Mark Hansen’s Where Are My Taxes? was a good simple tool for a basic idea of NZ govt income and expenditure.
Unfortunately, it has not been updated for a couple of years, would be an interesting comparison. Although, details are often the place where the true costs and benefits lie, and this keeps them hidden.
That is a good tool Molly. It’s a pity he adds per-capita calculations which are pointless and meaningless, it just invites political manipulation and misinterpretation of the numbers.
I think it would be a good idea. Help people to remember our history. Key doesn’t like the idea because it goes against the false narrative that he’s been building up.
I moved to Franklin about a decade ago, and was introduced to a surprisingly old-fashioned racism.
When the 150th anniversary of the NZ Wars took place, the focus locally was overwhelmingly on the remembrance of settlers and soldiers, although we attended the memorial at Rangiriri which was organised by Tainui, (unfortunately missed the reenactment) and got there in time for the speeches.
Local history in this area is predominantly skewed in favour of colonial and settler remembrances and places importance on their experiences.
A local attempt to create a remembrance event acknowledging both sides of the conflict, resulted in tangata whenua reluctant participation but instigated outright hostility from people who wanted to exclude any reference to the dispersed tribes who had their land confiscated.
Key’s modus operandi is to poll on items he has no clue on, or no vested interest in. In this case he might be right – there would not be massive support.
But that indicates a problem in itself with NZers relationship with their own history, and should be addressed.
As for an extra public holiday. Well, a fair number of waged workers often don’t even manage to get the existing ones off consistently. All for it.
I think NZ history including the New Zealand/Land Wars should be compulsory in schools. The land wars were complicated & there were several, picking a suitable day would be tricky and I think a Land Wars commemoration day would always be politically charged & divisive. Teach the history, continue the treaty settlements and associated apologies, and keep Waitangi Day.
Yes, a public holiday to honour the NZ wars is appropriate. It’s a chapter of warfare in our history and should be acknowledged. Many of us may have either settler or Maori ancestors who were involved. (I have, on both sides).
We commemorate war in the form of ANZAC day so we should at least acknowledge local loss of life in the name of war.
I also think we should drop this whole guy fawkes thing. Sure it’s not a public holiday but its a commemoration that isn’t relevant to us. If people still want to get kicks from seeing and hearing stuff being blown up we could move the fireworks aspect of guy fawkes to Matariki, in autumn, a time of meaningful celebration. Public demo’s only, no sales of fireworks.
Key has an opinion for sure but it’s not necessarily a reliable one. I mean, flag referendum anyone? Hardly going great guns is it? And he was adamant that we would all be right behind a change of flag………..so what he says doesn’t really matter.
Not even a 40% turnout – not bad? Not great though is it? And lets wait to see how many of those votes are informal ones, those votes that have have been deliberately spoiled as a way of sending a message to Key.
I was fairly conservative with the spoiling of my ballot and went with the advice of putting a X in each box and marking the paper with K.O.F. Mr R wanted to be more creative so he printed out little troll faces,
I’ve been informally polling folks I know about how they voted and have been pleasantly surprised at the number who went with the X option, even among the Nat voters I know. I agree it’s likely there will be more informal votes than normal.
None by Key obviously but an expanded history curriculum would be an advantage to the fact that we have a larger number of people now in this country who havent been here long who say they want to stay or would that be misconstrued by this govt as a move to the left and a strength for the Republican movement
Here’s more interesting background about iPredict, currently being wound down. It appears there were two Professors of Economics backing the site, both from a fairly right-wing perspective.
“iPredict is a joint venture between Viclink and the Victoria University-based New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation (ISCR). Established primarily as a research tool, iPredict is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Viclink”.
Posted: Tue 19 Nov 2013
“iPredict was established in 2008, shortly before the General Election that year, as a market-based political and economic forecasting system. iPredict was more accurate than 15 of the 19 polls published in the run up to the election that year – not bad for our first eight weeks in operation.
Today iPredict has over 5,000 traders, and has launched over 1500 contracts. We have been fortunate enough to be featured in every mainstream media outlet in New Zealand. We’re a place you can turn your opinion and what you know into cash.
iPredict Ltd is owned by Victoria Link Ltd, or “Viclink”, the commercial arm of Victoria University of Wellington. Its Board of Directors consists of Prof. Neil Quigley (Chairman) (replaced by Kate McGrath 2015), Prof. Lewis Evans and Ian MacIntosh.
Full Companies Office information can be found here. (Companies Office)
iPredict’s bankers are National Bank, lawyers are Chapman Tripp, and its PR and marketing consultants are Exceltium Ltd.
iPredict is authorised as a futures dealer by the Financial Markets Authority.
Trader funds are held in a trust account in the name of Predictions Clearing Limited, a subsidiary of iPredict Limited”.
Four staff members? But they don’t compile regular media reports or even prepare the reports usually. Exceltium does it, or did it formerly. This is a part-time job for four people who are usually working on Viclink projects by the sound of it.
“Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation
Founded in 1998 and closed in 2015, the Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation (ISCR) was an independent, nonprofit research institute located at Victoria University of Wellington’s Pipitea Campus. Funding of its activities was provided by members, project work, and research grants.
The primary objectives of ISCR research were to assist in understanding:
• how markets and organisations operate
• how markets provide appropriate incentives and disciplines for organisations
• the limitations of markets, and the role of regulation in addressing these limitations
• the importance of property rights and institutional structures in facilitating effectiveness of markets, organisations, competition, and regulation in New Zealand
The Victoria University Library has collated a searchable repository of articles written by ISCR researchers, and its Competition and Regulation Times newsletter. http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vbs/centresandinstitutes/institutes
Included in the work of Lew Evans is a central role in advising the government of the day (around 2010), over the selling down of some of the Electricity SOES, presumably in the name of increased competition being good for the economy. Also in 2010, the Electricity Authority was formed, with Carl Hansen as CEO. Hansen is a right-wing economist also. He advised the Business Roundtable on policy, and more recently can be heard on radio and TV defending the status quo, which has delivered expensive power to the masses, considering most of it is hydro generated for 2c a kWhr using old dams and turbines. We would have been better served strategically with the old ECNZ – no structural changes were necessary in a small place like NZ.
These are just some of the forces shaping more neoliberal policy in NZ, attempting to keep National in control at all costs.
In the case of iPredict, Victoria University (through Victoria Link) seem to be belatedly forcing it to close down over time. Prof Lewis and Prof Quigley have jointly no doubt been the driving force behind the site, but now their sway with the board is greatly diminished.
This great result has to be mainly sheeted home to Nicky Hager’s book, “Dirty Politics”, which highlighted the iPredict site for the travesty it had become.
Very interesting. I was at an econ thing at Vic around start up time and at the end of the session some professor appeared and talked about getting into ipredict. Thought encouraging broke students to take part was a little odd at the time. Had a look but it was appeared fixed so left it
Of course those students will be out earning by now, and are possibly trading on the site, bringing up the numbers. More recently, a younger Robert Quigley has been funded to work on the successor to iPredict, called PredictIT. He’s most likely the son of Neil Quigley, and the only good thing about PredictIT is that this time it’s more heavily regulated, the owners of the site have to be sure of everyone’s identity and restrict their spending power properly.
So perhaps they have been thinking about closing down iPredict for a while, but in any case it’s obvious to me that those running the site for most of its life, wanted certain outcomes in the reports. They found ways of ensuring that was the case.
They were shut down because of NZ being forced to strengthen our money laundering regulations to meet international standards. Nothing to do with Hager.
Sacha, they could simply comply with the new rules, and keep the site going. Viclink have chosen not to do that, because it would undermine the multiple accounts the Right are using to control the stocks. Plus it’s not a money-making venture by the sound of it. But they were perfectly happy to run it and make a loss before, as long as National always looked like winning the next election. If those participant rules were changed, and if the press reporting was done regularly by an unbiased party, we’d then see a fairer view of political opinion in NZ at the moment.
I challenge them to do just that while they wind it down – how about a level playing field for once, VicLink?
So The Venezuelan People have given the Right Wing MUD (Love it!) Party a ‘super majority’ of 112 seats of 167. That gives the National Assembly a widespread mandate for significant change.
But. The new assembly does not come in until January, and the current assembly sits for a couple more weeks. A real test of the Socialists commitment to democracy eh?
What odds on some creative law making before the old assembly is disbanded…
And here’s a classic example of the new narrative to explain failure that is becoming entrenched in the Left worldwide.. http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/The-Causes-and-Consequences-of-Venezuelan-Election-Results-20151207-0002.html
Yup. It was because of..
‘Intense disinformation by the media’ / The voters aren’t ‘concerned or aware’, they just want to vote against the government because of the media / The voters don’t ‘remember’ what things used to be like / The opposition attracted the ‘less politically aware social sectors’ (i.e. the voters are stupid / selfish) / There is a conspiracy of course ‘the economic war’ / ‘International powers resources’ have supported the opposition….(All sounds like a normal day at TS eh?)
It’s the voters, the media, and conspiring forces that are to blame. What a pity something can’t be done about them. Hey, there’s an idea….(sarc)
It was the chavez government who brought in free education and health for the poor ……. the rich u.s.a backed factions in Venezuela will just return it to how it was pre-chavez
The u.s.a is a rich developed country that does not provide decent humane state health care for its own citizens ………………… it can hardly let poor south american governments show them up.
The u.s.a has previously backed a military overthrow of the Chavez government ….. a true failure for democracy that ‘the lost sheep’ seems either ignorant or approving of ……..
p.s everyone else notice that Gosman always calls the elected Venezuela government a ‘regime’????? ……………. If Gosman or sheep head want to learn about real regimes I suggest they watch ‘the war on democracy’ http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-on-democracy
The u.s.a has supported and backed many murderous regimes in south America ….
17 years in power is not bad for the Chavistas when you are up against the CIA etc……and Maduro is still the president and has executive power…go and watch “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ (doco) and tell me the people don’t love Chavez and what he still stands for.
More good background: Matt Burgess, an economics student, had the original idea that was supported by the two Professors and Viclink (funding). By about 2012 Burgess left there for a job with National’s Bill English, and Exceltium had control of iPredict for a period until it was in theory brought back under control of Viclink. I know for a fact that it was still being meddled with before the report times, by whoever was doing the reports in 2014, and that was someone at Exceltium.
So this blog post by Viclink only tells part of the truth.
You would think that Kitteridge might draw attention to the risks of a free trade deal with Saudi Arabia:)
Nope in some sort of Absurdism, Key and his cronies are throwing as much taxpayers cash at Hamood Al-Ali Al-Khalaf a Saudi Businessman and not very effective sheep farmer to try to bring as much Saudi free movement here as possible. Security risk anyone? Lets work out what these trade deals really mean, free movement of nationals, free working visas of nationals, reduction of border controls on imports, selling off our country to foreign nationals….. Being able to be sued under ISDS by businessman who have more money than the government….
Maybe the NSA checklists the GCSB and SIS follow only have unmarried muslim brides who in spite of surveillance have been found to still be suspicious due to their marital status! Good work there 99, another 8 million in the mail! She could get a job for Trump at this rate!
“The Islamic Women’s Council says it has “no knowledge or indication” of Kiwi women becoming jihadi brides, despite suggestions a growing number are heading to Syria to back Islamic State.
SIS director Rebecca Kitteridge revealed a rise in the number of young New Zealand women heading to Iraq and Syria when addressing Parliament’s intelligence and security committee on Tuesday.
Prime Minister John Key, who chairs the committee, said after Kitteridge’s remarks that women were known to have taken part in “weddings” before heading to Islamic State (IS) stronghold Syria, which pointed to the fact they were going as jihadi brides.”
“All she (Kitteridge) said was that the number had been growing and because it was a war-torn area, that was a concern.
“We don’t know the ethnicity of these women, we don’t actually know the religious background of these women, whether they just converted before they went, whether they converted at all, and we certainly don’t know what they’re doing while they’re over there.”
Not lying? Nah. Just twisting the facts a tiny little bit then sniggering at the way that media quote and embellish whatever he says. His private pleasure instead of stroking girls’ hair.
Jihadi Brides Threat Level Update: John Key has clarified the numbers regarding the crisis.
Rebecca Kitteridge had said that the number of these potential ticking time bombs was ‘fewer than a dozen’. While she has no idea what they are doing there, what is known for sure is that they went went to that part of the world, and they are definitely female.
But Key has subsequently said that a belief exists, an actual belief thingee, that the number of this fewer than a dozen that have in fact married Islamic militants is somewhere in the magnitude of “one or two”.
Now that might seem a little low at first, but bear in mind that a) that’s one or two more brides than our SIS team had to monitor before, b) Key didn’t say which end of the one or two range the true figure is closer to, and c) my calculator informs me that this represents an infinity percent increase in kiwi jihadi brides. If this rate continues, every female in New Zealand will be a jihadi bride before I finish typing this sentence. Everyone is probably already dead. National is probably still polling 50%.
Actually that whole briefing (if the brief video clip was anything to go by) was rather amateurish and highly speculative. Everybody seemed to be vaguely “sort of” agreeing with anything anyone else suggested.
Drama therapy to help drone assassins cope with their feelings of guilt;
No drama therapy, though, for their thousands of victims. Nine to Noon, RNZ National, Wednesday 9 December 2015
After 10 o’clock, Kathryn Ryan interviewed (if that’s the word for sitting back and letting someone say the most contentious things without contesting a word of it) the Brooklyn-based theatre director Bryan Doerries. It was billed on the RNZ site like this….
How ancient Greek tragedies can teach very modern lessons: Brooklyn-based theatre director, Bryan Doerries, is the founder of the ‘Theatre of War’ project, and the ‘Outside of the Wire’ company which presents ancient Greek plays to returned soldiers, addicts, prison communities, and victims of natural disasters. He argues that the great tragedies of the Greeks can help a contemporary audience grapple with everything from the trauma of being in a conflict zone to end-of life care.
To date, over 60,000 service members, veterans, and their families have attended and participated in Theatre of War performances worldwide.
Bryan Doerries latest book, is called The Theatre of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today.
The interesting part of Doerries’ talk came when he told of the immense psychological suffering of drone operators who had “hit the wrong target”. This implies, of course, that there are “right” targets, and that the United States regime’s massive program of terror in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, and now stepped up dramatically in Syria, is something other than illegal and condemned by all reputable human rights organizations. As I suspected, there was zero consideration of the victims of these conscience-wracked drone killers.
And, of course, Kathryn Ryan failed to raise a single objection to interview Doerries’ smooth flow of talk. I sent her the following email….
After Bryan Doerries, will you interview someone who works with the victims?
Dear Kathryn,
To hear Bryan Doerries expressing such compassion for the operators of assassination drones, apparently stricken with guilt because they hit the “wrong” targets, was a deeply troubling experience.
Have your producers tried to get in touch with any of the thousands of people in Yemen, Afghanistan and Iraq whose family members have been killed by these conscience-racked American drone operators?
No one has been able to point to a single instance where a gun has been gained illegitimately through the mail order system. It was also later revealed the rifle was bought using the manufactured identity of a police officer, required by law to authorise and approve the mail order form.
Its not looking good Ms Allan, nest time she may want to consider following the same laws as everyone else
No one has been able to point to a single instance where a gun has been gained illegitimately through the mail order system.
Actually, we can point to one – it was a journalist and she told us about it. And what she did was still in the public interest.
Going on probabilities after that it’s highly likely that there’s quite a few out there that have been gained illegitimately but the records don’t show that because the records aren’t accurate.
Greg O’Connor’s done a good job of keeping a low profile on this. He seems to have been the one who brought the situation to HDPA’s attention, apparently via a radio broadcast. Its all gone a bit mucky now. I was expecting him at some point to show up with some evidence it had actually happened before. Maybe he still will?
I’d call this a ‘scrapping the bottom of the barrel’ argument.
“How about sugar production? Not only are animals poisoned during the growing stage but also millions of small animals are killed during harvest of the sugar cane.
Some studies have shown that more animals die to produce a vegan meal than a regular meal that includes meat and dairy. Why is the life of a mouse not worth the same as a calf?
Of course I eat these foods as well as meat, so you could argue I contribute to even more animals dying.
But it’s not me trying to convince you to convert to veganism to save ANY animals dying.”
That article was a real yawn. Agree, that dairy farmer is definitely scrapping the bottom of the barrel with that one. Pretty desperate really. He might be a buddy of Andrew Hoggard of Fed Farmers who said on tv3 on Sunday night that “it’s all a vegan conspiracy”.
Note how the media have really focused on damage control and the “threat to the economy” and have barely reported on the actual issue of animal cruelty itself – this was their opportunity to investigate but instead they take the easy path of going with the government and industry’s predictable hollow defences.
The msm have been appallingly biased and lazy in their reporting.
Fran O’Sullivan in her latest comment in the Herald is chatting about Paula Benefit and Crusher Collins. Usually I can read Fran’s stuff and although I don’t always think she is right in her musings I have always thought she was capable of rational thought. In her comment she quotes Paula as being “like Key, she does not often lose her cool”. Blimey dick what planet is she on – every time I see Key in the house he is a ranting abusive man out of control. Comparing her with Key who often loses “his” cool – where does she get this from? When he isn’t abusive and spinning his usual rubbish he has a pair of dead eyes which I suppose is a passive type of cool. Who knows, for once she has me stumped.
I think I know where Fran O’Sullivan is coming from. I posted the following comment in relation to another post yesterday which is relevant here:
I am reminded of the oft quoted meme that Winston Peters learnt his M.O. at the knees of Rob Muldoon. There’s no doubt Basher Bennett is learning hers at the Key knees. So, should it succeed, we can expect a continuation of shallow, manipulative lying with a few drops of pure spite thrown in for good measure? We already know Madam is capable of the latter – and I reference her behaviour towards Carmel Sepuloni during the 2011 election campaign in the old seat of Waitakere, as well as the bashing of the beneficiaries who dared to criticise her.
There are similarities, and reports that she was being groomed by Key for high political office go back to Key’s first term as PM. Even her responses in the debating chamber have a ‘Key’nesian ring to them.
The ruling is a nightmare for the Obama administration’s uphill battle to build support for the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It makes clear that trade agreements can — and do — threaten even the most favored U.S. public interest safeguards.
Claims to the contrary have been a mainstay of the White House effort to overcome TPP opposition from an unprecedentedly diverse coalition of organizations and members of Congress. That opposition was only solidified when the recent release of the final TPP text revealed the pact was even worse than expected.
The massive text largely reflects the interests of the 500 official U.S. trade advisors representing corporate interests that had privileged access while the public, Congress and the press were shut out the secretive process: investor privileges that make it easier to offshore American jobs to low wage countries and retrograde terms that expose U.S. food safety, environmental, Internet freedom, health and other safeguards to attack and rollback.”
Why has Obama invested so much in TPPA? Mainly the democrats aren’t onside and he is relying quite heavily on the Republicans (house senate?) to attempt to get this past. He can’t be re-elected so why?
“The TPP would make the situation much worse. It includes constraints on food safety that extend beyond the WTO, roll back the environmental standards included even in George W. Bush’s trader pacts and would empower individual foreign corporations to directly launch attacks on public interest policies.”
Nearly half of the people on the U.S. government’s widely shared database of terrorist suspects are not connected to any known terrorist group, according to classified government documents obtained by The Intercept.
Of the 680,000 people caught up in the government’s Terrorist Screening Database—a watchlist of “known or suspected terrorists” that is shared with local law enforcement agencies, private contractors, and foreign governments—more than 40 percent are described by the government as having “no recognized terrorist group affiliation.” That category—280,000 people—dwarfs the number of watchlisted people suspected of ties to al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah combined.
Pretty much guaranteed that people who terrorists and never will be are being watched covertly
And:
The CIA uses a previously unknown program, code-named Hydra, to secretly access databases maintained by foreign countries and extract data to add to the watchlists.
We can pretty much guarantee that the US is spying on everyone including friends and allies.
In 1949 the first Labour government introduced peacetime conscription, as part of its Cold War alliance with the United States. Here is a fascinating account by veteran left activist Murray Horton of the campaign against peacetime conscription led by people like watersiders’ union leader Jock Barnes: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/labour s-introduction-of-peacetime-conscription-and-the-fight-against-it/
That was very funny. Ain’t nobody gonna love me though, I’m pescetarian, distrusted, misunderstood and disliked by all persuasions, left, right, and centre.
There have been restaurants that attracted intrigued customers who went more to see how rude the waiters could be than the food. Ad could be good, has a nice line in chivvying. I liked the spooning and the forking.
So Little and Key have both made apologies to Parliament. Little over comments about the Speaker and Key over his comments that Labour backed rapists. I think whatever their reasons for apologising, it’s the right thing to do.
There’s no way that Labour can force Carter out of the chair. They have to play with the hand they’re dealt and stoic resignation is probably the best way to handle Carter’s bias.
Key’s comments were clearly over the top and a clear attempt to distract from Labour’s stirling work on NZers detained in Australia. Having his inelegant attempt at misdirection lingering wouldn’t help. I think Key has been hurt by it already, this probably helps to stem the bleeding.
I agree – wtf were they thinking – key gets an ‘out’ and what, suddenly youknowwho is no longer playing favorites?
“Key has repeatedly refused to apologise for the comment, going as far as to say he was “absolutely correct” to say it and didn’t regret his remarks.
But it seems a deal was struck between Key and Labour “in the spirit of Christmas” after Opposition leader Andrew Little also decided to apologise for “unparliamentary” comments.”
+100…when the leaders of the supposed Opposition parties James Shaw and Andrew Little let Key off the hook….you know you have got trouble…the Opposition is either corrupted or loopy stupid
you would never get Winston Peters doing this!..or Annette Sykes or Laila Harre or John Minto or I hope Hone Harawira
While any apology is better than none, Key couldn’t help mentioning that it was close to Christmas. What a guy. Hence Little’s ‘bloody red baron’ comment which I thought quite clever, even if ‘I will if you will’ apologies seems childish for both. Tacit admission that his ‘backing the rapists’ comment was a calculated political tactic? And what a sincere, moving 20 second apology speech it was.
The problem with the NZ left AND right is, there are too many cheap skates and quick comment making jerks, who do not even bother reading and studying stuff, it is first, quick impression, and decision and judgment, and then destroy the rest.
So we have the society that NZers deserve, a dumb, ignorant, indifferent, selfish and unprincipled society (that is unless it involves the principle of serving yourself first).
The truth no longer matters, quick and cheap scores by political players get more resonance than anything of substance that matters to others, e.g. most people, and some here, too many, on TS are no different to the ones on Kiwiblog, by judging and rubbishing and ignoring information that they should perhaps take note of.
I am through with this country I once came to, I am through with NZ, I regret ever having come to this damned place.
With the nonsense exposed above, is anybody seriously surprised at the success of radical Islam IsIS and what else we have? Maybe it is a curse that was asked for?
Do not agree with and do not like this, the following, but the west and other vested interests keep funding it, there will be NO peace in Syria with this, and that adds to my disbelief of this shit system we have:
“In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss how it is that JP Morgan just happened to hire 222 friends and relatives of Chinese companies and politicians as the bank took these companies public in Hong Kong.
In the second half, Max continues his interview with Liam Halligan of BNE.eu and the Telegraph about central bank policy, George Osborne’s long-term economic plans and Thomas Piketty’s so-called new book, Inequality.”
Still up Lynn? Just wanted to thank you for your work on Pete’s behalf, I’m going to have to take back almost half of the bad things I’ve said about you….Almost….
[r0b: Don’t be getting all soft now. Remember, we are leftards, raving socialists, substandard, echo chamber etc etc. Sigh.]
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Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has repeatedly asserted the country’s commitment to a non-aligned foreign policy. But can Indonesia still credibly claim neutrality while tacitly engaging with Russia? Holding an unprecedented bilateral naval drills with Moscow ...
The NZCTU have launched a new policy programme and are calling on political parties to adopt bold policies in the lead up to the next election. The Government is scrapping the 30-day rule that automatically signs an employee up to the collective agreement when they sign on to a new ...
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te must have been on his toes. The island’s trade and defence policy has snapped into a new direction since US President Donald Trump took office in January. The government was almost ...
Auckland’s ongoing rail pain will intensify again from this weekend as Kiwirail shut down the network for two weeks as part of their push to get the network ready for the City Rail Link. KiwiRail will progress upgrade and renewal projects across Auckland’s rail network over the Easter holiday period ...
This is a re-post from The Electrotech Revolution by Daan Walter Last week, UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch took the stage to advocate for slowing the rollout of renewables, arguing that they ultimately lead to higher costs: “Huge amounts are being spent on switching round how we distribute electricity ...
That there, that's not meI go where I pleaseI walk through wallsI float down the LiffeyI'm not hereThis isn't happeningI'm not hereI'm not hereSongwriters: Philip James Selway / Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood / Edward John O'Brien / Thomas Edward Yorke / Colin Charles Greenwood.I had mixed views when the first ...
(A note to subscribers:I’m going to keep these daily curated news updates shorter in future to ensure an earlier and more regular delivery.Expect this format and delivery around 7 am Monday to Friday from now on. My apologies for not delivering yesterday. There was too much news… This ...
As Donald Trump zigs and zags on tariffs and trashes America’s reputation as a safe and stable place to invest, China has a big gun that it could bring to this tariff knife fight. Behind Japan, China has the world’s second largest holdings of American debt. As a huge US ...
Civilian exploration may be the official mission of a Chinese deep-sea research ship that sailed clockwise around Australia over the past week and is now loitering west of the continent. But maybe it’s also attending ...
South Korea’s internal political instability leaves it vulnerable to rising security threats including North Korea’s military alliance with Russia, China’s growing regional influence and the United States’ unpredictability under President Donald Trump. South Korea needs ...
Here are 5 updates that you may be interested in today:Speed kills and costs - so why does National want more of it?James (Jim) Grenon Board Takeover Gets Shaky - As Canadian Calls An Australian Shareholder a “Flake” Billionaire Bust-ups -The World’s Richest Men Are UncomfortableOver 3,500 Australian doctors on ...
Australia is in a race against time. Cyber adversaries are exploiting vulnerabilities faster than we can identify and patch them. Both national security and economic considerations demand policy action. According to IBM’s Data Breach Report, ...
The ever brilliant Kate Nicholls has kindly agreed to allow me to re-publish her substack offering some under-examined backdrop to Trump’s tariff madness. The essay is not meant to be a full scholarly article but instead an insight into the thinking (if that is the correct word) behind the current ...
In the Pacific, the rush among partner countries to be seen as the first to assist after disasters has become heated as part of ongoing geopolitical contest. As partners compete for strategic influence in the ...
The StrategistBy Miranda Booth, Henrietta McNeill and Genevieve Quirk
We’ve seen this morning the latest step up in the Trump-initiated trade war, with the additional 50 per cent tariffs imposed on imports from China. If the tariff madness persists – but in fact even if were wound back in some places (eg some of the particularly absurd tariffs on ...
Weak as I am, no tears for youWeak as I am, no tears for youDeep as I am, I'm no one's foolWeak as I amSongwriters: Deborah Ann Dyer / Richard Keith Lewis / Martin Ivor Kent / Robert Arnold FranceMorena. This morning, I couldn’t settle on a single topic. Too ...
Australian policy makers are vastly underestimating how climate change will disrupt national security and regional stability across the Indo-Pacific. A new ASPI report assesses the ways climate impacts could threaten Indonesia’s economic and security interests ...
So here we are in London again because we’re now at the do-it-while-you-still-can stage of life. More warm wide-armed hugs, more long talks and long walks and drinks in lovely old pubs with our lovely daughter.And meanwhile the world is once more in one of its assume-the-brace-position stages.We turned on ...
Hi,Back in September of 2023, I got pitched an interview:David -Thanks for the quick response to the DM! Means the world. Re-stating some of the DM below for your team’s reference -I run a business called Animal Capital - we are a venture capital fund advised by Noah Beck, Paris ...
I didn’t want to write about this – but, alas, the 2020s have forced my hand. I am going to talk about the Trump Tariffs… and in the process probably irritate nearly everyone. You see, alone on the Internet, I am one of those people who think we need a ...
Maybe people are only just beginning to notice the close alignment of Russia and China. It’s discussed as a sudden new phenomenon in world affairs, but in fact it’s not new at all. The two ...
The High Court has just ruled that the government has been violating one of the oldest Treaty settlements, the Sealord deal: The High Court has found the Crown has breached one of New Zealand's oldest Treaty Settlements by appropriating Māori fishing quota without compensation. It relates to the 1992 ...
Darwin’s proposed Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct is set to be the heart of a new integrated infrastructure network in the Northern Territory, larger and better than what currently exists in northern Australia. However, the ...
Local body elections are in October, and so like a lot of people, I received the usual pre-election enrolment confirmation from the Orange Man in the post. And I was horrified to see that it included the following: Why horrified? After all, surely using email, rather ...
Australia needs to deliver its commitment under the Seoul Declaration to create an Australian AI safety, or security, institute. Australia is the only signatory to the declaration that has yet to meet its commitments. Given ...
Ko kōpū ka rere i te paeMe ko Hine RuhiTīaho mai tō arohaMe ko Hine RuhiDa da da ba du da da ba du da da da ba du da da da da da daDa da da ba du da da ba du da da da ba du da da ...
Army, Navy and AirForce personnel in ceremonial dress: an ongoing staffing exodus means we may get more ships, drones and planes but not have enough ‘boots on the ground’ to use them. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning:PM Christopher Luxon says the Government can ...
If you’re a qualified individual looking to join the Australian Army, prepare for a world of frustration over the next 12 to 18 months. While thorough vetting is essential, the inefficiency of the Australian Defence ...
I’ve inserted a tidbit and rumours section1. Colonoscopy wait times increase, procedures drop under NationalWait times for urgent, non-urgent and surveillance colonoscopies all progressively worsened last year. Health NZ data shows the total number of publicly-funded colonoscopies dropped by more than 7 percent.Health NZ chief medical officer Helen Stokes-Lampard blamed ...
Three billion dollars has been wiped off the value of New Zealand’s share market as the rout of global financial markets caught up with the local market. A Sāmoan national has been sentenced for migrant exploitation and corruption following a five-year investigation that highlights the serious consequences of immigration fraud ...
This is a guest post by Darren Davis. It originally appeared on his excellent blog, Adventures in Transitland, which we encourage you to check out. It is shared by kind permission. Rail Network Investment Plan quietly dropped While much media attention focused on the 31st March 2025 announcement that the replacement Cook ...
Amendments to Indonesia’s military law risk undermining civilian supremacy and the country’s defence capabilities. Passed by the House of Representatives on 20 March, the main changes include raising the retirement age and allowing military officers ...
The StrategistBy Alfin Febrian Basundoro and Jascha Ramba Santoso
So New Zealand is about to spend $12 billion on our defence forces over the next four years – with $9 million of it being new money that is not being spent on pressing needs here at home. Somehow this lavish spend-up on Defence is “affordable,” says PM Christopher Luxon, ...
Donald Trump’s philosophy about the United States’ place in the world is historically selfish and will impoverish his country’s spirit. While he claimed last week to be ‘liberating’ Americans from the exploiters and freeloaders who’ve ...
China’s crackdown on cyber-scam centres on the Thailand-Myanmar border may cause a shift away from Mandarin, towards English-speaking victims. Scammers also used the 28 March earthquake to scam international victims. Australia, with its proven capabilities ...
At the 2005 election campaign, the National Party colluded with a weirdo cult, the Exclusive Brethren, to run a secret hate campaign against the Greens. It was the first really big example of the rich using dark money to interfere in our democracy. And unfortunately, it seems that they're trying ...
Many of you will know that in collaboration with the University of Queensland we created and ran the massive open online course (MOOC) "Denial101x - Making sense of climate science denial" on the edX platform. Within nine years - between April 2015 and February 2024 - we offered 15 runs ...
How will the US assault on trade affect geopolitical relations within Asia? Will nations turn to China and seek protection by trading with each other? The happy snaps a week ago of the trade ministers ...
I mentioned this on Friday - but thought it deserved some emphasis.Auckland Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan has responded to Countering Hate Speech Aotearoa, saying police have cleared Brian Tamaki of all incitement charges relating to the Te Atatu library rainbow event assault.Hassan writes:..There is currently insufficient evidence to ...
With the report of the recent intelligence review by Heather Smith and Richard Maude finally released, critics could look on and wonder: why all the fuss? After all, while the list of recommendations is substantial, ...
Well, I don't know if I'm readyTo be the man I have to beI'll take a breath, I'll take her by my sideWe stand in awe, we've created lifeWith arms wide open under the sunlightWelcome to this place, I'll show you everythingSongwriters: Scott A. Stapp / Mark T. Tremonti.Today is ...
Staff at Kāinga Ora are expecting details of another round of job cuts, with the Green Party claiming more than 500 jobs are set to go. The New Zealand Defence Force has made it easier for people to apply for a job in a bid to get more boots on ...
Australia’s agriculture sector and food system have prospered under a global rules-based system influenced by Western liberal values. But the assumptions, policy approaches and economic frameworks that have traditionally supported Australia’s food security are no ...
Following Trump’s tariff announcement, US stock values fell by the most ever in value terms (US$6.6 trillion). Photo: Getty ImagesLong story shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning:Donald Trump just detonated a neutron bomb under the globalised economy, but this time the Fed isn’t cutting interest rates to rescue ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 30, 2025 thru Sat, April 5, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
This is a longer read.Summary:Trump’s tariffs are reckless, disastrous and hurt the poorest countries deeply. It will stoke inflation, and may cause another recession. Funds/investments around the world have tanked.Trump’s actions emulate the anti-economic logic of another right wing libertarian politician - Liz Truss. She had her political career cut ...
We are all suckers for hope.He’s just being provocative, people will say, he wouldn’t really go that far. They wouldn’t really go that far.Germany in the 1920s and 30s was one of the world’s most educated, culturally sophisticated, and scientifically advanced societies.It had a strong democratic constitution with extensive civil ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Mars warming? Mars’ climate varies due to completely different reasons than Earth’s, and available data indicates no temperature trends comparable to Earth’s ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra It takes a bit for Labor not to preference the Greens but on Friday it was announced that in the Melbourne seat of Macnamara, where Jewish MP Josh Burns is embattled, the ALP will run ...
By Layla Bailey-McDowell, RNZ Māori news journalist Legal experts and Māori advocates say the fight to protect Te Tiriti is only just beginning — as the controversial Treaty Principles Bill is officially killed in Parliament. The bill — which seeks to redefine the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wesley Morgan, Research Associate, Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney Australia’s relationship with its regional neighbours could be in doubt under a Coalition government after two Pacific leaders challenged Opposition Leader Peter Dutton over his weak climate stance. This week, ...
An additional tariff by the US on New Zealand exporters is harmful and the Minister of Trade has written to his American counterparts to tell them that. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophia Staite, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Social media is ablaze with reports of kids going wild at screenings of A Minecraft Movie. Some cinemas are cracking down. There are reports of cinemas calling ...
The Treaty Principles Bill has been brutally defeated in Parliament. We have highlights from key speeches, and explain why its demise is so unusual. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Fujak, Senior Lecturer in Sport Management, Deakin University Few issues in Australian sport generate as much media noise or emotional fan reactions as player movement, especially in our major winter codes the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Football League (AFL). ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Isabelle Ng, PhD candidate, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University A couple of whip coral goby (_Bryaninops yongei_).randi_ang/Shutterstock Swim along the edge of a coral reef and you’ll often see schools of sleek, torpedo-shaped fishes gliding through the currents, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Kemp, Professor, School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Languages are windows into the worlds of the people who speak them – reflecting what they value and experience daily. So perhaps it’s no surprise different languages highlight different ...
A new poem by Daniel Frears. Pale Straw this season’s colour is pale straw a revelatory colour for an oh so special season it might mess with your head, or mine you can rub my belly like I was a dog. all actions are allowed in this .. phase. if ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $32) “A truly helpful treatise on seeing ...
Tara Ward watches the return of The Handmaid’s Tale and discovers the dystopia of the future now feels all too real. If you like your television so bleak that you need to curl into a ball and rock back and forward afterwards, then clear the floor because I have great ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national YouGov poll, conducted April 4–10 from a sample of 1,505, gave Labor a 52.5–47.5 lead, a 1.5-point gain for Labor ...
Submissions close today on proposed reforms that would mark the most significant shakeup of fisheries in decades. Here’s what you need to know.On February 12, oceans and fisheries minister Shane Jones held up a wagging finger and a shiny, plastic-comb-bound document as Wellington’s downtown seagulls squawked overhead. Among a ...
This bill sought to fundamentally alter the meaning of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by selectively and incorrectly interpreting the reo Māori text, says E tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh. ...
Luxon has an opportunity to emerge as a stabiliser without the diplomatic risk of poking the bear in the White House. Last month, pundits from across the political spectrum were begging Christopher Luxon to add a modicum of clarity to the way he communicates after a disastrous interview with Mike ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Mitchell, Professor of Nursing and Health Services Research, University of Newcastle Annie Spratt/Unsplash Hospital-acquired infections are infections patients didn’t have when they were admitted to hospital. The most common include wound infections after surgery, urinary tract infections and pneumonia. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Hanna, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Christina Hanna, CC BY-SA Once floodwaters subside, talk of planned retreat inevitably rises. Within Aotearoa New Zealand, several communities from north to south – including Kumeū, Kawatiri Westport and parts ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arian Wallach, Future Fellow in Ecology, Queensland University of Technology michael garner/Shutterstock In 1938, zoologist Ellis Le Geyt Troughton mourned that Australia’s “gentle and specialized creatures” were “unable to cope with changed conditions and introduced enemies”. The role of these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Peetz, Laurie Carmichael Distinguished Research Fellow at the Centre for Future Work, and Professor Emeritus, Griffith Business School, Griffith University doublelee/Shutterstock Can the government actually make a difference to the wages Australians earn? A lot of attention always falls on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Egliston, Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures, Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, University of Sydney Last week, Nintendo announced the June 5 release of its long anticipated Switch 2. But the biggest talking point wasn’t the console’s launch titles or features. At ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Woodman, TR Ashworth Professor in Sociology, The University of Melbourne Securing the welfare of future generations seems like solid grounds for judging policies and politicians, especially during an election campaign. Political legacies are on the line because the stakes are so ...
How the english do it
http://imgur.com/OhRfPNE
Notice it says indirect taxes such as VAT aren’t included, meaning it’s completely false and just propaganda.
National push similar lies, English is keen on his fictional ‘nett taxpayers’ spin.
People in general are not good with percentages & averages and some politicians are rather ruthless in exploiting that weakness.
Mark Hansen’s Where Are My Taxes? was a good simple tool for a basic idea of NZ govt income and expenditure.
Unfortunately, it has not been updated for a couple of years, would be an interesting comparison. Although, details are often the place where the true costs and benefits lie, and this keeps them hidden.
That is a good tool Molly. It’s a pity he adds per-capita calculations which are pointless and meaningless, it just invites political manipulation and misinterpretation of the numbers.
Calls for a public holiday to commemorate those who died in the New Zealand Land Wars.
Key doesn’t believe the idea would be “massively supported”
Thoughts?
I think it would be a good idea. Help people to remember our history. Key doesn’t like the idea because it goes against the false narrative that he’s been building up.
It’s long overdue in my opinion.
I moved to Franklin about a decade ago, and was introduced to a surprisingly old-fashioned racism.
When the 150th anniversary of the NZ Wars took place, the focus locally was overwhelmingly on the remembrance of settlers and soldiers, although we attended the memorial at Rangiriri which was organised by Tainui, (unfortunately missed the reenactment) and got there in time for the speeches.
Local history in this area is predominantly skewed in favour of colonial and settler remembrances and places importance on their experiences.
A local attempt to create a remembrance event acknowledging both sides of the conflict, resulted in tangata whenua reluctant participation but instigated outright hostility from people who wanted to exclude any reference to the dispersed tribes who had their land confiscated.
Key’s modus operandi is to poll on items he has no clue on, or no vested interest in. In this case he might be right – there would not be massive support.
But that indicates a problem in itself with NZers relationship with their own history, and should be addressed.
As for an extra public holiday. Well, a fair number of waged workers often don’t even manage to get the existing ones off consistently. All for it.
The flag debate has been a classic case-in-point. Anything that vaguely refers to the tangata whenua or maori culture does not stand a chance.
New Zealand is no better than Australia when it comes to recognition of its cultural history.
I think NZ history including the New Zealand/Land Wars should be compulsory in schools. The land wars were complicated & there were several, picking a suitable day would be tricky and I think a Land Wars commemoration day would always be politically charged & divisive. Teach the history, continue the treaty settlements and associated apologies, and keep Waitangi Day.
Yes, a public holiday to honour the NZ wars is appropriate. It’s a chapter of warfare in our history and should be acknowledged. Many of us may have either settler or Maori ancestors who were involved. (I have, on both sides).
We commemorate war in the form of ANZAC day so we should at least acknowledge local loss of life in the name of war.
I also think we should drop this whole guy fawkes thing. Sure it’s not a public holiday but its a commemoration that isn’t relevant to us. If people still want to get kicks from seeing and hearing stuff being blown up we could move the fireworks aspect of guy fawkes to Matariki, in autumn, a time of meaningful celebration. Public demo’s only, no sales of fireworks.
Key has an opinion for sure but it’s not necessarily a reliable one. I mean, flag referendum anyone? Hardly going great guns is it? And he was adamant that we would all be right behind a change of flag………..so what he says doesn’t really matter.
He was probably hoping for a few more, but it’s still not too bad.
http://www.elections.org.nz/events/referendums-new-zealand-flag-0/voting-first-referendum/voting-statistics
The first referendum is about choosing the favorite alternative flag, I’m sure 1.2-1.3 million people is more than enough to pick the correct one.
No it wasn’t. It was about building momentum for a change of flag which is why choosing the flag went before the decision to change the flag.
Government: New Zealanders, do you want to change the flag?
The People: Not sure, sort of depends on what sort of flags are being offered as a alternative?. If it’s something we like, yeah why not !.
Ah, no. It was more like:
National: We want to change the flag because we’ve destroyed NZ’s credibility hows you think NZers?
NZers: Fuck off arseholes and leave our flag alone.
Not sure why this is so fucking difficult for some people.
If you want to keep the flag, vote for it in the second referendum.
If it loses, so be it, the people have spoken, democracy has been served.
And a thank you to John Key for giving people the opportunity.
Why is it that RWNJs don’t get that the second question should have been asked first?
Instead we got manipulation from National and the RWNJs getting upset that the psychopaths are being called on it.
Oh, wait…
Not even a 40% turnout – not bad? Not great though is it? And lets wait to see how many of those votes are informal ones, those votes that have have been deliberately spoiled as a way of sending a message to Key.
I was fairly conservative with the spoiling of my ballot and went with the advice of putting a X in each box and marking the paper with K.O.F. Mr R wanted to be more creative so he printed out little troll faces,
http://www.reactionface.info/sites/default/files/images/1287666826226.png
and glued them in the boxes. So sweet. Key, after all is trolling us by having two referendums (see Draco’s point below) so why not troll him back!
I went with an x in every box while my partner went for a 6 for the 5 choices.
My guess is that there will be quite a few informals.
I’ve been informally polling folks I know about how they voted and have been pleasantly surprised at the number who went with the X option, even among the Nat voters I know. I agree it’s likely there will be more informal votes than normal.
Agree about Matariki. And let’s ditch Queens Birthday which is entirely meaningless to most New Zealanders by now, surely.
None by Key obviously but an expanded history curriculum would be an advantage to the fact that we have a larger number of people now in this country who havent been here long who say they want to stay or would that be misconstrued by this govt as a move to the left and a strength for the Republican movement
Here’s more interesting background about iPredict, currently being wound down. It appears there were two Professors of Economics backing the site, both from a fairly right-wing perspective.
http://www.viclink.co.nz/blog/493224
“iPredict is a joint venture between Viclink and the Victoria University-based New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation (ISCR). Established primarily as a research tool, iPredict is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Viclink”.
Posted: Tue 19 Nov 2013
Who we are: (out of date): https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=about_us
“iPredict was established in 2008, shortly before the General Election that year, as a market-based political and economic forecasting system. iPredict was more accurate than 15 of the 19 polls published in the run up to the election that year – not bad for our first eight weeks in operation.
Today iPredict has over 5,000 traders, and has launched over 1500 contracts. We have been fortunate enough to be featured in every mainstream media outlet in New Zealand. We’re a place you can turn your opinion and what you know into cash.
iPredict Ltd is owned by Victoria Link Ltd, or “Viclink”, the commercial arm of Victoria University of Wellington. Its Board of Directors consists of Prof. Neil Quigley (Chairman) (replaced by Kate McGrath 2015), Prof. Lewis Evans and Ian MacIntosh.
Full Companies Office information can be found here. (Companies Office)
iPredict’s bankers are National Bank, lawyers are Chapman Tripp, and its PR and marketing consultants are Exceltium Ltd.
iPredict is authorised as a futures dealer by the Financial Markets Authority.
Trader funds are held in a trust account in the name of Predictions Clearing Limited, a subsidiary of iPredict Limited”.
An interview with part-time staff members:
http://idealog.co.nz/venture/2015/11/cashing-out-prediction-market-ipredict-closing-its-virtual-doors-maybe-opens-window
Four staff members? But they don’t compile regular media reports or even prepare the reports usually. Exceltium does it, or did it formerly. This is a part-time job for four people who are usually working on Viclink projects by the sound of it.
“Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation
Founded in 1998 and closed in 2015, the Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation (ISCR) was an independent, nonprofit research institute located at Victoria University of Wellington’s Pipitea Campus. Funding of its activities was provided by members, project work, and research grants.
The primary objectives of ISCR research were to assist in understanding:
• how markets and organisations operate
• how markets provide appropriate incentives and disciplines for organisations
• the limitations of markets, and the role of regulation in addressing these limitations
• the importance of property rights and institutional structures in facilitating effectiveness of markets, organisations, competition, and regulation in New Zealand
The Victoria University Library has collated a searchable repository of articles written by ISCR researchers, and its Competition and Regulation Times newsletter.
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vbs/centresandinstitutes/institutes
http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/1827
Emeritus Professor Lewis Evans (retired or semi-retired).
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sef/about/staff/lew-evans
Included in the work of Lew Evans is a central role in advising the government of the day (around 2010), over the selling down of some of the Electricity SOES, presumably in the name of increased competition being good for the economy. Also in 2010, the Electricity Authority was formed, with Carl Hansen as CEO. Hansen is a right-wing economist also. He advised the Business Roundtable on policy, and more recently can be heard on radio and TV defending the status quo, which has delivered expensive power to the masses, considering most of it is hydro generated for 2c a kWhr using old dams and turbines. We would have been better served strategically with the old ECNZ – no structural changes were necessary in a small place like NZ.
These are just some of the forces shaping more neoliberal policy in NZ, attempting to keep National in control at all costs.
In the case of iPredict, Victoria University (through Victoria Link) seem to be belatedly forcing it to close down over time. Prof Lewis and Prof Quigley have jointly no doubt been the driving force behind the site, but now their sway with the board is greatly diminished.
Salient had an interesting article about it.
http://salient.org.nz/2014/09/ipredict-or-ipromote/
This great result has to be mainly sheeted home to Nicky Hager’s book, “Dirty Politics”, which highlighted the iPredict site for the travesty it had become.
Very interesting. I was at an econ thing at Vic around start up time and at the end of the session some professor appeared and talked about getting into ipredict. Thought encouraging broke students to take part was a little odd at the time. Had a look but it was appeared fixed so left it
Of course those students will be out earning by now, and are possibly trading on the site, bringing up the numbers. More recently, a younger Robert Quigley has been funded to work on the successor to iPredict, called PredictIT. He’s most likely the son of Neil Quigley, and the only good thing about PredictIT is that this time it’s more heavily regulated, the owners of the site have to be sure of everyone’s identity and restrict their spending power properly.
So perhaps they have been thinking about closing down iPredict for a while, but in any case it’s obvious to me that those running the site for most of its life, wanted certain outcomes in the reports. They found ways of ensuring that was the case.
They were shut down because of NZ being forced to strengthen our money laundering regulations to meet international standards. Nothing to do with Hager.
Sacha, they could simply comply with the new rules, and keep the site going. Viclink have chosen not to do that, because it would undermine the multiple accounts the Right are using to control the stocks. Plus it’s not a money-making venture by the sound of it. But they were perfectly happy to run it and make a loss before, as long as National always looked like winning the next election. If those participant rules were changed, and if the press reporting was done regularly by an unbiased party, we’d then see a fairer view of political opinion in NZ at the moment.
I challenge them to do just that while they wind it down – how about a level playing field for once, VicLink?
I have no basis to disagee with you. I was merely noting that it had nothing to do with Hager’s revelations.
So The Venezuelan People have given the Right Wing MUD (Love it!) Party a ‘super majority’ of 112 seats of 167. That gives the National Assembly a widespread mandate for significant change.
But. The new assembly does not come in until January, and the current assembly sits for a couple more weeks. A real test of the Socialists commitment to democracy eh?
What odds on some creative law making before the old assembly is disbanded…
And here’s a classic example of the new narrative to explain failure that is becoming entrenched in the Left worldwide..
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/The-Causes-and-Consequences-of-Venezuelan-Election-Results-20151207-0002.html
Yup. It was because of..
‘Intense disinformation by the media’ / The voters aren’t ‘concerned or aware’, they just want to vote against the government because of the media / The voters don’t ‘remember’ what things used to be like / The opposition attracted the ‘less politically aware social sectors’ (i.e. the voters are stupid / selfish) / There is a conspiracy of course ‘the economic war’ / ‘International powers resources’ have supported the opposition….(All sounds like a normal day at TS eh?)
It’s the voters, the media, and conspiring forces that are to blame. What a pity something can’t be done about them. Hey, there’s an idea….(sarc)
Rejoice! Sheep’s world is whole and true and not at all indicative of Quisling treachery and authoritarian submission. Rah rah rah, we’re going to smash the oiks!
You didn’t mention the oil price in any of that gloating. Funny that.
Well looks like the Venezuelan elite will be kicking the poor from Jan onwards. Privatisation of health and education, here we come.
It was the chavez government who brought in free education and health for the poor ……. the rich u.s.a backed factions in Venezuela will just return it to how it was pre-chavez
The u.s.a is a rich developed country that does not provide decent humane state health care for its own citizens ………………… it can hardly let poor south american governments show them up.
The u.s.a has previously backed a military overthrow of the Chavez government ….. a true failure for democracy that ‘the lost sheep’ seems either ignorant or approving of ……..
p.s everyone else notice that Gosman always calls the elected Venezuela government a ‘regime’????? ……………. If Gosman or sheep head want to learn about real regimes I suggest they watch ‘the war on democracy’ http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-on-democracy
The u.s.a has supported and backed many murderous regimes in south America ….
@Reason +1
17 years in power is not bad for the Chavistas when you are up against the CIA etc……and Maduro is still the president and has executive power…go and watch “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ (doco) and tell me the people don’t love Chavez and what he still stands for.
More good background: Matt Burgess, an economics student, had the original idea that was supported by the two Professors and Viclink (funding). By about 2012 Burgess left there for a job with National’s Bill English, and Exceltium had control of iPredict for a period until it was in theory brought back under control of Viclink. I know for a fact that it was still being meddled with before the report times, by whoever was doing the reports in 2014, and that was someone at Exceltium.
So this blog post by Viclink only tells part of the truth.
http://www.viclink.co.nz/blog/598456
Why does the “feeds” column often have two, and sometimes three, identical feeds?
One for Rebecca Kitteridge, the other for Una Jagose, and the third for all those they’re ‘trying to protect from themselves’
You would think that Kitteridge might draw attention to the risks of a free trade deal with Saudi Arabia:)
Nope in some sort of Absurdism, Key and his cronies are throwing as much taxpayers cash at Hamood Al-Ali Al-Khalaf a Saudi Businessman and not very effective sheep farmer to try to bring as much Saudi free movement here as possible. Security risk anyone? Lets work out what these trade deals really mean, free movement of nationals, free working visas of nationals, reduction of border controls on imports, selling off our country to foreign nationals….. Being able to be sued under ISDS by businessman who have more money than the government….
Maybe the NSA checklists the GCSB and SIS follow only have unmarried muslim brides who in spite of surveillance have been found to still be suspicious due to their marital status! Good work there 99, another 8 million in the mail! She could get a job for Trump at this rate!
You could not make this stuff up.
“The Islamic Women’s Council says it has “no knowledge or indication” of Kiwi women becoming jihadi brides, despite suggestions a growing number are heading to Syria to back Islamic State.
SIS director Rebecca Kitteridge revealed a rise in the number of young New Zealand women heading to Iraq and Syria when addressing Parliament’s intelligence and security committee on Tuesday.
Prime Minister John Key, who chairs the committee, said after Kitteridge’s remarks that women were known to have taken part in “weddings” before heading to Islamic State (IS) stronghold Syria, which pointed to the fact they were going as jihadi brides.”
“All she (Kitteridge) said was that the number had been growing and because it was a war-torn area, that was a concern.
“We don’t know the ethnicity of these women, we don’t actually know the religious background of these women, whether they just converted before they went, whether they converted at all, and we certainly don’t know what they’re doing while they’re over there.”
Well. John can invent anything he likes. Who cares? I do.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/74893140/islamic-womens-council-not-aware-of-any-kiwi-jihadi-brides
You mean that John Key lied again?
Not lying? Nah. Just twisting the facts a tiny little bit then sniggering at the way that media quote and embellish whatever he says. His private pleasure instead of stroking girls’ hair.
…or something else
John Key will you pleaz save us from the jihadi brides?!?!
They are taking our women! What’s next?! O lawd… the children!!
Jihadi Brides Threat Level Update: John Key has clarified the numbers regarding the crisis.
Rebecca Kitteridge had said that the number of these potential ticking time bombs was ‘fewer than a dozen’. While she has no idea what they are doing there, what is known for sure is that they went went to that part of the world, and they are definitely female.
But Key has subsequently said that a belief exists, an actual belief thingee, that the number of this fewer than a dozen that have in fact married Islamic militants is somewhere in the magnitude of “one or two”.
Now that might seem a little low at first, but bear in mind that a) that’s one or two more brides than our SIS team had to monitor before, b) Key didn’t say which end of the one or two range the true figure is closer to, and c) my calculator informs me that this represents an infinity percent increase in kiwi jihadi brides. If this rate continues, every female in New Zealand will be a jihadi bride before I finish typing this sentence. Everyone is probably already dead. National is probably still polling 50%.
+1 and lol – key is a lying manipulative vain dim dickhead
Actually that whole briefing (if the brief video clip was anything to go by) was rather amateurish and highly speculative. Everybody seemed to be vaguely “sort of” agreeing with anything anyone else suggested.
Bernard’s Top 10: The rise and rise of the robots; Will jobs be created faster than they’re destroyed?; Is this time different?
Well worth a look and the video on it is worth watching.
Drama therapy to help drone assassins cope with their feelings of guilt;
No drama therapy, though, for their thousands of victims.
Nine to Noon, RNZ National, Wednesday 9 December 2015
After 10 o’clock, Kathryn Ryan interviewed (if that’s the word for sitting back and letting someone say the most contentious things without contesting a word of it) the Brooklyn-based theatre director Bryan Doerries. It was billed on the RNZ site like this….
The interesting part of Doerries’ talk came when he told of the immense psychological suffering of drone operators who had “hit the wrong target”. This implies, of course, that there are “right” targets, and that the United States regime’s massive program of terror in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, and now stepped up dramatically in Syria, is something other than illegal and condemned by all reputable human rights organizations. As I suspected, there was zero consideration of the victims of these conscience-wracked drone killers.
And, of course, Kathryn Ryan failed to raise a single objection to interview Doerries’ smooth flow of talk. I sent her the following email….
After Bryan Doerries, will you interview someone who works with the victims?
Dear Kathryn,
To hear Bryan Doerries expressing such compassion for the operators of assassination drones, apparently stricken with guilt because they hit the “wrong” targets, was a deeply troubling experience.
Have your producers tried to get in touch with any of the thousands of people in Yemen, Afghanistan and Iraq whose family members have been killed by these conscience-racked American drone operators?
That would make for an interesting interview.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
Pity both she & Bryan Doerries no doubt aren’t aware of this:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/24/-sp-us-drone-strikes-kill-1147
The survivors of drone attacks must really love and admire the USA. Hearts and minds must be won over – or not.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11558110
This is what happens when large parts of the voting public feel disenfranchised I guess
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11557932
No one has been able to point to a single instance where a gun has been gained illegitimately through the mail order system. It was also later revealed the rifle was bought using the manufactured identity of a police officer, required by law to authorise and approve the mail order form.
Its not looking good Ms Allan, nest time she may want to consider following the same laws as everyone else
Actually, we can point to one – it was a journalist and she told us about it. And what she did was still in the public interest.
Going on probabilities after that it’s highly likely that there’s quite a few out there that have been gained illegitimately but the records don’t show that because the records aren’t accurate.
Greg O’Connor’s done a good job of keeping a low profile on this. He seems to have been the one who brought the situation to HDPA’s attention, apparently via a radio broadcast. Its all gone a bit mucky now. I was expecting him at some point to show up with some evidence it had actually happened before. Maybe he still will?
UK veterans throw away medals to protest Syria strikes
9:39 AM Wednesday Dec 9, 2015
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/video.cfm?c_id=2&gal_cid=2&gallery_id=156409
More ex-soldiers with a conscience….
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/09/refuseniks-occupations-underbelly
I’d call this a ‘scrapping the bottom of the barrel’ argument.
“How about sugar production? Not only are animals poisoned during the growing stage but also millions of small animals are killed during harvest of the sugar cane.
Some studies have shown that more animals die to produce a vegan meal than a regular meal that includes meat and dairy. Why is the life of a mouse not worth the same as a calf?
Of course I eat these foods as well as meat, so you could argue I contribute to even more animals dying.
But it’s not me trying to convince you to convert to veganism to save ANY animals dying.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/opinion/74894316/how-many-animals-died-for-your-meal
Anything rather than address the real cruelty that our dairy industry thrives off – oh no that’s too hard, too close to home.
That article was a real yawn. Agree, that dairy farmer is definitely scrapping the bottom of the barrel with that one. Pretty desperate really. He might be a buddy of Andrew Hoggard of Fed Farmers who said on tv3 on Sunday night that “it’s all a vegan conspiracy”.
Note how the media have really focused on damage control and the “threat to the economy” and have barely reported on the actual issue of animal cruelty itself – this was their opportunity to investigate but instead they take the easy path of going with the government and industry’s predictable hollow defences.
The msm have been appallingly biased and lazy in their reporting.
+1
+ 1 Rosie – good comment
If anyone from Auckland wants to do something about the housing crisis, in a more active manner. No hand wringers please.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/968941989813586/
Fran O’Sullivan in her latest comment in the Herald is chatting about Paula Benefit and Crusher Collins. Usually I can read Fran’s stuff and although I don’t always think she is right in her musings I have always thought she was capable of rational thought. In her comment she quotes Paula as being “like Key, she does not often lose her cool”. Blimey dick what planet is she on – every time I see Key in the house he is a ranting abusive man out of control. Comparing her with Key who often loses “his” cool – where does she get this from? When he isn’t abusive and spinning his usual rubbish he has a pair of dead eyes which I suppose is a passive type of cool. Who knows, for once she has me stumped.
I think I know where Fran O’Sullivan is coming from. I posted the following comment in relation to another post yesterday which is relevant here:
There are similarities, and reports that she was being groomed by Key for high political office go back to Key’s first term as PM. Even her responses in the debating chamber have a ‘Key’nesian ring to them.
Obama lying???
“WTO Orders Sanctions Unless U.S. Cuts Consumer Labels, Disproving Obama TPP Claims
The ruling is a nightmare for the Obama administration’s uphill battle to build support for the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It makes clear that trade agreements can — and do — threaten even the most favored U.S. public interest safeguards.
Claims to the contrary have been a mainstay of the White House effort to overcome TPP opposition from an unprecedentedly diverse coalition of organizations and members of Congress. That opposition was only solidified when the recent release of the final TPP text revealed the pact was even worse than expected.
The massive text largely reflects the interests of the 500 official U.S. trade advisors representing corporate interests that had privileged access while the public, Congress and the press were shut out the secretive process: investor privileges that make it easier to offshore American jobs to low wage countries and retrograde terms that expose U.S. food safety, environmental, Internet freedom, health and other safeguards to attack and rollback.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lori-wallach/wto-orders-sanctions-unle_b_8748594.html
Why has Obama invested so much in TPPA? Mainly the democrats aren’t onside and he is relying quite heavily on the Republicans (house senate?) to attempt to get this past. He can’t be re-elected so why?
Post election board of directors positions.
basically it is fascism by stealth and an attempt to legally sanction it
the NZ Labour Party is not joining with NZF and the Greens to oppose it!
…why not?
‘Flouting The Rules: Why has Andrew Little rejected a winning TPPA strategy for a guaranteed loser? ‘
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/10/14/flouting-the-rules-why-has-andrew-little-rejected-a-winning-tppa-strategy-for-a-guaranteed-loser/
In addition
“The TPP would make the situation much worse. It includes constraints on food safety that extend beyond the WTO, roll back the environmental standards included even in George W. Bush’s trader pacts and would empower individual foreign corporations to directly launch attacks on public interest policies.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lori-wallach/wto-orders-sanctions-unle_b_8748594.html
Watch Commander
Pretty much guaranteed that people who terrorists and never will be are being watched covertly
And:
We can pretty much guarantee that the US is spying on everyone including friends and allies.
They really called it Hydra? Have they never read comic books?
In 1949 the first Labour government introduced peacetime conscription, as part of its Cold War alliance with the United States. Here is a fascinating account by veteran left activist Murray Horton of the campaign against peacetime conscription led by people like watersiders’ union leader Jock Barnes:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/labour s-introduction-of-peacetime-conscription-and-the-fight-against-it/
Key Derangement Syndrome in full effect
[lprent: Comment seems to have little to do with the post. Certainly provides no context to the post. Moved to OpenMike. ]
Almost needs its own DSM IV area code.
What did you do your doctorate in ?
Doctoring.
Having a quiet day ?
Day off watching cricket.
.. must be a boring game.
Not at all, part of the beauty of cricket is you can enjoy it at the same time as having a chat or a read or commenting on the interwebs.
behind the times…DSM V is out
Lols. The Standard Kitchen, Dunedin.
Geez, there would be daily fights in the kitchen. Just as well P.Ure is no longer around. It would Vegans Vs. Carnivores fights galore over the menu.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Standard-Kitchen/903983092982085
Carnivores would eat the vegans.
Break out the love; spooning leads to forking
That was very funny. Ain’t nobody gonna love me though, I’m pescetarian, distrusted, misunderstood and disliked by all persuasions, left, right, and centre.
Naah not enough meat on a vegans bones and all the supplements they need to take…I’ll stick to eating good ol’ roast beef raised kiwis thanks
There have been restaurants that attracted intrigued customers who went more to see how rude the waiters could be than the food. Ad could be good, has a nice line in chivvying. I liked the spooning and the forking.
I’ll have to stop in when I pass through there next.
Maybe give us a report back
Some positive news…
A surprising meeting with Fonterra and Greenpeace.
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/blog/a-surprising-meeting-with-Fonterra/blog/55042/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_term=Fonterra&utm_campaign=Forests&__surl__=IgSIA&__ots__=1449627227725&__step__=1
on a different note, urban regeneration and social housing meets top British art prize
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2015/may/12/assemble-turner-prize-2015-wildcard-how-the-young-architecture-crew-assemble-rocked-the-art-world?CMP=share_btn_fb
Why I like twitter.
CJ Werleman
@cjwerleman
You see how one terrorist shooting can radicalize Americans like Trump, but you can’t see how 10,000+ US bombs might radicalize Muslims?
https://twitter.com/cjwerleman/status/673985855560663040
+1
Massey University Quotes of the Year all by men – http://thespinoff.co.nz/09-12-2015/media-are-new-zealands-quotes-of-the-year-really-all-by-men/
So Little and Key have both made apologies to Parliament. Little over comments about the Speaker and Key over his comments that Labour backed rapists. I think whatever their reasons for apologising, it’s the right thing to do.
There’s no way that Labour can force Carter out of the chair. They have to play with the hand they’re dealt and stoic resignation is probably the best way to handle Carter’s bias.
Key’s comments were clearly over the top and a clear attempt to distract from Labour’s stirling work on NZers detained in Australia. Having his inelegant attempt at misdirection lingering wouldn’t help. I think Key has been hurt by it already, this probably helps to stem the bleeding.
Little shouldn’t have apologised. It is quite clear that all of his statements were entirely correct.
I agree – wtf were they thinking – key gets an ‘out’ and what, suddenly youknowwho is no longer playing favorites?
“Key has repeatedly refused to apologise for the comment, going as far as to say he was “absolutely correct” to say it and didn’t regret his remarks.
But it seems a deal was struck between Key and Labour “in the spirit of Christmas” after Opposition leader Andrew Little also decided to apologise for “unparliamentary” comments.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/74923038/john-key-and-andrew-little-strike-a-deal-in-the-spirit-of-christmas
This bullshit is why I can’t vote for either of these 2 parties.
+100…when the leaders of the supposed Opposition parties James Shaw and Andrew Little let Key off the hook….you know you have got trouble…the Opposition is either corrupted or loopy stupid
you would never get Winston Peters doing this!..or Annette Sykes or Laila Harre or John Minto or I hope Hone Harawira
While any apology is better than none, Key couldn’t help mentioning that it was close to Christmas. What a guy. Hence Little’s ‘bloody red baron’ comment which I thought quite clever, even if ‘I will if you will’ apologies seems childish for both. Tacit admission that his ‘backing the rapists’ comment was a calculated political tactic? And what a sincere, moving 20 second apology speech it was.
I expect he’s already packed and ready for Hawaii
The problem with the NZ left AND right is, there are too many cheap skates and quick comment making jerks, who do not even bother reading and studying stuff, it is first, quick impression, and decision and judgment, and then destroy the rest.
So we have the society that NZers deserve, a dumb, ignorant, indifferent, selfish and unprincipled society (that is unless it involves the principle of serving yourself first).
The truth no longer matters, quick and cheap scores by political players get more resonance than anything of substance that matters to others, e.g. most people, and some here, too many, on TS are no different to the ones on Kiwiblog, by judging and rubbishing and ignoring information that they should perhaps take note of.
I am through with this country I once came to, I am through with NZ, I regret ever having come to this damned place.
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike. FFS Stay on topic. ]
could be worse Mike……Donald Trump
Read this and then just go all hilarious.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/08/donald-trump-famous-muslims-us-history?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H&utm_term=142452&subid=15166303&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
You couldn’t make Trump up could ya ?
Donald Trump is a ginger…and so is David Cameron..say no more
I am not surprised by people taking action such as this, not that I support it:
[r0b: 2 videos removed]
I have NO MORE FAITH AND HOPE IN THIS SHIT SOCIETY, FULL STOP!
I DO NOT LIKE BUT DO NOT OBJECT TO THIS ACTION NOW:
[r0b: 1 video removed]
Hate me for it, I will not live much longer anyway, I chooose to pass a.s.a.p..
[r0b: I understand your anger. But really don’t want those videos on the blog, sorry.]
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike ]
With the nonsense exposed above, is anybody seriously surprised at the success of radical Islam IsIS and what else we have? Maybe it is a curse that was asked for?
Do not agree with and do not like this, the following, but the west and other vested interests keep funding it, there will be NO peace in Syria with this, and that adds to my disbelief of this shit system we have:
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike ]
I expect to be killed any time soon, as for the above, thanks for your attention.
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike ]
On J.P.Morgan bribes …All in the family ( cf mafia)….Bankster Fraud…and the Now crisis of social mobility
Episode 846
https://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/325067-episode-max-keiser-846/
“In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss how it is that JP Morgan just happened to hire 222 friends and relatives of Chinese companies and politicians as the bank took these companies public in Hong Kong.
In the second half, Max continues his interview with Liam Halligan of BNE.eu and the Telegraph about central bank policy, George Osborne’s long-term economic plans and Thomas Piketty’s so-called new book, Inequality.”
They talk about suicide attacks, but YPG and others do the same:
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike. Banned for a week for wasting my time. ]
Still up Lynn? Just wanted to thank you for your work on Pete’s behalf, I’m going to have to take back almost half of the bad things I’ve said about you….Almost….
[r0b: Don’t be getting all soft now. Remember, we are leftards, raving socialists, substandard, echo chamber etc etc. Sigh.]
Union membership numbers in NZ are continuing to decline according to Victoria University’s annual report.
Here’s an interesting discussion by veteran shopfloor union activist Don Franks on the way forward for workers and unions.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/which-way-forward-for-workers-and-unions/