‘In her first formal speech to the House following the State Opening on Wednesday, Ardern told Opposition leader Bill English she understood the desire to defend their record.
“I would simply remind them, that in defending their record they must also defend record homelessness. They must also defend dirty rivers and lakes. They must also defend inequality and yes, child poverty.
“So by all means defend the record of the last nine years, while we get on with fixing it,” she said.
Amy Adams was the liar of the day for me. Arguing that their pay equity bill would achieve/enhance pay equity. After years of spending our money fighting equal pay for care workers and losing, the Nats sought to ensure it was triply hard for others to follow suit.
Again, the media airtime these people are getting is astonishing. Perhaps it is cos the election was September instead of November? When the later there is less time til summer close down?
Jesus Antoine. You’re a bag of surprises at times – even if you think that femme fatale polly has a nice smile but worry your fat arse might not live up to her expectations
Agreed vto. If we can sneer at white coloured people without being termed racist then we can sneer at any other coloured person with the same immunity. Best we sneer at nobody because of the colour of their skin.
It’s shorthand for Pakeha male dominated fora which, lacking diversity, are poorly informed. Sooooo, dumb honky yobs? Arrogant EuroTrash – ooops, taken. Pasty Blokey Jokies? Oh wait, you can tweet 280 characters now. We can surely debate at length 😉
People need to start understanding the privilege that is attached to being White and White and Male, which differentiates them from being oppressed as such in the way that brown or female or disable or or or are. I am all for articulate discussion rather than easy memes (which substitute for genuine facts as “politically correct” does.
So, former Act MP Donna Awatere Huata & her cousin the prominent wealthy & powerful Maori lawyer Donna Hall – married to former High Court judge & Waitangi Tribunal chairman Sir Edward Durie – (her legal fees from several years of high-profile Treaty of Waitangi claims was one reason she was chosen for the National Business Review’s 2000 rich list, which claimed she could have earned about $10 million) = “oppressed”
White Male working-class, minimum wage, beneficiary = “privileged”
Interesting isn’t it, Whitey white males also suffer racism.
Try being a whitey in an east coast pub.
In fact non whites are extremely racist against whitey whites in my experience.
I have, often. Awesome bonhomie, comedy, amusement and a touch of sadness with a cast of memorable characters and, remembering discretion is the better part, invites to the best parties after chucking out time.
I see that the Natzi’s newest little lap-boy Chris Bishop has been on the Spinoff trumpeting their 10 most wonderful achievements of the last 9 years. He has drunk the Kool Aid big time. I read words like ‘financial’, ‘productive’, ‘competitive’ – all good Nat Party words related to money and business, which of course is all those blue suited bastards care about. Then he has the unmitigated gall to reflect on (as he sees it) reduced child poverty, reforms to welfare, better electricity provision and (worst of all) higher achievement in education!!
This a prime example of the delusional and arrogant manner with which Natzis see themselves. They even think they’ve done a good job with Christchurch, for god’s sake.
It is so heartening to see the relentless positivity of the new government, even in the face of junky political moves by the sore losers. All the crap they are creating in the house is nothing but sour grapes and does nothing to advance the plight of those who need mature, focused and empathetic government. They play self-aggrandising games while L/GP/NZF try to move the country forward. It’s pathetic and sickening.
Monty Python member Terry Jones wrote a great kids book I’ve always loved called Fairy Tales. One story I recall is called Simple Peter’s Mirror where a farm boy is gifted a magic mirror which allows the user to see themselves as others see them.
Just imagine if the mirror was given to the National Party and English, Bennett, Collins, Brownlee, Adams, Bridges, Barry, Joyce, Kaye, Coleman, Tolley etc looked into it.
They wouldn’t care. They really don’t care when their ravings are shown to be lies or unsubstantiated garbage. Isn’t that right Wayne?
That’s the really scary thing. Typical psychopathic tendencies.
Wasn’t there a story about a painting that showed the person’s true self and because they didn’t like what it showed the person boxed it in a small room?
Yeah, the nats would hide such a mirror in the small room.
The Prime Minister needs to continue with her relentless positivity. Someone on the front bench needs to be the bad cop to her good cop. Otherwise the opposition will continue to get all the anti government press.
methinks the press coverage would be the same whether she were positive or not, or she had a bad cop. The press is the issue not the Labour Mps. Cast back tot he election campaign…
she got good coverage on Stuff today….a “strong” speech…respect for hitting back at Englishes inane criticisms….the Nats problem is they have the boring tainted liar English against a new exciting good communicator. English should resign.
Some wanker that owns a garage in putaruru is drilibritly taking 2 weeks to fix my mokos VAN Doing a job that would take me 2 hours and you mite think well this is the way of the world. But this is not the first time this wanker has done this to my Daughter this is the 3rd time and you no who is instergating this A. They cannot even leave my moko out of this Kai kaha
“The House GOP whip might lose to a socialist Marine veteran? Is that actually happening?”
It was indeed. Democrat Lee Carter, a red-haired, 30-year-old Marine veteran from Manassas, won a remarkable nine-point victory to oust Delegate Jackson Miller, a deep-pocketed Republican incumbent who serves as House Majority Whip. Carter ran openly as a socialist—he and his supporters crooned the union anthem “Solidarity Forever” after their victory—and he won with almost no institutional support from the state Democratic Party. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Patrick Wilson reported last month that party leaders “abandoned” Carter after he declined to report campaign metrics like the number of doors he’d knocked and the amount of money he’d raised. Carter told Wilson he “ceased reporting to the House caucus after multiple information security lapses in which confidential information that we reported to the House caucus was leaked outside of the party infrastructure.” But he also said the party leaders “wanted a bit more editorial control over my messaging than I was comfortable with.” Wilson wrote that “Democratic Party leaders were not eager to discuss Carter, preferring to promote other candidates.” In fact, Wilson called Carter “the kind of rogue candidate that gives an apparatus like the Democratic Party of Virginia a fit.”
The left celebrates the election of Transgender Danica Roem defeating a traditional Christian candidate who tried to pass a law to protect children from crossdressing men in public toilets. #VirginiaElection#maga#HuffPo God save the USA. pic.twitter.com/CVpKoij3TT— Mutha Jones (@HibernoDiaspora) November 8, 2017
Her opponent used male pronouns to describe her. He refused to debate her. But last night, Danica Roem made history https://t.co/XuDH72ntfI— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 8, 2017
Danica Roem’s “I don’t attack my constituents. Bob is my constituent now.” is one of the all time great political responses.— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) November 8, 2017
For anyone who was not watching Parliament at about 9.30pm last night (yes I was that bad a political tragic!) this exchange between Jami-Lee Ross and Anne Tolley in her new role as Deputy Speaker is well worth a couple of minutes.
I have never had much time for Ms Tolley, but I was quite impressed with her handling of her new role earlier in the session. Then I was really impressed with her handling of JLR and his absolute arrogance and disdain for her authority – and that of the Clerk of the House.
What an obnoxious prat. Jami-Lee Ross. I thought it was a woman and find a burly bully on screen. He is trying the broken record style of dominating a discussion, which is to repeat a point until others are forced to give him or her precedence. But there are Parliamentary Rules that are like traffic rules, and people must proceed in their proper order. He is the Senior National Whip FGS.
Watch out for him on the road. Perhaps there could be a jlr traffic compliance surveillance group to make sure that he doesn’t run over cyclists or pedestrians unwary enough to venture onto pedestrian crossings, or try to move between lanes or pavements, requiring a little tolerance from drivers.
Did anyone else in passing see that Paula Bennett video contribution in a vehicle (presumably ‘going forward’)?
Couldn’t one of ‘the gals’ at least have told her she’d been misreading the label?
I guess not, but Paula, Dear, Sweatie!
It’s one every twelve hours, not twelve every 1 hour
I don’t usually watch Parliament Q & A on Thursday, but decided to do so today.
It has been an hour of laughs and well worth watching.
Mallard as Speaker is great and has set the scene for the future. National won’t be thinking that, though, in particular “Stephen” Bridges. He will be spitting tacks. (As well as Jami-Lee Ross after last night’s slap down – see 10 above.)
If you watch nothing else watch Question 9, but there are snippets throughout the entire hour. Pure Theatre at times, and I suspect planned as such.
PS – Don’t judge the answers to questions to the PM given by Kelvin Davis (as Acting PM while both Ardern and Peters are overseas) on first impressions. I suspect that it was planned that the answers should be as non-committal as they are for the final effect. LOL
@ veuto
Ditto Me.
But if you chose to stay with PTV, I hope you saw The Jude’s efforts.
If ever there was a ‘positioning’ for a knife in the back style bid for leadership – there you had it.
Dressed in grey, covering a lovely floral number, there went Jude hard out with raspy voice, delivering her gNatzi message. (btw – not entirely based on evidence)
If there were to be a putsch – odds on.
I’m now left wondering amongst the gNatzis – who is the most running scared.
I’ll let you know ( after considering their past efforts, and not that anyone should consider me part of any ‘incrowd’ bubble)
Good. Be even better if they dropped the first two words as this is a terrestrial pragmatic meeting of ideas and decisions. MPs should own it and forget it being a god’s will!
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book – but it was ...
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An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsella’s cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. “My first tour to Australia, we ...
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Jacinda owned English in Parliament yesterday.
‘In her first formal speech to the House following the State Opening on Wednesday, Ardern told Opposition leader Bill English she understood the desire to defend their record.
“I would simply remind them, that in defending their record they must also defend record homelessness. They must also defend dirty rivers and lakes. They must also defend inequality and yes, child poverty.
“So by all means defend the record of the last nine years, while we get on with fixing it,” she said.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98687260/it-was-the-pms-turn-to-strike–and-she-did-not-hold-back
Amy Adams was the liar of the day for me. Arguing that their pay equity bill would achieve/enhance pay equity. After years of spending our money fighting equal pay for care workers and losing, the Nats sought to ensure it was triply hard for others to follow suit.
Again, the media airtime these people are getting is astonishing. Perhaps it is cos the election was September instead of November? When the later there is less time til summer close down?
Coal-fired plant shifted $1bn offshore while pocketing $117m from Australian taxpayers
Payment to owner of Loy Yang B – one of country’s dirtiest plants – was compensation for short-lived carbon tax
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/08/coal-fired-plant-shifted-1bn-offshore-while-pocketing-117m-from-australian-taxpayers
People need to stop using the term “pale stale male”. It is offensive.
Andrew Little has been labelled this.
Imagine if Metiria was referred to as “round brown clown” or some such
meme ca plus
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
+1
This kind of talk really annoys conservatives. Then they decide to annoy you back. Then they outvote you. Then it’s ‘Hello, President Trump…’
A.
Jesus Antoine. You’re a bag of surprises at times – even if you think that femme fatale polly has a nice smile but worry your fat arse might not live up to her expectations
> You’re a bag of surprises at times
So are we all
A.
Agreed vto. If we can sneer at white coloured people without being termed racist then we can sneer at any other coloured person with the same immunity. Best we sneer at nobody because of the colour of their skin.
It’s shorthand for Pakeha male dominated fora which, lacking diversity, are poorly informed. Sooooo, dumb honky yobs? Arrogant EuroTrash – ooops, taken. Pasty Blokey Jokies? Oh wait, you can tweet 280 characters now. We can surely debate at length 😉
Sneering is not nice but neither is not recognising a privilege.
+100%
People need to start understanding the privilege that is attached to being White and White and Male, which differentiates them from being oppressed as such in the way that brown or female or disable or or or are. I am all for articulate discussion rather than easy memes (which substitute for genuine facts as “politically correct” does.
So, former Act MP Donna Awatere Huata & her cousin the prominent wealthy & powerful Maori lawyer Donna Hall – married to former High Court judge & Waitangi Tribunal chairman Sir Edward Durie – (her legal fees from several years of high-profile Treaty of Waitangi claims was one reason she was chosen for the National Business Review’s 2000 rich list, which claimed she could have earned about $10 million) = “oppressed”
White Male working-class, minimum wage, beneficiary = “privileged”
I see
Citing outliers is beneath you, surely 🙂
Everybody’s an outlier, blokie. Surely (smirkimoji).
Some are born at the apex of the bell curve, others find their way there by chance, and some have it thrust upon them by statisticians.
You clearly do not see if you think wealth makes you immune to the privilege of white people/men and their systems.
You reckon none of those people you listed never suffered from racism?
Wrong comparisons. Try these,
White Male working-class, minimum wage, beneficiary compared to Māori woman working-class, minimum wage, beneficiary.
Or,
Māori woman lawyer compared to white male lawyer, both from the same class background.
These are not difficult concepts.
The class in question to which vto was referring is MSM journalism btw.
Interesting isn’t it, Whitey white males also suffer racism.
Try being a whitey in an east coast pub.
In fact non whites are extremely racist against whitey whites in my experience.
Racism and privilege are different things.
Yes but perception of majority says race and wealth are entwined.
Perception, and statistics too.
Being scared due to stereotyping is not the same as suffering oppression or inequity.
Can you give some examples of how white peoples relationships, career prospects health etc are hindered by brown people?
That’s not new – there have always been some pubs that Maori feel better in when pakeha are not there.
I have, often. Awesome bonhomie, comedy, amusement and a touch of sadness with a cast of memorable characters and, remembering discretion is the better part, invites to the best parties after chucking out time.
I see that the Natzi’s newest little lap-boy Chris Bishop has been on the Spinoff trumpeting their 10 most wonderful achievements of the last 9 years. He has drunk the Kool Aid big time. I read words like ‘financial’, ‘productive’, ‘competitive’ – all good Nat Party words related to money and business, which of course is all those blue suited bastards care about. Then he has the unmitigated gall to reflect on (as he sees it) reduced child poverty, reforms to welfare, better electricity provision and (worst of all) higher achievement in education!!
This a prime example of the delusional and arrogant manner with which Natzis see themselves. They even think they’ve done a good job with Christchurch, for god’s sake.
It is so heartening to see the relentless positivity of the new government, even in the face of junky political moves by the sore losers. All the crap they are creating in the house is nothing but sour grapes and does nothing to advance the plight of those who need mature, focused and empathetic government. They play self-aggrandising games while L/GP/NZF try to move the country forward. It’s pathetic and sickening.
Monty Python member Terry Jones wrote a great kids book I’ve always loved called Fairy Tales. One story I recall is called Simple Peter’s Mirror where a farm boy is gifted a magic mirror which allows the user to see themselves as others see them.
Just imagine if the mirror was given to the National Party and English, Bennett, Collins, Brownlee, Adams, Bridges, Barry, Joyce, Kaye, Coleman, Tolley etc looked into it.
They wouldn’t care. They really don’t care when their ravings are shown to be lies or unsubstantiated garbage. Isn’t that right Wayne?
That’s the really scary thing. Typical psychopathic tendencies.
At least now they can do less harm.
Wasn’t there a story about a painting that showed the person’s true self and because they didn’t like what it showed the person boxed it in a small room?
Yeah, the nats would hide such a mirror in the small room.
I don’t think for a minute it would make any difference but I would enjoy the theatre as each saw their true selves.
😈
The Picture of Dorian Gray?
Yeah, that one.
The Portrait of Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde.
Ten Reasons We Got Rid of National
No. 5: Bill “Double Dipper” English
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2711246/Bill-English-defends-taxpayer-cash-for-house
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/201856404/pm-s-claim-homelessness-in-hamilton-all-but-eliminated-disputed
The Prime Minister needs to continue with her relentless positivity. Someone on the front bench needs to be the bad cop to her good cop. Otherwise the opposition will continue to get all the anti government press.
“Someone on the front bench needs to be the bad cop to her good cop”
Good call – how about Ron Marks?
He is a good speaker and scrapper too, and very well liked in his region.
methinks the press coverage would be the same whether she were positive or not, or she had a bad cop. The press is the issue not the Labour Mps. Cast back tot he election campaign…
she got good coverage on Stuff today….a “strong” speech…respect for hitting back at Englishes inane criticisms….the Nats problem is they have the boring tainted liar English against a new exciting good communicator. English should resign.
Ron Mark did a good speech yesterday too.
Kiwiblog continues its descent into the alt-right sewer:
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/11/guest_post_pasifika_is_bollocks.html
One bit struck a chord with me – the author says there is a bell curve of traits in all races. “In all races there are dumb ones,” he wrote.
I’m pleased he’s taken up part of that trait allocated to my race.
Yeah, I followed that and well done for schooling the nasty we shit Garrett.
Some wanker that owns a garage in putaruru is drilibritly taking 2 weeks to fix my mokos VAN Doing a job that would take me 2 hours and you mite think well this is the way of the world. But this is not the first time this wanker has done this to my Daughter this is the 3rd time and you no who is instergating this A. They cannot even leave my moko out of this Kai kaha
Eh?
So why didn’t you do the job for her?
Could it be that it isn’t a ‘cashie’ job?
Turning tide.
“The House GOP whip might lose to a socialist Marine veteran? Is that actually happening?”
It was indeed. Democrat Lee Carter, a red-haired, 30-year-old Marine veteran from Manassas, won a remarkable nine-point victory to oust Delegate Jackson Miller, a deep-pocketed Republican incumbent who serves as House Majority Whip. Carter ran openly as a socialist—he and his supporters crooned the union anthem “Solidarity Forever” after their victory—and he won with almost no institutional support from the state Democratic Party. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Patrick Wilson reported last month that party leaders “abandoned” Carter after he declined to report campaign metrics like the number of doors he’d knocked and the amount of money he’d raised. Carter told Wilson he “ceased reporting to the House caucus after multiple information security lapses in which confidential information that we reported to the House caucus was leaked outside of the party infrastructure.” But he also said the party leaders “wanted a bit more editorial control over my messaging than I was comfortable with.” Wilson wrote that “Democratic Party leaders were not eager to discuss Carter, preferring to promote other candidates.” In fact, Wilson called Carter “the kind of rogue candidate that gives an apparatus like the Democratic Party of Virginia a fit.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/145727/socialist-beat-one-virginias-powerful-republicans
Some of the other interesting new faces.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democratic-victories-firsts-election-day_us_5a026c51e4b092053058cf38?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Before the chorus begins.
https://newrepublic.com/article/145277/bernie-sanders-isnt-winning-local-elections-left
edit: change from within
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/black-live-matter-activist-braxton-winston-wins-charlotte-city-council-seat/
Class trumps bigotry.
#danica roem
For anyone who was not watching Parliament at about 9.30pm last night (yes I was that bad a political tragic!) this exchange between Jami-Lee Ross and Anne Tolley in her new role as Deputy Speaker is well worth a couple of minutes.
I have never had much time for Ms Tolley, but I was quite impressed with her handling of her new role earlier in the session. Then I was really impressed with her handling of JLR and his absolute arrogance and disdain for her authority – and that of the Clerk of the House.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=196972
Thanks for that veuotviper. Maybe he was nervous but JLR did come across to me as smirking and behaving as though Tolley was an irrelevance?
Thanking you Veutoviper, that was well worth watching.
Tolley appears to be rather good in her new role.
jlr has an overinflated ego and a bizzare sense of self importance, bitter from the election loss.
jlr (lowercase letters for a reason lolololz!)
What an obnoxious prat. Jami-Lee Ross. I thought it was a woman and find a burly bully on screen. He is trying the broken record style of dominating a discussion, which is to repeat a point until others are forced to give him or her precedence. But there are Parliamentary Rules that are like traffic rules, and people must proceed in their proper order. He is the Senior National Whip FGS.
Watch out for him on the road. Perhaps there could be a jlr traffic compliance surveillance group to make sure that he doesn’t run over cyclists or pedestrians unwary enough to venture onto pedestrian crossings, or try to move between lanes or pavements, requiring a little tolerance from drivers.
Weird clip eh? jlr was one of those catapaulted into government by some dodgy manourvering wasn’t he?
A four letter word for him, “Prat.”
Did anyone else in passing see that Paula Bennett video contribution in a vehicle (presumably ‘going forward’)?
Couldn’t one of ‘the gals’ at least have told her she’d been misreading the label?
I guess not, but Paula, Dear, Sweatie!
It’s one every twelve hours, not twelve every 1 hour
I don’t usually watch Parliament Q & A on Thursday, but decided to do so today.
It has been an hour of laughs and well worth watching.
Mallard as Speaker is great and has set the scene for the future. National won’t be thinking that, though, in particular “Stephen” Bridges. He will be spitting tacks. (As well as Jami-Lee Ross after last night’s slap down – see 10 above.)
If you watch nothing else watch Question 9, but there are snippets throughout the entire hour. Pure Theatre at times, and I suspect planned as such.
Online and On Demand on the Parliament website.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand
PS – Don’t judge the answers to questions to the PM given by Kelvin Davis (as Acting PM while both Ardern and Peters are overseas) on first impressions. I suspect that it was planned that the answers should be as non-committal as they are for the final effect. LOL
@ veuto
Ditto Me.
But if you chose to stay with PTV, I hope you saw The Jude’s efforts.
If ever there was a ‘positioning’ for a knife in the back style bid for leadership – there you had it.
Dressed in grey, covering a lovely floral number, there went Jude hard out with raspy voice, delivering her gNatzi message. (btw – not entirely based on evidence)
If there were to be a putsch – odds on.
I’m now left wondering amongst the gNatzis – who is the most running scared.
I’ll let you know ( after considering their past efforts, and not that anyone should consider me part of any ‘incrowd’ bubble)
I watched some of it today and was fascinated. Now next Tuesday…
Read this today on the RNZ Website – I’ve been wondering if and when it would happen with the change of government. About time too and I say this as an albeit nominal Christian. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/343421/jesus-queen-dropped-from-parliament-prayer
Good. Be even better if they dropped the first two words as this is a terrestrial pragmatic meeting of ideas and decisions. MPs should own it and forget it being a god’s will!
Can’t disagree with that Ianmac. At least it’s a start though. Waiting for the howls of complaints from the Nats.
Jenny Marcroft; – A new NZF list MP just concluded her maiden speech in parliament today,
A very moving good speech Jenny. 5.20pm 9/11/17.
Welcome to Parliament.
Found this tonight on news.com http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/natural-wonders/nasa-study-suggests-an-antarctic-supervolcano-could-make-the-ice-sheet-vulnerable/news-story/14ee668fa018e7f7d861ccbe63a3cd2f as per usual the ockers forgot the about Taupo and Hauraki Rift Zones.