Question: I notice changing my name means posts go into moderation. I’d like the mods to enjoy their Sunday. Is this a prob for them or is there some guidance on the best way to do this without dropping into moderation?
[lprent: It is the best defense against trolls. They have to write a coherent comment and have it accepted by a moderator before they can write comments freely. It also makes it difficult fo astroturfers to construct a range of identities. The alternative route is the kiwiblog one where a login is required. ]
Head of Jewish Defence League UK supports Anders Breivik, says victims “not innocent”
Written by Brit Dee Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:16
Roberta Moore, who was intimately connected to the anti-Muslim English Defence League (EDL) and continues to run their Jewish Division’s Facebook page, has expressed her support for Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik – and described his teenage victims as being “not innocent”.
In a post made on April 17th to the Jewish Defence League UK Blogger site, believed to be run by Moore and supported by comments posted in her name on Facebook, she describes the Norwegian court as a “kangaroo court”, asks whether a “man like Breivik in a case such as this surely deserves a better trial than that?”, refers to the “Leftist slander constantly being thrown to undermine him and his views”, and defends him against charges of child murder by parroting Breivik’s defence that his victims were young adults, attending an “indoctrination camp”, who were “not innocent”. A comment attributed to Moore states
I hold the same amount of sympathy for the [sic] those on Utoya as I would if somebody committed this act on a Hitler Youth camp in the 1940’s, or were they just “children” as well?
Such offensive comments will no doubt prove awkward for the EDL, who have recently been attempting to change their image as a group of thuggish racists, by repeatedly stating that they stand firmly against violence and extremism.
Whilst Moore claimed to have left the EDL in June last year, she was until then closely connected to the group’s leadership and inner circle, with whom she apparently maintained contact after her departure. She even reportedly helped EDL leader Stephen Lennon (a.k.a. “Tommy Robinson”) attend an EDL demonstration in September last year – from which he had been banned, resulting in his arrest for breach of bail conditions – by smuggling him in dressed as a rabbi.
Moore is also said to be friends with shadowy EDL financier and strategist Alan Ayling (a.k.a. “Alan Lake”), a wealthy businessman who was recently suspended from his management post at a major international development bank, after the discovery of his real identity. A disaffected founding member of the EDL named Paul Ray has confirmed that Ayling was present at the first 2009 meeting of the group, which actually took place in Ayling’s expensive London flat.
Ayling has admitted funding the EDL, and whilst he publically condemned Breivik’s attack he also described it as “chickens come home to roost”. Other disturbing comments made by Ayling on his “4Freedoms” website include his suggestion in July last year that David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, be executed.
If Moore is no longer connected to the EDL, then it is surprising that the Facebook page she operates still carries their….
Why is it anti-semitic to note the irony of far right Zionists and neofascists making common cause against Muslims? I’ve seen many examples of it, especially on Facebook groups about Palestine/Israel, where it is possible to see who someone’s friends are and which causes someone has liked. When fascism reappears wrapped in the Star of David, as it is with much of the Israeli fascist right, I for one will not ignore it because of the danger of being called anti-semitic.
Long article on just how much tracking the private sector does. It truly does make what the government knows about people seem inconsequential in comparison.
And some bright sparks in Birmingham, as part of a doctoral thesis I think, have created an algorithm that takes all such data and predicts where you’ll be next.
With the growth in mobile apps and GPS tagged events it’s a stalkers best friend.
WSJ quote:
“In the past, tracking companies and retailers had a tougher time identifying online users. Today, a single Web page can contain computer code from dozens of different ad companies or tracking firms. These separate chunks of code often share information with each other.”
You are onto it! And that is only “some” of what goes on!
Those that love Facebook and use that social media are largely blind and ignorant of what happens with their information.
And Google (incl. “google ads”) is virtually EVERYWHERE!
I have been checking some browsing history again and again, and also observing what scripts are instantly activated in the background on websites is truly very, very worrying.
But how do you know, what the government’s or rather state’s agencies are already doing? They may be up to more than so many think.
1984 was once “fiction”, but give it a few more years, and we will be right in the midst of such scenarios.
Tetraplegic Semisi Ma’afu Samiu, injured here in 2006, has been declined New Zealand residency and is being deported to Tonga. It’s expected that his life span will be diminished because the care available in New Zealand is not available in Tonga. But that’s no enough for our officialdom:
[ACC] provided a motorised wheelchair, the bed and a hoist to move between the two. If he left New Zealand, that equipment would remain here.
—-
Last month, Samiu agreed to obey a directive from Immigration NZ and return to Tonga, but when he discovered ACC’s equipment would have to stay he called it off.
So not just his life expectancy, but the things that make his life, and the tasks of his carers, bearable in his remaining years. Surely this is a case for a bit of consideration.
Rosey, this is outrageous, and IMO, far from petty, instead vicious and callous, if not racist as well.
And this under a National Government that without any hesitation generously paid out $100,000,000 dollars to the rich and white Roger Kerr to cover his losses after he blew his $70 million investment in South Canturbury Finance.
Is this justice? Is this fair? Does this sort of ammoral iniquitous double standard make any sort of economic or moral sense?
War against the poor, more like.
A campaign of appeals and protest on behalf of this man and his family needs to be directed to the Minister.
A complaint against the miserable and heartless bureaucrat that has effectively sentenced Semisi Samiu to a degrading and cruel death should also be actioned.
Failing all that, I for one would be happy to put my body between any police contigent sent by Terri Bentley to drag this wounded man from his bed and dump him into on airplane.
Hi Jenny; You mean the Business Round Table, Rodger Kerr? and his $70 million of Hubbard’s South Canterbury Finance? and of course Rodger helped to set up Local Government New Zealand. And of course their buddies in the Nat Govt. are selling off our sovereignty in the TPPA negotiations. I’m joining the dots here.
And I don’t think a mere dysmocratic election will solve this!!!!!
How the hell is it that somebody can be in NZ for at least six years and not have residency? And if his daughter has residency, then why doesn’t he qualify on the basis of his daughters’ status? And what is his wifes status? Meanwhile, isn’t deliberately putting somebody in harms way contrary to some aspect of human rights legislation? Lost for words really…
In the meantime it seems like the slaves are slacking off and the beatings will continue until productivity rises:
If so, you’re one of New Zealand’s “lost souls”, the people identified in a workplace productivity survey as our biggest time-wasters – losing 21 per cent of the day.
It never occurs to the nit-wit who wrote this bit of puffery that 100% ‘on-task’ productivity is impossible and dangerous, nor does the research quoted seem to track how much these people actually get done; that personal productivity and patterns of work are highly variable.
After all if one person gets twice as much done in a week as another, who cares if they spend more ‘downtime’ in anyone day?
Oh the irony!
“Embrace of a killer: Former IRA terrorist Martin McGuinness greets Hillary Clinton”
Just who deserves the title of “Butcher” and “Terrorist” more? McGuinness or Clinton?
There’s nothing “Former” about Clinton’s terrorism or butchery.
Embrace of a killer: Former IRA terrorist Martin McGuinness greets Hillary Clinton…
If Hillary Clinton had any misgivings about exchanging a kiss and a handshake with a man who used to be known as the Butcher of Bogside, she did a very good job of hiding them.
The US Secretary of State was all smiles as she met former IRA terrorist and Ulster’s deputy first minister Martin McGuinness when she arrived in Belfast for her eighth visit to the province.
Her visit comes as rioting broke out across Belfast tonight after hundreds of loyalists took to the streets to protest over flags…
…Mrs Clinton said: ‘There will always be disagreement in democratic societies, but violence is never an acceptable response. All need to confront the remaining challenge of sectarian divisions, peacefully together.’…
Look at who wrote it. Paul Little is one of the lickspittle regulars who used to appear on Paul Holmes’s pisspoor radio show on Saturday mornings. He delivered anodyne reviews of books, which Holmes had usually read himself anyway, and far more perceptively.
On one infamous occasion, Little attempted to ingratiate himself by calling Holmes “Sir Paul”.
Holmes, contemptuous of the display of self-debasement by his underling, sneered: “Oh yes, ha ha ha, you know what to say, don’t you.”
So Paul Little’s byline on any article is a virtual guarantee that it’s going to be shoddy and third-rate.
Why don’t you put your opinion onto the comments section below the article?
Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted the grievous error committed by this writer (i.e., moi) in comment number 8.1, in which I wrote….
Holmes, contemptuous of the display of self-debasement by his underling, sneered: “Oh yes, ha ha ha, you know what to say, don’t you.”
Of course, the compound word “self-debasement” is not what I meant to write. The word I should have used was “self-abasement”.
So that sentence now reads…
Holmes, contemptuous of the display of self-abasement by his underling, sneered: “Oh yes, ha ha ha, you know what to say, don’t you.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Self-abasement: voluntary self-punishment or humiliation in order to atone for some real or imagined wrongdoing, or to curry favour with someone who holds you in contempt.
Using a technology known as augmented reality, which overlays real world images with digital ones, these windshields could display driving directions, text messages or impending hazards, all without requiring drivers to take their eyes off the road.
Although it would a neat technology one does wonder why they’d even bother considering that we already have self-drive cars that will be much safer.
A year on from a stonking election result (which gave them an extra four MPs) the latest Fairfax Media/Ipsos poll shows the Greens have dropped from 11.9 per cent to 10.5 per cent.
Disappointing, for sure. But what should worry them more are shifting attitudes to the environment. Just 5 per cent rated the environment or climate change as the number one issue facing the country. Even among Green supporters, the economy and rising jobless rates are more important above saving the planet.
Just 16 per cent of those who vote Green talked to our pollsters about the environment. Mining figured even less – just 2 per cent brought it up – and only one person raised fracking. Even more telling is that more than half (55.8 per cent) of our respondents agreed with the statement: “For the sake of the economy, we should focus less on climate change – we’re too small to make much difference anyway.”
But why would Green supporters and voters talk about climate change when the Green Party itself is playing it down?
Alongside Labour, the Greens’ strategy for 2013 is to turn up the heat on job creation. They’ll start it with a cross-party manufacturing inquiry in the new year and a focus on monetary policy which will play to concern about the high dollar.
Green Party members I have spoken to, argue that it is the party’s job to follow public opinion, others including myself argue that it is a political party’s job to lead it.
National and Labour have no trouble leading on matters they feel strongly about, even when the vast majority of the public are not just disinterested but even hostile.
To lead the Green Party needs to turn up the heat on the government over Climate Change. After all isn’t this where the government’s performance is weakest and where the Green Party could land some very heavy blows.
I have asked Green supporters, why when the Green Party can host, with Labour, a cross-party manufacturing inquiry focusing on monetary policy and the concern over the high dollar why can’t they call a cross-party inquiry into climate change?
This would put Climate Change, (which, is an existential issue) back in the public spotlight.
If the Green Party cannot raise climate change as an issue in opposition, then they are even less likely to do so as a minority partner in government.
I think it’s more likely that the greens you were talking to were trying to explain political reality to you. the fact that you just dismiss what they had to say is by the by really.
But the fact remains that the Green party is getting around 10 % and is in opposition. They can and do lead policy on a number of issues; it’s a slow and laborious process. You seem to want them to become a single issue party and doom themselves to irrelevance, and won’t be happy until they do so, but that isn’t the party they are, and that is a good thing.
I am very aware of “political reality”. The world is heating up dangerously. That is a reality.
A reality that every political party including the Green Party has to prioritise if millions are not to die and whole eco-systems are not to be wiped out.
If the Greens are not prepared to prioritise this ‘existential’ threat then they are not really a Green Party, they are just another mainstream social democratic party. (Maybe a little further left than Labour).
Of course I know that is not what you meant, by use of the term “political reality”. What you meant, is the so called “Pragmatic” decision every third party is called to make. Whether or not to compromise principle to get a place at the table.
Look, usually this doesn’t end up well. Lib Dems and Conservatives in the UK, Maori Party and National, the Alliance and Labour. And so it will be for the Green Party.
All the evidence is that a Shearer led administration is committed to carry on with opening up the Denniston Plateau to strip mine it of coal for export to China, to deep sea oil drilling to fracking, and more motorway expansion. All of which will exponentially increase this country’s CO2 emissions. The Green Party will never recover if they a part of a government committed to these “realities”.
Political reality may allow Green Party compromise, but reality, reality won’t.
You sneer at pragmatism, as if sticking to a purist line is a political possibility. It isn’t. At the moment the greens are getting about 10 % support.
There is a window within which political parties can operate in a democracy. The boundaries of that window are determined by the electorate. If a political party steps out of that window, they cease to have any influence.
You seem to think that not having any influence is better than having some.
That is not a serious position. It’s childish.
The task of a political party is to effect policy change. That must be done within the window of what people will accept. Because democracy. It is the task of NGOs and activists and academics and others to move the window. Political parties can’t do it.
That’s not ‘pragmatism’ it’s reality.
If the people shift, the politicians will be forced to follow.
“Why do you want to know, do you want to conduct a purge of your own?”
That was nasty. I asked because I suspected that you were referring to GP members who comment here and I thought you might be misrepresenting their views. Your repeated equivocation furthers my suspicion that you are skewing the GP policies and actions because of your obsession about CC.
You may call it obsession but it may be what is required.
Better to be obsessed than deliberately decide to ignore it.
With the climate disintegrating. Our political leaders arguing about the arrangement of the deck chairs. IMO pathalogical. Bordering on obsessive compulsive disorder.
Neither I nor the GP have decided to deliberately ignore CC. That’s been proven to you in recent days. You insist on repeatedly distorting the truth. I think that is a highly flawed strategy. You could still lobby for action on CC without doing that.
Politicians may be rearranging the deck chairs, but you are arguing for changing course once we’ve already hit the iceberg. Just as crazy.
“That is a question they have avoided since they were formed,”
More likely is that many Greens are aware of the inherent incompatibility between capitalism and ecological sustainability, but choose to not focus on it because they want the Greens to be a successful political party.
The other option is open honesty about the state of the world and zero MPs. How would that help? Serious question. I’d like to know how you see it working for a political party to tell the truth about the world and be effective as a party.
If you have followed my comments you will be aware that I have tried to popularise the example of Winston Churchill. Churchill once convinced of the danger never compromised one bit in his opposition to fascism, despite being a back bench MP, despite getting into parlliament as an independent, with no caucus at all to support him.
He just never shut up. And kept telling the truth to everyone he met in any forum he was given.
From a minority position he won over the whole of parliament.
That is true leadership. This is the historic mission of the Green Party if they chose to accept it.
Jenny one would suggest all green voter and member are climate change acceptors way way ahead of the curve and as thing become obvious then gradually the rest adopt this belief or position. My gentleman farmer granddad knew before you probably that something climatic was up and in his later years took to the Internet read read and went from Tory blue to labour red. He even praised HC.
He fought for freedom and would have be agasped at any attempt to silent well though out opinion or argument. Freedom is our last bastion.
The other example I like to give of winning over the whole of parliament from a minority position is that of the New Zealand Labour Party in 1984. Though in opposition the Labour Party became the centre of organising against nuclear ship visits. LECs mobilised their members and to protests and printed leaflets and distributed bumper stickers. In parliament Labour MPs debated with and condemned the National Party for supporting nuclear ship visits.
Eventually they moved two National MPs to vote for an opposition bill to ban nuclear ship visits, (put up, by of all people, Richard Prebble). To prevent the vote being put Muldoon called a snap election.
Strangely when in government things changed, The Labour government achieved what Muldoon couldn’t putting off the vote for another three years, even agreeing a year after getting into office to let a (possibly), nuclear armed warship the USS Buchanan visit New Zealand. A visit that had to be canceled after Nicky Hager met with David Lange in the Beehive and threatened mass protests.
The lesson here is that sometimes a political party is more powerful in opposition, particularly if they stay close to their grass roots membership and don’t betray their principles.
Nuclear weapons free is a completely different issue. CC is big and scarey and requires radical changes to society, including alot of personal sacrifice. Nuclear weapons free legislation was relatively easy to support as it didn’t affect people in their day to day lives.
You left the role of the peace movement out of your story.
The other place your example falls down on is that Labour had to form govt to pass the legislation. They didn’t remain a glorified lobby group.
re the Churchill example, I don’t believe you can manufacture such people or circumstances. Do you see any one person in NZ politics who is the equivalent of Churchill?
Cunliffe comes closest, he has got the talent, he has got the knowledge, he has got the experience.
But has he got the bulldog spirit?
I must admit. He has been a bit quiet of late. Has he been intimidated? Or is he just biding his time? Or is it that no opportunity has presented itself to him to speak out. (I think it would be great if he made a statement of the gagging of Colonial Viper. But that is just my opinion.)
Maybe the Green Party could invite David Cunliffe to one of their meetings to deliver one of his famous addresses on climate change and the economy.
He’s “a bit quiet of late” because he is operating under a full gag order from David Shearer.
There was a press conference from Shearer a little while ago explaining it.
Why won’t the Greens call an all party inquiry into climate change?
Goodness knows they have got cause to.
“Katrina, All Over Again”
Hurricane Sandy, if you are poor, is the Katrina of the North. It has exposed the nation’s fragile, dilapidated and shoddy infrastructure, one that crumbles under minimal stress. It has highlighted the inability of utility companies, as well as state and federal agencies, to cope with the looming environmental disasters that because of the climate crisis will soon come in wave after wave. But, most important, it illustrates the depraved mentality of an oligarchic and corporate elite that, as conditions worsen, retreats into self-contained gated communities, guts basic services and abandons the wider population.
Maximising environmental and social sustainability is the overriding principle in all Green party policy. I do not think Green members are going to let the parliamentary team give it up, even if they wanted to, which I doubt.
.
And. Unlike the other parties, Greens use membership consensus to set policy.
“Reports Warn Europe Is Nearing Irreversible Threat From Catastrophic Climate Change”
“Time is running out, but the technical means and the policy tools to allow the world to stay below [3.6F of warming] are still available to governments and societies,” said Christiana Figueres, the UN’s top climate official, who will head next week’s climate talks…..
According to the UNEP report, which has drawn on the research from more than 50 scientists, the widening gap between climate plans and scientific estimates means that governments must step up their commitments to avoid even worse effects from global warming.
“The transition to a low-carbon, inclusive green economy is happening far too slowly and the opportunity for meeting [scientific advice on emissions targets] is narrowing annually,” said Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP. Lawrence LeBlondredOrbit.com
Jenny 12
That Common Dreams link you put up was very descriptive of the plight of the low income people in USA. I was taken by that piece you quoted about the elite retreating into self-contained gated communities. Devil take the hindmost.
I have this feeling that the wealthy in NZ are getting all the money possible salted away before everything goes pear-shaped. And our pollies cannot find in their DNA the early Labour commitment to doing something to help the country and people rather than fill their time with personalities which are just ways of passing time.
Meanwhile Doha winds down to another last minute agreement which takes us apparently nowhere further on tackling Climate Change – the US runs interference on pretty much everything, China and Eastern Europe grimly hold on to their “developing nation” status and “hot gas” exemptions, “damage aid” is agreed for poorer countries but no liability is accepted by rich countries, no mechanism to collect and pay out is put in place and no agreement on where the money will come from.
“Our” Government’s meaningless response looks to the long term – presumably when they’ve all retired and taken all the profits and left the mess to someone else.
I have a love hate relationship with The Standard. I am pretty middle of the road when it comes to political opinion, I am a pragmatist as opposed to avowed leftist/righty which generally puts me at odds with the status quo (both here and at Kiwiblog).
That said, I respect the idea that opinion should be broadcast no matter how much it disagrees with your own politics.
If you have to muzzle your opponent you have already lost. I look forward to the return of CV so we can argue each other again.
To fight the war against Climate Change leadership is necessary.
Where will this leadership come from?
“So they [the Government] go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent…. Owing to past neglect, in the face of the plainest warnings, we have entered upon a period of danger…. The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedience of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences…. We cannot avoid this period, we are in it now….”
Winston Churchill, November 12, 1936, House of Commons
When it comes to Climate Change. Doesn’t this strange paradox of dithering, procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and expedience and delays, describe our present parliament, both government and opposition. Especially when we have entered a period of dangerous consequences.
Currently now that the apologists and Ignorers of climate change are dominant, one each, in two of the major parties in parliament. And the Greens are busy tailoring their party to fit with this paradigm.
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Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Michael Cowling, CQUniversity AustraliaWe’ve probably all been there. We buy some new smart gadget and when we plug it in for the first time it requires an update to work. So we end up spending hours downloading and updating before we can even play with our new toy. But ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
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 ...
Zero emission buses, cleaner cars and environmentally-friendly biofuels will soon be hitting New Zealand’s roads, as the Government delivers on its election promise to make our transport network more sustainable. ...
The Green Party is already delivering on its commitment for cleaner, climate-friendly transport through our Cooperation Agreement with the Government. ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
Prudence Steven QC, barrister of Christchurch has been appointed as an Environment Judge and District Court Judge to serve in Christchurch, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Steven has been a barrister sole since 2008, practising in resource management and local government / public law. She was appointed a Queen’s ...
The Government is delivering on its first tranche of election promises to take action on climate change with a raft of measures that will help meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. “This will be an ongoing area of action but we are moving ...
The Government is investing up to $10 million to support 30 of the country’s top early-career researchers to develop their research skills. “The pandemic has had widespread impacts across the science system, including the research workforce. After completing their PhD, researchers often travel overseas to gain experience but in the ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
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 ...
Rod Oram: We urgently need people power to push political and business leaders, households and individuals to play their roles in solving the climate crisis. ...
By Adi Briantika in Jakarta A group of Papuan students in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Jakarta, who were planning to hold a protest action opposing the extension of Papuan Special Autonomy (Otsus), have been arrested and taken to the Metro Jaya regional police headquarters. “Around ...
By RNZ News The two new cases of covid-19 confirmed yesterday in New Zealand are the South African variant and initial results show they are connected to the Northland case at the Pullman Hotel. This morning the Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, confirmed to Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Overhype can be a dead giveaway of under-confidence. When Anthony Albanese on Thursday compared his situation to that of Joe Biden, it sounded rather desperate. Some journalists, he said, had predicted a certain Trump win. ...
The New Zealand public sector and judiciary has again been ranked the least corrupt in the world. The 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released today by global anti-corruption organization Transparency International ranks New Zealand first equal ...
New Zealand is again ranked first equal with Denmark in the Transparency International annual index of perceived levels of public sector corruption. Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has welcomed New Zealand’s position in the 2020 index. He says New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Kaufman, Research Fellow, Vaccine Uptake Group, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute The federal government’s A$23.9 million COVID-19 vaccination information campaign, launchedyesterday, aims to reassure the public about vaccine safety and effectiveness. It will also provide information about the vaccine rollout. We’ve ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Hongi Luo, brand director at TikTok.In terms of cultural reach and impact, the ...
After Covid devastated its 2020, Basement Theatre comes roaring into 2021 with its Summer Season. Here’s the rundown of shows in-store, with some comments from programmer Nisha Madhan.Pre-FringeLust IslandWhen’s it on: February 2-6, 8pmWho’s involved: The women of improv troupe Hearthrobs (McKenzie’s Daughters, Salem Bitch Trials), including Brynley Stent, Alice ...
The whānau of Te Ahikaiata Turei supported by Māori and non-Māori staff at Unitec will take back a portrait of the Tūhoe leader who led the establishment of Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae and the values that brought the institute back from the brink of ...
A poll across the Early Childhood Education community found 93% in favour of pausing the ‘lunchbox rules’, or the Ministry of Education’s new Food Safety/choking changes to the Licensing Criteria, which came into effect on 25 January. “The message ...
Cycling advocates are calling for the transformation of urban transport, as New Zealand races to cut carbon. The Climate Change Commission will release its initial advice on Sunday 31 January. “Bikes and e-bikes are perfect for many local trips, ...
Three Ministers, led by the PM, joined in chorus today to warble about a bunch of measures aimed at helping to meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. Mind you, the measures mentioned seem to be more matters of decisions yet to be made ...
Michelle Kidd defines her role at Auckland’s specialist family violence court as te kaiwhakatere – the navigator. It’s a one-of-a-kind job, helping guide defendants through the court system. And there’s no one better suited to it than Whaea Michelle.First published November 24, 2020.Whaea Michelle is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sallie Yea, Associate professor & Principal Research Fellow, La Trobe University Each year, thousands of men and boys labour under extremely exploitative conditions on commercial fishing vessels owned by Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean companies. The Taiwanese fleet, which operates in all ...
Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis believes the Crown should maintain responsibility for the care and protection of at-risk and vulnerable children, regardless of their race. Moreover, he is confident his all-Maori team of advisers will not be taking race into account as they help to improve Oranga Tamariki’s care and protection of ...
It’s easy to sacrifice John Banks. It’s a lot harder for brands, sports organisations and government to truly stop funding racism. Are they willing to try?Yesterday John Banks, the former Auckland mayor and MP, became subject to one of the fastest firings in media history when audio covering his approving ...
A community is outraged after Auckland Council granted consent for a row of trees planted by local kids to be removed along a revitalised waterway in South Auckland, reports Justin Latif. An Auckland Council decision to give contractors the all-clear to chop down 12 mānuka and kānuka trees shading Māngere’s Tararata ...
Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu hopes that the recent changes to Oranga Tamariki leadership present an opportunity for a long overdue paradigm shift that will place whānau at the heart of the child welfare sector. Pouārahi Helen Leahy says that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New England Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, edging out previous title holder Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. His rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles ...
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then left into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable ...
Having a hard time remembering to scan in on the NZ Covid Tracer app when you’re out and about? Get this song stuck in your head and you’ll never forget again.Learn the lyrics:Aotearoa, it’s time to get scanning!I mean if you think about it, it never really wasn’t time we ...
We conclude our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with a review of his stories by John Newton Roger Hickin’s Cold Hub Press is one of the small miracles of contemporary New Zealand publishing. Over the last decade, on what can only be a shoe-string budget, the ...
Thursday 28th January, AUCKLAND: Drive Electric, the not-for-profit with one mission – making electric vehicle uptake in New Zealand mainstream, welcomes the announcement by the Government today as a sign of what’s to come through 2021, and we are confident ...
The Government announced today key policy decisions on the proposed clean car policies. The MIA has stated on many occasions that we support well thought out and constructive policies that will lead to an increased rate in the reduction of CO2 emissions from ...
Get wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable ...
John Banks’ racist exchange with a Magic Talk listener on Tuesday was the latest in nearly 50 years of talkback controversies. Donna Chisholm has the receipts.John Banks axed over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk1972: On Radio I, sports talkback host Tim Bickerstaff launches a “Punch a Pom ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission.Two new community Covid-19 cases have been identified as the more infectious South African variant, but Auckland Mayor Phil Goff sayit would be "premature to go into lockdown now". The two new cases of Covid-19 identified in the ...
Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s ...
KiwiRail STOP Hauling COAL Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Dunn, Associate professor, University of Sydney The government is rolling out a new public information campaign this week to reassure the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which one expert has said “couldn’t be more crucial” to people actually getting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Walker, Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury Kiwis know what it’s like when life throws curveballs. We’ve had major quakes, floods, fires, an eruption, a terrorist attack and now a pandemic. In those situations, it’s the ability to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irwin, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University While we continue to be occupied with the COVID pandemic, another life-threatening disease has emerged in northern Australia, one that’s cause for considerable alarm for the millions of dog owners around the country. This disease — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cath Ferguson, Academic, Edith Cowan University Almost half of Australian adults struggle with reading. Similar levels of struggling readers are reported in the United Kingdom and United States. This does not mean all struggling readers are illiterate. It means they often struggle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abbas Shieh, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Islamic Azad University The industrial revolution transformed cities, resulting in places of residence and work becoming more distant than ever before. This spatial segregation is still largely embedded in the design of our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: Occupation: Rainfall, written and directed by Luke Sparke Historically, when a sequel to a film was greenlit, you could rest assured this was because the first film made a ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 28, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tourism suffers in the shadow of Covid-19, two new positive cases in Auckland confirmed, and National will contest the Māori electorates.The front page of the January 4 Greymouth Star carried grim tidings for several of the glacier towns on the ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Two people who left managed isolation on January 15 have been confirmed as positive Covid-19 cases, with the Ministry of Health urging anyone who visited the same locations during the same time period as the infected pair in Auckland to ...
The watchlist of 'offensive or unreasonable' babies' names is to be reviewed, to include more names from other languages. Generations of the Īhaka family have played a meaningful role in bringing Te Reo and stories of Māori to our wider community. Archdeacon Sir Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka (Te Aupōuri, 1921-93) was known as the orator of ...
After Morocco’s flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire in Western Sahara on Friday 13 November 2020 war broke out between the two sides. In the midst of this war Tauranga based Ballance Agri-Nutrients has decided to carry on importing phosphate ...
A young girl who once sent $5 to an embattled America's Cup team is now among the women on the water helping run the contest for the Auld Mug. As an eager and generous nine-year-old, Melanie Roberts posted a letter, with a $5 note, to OneAustralia’s America’s Cup team. It was 1995, ...
Nicholas Agar suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and Māori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths A mission for universities in the coming decade will be a deep understanding of the meaning ...
At 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with ...
Ignoring those QR codes when you drop into the supermarket? Can’t be bothered when you grab a coffee? The people serving you notice, and you’re freaking them out.So far, New Zealanders’ use of the Covid-19 Tracer app has been notably woeful. Food industry workers who’ve watched streams of customers walk ...
Steve Braunias reveals the longlist of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards Apart from one or two unfortunate omissions which cast doubt on the sanity and intellectual acumen of judges, especially the nobodies who judged this year's non-fiction, the longlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards is ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
Question: I notice changing my name means posts go into moderation. I’d like the mods to enjoy their Sunday. Is this a prob for them or is there some guidance on the best way to do this without dropping into moderation?
[lprent: It is the best defense against trolls. They have to write a coherent comment and have it accepted by a moderator before they can write comments freely. It also makes it difficult fo astroturfers to construct a range of identities. The alternative route is the kiwiblog one where a login is required. ]
Head of Jewish Defence League UK supports Anders Breivik, says victims “not innocent”
Written by Brit Dee Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:16
Roberta Moore, who was intimately connected to the anti-Muslim English Defence League (EDL) and continues to run their Jewish Division’s Facebook page, has expressed her support for Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik – and described his teenage victims as being “not innocent”.
In a post made on April 17th to the Jewish Defence League UK Blogger site, believed to be run by Moore and supported by comments posted in her name on Facebook, she describes the Norwegian court as a “kangaroo court”, asks whether a “man like Breivik in a case such as this surely deserves a better trial than that?”, refers to the “Leftist slander constantly being thrown to undermine him and his views”, and defends him against charges of child murder by parroting Breivik’s defence that his victims were young adults, attending an “indoctrination camp”, who were “not innocent”. A comment attributed to Moore states
I hold the same amount of sympathy for the [sic] those on Utoya as I would if somebody committed this act on a Hitler Youth camp in the 1940’s, or were they just “children” as well?
Such offensive comments will no doubt prove awkward for the EDL, who have recently been attempting to change their image as a group of thuggish racists, by repeatedly stating that they stand firmly against violence and extremism.
Whilst Moore claimed to have left the EDL in June last year, she was until then closely connected to the group’s leadership and inner circle, with whom she apparently maintained contact after her departure. She even reportedly helped EDL leader Stephen Lennon (a.k.a. “Tommy Robinson”) attend an EDL demonstration in September last year – from which he had been banned, resulting in his arrest for breach of bail conditions – by smuggling him in dressed as a rabbi.
Moore is also said to be friends with shadowy EDL financier and strategist Alan Ayling (a.k.a. “Alan Lake”), a wealthy businessman who was recently suspended from his management post at a major international development bank, after the discovery of his real identity. A disaffected founding member of the EDL named Paul Ray has confirmed that Ayling was present at the first 2009 meeting of the group, which actually took place in Ayling’s expensive London flat.
Ayling has admitted funding the EDL, and whilst he publically condemned Breivik’s attack he also described it as “chickens come home to roost”. Other disturbing comments made by Ayling on his “4Freedoms” website include his suggestion in July last year that David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, be executed.
If Moore is no longer connected to the EDL, then it is surprising that the Facebook page she operates still carries their….
To find out more about these loons, click here….
http://www.resistradio.com/updates/head-of-jewish-defence-league-supports-anders-breivik-says-victims-not-innocent
Is there a point to this other than your rabid Antisemitism?
Why is it anti-semitic to note the irony of far right Zionists and neofascists making common cause against Muslims? I’ve seen many examples of it, especially on Facebook groups about Palestine/Israel, where it is possible to see who someone’s friends are and which causes someone has liked. When fascism reappears wrapped in the Star of David, as it is with much of the Israeli fascist right, I for one will not ignore it because of the danger of being called anti-semitic.
To be fair P the JDL is regarded as a hate group by both the Anti Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center
If censorship is this heavy handed against their own MP, what will happen when they are actually in government? Seeming more like National every day.
Long article on just how much tracking the private sector does. It truly does make what the government knows about people seem inconsequential in comparison.
And some bright sparks in Birmingham, as part of a doctoral thesis I think, have created an algorithm that takes all such data and predicts where you’ll be next.
With the growth in mobile apps and GPS tagged events it’s a stalkers best friend.
WSJ quote:
“In the past, tracking companies and retailers had a tougher time identifying online users. Today, a single Web page can contain computer code from dozens of different ad companies or tracking firms. These separate chunks of code often share information with each other.”
You are onto it! And that is only “some” of what goes on!
Those that love Facebook and use that social media are largely blind and ignorant of what happens with their information.
And Google (incl. “google ads”) is virtually EVERYWHERE!
I have been checking some browsing history again and again, and also observing what scripts are instantly activated in the background on websites is truly very, very worrying.
But how do you know, what the government’s or rather state’s agencies are already doing? They may be up to more than so many think.
1984 was once “fiction”, but give it a few more years, and we will be right in the midst of such scenarios.
How petty
Tetraplegic Semisi Ma’afu Samiu, injured here in 2006, has been declined New Zealand residency and is being deported to Tonga. It’s expected that his life span will be diminished because the care available in New Zealand is not available in Tonga. But that’s no enough for our officialdom:
So not just his life expectancy, but the things that make his life, and the tasks of his carers, bearable in his remaining years. Surely this is a case for a bit of consideration.
Rosey, this is outrageous, and IMO, far from petty, instead vicious and callous, if not racist as well.
And this under a National Government that without any hesitation generously paid out $100,000,000 dollars to the rich and white Roger Kerr to cover his losses after he blew his $70 million investment in South Canturbury Finance.
Is this justice? Is this fair? Does this sort of ammoral iniquitous double standard make any sort of economic or moral sense?
War against the poor, more like.
A campaign of appeals and protest on behalf of this man and his family needs to be directed to the Minister.
A complaint against the miserable and heartless bureaucrat that has effectively sentenced Semisi Samiu to a degrading and cruel death should also be actioned.
Failing all that, I for one would be happy to put my body between any police contigent sent by Terri Bentley to drag this wounded man from his bed and dump him into on airplane.
What has happened to this country?
Hi Jenny; You mean the Business Round Table, Rodger Kerr? and his $70 million of Hubbard’s South Canterbury Finance? and of course Rodger helped to set up Local Government New Zealand. And of course their buddies in the Nat Govt. are selling off our sovereignty in the TPPA negotiations. I’m joining the dots here.
And I don’t think a mere dysmocratic election will solve this!!!!!
Questions, questions, questions!
How the hell is it that somebody can be in NZ for at least six years and not have residency? And if his daughter has residency, then why doesn’t he qualify on the basis of his daughters’ status? And what is his wifes status? Meanwhile, isn’t deliberately putting somebody in harms way contrary to some aspect of human rights legislation? Lost for words really…
Yes your right Bill it’s in contravention to the NZ Bill of Human Rights, our constitution.
In the meantime it seems like the slaves are slacking off and the beatings will continue until productivity rises:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10852830
It never occurs to the nit-wit who wrote this bit of puffery that 100% ‘on-task’ productivity is impossible and dangerous, nor does the research quoted seem to track how much these people actually get done; that personal productivity and patterns of work are highly variable.
After all if one person gets twice as much done in a week as another, who cares if they spend more ‘downtime’ in anyone day?
That was a well balanced article wasn;t it! /sarc
These types of articles are all to frequently posted without a second thought put into giving the worker any credit at all…
NZH – The more you know, the better!
Oh the irony!
“Embrace of a killer: Former IRA terrorist Martin McGuinness greets Hillary Clinton”
Just who deserves the title of “Butcher” and “Terrorist” more? McGuinness or Clinton?
There’s nothing “Former” about Clinton’s terrorism or butchery.
Embrace of a killer: Former IRA terrorist Martin McGuinness greets Hillary Clinton…
If Hillary Clinton had any misgivings about exchanging a kiss and a handshake with a man who used to be known as the Butcher of Bogside, she did a very good job of hiding them.
The US Secretary of State was all smiles as she met former IRA terrorist and Ulster’s deputy first minister Martin McGuinness when she arrived in Belfast for her eighth visit to the province.
Her visit comes as rioting broke out across Belfast tonight after hundreds of loyalists took to the streets to protest over flags…
…Mrs Clinton said: ‘There will always be disagreement in democratic societies, but violence is never an acceptable response. All need to confront the remaining challenge of sectarian divisions, peacefully together.’…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244514/Former-IRA-terrorist-Martin-McGuinness-greets-Hillary-Clinton-arrives-Ulster.html
(Orig. posted by Ed on Media Lens)
http://www.medialens.org/
NZ Herald Online edition – “gutter journalism” at its best, I suppose:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10852783
This passes as “journalism” by a Mr Little writing for NZ’s largest print media!?
More beneficiary bashing, based on anything else but facts. Look and read for yourselves!
Look at who wrote it. Paul Little is one of the lickspittle regulars who used to appear on Paul Holmes’s pisspoor radio show on Saturday mornings. He delivered anodyne reviews of books, which Holmes had usually read himself anyway, and far more perceptively.
On one infamous occasion, Little attempted to ingratiate himself by calling Holmes “Sir Paul”.
Holmes, contemptuous of the display of self-debasement by his underling, sneered: “Oh yes, ha ha ha, you know what to say, don’t you.”
So Paul Little’s byline on any article is a virtual guarantee that it’s going to be shoddy and third-rate.
Why don’t you put your opinion onto the comments section below the article?
ERRATUM
Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted the grievous error committed by this writer (i.e., moi) in comment number 8.1, in which I wrote….
Holmes, contemptuous of the display of self-debasement by his underling, sneered: “Oh yes, ha ha ha, you know what to say, don’t you.”
Of course, the compound word “self-debasement” is not what I meant to write. The word I should have used was “self-abasement”.
So that sentence now reads…
Holmes, contemptuous of the display of self-abasement by his underling, sneered: “Oh yes, ha ha ha, you know what to say, don’t you.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Self-abasement: voluntary self-punishment or humiliation in order to atone for some real or imagined wrongdoing, or to curry favour with someone who holds you in contempt.
Go back to RSRU Morrissey, Casper is waiting.
Thanks for the heads up, my friend. Always have time for Monsieur Milquetoast.
Meanwhile, you might like to say something critical in the comment’s section to Grovellor Little’s fourth-rate article?
A Computer for Your Car’s Windshield
Although it would a neat technology one does wonder why they’d even bother considering that we already have self-drive cars that will be much safer.
‘
What is behind Green Party CCI?
But why would Green supporters and voters talk about climate change when the Green Party itself is playing it down?
Green Party members I have spoken to, argue that it is the party’s job to follow public opinion, others including myself argue that it is a political party’s job to lead it.
National and Labour have no trouble leading on matters they feel strongly about, even when the vast majority of the public are not just disinterested but even hostile.
To lead the Green Party needs to turn up the heat on the government over Climate Change. After all isn’t this where the government’s performance is weakest and where the Green Party could land some very heavy blows.
I have asked Green supporters, why when the Green Party can host, with Labour, a cross-party manufacturing inquiry focusing on monetary policy and the concern over the high dollar why can’t they call a cross-party inquiry into climate change?
This would put Climate Change, (which, is an existential issue) back in the public spotlight.
If the Green Party cannot raise climate change as an issue in opposition, then they are even less likely to do so as a minority partner in government.
“Green Party members I have spoken to, argue that it is the party’s job to follow public opinion”
Oh yeah, who was that then?
Why do you want to know, do you want to conduct a purge of your own?
“Whatever you guys do, don’t talk to Jenny.”
I think it’s more likely that the greens you were talking to were trying to explain political reality to you. the fact that you just dismiss what they had to say is by the by really.
But the fact remains that the Green party is getting around 10 % and is in opposition. They can and do lead policy on a number of issues; it’s a slow and laborious process. You seem to want them to become a single issue party and doom themselves to irrelevance, and won’t be happy until they do so, but that isn’t the party they are, and that is a good thing.
I am very aware of “political reality”. The world is heating up dangerously. That is a reality.
A reality that every political party including the Green Party has to prioritise if millions are not to die and whole eco-systems are not to be wiped out.
If the Greens are not prepared to prioritise this ‘existential’ threat then they are not really a Green Party, they are just another mainstream social democratic party. (Maybe a little further left than Labour).
Of course I know that is not what you meant, by use of the term “political reality”. What you meant, is the so called “Pragmatic” decision every third party is called to make. Whether or not to compromise principle to get a place at the table.
Look, usually this doesn’t end up well. Lib Dems and Conservatives in the UK, Maori Party and National, the Alliance and Labour. And so it will be for the Green Party.
All the evidence is that a Shearer led administration is committed to carry on with opening up the Denniston Plateau to strip mine it of coal for export to China, to deep sea oil drilling to fracking, and more motorway expansion. All of which will exponentially increase this country’s CO2 emissions. The Green Party will never recover if they a part of a government committed to these “realities”.
Political reality may allow Green Party compromise, but reality, reality won’t.
No, you don’t understand what I meant.
You sneer at pragmatism, as if sticking to a purist line is a political possibility. It isn’t. At the moment the greens are getting about 10 % support.
There is a window within which political parties can operate in a democracy. The boundaries of that window are determined by the electorate. If a political party steps out of that window, they cease to have any influence.
You seem to think that not having any influence is better than having some.
That is not a serious position. It’s childish.
The task of a political party is to effect policy change. That must be done within the window of what people will accept. Because democracy. It is the task of NGOs and activists and academics and others to move the window. Political parties can’t do it.
That’s not ‘pragmatism’ it’s reality.
If the people shift, the politicians will be forced to follow.
“Why do you want to know, do you want to conduct a purge of your own?”
That was nasty. I asked because I suspected that you were referring to GP members who comment here and I thought you might be misrepresenting their views. Your repeated equivocation furthers my suspicion that you are skewing the GP policies and actions because of your obsession about CC.
You may call it obsession but it may be what is required.
Better to be obsessed than deliberately decide to ignore it.
With the climate disintegrating. Our political leaders arguing about the arrangement of the deck chairs. IMO pathalogical. Bordering on obsessive compulsive disorder.
Neither I nor the GP have decided to deliberately ignore CC. That’s been proven to you in recent days. You insist on repeatedly distorting the truth. I think that is a highly flawed strategy. You could still lobby for action on CC without doing that.
Politicians may be rearranging the deck chairs, but you are arguing for changing course once we’ve already hit the iceberg. Just as crazy.
The Green Party can’t look at climate change too closely because that would involve asking whether capitalism is ecologically sustainable.
That is a question they have avoided since they were formed, in fact it could be argued they exist to muddy the waters and make sure it is not asked.
Thats almost dead center!
“That is a question they have avoided since they were formed,”
More likely is that many Greens are aware of the inherent incompatibility between capitalism and ecological sustainability, but choose to not focus on it because they want the Greens to be a successful political party.
The other option is open honesty about the state of the world and zero MPs. How would that help? Serious question. I’d like to know how you see it working for a political party to tell the truth about the world and be effective as a party.
If you have followed my comments you will be aware that I have tried to popularise the example of Winston Churchill. Churchill once convinced of the danger never compromised one bit in his opposition to fascism, despite being a back bench MP, despite getting into parlliament as an independent, with no caucus at all to support him.
He just never shut up. And kept telling the truth to everyone he met in any forum he was given.
From a minority position he won over the whole of parliament.
That is true leadership. This is the historic mission of the Green Party if they chose to accept it.
Jenny one would suggest all green voter and member are climate change acceptors way way ahead of the curve and as thing become obvious then gradually the rest adopt this belief or position. My gentleman farmer granddad knew before you probably that something climatic was up and in his later years took to the Internet read read and went from Tory blue to labour red. He even praised HC.
He fought for freedom and would have be agasped at any attempt to silent well though out opinion or argument. Freedom is our last bastion.
The other example I like to give of winning over the whole of parliament from a minority position is that of the New Zealand Labour Party in 1984. Though in opposition the Labour Party became the centre of organising against nuclear ship visits. LECs mobilised their members and to protests and printed leaflets and distributed bumper stickers. In parliament Labour MPs debated with and condemned the National Party for supporting nuclear ship visits.
Eventually they moved two National MPs to vote for an opposition bill to ban nuclear ship visits, (put up, by of all people, Richard Prebble). To prevent the vote being put Muldoon called a snap election.
Strangely when in government things changed, The Labour government achieved what Muldoon couldn’t putting off the vote for another three years, even agreeing a year after getting into office to let a (possibly), nuclear armed warship the USS Buchanan visit New Zealand. A visit that had to be canceled after Nicky Hager met with David Lange in the Beehive and threatened mass protests.
The lesson here is that sometimes a political party is more powerful in opposition, particularly if they stay close to their grass roots membership and don’t betray their principles.
Nuclear weapons free is a completely different issue. CC is big and scarey and requires radical changes to society, including alot of personal sacrifice. Nuclear weapons free legislation was relatively easy to support as it didn’t affect people in their day to day lives.
You left the role of the peace movement out of your story.
The other place your example falls down on is that Labour had to form govt to pass the legislation. They didn’t remain a glorified lobby group.
re the Churchill example, I don’t believe you can manufacture such people or circumstances. Do you see any one person in NZ politics who is the equivalent of Churchill?
Cunliffe comes closest, he has got the talent, he has got the knowledge, he has got the experience.
But has he got the bulldog spirit?
I must admit. He has been a bit quiet of late. Has he been intimidated? Or is he just biding his time? Or is it that no opportunity has presented itself to him to speak out. (I think it would be great if he made a statement of the gagging of Colonial Viper. But that is just my opinion.)
Maybe the Green Party could invite David Cunliffe to one of their meetings to deliver one of his famous addresses on climate change and the economy.
He’s “a bit quiet of late” because he is operating under a full gag order from David Shearer.
There was a press conference from Shearer a little while ago explaining it.
‘
Why won’t the Greens call an all party inquiry into climate change?
Goodness knows they have got cause to.
What are the Greens waiting for, till this happens to us?
Jenny, have you asked the GP to call for an all-party inquiry into CC?
What if I have?
Jenny I’m assuming you haven’t, but was giving you the benefit of the doubt. But if you have, what did they say?
Currently in a few Green party policy groups.
Maximising environmental and social sustainability is the overriding principle in all Green party policy. I do not think Green members are going to let the parliamentary team give it up, even if they wanted to, which I doubt.
.
And. Unlike the other parties, Greens use membership consensus to set policy.
Well change is coming to the mighty LP too so we can bind the caucus to solid policy remits from our policy groups…well hopefully.
“Reports Warn Europe Is Nearing Irreversible Threat From Catastrophic Climate Change”
Jenny 12
That Common Dreams link you put up was very descriptive of the plight of the low income people in USA. I was taken by that piece you quoted about the elite retreating into self-contained gated communities. Devil take the hindmost.
I have this feeling that the wealthy in NZ are getting all the money possible salted away before everything goes pear-shaped. And our pollies cannot find in their DNA the early Labour commitment to doing something to help the country and people rather than fill their time with personalities which are just ways of passing time.
Exactly that’s why we need to win in 2014 but also win with the correct plan.
Here’s the trailer for Chasing Ice and a news piece on the movie.
Meanwhile Doha winds down to another last minute agreement which takes us apparently nowhere further on tackling Climate Change – the US runs interference on pretty much everything, China and Eastern Europe grimly hold on to their “developing nation” status and “hot gas” exemptions, “damage aid” is agreed for poorer countries but no liability is accepted by rich countries, no mechanism to collect and pay out is put in place and no agreement on where the money will come from.
“Our” Government’s meaningless response looks to the long term – presumably when they’ve all retired and taken all the profits and left the mess to someone else.
I’d have to agree with Greenpeace that Doha “failed to live up to even the historically low expectations”.
And here is the take from The Guardian.
I have a love hate relationship with The Standard. I am pretty middle of the road when it comes to political opinion, I am a pragmatist as opposed to avowed leftist/righty which generally puts me at odds with the status quo (both here and at Kiwiblog).
That said, I respect the idea that opinion should be broadcast no matter how much it disagrees with your own politics.
If you have to muzzle your opponent you have already lost. I look forward to the return of CV so we can argue each other again.
Oh ColonialContrarian shelve that anger and feel the love. Put your Sgt. Peppers album on and chill when the hate overflows onto your keyboard.
I’m sure CV is missing you too even though it must get boring for him always winning the debate with you 😉
You make a good point about the muzzle business.
To fight the war against Climate Change leadership is necessary.
Where will this leadership come from?
When it comes to Climate Change. Doesn’t this strange paradox of dithering, procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and expedience and delays, describe our present parliament, both government and opposition. Especially when we have entered a period of dangerous consequences.
Currently now that the apologists and Ignorers of climate change are dominant, one each, in two of the major parties in parliament. And the Greens are busy tailoring their party to fit with this paradigm.
The big political question is:
Who will be New Zealand’s Climate Churchill?
“The Climate Pearl Harbors and Polands are here. The Climate Churchills and FDRs aren’t.”
Could Russel Norman be this Climate Change Churchill?
Could anyone else hiding in the Green Party caucus be keeping their light under a bushel?
In my opinon the closest we have to a Climate Churchill in our parliament is David Cunliffe.
In my opinion Cunliffe’s treatment at the hands of the Shearer gang could also be seen as a warning shot across the bows of the Green Party…..
‘Raise the issue of climate change at your cost.’