettes has been allowed to lie on the table awaiting the outcome of Phillip Morris vs Australia? If this is so, then ISDS is already having a effect on this country – and can we expect this to increase in the future?
Yes.
‘The health select committee last year supported the bill but the Government has delayed bringing it back to the House pending the outcome of the challenges against the Australian law by the tobacco industry.’
‘Canberra is defending its law in two cases: before World Trade Organisation adjudicators in a case brought by tobacco-producing countries including the Dominican Republic, and at a United Nations commission’s Permanent Court of Arbitration in a case linked to Hong Kong and tobacco firm Philip Morris Asia.
Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell rejected the Government’s waiting on the legal challenges. “Waiting for the World Trade Organisation decision means more people die or are sick from smoking-related illnesses. We’re tired of standing at the graveside of loved ones who have had their lives cut short from this highly addictive and poisonous drug.”‘
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11410127
You don’t like what the present government is doing well tough there was a lot the last labour government did that I didn’t like and a lot of others didn’t like as well and eventually we managed to get enough seats to take power
You’re typical of the left in general in this country and thats whinge, moan and complain when you don’t get your own way
Suck it up
[lprent: I distinctly remember the right doing a “whinge, moan and complain when you don’t get your own way”. I had to listen to the idiots not only before the change of government, but also for many many years afterwards.
I strongly suspect you were one of them. I really don’t like people being hypocrites – so suck this up. 2 day ban.
Always remember the Gosman rule and its derivations. ]
Thanks for proving that you don’t understand or give a shit about “democracy” so stop talking about it.
Hey fuckhead my comment was about your lack of understanding and appreciation of democracy, of how ruling in favour of the corporate 0.01% is NOT democracy; it was not about this shitty government.
Learn to read.
[lprent: Cool down. ]
Hi CV
It’s good to see you back as I hadn’t spotted you around here for a while and was a bit worried.
Are you OK ?
I don’t tend to visit here much anymore as I find it a very depressing angry, shouty place with so many talking over each other and making very little sense – perhaps start your own blog ? i promise to visit !
you are most kind; just busy organising work and life, thank you for your supportive comments 🙂
While not wanting to draw the ire of the moderators, if bans are now going to be handed out for hypocrisy the site will be like a ghost town by the end of the day.
I thought you were talking about the SST until you said this.
” reading through all kinds of interesting articles”.
Has there ever been anything interesting in that rag?
Every so often I get offered free delivery of the SST for periods ranging from about 6 weeks to 6 months. I always accept as it makes a good lining for the neighbours cat litter trays.
After the trial period they always ring up and attempt to persuade me to take a paid subscription. My response is quite consistent. I tell them I will if the subscription is what the paper is worth. Then I add that what I have been paying, nothing, is the appropriate amount.
I don’t know why they keep offering these trials. Can’t they just mark my Dom/Post sub as not being one to promote the SST too?
I’m getting old Alwyn, it could be a few years since it was any good 😉
BUT I definitely could read one page articles of proper reporting on soft and hard issues.
I also accept the Herald’s free issues offer so that when they ring to say would I like to sing up I tell them exactly why I won’t.
Online is no better, in fact online both publications are now nothing more than “Entertainment Tonight”. A programme I don’t watch but am aware of.
I suggest you take out a subscription to The Economist.
A 3 year sub is currently $1,020 so it would be about twice the price of the SST but it is well worth the money.
If you only want 1 year it is about $400 and there is a 12 week offer for the digital edition at about $30 at the moment I believe.
Most of the articles are around a page and they are all superbly written. It keeps me informed for most of the week. I just pick it up, read an article and put it down again.
You might want to ignore what they say about Corbyn, but they can be just as harsh about Cameron on occasion.
There is very little about New Zealand of course but it covers the rest of the world.
The first thing I read is the obituary on the back page. I would love to know how they pick the person (or creature) covered.
The last few were
Claus Moser, statistician and culture lover
Max Beauvoir, biochemist and high priest of Haitian voodoo
Jackie Collins, novelist of Hollywood
Yogi Berra, champion baseball player and unwitting philosopher.
A couple of months ago they had one on a cat that was the honorary station master, and vice-president, of a Japanese Railway company.
Thanks Alwyn
I will take a look.
I accepted 2 weeks of The Herald free a while ago. It took them 3 days to stop delivering to my neighbour instead of me. I acquired all the cat box liners I needed and when they rang to ask if I wanted to continue, I asked them if they still had the copy of the letter I wrote when I cancelled the sub several years ago.
They offer the trials so that they can up the circulation figures to give to advertisers.
If they relied on purely paid subscription figures, the charges would be considerably less. So they operate a rolling – free trial period – and provide free copies to educational facilities, libraries etc and voila! a higher circulation number.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/08/russia-pay-price-syrian-airstrikes-ashton-carter-us-defence-secretary
How ironic.
[lprent: Generally you need to say why. Doing a raw link with a uninformative teaser is a troll pattern. In this case it appears to be a diversion from the post. Moving to OpenMike.
Read the policy and consider yourself having had your warning about diversion commenting. ]
It did look a little “Nice muslim minority you got there Russia – shame if something happened that stirred them up.’
TPPA deal may jeopardise access to new generic medicines – See more at: http://foreignaffairs.co.nz/2015/10/09/tppa-deal-may-jeopardise-access-to-new-generic-medicines/#sthash.Ib8i33gG.dpuf
Jane Kelsey and others are beginning to release some analyses.
Also, Ms Kelsey and I share a common beef. We both wonder why we can’t see the Government’s cost/benefit anaylsis on the TPP now, and months ago. They ad one, right?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1510/S00158/renewed-official-information-act-requests-for-tppa-analyses.htm
“The request notes that ‘Given that the negotiations have concluded New Zealand’s position could not conceivably be jeopardised by its release; it is not information belonging to any other country in the TPPA negotiations; and the government is currently citing these figures in the current debate on the TPPA but not has not publishing the study on which it is based.’
The Minister’s office has acknowledged the request.
She has also repeated an earlier Official Information request made in January 2015 for ‘any cost-benefit study, impact asessment or similar analysis or evaluation of the proposed agreement as a whole, of specific provisions, or impacts on particular sectors or policies that have been conducted by or for the New Zealand government.’
In February the Minister refused to release any such information. It later transpired that this includes an NZIER study on the Labour Market Effects of TPP. The Ministry said its release during the negotiations would prejudice New Zealand’s ability to get the best outcome, a rationale which Professor Kelsey notes no longer applies.”
Nothing to fear, nothing to hide
and to those who say Kelsey is nothing but a knee-jerking naysayer, peek at this
“New Zealand’s patent laws also apparently meet the final threshold set in the intellectual property chapter. While the transparency annex affecting Pharmac’s processes is problematic, it is not directly enforeable.
‘All that is good news for New Zealanders, although not some other TPPA countries. It will be a massive relief to the public health community and patients, although we still need to know the areas where the Minister says some additional expense will be incurred’.
However, other barriers to health policy remain, especially with investor-state dispute settlement. Even the weak public health exception does not apply to the investment chapter, and the tobacco exception appears to apply on a case-by-case basis only to certain kinds of investment claims, if a government chooses to invoke it, and not to the whole agreement.
Professor <b.Kelsey paid tribute to the pressure brought by doctors, the Australian government’s determination to fight on biologics, and New Zealand’s intellectual property negotiators .”
emphasis mine
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1510/S00117/continued-imbalance-of-tppa-information-indefensible.htm
Also a piece written by Jane Kelsey which links to releases made by other countries. Japan’s is the most extensive but is, understandably, in Japanese.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/10/07/must-read-sober-reflections-on-the-tppa-deal-and-why-we-need-to-keep-fighting/
Ironically, Wayne Mapp and others will now be reading Kelsey to find out more detail, cos our government settled for PR driven Fact Sheets.
Reminds me of the report launched in the investigation of MH17 shot down over Ukraine. A small group of victim countries were all involved, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Australia, as well as Ukraine. Russia was stonewalled out. Its a bit like getting a murder victims family to run the murder investigation. Worst of all they have the suspect, the Ukraine, in the investigation!
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike as diversionary. You know the policy. ]
oops, a bit diversionary, that’s not an opening to have a debate on MH17!
That the USA did not sign up to Protocol I in 1977 makes me think they didn’t want to have their actions in Vietnam independently investigated, and sadly, they seem to have adhered to that view ever since.
Rightly or wrongly, two family members (now deceased) who served int he Pacific in WWII used to say that they fear the US forces far more than the “Japs”.
There was some discussion about protests, demonstrations and activism in general the other day.
This…http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11525657 article from The Northern Advocate is about a bunch of activists from Kaikohe fronting up to the Boobs On Bikes porn peddlers
“Police would not let the group march on the road, so they walked down the footpath ahead of the bikes.
Mr Shaw said they copped some abuse from “smart alecs” in the crowd but most people were positive and open to discussion.
“People asked us, ‘What’s wrong with boobs?’ We’d explain it wasn’t about boobs, it was about the normalisation of pornography and the harm it causes.” ”
Very clever. Keep the message simple.
Respect.
Thanks for that Rosemary.
“About 50 people took part in the protest – as many as, or more than, participants in the parade.”
“He said the protest was a success because the group were able to take their message directly to a target audience of young men, who made up most of the people lining Queen St, to challenge their way of thinking.”
Good for them.
Yup
And more activism from Bryan Bruce….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/72838016/bryan-bruce-how-the-neoliberalism-tail-wags-the-moral-dog
It is way past the time when Mr. Bruce cared what would become of his reputation if he speaks out against the establishment.
” Like me, Key went on to study at Canterbury University where our tuition fees were paid for by the state. When he finished his degree, he left university, as I did, largely free from debt.
Those things, in themselves gave both the Prime Minister and I a huge boost in life.
Yet today John Key leads a government that thinks of tertiary education as a commodity not a right and that social housing is a burden to be palmed off onto the Australians.
Why is it that our Prime Minister, who benefited hugely from the welfare state, no longer thinks the Government is morally obliged to do for today’s young people what it once did for him? And why is it that I, on the other hand, think we have betrayed our children and our grandchildren by denying them what we were once freely given?”
More, please.
Yes please. I know people like Mr Key. They have convinced themselves that it is by their own hard work and intelligence that they have succeeded. They have managed to convince themselves they did it all independently. That is a a falsehood which is self evident to anyone with self awareness.
Take stock of today’s media. With a few exceptions, they come from the generation affected by student debt, yet their parents were given a debt-free education. You would think on that basis they would be well aware of the gross hypocrisy of Key’s (and other’s) argument as outlined by Bryan Bruce but no, they’re happy to go along with it and let this government off the hook. Why? Because each and everyone of them knows their continued employment and comfortable life-style is dependent on following the government line. Anyone who dares to step ‘out of line’ will eventually get the chop. The latest developments at the NZ Herald are testament to that!
Prescription drugs the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer?
https://youtu.be/dozpAshvtsA
Very interesting
The number of people taking their own life is rising to a record, even as more effort is put into preventing suicide.
Jacinda Ardern says “the statistics show the Government’s programmes aren’t making inroads.
At the moment it seems we are not joining all the dots… a more comprehensive focus on the links between suicide, deprivation and family violence/childhood abuse is called for.”
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/suicide-prevention-not-working—labour-2015100705#ixzz3o1SyknyE
Has she considered looking at the affect of antidepressants (which apparently are becoming more widely used) and their impact on the suicide rate?
Our societal values that are pushed by politics and the media don’t really help either. We’re encouraged that earning more, getting the top job, getting into massive debt through education or a risky business, the flash house and car, going to the mall are the crucial things in life. Then we punish the people who are the furthest from this ideal. Anyone involved in any sort of crime, has mental illness, beneficiaries and generally anyone struggling in life – as in poor people are punished in our society. I don’t have facts to back this up, but if it was measurable we might fiind the costs of this culture are huge.
+1
I had a discussion on a boat recently (a ferry) with someone in the know within Health. She commented that being on anti psychedlics (or similar, cant recall exactly) was shortening people’s lives by 25%? I did google at the time and maybe that is now outdated but what a choice…
Chronic mental illness or a shortened life-span.
Huffpost on how despite knowing how unsuitable their product Risperdal was for some uses the evil pricks said fuck it, we’ll pay the fines, and pushed on pushing it.
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/miracleindustry/americas-most-admired-lawbreaker/
Antipsychotics Tracey, and your ‘someone in the know’ doesn’t have the foggiest idea what they’re talking about. Honestly that’s the kind of scaremongering I’d expect from the anti vaccinations lobby i honestly thought you would think twice before posting it here.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_use_of_antipsychotic_drugs_improves_life_expectancy_for_individuals_with_schizophrenia
“Comparing data from year to year, the researchers found that among those patients who had 90 percent or better compliance with their medication schedules, the risk of death was 25 percent lower compared to those who were less than 10 percent compliant. Over the decade-long study period, taking medication did not increase the risk of death and there was a trend towards reducing the mortality rate. In addition, the researchers found that each additional visit per year to a mental health professional was linked to a 5 percent reduction in risk of death overall.”
well you should know the someone in the know is involved very high up in writing a report about the future of our DHB’s Doc.
Did you miss this rider
“I did google at the time and maybe that is now outdated but what a choice…”
Like you I can also google (I note that the study you refer to is about number 4 on the googled items)
Colton, C. (2006). Congruencies in increased mortality rates, years of potential life lost, and causes of death among public mental health clients in eight states. Preventing Chronic Disease 3 (April).
Joukmaa, M.; Heliovaara, M.; Knekt, P.; Aromaa, A.; Raitasalo, R.; & Lehtinen, V. (2006). Schizophrenia, neuroleptic medication and mortality. The British Journal of Psychiatry 188: 122-127 http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/188/2/122.full (link is external)
Caplan, P.J. (2011). When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
The Hopkins researchers “did not rule out all links between increased mortality and antipsychotic drugs. For example, researchers found that people who took high doses of first-generation antipsychotic medication daily (1,500 mg or greater chlorpromazine equivalents) were 88% more likely to die. She says mortality rates possibly increased in this group because first-generation antipsychotics have been associated with cardiac disease risks, and among those who died while taking the larger doses, 53% died of cardiovascular disease.”
So what is that psycho-tropics act on there nsd? Often serotonin, yes? The uptake of it and what not. But, serotonin (and therefore its effect) has never been measured and cannot be measured. The whole brain candy/ happy pill industry was built off the back a throwaway line that was never intended to be anything beyond ‘thinking aloud’ – mere speculation.
Meanwhile, what about all those psychotropics that leave people feeling suicidally depressed or dead? Or the ones that come with warnings about prescribing to given age groups? Or the ones that are more or less impossible to come off? Or the suggestion that the side-effects for some people who attempt self withdrawal can be a ‘looping out’ with the most dire of consequences, both for themselves and sometimes for who-ever else happens to be ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’?
And then we might move on to the so-called trials that would Volkswagen test technicians blushing at their own comparative inadequacy.
Or we might consider the history of the quackery that became modern psychiatry – you’ve got a thing about those things you consider quackery after-all, no?
Want to run through the list of ‘new diseases’ that the psychiatric ‘profession’ would have pills dispensed for these days? Y’know, things such as ‘moving house syndrome’ – not the actual terminology, but regardless, moving house sits in a distinct category now; one requiring medication.
Then there is the debate about whether the anti-psychotics cause brain shrinkage
Interesting article here
http://www.madinamerica.com/2013/06/antipsychotics-and-brain-shrinkage-an-update/
Tracey made a comment that antipsychotics mortality by 25%. I refuted this with data to suggest that it is exactly the opposite situation.
She then goes on to quote from the same paper regarding 1st generation antipsychotics which were unpleasant medication with fairly vile side effects these have been replaced over the last 20 – 30 years with 2nd and 3rd generation products which have far less severe and lower numbers of side effects.
To suggest that serotonin and it’s effect cannot and has not been measured is drivel.
Regards your other points I agree that their has been an over medicalisation and treatment of normal life situations most especially in western society, however we were discussing antipsychotics which are used for disorders with related psychoses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders – Bill I suggest you go back to reading your L Ron Hubbard and manuals on how to make strawmen and defending quacks like your mate from Dunedin.
Frankly I expected far better from Tracey
Really!? Okay then. Point to the studies or the literature or the tables indicating serotonin measurements having been taken from living, functioning brains.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17091615
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00059046
http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/51/10/1495.full
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/6704889_Review_article_Functional_imaging_serotonin_and_the_suicidal_brain
First link – “Direct post-mortem research demonstrated…” (my emphasis.
All the others are imaging transporter proteins or whatever. None of them measure – and none claim to measure – actual amounts of serotonin.
Bill your original comment was
“But, serotonin (and therefore its effect) has never been measured and cannot be measured.”
Which is drivel as you may or may not know, you then change the rules to “Point to the studies or the literature or the tables indicating serotonin measurements having been taken from living, functioning brains.”
I have provided a number of search results which I have not read which i would think would show that serotonin activity and receptor responses can be shown despite that not being your first question and you changing the goalposts.
Rather than continuing playing this game on a Friday evening when I’d prefer to sit down with a beer perhaps you could get to your actual point instead of feebly attacking your keyboard.
Edit from the first link
“These results are in keeping with 5-HT2A binding studies in depressed patients and impulsive animal research. Interestingly, both an increase and a decrease in 5-HT2A binding index seem to normalize with SSRI treatment.”
You missed the point previously made. The fixation on serotonin comes from a piece of speculation that has (as far as I know, and for the reasons mentioned – eg, direct measurement) no empirical evidence to back it up.
The ‘imaging’ in your previous links is akin (in my mind at least) to mapping the movement of cars as though that could tell you anything about numbers of occupants or why said occupants were traveling.
Of course, if you’ve already decided that each car is carrying two passengers and they are all traveling for a specific predetermined reason (eg – supermarket shopping), then the mapping can claim to show all that you want it to show.
Hope you enjoy your beer and don’t fall prey to any inadvertent urinary dribblings.
Psychiatry is not my area of expertise Bill, however the clinical and scientific evidence for SDAs in the treatment of psychoses and mood disorders is pretty comprehensive as is the science of serotonin and dopamine receptors in mental health disorders.
I’d point you back to the beginning of this thread and the throw away comment regarding a 25% increase in mortality, this is a very poor thing to say in a public forum when there is no evidence to back it up and when the readers of such comments may be on such medications themselves or relay the information to others who are on such medications – I am sure you will accept that the consequence of someone stopping medications such as these without being under medical supervision might be disastrous.
Regarding your other comment – unfortunately benign prostatic hyperplasia is part of the territory at my age.
hey NSD, i come across a lot of people who hate swallowing the pills they are prescribed, hate the effects the pills have on their lives and cant wait to find ways to get off the shite.
Just sayin’.
Well the fact that they’re visiting a chiropractor suggests that a change of lifestyle may assist with lowering or removing the amount of prescribed medication they are on.
Just sayin’
When you know as much about my areas of expertise as me, then I will endeavour to live up to your expectations in your areas of expertise.
Actually I won’t. The information is coming out via this post and that’s good. I don’t profess to know everything about everything (hence I put the rider in my comment which you chose to ignore)
I don’t believe I comment on your areas of expertise (law).
There is also a rather horrific connection between Big Agrichemical and Big Pharma.
When I’ve time I will dig out some aging articles….if the Corporations of Death have not had them expunged from the google.
It will be interesting to see what you can muster up, Rosemary.
Another piece of propaganda in the Herald shilling for the corporate coup, sometimes known as the TPPA.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11526067
Here is the author.
John Ballingall is deputy chief executive of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. Make your own mind up if he’s got vested interests.
http://nzier.org.nz/people/john-ballingall/
This comment below is typical of the ones replying to the neo-liberal ideologue Ballingall.
‘Another uninformed article, and so many all at once in the Herald? This all seems part of a government drum-beat to imprint the idea things are good before they can be properly seen. Any person of sense will regret such an ethic, even if that is perhaps consistent with the kind of thing of the discredited prime minister models for innocent citizens.
At any rate one laments the subservience of a newspaper to its proprietors’ party interests. That road turns a journal into a party political organ.’
It would appear many NZers aren’t falling for the spin.
” the discredited prime minister models for innocent citizens.”
I suggest that innocent is not the right word. On looking over past decades and our slide downwards it has happened because of ‘neglectful’ citizens. We did not watch our assets, and now we have to watch our asses. Or someone will be biting us in the bum to put it crudely but truly.
The Herald tries to pretend it is balanced.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11526003
But observant readers notice their spin. This was one of the best comments to the anonymous Herald editorial.
“By and large, the Government has a good tale to tell about the TPP agreement. For the few disappointments, especially dairy access to the United States, Canada and Japan, there are strong gains in other areas”.
You just spent the entire article telling us that we don’t know whats in the fine print and then you say there are strong gains.
How can you say this if we don’t know whats in the document.
Even Hillary Clinton is against this deal.
More spin from the National Party’s media outlet the NZ Herald.”
The Herald has read the Fact Sheets, assumed they contain all the facts, and regurgitated them. For example in one Fact Sheet it states there will be losses (or costs) but doesn’t state how much. Funny they don’t know that number, just the “good” ones.
The Government is manipulating the information. Otherwise they would follow Japan’s lead and release summaries of all chapters running to 36 pages. If it is such a great deal, release everything, including the cost projections and cost/benefit analysis our entry was based on. But no, Groser is still refusing to release this.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11525979
Mr Ruffin also asked the defendant why he had not used money from living costs to pay for the experts he claimed he needed.
“If I wanted to be homeless and sack all my staff and kick my kids out of school I could’ve done that, yes,” Dotcom said.
Quick someone set up a givealittle page for Kim!
Alex Swney is in prison for 5 years for his fraud on IRD and Heart of the City. He paid back a few hundred thousand (less than 500k I understand) and yet his children still attend a private school in Auckland and live in an expensive home in Herne Bay…
Allegedly Swney threw a party the night before his sentencing and some of the very well heeled of Auckland attended.
It’s not just DotCom with this mindset PR, it is an affliction shared by many of the wealthy in this country.
At least Swneys in prison though
He’s already been moved to the new Wiri prison where he lives in a house and has had indications he will be out in 8 months on home detention…and could afford a QC at $800-1000 bucks an hour
Well my view would be people do the full length of their conviction but thats just me
My view is we review
1. How we treat Remorse expressions in terms of sentencing. Accepting letters, in my view, is problematic. Making defendants speak to their remorse in Court and to scutiny of that remorse by the Judge;
2. Offering reduction in terms if involved in a Rehabiitation programme
3. Offering more rehabilitation programmes and increasing availability of the programmes proven to reduce recidivism.
Recidivism costs us tens of millions (or more) a year.
4. Even with Home Detention orders a minimum of 1 month serve din a medium security prison should be a pre requisite to the Home Detention
Liberals 127 Conservatives 124 in latest Canadian averaged poll.
One of the interesting things about this is that the Liberal rise first showed up in the Nanos daily tracking polls which were conducted by person-to-person phone calls. All the other automated/online polls were slower to record the shifting voter sentiment.
And in fact, up until yesterday they were all suggesting a Cons minority government or even a possible majority for Harper.
According to the Gobe & Mail today 67% of voters want a change of PM for Canada. The Liberals have made sizeable gains in both Ontario and Quebec where enough seats are in play to determine the outcome of the election.
Mr Trudeau has confounded the pundits by performing much more strongly than expected in the campaign and debates (the Munk debate on Foreign Policy was at a level we can only dream about in NZ). The Liberals have also out-played the NDP in the way that they have been able to articulate the desire for change. They broke with economic orthodoxy at the start of the campaign and pledged infrastructure spending that would result in modest deficits for 3 years, contrary to both the NDP and Cons promises to balance the budget at all costs. It seems to have paid off.
Two NZ leaders: https://twitter.com/honbillenglish/status/652309190115901440/photo/1
I have to admit that, at the time, I wasn’t Helen Clarks greatest supporter but with the benefit of hindsight and whats come after we’ve been fortunate in NZ that we’ve had Clark/Cullen followed by Key/English
Great frankly for that alone we should be the envy of the world
Unless, of course, you’re a kid growing up in post-rogernomics poverty.
The Right and its supporters demonised Clark. They essentially stalked her sexuality and that of her husband, they used epithets like HelenGrad and some called her Alan Clark. her appearance was mocked
To say that you feel fortunate to hae had her as leader puts you at odds with those people who are only now singing her praises because they are using her to be a proponent for the TPP (privately I am sure none of them regret the constant direct and indirect attacks. It also makes me wonder how susceptible you are to the PR the right throws about (they’ve only been applauding her for a few days yet here you are)i
Lest we forget PR, to be doomed to repeat.
Well said Tracey, The same way Abbott and the right and their fellow travellers did the same misogynistic crap on Julia Gillard in Oz. I like the way Julia Gillard tackled Abbott in their parliament over this. It would be one of the best parliamentary speeches I have ever seen.
Didn’t she make Abbott look the prat he is.
What a turnabout. Eight years ago she was the devil incarnate. Now, they can’t wait to get a photo with her. Could they be hedging their bets in case she is the new Secretary General?
Interested in what is happening in RW Canada? Tommorrow with Kim on Radionz.
8:12 Heather Mallick: Stephen Harper
Heather Mallick is a staff columnist for the Toronto Star, and has published two books: a diary, Pearls in Vinegar (Penguin), and a collection of essays, Cake or Death (Knopf). Her piece on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, The Nixon of the North, appears in the latest issue of Harper’s magazine.
It’s starting to look more and more likely that Harper’s going to be turfed out as PM of Canada on October 19. Harper has said he will resign immediately if the Conservatives aren’t the largest party in the Commons on October 20th. Current polling suggest the Liberals are edging the seat count.
Nobody in NZ seems to be paying much attention. But it’s instructive for us nonetheless. Like other Westminster parliaments voters in Canada seem to have hit the 10 year fatigue level where they start to look for change. Also Harper was the first of the four conservative Commonwealth leaders to be elected in 2006. His time is up. Guess who’s next? Key was elected in 2008, Cameron in 2010 and Abbott in 2013.
We live in hope Scott GN, but I think we need to help hope along.