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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Farmers held a hate-march on Parliament today, complete with MAGA hats, gun-nut signs, and gendered insults. While supposedly about a grab-bag of issues - including, weirdly, mental health - it was clear that the protest was about one thing, and one thing only: climate change. And specifically, forestry "destroying" rural ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released their annual report today, and I've been busy reading through it. In amongst the usual review of what they've been doing all year, there's a few interesting bits. For example, a discussion on "agency retention and disposal of information", which points out that ...
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Clayton Mitchell, Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs The ‘wheel clamping’ Bill that will cap clamper fees to $100 passed its third readinginParliament today. New Zealand First welcomes The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill to combat predatory wheel clamping behaviour in what is currently a largely unregulated business. Cowboy clampers are: gouging ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its first reading in Parliament. “Today’s progress takes serious action on the mental health and addiction crisis the country is facing,” says New Zealand First Health Spokesperson Jenny Marcroft. “The re-establishment ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries Today the Government announced the delivery of the promise to protect New Zealand interests by applying a new National Interest Test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. This further strengthening of the Overseas Investment Act will ...
The Coalition Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high-risk assets to overseas buyers. Under current Overseas Investment Act (OIA) rules, assets such as ports and airports, telecommunications infrastructure, electricity and ...
Rt Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Allegations raised this morning by Stuff Limited / Fairfax concern a party matter but I am confident that New Zealand First has operated within electoral laws, now and for the last 27 years. Declarable donations were declared to the Electoral Commission. Our ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2021 (APEC 2021) Bill in Parliament today. The temporary bill supports New Zealand’s security preparations for hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in 2021. “APEC is the leading economic and trade forum ...
The Government is making progress on improving the wellbeing of the one million New Zealanders under the age of 18,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on World Children’s Day. The Government has today recommitted to the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history – the United Nation’s Convention on ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter has released a new report celebrating the contribution of Māori women in business across Aotearoa New Zealand. “Māori women are leaders in our communities, they employ many people and support our economy and our communities,” Julie Anne Genter said. The report, Ngā wāhine kaipakihi: ...
Four parcels of land have been bought in Omokoroa, in the Western Bay of Plenty District, for an education facility that will accommodate both a primary and secondary school on a campus-like facility, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. Two parcels were acquired from private land owners and two were ...
1 million New Zealanders warmed by the Winter Energy Payment 36,000 families bank the Best Start Payment in first year 6,000 more families received the Family Tax Credit, 220,600 in total They receive an increase too – from an average of $117 to $157 a week for Inland Revenue clients, ...
New rules to clamp down on overzealous wheel clamping and extortionate fees charged in order to release a vehicle have passed their final stage in Parliament today. The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill has now passed its third reading. “These changes mean $100 will be the maximum wheel clamping ...
An independent Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission is a step closer after it unanimously passed its first vote in Parliament today. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill lays the groundwork for establishing the Commission as a fully independent crown entity – delivering on a key recommendation of He Ara ...
We’ve improved border security with the NZeTA, New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority, which helps us to screen travellers for border and immigration risks off-shore before they travel to New Zealand. It was launched in August and became mandatory on 1 October 2019. More than 500,000 NZeTAs have been issued since ...
A proposed national plan of action to reduce the number of seabirds caught in fisheries is being circulated for public feedback. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage say New Zealand is a global centre of seabird diversity with about 145 species in our waters. It has more ...
The Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. Associate Finance Minister David Parker said under current Overseas Investment Act rules, assets such as ports and ...
The Government is building special housing to accommodate one of Aotearoa’s greatest taonga- our kaumātua, says the Minister for Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. Speaking at a National Kaumātua Service Providers Conference in Rotorua today, the Minister reinforced the importance kaumātua play in maintaining and passing on mātauranga Māori, knowledge, ...
Eleven men from a pilot forestry training programme for prisoners in Northland now have full time jobs or job offers upon release, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Forestry Minister Shane Jones announced today. The ‘release to work’ programme was a collaboration between Te Uru Rākau and the Department of Corrections, ...
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...
The families of more than 416,000 students will be better off next year as their schools have signed up to the Government’s donations scheme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The scheme will see almost $62.5 million in additional Government funding go to schools nationwide next year. “I’m really pleased ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next four weeks,” Mr Peters said. “A New Zealand Medical Assistance ...
Fa’atalofa atu, malo e lelei, Kia ora koutou katoa Thank you to the Child Poverty Action Group for asking me to be here today to provide an update on some of the things that have been happening across my the social development portfolio. Can I firstly acknowledge the vast ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
News that one big publisher wants to buy the other, giving the state a Kiwishare to avoid regulatory objections, complicates a media crisis the government hasn't yet addressed. ...
A flash new playground has been unveiled on Parliament's grounds today, amid growing calls for the government to take more action to help lift Kiwi kids out of poverty. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne Two and a half months before the February 3 Iowa Democratic caucus, the highly regarded Selzer poll for CNN and the Des Moines Register gave Pete Buttigieg 25% in Iowa ...
A bill allowing overseas security agents to carry illegal guns while in New Zealand for the APEC summit has passed its first reading, without support from the Greens. ...
The Labour led coalition government is continuing to create homelessness. The impact of immigration, failure of Kiwibuild, and attacks on the rental market, have resulted in the opposite outcomes that New Zealanders were promised. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Every, Senior Research Fellow in social vulnerability and disasters, CQUniversity Australia If you live in a bushfire-prone area, you’ll likely have considered what you will do in the event of a bushfire. The decision, which should be made well in advance ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni Di Virgilio, Research associate, UNSW Temperatures across many regions of Australia are set to exceed 40℃ this week, including heatwaves forecast throughout parts of eastern Australia, raising the spectre of more devastating bushfires. We have already heard warnings this fire season ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that the Government’s Families Package Monitoring Report shows strong commitment to the intentions outlined in the Child Poverty Reduction Act, specifically with regard to reporting on progressing towards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni Di Virgilio, Research associate, UNSW Temperatures across many regions of Australia are set to exceed 40℃ this week, including heatwaves forecast throughout parts of eastern Australia, raising the spectre of more devastating bushfires. We have already heard warnings this fire season ...
Today leading Māori health and public health organisations called on the Crown to meet its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi as it drafts legislation for the regulation of cannabis. More than 50 Māori leaders joined the call for Māori rights ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claudia Vickers, Director, Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, CSIRO We need to revolutionise agriculture in the next 30 years. In 2050 we may have almost 10 billion people to feed. Farmland is already degraded by existing agriculture, and climate change is putting ...
Between now and March 2020 there is a small window where migrants who work in industries like aged care will have a realistic chance to get residency for the first time. This is due to ANZSCO skill levels being reclassified in Australia and some of those ...
Spinoff Art editor Mark Amery and photographer Ebony Lamb pay a visit to the internationally celebrated jewellery couple at their colonial cottage above Island Bay.The white horses are galloping in from the Cook Strait as photographer and singer-songwriter Ebony Lamb (Eb and Sparrow) and I roll in to Island Bay, ...
New powers to protect strategically-important assets from overseas investors are necessary due to the extremes of global capitalism, the government says. ...
Don’t get sucked in by the jovial banter and the sausage sizzle with Jacinda Ardern. Stephen Colbert is an international criminal mastermind who must be stopped. New Zealand is fizzing today with the exciting news that someone from another country has noticed that we exist. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ...
When the 59 new constables of Wing 332 graduate on Thursday, one of them will be the 1,800th new constable to head to the frontline since October 2017. ...
Extending the amnesty period for the return of banned firearms is utterly pointless unless the compensation period is extended as well, says the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO). ...
The Taxpayers Union denounced the role it seemed the government would require taxpayers to play in resolving the Ihumatao land dispute. But the union further claimed that taxpayers had contributed to the funding of an organisation which has been involved in the prolonged protest action at Ihumatao. This was a ...
Save the Children are extremely pleased by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement today that the Government will recommit to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). ...
David Farrier has been writing about clamping enthusiast Michael Organ for nearly three years. In this latest installment, the totally logical thing happens and the New Zealand government rolls up its sleeves.Catch up with the extraordinary saga of the clamp-happy Bashford Antiques: Parts I to V are hereWhen Michael Organ ...
In October teams of second-year Unitec Architecture students designed, modelled, then constructed interactive light installations in Devonport’s Windsor Reserve for GLOW@Artweek. The brief is strict. Their budget is zero. And the installations must be zero waste too, both in the construction and in the afterlife of the projects. These strict conditions ...
A wave of reviews and inquiries into audit around the globe are raising questions about trust, independence, and freedom from conflicts of interest in the profession, says CAANZ President Stephen Walker. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen, who has previously been shadow treasurer and before that treasurer, wants the study of economics made “more sexy” to attract more students, especially women, to study it. And he thinks young ...
Jenée Tibshraeny of interest.co.nz surveys the issues that have farmers worried right now, and looks at the facts behind the fears.Rumblings from the dairy farming sector are becoming increasingly loud, as both the Government and Reserve Bank (RBNZ) make policy changes that affect the sector.New Zealand has for years milked ...
He Kākano Ahau is a podcast by writer and activist Kahu Kutia (Ngāi Tūhoe) that explores stories of Māori in the city, and weaves together strands of connection. In this episode: what happens when Māori are not ‘urban Māori’ as we know them, but mana whenua.For episode four of He ...
New powers to protect strategically-important assets from overseas investors are necessary due to the extremes of global capitalism, the government says. ...
The Children’s Commissioner is calling on the government to re-prioritise its commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Children’s Convention) on International Children’s Day. ...
National Party leaders Simon Bridges wants Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to take stronger action over allegations that New Zealand First has breached electoral law. ...
"Prince Charles’ visit to Waitangi today, the first by a Royal in a quarter-century, highlights Moana Jackson’s view that it is kāwanatanga that is the Treaty partner," said Lewis Holden, campaign chair of New Zealand Republic. ...
Seriously, if you haven’t seen The Mandalorian, look away now. This article also contains spoilers for Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Return of the Sith, and The Last Jedi.In case you didn’t read the standfirst: this article contains spoilers about The Mandalorian, and also all of Star Wars.The ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Matt Shand (Stuff): What NZ First slush fund was spent on: Campaign HQ, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Cook, Lecturer, Computer and Security Science,Edith Cowan University, Edith Cowan University Fake videos and doctored photographs, often based on events such as the Moon landing and supposed UFO appearances, have been the subject of fascination for decades. Such imagery is often ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evelyn Parr, Research Fellow in Exercise Metabolism and Nutrition, Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University As an aesthetic society, we often demonise body fat and stigmatise people with lots of it. There’s often an assumption that people carrying excess ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Larissa McLean Davies, Associate Professor Language and Literacy Education, University of Melbourne In recent weeks, Australian universities’ commitment to teaching Australian literature has come under scrutiny. This came amid revelations Sydney University has withdrawn funding from its Chair of Australian Literature – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Maund, PhD Candidate, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle The impacts of the bushfires that are overwhelming emergency services in New South Wales and Queensland suggest houses are being built in areas where the risks are high. We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Cebulla, Senior Research Fellow, South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, University of Adelaide In the past decade a 30-year trend to earlier retirement has been reversed. In OECD countries the average age at which people retire has risen by about one ...
Correspondence between MPI (Fisheries NZ) and NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmosphere), obtained by Sea Shepherd under the Official Information Act, shows conclusively that MPI unreasonably influenced the research they had contracted from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gay Hawkins, Professor, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University Most of us will never see a platypus or a lyrebird in the wild, but it’s likely we’ve encountered them on television. Our new research looks at the vital role early ...
The release of the proposed new electoral boundaries is an appropriate time to consider whether our electoral system is fit for purpose or needs a complete revamp. ...
Winston Peters says his party has always obeyed electoral law after new revelations about foundation; and RBNZ steps up BNZ supervision after capital calculation breaches. ...
The government has released statistics showing uptake of its budgeted welfare package two days after it was criticised over inaction on child poverty reduction. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Pressure mounts over NZ First Foundation, range of changes made to overseas investment office, and accusations of bottom trawling destroying coral.The allegations swirling around the NZ First Foundation are serious enough to warrant going back to again today. Party leader Winston ...
Are possible solutions to child maltreatment complicated? Yes. Quantum physics? No. The University of Auckland's Dr Ian Hyslop looks at how we can address child abuse as a social problem. ...
Erica Dawson didn't want to be another female who dropped out of sailing, so now she's focused on the Tokyo Olympics and being a role model instead ...
If what has been reported is both true and not a breach of the rules for political donations, then New Zealand’s reputation for for being squeaky clean looks like a joke, writes electoral law expert Andrew Geddis.Anyone paying attention to New Zealand political parties and how they run their election ...
New Zealanders like to claim moral superiority over their Australian neighbours when it comes to how asylum seekers are treated. But this belief is not based on reality, writes Tim Maurice of the Asylum Seekers Support TrustThe local news media has welcomed Iranian asylum seeker Behrouz Boochani into New Zealand ...
Sometimes it’s a great job being a news editor. Like the BBC staffer putting together the national news for radio on Tuesday morning.Lead off with the Conservative party election pledge to increase the life sentence for child murderers to … er … really life. Add factual qualification: this might ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government is responding to increasing concern about the faltering economy by bringing forward A$3.8 billion of infrastructure investment into the next four years, including $1.8 billion for the current and next financial years. Scott ...
Power Play - Rumours of dodgy political donations, Winston Peters full of bluster and denial, and potentially a drawn-out series of combative but ultimately meaningless exchanges with the press gallery. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government has overhauled its much-criticised robo-debt scheme which has seen many welfare recipients asked to repay money they do not owe. A Tuesday email to staff in the Human Services department’s customer compliance division ...
Open mike 09/12/2012 
Satellites pass over NZ all the time (literally). Here I focus on the 187 Planet Labs ‘Dove’ Earth-imaging satellites, and I show that one can determine in advance where they will be, enabling scientists on the ground to correlate their environmental and other data collection with opportunities to get imaging ...2 hours ago
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On both sides of the Atlantic, some purportedly “contentious” and “difficult to deal with” leadership contenders to lead the US and UK, as President and Prime Minister respectively, seem to have thrown a few spanners into the works of the normal messaging most are used to hearing constantly. Except they’re ...6 hours ago
In Question Time today the Prime Minister was naturally facing questions about Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and his dubious party financing arrangements, which seem to violate electoral finance law. Her response was to pretend that it was nothing to do with her, and that she is not responsible for ...11 hours ago
It has been revealed that firing ranges used by the NZDF while deployed to the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan, contained unexploded ordnance that caused numerous deaths and injuries after the NZDF withdrew the PRT in April 2013. In 2014 seven children were killed when an unidentified ...16 hours ago
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by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Initially it was reported that in an aerial bombardment that took place on August 30th seven children were massacred; the figure then went up to eight and then on November 11th Noticias Uno reported that, according to people from the community in close proximity to the ...2 days ago
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. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...5 days ago
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Sometimes it’s a great job being a news editor. Like the BBC staffer putting together the national news for radio on Tuesday morning. Lead off with the Conservative party election pledge to increase the life sentence for child murderers to … er … really life. Add factual qualification: this might ...23 hours ago
More politics will be added into the mix when it comes to the issue of foreign ownership. ...1 day ago
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.
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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.
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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.’