So, question for the morning, will the four new water entities be able to trade water with each other? i.e. is this the formation of a national water market?
Depending how the aussies vote, there's a reasonable basis to suspect our PM could have a successful political career in Oz:
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has once again been ranked Australia's most trusted politician.
The latest Ogilvy PR Believability Index surveyed 1000 Australian voters in February and found that 44 per cent of participants trust Ardern more than they trust any Australian politician.
This is not the first time New Zealand's Prime Minister has been voted Australia's most trusted politician. In 2019, research company Millward Brown polled 1400 Australians and found Ardern scored a believability rating of 77 out of 100.
Ogilvy's Believability Index found Ardern ranked ahead of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the country's leader of the opposition, Anthony Albanese.
A total of 10 per cent of voters in the poll had strong negative feelings towards Ardern, while 34 per cent expressed strong negative feelings towards Morrison and 19 per cent for Albanese.
So if she feels she's done her dash here, and Labour once again loses an unloseable election there, she could emigrate. Oz Labour would love the chance to break their habit of picking losers as leaders. They'd probably organise to stage a party election for the Labour leadership as soon as she joined up. She could make history by becoming first person to lead both countries…
Do you mean the dual citizenship option is unavailable? An old friend of mine has dual US/NZ citizenship. I'd be surprised if our relationship with Oz is so distant that the USA is closer.
Barnaby Joyce, Australia's current DPM, had to resign and then renounce his NZ citizenship before entering Parliament again. Like many of the 600,000 NZers here he didn't know that he had NZ citizenship – he was brought to Oz when he was a small child and just assumed he was Australian.
Koff is correct – Australian law does not permit dual-citizens to serve in their Federal Parliament. I'm not sure how far down the political chain to State and Local govt this law applies, but they are generally much more cautious about covert influence from people who do not necessarily share their interests than NZ is.
Such exclusivism seems peculiar. Perhaps the relic of a nationalist past? I mean, there was that trend of US corporate leaders to get staff saluting the flag each morning yet they still allow dual citizenship.
Do the aussies still sing waltzing matilda at moments of peak nationalism? If ScoMo gets them doing it at his rallies he could win another term…
I would call it a sober appraisal of just easily the politics of smaller nations can be subverted by cash and the soft power inducements of larger ones.
We wouldn't. Dumbing down is already bad enough. However, it does serve the cause of biodiversity. I have no problem with immigrant aussies trying to repower jingoism here. Can't see any such ever getting to be Nat leader but why not give them a try? Revival of tie me kangaroo down sport would be an intriguing cultural morph for young Nats to get into.
You really need to live and work here for a period Dennis. Modern Australia is really very multi-cultural. The office I work in right now has a vibrant mix of Indian, Asian, Black African, Bogan and a token Kiwi – all of whom cheerfully give each other shit on a daily basis.
The same on all the major project sites I have been to in the past decade – huge diversity. And over time this is seeping into their political system.
But they do demand demonstrable loyalty to Australia. Which despite my globalist instincts I do believe is reasonable.
Sounds good, fair enough as far as it goes. Perhaps the imminent election will produce a result in accord with that.
they do demand demonstrable loyalty to Australia
In what form? Unless you mean mere sentiment. Am I loyal to NZ? Not in a zillion years. Am I loyal to Aoteraroa? I feel like I ought to say yes to that. Mere sentiment though. I can't think of how I might express that feeling via meaningful action.
If the answer is Xi Xinping, or Vladimir Putin then I do not want you anywhere near political power. Anywhere.
I agree that ascertaining a person's true intent is impossible, but holding a second passport that is a free ticket to somewhere else if the shit hits the fan does not suggest commitment. Does it?
I acquired a sense of self as a global citizen in the mid-1960s & that has remained the basis of my identity.
If you were to reframe the query as belonging, I've always felt I belong here. However the neocolonialist political infrastructure is just as inadequate as it was back then so I wouldn't expect any intelligent person to commit to loyalty to it.
I acquired a sense of self as a global citizen in the mid-1960s & that has remained the basis of my identity.
And sincerely – good for you. No irony intended.
However most people are going to retain a sane sense of loyalty to their homeland to a larger degree than you. You may be an outlier in this respect. A sense of belonging and loyalty can be thought of as layers of an onion; most people have a core and unshakeable loyalty to family, then to the place and community they grew up in, then more broadly to the nation.
Expanding our moral horizon to encompass the whole of humanity is to add a whole new layer – a now urgent and vital moral project – that will re-shape the purpose and face politics in this century. But this does not necessarily imply that our existing loyalties will vanish either.
Yeah. However, some folk are born to be humanitarian – I know that due to my mother being an exemplar. The global view comes naturally to them since it is innate.
You may be an outlier in this respect.
And in a bunch of other respects too – been a constant theme of my life since childhood. Had to work on how to get an interactive communal context going much of the time!
a now urgent and vital moral project – that will re-shape the purpose and face politics in this century
Definitely a priority learning curve for any player in the game of geopolitics. I feel sorry for the poor buggers! Brainwashed into nationalism from a young age, floundering forever in the morass of a globalised world…
More than half the New Zealand Prime Ministers were born outside New Zealand. It has got a lot better but even in my lifetime there have been 2 who were born overseas. They were Fraser, 1940 – 1949 and Nash, 1957 – 1960.
Nash was the last one though. Everyone since then has been Kiwi born.
You are right about the multi-culturism in Australia though. Even when I lived in Melbourne from the late 80's to mid 90's you saw it, There were quite large areas where you were likely to find no one speaking English as a first language. Greek and Italian were very common with an ever increasing number speaking Vietnamese.
I personally thought that they were very sensible to allow only Australian citizens to have the vote. We should do the same. Compulsory voting still seems a bit of an imposition though.
Yes it is bad before Easter, and from Friday 15th on perhaps through to Anzac day. I remember a few Easters like that. Stay home folk, not the time to be on the road if you can avoid it. Storm watchers week of joy.
How are you Ad?
Yes a direct hit from an ex tropical cyclone for the North Island from Wednesday followed by a fleet brush pass from an ex trop. depression along the eastern border early the next week, and it looks like something is brewing just to the north of New Caledonia for later that week.
We in the North are being punished for 3 months of almost solid sunshine.
Here is a fascinating interview from DW "Conflict Zone" with a former deputy Russian foreign minister. The guy was in Moscow, so obviously had to mind his "ps and qs". But, very insightful none the less.
One of the worrying things that both the interviewer and the Russian guy agreed on was that the prevailing doctrine of "mutually assured destruction" that supposedly derisked the use of nuclear weapons has basically been torn up.
Going forward, the world is going to have to factor in the possibility of an obsessed/crazy dictator with a finger on the nuclear destruct button, and who is prepared to use it, even if it means personal and national self-destruction.
"Going forward, the world is going to have to factor in the possibility of an obsessed/crazy dictator with a finger on the nuclear destruct button"
This has always been the case. There's humans in charge of all these devices.
When told as a child at school one might 'tuck themselves under their desks' in case of nuclear attack, meanwhile reading how these weapons flattened cities in Japan… the assurances of authorities were always a bit of a joke.
The narrative, going forward, will be just as suspect as it's always been.
"Red's under the bed!"
It's not the Reds, it's the f'n leadership, it's always the leadership.
Russia is absolutely no longer functional communist state, although it's refusal to repudiate the monsters of it's past hangs around the current leadership as a very bad smell. After all Putin and most of the Kremlin heads are ex-KGB in one way or another, an entity that has direct history into the Stalin era.
This is the extraordinary thing about Russian politics, first of all how power is deeply centralised into Moscow, and how narrow the entry points are into Russian political management. It makes for an isolated and brittle polity, steeped in both professional and cultural paranoia.
What we have to fear most of all is the chance that the Russian military might collapse, and faced with a choice of a humiliating defeat interpreted by the Kremlin as an existential threat, there is the real possibility – I would rate it as 20% odds – that Putin is capable of retreating to an impregnable bunker and launching a civilisation ending assault as an ultimate act of nihilism. We just cannot tell and this is why NATO and the rest of the world have had their hands heavily tied in their response to the Ukrainian butchery.
The deeply mad thing about this war is that the Kremlin has made all of it's paranoid fantasies about the world hating them come true.
"The deeply mad thing about this war is that the Kremlin has made all of it's paranoid fantasies about the world hating them come true."
Absolutely.
Maybe a massive bounty? If all those Oligarchs have had their fortunes frozen (have they?) perhaps they'd be up for a pot of gold. You don't get to be an Oligarch based on moral principles, surely.
I agree Red. Except I hope that the probability (for all our sakes) is a lot less than 20%.
It is a very thorny problem for the world to deal with. What to do with someone who is threatening nuclear weapon use if he doesn’t get his way? Appeasement will simply encourage such a person.
Probably one thing in the world’s favour, somewhat paradoxically, is Russia’s relationship with China. I think the worst case scenario you describe would be more likely if Putin felt totally isolated with no future at all.
But, the relationship with China probably means this isn’t the case. Hopefully, China will end up performing a moderating role in this conflict.
Yes – thorny is a terrible understatement. I suspect there would be more than a few realists in Europe right now – in their military especially – who are frankly terrified.
Otherwise my comment to Ad below would be pertinent in reply to you.
Yes I saw that just a short while ago – but done no research on it. I would imagine New Delhi will be paying a lot of attention though.
Hypothetically the best outcome would be a new Pakistani leader capable of ending their long-standing conflict with India. That would take the immediate pressure of the Indian govt to maintain their military reliance on Russia.
I was aware of Khan wanting to strengthen trade. Money from the US dried up in Pakistan once the US left Afganistan. I am not sure why Khan was ousted, reliance on trade with China might have been his undoing.
The new regime in Pakistan could be anti Russia and want more traditional influence on its people.
Unlikely that Putin's security depends on any PM in Pakistan:
Pakistan, a nation of 220 million, has struggled with political instability since its formation in 1947, with multiple regime changes and military coups. No prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term under the present constitution of 1973. Khan's ouster comes just short of four years in office
What is going to happen next when it comes to international politics?
Good question. The science of complexity tells us that the trajectory of complex systems is a random walk. To be more precise, it consists of long periods of stasis (stable states) and indeterminate switches between those.
The indeterminacy is ruled by tiny triggers (butterfly effect). Thus tipping points in climate change.
If there's a trend in global politics you can point to that falls into the category of next, I suggest a focus on supply chains. Currently dysfunctional, lurching into motion at times, frozen into temporary stasis at others. You can see the microcosm effects on empty supermarket shelves. So the viability of global trading as the basis of the economy is in question, plus that of neoliberalism – the ideology that uses it in politics. The sensible thing for states to do is reorganise on the basis of a resilient economy – but that requires intelligent design.
We know few govts are capable of that. Necessity being the mother of invention, we await sufficient panic & paranoia to trigger that shift…
As far as atrocities go RL, why do you so steadfastly refuse to repudiate Ukrainian atrocities?
Incidentally , where is the independent investigation into both Bucha , and now Kramatorsk?
Kramatorsk is easily solved, as the serial number of the rocket is clearly visible.
Whose inventory does it belong to?
Same for the serial number of the Toschka lobbed into Donetsk city central area, purely a civilian zone, killing some say 23 , others 20, and injuring 28.That one is known to come from the Ukrainian army
I share your concerns about nuclear annihilation .Lets not forget the near misses in the past, and in these days of heightened tension , a mistake is more likely to happen than not
Mearsheimer is also warning about this, a brief 20 minutes of your time
Worryingly , he sees no way out .Incidentally, knocking off Putin as so many ridiculously suggest, would inflame matters even worse.There are many hardliners way more ruthless than Putin who would seize the moment to come to the fore.
Should we not have had the Nuremberg trials either?
Because in war shit happens?
Are we throwing out the notion of war crimes?
For one thing, if one side treats their prisoners of war decently, the other may reciprocate .Are you willing that soldiers of any side should be summarily executed?
Having said all that, I agree, anyone who starts a war carries ultimate responsibility for that war, but it does not excuse individual acts of savagery, and a free pass for torture of any side
The scenario you are suggesting, everyone loses their humanity, and so it goes.
There's no scenario in my mind where its ok to excuse barbarism .But there we go, you men and your blood lust, gotta have its way
I've been anti-war my entire life so I don't know how you have gone from I think Putin is responsible to all the other of your assertions.
My influences include a teacher who was imprisoned in NZ for being a pacifist and the Whanganui Quaker settlement amongst others.
You from your consistent postings are far more aggressive than I'll ever be. Let's not pretend either than violence is just a male thing either. Women are as capable of violence and hate as men are. Plenty of Queens sent their armies to battle.
And lest we forget.
"At least 30,000 women died here. Some were gassed or hanged, others starved, died of disease or were worked to death.
They were treated brutally by many of the female guards – beaten, tortured or murdered. The prisoners gave them nicknames, such as "bloody Brygyda" or "revolver Anna"."
Now it has the ring of a Culture Club farewell tour playing to shambolic dive bars while still dreaming of the packed stadiums of yesteryear.
Could frame it as thoughtful sleepwalking instead. Would be just as accurate.
Outside of Covid, this administration has a terrible record. Inequality, if you care about that metric, has deteriorated. The only way a working family can now obtain a house is through inheritance. We are toiling longer, with unemployment having fallen, but the wages being earned are worth less thanks to inflation.
Few things better define the Ardern government than the Auckland Harbour cycle path. Announced with great fanfare then quietly forgotten. KiwiBuild, the Provincial Growth Fund, transparency, mental health funding and even the entire Well-Being budget framework have all fallen over.
Overstating the point somewhat, but it's true that govt policy delivery remains underwhelming. Labour would argue that neoliberalism is all about talking the talk. It never has tried to provide a plausible basis for walking the walk.
Where legislation has been passed, it has created perverse outcomes. The poor now struggle to get credit, thanks to changes to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act. The poor now have to pay more for their petrol cars, thanks to the tax on dirty petrol cars. The poor now struggle to cover the cost of groceries as prices rise faster than wages, thanks in part to changes to the mandate of the Reserve Bank away from a single focus on inflation.
Other than increasing benefits at nearly the rate of inflation, the Ardern Government has achieved close to nothing outside of Covid
Yeah but Labour are a middle-class operation. Tokenism is the expected way to treat the poor. I thought everyone knew that by now.
It is a mistake, however, to write off Ardern. She has not been tested in either of the last two elections. We do not know how this prime minister will perform when the barbarians are at the gate. She remains popular and is one of the most impressive political operators we have seen, and is a master of both the parliamentary and media arenas. Luxon may yet falter, and Ardern has the better of him at Parliament’s question time.
On form, that's true. Current form, however, puts a question-mark over it. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Not to Oz! So is she tough enough to turn this term into solid progress? That's the question she ought to be pondering.
a worldview that gained wide assent in the West and that instigated revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics. Central to Enlightenment thought were the use and celebration of reason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own condition. The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness.
You can tell how well it worked by considering how knowledgeable everyone is, how free they are, and how happy they are.
Damien Grant would love it if his personal opinion would be(come) “Mood of the Nation bullshit”.
For example, to put all the blame on the Government for inflation is a simpleton’s reckon. Home owners who have just received their recent Notice of Valuation will be dazzled by the large number after the $-sign. The number of new building consents is sky-high. The PGF was a left-over from NZF and Shane Jones and Labour promised to end it at the last election.
Of course, simpletons lap up Mr Grant’s reckons in their typically uncritical fashion.
Housing cost inflation has increased 50% under labour,34% over the pandemic period.Most under the last 2 years due to imaginary money (qe) and low interest rates.
The expected interest rate increases to constrain inflation over the next 2 years will remove 3% of GDP from the real economy to the banks in interest charges alone.
The RBNZ at the start actioned the correct approach,due to the absence of vaccines,this allowed for a circular economy with both increased local savings (due to lockdowns and travel constraints) in November they hesitated due to the Delta event,and in hindsight may have been a wrong action.
The governor at that stage should have been also jawboning both politicians and the press,that housing inflation was a significant stability risk both for the economy and potential buyers.
Every major recession has been predicated by low interest rates,and low unemployment,that is the future if government macro economic policy include both debt and increasing fundamental costs,without producing productivity improvements.
we need to move to a quasi war economy,without having to realise draconian austerity policy in future days.
The productivity problem has been around for years and no Government has been able to crack it – the RBNZ is not the right tree, but Treasury and MBIE are. If the RE in FIRE would stand for Research Enterprise (or Research & Entrepreneurship) instead of Real Estate we would not be having this convo, I reckon. Compare the PGF with Callaghan Innovation, for example, and discuss which one was more successful or likely to be successful longer term and why.
PGF was to enable provincial NZ,to grow,improve services,and allow for provincial job growth. The intention was this would reduce internal migration from the provinces to the larger metros (with all their accompanying problems) Lower cost housing,reasonable infrastructure etc.
PGF was also for more investment into rail,(which now shows foresight) there were issues with some of the tourism ventures,and a lot of the provincial spending was low cost where money stayed more often in the local economy,and not to large multinational construction companies.
i) Upgrade of existing city line ( non kiwi rail) in Whanganui,that allowed direct loading onto container train units by a number of meat works and a dairy factory.
This reduced trucking through both the city to marshaling yards ,and in some cases to Palmerston North.(cost around 3m)
ii) Alliance Lorneville, raising the height of the venison slaughterboard to enable cattle production.This extended the work season for the workers,and increased beef capacity that had to trucked out of the province at seasonal peaks (around 5 mill)
The saving for the above project allowed investment in the co generation energy plant on site.
Callaghan.
i) Ab equipment investment in research and application for multiple heavy equipment mantainence programs,most of the equipment already has onboard systems,so really just a PBX system.
Most likely very usable application for an international company like AB.
Labour has built, and is building, a lot more state houses-Key/English sold them off.
Labour has significantly increased the minimum wage to $21.20.
Labour has introduced a clean car tax.
I could keep listing things that are not in your list but can't be bothered. I do think that Labour needs to publicise its achievements, which are numerous, better or the opposition's tactic of saying they have done nothing (a la Key) will stick.
Inflation and interest rates: up after 10 years of 2-4%
Both of which are global phenomenon driven largely by the fact that 2022 is the year in which fully half the Boomers – the largest post-War generation in most places on earth – enter retirement. On doing so we take with us 40 or more years of skills and experience that are not being replaced at the same rate, and we instantly transition from being massive capital savers, to capital consumers.
I was listening to one of our VPs responsible for one of our major core business units last week. In it he was saying that two things keep him awake at night in the face of record orders, one being the obvious chip shortage crippling delivery – but long terms was finding the talent to meet the astonishing growth opportunities now hammering on our door. Globally at the moment we have over 1,000 open positions, most good, rewarding jobs in a great industry. A fair chunk of this will be normal turnover – but it also explains why doddering dinosaurs like me are still working instead of quietly collecting NZ Super back home.
So no I don't think it fair to land that one entirely at Labour's doorstep.
Crime is down? Really? It certainly doesn't seem like it, both from media (I know, only bad news is reported) and personal communications.
At least in Auckland, it seems as though gun crime has gone through the roof.
And, the police just don't bother turning up for burglaries or 'minor' crime – or investigate, even when there is CCTV footage showing the criminals provided to them.
How about the fact that the state housing waitlist is up 500% since 2017, which is the year of the election that Jacinda promised to end homelessness and fix the housing issue?
and likely also that Sweden joins, we are going to have to see a revisitation of the Charter for European Security signed in November 1999. This is what has been the framework for post-cold war Europe in peaceful co-existence until now.
Its provisions include “the right of each participating State to be free to choose or change its security arrangements including treaties or alliances, as they evolve, as well as the right of each state to neutrality”.
But, good old Sergei Lavrov adds, the charter “directly conditions those rights on the obligation of each state not to strengthen its security at the expense of the security of other states”.
So in Lavrov’s interpretation, that obligation means no signatory can effect a change in the balance of European security by signing up to an alliance.
Russia holds that the charter freezes Europe’s 1999 security relationships in place, and that the subsequent enlargement of NATO represents a breach of that agreement.
To me that kind of language challenges every EU member, including for example Ireland. As well as those who also want to join like Serbia and Montenegro.
The question of a much larger and revived NATO is, well you've got a whole lot more mandate, what good are you going to do with it?
To me the answer is: NATO needs to deliver more than good military defence: its purpose should be revisited and emphasise a whole lot more of its political arm, less of its military, and a far more on broader threats to its members such as climate change, refugee crises, and the undermining of democracies by oligarchies.
Once this current war is contained and smaller, there needs to be a re-settlement of the purpose of NATO.
All good thoughts. While no-one can rule out lingering corners of Russophobia, the dominant European dream of the past 40 years – as embodied by Merkel more than anyone else – was peace and prosperity across the entire Eurasian continent. At least it was until Feb 24. The immediate purpose of NATO now is to crush the Russian state without triggering a nuclear holocaust.
The entry of Finland and Sweden – literally right next door to St Petersberg – is vividly descriptive of Putin's blunder. The almost certain entry of Ukraine within a matter of weeks into the EU is another. Kaliningrad's immediate future is wildly uncertain and Belarus is but one nudge away from a Colour Revolution of it's own. Not to mention Georgia and the four 'Stans each of whom present ongoing problems of their own. The Indians are very uncomfortable partners for the moment and anyone professionally relying on Xi Xinping to underwrite their future needs another job.
The EU will spend the next few years urgently weaning themselves off Russia commodities as fast as possible, and anyone buying Russian oil needs to consider just how reliable that source is when the Russians themselves are making it their business to destroy oil infrastructure wherever they choose. There will be contradictions and challenges in the short term – long term the outcome is certain. Total isolation of the Russian economy to the extent physically possible.
The moment it became clear to political capitals in the West – that the Russian military was so gutted by corruption and incompetence that it would be crushed in any conventional confrontation with the West – the overriding concern became to avoid the nuclear exchange that would the inevitable outcome of such a direct conflict. The only safe path to achieving this is to prevent Putin from achieving his goals in Ukraine – and imposing a political defeat on him at home.
But having said all of that I agree the EU must do something more constructive with it's new found unity well beyond merely defeating Putin. The lesson to be learned is that the nation states must cede their sovereign right to commit war – for fear of the dread consequences of failing to do so.
states must cede their sovereign right to commit war
Nifty moral principle you got there! Hard to disagree, so I'm not inclined to quibble. Implementation would have to happen at the level of the UNSC to be effective.
I therefore encourage concerned citizens to lobby our foreign minister to take the initiative and propose the UN adopt this reform!
Yes. And in case anyone thinks I am a complete US fanboi – I fear the most stubborn hold-out in any such endeavour would be the USA itself.
The reasons are complex, but rooted I think in the geopolitical reality that the North American continent has made them the least dependent on global peace than any other major power. It is a paradox – the nation with the most influence globally, has the least need to engage.
For this reason I am not optimistic about the chances of reforming the UNSC – not just Russia and China as totalitarian holdouts increasingly turning themselves into pariahs, but a USA which has been increasingly ambivalent about the post-WW2 globalisation project since the end of the first Cold War.
Perhaps if everyone else united in a common front and gave the UNSC veto nations an ultimatum to give it away – it might stand a chance.
Leverage. It would take a vote by states in the UN to give it sufficient form and power – power in proportion to the number who vote in support.
Seems like a realistic strategy for UNSC reform. Push comes to shove, those nations could retain a fall-back option to use if the USA, China & Russia joined in opposition to the reform. They could vote to eliminate the SC. Legal viability of that would depend on how the thing is built in international law.
I have been thinking that, once this conflict is over, the democratic world needs to find a way to encourage the formation of, and strengthening of democracies world wide.
One way to do that could be to have a trading block between democratic nations. Entry to that trading block could be requirements such as having free and democratic elections etc.
Simply relying on military force to protect democracies is far too dangerous and on the balance of probabilities, will result in the end of civilisation at some point in the future. As Einstein said “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
After this conflict is at an end, I think the world as a whole needs to decide to abolish nuclear weapons as a whole. There are other weapons available now which probably can do the same job in terms of mutually assured destruction of protagonists without endagering the rest of the world if that is seen as necessary. For instance, large thermobaric bombswhich have city-killing potential
I read this comment above with a small sense of joy. Agree totally.
My only other small thought to add is that we should not imagine that regulating the relations between nations is so very hard. Exactly the same principle is at work inside of the nation state itself at a smaller scale, where individuals give up their right to violence and cede it to the state.
It is just an expansion of perspective; although having said that I am very aware of the challenges.
Why did you think that is what I meant? Last I looked most of the democratic nations routinely yield election results that are fairly closely balanced between liberal and conservative blocs around 50%. Including the USA.
Sometimes you get a landslide election, but usually within a cycle or two it goes back to normal.
You're reminding me of a statement from a thoughtful Chinese Manager I worked with.
"In China you can change the policies, but not the party, in the USA, you can change the party, but not the policies".
Not far wrong!
Niether country is Democratic, in that the general population have no say in policy.
The US Constitution is specifically designed, just like the Chinese one, to ensure that the “great unwashed” can never take the power and more importantly, the money , from the “elite”.
You only have to look at the legislation, in the USA for example, that is only in the interests of a few rich people, and is not supported by the majority.
If you consider that "extreme" then it shows how much you have gone down the "Rabbit hole".
Other than increasing benefits at nearly the rate of inflation, the Ardern Government has achieved close to nothing outside of Covid, and in many key areas the welfare of Kiwis has fallen.
If KiwiBuild and other programmes had been delivered, the electorate might have confidence that this Government had the ability to handle the new challenges facing New Zealand. This is not the case.
In the 2023 debates is it easy to see Luxon facing down the camera and asking an Opposition leader’s favourite question: “Are you better off today than you were six years ago?”
Not all of this is Ardern’s fault. Her agenda was derailed by the pandemic and the paucity of competence within her caucus from which to draw talent. There are only so many portfolios you can force onto Chris Hipkins before he loses focus and begins to bait pregnant journalists trapped in Kabul.
Quite right. Labour could, of course, acknowledge its mistakes. Saying sorry is a strength, not a weakness.
I am surprised we haven't seen any of our Russian-apologist friends here yet spinning the claim that the attack on the Kramatorsk train station must have been a false flag attack by Ukraine on its own people, not by Russia. The argument being that the missile fragments are from Toshka-U missiles, which according to Russia, Ukraine uses but Russia doesn't.
However, this claim has been debunked. There have been severalobservations of Russia bringing Toshka-U missiles into the combat zone. So, Russia definitely had the means and opportunity to launch the attack if Toshka missiles were used.
But, in this case, the Russians had the missiles allegedly used in the attack. And they have had previous form in attacking Ukranian civilians in a wide variety of brutal ways in this conflict.
So, I guess if both forces had the missiles, while the possibility of the Ukranians striking the station with their own missile couldn't be ruled out, the most likely source is from Russia.
It might be that forensic analysis of satellite footage and the like will be able to prove conclusively where the missiles actually came from. But, until then, the most likely explanation is that the Russians did it.
You are probably right. But so called "goodies" often turn out to be much less principled than they claim. Think Dresden and the second atomic bomb dropped needlessly on Nagasaki.
Trying to provoke people into engaging with you comes across as rather desperate. Why don’t you give it a rest and enjoy this Sunday in relative peace and quiet?
Those several observations you refer to Smithfield purportedly showing Russia bringing in Tochkas.
The twitter shows a video, of Tochkas being transported
All of the place names are within Belarus!
There is no mention of them entering Ukraine
The last Tochka attack on civilians was by the Ukrainians on Donetsk City, where there were no military installations, just civilians.March 13
Many died and were wounded, including children
Ukraine blamed Russia, said it must have been a Russian missile (maybe an Iskander which they first blamed Russia using at the Kramatorsk station?)Russia bombing Donetsk city?
Here for a change is an Indian news report, showing the same type of tail section we see at the station
Ok, the tail sections have serial numbers .Apparently foreign reporters have recorded the tail section at the Kramatorsk station .Easy to compare them , and find out whose inventory they're in . Could be Russia has managed to get a Tochka off the Ukrainians , could be Russia has recommissioned its decommissioned Tochkas, whatever, the serial numbers will help, so will the direction of travel .
Dunno, it would seem as daft as Russia bombing Donetsk city, which is what the Ukrainians claimed
What do you think about that Tochka attack?
Slam dunk?
Mistakes happen , the Tochkas are not that accurate, friendly fire happens. Russia (more like the DPR in that area,Kramatorsk being right on the frontline ,could have made a terrible mistake) That area is in the Donbas, Russia doesn’t see those civilians as an enemy target either., many of them are Russian speakers and ethnic Russians.The "Russian" message means nothing .Equally could be a message from the Ukrainians to the Russians.
Can’t think why either side would target those civilians The serial numbers will be the most telling.
DPR, Russia Ukraine, one of them has those serial numbers in their inventory
You might want to ask if anyone would be stupid enough to run a deliberate false flag operation with serial numbers absolutely traceable to them – but dumber things have happened.
Interesting comments from Wall about her resignation on Q + A, according to her Ardern made it clear she wasn't wanted in her cabinet or in her caucus.
Wall mentioned her strong support of Cunliffe over Grant Robertson for leadership and belived that was why she was not leader and I believe her. She also mentioned anger in the party for how she worked in a cross party way to get gay marriage over the line angering labour party leadership.
I forgot how disgraceful the labour party was in not allowing Wall to speak on the parliamentary suicide thing. That was disgusting, if Im remembering correctly, National gave wall some of their parliamentary time to speak. Despicable. So was the deselection.
From opposition Wall did more than the front bench of labour, the front bench of labour in opposition who were dysfunctional, disliked by the public couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery and are now a useless cabinet. How dare these incompetents sledge a back bencher who actually improved people's lives.
This interview makes Ardern look terrible, petty and makes one wonder what hoops one must jump through to get in Arderns cabinet, kiss her and Grant's arse 24/7 and never express an original thought and be able to tick off boxes.
Because if it was based off skill and talent most of that robotic cabinet would not be there, it beggars belief that Fafoi is minister of Justice while Duncan Webb sits outside cabinet. We also have a whole generation of young talent elected in 2017 and 2020 who are not getting any leadership experience for opposition and future governments because cabinet is full of no hopers with little talent.
Ardern desperately needs a cabinet reshuffle and I'd like to hear her side of the story why was Wall and effective opposition mp turfed out and ignored and treated at every step disgustingly by labour leadership.
I respect Ardern, but I think her cabinet are a bunch of losers that other than Grant, Andrew, Chris Hipkins, the employment minister, the former minister of police , Kiri and maybe Carmel (maybe) should ALL be reshuffled to make way for new talent.
Clark would have thrown loads of these people under the bus long ago.
Now that the opposition is starting to get it's shit together it's time labour actually bled the dead wood and get it's shit together. A stronger opposition needs a stronger government which means a stronger executive.
If Wall wasn't good enough to be in cabinet or even caucus no way these lightweights deserve to be ministers of the crown.
Good luck to Wall in whatever she does and shame on the Labour party for treating her like this, Labour is supposedly a big tent party, clearly it'd rather be a hive mind.
I've long had your critical view of Labour so nothing there surprises me. I had hoped the current lot were an improvement but it looks like they aren't.
I didn't see the interview but it sounds like I ought to have. I hope it will alert others to the perennial deceit strategy Labour applies to its recruits. Too bad the hypocrisy is so deep-rooted – but it does explain why so few talented folk show up in their ranks.
If anyone wonders why Treaty issues, transgender issues, and 3-Waters don't get decent debate outside of Twitter or specialist sites like TS, here's an analysis on why:
You bet! I predict this is a sleeper that will catch fire sometime soon. I find myself siding with the right for a change. Liam Hehir, who I've enjoyed making funny of online a few times in past years, has got this issue right. If anything, he's actually understating his point too much. Watch this space!
One can not ask questions when one is supposed to offer blind support, and in some cases the job of asking non questions might actually depend on being obediently supportive. We all end up losers and misinformed.
I think Adams article is really important and raises the problem with our msm.
Although there have been some very challenging discussions on the standard about Trans ideology, I have appreciated that the debate has been and continues to be had here.
Adams raises the issue of SUFW being deemed by a High Court Judge as NOT a hate group. Yet the trans ideology activists labelled this group a hate grooup and worked to have their platform shut down. The women in this group are mostly left wing progressive feminists. They were trying to say that biological sex matters and should be factored in in areas such as sports, female spaces, prisons hospital wards etc.
If the article about the Greens changing their Kaupapa so the the co-leadership has to be a female and one other gender, whilst I applaude that it is deeply hypocritical of them. That is if they mean the female should be a biological female.
Surely for the sake of fairness it would be a female presenting human, a male presenting human and one other gender so three leaders is what they need?
Not really much of a debate, if you go back and look, tbf.
Following it, I'm of the opinion most readers will have seen it as a topic to avoid getting burned over by a vocal minority. Me, I just gave up 'cause I think you're shit.
Trans rights is now a "trans ideology". It's not about trans people anymore and for some, hasn't been for a very long time.
My mistake. Should be gender ideology, not trans ideology.
The debate was/is about does gender trump biological sex. A lot of women think that in some circumstances it doesn't, e.g. sport, women's prisons, women's hospital wards, womens toilets and change rooms to name a few. No one on this site has been able to disaude me from this with any rational arguements. Very often biological sex will be more important than gender identity e.g. the swimming championships in the US where transwoman Lia Thomas is beating women and women's records in the pool, then changing in the locker room with girls while she still has her male genitals intact.
I remember that you have a trans child and so propobably this is a painful debate to engage in as like any parent you would prioritize their needs.
finally please don't call me shit. I don't like it
My problem is that outside of competitive sport, which I ignore as being entertainment and waste of time and effort, I can't see how any of the other gender vs biology focuses matter at all.
No-one so far has managed to explain to me, why wanting to shift gender matters at all to society or politics or even law for anything outside of sport.
Sport = a small culdesac of insane obsessives and couch potatoes wanting something to easy to argue over nothing substantive.
Basically listening to people waffling on about it has the same kind of coherence as listening to the obsessive rantings about the greatness of the Slavs – the same kind of idiotic shit that leads to bigots wars. WW2 being an exampler for the germans, japanese, and a host of other nations
Each time this topic gets raised I get annoyed because all of the examplers are about bloody sport. Which has led me to the opinion that there are no more important and actual issues related to it.
Of course there needs to be regulation about irreversible gender treatments. But that is a medical issue about consent and an issue for the people giving it – especially dor those who are younger.
But that doesn't appear to be what the semi-mystical calls appear to be about. And the lack of a coherent reasoning – outside of bloody sport – leads me to view it as just another form of simple bigotry.
Well just for a start I prent, here is an article that relates to sport, but is actually about safe guarding of women and girls.
,Lia Thomas is a trans woman, who is biologically male and beating all sorts of records in the pool against women.
I get that you don't give a toss about sport, that's fair enough. But Lia, who is attracted to women has been given the right to change in the women's change rooms and is frequently seen in there with their genitals out.
Women such as myself think this is a problem and so do the parents of these young female swimmers. This article I have linked relates how despite these parent's complaints there has been no reponse back.
I am happy to continue with listing all the ways that many women feel this is a problem (just as SUFW tried to do, but were shut down).
However before I do so, I rather hear from you that you do want to hear the other ways this ideology is problematic. You have said before that you don't want to get entangled in this debate, which of course is your right.
But, I really think that there are places (outside of sports) which need to be for women (biologically adult females) only.
Many, many, many women in prison have been victims of rape and sexual assault throughout their lives. They really don't need to be shut up in prison with another abuser.
And from a Swedish study which found that:
“The study provides strong evidence that policy makers cannot safely assume (a)
that transwomen’s offending patterns, including violent offending, will be
significantly different than those of the general male population or (b) that they will
be similar to those of the general female population.”
In legal terms we treat women and men equally under our laws regardless of gender frequencies. Rape, infanticide, assault, sexually violating…. It is all the same standard for conviction. In the case of rape – there is a specific mention of a penis. However most cases these days are in S128(3) of the crimes act with sexual violation because then there is no need to prove penile penetration.
Women sexually violating other women, women sexually violating men, men sexually violating women, men sexually violating men. It is gender neutral because that way it is simpler to get a conviction.
The criminal act is all governed by the same legislation. The frequency of offending simply isn't a criteria for conviction. So why bring it up?
So that 'study' is completely irrelevant.
If I understand you correctly, you are arguing that a frequency of possible offending is an argument for taking pre-emptive legal action.
It is the exact equivalent of saying that all men are rapists, and should be made eunuchs at birth to reduce future offending. For that matter that all women should have their tubes cut pre-puberty to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy.
In other words, your implied but unstated argument (so cowardly to make it that way), is so weak that you could logically extend it to justify cutting the hands off anyone who may become a thief.
Perhaps you should look at the moral foundations of your indignation and tell me how you can justify judging others on something that they haven't done yet – but could possibly do – because they are in the right demographic?
Unfortunately something like 95% of all violent crime is perpetrated by males. This is a vital distinction for women to make for their own safety and survival & they have to demographically pre-judge people all the time
Unfortunately, the criminal population is pre-selected for violence, including sexual violence.
There is no doubt that women in prison are at greater risk from male sexual and physical violence (including trans violence) – which is why there are women's prisons to begin with.
The Swedish study showed that the rate of criminal conviction among trans women matched that of men, not of women. That is a valid point to consider.
Are you arguing that there should be no distinction. That there should just be one prison population.
Well just for a start I prent, here is an article that relates to sport, but is actually about safe guarding of women and girls.
Not interested. That isn't evidence – that is you just being disparaging to me after I stated that I can't see how you take something as stupid as sport, and use it to smear a range of people who aren't participating in sport.
It is simply offensive to me to offer that as an argument.
Quick question I prent. The issue I presented you with was a factual story about female swimmers complaining because their trans gender competitor is a male bodied and the authorities have deemed that it is o.k for Lia to change in the women's change room (girls are complaining that they are exposed to Lia's male genitals). You say it isn't "evidence" but really that is semantics.Is this o.k. that these young women are forced to share what was once a single sex change room with a male bodied person? To date you haven't answered this question. YOu have deflected from doing so, by claiming it is not "evidence",
You seemed to have also made this issue about whether sport is worthy or not and becase you don't care about it or perhaps even hate sport the issue becomes not important.
I have no interest in disparaing you over whether you like sport or not. It's not my business and I have no judgement on that. You are absolutely entittled to your opinion on sport, but that opinion isn't really relevant to this topic.
I am completely at a loss to understand why you think that it is "offensive to me to offer this as an arguement". You see I find it offensive that those young women have to put up with this male bodied person in their change room and when their parents complain, they get no response.
Why Sport and not the other stuff? Maybe ask the news media about what they choose to publish and what gets buried. But the statistics coming out of gender clinics is that there is a 4000% explosion in the number of young people seeking treatment. Something is going on, quite likely a social contagion amongst vulnerable teenage girls, spread via toxic social media, and enforced by vocal bullies on a moralistic cursade.
(thread) "What's incredible is we've known for over 100 years the power of suggestibility in shaping mental illnesses and yet so many doctors in gender clinics fail to see the obvious truth. Or perhaps many see it but are spineless cowards who allow children to be harmed on their watch./11"
(article) "But if you heard bigotry in the PM’s words, you weren’t really listening: Johnson sounded moderate and realistic. Meanwhile Labour continues to flail in the background over whether or not men can get pregnant."
(thread analysing legal falsehoods in the Guardian) "I can’t believe I’ve had to create a Twitter account to talk about this terrible article by @zoesqwilliams. It’s wrong in many ways but I’ll restrict myself to the legal errors, which are quite extraordinary"
(thread – cf advice from gender clinics) 'They don't just "stop puberty". They stop "growth". They stop bones developing, and becoming strong. They stop muscles stretching and filling with blood and protein. (They stop brain development.) They stop the beautiful process of human growth.' (see also)
So while I agree that gender is a social construct, and often oppressive, there are some rather large omissions and misrepresentations in mainstream narratives. At present sports is just the tip of an ideological iceberg that threatens the rights and safety of women and children, denies biological reality, demands conformity to its (religious) edicts, and demands dubious medical procedures for mental illness.
Please state it very clearly. Because at present I simply can’t see one apart from some frightened people making up silly stories.
Sure there are few hothead on the trans side. Sounds like they’re a bit offensive and activist. Neither appears to be any more of an issue of being either dangerous nor chargeable. Obnoxious activists are a dime a dozen in many causes.
I have constrained myself to only the most basic and anodyne support for the SUFW position. I am reasonably sure you don't commenting on gender related topics otherwise.
Each time this topic gets raised I get annoyed because all of the examplers are about bloody sport. Which has led me to the opinion that there are no more important and actual issues related to it.
It is pretty simple from my position. I wind up reading this crap here periodically. What I haven't see is a decent case or even a decent argument for changing laws.
I see tinges of ones periodically – mostly to do with delayed puberty. What I don't see is any actual evidence of issues that are outside the normal range of human behaviour. Humans overlap right across genders in most things when you look at the whole range of human capabilities.
This is at its base a issue of technology. What is being discussed (surgery, drugs) probably wasn’t possible a century ago. Just as today males can’t carry children to term, and growing children in a tube isn’t possible. Both probably will be over the next century.
But professional or competitive sport? If we anted to legislate society on that basis, then we'd trying to legislate on the basis of a small end of the demographic curve – where there is a difference between males and females. Also a difference between Bantu and Pygmy. Between ages.
That is a useless place to start a discussion on. It is also just about the only place that SUFW arguments seem to articulate about.
I'm just going to heap contempt on it until they either find an actual argument that applies to the range of humanity and can fit into a reasonable legal basis. Or I find that I just have to stand up in public in opposition to their measures and call down the bigots for motivations that I suspect they aren't willing to discuss.
I am not deeply opposed to your position either, you make a your case clearly and forcefully. The deep inconsistency here is that if sex is eradicated as a meaningful distinction – which is the basis of trans ideology – then logically the basis of feminism evaporates along with it.
As has been said of nuclear war – a strange game in which the only way to win is not to play.
Which of the n forms of feminism are you thinking of? It has splits that make the potential 5th international look like miracle of conformity.
Well humanism will persist for a while.
But personally I'm seriously committed to geekism. rapidly getting into ageism as I acquire grey hairs, and can't see why programmers can't rule the world as engineers abrogate control of their tools to software.
I'm sure that differences will survive. After all you only have to look at tiktok or Instagram to see 'isms proliferating variants like a virus without copy protection.
Look, I can see issues with teens – who aren't exactly the most rational – going and doing something stupid. So just clearly legislate. We do that for smoking, driving cars, drinking alcohol, using certain types of other legal drugs – prescribed or otherwise.
While you're at it, also legislate against idiotic parents and coaches pushing kids into sports. That kind of abuse does at least as much damage to orderly development – this isn't exactly hard to find. Just read the journals of sports medicine. Or look at most sports teams that have sports wannabes trying to get into professional or even just national sport.
At present sports is just the tip of an ideological iceberg that threatens the rights and safety of women and children, denies biological reality, demands conformity to its (religious) edicts, and demands dubious medical procedures for mental illness.
How? Really what I'm talking about is that if someone of reasonably sound mind over the age of say 25 decides to change gender.
What grounds do you or anyone else have for stopping them? Start from that point.
What would be your stance. Convince me that there is an issue there. How does that affect women in any meaningful way. If you assert that it does, then where is the godamn evidence of issues? Where are the charges and convictions?
Save your unstated (therefore irrelevant) scare points for someone who gets off on vicarious horror. I couldn't give a shit about stupid propaganda from social conservatives. That is the same crap that we heard about 'inherently criminal' to support racism, sexism, and various forms of homophobia.
I have heard all of that crap before – to me it simply says that some idiots are upset, but don't want to admit that they have a problem with difference.
On an individual level I don't have a problem with an adult changing gender. But there is a suite of beliefs that certain activist elements feel compelled to evangelise and demand everyone comply with. Of course these activists claim to be part of some kind of rights movement. Weird how their rights are more important than women and girls who don't wish to share intimate spaces with biological males. Or have to face them in sports competition. Or have awards, scholarships, appointments that are reserved for women to be colonised by autogynephilic males who get a buzz from pretending to be women.
Academics who assert that women are adult human females, are routinely subjected to bullying and harassment and hounded out of their jobs. Kathleen Stock, Maya Forstater, Jo Phoenix, Rosa Freedman, Lisa Littman, Helen Joyce. (not to mention J. K. Rowling who has received uncountable death threats, or our own Rachel Stewart who was subjected to a smear campaign, and the advocacy org SUFW which is routinely slandered). Many of these cancellations are well documented, but many more are not — here are 28 examples. Also, nurses, rape victims, female refugees have been stung by activists for daring to ask for their own space away from men.
This is a toxic movement founded on false premises.
There is no gendered soul separate from the body. No-one is born in the wrong body. Humans are male and female. Nobody should be cancelled for using a word (woman) correctly. People cannot change sex, despite the promises of cosmetic surgery and hormones. Gender dysphoria is a psychological issue and needs compassion and care, for sure. But the solution is rarely at the end of a scalpel.
In your entire comment there is literally nothing that supports anything of significance. It is all assertions, and arbitrary definitions. Essentially it reads like someone saying that others don't respect someone making up a arbitrary framework and being impolite enough to state that, and to do something about it.
Academics who assert that women are adult human females…
That is an assertion, probably one that is incorrect to many people. For instance teenage human females, and many pre-pubescent human females would probably find that offensive. Does the status go away with menopause? What about someone who is infertile?
I'd take a bet that you can't find a actual scientific or even legal definition for 'women' that has any significant validity.
It is a meaningless arbitrary societal label, and probably quite language/culture dependent from what I remember from anthro courses.
Basically inventing a arbitrary label purely to exclude others has had a long history in the study of bigotry.
It does tend to be quite triggering at offending others. Basically anyone who does it needs to have their mental health looked at. In this case probably some of the people you're supporting.
There is no gendered soul separate from the body
I'm very agnostic on what I consider to be religious fantasies. Never seen any evidence for a soul.
As I read a lot, I have investigated the whole set of ideas across multiple religious and faith based practices in depth. I have concluded that I have no particular capacity for having faith.
Several of my relatives do. I'm usually polite enough to ignore them or express polite disbelief when they start using it in conversations with me.
However if anyone uses that as part of an argument related to some kind of judgement implied or explicit about me, then I tend to class them as being deliberately offensive. It is an imposition of someone else's value system on me.
Typically I react to it in a immoderate manner, typically pulling out parts of their faith's rather poor history, by pointing out inconsistencies , by comparing it to some other faith or whatever I find most useful as a lesson.
I'd take a bet that if I looked into the depths of these '28 cancellations' that I could find some highly offensive behaviours to others that triggered the response that they got. Why – because many of the responses described in your links are characteristic of the way that many people in a freeish society deal with bloody minded bigots trying to push their arbitrary ideas on others.
Because most stoushes usually arise from some pig-headed fool being absolutely that they're right, pushing their own ideas do the gullet of others, and not bothering to be aware or have respect for the opinions of others.
However the fact that tempers get raised and that people take legitimate and legal actions against others that they disagree with is neither here nor there.
What you haven't managed to address at all is anything about the underlying issues. All you've done is stated opinions. Pointed to no substantive evidence that I could see.
All I see is a number of people making shit up and numbers that has no particular basis in anything I'd view as substantive measurable and reproducible fact. Basically just more of the bullshit in my opinion.
Disappointing that the opinions of eminent academics and respected feminists are so easily dismissed as bigotry or religiously motivated or made-up bullshit.
Sure there is probably occasional overreach in gender critical rhetoric, but there is enough substance there to take their claims seriously.
I have no interest in trying to stop someone over 25 changing gender. That is absolutely their choice.
There are currently 25,000 young de-transitioners on reddit who have had irreversible damage done to their bodies e.g. double masectomies, which they now regret, because as you rightly put out teens do stupid things and rather than the adults they encountered protecting them, they enabled it.
You say so just legislate it against it. "We do that for smoking "etc. Good luck with that. Be prepared to be called a transphobe if you question affirmation and medical transition of very young children.
The reality is that the affirmative care model which is pushed by some Rainbow groups deems that if a young teen presents as trans then you have to affirm and confirm their gender identity and then assist them to medically transition. This is what the controversy was over including gender identity in the Conversion Practices Bill was about.
However, have you ever looked at the regret syndromes for tattoos, various coming of age rituals over multiple cultures.
There are currently 25,000 young de-transitioners on reddit..
That is an assertion. Where is the supporting evidence with the methodology to support that number. Just to give you an idea, I could probably generate a few thousand 'people' on reddit for any cause purely with a phrase book
The reality is that the affirmative care model which is pushed by some Rainbow groups deems…
Which is exactly what legislation is put in to control all of the time.
I completely agree with you comments about regret. Tattoos, all sorts of coming of age rituals. Our brains aren't fully developed till we are 25 years old and so teens and young adults do all sorts of "crazy" things that result in regret……..And the job of the adults around them is to help steer them away from harm….
The thing about the medical transition of teens, is that these treatements are often irreversable. Puberty Blockers, which use to be use to treat sex offenders, block puberty. The evidence is from the Tavistock Clinic in the UK that nearly 100% of kids on puberty blockers then transfer to cross sex hormones ie. oestrogen and testosterone. Then what often follows is surgery i.e. what is politely called top surgery ie a double masectomy and sometimes bottom surgery. It is not unheard of for young women to be given hysterectomies. When you think of how drastic these interventions are and with bottom there is a huge risk of complications, it is not hard to see that many young people may come to regret these interventions that have caused irreversible damage to their healthy bodies.
I have references for all of this and will post if requested. One such reference was the case study of a young woman from Christchurch who featured in a Listener article in June 2021. She was given puberty blockers around the age of 14, then cross sex hormones. A double masectomy around 18 and then a hysterectomy not long after this. At 23 years old she started to have regrets. When the journalist met her, she had facial and body hair and an Adams apple and a deep voice (all from the effects of testorone. She had realized after going through all of this that in fact she was a lesbian and didn't have a male identiy at all.
Incidentally, I just dug into the Crimes Act 1961 and Summary Offences Act 1981 looking at language as an exercise. These are the mainstays of criminal prosecution in NZ and are probably the oldest active legislation
Essentially the old legal definitions of woman and man have effectively steadily been removed since 1961. Summary Offences doesn't have any as far as I can see.
The Crimes Act only has Archaeological mostly repealed or replaced artefacts.
(3) Where a woman who is married or in a civil union commits an offence, the fact that her spouse or civil union partner was present at the commission of the offence does not of itself raise a presumption of compulsion.
s98 Dealing in slaves
s178 Infanticide – there is a lot of material in here. Most of it looks pretty old. Essentially seems to to be circumlocutions around questions of insanity.
And that it is all all. I couldn't locate any other legislation mentioning woman or women. 'Man' is also missing. As is 'boy' or 'girl'
Essentially where required, male and female are sparingly used. A definition on genitalia (includes constructed or reconstructed), penis. Plus two sections the first is very old, and the second was added 'recently' in 1996
Louisa was a double international wasn't she? Netball and rugby. Would have been a great minister of sports. Who got that? Oh the Min of Fin….surely he didn't need to be so grabby. Oh but he loves being a sports fan…counts more than Louisas epic ness as a person and hardworking mp.
Yeah, but Minister of Sport is a bauble of power – you get to go to the All Bklacks games (which has probably not been so much of an issue over the last 2.5 years).
Those are reserved for the people who have toed the party line, or who want a nice cherry on top of a difficult portfolio.
In any case, it would have been a sad waste of Wall's talent and passion to have shuffled her off into a meaningless portfolio like Sport.
Binders full of women an interesting interview with Louisa on Q and A this morning. Apologies, no link.
It was made clear to Louisa that she would never be in Cabinet (by Jacinda). Matt McCarten said on the Daily Blog podcast that it was because she was a difficult person. Louisa today said she thought it dated back to her support for David Cunliffe over Grant Robinson during the leadership contest
Louisa today said she thought it dated back to her support for David Cunliffe over Grant Robinson during the leadership contest.
That was nearly 10 years ago although admittedly the fallout continued for a few years afterwards. Louisa Wall strikes me as a very determined woman – which is laudable – but she is intolerant of others who may have had a slightly different point of view. I understand it affected her ability to manage a cohesive electorate team and it is my view that was far more likely the cause of her demise in politics.
In other words she was a little too much of a maverick. Her new position sounds like it is far better suited to her than parliament.
Because having a candidate parachuted in at late notice, over the expressed wishes of the local electorate team – doesn't sound as though Wall had problems with her electorate team (or they with her).
And Wall's (in these days) astonishing ability to build cross-party support for legislation doesn't sound as though she is "intolerant of others with a different point of view'".
She was shafted by the Labour machine (looking at you Claire Szabo) because she wasn't a nice obedient little sheep. Evidence is that she was replaced by a cookie-cutter Labour MP – who so far, at least, hasn't made a single noteworthy statement either inside or outside the house.
And, it would have had to have been okayed by Ardern – which makes me think less of her.
There is zero chance in hell that a party president (from any party) would de-select a sitting MP without at least consulting the party leader. Especially when the party is in government.
Really, you think that Szabo would have blind-sided Ardern over this?
Still haven't seen the evidence I asked for about a speculation over the local electorate team not wanting Wall.
If it's OK to speculate one way, it's OK to speculate the other.
And it isn't just me speculating that Ardern had to have OK'd it – it was fairly widely covered at the time by political commentators.
Some may be puzzled as to why Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson have not quietly intervened earlier and it is easy to surmise that they could have but were not motivated to do so.
Rolling a sitting MP is not a usual thing….. Not a routine bit of party business that the party leader doesn't need to be bothered by.
Do you have any evidence that Ardern protested this disloyalty to one of her team of MPs – either formally or informally?
Her only comment, that I can find, is that it was a matter for the local electorate committee (which is thoroughly disingenuous when 3 of the 7 come from head office and routinely block vote)
Don’t be a dimwitted fool. Just because someone else hasn’t answered your questions doesn’t mean you can make up BS and not back it up when asked.
In case you haven’t noticed, this is not the NZH and behind a fucking paywall, but TS and free. If Audrey Young had written that here on TS I might have questioned her too, especially if she’d just asked for “any evidence” from another commenter.
Audrey Young, of all people, speculating in NZH doesn’t let you off the hook speculating here on TS! That would be the logic of a dim-witted fool.
And you were saying that you’ve been thinking less of Ardern for the last 2 years because of Audrey Young’s speculations in NZH? It sounds like you’re somewhat biased and cannot think for yourself.
When you mention “head office”, do you imply more direct influence and involvement by Ardern, without any support to back it up?
Here’s another statement of fact that you may want to back up:
(which is thoroughly disingenuous when 3 of the 7 come from head office and routinely block vote)
You may know a lot more about the inner workings of the Labour Party, but equally, you may also make up a lot of BS. So, how veracious are your comments here really?
Well, it looks like Belladonna doesn't know too much about the inner workings of the Labour Party after all. At least not according to former Labour Party president, Mike Williams.
… former Labour president Mike Williams said Wall was replaced as Labour's Manurewa candidate at the last election because she lost the support of the electorate committee.
Thanks. We already have so much fake news, reckons, and BS flying around in MSM and SM (there is a Post on this parallel to OM: https://thestandard.org.nz/why-trust-in-the-media-is-declining/) that we shouldn’t encourage more of this behaviour here on TS. In fact, we should actively discourage it, which is what I tried, but I ran into the usual wall of belligerence. I hate having to resort to moderation, but I will increasingly use it.
"Still haven't seen the evidence I asked for about a speculation over the local electorate team not wanting Wall."
From an online Herald article which appeared around 8pm last night which I picked up later that evening:
However, former Labour president Mike Williams said Wall was replaced as Labour's Manurewa candidate at the last election because she lost the support of the electorate committee.
So, it would seem the understanding I was given at the time was correct.
I think Louisa Wall is showing signs of harbouring a deep grudge against Jacinda Ardern. Whether or no she has grounds for it I am not in a position to know, but I suspect her perception of Ardern – and others – have been distorted by that grudge.
Having been part of the inner circles of party politics and later observing events from the periphery, I've seen it happen before. Therefore I base my judgement on my experiences and the instincts developed because of them.
I also know Mike Williams and I see no reason for him to castevents in a light suitable to himself. In fact I don't believe he has done so. As far as I know all he has done is confirm what happened. The Manurewa LEC requested the selection of another candidate presumably because they were having difficulty working with Louisa Wall.
If I want to express an opinion in a mild and conversational way to a fellow long-term commenter I will do so Belledonna. By all means disagree with that 'opinion' but it is time you did so with more circumspection and in a less dogmatic way. Some of what you have said @ 16.1.1 does not meet the criteria of undisputed fact at all. Just somebody else's opinion.
Oh and btw, for your information it is the Labour Party Council who control electoral matters not the leader. Parliament caucus has representation on that council but by no means do they have the final say.
How far away from declaring war and a full draft do you think?
This entire affair is infuriating yet somewhere in my soul I still feel a deep sorrow for all the young men on both sides both brutalised and crushed on the altar of Putin's paranoia.
An unidentified person reported a bomb threat at the Historical Museum on Red Square in Moscow, a law enforcement source reports: http://go.tass.ru/jpLXG
Perhapsunlikely to quickly redeployis a little optimistic. But I live in hope.
Russian forces are increasingly refusing to reenter combat, and the Kremlin remains unlikely to quickly redeploy effective forces from northeastern Ukraine to operations in Donbas. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that more than 80% of personnel in some unspecified Russian units previously involved in combat operations are refusing to return to the front.[1] Russian commanders are reportedly refusing to release soldiers whose service contracts have expired, forcing them to stay with their units. The Ukrainian GUR (Military Intelligence) claimed to have intercepted a letter from Russian Chief of Missile Troops and Artillery Mikhail Matveevsky to several Russian training centers calling for further censorship of troops undergoing training, and encouraged propaganda highlighting the monetary benefits of serving in the war.[2] Elements of Russia’s 6th Combined Arms Army (CAA), 20th CAA, 1st Guards Tank Army, and coastal troops of the Northern and Baltic Fleets continue efforts to regroup for likely redeployment to eastern Ukraine.[3] The General Staff additionally reported that Russian Western Military District Commander Colonel General Alexander Zhuravlev (the first explicit mention of Zhuravlev since the war began) is planning to remove Major General Ivan Belyavsky from the position of the head of the WMD personnel department due to low recruitment numbers.[4]
The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
The CSDP involves the deployment of military or civilian missions to preserve peace, prevent conflict and strengthen international security in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter. Military missions are carried out by EU forces established with secondments from the member states' armed forces. The CSDP also entails collective self-defence amongst member states[a] as well as a Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in which 25 of the 27 national armed forces pursue structural integration. The CSDP structure — headed by the Union's High Representative (HR/VP), Josep Borrell, and sometimes referred to as the European Defence Union (EDU) in relation to its prospective development as the EU's defence arm
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
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So, question for the morning, will the four new water entities be able to trade water with each other? i.e. is this the formation of a national water market?
Fwiw – no. I'd think each entity will be required to stick to their own knitting.
Depending how the aussies vote, there's a reasonable basis to suspect our PM could have a successful political career in Oz:
So if she feels she's done her dash here, and Labour once again loses an unloseable election there, she could emigrate. Oz Labour would love the chance to break their habit of picking losers as leaders. They'd probably organise to stage a party election for the Labour leadership as soon as she joined up. She could make history by becoming first person to lead both countries…
She would have give up her NZ citizenship and become an Aussie to sit in their parliament.
Do you mean the dual citizenship option is unavailable? An old friend of mine has dual US/NZ citizenship. I'd be surprised if our relationship with Oz is so distant that the USA is closer.
Barnaby Joyce, Australia's current DPM, had to resign and then renounce his NZ citizenship before entering Parliament again. Like many of the 600,000 NZers here he didn't know that he had NZ citizenship – he was brought to Oz when he was a small child and just assumed he was Australian.
Koff is correct – Australian law does not permit dual-citizens to serve in their Federal Parliament. I'm not sure how far down the political chain to State and Local govt this law applies, but they are generally much more cautious about covert influence from people who do not necessarily share their interests than NZ is.
Such exclusivism seems peculiar. Perhaps the relic of a nationalist past? I mean, there was that trend of US corporate leaders to get staff saluting the flag each morning yet they still allow dual citizenship.
Do the aussies still sing waltzing matilda at moments of peak nationalism? If ScoMo gets them doing it at his rallies he could win another term…
I would call it a sober appraisal of just easily the politics of smaller nations can be subverted by cash and the soft power inducements of larger ones.
NZ is a sovereign nation, why would we want an Australian PM????
We wouldn't. Dumbing down is already bad enough. However, it does serve the cause of biodiversity. I have no problem with immigrant aussies trying to repower jingoism here. Can't see any such ever getting to be Nat leader but why not give them a try? Revival of tie me kangaroo down sport would be an intriguing cultural morph for young Nats to get into.
You really need to live and work here for a period Dennis. Modern Australia is really very multi-cultural. The office I work in right now has a vibrant mix of Indian, Asian, Black African, Bogan and a token Kiwi – all of whom cheerfully give each other shit on a daily basis.
The same on all the major project sites I have been to in the past decade – huge diversity. And over time this is seeping into their political system.
But they do demand demonstrable loyalty to Australia. Which despite my globalist instincts I do believe is reasonable.
Sounds good, fair enough as far as it goes. Perhaps the imminent election will produce a result in accord with that.
they do demand demonstrable loyalty to Australia
In what form? Unless you mean mere sentiment. Am I loyal to NZ? Not in a zillion years. Am I loyal to Aoteraroa? I feel like I ought to say yes to that. Mere sentiment though. I can't think of how I might express that feeling via meaningful action.
Am I loyal to NZ? Not in a zillion years.
Then who are you loyal to?
If the answer is Xi Xinping, or Vladimir Putin then I do not want you anywhere near political power. Anywhere.
I agree that ascertaining a person's true intent is impossible, but holding a second passport that is a free ticket to somewhere else if the shit hits the fan does not suggest commitment. Does it?
I acquired a sense of self as a global citizen in the mid-1960s & that has remained the basis of my identity.
If you were to reframe the query as belonging, I've always felt I belong here. However the neocolonialist political infrastructure is just as inadequate as it was back then so I wouldn't expect any intelligent person to commit to loyalty to it.
I acquired a sense of self as a global citizen in the mid-1960s & that has remained the basis of my identity.
And sincerely – good for you. No irony intended.
However most people are going to retain a sane sense of loyalty to their homeland to a larger degree than you. You may be an outlier in this respect. A sense of belonging and loyalty can be thought of as layers of an onion; most people have a core and unshakeable loyalty to family, then to the place and community they grew up in, then more broadly to the nation.
Expanding our moral horizon to encompass the whole of humanity is to add a whole new layer – a now urgent and vital moral project – that will re-shape the purpose and face politics in this century. But this does not necessarily imply that our existing loyalties will vanish either.
Yeah. However, some folk are born to be humanitarian – I know that due to my mother being an exemplar. The global view comes naturally to them since it is innate.
You may be an outlier in this respect.
And in a bunch of other respects too – been a constant theme of my life since childhood. Had to work on how to get an interactive communal context going much of the time!
a now urgent and vital moral project – that will re-shape the purpose and face politics in this century
Definitely a priority learning curve for any player in the game of geopolitics. I feel sorry for the poor buggers! Brainwashed into nationalism from a young age, floundering forever in the morass of a globalised world…
Don't tell MICKYSAVAGE what you think. His namesake, the real Michael J Savage, was born in Australia and was, presumably, an Australian citizen.
Even if he was an Ocker the NZ Labour Party must have given him a fair suck of the saveloy.
Back then the idea of the Commonwealth still held a lot of cultural currency, and the political distinction between Aus and NZ was less contentious.
While I didn't know MJS was an Australian – I'm not in the least surprised. (So was Russel Norman if my memory serves me.)
More than half the New Zealand Prime Ministers were born outside New Zealand. It has got a lot better but even in my lifetime there have been 2 who were born overseas. They were Fraser, 1940 – 1949 and Nash, 1957 – 1960.
Nash was the last one though. Everyone since then has been Kiwi born.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prime_ministers_of_New_Zealand_by_place_of_birth
You are right about the multi-culturism in Australia though. Even when I lived in Melbourne from the late 80's to mid 90's you saw it, There were quite large areas where you were likely to find no one speaking English as a first language. Greek and Italian were very common with an ever increasing number speaking Vietnamese.
I personally thought that they were very sensible to allow only Australian citizens to have the vote. We should do the same. Compulsory voting still seems a bit of an imposition though.
North Island in for 3 tropical systems inside 10 days.
That's a sticky Autumn.
New Zealand Weather Forecast (metvuw.com)
Yes it is bad before Easter, and from Friday 15th on perhaps through to Anzac day. I remember a few Easters like that. Stay home folk, not the time to be on the road if you can avoid it. Storm watchers week of joy.
How are you Ad?
Looks like Wednesday 13th will be busy with a low pressure system from the north,and a southerly buster fast moving to meet around cookstrait.
https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/fcst/?mdl_id=gfs&dm_id=ausnz-ced&wm_id=prcp-mslp-gph500
Yes a direct hit from an ex tropical cyclone for the North Island from Wednesday followed by a fleet brush pass from an ex trop. depression along the eastern border early the next week, and it looks like something is brewing just to the north of New Caledonia for later that week.
We in the North are being punished for 3 months of almost solid sunshine.![sad sad](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/sad_smile.png?x42494)
https://www.windy.com/?-36.851,174.768,5
Here is a fascinating interview from DW "Conflict Zone" with a former deputy Russian foreign minister. The guy was in Moscow, so obviously had to mind his "ps and qs". But, very insightful none the less.
One of the worrying things that both the interviewer and the Russian guy agreed on was that the prevailing doctrine of "mutually assured destruction" that supposedly derisked the use of nuclear weapons has basically been torn up.
Going forward, the world is going to have to factor in the possibility of an obsessed/crazy dictator with a finger on the nuclear destruct button, and who is prepared to use it, even if it means personal and national self-destruction.
"Going forward, the world is going to have to factor in the possibility of an obsessed/crazy dictator with a finger on the nuclear destruct button"
This has always been the case. There's humans in charge of all these devices.
When told as a child at school one might 'tuck themselves under their desks' in case of nuclear attack, meanwhile reading how these weapons flattened cities in Japan… the assurances of authorities were always a bit of a joke.
The narrative, going forward, will be just as suspect as it's always been.
"Red's under the bed!"
It's not the Reds, it's the f'n leadership, it's always the leadership.
Precision strike for Putin!
Russia is absolutely no longer functional communist state, although it's refusal to repudiate the monsters of it's past hangs around the current leadership as a very bad smell. After all Putin and most of the Kremlin heads are ex-KGB in one way or another, an entity that has direct history into the Stalin era.
This is the extraordinary thing about Russian politics, first of all how power is deeply centralised into Moscow, and how narrow the entry points are into Russian political management. It makes for an isolated and brittle polity, steeped in both professional and cultural paranoia.
What we have to fear most of all is the chance that the Russian military might collapse, and faced with a choice of a humiliating defeat interpreted by the Kremlin as an existential threat, there is the real possibility – I would rate it as 20% odds – that Putin is capable of retreating to an impregnable bunker and launching a civilisation ending assault as an ultimate act of nihilism. We just cannot tell and this is why NATO and the rest of the world have had their hands heavily tied in their response to the Ukrainian butchery.
The deeply mad thing about this war is that the Kremlin has made all of it's paranoid fantasies about the world hating them come true.
"The deeply mad thing about this war is that the Kremlin has made all of it's paranoid fantasies about the world hating them come true."
Absolutely.
Maybe a massive bounty? If all those Oligarchs have had their fortunes frozen (have they?) perhaps they'd be up for a pot of gold. You don't get to be an Oligarch based on moral principles, surely.
I agree Red. Except I hope that the probability (for all our sakes) is a lot less than 20%.
It is a very thorny problem for the world to deal with. What to do with someone who is threatening nuclear weapon use if he doesn’t get his way? Appeasement will simply encourage such a person.
Probably one thing in the world’s favour, somewhat paradoxically, is Russia’s relationship with China. I think the worst case scenario you describe would be more likely if Putin felt totally isolated with no future at all.
But, the relationship with China probably means this isn’t the case. Hopefully, China will end up performing a moderating role in this conflict.
Yes – thorny is a terrible understatement. I suspect there would be more than a few realists in Europe right now – in their military especially – who are frankly terrified.
Otherwise my comment to Ad below would be pertinent in reply to you.
If that threat of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine is taken as a reality, refer Russia back to Able Archer and Steadfast Noon and don't blink.
They didn't nuke Kyiv when Bojo was in town, embittering the fanatic remain voters at the Guardian.
See Imran Khan has been ousted from power in Pakistan. Khan met with Putin at the Kremlin on 24 February the day of the Russian invasion into Ukraine.
Do you think that not being able to rely on Khan that Putin is less secure?
Yes I saw that just a short while ago – but done no research on it. I would imagine New Delhi will be paying a lot of attention though.
Hypothetically the best outcome would be a new Pakistani leader capable of ending their long-standing conflict with India. That would take the immediate pressure of the Indian govt to maintain their military reliance on Russia.
An unstable Pakistan is likely to be better for China than for the US. China has the construction deals, ports, and rail+road corridor.
How Chinese investments are capturing Pakistan′s economy | Asia | An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 02.08.2021
I was aware of Khan wanting to strengthen trade. Money from the US dried up in Pakistan once the US left Afganistan. I am not sure why Khan was ousted, reliance on trade with China might have been his undoing.
The new regime in Pakistan could be anti Russia and want more traditional influence on its people.
Unlikely that Putin's security depends on any PM in Pakistan:
Putin will not want instability on the border with Pakistan.
Economic and foreign policy decisions as well as Khan trying to block the no confidence vote in him are the reasons stated in the link you supplied.
What is going to happen next when it comes to international politics?
Correction Russia does not share a border with Pakistan.
What is going to happen next when it comes to international politics?
Good question. The science of complexity tells us that the trajectory of complex systems is a random walk. To be more precise, it consists of long periods of stasis (stable states) and indeterminate switches between those.
The indeterminacy is ruled by tiny triggers (butterfly effect). Thus tipping points in climate change.
If there's a trend in global politics you can point to that falls into the category of next, I suggest a focus on supply chains. Currently dysfunctional, lurching into motion at times, frozen into temporary stasis at others. You can see the microcosm effects on empty supermarket shelves. So the viability of global trading as the basis of the economy is in question, plus that of neoliberalism – the ideology that uses it in politics. The sensible thing for states to do is reorganise on the basis of a resilient economy – but that requires intelligent design.
We know few govts are capable of that. Necessity being the mother of invention, we await sufficient panic & paranoia to trigger that shift…
"Refusal to repudiate the monsters of the past"
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/10/29/moscow-commemoration-of-stalins-victims-returns-after-pandemic-a75437
As far as atrocities go RL, why do you so steadfastly refuse to repudiate Ukrainian atrocities?
Incidentally , where is the independent investigation into both Bucha , and now Kramatorsk?
Kramatorsk is easily solved, as the serial number of the rocket is clearly visible.
Whose inventory does it belong to?
Same for the serial number of the Toschka lobbed into Donetsk city central area, purely a civilian zone, killing some say 23 , others 20, and injuring 28.That one is known to come from the Ukrainian army
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/russia-ukraine-war/people-pay-tribute-to-victims-of-missile-attack-in-ukraines-eastern-donetsk-city/2536693
https://www.opindia.com/2022/04/videos-of-neo-nazi-ukrainian-forces-killing-russian-prisoners-of-war-go-viral/
I share your concerns about nuclear annihilation .Lets not forget the near misses in the past, and in these days of heightened tension , a mistake is more likely to happen than not
Mearsheimer is also warning about this, a brief 20 minutes of your time
Worryingly , he sees no way out .Incidentally, knocking off Putin as so many ridiculously suggest, would inflame matters even worse.There are many hardliners way more ruthless than Putin who would seize the moment to come to the fore.
As I have said before – the entire accountability for this butchery lies with Putin the moment he sent his military over the border.
In war everything else is irrelevant semantics.
I'm in total agreement here.
The complexity may be in the why but the person who made the call is the one responsible.
I'm still a fan of the Geneva convention
Should we not have had the Nuremberg trials either?
Because in war shit happens?
Are we throwing out the notion of war crimes?
For one thing, if one side treats their prisoners of war decently, the other may reciprocate .Are you willing that soldiers of any side should be summarily executed?
Having said all that, I agree, anyone who starts a war carries ultimate responsibility for that war, but it does not excuse individual acts of savagery, and a free pass for torture of any side
The scenario you are suggesting, everyone loses their humanity, and so it goes.
There's no scenario in my mind where its ok to excuse barbarism .But there we go, you men and your blood lust, gotta have its way
I think the future is bleak Francesca, some things never change. War is hell.
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-lie-of-american-innocence?s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
I've been anti-war my entire life so I don't know how you have gone from I think Putin is responsible to all the other of your assertions.
My influences include a teacher who was imprisoned in NZ for being a pacifist and the Whanganui Quaker settlement amongst others.
You from your consistent postings are far more aggressive than I'll ever be. Let's not pretend either than violence is just a male thing either. Women are as capable of violence and hate as men are. Plenty of Queens sent their armies to battle.
And lest we forget.
"At least 30,000 women died here. Some were gassed or hanged, others starved, died of disease or were worked to death.
They were treated brutally by many of the female guards – beaten, tortured or murdered. The prisoners gave them nicknames, such as "bloody Brygyda" or "revolver Anna"."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55661782
Rather early to issue a postmortem on the govt but intrepid rightist has a go anyway: https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/128287501/the-ardern-govt-has-achieved-close-to-nothing-outside-of-covid
Could frame it as thoughtful sleepwalking instead. Would be just as accurate.
Overstating the point somewhat, but it's true that govt policy delivery remains underwhelming. Labour would argue that neoliberalism is all about talking the talk. It never has tried to provide a plausible basis for walking the walk.
Yeah but Labour are a middle-class operation. Tokenism is the expected way to treat the poor. I thought everyone knew that by now.
On form, that's true. Current form, however, puts a question-mark over it. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Not to Oz! So is she tough enough to turn this term into solid progress? That's the question she ought to be pondering.
"Outside of defeating the Persians, the govt of Themistocles had a terrible record…"
The word 'shambolic' in the opening quote quickly illustrates the nature and calibre of the article.
A whole lot of praxillation.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Enlightenment-European-history
You can tell how well it worked by considering how knowledgeable everyone is, how free they are, and how happy they are.
Would a National and Act coalition have done any better?
I reckon more homeless and the health system would have been crushed.
The Great Communicator needs to communicate their successes while leavened by some failures:
Crime: down
Poverty measures: equal or down
Unemployment: record down
Housing waiting lists: up
House prices: stabilising
Public health: up
Economy: stable to up
Export income: up
River and lake quality: down
Conservation estate: down
Road toll: steady
CO2 production: same as 2005, but up 26% on 1990
Skills scarcity: up
Inflation and interest rates: up after 10 years of 2-4%
Government accounts: public debt up but income up
Anyone commenting on this government's performance needs to include actual facts not more Mood of the Nation bullshit.
Damien Grant would love it if his personal opinion would be(come) “Mood of the Nation bullshit”.
For example, to put all the blame on the Government for inflation is a simpleton’s reckon. Home owners who have just received their recent Notice of Valuation will be dazzled by the large number after the $-sign. The number of new building consents is sky-high. The PGF was a left-over from NZF and Shane Jones and Labour promised to end it at the last election.
Of course, simpletons lap up Mr Grant’s reckons in their typically uncritical fashion.
I thought the PGF was awesomesauce.
Son of PGF lives on 😉
Housing cost inflation has increased 50% under labour,34% over the pandemic period.Most under the last 2 years due to imaginary money (qe) and low interest rates.
The expected interest rate increases to constrain inflation over the next 2 years will remove 3% of GDP from the real economy to the banks in interest charges alone.
Again, what choice did RBNZ have? QE happened all over the world; we were damned either way.
Diminishing the role and influence of (foreign) banks in this FIRE economy on hyper-steroids is a Herculean task.
The RBNZ at the start actioned the correct approach,due to the absence of vaccines,this allowed for a circular economy with both increased local savings (due to lockdowns and travel constraints) in November they hesitated due to the Delta event,and in hindsight may have been a wrong action.
The governor at that stage should have been also jawboning both politicians and the press,that housing inflation was a significant stability risk both for the economy and potential buyers.
Every major recession has been predicated by low interest rates,and low unemployment,that is the future if government macro economic policy include both debt and increasing fundamental costs,without producing productivity improvements.
we need to move to a quasi war economy,without having to realise draconian austerity policy in future days.
The productivity problem has been around for years and no Government has been able to crack it – the RBNZ is not the right tree, but Treasury and MBIE are. If the RE in FIRE would stand for Research Enterprise (or Research & Entrepreneurship) instead of Real Estate we would not be having this convo, I reckon. Compare the PGF with Callaghan Innovation, for example, and discuss which one was more successful or likely to be successful longer term and why.
PGF was to enable provincial NZ,to grow,improve services,and allow for provincial job growth. The intention was this would reduce internal migration from the provinces to the larger metros (with all their accompanying problems) Lower cost housing,reasonable infrastructure etc.
PGF was also for more investment into rail,(which now shows foresight) there were issues with some of the tourism ventures,and a lot of the provincial spending was low cost where money stayed more often in the local economy,and not to large multinational construction companies.
Callahan?…think you may be surprised about their support for NZ productivity.
Care to provide some examples?
Yeah, sure, go for it!
Well that makes a lot of sense
Why would I take up my own suggestion/invitation that was for another person??
Examples of Callahan benefiting NZ productivity was the request
You were going to surprise me/us?
Here are Some,PGF
i) Upgrade of existing city line ( non kiwi rail) in Whanganui,that allowed direct loading onto container train units by a number of meat works and a dairy factory.
This reduced trucking through both the city to marshaling yards ,and in some cases to Palmerston North.(cost around 3m)
ii) Alliance Lorneville, raising the height of the venison slaughterboard to enable cattle production.This extended the work season for the workers,and increased beef capacity that had to trucked out of the province at seasonal peaks (around 5 mill)
The saving for the above project allowed investment in the co generation energy plant on site.
Callaghan.
i) Ab equipment investment in research and application for multiple heavy equipment mantainence programs,most of the equipment already has onboard systems,so really just a PBX system.
Most likely very usable application for an international company like AB.
Apparently you have none, whether thats surprising or not to you I dont know.
Nope, not a surprise to me at all.
At least The AB Equipment shareholding resides in NZ
Ad. Some more actual facts.
House prices are still going up 18% a year according to the latest stats-don't belive the headlines. I do not regard this as stabilising.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/property-plunge-largest-decline-in-house-values-for-more-than-a-decade/OVOKYJURXCBWTAOHDMTPSAUL34/
Labour has built, and is building, a lot more state houses-Key/English sold them off.
Labour has significantly increased the minimum wage to $21.20.
Labour has introduced a clean car tax.
I could keep listing things that are not in your list but can't be bothered. I do think that Labour needs to publicise its achievements, which are numerous, better or the opposition's tactic of saying they have done nothing (a la Key) will stick.
keep em coming
Skills scarcity: up
Inflation and interest rates: up after 10 years of 2-4%
Both of which are global phenomenon driven largely by the fact that 2022 is the year in which fully half the Boomers – the largest post-War generation in most places on earth – enter retirement. On doing so we take with us 40 or more years of skills and experience that are not being replaced at the same rate, and we instantly transition from being massive capital savers, to capital consumers.
I was listening to one of our VPs responsible for one of our major core business units last week. In it he was saying that two things keep him awake at night in the face of record orders, one being the obvious chip shortage crippling delivery – but long terms was finding the talent to meet the astonishing growth opportunities now hammering on our door. Globally at the moment we have over 1,000 open positions, most good, rewarding jobs in a great industry. A fair chunk of this will be normal turnover – but it also explains why doddering dinosaurs like me are still working instead of quietly collecting NZ Super back home.
So no I don't think it fair to land that one entirely at Labour's doorstep.
Crime is down? Really? It certainly doesn't seem like it, both from media (I know, only bad news is reported) and personal communications.
At least in Auckland, it seems as though gun crime has gone through the roof.
And, the police just don't bother turning up for burglaries or 'minor' crime – or investigate, even when there is CCTV footage showing the criminals provided to them.
It's definitely feeling worse than pre-Covid.
How about the fact that the state housing waitlist is up 500% since 2017, which is the year of the election that Jacinda promised to end homelessness and fix the housing issue?
So when NATO is expanded this year right across the Russian border, through the accelerated accession of Finland,
Finland and Sweden could soon join NATO, prompted by Russian war in Ukraine – CNNPolitics
and likely also that Sweden joins, we are going to have to see a revisitation of the Charter for European Security signed in November 1999. This is what has been the framework for post-cold war Europe in peaceful co-existence until now.
Charter for European Security | OSCE
Its provisions include “the right of each participating State to be free to choose or change its security arrangements including treaties or alliances, as they evolve, as well as the right of each state to neutrality”.
But, good old Sergei Lavrov adds, the charter “directly conditions those rights on the obligation of each state not to strengthen its security at the expense of the security of other states”.
So in Lavrov’s interpretation, that obligation means no signatory can effect a change in the balance of European security by signing up to an alliance.
Russia holds that the charter freezes Europe’s 1999 security relationships in place, and that the subsequent enlargement of NATO represents a breach of that agreement.
To me that kind of language challenges every EU member, including for example Ireland. As well as those who also want to join like Serbia and Montenegro.
The question of a much larger and revived NATO is, well you've got a whole lot more mandate, what good are you going to do with it?
To me the answer is: NATO needs to deliver more than good military defence: its purpose should be revisited and emphasise a whole lot more of its political arm, less of its military, and a far more on broader threats to its members such as climate change, refugee crises, and the undermining of democracies by oligarchies.
Once this current war is contained and smaller, there needs to be a re-settlement of the purpose of NATO.
All good thoughts. While no-one can rule out lingering corners of Russophobia, the dominant European dream of the past 40 years – as embodied by Merkel more than anyone else – was peace and prosperity across the entire Eurasian continent. At least it was until Feb 24. The immediate purpose of NATO now is to crush the Russian state without triggering a nuclear holocaust.
The entry of Finland and Sweden – literally right next door to St Petersberg – is vividly descriptive of Putin's blunder. The almost certain entry of Ukraine within a matter of weeks into the EU is another. Kaliningrad's immediate future is wildly uncertain and Belarus is but one nudge away from a Colour Revolution of it's own. Not to mention Georgia and the four 'Stans each of whom present ongoing problems of their own. The Indians are very uncomfortable partners for the moment and anyone professionally relying on Xi Xinping to underwrite their future needs another job.
The EU will spend the next few years urgently weaning themselves off Russia commodities as fast as possible, and anyone buying Russian oil needs to consider just how reliable that source is when the Russians themselves are making it their business to destroy oil infrastructure wherever they choose. There will be contradictions and challenges in the short term – long term the outcome is certain. Total isolation of the Russian economy to the extent physically possible.
The moment it became clear to political capitals in the West – that the Russian military was so gutted by corruption and incompetence that it would be crushed in any conventional confrontation with the West – the overriding concern became to avoid the nuclear exchange that would the inevitable outcome of such a direct conflict. The only safe path to achieving this is to prevent Putin from achieving his goals in Ukraine – and imposing a political defeat on him at home.
But having said all of that I agree the EU must do something more constructive with it's new found unity well beyond merely defeating Putin. The lesson to be learned is that the nation states must cede their sovereign right to commit war – for fear of the dread consequences of failing to do so.
states must cede their sovereign right to commit war
Nifty moral principle you got there! Hard to disagree, so I'm not inclined to quibble. Implementation would have to happen at the level of the UNSC to be effective.
I therefore encourage concerned citizens to lobby our foreign minister to take the initiative and propose the UN adopt this reform!![angel angel](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/angel_smile.png?x42494)
Yes. And in case anyone thinks I am a complete US fanboi – I fear the most stubborn hold-out in any such endeavour would be the USA itself.
The reasons are complex, but rooted I think in the geopolitical reality that the North American continent has made them the least dependent on global peace than any other major power. It is a paradox – the nation with the most influence globally, has the least need to engage.
For this reason I am not optimistic about the chances of reforming the UNSC – not just Russia and China as totalitarian holdouts increasingly turning themselves into pariahs, but a USA which has been increasingly ambivalent about the post-WW2 globalisation project since the end of the first Cold War.
Perhaps if everyone else united in a common front and gave the UNSC veto nations an ultimatum to give it away – it might stand a chance.
everyone else united in a common front
Leverage. It would take a vote by states in the UN to give it sufficient form and power – power in proportion to the number who vote in support.
Seems like a realistic strategy for UNSC reform. Push comes to shove, those nations could retain a fall-back option to use if the USA, China & Russia joined in opposition to the reform. They could vote to eliminate the SC. Legal viability of that would depend on how the thing is built in international law.
I have been thinking that, once this conflict is over, the democratic world needs to find a way to encourage the formation of, and strengthening of democracies world wide.
One way to do that could be to have a trading block between democratic nations. Entry to that trading block could be requirements such as having free and democratic elections etc.
Simply relying on military force to protect democracies is far too dangerous and on the balance of probabilities, will result in the end of civilisation at some point in the future. As Einstein said “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
After this conflict is at an end, I think the world as a whole needs to decide to abolish nuclear weapons as a whole. There are other weapons available now which probably can do the same job in terms of mutually assured destruction of protagonists without endagering the rest of the world if that is seen as necessary. For instance, large thermobaric bombswhich have city-killing potential
I read this comment above with a small sense of joy. Agree totally.
My only other small thought to add is that we should not imagine that regulating the relations between nations is so very hard. Exactly the same principle is at work inside of the nation state itself at a smaller scale, where individuals give up their right to violence and cede it to the state.
It is just an expansion of perspective; although having said that I am very aware of the challenges.
Hmmm. The UN Security Council. The UN HRC. The UNDP.
I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself. Macron could still lose for example.
Still, NATO's renewal is the first strong multilateral endeavour by anyone since CPTPP. A small distant bell of optimism rings.
Have to figure out which Nations are "Democratic" first!
For example will you bring Venezuela into the Group, whose Government was elected by a greater majority than the USA.
Saudi Arabia?
Authoritarian states routinely run 'elections' in which the ruling party gains insanely high votes. For decades.
Probably because they're such well run, beautiful places to live I would guess.
Like the USA, and so many Governments they have installed, you mean?
Why did you think that is what I meant? Last I looked most of the democratic nations routinely yield election results that are fairly closely balanced between liberal and conservative blocs around 50%. Including the USA.
Sometimes you get a landslide election, but usually within a cycle or two it goes back to normal.
You're reminding me of a statement from a thoughtful Chinese Manager I worked with.
"In China you can change the policies, but not the party, in the USA, you can change the party, but not the policies".
Not far wrong!
Niether country is Democratic, in that the general population have no say in policy.
The US Constitution is specifically designed, just like the Chinese one, to ensure that the “great unwashed” can never take the power and more importantly, the money , from the “elite”.
Niether country is Democratic, in that the general population have no say in policy.
What policy? If you mean radical far left or right, then I am very pleased you don't get much say.
Funny, but wrong.
You only have to look at the legislation, in the USA for example, that is only in the interests of a few rich people, and is not supported by the majority.
If you consider that "extreme" then it shows how much you have gone down the "Rabbit hole".
"Extreme Left" policies like Medicare for all, which are even supported by a large proportion of Republican voters.
I thought Montenegro joined in 2017?
Could be wrong
Yes cheers correction.
test
Other than increasing benefits at nearly the rate of inflation, the Ardern Government has achieved close to nothing outside of Covid, and in many key areas the welfare of Kiwis has fallen.
If KiwiBuild and other programmes had been delivered, the electorate might have confidence that this Government had the ability to handle the new challenges facing New Zealand. This is not the case.
In the 2023 debates is it easy to see Luxon facing down the camera and asking an Opposition leader’s favourite question: “Are you better off today than you were six years ago?”
Not all of this is Ardern’s fault. Her agenda was derailed by the pandemic and the paucity of competence within her caucus from which to draw talent. There are only so many portfolios you can force onto Chris Hipkins before he loses focus and begins to bait pregnant journalists trapped in Kabul.
Quite right. Labour could, of course, acknowledge its mistakes. Saying sorry is a strength, not a weakness.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/128287501/the-ardern-govt-has-achieved-close-to-nothing-outside-of-covid
I am surprised we haven't seen any of our Russian-apologist friends here yet spinning the claim that the attack on the Kramatorsk train station must have been a false flag attack by Ukraine on its own people, not by Russia. The argument being that the missile fragments are from Toshka-U missiles, which according to Russia, Ukraine uses but Russia doesn't.
However, this claim has been debunked. There have been several observations of Russia bringing Toshka-U missiles into the combat zone. So, Russia definitely had the means and opportunity to launch the attack if Toshka missiles were used.
When wars start things inevitably sometimes turn to custard tsmith.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/politics/afghanistan-drone-strike-video.html
It is true. They do.
But, in this case, the Russians had the missiles allegedly used in the attack. And they have had previous form in attacking Ukranian civilians in a wide variety of brutal ways in this conflict.
So, I guess if both forces had the missiles, while the possibility of the Ukranians striking the station with their own missile couldn't be ruled out, the most likely source is from Russia.
It might be that forensic analysis of satellite footage and the like will be able to prove conclusively where the missiles actually came from. But, until then, the most likely explanation is that the Russians did it.
You are probably right. But so called "goodies" often turn out to be much less principled than they claim. Think Dresden and the second atomic bomb dropped needlessly on Nagasaki.
Trying to provoke people into engaging with you comes across as rather desperate. Why don’t you give it a rest and enjoy this Sunday in relative peace and quiet?
Oh no Incognito!!
I bit ..sorry
Maybe on a Sunday we should all have a picnic and be peaceful
Those several observations you refer to Smithfield purportedly showing Russia bringing in Tochkas.
The twitter shows a video, of Tochkas being transported
All of the place names are within Belarus!
There is no mention of them entering Ukraine
The last Tochka attack on civilians was by the Ukrainians on Donetsk City, where there were no military installations, just civilians.March 13
Many died and were wounded, including children
Ukraine blamed Russia, said it must have been a Russian missile (maybe an Iskander which they first blamed Russia using at the Kramatorsk station?)Russia bombing Donetsk city?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/14/ukraine-missile-debris-kill-16-in-donetsk-separatists
Here for a change is an Indian news report, showing the same type of tail section we see at the station
Ok, the tail sections have serial numbers .Apparently foreign reporters have recorded the tail section at the Kramatorsk station .Easy to compare them , and find out whose inventory they're in . Could be Russia has managed to get a Tochka off the Ukrainians , could be Russia has recommissioned its decommissioned Tochkas, whatever, the serial numbers will help, so will the direction of travel .
Yeah, yeah, verification required etc. etc.
Going off your gut instinct, out of 10, what are you personally rating the chances it was a Ukrainian missile attack?
Dunno, it would seem as daft as Russia bombing Donetsk city, which is what the Ukrainians claimed
What do you think about that Tochka attack?
Slam dunk?
Mistakes happen , the Tochkas are not that accurate, friendly fire happens. Russia (more like the DPR in that area,Kramatorsk being right on the frontline ,could have made a terrible mistake) That area is in the Donbas, Russia doesn’t see those civilians as an enemy target either., many of them are Russian speakers and ethnic Russians.The "Russian" message means nothing .Equally could be a message from the Ukrainians to the Russians.
Can’t think why either side would target those civilians The serial numbers will be the most telling.
DPR, Russia Ukraine, one of them has those serial numbers in their inventory
So not willing to put a number on it, okay, noted.
You might want to ask if anyone would be stupid enough to run a deliberate false flag operation with serial numbers absolutely traceable to them – but dumber things have happened.
I think it's lucky for some that now all news is fake, one can always find something on the internet to suit.
Exactly!
Interesting comments from Wall about her resignation on Q + A, according to her Ardern made it clear she wasn't wanted in her cabinet or in her caucus.
Wall mentioned her strong support of Cunliffe over Grant Robertson for leadership and belived that was why she was not leader and I believe her. She also mentioned anger in the party for how she worked in a cross party way to get gay marriage over the line angering labour party leadership.
I forgot how disgraceful the labour party was in not allowing Wall to speak on the parliamentary suicide thing. That was disgusting, if Im remembering correctly, National gave wall some of their parliamentary time to speak. Despicable. So was the deselection.
From opposition Wall did more than the front bench of labour, the front bench of labour in opposition who were dysfunctional, disliked by the public couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery and are now a useless cabinet. How dare these incompetents sledge a back bencher who actually improved people's lives.
This interview makes Ardern look terrible, petty and makes one wonder what hoops one must jump through to get in Arderns cabinet, kiss her and Grant's arse 24/7 and never express an original thought and be able to tick off boxes.
Because if it was based off skill and talent most of that robotic cabinet would not be there, it beggars belief that Fafoi is minister of Justice while Duncan Webb sits outside cabinet. We also have a whole generation of young talent elected in 2017 and 2020 who are not getting any leadership experience for opposition and future governments because cabinet is full of no hopers with little talent.
Ardern desperately needs a cabinet reshuffle and I'd like to hear her side of the story why was Wall and effective opposition mp turfed out and ignored and treated at every step disgustingly by labour leadership.
I respect Ardern, but I think her cabinet are a bunch of losers that other than Grant, Andrew, Chris Hipkins, the employment minister, the former minister of police , Kiri and maybe Carmel (maybe) should ALL be reshuffled to make way for new talent.
Clark would have thrown loads of these people under the bus long ago.
Now that the opposition is starting to get it's shit together it's time labour actually bled the dead wood and get it's shit together. A stronger opposition needs a stronger government which means a stronger executive.
If Wall wasn't good enough to be in cabinet or even caucus no way these lightweights deserve to be ministers of the crown.
Good luck to Wall in whatever she does and shame on the Labour party for treating her like this, Labour is supposedly a big tent party, clearly it'd rather be a hive mind.
I've long had your critical view of Labour so nothing there surprises me. I had hoped the current lot were an improvement but it looks like they aren't.
I didn't see the interview but it sounds like I ought to have. I hope it will alert others to the perennial deceit strategy Labour applies to its recruits. Too bad the hypocrisy is so deep-rooted – but it does explain why so few talented folk show up in their ranks.
If anyone wonders why Treaty issues, transgender issues, and 3-Waters don't get decent debate outside of Twitter or specialist sites like TS, here's an analysis on why:
OPINION: No-go areas that are killing mainstream media | Graham Adams | The Platform
He makes some good points
You bet! I predict this is a sleeper that will catch fire sometime soon. I find myself siding with the right for a change. Liam Hehir, who I've enjoyed making funny of online a few times in past years, has got this issue right. If anything, he's actually understating his point too much. Watch this space!
One can not ask questions when one is supposed to offer blind support, and in some cases the job of asking non questions might actually depend on being obediently supportive. We all end up losers and misinformed.
https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxDX3iu5C4yH3BG8NKbG41D931o2Feh747
[Not another spray-dump of YT spam! Come back on Good Friday – Incognito]
Mod note
I think Adams article is really important and raises the problem with our msm.
Although there have been some very challenging discussions on the standard about Trans ideology, I have appreciated that the debate has been and continues to be had here.
Adams raises the issue of SUFW being deemed by a High Court Judge as NOT a hate group. Yet the trans ideology activists labelled this group a hate grooup and worked to have their platform shut down. The women in this group are mostly left wing progressive feminists. They were trying to say that biological sex matters and should be factored in in areas such as sports, female spaces, prisons hospital wards etc.
If the article about the Greens changing their Kaupapa so the the co-leadership has to be a female and one other gender, whilst I applaude that it is deeply hypocritical of them. That is if they mean the female should be a biological female.
Surely for the sake of fairness it would be a female presenting human, a male presenting human and one other gender so three leaders is what they need?
But anyone can present as male or female now PR……..So that leaves us nowhere.
Not really much of a debate, if you go back and look, tbf.
Following it, I'm of the opinion most readers will have seen it as a topic to avoid getting burned over by a vocal minority. Me, I just gave up 'cause I think you're shit.
Trans rights is now a "trans ideology". It's not about trans people anymore and for some, hasn't been for a very long time.
My mistake. Should be gender ideology, not trans ideology.
The debate was/is about does gender trump biological sex. A lot of women think that in some circumstances it doesn't, e.g. sport, women's prisons, women's hospital wards, womens toilets and change rooms to name a few. No one on this site has been able to disaude me from this with any rational arguements. Very often biological sex will be more important than gender identity e.g. the swimming championships in the US where transwoman Lia Thomas is beating women and women's records in the pool, then changing in the locker room with girls while she still has her male genitals intact.
I remember that you have a trans child and so propobably this is a painful debate to engage in as like any parent you would prioritize their needs.
finally please don't call me shit. I don't like it
My problem is that outside of competitive sport, which I ignore as being entertainment and waste of time and effort, I can't see how any of the other gender vs biology focuses matter at all.
No-one so far has managed to explain to me, why wanting to shift gender matters at all to society or politics or even law for anything outside of sport.
Sport = a small culdesac of insane obsessives and couch potatoes wanting something to easy to argue over nothing substantive.
Basically listening to people waffling on about it has the same kind of coherence as listening to the obsessive rantings about the greatness of the Slavs – the same kind of idiotic shit that leads to bigots wars. WW2 being an exampler for the germans, japanese, and a host of other nations
Each time this topic gets raised I get annoyed because all of the examplers are about bloody sport. Which has led me to the opinion that there are no more important and actual issues related to it.
Of course there needs to be regulation about irreversible gender treatments. But that is a medical issue about consent and an issue for the people giving it – especially dor those who are younger.
But that doesn't appear to be what the semi-mystical calls appear to be about. And the lack of a coherent reasoning – outside of bloody sport – leads me to view it as just another form of simple bigotry.
Well just for a start I prent, here is an article that relates to sport, but is actually about safe guarding of women and girls.
,Lia Thomas is a trans woman, who is biologically male and beating all sorts of records in the pool against women.
I get that you don't give a toss about sport, that's fair enough. But Lia, who is attracted to women has been given the right to change in the women's change rooms and is frequently seen in there with their genitals out.
Women such as myself think this is a problem and so do the parents of these young female swimmers. This article I have linked relates how despite these parent's complaints there has been no reponse back.
I am happy to continue with listing all the ways that many women feel this is a problem (just as SUFW tried to do, but were shut down).
However before I do so, I rather hear from you that you do want to hear the other ways this ideology is problematic. You have said before that you don't want to get entangled in this debate, which of course is your right.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/exclusive-upenn-philly-da-ignore-complaints-about-lia-thomass-male-nudity-in-the-womens-locker-room
And here's an example of a trans rapist continuing to commit sexual assalt in a women's prison.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/11/transgender-prisoner-who-sexually-assaulted-inmates-jailed-for-life
Yes….. Not all Trans….
But, I really think that there are places (outside of sports) which need to be for women (biologically adult females) only.
Many, many, many women in prison have been victims of rape and sexual assault throughout their lives. They really don't need to be shut up in prison with another abuser.
And from a Swedish study which found that:
“The study provides strong evidence that policy makers cannot safely assume (a)
that transwomen’s offending patterns, including violent offending, will be
significantly different than those of the general male population or (b) that they will
be similar to those of the general female population.”
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/18973/pdf/
In legal terms we treat women and men equally under our laws regardless of gender frequencies. Rape, infanticide, assault, sexually violating…. It is all the same standard for conviction. In the case of rape – there is a specific mention of a penis. However most cases these days are in S128(3) of the crimes act with sexual violation because then there is no need to prove penile penetration.
Women sexually violating other women, women sexually violating men, men sexually violating women, men sexually violating men. It is gender neutral because that way it is simpler to get a conviction.
The criminal act is all governed by the same legislation. The frequency of offending simply isn't a criteria for conviction. So why bring it up?
So that 'study' is completely irrelevant.
If I understand you correctly, you are arguing that a frequency of possible offending is an argument for taking pre-emptive legal action.
It is the exact equivalent of saying that all men are rapists, and should be made eunuchs at birth to reduce future offending. For that matter that all women should have their tubes cut pre-puberty to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy.
In other words, your implied but unstated argument (so cowardly to make it that way), is so weak that you could logically extend it to justify cutting the hands off anyone who may become a thief.
Perhaps you should look at the moral foundations of your indignation and tell me how you can justify judging others on something that they haven't done yet – but could possibly do – because they are in the right demographic?
Unfortunately something like 95% of all violent crime is perpetrated by males. This is a vital distinction for women to make for their own safety and survival & they have to demographically pre-judge people all the time
Unfortunately, the criminal population is pre-selected for violence, including sexual violence.
There is no doubt that women in prison are at greater risk from male sexual and physical violence (including trans violence) – which is why there are women's prisons to begin with.
The Swedish study showed that the rate of criminal conviction among trans women matched that of men, not of women. That is a valid point to consider.
Are you arguing that there should be no distinction. That there should just be one prison population.
Thank you lprent. Thank you.
Not interested. That isn't evidence – that is you just being disparaging to me after I stated that I can't see how you take something as stupid as sport, and use it to smear a range of people who aren't participating in sport.
It is simply offensive to me to offer that as an argument.
Quick question I prent. The issue I presented you with was a factual story about female swimmers complaining because their trans gender competitor is a male bodied and the authorities have deemed that it is o.k for Lia to change in the women's change room (girls are complaining that they are exposed to Lia's male genitals). You say it isn't "evidence" but really that is semantics.Is this o.k. that these young women are forced to share what was once a single sex change room with a male bodied person? To date you haven't answered this question. YOu have deflected from doing so, by claiming it is not "evidence",
You seemed to have also made this issue about whether sport is worthy or not and becase you don't care about it or perhaps even hate sport the issue becomes not important.
I have no interest in disparaing you over whether you like sport or not. It's not my business and I have no judgement on that. You are absolutely entittled to your opinion on sport, but that opinion isn't really relevant to this topic.
I am completely at a loss to understand why you think that it is "offensive to me to offer this as an arguement". You see I find it offensive that those young women have to put up with this male bodied person in their change room and when their parents complain, they get no response.
Why Sport and not the other stuff? Maybe ask the news media about what they choose to publish and what gets buried. But the statistics coming out of gender clinics is that there is a 4000% explosion in the number of young people seeking treatment. Something is going on, quite likely a social contagion amongst vulnerable teenage girls, spread via toxic social media, and enforced by vocal bullies on a moralistic cursade.
So while I agree that gender is a social construct, and often oppressive, there are some rather large omissions and misrepresentations in mainstream narratives. At present sports is just the tip of an ideological iceberg that threatens the rights and safety of women and children, denies biological reality, demands conformity to its (religious) edicts, and demands dubious medical procedures for mental illness.
Excellent comment roblogic, I always saw the sports aspect as merely the smallest and most visible tip of a much larger problem.
What problem?
Please state it very clearly. Because at present I simply can’t see one apart from some frightened people making up silly stories.
Sure there are few hothead on the trans side. Sounds like they’re a bit offensive and activist. Neither appears to be any more of an issue of being either dangerous nor chargeable. Obnoxious activists are a dime a dozen in many causes.
I have constrained myself to only the most basic and anodyne support for the SUFW position. I am reasonably sure you don't commenting on gender related topics otherwise.
It is pretty simple from my position. I wind up reading this crap here periodically. What I haven't see is a decent case or even a decent argument for changing laws.
I see tinges of ones periodically – mostly to do with delayed puberty. What I don't see is any actual evidence of issues that are outside the normal range of human behaviour. Humans overlap right across genders in most things when you look at the whole range of human capabilities.
This is at its base a issue of technology. What is being discussed (surgery, drugs) probably wasn’t possible a century ago. Just as today males can’t carry children to term, and growing children in a tube isn’t possible. Both probably will be over the next century.
But professional or competitive sport? If we anted to legislate society on that basis, then we'd trying to legislate on the basis of a small end of the demographic curve – where there is a difference between males and females. Also a difference between Bantu and Pygmy. Between ages.
That is a useless place to start a discussion on. It is also just about the only place that SUFW arguments seem to articulate about.
I'm just going to heap contempt on it until they either find an actual argument that applies to the range of humanity and can fit into a reasonable legal basis. Or I find that I just have to stand up in public in opposition to their measures and call down the bigots for motivations that I suspect they aren't willing to discuss.
I am not deeply opposed to your position either, you make a your case clearly and forcefully. The deep inconsistency here is that if sex is eradicated as a meaningful distinction – which is the basis of trans ideology – then logically the basis of feminism evaporates along with it.
As has been said of nuclear war – a strange game in which the only way to win is not to play.
Besides the world has other problems.
Which of the n forms of feminism are you thinking of? It has splits that make the potential 5th international look like miracle of conformity.
Well humanism will persist for a while.
But personally I'm seriously committed to geekism. rapidly getting into ageism as I acquire grey hairs, and can't see why programmers can't rule the world as engineers abrogate control of their tools to software.
I'm sure that differences will survive. After all you only have to look at tiktok or Instagram to see 'isms proliferating variants like a virus without copy protection.
Look, I can see issues with teens – who aren't exactly the most rational – going and doing something stupid. So just clearly legislate. We do that for smoking, driving cars, drinking alcohol, using certain types of other legal drugs – prescribed or otherwise.
While you're at it, also legislate against idiotic parents and coaches pushing kids into sports. That kind of abuse does at least as much damage to orderly development – this isn't exactly hard to find. Just read the journals of sports medicine. Or look at most sports teams that have sports wannabes trying to get into professional or even just national sport.
How? Really what I'm talking about is that if someone of reasonably sound mind over the age of say 25 decides to change gender.
What grounds do you or anyone else have for stopping them? Start from that point.
What would be your stance. Convince me that there is an issue there. How does that affect women in any meaningful way. If you assert that it does, then where is the godamn evidence of issues? Where are the charges and convictions?
Save your unstated (therefore irrelevant) scare points for someone who gets off on vicarious horror. I couldn't give a shit about stupid propaganda from social conservatives. That is the same crap that we heard about 'inherently criminal' to support racism, sexism, and various forms of homophobia.
I have heard all of that crap before – to me it simply says that some idiots are upset, but don't want to admit that they have a problem with difference.
On an individual level I don't have a problem with an adult changing gender. But there is a suite of beliefs that certain activist elements feel compelled to evangelise and demand everyone comply with. Of course these activists claim to be part of some kind of rights movement. Weird how their rights are more important than women and girls who don't wish to share intimate spaces with biological males. Or have to face them in sports competition. Or have awards, scholarships, appointments that are reserved for women to be colonised by autogynephilic males who get a buzz from pretending to be women.
Predatory males see opportunity and are exploiting it, as predicted.
Academics who assert that women are adult human females, are routinely subjected to bullying and harassment and hounded out of their jobs. Kathleen Stock, Maya Forstater, Jo Phoenix, Rosa Freedman, Lisa Littman, Helen Joyce. (not to mention J. K. Rowling who has received uncountable death threats, or our own Rachel Stewart who was subjected to a smear campaign, and the advocacy org SUFW which is routinely slandered). Many of these cancellations are well documented, but many more are not — here are 28 examples. Also, nurses, rape victims, female refugees have been stung by activists for daring to ask for their own space away from men.
This is a toxic movement founded on false premises.
https://twitter.com/HanoverHussy/status/1507091708839972879?s=20&t=zSYmRPqHWHCWaYwPWNY51Q
There is no gendered soul separate from the body. No-one is born in the wrong body. Humans are male and female. Nobody should be cancelled for using a word (woman) correctly. People cannot change sex, despite the promises of cosmetic surgery and hormones. Gender dysphoria is a psychological issue and needs compassion and care, for sure. But the solution is rarely at the end of a scalpel.
In your entire comment there is literally nothing that supports anything of significance. It is all assertions, and arbitrary definitions. Essentially it reads like someone saying that others don't respect someone making up a arbitrary framework and being impolite enough to state that, and to do something about it.
That is an assertion, probably one that is incorrect to many people. For instance teenage human females, and many pre-pubescent human females would probably find that offensive. Does the status go away with menopause? What about someone who is infertile?
I'd take a bet that you can't find a actual scientific or even legal definition for 'women' that has any significant validity.
It is a meaningless arbitrary societal label, and probably quite language/culture dependent from what I remember from anthro courses.
Basically inventing a arbitrary label purely to exclude others has had a long history in the study of bigotry.
It does tend to be quite triggering at offending others. Basically anyone who does it needs to have their mental health looked at. In this case probably some of the people you're supporting.
I'm very agnostic on what I consider to be religious fantasies. Never seen any evidence for a soul.
As I read a lot, I have investigated the whole set of ideas across multiple religious and faith based practices in depth. I have concluded that I have no particular capacity for having faith.
Several of my relatives do. I'm usually polite enough to ignore them or express polite disbelief when they start using it in conversations with me.
However if anyone uses that as part of an argument related to some kind of judgement implied or explicit about me, then I tend to class them as being deliberately offensive. It is an imposition of someone else's value system on me.
Typically I react to it in a immoderate manner, typically pulling out parts of their faith's rather poor history, by pointing out inconsistencies , by comparing it to some other faith or whatever I find most useful as a lesson.
I'd take a bet that if I looked into the depths of these '28 cancellations' that I could find some highly offensive behaviours to others that triggered the response that they got. Why – because many of the responses described in your links are characteristic of the way that many people in a freeish society deal with bloody minded bigots trying to push their arbitrary ideas on others.
Because most stoushes usually arise from some pig-headed fool being absolutely that they're right, pushing their own ideas do the gullet of others, and not bothering to be aware or have respect for the opinions of others.
However the fact that tempers get raised and that people take legitimate and legal actions against others that they disagree with is neither here nor there.
What you haven't managed to address at all is anything about the underlying issues. All you've done is stated opinions. Pointed to no substantive evidence that I could see.
All I see is a number of people making shit up and numbers that has no particular basis in anything I'd view as substantive measurable and reproducible fact. Basically just more of the bullshit in my opinion.
Disappointing that the opinions of eminent academics and respected feminists are so easily dismissed as bigotry or religiously motivated or made-up bullshit.
Sure there is probably occasional overreach in gender critical rhetoric, but there is enough substance there to take their claims seriously.
Key claims of the transgender movement are philosophical/religious rather than supported by biology
Yes!!!! This lprent, thanks again. I usually skim the anti trans stuff on here but it's nice to have another view, thank goodness.
I have no interest in trying to stop someone over 25 changing gender. That is absolutely their choice.
There are currently 25,000 young de-transitioners on reddit who have had irreversible damage done to their bodies e.g. double masectomies, which they now regret, because as you rightly put out teens do stupid things and rather than the adults they encountered protecting them, they enabled it.
You say so just legislate it against it. "We do that for smoking "etc. Good luck with that. Be prepared to be called a transphobe if you question affirmation and medical transition of very young children.
The reality is that the affirmative care model which is pushed by some Rainbow groups deems that if a young teen presents as trans then you have to affirm and confirm their gender identity and then assist them to medically transition. This is what the controversy was over including gender identity in the Conversion Practices Bill was about.
That is more useful.
However, have you ever looked at the regret syndromes for tattoos, various coming of age rituals over multiple cultures.
That is an assertion. Where is the supporting evidence with the methodology to support that number. Just to give you an idea, I could probably generate a few thousand 'people' on reddit for any cause purely with a phrase book
Which is exactly what legislation is put in to control all of the time.
I completely agree with you comments about regret. Tattoos, all sorts of coming of age rituals. Our brains aren't fully developed till we are 25 years old and so teens and young adults do all sorts of "crazy" things that result in regret……..And the job of the adults around them is to help steer them away from harm….
The thing about the medical transition of teens, is that these treatements are often irreversable. Puberty Blockers, which use to be use to treat sex offenders, block puberty. The evidence is from the Tavistock Clinic in the UK that nearly 100% of kids on puberty blockers then transfer to cross sex hormones ie. oestrogen and testosterone. Then what often follows is surgery i.e. what is politely called top surgery ie a double masectomy and sometimes bottom surgery. It is not unheard of for young women to be given hysterectomies. When you think of how drastic these interventions are and with bottom there is a huge risk of complications, it is not hard to see that many young people may come to regret these interventions that have caused irreversible damage to their healthy bodies.
I have references for all of this and will post if requested. One such reference was the case study of a young woman from Christchurch who featured in a Listener article in June 2021. She was given puberty blockers around the age of 14, then cross sex hormones. A double masectomy around 18 and then a hysterectomy not long after this. At 23 years old she started to have regrets. When the journalist met her, she had facial and body hair and an Adams apple and a deep voice (all from the effects of testorone. She had realized after going through all of this that in fact she was a lesbian and didn't have a male identiy at all.
Incidentally, I just dug into the Crimes Act 1961 and Summary Offences Act 1981 looking at language as an exercise. These are the mainstays of criminal prosecution in NZ and are probably the oldest active legislation
Essentially the old legal definitions of woman and man have effectively steadily been removed since 1961. Summary Offences doesn't have any as far as I can see.
The Crimes Act only has Archaeological mostly repealed or replaced artefacts.
Looking for 'woman' in the un-repealed parts of Crimes Act.
s27 on Compulsion
s98 Dealing in slaves
s178 Infanticide – there is a lot of material in here. Most of it looks pretty old. Essentially seems to to be circumlocutions around questions of insanity.
And that it is all all. I couldn't locate any other legislation mentioning woman or women. 'Man' is also missing. As is 'boy' or 'girl'
Essentially where required, male and female are sparingly used. A definition on genitalia (includes constructed or reconstructed), penis. Plus two sections the first is very old, and the second was added 'recently' in 1996
s194 Assault on a child, or by a male on a female, s204A/B on Female genital mutilation are it.
//——————-
If you looked back to 1893 it was markedly different.
https://www.archives.govt.nz/discover-our-stories/the-definition-of-a-woman-in-1893
At that point they were just starting to release women out of legal servitude of the husband an male relatives.
What I'm trying to imply is that legally 'woman' just reminds me of my great grandmothers stories about what it was like when she was growing up.
100%. Roblogic
Ta for that TA.
Louisa was a double international wasn't she? Netball and rugby. Would have been a great minister of sports. Who got that? Oh the Min of Fin….surely he didn't need to be so grabby. Oh but he loves being a sports fan…counts more than Louisas epic ness as a person and hardworking mp.
Yeah, but Minister of Sport is a bauble of power – you get to go to the All Bklacks games (which has probably not been so much of an issue over the last 2.5 years).
Those are reserved for the people who have toed the party line, or who want a nice cherry on top of a difficult portfolio.
In any case, it would have been a sad waste of Wall's talent and passion to have shuffled her off into a meaningless portfolio like Sport.
Binders full of women an interesting interview with Louisa on Q and A this morning. Apologies, no link.
It was made clear to Louisa that she would never be in Cabinet (by Jacinda). Matt McCarten said on the Daily Blog podcast that it was because she was a difficult person. Louisa today said she thought it dated back to her support for David Cunliffe over Grant Robinson during the leadership contest
That was nearly 10 years ago although admittedly the fallout continued for a few years afterwards. Louisa Wall strikes me as a very determined woman – which is laudable – but she is intolerant of others who may have had a slightly different point of view. I understand it affected her ability to manage a cohesive electorate team and it is my view that was far more likely the cause of her demise in politics.
In other words she was a little too much of a maverick. Her new position sounds like it is far better suited to her than parliament.
Any evidence, Anne?
Because having a candidate parachuted in at late notice, over the expressed wishes of the local electorate team – doesn't sound as though Wall had problems with her electorate team (or they with her).
And Wall's (in these days) astonishing ability to build cross-party support for legislation doesn't sound as though she is "intolerant of others with a different point of view'".
She was shafted by the Labour machine (looking at you Claire Szabo) because she wasn't a nice obedient little sheep. Evidence is that she was replaced by a cookie-cutter Labour MP – who so far, at least, hasn't made a single noteworthy statement either inside or outside the house.
And, it would have had to have been okayed by Ardern – which makes me think less of her.
Do you have anything to back this up with or are you simply assuming and speculating?
There is zero chance in hell that a party president (from any party) would de-select a sitting MP without at least consulting the party leader. Especially when the party is in government.
Really, you think that Szabo would have blind-sided Ardern over this?
So, you’re assuming Ardern was “consulted”, formally or informally?
And you’re speculating that Ardern “okayed” it, formally or informally?
Sounds to me that you’re ascribing a whole lot more to Ardern than you can actually back up with facts.
Good to know that you have nothing, which is rather ironic given that you asked for “any evidence” in your comment to which I replied.
Still haven't seen the evidence I asked for about a speculation over the local electorate team not wanting Wall.
If it's OK to speculate one way, it's OK to speculate the other.
And it isn't just me speculating that Ardern had to have OK'd it – it was fairly widely covered at the time by political commentators.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/audrey-young-why-labour-gave-louisa-wall-a-managed-exit-from-manurewa/NBJ3L6N5CIBMMDMVOHZY4QO4W4/
Rolling a sitting MP is not a usual thing….. Not a routine bit of party business that the party leader doesn't need to be bothered by.
Do you have any evidence that Ardern protested this disloyalty to one of her team of MPs – either formally or informally?
Her only comment, that I can find, is that it was a matter for the local electorate committee (which is thoroughly disingenuous when 3 of the 7 come from head office and routinely block vote)
Don’t be a dimwitted fool. Just because someone else hasn’t answered your questions doesn’t mean you can make up BS and not back it up when asked.
In case you haven’t noticed, this is not the NZH and behind a fucking paywall, but TS and free. If Audrey Young had written that here on TS I might have questioned her too, especially if she’d just asked for “any evidence” from another commenter.
Audrey Young, of all people, speculating in NZH doesn’t let you off the hook speculating here on TS! That would be the logic of a dim-witted fool.
And you were saying that you’ve been thinking less of Ardern for the last 2 years because of Audrey Young’s speculations in NZH? It sounds like you’re somewhat biased and cannot think for yourself.
When you mention “head office”, do you imply more direct influence and involvement by Ardern, without any support to back it up?
Here’s another statement of fact that you may want to back up:
You may know a lot more about the inner workings of the Labour Party, but equally, you may also make up a lot of BS. So, how veracious are your comments here really?
Well, it looks like Belladonna doesn't know too much about the inner workings of the Labour Party after all. At least not according to former Labour Party president, Mike Williams.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/departing-mp-louisa-walls-claims-countered-by-ex-labour-party-president/VVNV3ODSHS3REZGSNDTQ3RBJQQ/
I believe the ex president of the Labour Party, Mike Williams.
Thanks. We already have so much fake news, reckons, and BS flying around in MSM and SM (there is a Post on this parallel to OM: https://thestandard.org.nz/why-trust-in-the-media-is-declining/) that we shouldn’t encourage more of this behaviour here on TS. In fact, we should actively discourage it, which is what I tried, but I ran into the usual wall of belligerence. I hate having to resort to moderation, but I will increasingly use it.
"Still haven't seen the evidence I asked for about a speculation over the local electorate team not wanting Wall."
From an online Herald article which appeared around 8pm last night which I picked up later that evening:
So, it would seem the understanding I was given at the time was correct.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/departing-mp-louisa-walls-claims-countered-by-ex-labour-party-president/VVNV3ODSHS3REZGSNDTQ3RBJQQ/
So you believe Mike Williams, I believe Louisa Wall.
Don't really think we can take this any further.
Both have significant reason to cast events in a light suitable to themselves. Though, having met both, I know who I'd choose to believe.
I think Louisa Wall is showing signs of harbouring a deep grudge against Jacinda Ardern. Whether or no she has grounds for it I am not in a position to know, but I suspect her perception of Ardern – and others – have been distorted by that grudge.
Having been part of the inner circles of party politics and later observing events from the periphery, I've seen it happen before. Therefore I base my judgement on my experiences and the instincts developed because of them.
I also know Mike Williams and I see no reason for him to cast events in a light suitable to himself. In fact I don't believe he has done so. As far as I know all he has done is confirm what happened. The Manurewa LEC requested the selection of another candidate presumably because they were having difficulty working with Louisa Wall.
If I want to express an opinion in a mild and conversational way to a fellow long-term commenter I will do so Belledonna. By all means disagree with that 'opinion' but it is time you did so with more circumspection and in a less dogmatic way. Some of what you have said @ 16.1.1 does not meet the criteria of undisputed fact at all. Just somebody else's opinion.
Oh and btw, for your information it is the Labour Party Council who control electoral matters not the leader. Parliament caucus has representation on that council but by no means do they have the final say.
Cannon fodder.
Volunteers are being recruited in Tuva for the war in Ukraine. Equipment is just a topchik https://vk.com/wall-83474124_273977 #чотаржу #RussianUkrainianWar #роа
https://twitter.com/666_mancer/status/1511948583259545600
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/08/they-were-sent-as-cannon-fodder-siberian-governor-confronted-by-relatives-of-russian-unit
How far away from declaring war and a full draft do you think?
This entire affair is infuriating yet somewhere in my soul I still feel a deep sorrow for all the young men on both sides both brutalised and crushed on the altar of Putin's paranoia.
Not long. Ukraine expects some sort of outrage to help sell a general conscription.
https://twitter.com/GicAriana/status/1512639447736668162
An unidentified person reported a bomb threat at the Historical Museum on Red Square in Moscow, a law enforcement source reports: http://go.tass.ru/jpLXG
https://twitter.com/tass_agency/status/1512868193748099073
I have actually visited the exact spot in that photo.
There is so much to loose.
Perhaps unlikely to quickly redeploy is a little optimistic. But I live in hope.
Russian forces are increasingly refusing to reenter combat, and the Kremlin remains unlikely to quickly redeploy effective forces from northeastern Ukraine to operations in Donbas. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that more than 80% of personnel in some unspecified Russian units previously involved in combat operations are refusing to return to the front.[1] Russian commanders are reportedly refusing to release soldiers whose service contracts have expired, forcing them to stay with their units. The Ukrainian GUR (Military Intelligence) claimed to have intercepted a letter from Russian Chief of Missile Troops and Artillery Mikhail Matveevsky to several Russian training centers calling for further censorship of troops undergoing training, and encouraged propaganda highlighting the monetary benefits of serving in the war.[2] Elements of Russia’s 6th Combined Arms Army (CAA), 20th CAA, 1st Guards Tank Army, and coastal troops of the Northern and Baltic Fleets continue efforts to regroup for likely redeployment to eastern Ukraine.[3] The General Staff additionally reported that Russian Western Military District Commander Colonel General Alexander Zhuravlev (the first explicit mention of Zhuravlev since the war began) is planning to remove Major General Ivan Belyavsky from the position of the head of the WMD personnel department due to low recruitment numbers.[4]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-8
Institute for the Study of War
Consider this. Just a few days ago the EU chief Ursula von der Leyen stated that Ukraine's entry in the EU would be fast tracked in a 'matter of weeks than years'.
On the surface this is interesting enough, but takes on a new light when you consider this:
NATO is not the only player in town.
'Murica Hell Yeah!
https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1512828138048438273
https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1512837301801558022
Scott Morrison becomes the first Australian PM to finish his full term,as they set the date for elections.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-10/may-21-election-scott-morrison-anthony-albanese-coalition-labor/100903580
France goes to the polls today in the first runoff.
https://twitter.com/ReutersWorld/status/1513056726643363846?cxt=HHwWjMC-yfHEuv8pAAAA
Will Macron become the first president since 2002 if Le Pen wins will her party be able to repay their debt to a Moscow bank.
https://twitter.com/biannagolodryga/status/1512843145561653249?cxt=HHwWgoCyweq02f4pAAAA