yep the heart of this fiend is as small as his tiny babyhands – meanwhile plenty of babies and children are about to be destroyed – I hope there is lots of coal being put on the fire for when t.rump takes the elevator downstairs.
Depends what you mean by "interesting." For example, if we mention that it's "interesting" how many women have ruled Britain as queen, and our intention is to idly inform readers of something they may not have known, then sure, all good. However, if we mention it as an implied argument that patriarchal oppression of women as a sex hasn't been a feature of British society, then no, not so good.
So, Francesca, are you implying that patriarchal oppression of women cannot be drawn as an analogy to the political oppression of Kurds without your personal permission? I think you have overreacted. I very much doubt that PM had your protection in mind.
Why oh why can't people step back from commenting about female emancipation – PM why bring it up and just be abrasive. The Syrian battles go on regardless and you are making some nitpicking point. I suppose you think you are smart and right and feel satisfied about that.
as part of his long game to become president – trump used to regularly appear on the late nite talk shows..
(and yes..audiences wd chuckle when he floated the idea of him being president..)
but on those appearances he used to be emphatic that he would pull america out of the endless wars they are involved in..
he really pushed the isolationist line – (and he was reasonably lucid then – the adderall/cocaine had not yet done its' damage..and btw..his teetotal woth alcohol claims are more bullshit – staff who worked for him have confirmed this..)
so i am not really surprised that – unlike his predecessor – he hasn't started any wars (yet)..
and that he is pulling troops out..
(he wants to go into the election campaign (if he gets there..)..able to make that 'i brought the troops home!' boast..)
but in doing so he is treating the kurds like a no longer needed sub-contractor – and so ready/able to be screwed/discarded by him..
Tokata Iron Eyes, an environmental activist, invited Thunberg, a fellow 16-year-old, to her homelands on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, after befriending her. On Tuesday the duo spoke at the Standing Rock high school about the burgeoning youth-led climate movement that has seen millions of people strike from school and protest against fossil-fuel projects around the world.
“This is a global fight; this is not just in my home country in Sweden,” Thunberg said. “We as teenagers shouldn’t be the ones taking responsibility. It should be the ones in power.”
Iron Eyes said that indigenous culture was inherently linked to the health of the environment. “No 16-year-old should have to travel the world in the first place sharing a message about having something as simple as clean water and fresh air to breathe,” she said.
This is as silly as the scandal of the immigration Minister allowing Karel Sroubek's entry into NZ on the grounds of his safety was at risk if he returned to the Czech Republic.
Now we all pay for jis internment for years, when he should not have been allowed in by the national Government in the first place. National are a bloody disgrace.
Now we see MBIE CEO Carol Tremain on Newshub today spouting that she agrees with Ian Lees Galloway 'Minister of Immigration' saying that he had every right to make his decision independent of the oversight of MBIE, which is also again another shocking event that poor Jacinda needs to rectify.
Why did Steve Joyce set up this awful agency MBIE to stuff everything up in the first place is beyond me. Jacinda is now being Ham stringed by her idiot ministers sadly.
Phil Twyford is now working good as he is appropriately attacking the other useless agency 'NZTA' for their erroneous behavior over our lack of road safety which was yet another agency setup to fail by Steven Joyce.
We knew that National was going to leave grenades inside Government agencies when they lost the election didn't we?
Lastly over the Governments latest surplus of $7.5Billion and National’s response; –
Do you love it when National and their media muppets – who don’t give two shits about poor people at any other time of the year – are suddenly full off crocodile tears for those people’s tax when there is a surplus?
Ian Lees-Galloway stuffed up. Everyone knows it. (only other option is he was told to make that 'unexpected' decision by someone higher up). Any half sensible person would have looked at the info. presented and decided (probably in about two minutes) Sourbek would not make a good citizen and deported him.
MBIE are now basically saying ILG should leave the decisions up to their officials as he is not competent to make them.
"MBIE are now basically saying ILG should leave the decisions up to their officials as he is not competent to make them."
Which is a bit like a pot calling a kettle black.
I'm waiting to see what the changes will be – especially with rights of appeal and the sequence that the IPT gets involved.
For many, the costs of involving the IPT (Fees, advocacy et al) can be beyond the means of some legitimate appellants – and that's even if they're aware of the procedure. I'm prepared to wait and see, although if the record to date is anything to go by, it'll take an eon and it'll be half-hearted improvements. Apparently Rome wasn't built in a day, nothing's ever bleeding bloody obvious and elitism is alive and well in lil 'ole egalitarian NuZull.
Pass me a cheeky Chardonnay will ya Jimmy
Isnt the point of Ministerial discretion (re immigration) to overcome inappropriate official inflexibility….the same officials who will now question themselves?
That's what I'd have thought, but apparently not. Ministers must be kept "above the fray" – even though they're our elected representatives.
I worry about what has become of the senior ranks in our public service (I mean quite apart from it being pale and stale and all the rest of it, AND the rise and rise of the generic manager). The "respect my authority!!!! " authoritarian, complacent, self-entitled culture that's evolved. We can see what's just happened with NZTA. It probably doesn't help much either that MBIE is full of ex-cops (some decent enough, others having to be 'managed' out).
The theory of the way things are supposed to operate, and what actually happens are often miles apart
Immigration decisions shouldn't be left up to officials. Nothing should be left entirely to the decisions of the sort of people who get to head entities and meet targets. They get harder and harder with often excuse of 'efficiency', and over time they get precedents that lock them into behaviours that do no credit to their department's standards or that of the country.
I think of the Hoover USA example. A nasty man it is said, and also staying in place and spying on everyone, with information useful for blackmail through leaks etc. The harder they are, the nastier they are, and more difficult to move on, till the system gets corrupted beyond recognition.
That's the nature of it @grey. The Hoover example will be the inevitable result of what's been in progress over the past 30 years.
The reforms all came equipped with the corporate culture (totally inappropriate for govt agencies – especially those dealing with social and cultural issues and policy). And with it also came the buzz and excuses that provide an out and preventing proper accountability (unless of course you're a rambunctious bugger with a heap of money prepared to push back). "I can't comment on operational matters" (which are ill-defined and when it suits), which I L-G just did.
Apparently, the senior ranks of the public service have become so precious that they are unable to suffer any critique (which is one of the reasons, supposedly, they get the big bucks for – going forward)
l’ll spare you from the rant I'm tempted to start. But quelle surprise there are now allegations of bullying and high staff turnovers. The sad thing is that a lot of it is all a matter of record and SFA changes until it all falls apart (such as with NZTA)
Any half sensible person would have looked at the info. presented and decided (probably in about two minutes) Sourbek would not make a good citizen and deported him.
I agree that any National minister of Immigration would have looked at a report saying the person's life could be in danger if they were deported and without the slightest qualm immediately chosen to deport the person. Fortunately, not everybody is like that, and personally I'm glad that Lees-Galloway isn't, because he's my electorate MP.
MBIE are now basically saying ILG should leave the decisions up to their officials as he is not competent to make them.
The same report points to a similarly "unexpected" decision by Woodhouse, so if the concern is ministerial incompetence there's a lot of it to go around.
Yes I believe a National immigration minister back in the nineties actually did have a complex case like that (Danny Butler?). I think one of the telling factors here is the polite way they have said ILG's decision was 'unexpected', in other words What the f#@$? We gave you enough ammunition and you still want this POS to be a resident!
Hopefully once Sourbek appeals and if he wins, he decides to live in your and ILG electorate and not mine.
Yes or no answers. Clark was better than 3 more years of Shipley, English or Brash governments in '02 and '05, and would have been much less damaging to NZ than Key in '08?
Okay, question was obviously too tough, so let's ty again.
Clark was better than 3 more years of Shipley, English or Brash governments in '02 and '05, and would have been much less damaging to NZ than Key in '08, no?
Yea/nah, be fair Jimmy! A hae ma doots he'd end up anywhere near you, but if that ever came about, you could always lock yourself behind a gated "community". That'd be the most transformational and kind thing to do.
…I think one of the telling factors here is the polite way they have said ILG's decision was 'unexpected'…
Well, yeah, I expect the empathy void that is a National MP would far better match the officials' experience and expectations.
Hopefully once Sourbek appeals and if he wins, he decides to live in your and ILG electorate and not mine.
Yeah, right-wingers used to reply along the same lines when I commented that Ahmed Zaoui should be treated fairly, after which he did move to Palmerston North and lived here for years. Somehow that "POS" managed to restrain himself from carrying out the massacres and suicide bombings that right-wingers scare-mongered about. Likewise, if Sroubek (NB: not Sourbek, or "Shruu-brek" as Simon Bridges would have it) did move here, I don't think the community would be living in dread that he might try to import a few more ecstasy tabs.
Likewise, if Sroubek (NB: not Sourbek, or "Shruu-brek" as Simon Bridges would have it) did move here, I don't think the community would be living in dread that he might try to import a few more ecstasy tabs.
Beggars belief that anyone could think that a few well orchestrated media events making The Christchurch Call was ever, ever going to prevent those who want/need to broadcast their hate from being able to do so.
ISIS made very good use of the www to broadcast their atrocities….I've been trying to remember which particular faction of violent haters began this live streamed terrorism.
Beggars belief that anyone could think that a few well orchestrated media events making The Christchurch Call was ever, ever going to prevent those who want/need to broadcast their hate from being able to do so.
Basically the same argument the gun lobby is making re tighter firearm regulations, and with the same gaping hole in its logic.
Rosemary is completely wrong because she doesnt check it out
"anyone could think that a few well orchestrated media events making The Christchurch Call was ever"
They have taken real action on their video hosting services
"Take transparent, specific measures seeking to prevent the upload of terrorist and violent extremist content and to prevent its dissemination on social media and similar content-sharing services, including its immediate and permanent removal, without prejudice to law enforcement and user appeals requirements
Not all platforms have the huge resources of the giants..
"Support smaller platforms as they build capacity to remove terrorist and violent extremist content, including through sharing technical solutions and relevant databases of hashes or other relevant material, such as the GIFCT shared database."
Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism – GIFCT
And yes Amazon is part of the 'call'
Amazon
Daily Motion
Facebook
Google
Microsoft
Qwant
Twitter
YouTube
And no Rosemary it wasnt just some media appearances as thnese countries have 'signed' up
Founders
New Zealand
France
Founding supporters announced in Paris, May 15 2019
Australia
Canada
European Commission
France
Germany
Indonesia
India
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Jordan
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Senegal
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
Supporters announced in New York on 23 September 2019
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
Georgia
Ghana
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Maldives
Malta
Mexico
Mongolia
Poland
Portugal
Romania
South Korea
Slovenia
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
UNESCO
Council of Europe
After looking at some facts, mabe the ‘beggars belief’ claim can be utterly refuted.
Isn't there an objectionable material publication approach that already exists that could be utilised and enforced – not just in this case – but in others? Surely it would be better to strengthen and utilise existing laws and guidelines rather than create another for specific material.
My concern lies with future arguments about which criteria offences occur under, rather than effectively stopping or punishing such offences. Also, countries signing up – means just that – countries signing up. Until actions are created that have teeth and consequences, we should hold off on the celebrations, the work has only just begun.
I will be surprised if you can get away with that extensive and ultimately not essential list taking up the screen DoU. When i spread myself I am trying to bring forward some joined up thoughts. A link and advice from you to study the list in situ would be quite enough for your purpose.
Picked up a couple of German hitch hikers making their way to the Cape the other day . Talkative one went to some trouble to explain the political and sociological differences between various parts of Germany. Much of the "white supremacy" angst originated back from the days of the Wall. East Germans, some of them feel like they've never caught up with the West. Influx of refugees and the immigrant support structures provided by the German government has enhanced the sense of disconnectedness in those groups.
As long as the world has populations who feel disenfranchised and excluded there will be these terrorist acts, and those who want to will always find a way of broadcasting their hate.
What we need is a worldwide, universal crisis that will transcend all these differences and historic grievances and unite us all. Something like the destruction of life on the planet due to climate change….?
Let's face it….as a species we're very probably doomed.
Unfortunately Rosemary you know even less about the internet than you do about the Christchurch call. (Usually you always give considered views with backup and not wild claims like this)
Plus terrorist attacks hadnt until recently been live streamed at all. They get massive publicity outside the live stream, so not possible to 'stop them ' even if every main platform did crack down hard.
Live streaming of users is only a small part of 'the internet' and a small part of the online video world.
Twitch was a gaming and e sports ( ha!) live streaming site but has moved into 'real event's more recently. Maybe they are a forgotten part of Amazon, they wont be now.
Fire. In a water deprived world it will obliterate infrastructure and natural life and environment, masses of human energy trying to plant forests to ameliorate climate change, and destroy our archives of the past, and our dreams for the future.
A number of areas in the world are fire prone because of the climate and vegetation and often hot dry winds which spread smaller fires into larger ones. The electric lines company is just taking precautions because if power lines start a fire they will have to pay for all the damage.
Fuck Spark sport. I, along with over 80,000 others in the country have not only lost the rugby, Formula1, World Rally champs but now cricket.
NZ Cricket have fucked up in a big way, after their best year ever for increasing the games popularity they have run themselves out on the first ball. Fuck you as well.
So?. And how long before Spark falls over?. They are spending far more money than they can realisticly get back, only 80,000 "watched "their word, the first world cup game , is that watchers or subscribers, either way its not a lot of money. I notice Spark has not been crowing about how many are watching even the All Blacks games.I was an avid follower of F1 and WRC, but since Spark took it over I haven''t seen a single race, and I bet thousands of others are the same . It's my bet that they are losing huge amounts on those events alone. The same will happen to cricket, if people can't watch NZ play in NZ without paying a lot of money, projected subscriber numbers will fall a long way short of expectations.
Thats live streams . They dont know how many watchers for each stream, plus they did a tie in with Sky for a popup channel for pubs and clubs who pay commercial rates.
Isnt streaming a better delivery , as you can start when you like even 15 mins late, and make the half time longer before seeing the second half. The heavy rain doesnt affect the satellite feed.
Not in the country areas, broadband is still sub par. Like watching something in the 60s. Most have Sky just to get the news etc, art, docos, sport etc are an expensive little add-on, now the cost is considerably more, so in the country we are paying a shit load more than free to air in towns.
Adrian don’t talk shit. You generalise without the facts. I live in the country without cable broadband. I’m served by wireless Vodafone through farmside. It’s not fast. 8- 11 MB’s. The reception through the Spark app although not perfect is perfectly adequate. None of the problems that have hit the headlines that have been poking a stick at spark. A lot of people haven’t done their homework or haven’t bothered to get advice thinking the games might be shown live on sky eventually . Duh. I’m in my sixties and have plenty of mates like that. I know not everyone can get wireless , ‘not to be confused with satellite’ but in some cases could be more reliable than landline. People who think they need ultra fast broadband to stream successfully are mistaken. By the way my phone and internet with plenty of Gigs is just over $100 a month. I would say a lot of the problems are more to do with the home setups
Absolutely is shit to have to pay subs all over the place. I for one won’t be buying the spark cricket even though I like watching it occasionally. It was your opinion of rural internet coverage that was a wide sweeping generalisation in my opinion. From what I can see a lot of people haven’t worked out they don’t need a smart TV to stream. A chrome cast or similar is just fine. I’m picking the next time this happens people will be prepared. Maybe not my 92 year old mum in law.
Well “In Vino” What ever that is supposed to mean. If you took the time read my original comment you would see I stated I was in my sixties. Not that old these days In Vino ( what ever that means ). I thought that my comment actually contributed some information so what did yours contribute. Apart from having a pointless poke at me. I would suggest you analyse your own comments a little more instead.
Thanks . Involving Bombardier, I always thought, was a scam as they are the vehicle builders.
The PPP structure is never good anyway, as the total costs structure is higher , even worse now that interest rates to build are low.
The details of Montreal are even more disturbing, as there is no risk for the 8-9% return. None at all. And the Consortium is likely to sell out to an investment bank consortium after 5 years to take their profits early.
Australia upping the authoritarianism ante, again.
Climate change protesters arrested for obstructing traffic have been given “absurd” bail conditions that ban them from “going near” or contacting members of Extinction Rebellion, which civil liberties groups say infringes on freedom of political communication.
Australian Constitution doesnt seem to have any provisions regarding political expression. It did say ( now repealed) that Aborigines werent to be counted as part of States populations.
Dont seem to be able to find the Constitution of NSW
Australian authorities (federal or state) may be standing on shaky ground when it comes to intervening in demonstrations/protests relating to or pertaining to the environment.
And they sure don't make a lot of friends by doing so. But they would argue that disruption to commerce in CBD areas doesn't solve or resolve anything, and that peaceful protests can turn ugly very quickly when those disrupted become angered due to the inconvenience.
While not everyone may share the same belief as many of those involved in or supporting the Extinction Rebellion movement, it must be clearly evident that so many of those attending such events honestly and forthrightly believe that they are making a stand in relation to right of life and well-being. For many, it is a fight for their lives in relation to their future existence. To use government mechanism as a tool to obstruct or dismantle the expression of people who are in survival mode, is most unwise.
History has shown this to be true so many times.
Both open debate and education in relation to known scientific fact, and general deliberation on global temperature concerns would be very healthy at this juncture.
Politicising it and engaging in fervour tactics only goes so far.
These people will not be going away any time soon, irrespective of how much government is thrown at them. This includes muppets who believe that because a lower court has deemed something as appropriate, (bail conditions for example), that it is a matter of Simon Says.
Countermeasures in relation to this court imposed circumvention:
Permitted street demonstrations authorised by various city authorities. Permits in relation to lawful assembly demonstrations at parks and reserves. Rock solid legal representation (more likely requiring money, money and money) for the movement, and both mainstream media and social media scrutinising of all and any decisions made at local authority level which might show evidence of anti Extinction Rebellion sentiment and/or bias in relation to permit decision making.
So often, at street level, so much of the intricacy of environmental matters relates to local authority decision making, not just political central government rhetoric, narrative or transient mandate.
I observe that Joel Fitzgibbon, (Australian Labor Party, Hunter, NSW) appears open to at least arriving at something close to climate change policy along the lines of the Paris Accord, which could be fine tuned later.
Perhaps following his sort of lead could be helpful for Australians to consider.
Bail is supposed to be given with conditions only so they cant repeat the offences or contact people who were also involved. But only for serious offences
Not sure street blocking offences are covered by bail – as they are probably what is known as Summary Offences which are a 'fine only' if convicted
Former Greens senator Scott Ludlam has had bail conditions – that banned him from associating with Extinction Rebellion climate change protests – dismissed by a judge following his arrest at a protest earlier this week.
The strict conditions had been labelled “absurd” by civil liberties campaigners and prevented Ludlam from appearing in court on Thursday, due to restrictions on coming to the Sydney CBD.
On Thursday morning in Sydney’s Downing Centre local court, deputy chief magistrate Jane Mottley said the conditions imposed by New South Wales police were not necessary given the low seriousness of his offences.
“I note these are fine-only offences,” she said. “And when one considers the ambit of matters before the court – these are not serious examples of offences which would ordinarily attract bail conditions”.
President Donald Trump pressed then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to help persuade the Justice Department to drop a criminal case against an Iranian-Turkish gold trader who was a client of Rudy Giuliani, according to three people familiar with the 2017 meeting in the Oval Office.
Tillerson refused, arguing it would constitute interference in an ongoing investigation of the trader, Reza Zarrab, according to the people. They said other participants in the Oval Office were shocked by the request.
Tillerson immediately repeated his objections to then-Chief of Staff John Kelly in a hallway conversation just outside the Oval Office, emphasizing that the request would be illegal. Neither episode has been previously reported, and all of the people spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the conversations.
Interesting. Seems Matt Drudge ain't quite such a Fake-bronze Fuhrer fanboi anymore. Or maybe he's just getting his jollies watching it all erupt.
Jerome Corsi, a prominent right-wing conspiracy theorist, has repeatedly tweeted about the change in coverage, saying Drudge has "lost his mind," "turned left," and become a "leftist hack beating [the] impeachment drum."
…
After suggesting Drudge could be turning on Trump for web traffic, Limbaugh said, "I actually don't know," adding that as a "professional courtesy" he doesn't "ask him."
It's not clear whether Drudge had a falling out with the White House that prompted his change in coverage. After Trump ascended to the Oval Office, Drudge was known to visit the White House, spending time with the President, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump.
…
"Impeachment is where Matt Drudge entered," the person close to Drudge told CNN Business. "This is a great story. And Drudge is breaking out the popcorn."
Feel the chill – lesser journalists would be frozen solid by now.
“I was relieved to have finished years of trouble after the 2014 police raid on his home”, said Nicky Hager. “I am disappointed to receive more news of more government agencies using intrusive means to try to uncover his confidential sources.”
“I would rather get on with my work than fight these fights, but this issue needs to be fixed for the future. I want the SIS to introduce clear policies that will prevent them from targeting media organisations and journalists in this way again.”
In reality, Nicky Hager probably never left the surveillance; "them against the rest of us" chain gang, and may never.
Certain agency staff may have long memories, but by public account, they appear genuine about moving on, and to kind of forgive and forget.
But how about the little brothers, big sisters, little sisters and the Sgt Dickheads of all shapes and sizes who believe that, just the same, it is their civic duty to hold a grudge against him for matters probably already considered by higher echelon to be more or less historical, and not needing a re-visited?
Perhaps it is food for thought.
I personally believe that he could find further fulfillment (over and above advisory to the IGIS Reference Group), working part time in the field of law practice procedures pertaining to both the secure handling, and the prevention of mishandling of clients' material by law practitioners.
If your elected representative doesn't appear to be pulling his or her weight, if grabbing them by the horns doesn't work, or if their oratory skills aren't producing sufficient bang for buck, perhaps try this:
I accept. Syntax and context can sometimes be an issue for me, especially when presenting my quarter in haste.
The point is that while so many people express concern (both justified and not) at the extent of surveillance by the state mechanism, and while they also express concern with regard to the powers relating to physical access by the state, fixation on this can distract people from recognizing the many opportunists, well established, who operate as their own form of surveillance mechanism, along with handling of trouble-makers, irrespective of state intent or even political intent.
The other point is that it is the people who generally both make demands, and set the standard in relation to state observation (or interference).
It would be reasonable to assume that after the state infrastructure has long since closed it's books on people who were once of interest, there would be others with considerable portfolios and access who, for their own emotional or positional reasons, carry on "the fight".
So, in context, whilst not necessarily sympathizing with Nicky Hager, the chances are very high that he will never be free from intrusion or loose observation of one sort or another, if not for the sole reason of grudges held by many with regard to his historical behavior.
Many might advise him to stay as publicly visible as he can.
If he ceased doing what he has been doing, the state would probably consider that their resources are to be best spent elsewhere.
Believing that the state infrastructure would keep much of an eye on him once salient operational matters have been laid to rest might be just a little shallow, but believing that others would keep an eye on him is most realistic.
Which is why, once marked with a particular label, it can be difficult for people to avoid the impact of the association with it.
For example, if a person punched a star All-Black in the mouth and put him out of action during a test series, that person would likely be convicted of assault. But that would not be the end of the matter for the offender. Others would wish to send him their message.
The so-called good folk will very often take over (often quietly) where and when they do not feel that the state mechanism has adequately dealt with an issue.
It is clear that there is a massive amount of surveillance opportunity available to people. Even sophisticated hardware and software can now be managed by a school child.
The wider community, Hell bent on asserting it's right to security, privacy, justice and freedom, is basically creating it's own surveillance society.
Even in New Zealander, people are fast adopting a quasi-marae style culture where, aside from episodic engagement in matters of one to one approved intimacy, personal hygiene considerations and business confidentiality, most everything else is running at a fast pace to being public domain, and needing to be scrutinized by others.
Both state and corporate will usually mimic the masses on such matters.
Where it goes once it reaches the point where most everything is visible is anybody's guess. It's not my intention to argue whether this is good, bad, right or wrong. It is just a fact.
Perhaps social credit bureau scoring such as we hear reported throughout the People's Republic of China would be the next step. I wouldn't envisage too many Kiwis getting up on their hind legs and doing much of anything to prevent it, other than to vent dissatisfaction.
Now billionaires in the USA can pay less tax than workers, even before 'optimising' their tax liabilities – the basic tax rates permit them to pay less.
Jeremy Hunt former Foreign Secretary to the Conswervs says with a straight face that the EU are perhaps going to have a catastrophic failure in statecraft or they haven't really understood what is happening in British politics right now. He looks quite exited to be the centre of attention explaining how important Britain is and the rest are mired in bureaucratic circumlocutions. Or words to that effect.
19th October is a Saturday, and Parliament is sitting that day, an historic event and I think it was said, the last time this occurred was over the Falkland War and Maggie was busy screwing over Britain to start it, and cynics say, to turn the disenchanted public eye from the unpopularity of her and the Conservatives. It is a shame that the Conservatives want to upend Britain every few decades.
It seems that the EU is trying strenuously to cope with Britain (United Kingdom?) playing fast and loose with their important national agreement and treaty, but Tusk is getting testy, and the others are being deliberately temperate no doubt to balance Johnson's Trump-like presentation.
Associated press 9 Oct 2019: The Latest: EU's Tusk says Brexit part of brutality….
…During a speech in Athens on Wednesday, European Council President Donald Tusk encouraged political leaders to heed ancient Athenian general Thucydides’ warning about the dangers of war and confrontation….
The president of the European Union’s council of national leaders says Brexit results from confrontational politics with “the ability to deal brutally with opponents, competitors, misfits or strangers.”…
He cited the Trump administration and European countries “where the foundations of liberal democracy and the rule of law are being undermined” as being part of the same trend that is taking the U.K. out of the EU.
Tusk said: “Violence, lies, hate speech, myths, and resentment: These are the tools of today’s politics.”
3:55 p.m.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker says he is working with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to find a way to end a stalemate with Britain’s government over a Brexit agreement.
Juncker told the European Parliament on Wednesday: “Personally, I don’t exclude a deal. Michel and myself are working on a deal.”
He refused to be more specific but made clear that talks between the two sides haven’t come to an irreparable standstill.
I agree we have to take action NOW to minimise and mitigate human cause Global Warming and Sea levels rising. Kia Kaha to all the intelligence tangata that know and can see the effects of Global Warming.
Ocasio-Cortez tells world's mayors drastic action needed on climate crisis
In a passionate address to leaders of 94 cities in Copenhagen, the congresswoman called ‘runaway’ pursuit of profit unsustainable
US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that tackling the climate crisis will involve making dramatic economic changes in a passionate closing speech at the C40 World Mayors summit in Copenhagen on Friday.
“It is unsustainable to continue to believe [in] our system of runaway, unaccountable, lawbreaking pursuit of profit,” she told the conference.
Instead, she said, the world needed to adopt “a cooperative, collaborative” system, “whose economy … benefits the middle and lower classes and marginalised people”.
‘Inspirational': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez applauds mayors’ Global Green New Deal
Read more
“Our current logic created this mess and operating in the same way will not get us out.”
This uncompromising message won her a powerful round of applause. But it was when she came to the impact climate change had had on her own life, and on her family in Puerto Rico, that she became emotional.
“I speak to you as a human being, a woman whose dreams of motherhood now taste bittersweet because of what I know about our children’s future,” she said, her voice breaking as if she was struggling to hold back tears.
“That our actions are responsible for bringing their most dire possibilities into focus.”
From the moment she began speaking, the main hall at the summit became completely still, and when she finished, the ovation she received far exceeded that received by the veteran climate campaigner and former vice-president Al Gore, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen; or the UN secretary general, António Guterres.
“She got a rockstar welcome in that audience,” Nicholas Reece, a city councillor from Melbourne, Australia, said. “There’s just something about her which is really mobilising and electrifying people around the world, particularly young people.”
After her speech, Ocasio-Cortez joined the weekly Fridays for Future rally outside Copenhagen city hall, where she called on the gathered activists to “make sure the politicians sweat a little bit”.
Its great that a quater of Aotearoa Mayors are Wahine.
Jailhouse witness will say what ever they are told to say times are changing.
I don't agree our farms need to respect our futures environment and Wai of course they are going to cry foul about the new water laws when I drive around I see Wai ways not fence off and stock in them these are dry stock farms.
Don't you think its suspicious that all of a sudden there's heaps of data breaches now we have a Left leaning Government.
Te Wahine will lead Ngapuhi towards the correct route to build a moanga for their Mokopuna.
I read a article about someone examineing our history he came to a conclusion that it was ballance of the left and right side of man Yin Yang. He was 1/2 correct it is ballance but the correct fact is its a ballance of human leadership between Wahine and Tane 50/50.
Nice Bubble. It amazing me that tangata have a 1 minute memorie.
Ha what about the Great statement I will not raise GST he loaded Aotearoa taxes load on the Common Poor people who have to spend all their putea guess what culture has the most poor tangata. The big elephant in the room on Kiwisaver is the way the broke rates went up to %10 to 20 under shonky is it a coincidence that banks prophets went through the roof to I think not.
Wai is a taonga. Tangata need to learn to give it respect try to use as little as possible so Our other beings creatures on Papatuanuku can live a long healthy life look around Papatuanuku and see what happens when we use it in excess and treat it like a thing that is only created for tangata.
Its a fact that money rules the Papatuanuku not logic.
I think the the local tangata of Ethiopia National Wildlife parks should be running the parks this method will solve quite a few problems.
Last wolves in Africa: the fragile wildlife of Ethiopia's ravaged parks
Conservationist Getachew Assefa points across the valley. “It started close to the mist over there, by the most spectacular viewpoint,” he says. “Almost all the grassland was burnt. All of that plateau and the steep cliff over there.”
Six months after wildfires torched this part of Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains, the scars are healing: heather and grass have returned to carpet the hilltop, brightened by the yellow daisies which bloom after the long rains. On the near side of the valley lie barley fields, rippling in the wind.
The scene is bucolic. But, as Assefa explains, these montane grasslands and the rare wildlife they host are under threat.
The Simien Mountains are home to the highly endangered Ethiopian wolf. Photograph: Claudio Sillero/EWCP
Two fires broke out earlier this year, ravaging one of the oldest natural Unesco world heritage sites, and destroying, at least temporarily, the habitat of some of the world’s rarest species: the copper-coated Ethiopian wolf and the walia ibex, a goat found nowhere else on earth
Few doubt the blazes’ cause. The park’s wolf monitors – which include Assefa – saw, through binoculars, two men setting tussocks alight, though they couldn’t confirm their identities.
For Crane, one answer is to increase the park price for foreign visitors, to try to limit the number coming to the Simien Mountains each year.
Meanwhile Watkin suggests Ethiopia considers alternative conservation approaches that allow communities to take ownership of the process, moving away from the state-led “fortress conservation” model that prevails. He notes examples in Kenya and Tanzania, where local communities run eco-lodges and tourism ventures while ensuring the landscape is protected. “They’re 20 to 30 years ahead of Ethiopia in this,” he says.
Such approaches might make it possible for Ethiopia to square the circle between conservation and development.
“The core of the problem is that tourism is not working for the locals,” says Joshua Amlakse, a Simien Mountains guide. “Nothing ends up in the local community
Let hope that European Investment Bank does the correct thing and stops lending to fossil fuel companies. Its a logical step to take considering the facts that Europe is going to be one of the hardest hit by Global Warming and sea level rising. Some countries are already feeling the negative effects of Global Warming Sea levels rising need I say whom.
Divestment works – and one huge bank can lead the way
On 15 October, the European Investment Bank meets to decide its policy on fossil fuels. The hand of history is on its shoulder
Millions of people marched against climate crisis over the past two weeks, in some of the largest demonstrations of the millennium. Most people cheered the students who led the rallies – call them the Greta Generation. But now we’ll start to find out if all their earnest protest actually matters.
EIB plans to cut all funding for fossil fuel projects by 2020
Read more
Perhaps the first real test will come on 15 October, when the board of the EU’s European Investment Bank – the largest public bank in the world – meets to decide whether the time has finally come to stop expanding the fossil fuel sector. This should be a no-brainer decision: the bank’s staff has put forward a cogent proposal, supported by campaigners across the continent, that would end loans to new fossil fuel projects by 2020.
And if the EIB does act, it will send a strong signal to markets and to other lenders. For almost a decade now, observers have understood that restricting the flow of money to the fossil fuel industry is a key part of the climate fight. That’s why endowments and portfolios worth more than $11tn have begun divesting their fossil fuel stocks; last month the University of California system became the latest big player to join in, scrubbing its $80bn endowment and pension fund of fossil fuel stocks. Heck, even a major American utility announced that it was divesting its pension fund because it could see where the future lay.
The fifteenth of October is a crucial day in the most important fight the planet has ever faced, and a sign of whether Europe’s governments, particularly those of Germany and Italy, who insiders report have been strongly against a fossil-free EIB policy, will respond with open hearts to the outpouring of hope we have seen in the past weeks.
• Bill McKibben is the founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org and author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
That's awesome a recycling old phones system that cool that some are being reused a lot of phones just need new batteries.
That's a great idea a public holiday to remember The New Zealand Wars this event needs to be known by all Kiwis Ka pai Ming
Kia Kaha to the students striking for their future climate the harder you mahi the better future you will have.
Japan made the 1/4 finals in Te Papatuanuku Rugby Cup it awesome to see Te Tangata Whenua o Aotearoa connections.
7 week programme to teach tamariki about respecting Wai Awa and Tangaroa ki ora.
Excellent Ngāti Porou Tane training people about how to hunt and gather Open Places.
Congratulations on your being honoured for your great Waiata Dennis Mash
Ka kite Ano
Tawhirimate has been going strong and still is I had to reset my satellite dish because it had moved my wind turbine is going to.
Elton John is a incredibly talented person.
Kiwi Space radar is a very good idea tracking space rubbish space junk. Keeping a track of the junk so other space vehicles /devices can stay clear of the space junk.
Its good that Pharmac is going to pay for things that some Wahine need.
I agree the Big interest in Wahine Sports around the Papatuanuku is not A fad Nicola from the Wahine Sports institute of Minnesota
Biketober is a great way to get the Tangata of Christchurch out of cars and onto bike that is good for our environment and one's health. We have Ebikes now.
Condolences to the person who was losted in the Yacht sinking.
That's the big picture put the bottle of Alcohol down bar fight
Trampolines are great exasize for Te mokopuna in Tawhirimate like this they have to be weighted down sand bags on the feet. I went to check my cows one morning next minute I got there a neighbour trampoline had blown onto my electric set fence cows had broken out and made a mess.
It's amazing technology that has made it very easy for the Papatuanuku to change to Green Carbon free Energy. I congratulate the 3 scientists for their Awesome improvements of batteries that are going to power our Futures
Nobel prize in chemistry awarded for work on lithium-ion batteries
John B Goodenough, M Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino honoured for sparking a portable technology revolution
The Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for their work in developing lithium-ion batteries.
John B Goodenough of the University of Texas at Austin, M Stanley Whittingham of Binghamton University and Akira Yoshino of Meijo University will receive equal shares of the 9m Swedish kronor (£74o,000) prize, which was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on Wednesday.
At 97 years old, Goodenough is the oldest laureate to receive a Nobel prize in any discipline; Whittingham is the second British-born researcher to win a science Nobel this year.
Ion age: why the future will be battery powered
Read more
Lithium-ion batteries have long been tipped for the award, not least since they have proved pivotal in the development of the high-tech world we inhabit.
“They have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind,” the academy said.
Far lighter and more compact than earlier types of rechargeable battery, and able to hold their charge for longer, they are found in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric cars.
“The [electric car] batteries no longer weigh two tonnes, but 300kg,” said Prof Sara Snogerup Linse, a member of the Nobel committee for chemistry. “The ability to store energy from renewable sources, the sun, the wind, opens up for sustainable energy consumption,” she added.
The upshot was a lightweight, compact battery that could be recharged many, many times – the bedrock of modern technology. The battery continues to be developed, not least to improve its environmental impact.
Prof Dame Carol Robinson, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said battery technology remained an exciting field.
“It’s not the end of the journey, as lithium is a finite resource and many scientists around the world are building on the foundations laid by these three brilliant chemists,” she said Ka kite Ano link below.
n May 2016, hundreds of protestors threw dead fish onto the streets of Tagong, a town on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. They had plucked them from the waters of the Liqi river, where a toxic chemical leak from the Ganzizhou Rongda Lithium mine had wreaked havoc with the local ecosystem.
cause we want our cars, we are deserving of our cars, we shall not be using public transport, we are entitled to our private transport, and the world can get fucked, so as long as i have mine and my comforts. besides you and i shall never see the mess lithium mining makes so it must be green, and good, and such.
I know Sabine. But few developed nations aren't hooked on them, or well on their way to still becoming hooked? Private motorcars that is.
But a general rule of thumb is that, aside from the basics pertaining to well being, from a consumption standpoint, as newer generations come along, what they have not had the use of cannot be missed by them. This rule also extends to private motorcars.
Considering this, it is easy to seriously consider the likelihood that global plans have been on the drawing board for quite some time to fully maximise the use of shared transport to the point where most living in even moderately sized locales will be heavily discouraged from private vehicle ownership, or forbidden outright to do so relatively soon.
By 2035, a child born in New Zealand today may well be forced to use modernized, high technology public transport infrastructure as their primary or sole means of wheeled of transport, even in little old isolated K1W1.
However, if New Zealand plays its cards right with regard to what I suspect is a general global understanding based on resource and environmental necessity, it may well end up with a stay of execution, and may well be one of the last countries on the planet to still continue to provide private motor vehicle options for the mainstream public past 2035.
In part, Ms Collins puts up some reasonable argument in relation to petroleum, carbon emissions and the global warming topic. But she would, wouldn’t she? As many respondents have already indicated, many of her assertions are not so widely accepted. But it is not all anecdotal in support of current energy use.
Perhaps most New Zealanders may not have considered where things are so likely to be heading to, and soon. Perhaps partly because little has really been done politically to deprive people of the opportunity to acquire private motor cars, petrol, diesel or electric.
There are a very fearful group of NZ politicians who suspect that their political futures would be curtailed if they voted in favor of any such future policy. Not because of any underhand mechanism backed by the oil industry or motor vehicle manufacturing industry obstructing them or punishing them for being so bold, but as a result of the bitterness of a general public which will always hold long memories on matters pertaining to the removal of their traditional lifestyle "choices".
I wouldn't blame politicians for adopting this stance, nor damn them for acting on such fears. After all, it's not the same as a plastic bag or tobacco campaign.
Personally I am grateful for the motor vehicle advantage that I've had over the coarse of my life. Selfish sounding, I guess.
A well respected and noted American (Robert Lutz) who held senior positions with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler has put forward his stance on the likely path that will be taken in relation to private motor car ownership in the medium term, and he's not the only person with a wealth of automotive industry senior management experience to hold similar views.
Petroleum fueled private motor cars out, and battery powered in. This wont bring about a cessation in the use of petroleum products as fuel alternative, but will redirect the use of it to industries and mechanisms considered critical. This currently includes passenger airliners and merchant marine, (not just military or industries described as dirty).
If the current manufacture of such components are an environmental issue for many in the meantime, then it is just the price that is paid for attempting to continue to provide both convenience and lifestyle related mechanism to a very hungry, consumption orientated global market, and with a global population growing at a rate of about 220,000 people a day.
its ok. don't worry, you are not the only one who is happy to replace fossil fuel with lithium mining. its hard giving up privilege and comfort especially when we are grown accustomed to it. Lifestyle they call it. Right?
I Question these figures to as Cat poo thing YEA RIGHT get off the grass
Questions remain over Māui threat plan cost
Ongoing drama surrounds the Māui and Hector's dolphin threat management plan, with worries key information is not being made public promptly
The way costs were calculated for fishing bans to protect Māui and Hector’s dolphins is under review – but will go to Government ministers before the public is told
For one year, stopping set-netting in 14,600 square km off the west coast of the North Island, the draft plan estimates a reduction of total economic value of $16.8m.This is based on the lost revenue of what the fish sells for, as well as value from processing and supply.
Yeoman’s estimation of the value of the fishery is substantially lower, at $1.1m.
With only 63 Māui dolphins remaining, the stakes are high for the sub-species. The threat management plan proposes human-induced deaths of Māui dolphins need to be reduced to as “near as practicable to zero”.
It hasn't just been economists querying numbers. Scientists have disagreed with a calculation regarding the impact of toxoplasmosis on Māui dolphins. The plan estimates two Māui dolphin die each year due to the disease, making it more lethal to the species than commercial fishing. This was based on analysis of dead dolphins and interpreting what's found in dead dolphins to what is happening with live dolphins
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 19 include:PM Christopher Luxon is expected to hold his weekly post-cabinet news conference at 4:00pm on Monday.Parliament is not sitting this week. It resumes next week for a two-week sitting session up to and ...
Hi,Thanks to all the beautiful Worms who came to the LA Webworm popup on Saturday.It was a way to celebrate the online store we launched last week — and it was super special.As I talk about a lot, I really value our community here — and it was a BLAST ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 5, 2024 thru Sat, May 11, 2024. (Unfortunate) Story of the week "Grief that stops at despair is an ending that I and many others, most notably ...
Last night the largest solar storm in decades resulted in Aurorae being seen across Aotearoa, causing many to ask why?Why was the sky pink? What was all this stuff about the power grid? Have we, as so many have wondered since the election, reached the end of days?I had a ...
We have been on the road in England, squeezing down narrow lanes, flying up the M6, loving hedgerows and villages and cathedrals, liking the 21st century less.There have been moments when it’s felt like a movie trope. The pub in Exford, lovely seventeenth century bar, almost more dogs than people, ...
There’s a solar-storm on at the moment, and since the South Island is having a day and night with clear skies, that means Aurorae. I have just got back from a midnight visit to Tunnel Beach – southwards-looking over the Sea, and without the light pollution. Quite a few others ...
Michael Bassett writes – I’m not sure that it’s much comfort to anyone to know that the post-Covid surge in violent crimes, gang activity, ram raids, random shootings, thuggery and stabbings is occurring in other countries as well as New Zealand. These days, wagging school, out-of-control welfare and ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – Cast your mind back to mid-December. A new Prime Minister had just been sworn in, the new Government started its 100-day programme, and Christmas was only days away.Amid all the haste, a report landed that would have deserved our attention.I am talking about the ...
TL;DR: An unseasonally early icy blast at the same time as some long-overdue maintenance almost caused Aotearoa-NZ’s electricity system to black out this week. That’s because a quadropoly of gentailers1 have prioritised paying dividends from their rising profits and adding debt over investing in 1.5 GigaWatts of new wind farms ...
Hi,Before we crack into today’s Webworm, I wanted to acknowledge the fact that Israel is pushing into Rafah. Over 100,000 Palestinians are now attempting to flee the one place that was deemed “safe”.Trouble is, the place they’re fleeing to is already destroyed. Total annihilation is the end goal here.“Israel is ...
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
In this extract from The Bulletin, Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the proposed law and the ongoing concern about it. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Where we’re at with the fast-track ...
The revamped school lunch programme is budgeting $3 per lunch, rather than the current $8. But is it really so simple to cut costs? Shanti Mathias investigates. Last week, associate education minister and Act Party leader David Seymour announced the government’s revamped school lunch programme, which will provide food to ...
Exactly 100 years ago, on the eve of another Paris Olympics, young Kiwi Gwitha Shand was the talk of the swimming world. The 19-year-old from Christchurch had broken the world record in the 440-yard freestyle multiple times leading up to the 1924 Olympics, and was described in newspapers as one ...
The New Zealand book trade is still reeling after the shock news that Penguin has axed its head of publishing. The redundancy comes just as the biggest week of the year in New Zealand literature is set to take place. The winners of the Ockham national book awards are announced ...
A rest home with a concierge, iced tea fountain, hybrid Jaguars to drive, and caviar on the menu. That’s not imaginary or from some far-flung country – it’s reality here in Aotearoa. Oceania Healthcare just officially opened ‘The Helier’ – a retirement apartment and aged-care complex in the Auckland suburb ...
The USA and China are beefing, Winston Peters is getting sued by some Australian guy, and Helen Clark and Don Brash are friends now? Here’s everything you need to know about Aukus but were too afraid to ask. What is Aukus?Aukus, which stands for Australia, the United Kingdom, and ...
Opinion: The cold weather and spikes in power demand have been well handled by the electricity system The post No need to shock with a fake crisis appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 13 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report About 1000 people in Aotearoa New Zealand gathered for a two-hour rally in central Auckland today and marched down Queen Street and returned to Aotea Square to mark the Nakba three days early — and protest over Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. They called for an immediate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As it looks to an election next year when holding up Labor’s female vote will be vital, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has declared Tuesday will bring “a budget for mums and middle Australia”. “The primary ...
By Repeka Nasiko in Suva “Justice has won,” says Fiji’s acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku following the sentencing of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho. Speaking to The Fiji Times, Rabuku said that while they welcomed the judgment by acting Chief Justice Salesi ...
The foreign affairs minister has landed in Solomon Islands for the first leg of his Pacific tour, and an audience with the newly elected Prime Minister. ...
On an unusually hot night in January 2019, a little boy’s lifeless body was found face up in a small town’s sewage oxidation pond. To the police, it was an open and shut case: three-year-old Lachlan Jones had run away from his home in the Southland town of Gore, climbed ...
PNG Post-Courier New Zealand High Commissioner Peter Zwart and PNG Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph welcomed a C-130 Hercules to Port Moresby this week to support Papua New Guinea’s response to the March 24 earthquake and recent severe flooding. “Papua New Guinea has requested New Zealand’s assistance to transport emergency ...
Grub Street King Luxon rode through the streets Of King’s Landing, and was troubled By the sight of hungry urchins in the mud. “Who would be the best of my Lords To deal with this negative optic?” He pondered. The answer came to him instantly. “Seymour!” he said to himself. ...
“The Bill does not provide environmental protection, good quality decision making, certainty, public participation or speed. It should be withdrawn.” ...
RNZ News Television New Zealand has breached its collective agreement with the E tū union when deciding on discontinuing programmes, the Employment Relations Authority has ruled. It was announced in March that 68 staff members who work for news programmes Midday and Tonight, consumer justice programme Fair Go, current affairs ...
Asia Pacific Report Barangay New Zealand’s Rene Molina has interviewed the country’s first Filipino Green MP Francisco Hernandez who was sworn into Parliament yesterday as the party’s latest member. This is the first interview with Hernandez who replaces former Green Party co-leader James Shaw after his retirement from politics to ...
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute report says Pillar Two could raise the industry to state of the art capability - or "crush" it "under the weight of the globe's biggest player". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlene Longbottom, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, James Cook University ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the violence experienced by First Nations people in encounters with the Australian carceral system. It also contains references to ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. In 1981, Ginette McDonald stood on the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre and directly addressed Queen Elizabeth II. It was a ...
An essay by Lily Duval from the just-released anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child adjacent.I was 22 when my friend Alice gave birth in the living room of our pokey Addington flat. She laboured in the blow-up pool for hours. Garish fish swam along the inflated ...
Ella Borrie on the best books about motherhood she’s come across so far. Over the past few years I’ve been drawn to books about motherhood. I’m fascinated by the joys and horrors of becoming a parent. The question of children also feels more pressing than it used to. It’s like ...
Out of gift ideas for mum? You can’t go wrong with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a new squeegee. Emily Writes is the writer and editor of Emily Writes Weekly. This week marks five years since I published a post on The Spinoff about Mother’s Day marketing titled ‘A ...
My husband is posted overseas for 12 months and I’m armed with an expensive, newfangled vibrator. Will I miss him? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.A few days after my husband leaves, a new sex toy arrives at the front door. Nestled ...
Jaimie Baird’s new book Here Today Gone Tomorrow is a record of four decades of graffiti and street art in Wellington, told through more than 1,200 photographs. He spoke with Joel MacManus about what inspired the book. How did you first get interested in photographing street art? I remember ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at a busy week where food of all political leanings dominated. Sometimes you’re just going about your week thinking you’ve got a good handle on what might be coming as far as news topics and then someone (usually a politician) says something so ridiculous that ...
In a week of cold rain and frost, the climate in courtroom four upstairs at the Invercargill courthouse was simmering with restrained indignation. At times it felt like the famous Mexican standoff scene from Reservoir Dogs, or, as someone watching the proceedings described it, there was so much throwing of ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
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 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Oh dear, seems we're getting mixed messages from God. Well, if not actually God, then God's self-proclaimed spokes-hucksters.
Pat Robertson sez the genital-grabbing golem is “in danger of losing the mandate of heaven.”, while Ralph Reed is all in on “Render to God and Trump”.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pat-robertson-trump-in-danger-of-losing-the-mandate-of-heaven_n_5d9b9082e4b099389804aba9
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/09/ralph-reed-trump-book-040920
I thought it was the Emperor of China who has the mandate of heaven? Mind you, he's not using it any more…
I believe New World Computing still has the Mandate of Heaven…
https://youtu.be/bHJR3683B3w
Ugly as all hell, but still a fun game.
President Trump, when asked yesterday about US troop withdrawal from Syria exposing their core allies the Kurds to further massacres:
"We shouldn't have been in the Middle East in the first place."
A sentiment some on both left and right could agree with.
But a pretty cold sentiment for the homeless, landlocked Kurds facing Turkish artillery and warplanes today.
Not to mention it's also abandoning the principle of a people's right to self-determination.
https://unpo.org/article/4957
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination
"pretty cold sentiment"
yep the heart of this fiend is as small as his tiny babyhands – meanwhile plenty of babies and children are about to be destroyed – I hope there is lots of coal being put on the fire for when t.rump takes the elevator downstairs.
The Kurds will always have the Tree https://politics.theonion.com/trump-assures-kurds-there-will-one-day-be-very-nice-tre-1838917478
Interesting all the same, how many Syrian Kurds have become Prime ministers and Presidents of Syria,military leaders and politicians
for instance
Saladin was also a Kurd.
Depends what you mean by "interesting." For example, if we mention that it's "interesting" how many women have ruled Britain as queen, and our intention is to idly inform readers of something they may not have known, then sure, all good. However, if we mention it as an implied argument that patriarchal oppression of women as a sex hasn't been a feature of British society, then no, not so good.
Gosh thanks for defending my interests as a woman psycho
Where would I be without you !
What a guy
Reading comprehension not your strong point, then?
Paternalism yours?
So, Francesca, are you implying that patriarchal oppression of women cannot be drawn as an analogy to the political oppression of Kurds without your personal permission? I think you have overreacted. I very much doubt that PM had your protection in mind.
Why oh why can't people step back from commenting about female emancipation – PM why bring it up and just be abrasive. The Syrian battles go on regardless and you are making some nitpicking point. I suppose you think you are smart and right and feel satisfied about that.
as part of his long game to become president – trump used to regularly appear on the late nite talk shows..
(and yes..audiences wd chuckle when he floated the idea of him being president..)
but on those appearances he used to be emphatic that he would pull america out of the endless wars they are involved in..
he really pushed the isolationist line – (and he was reasonably lucid then – the adderall/cocaine had not yet done its' damage..and btw..his teetotal woth alcohol claims are more bullshit – staff who worked for him have confirmed this..)
so i am not really surprised that – unlike his predecessor – he hasn't started any wars (yet)..
and that he is pulling troops out..
(he wants to go into the election campaign (if he gets there..)..able to make that 'i brought the troops home!' boast..)
but in doing so he is treating the kurds like a no longer needed sub-contractor – and so ready/able to be screwed/discarded by him..
Trump and lucid dont really work in the same sentence
Trump and lucent go together.
an orange glow?
Nice – go the youth!
Well said;
This is as silly as the scandal of the immigration Minister allowing Karel Sroubek's entry into NZ on the grounds of his safety was at risk if he returned to the Czech Republic.
Now we all pay for jis internment for years, when he should not have been allowed in by the national Government in the first place. National are a bloody disgrace.
Now we see MBIE CEO Carol Tremain on Newshub today spouting that she agrees with Ian Lees Galloway 'Minister of Immigration' saying that he had every right to make his decision independent of the oversight of MBIE, which is also again another shocking event that poor Jacinda needs to rectify.
Why did Steve Joyce set up this awful agency MBIE to stuff everything up in the first place is beyond me. Jacinda is now being Ham stringed by her idiot ministers sadly.
Phil Twyford is now working good as he is appropriately attacking the other useless agency 'NZTA' for their erroneous behavior over our lack of road safety which was yet another agency setup to fail by Steven Joyce.
We knew that National was going to leave grenades inside Government agencies when they lost the election didn't we?
Lastly over the Governments latest surplus of $7.5Billion and National’s response; –
Do you love it when National and their media muppets – who don’t give two shits about poor people at any other time of the year – are suddenly full off crocodile tears for those people’s tax when there is a surplus?
Ian Lees-Galloway stuffed up. Everyone knows it. (only other option is he was told to make that 'unexpected' decision by someone higher up). Any half sensible person would have looked at the info. presented and decided (probably in about two minutes) Sourbek would not make a good citizen and deported him.
MBIE are now basically saying ILG should leave the decisions up to their officials as he is not competent to make them.
"MBIE are now basically saying ILG should leave the decisions up to their officials as he is not competent to make them."
Which is a bit like a pot calling a kettle black.
I'm waiting to see what the changes will be – especially with rights of appeal and the sequence that the IPT gets involved.
For many, the costs of involving the IPT (Fees, advocacy et al) can be beyond the means of some legitimate appellants – and that's even if they're aware of the procedure. I'm prepared to wait and see, although if the record to date is anything to go by, it'll take an eon and it'll be half-hearted improvements. Apparently Rome wasn't built in a day, nothing's ever bleeding bloody obvious and elitism is alive and well in lil 'ole egalitarian NuZull.
Pass me a cheeky Chardonnay will ya Jimmy
Isnt the point of Ministerial discretion (re immigration) to overcome inappropriate official inflexibility….the same officials who will now question themselves?
That's what I'd have thought, but apparently not. Ministers must be kept "above the fray" – even though they're our elected representatives.
I worry about what has become of the senior ranks in our public service (I mean quite apart from it being pale and stale and all the rest of it, AND the rise and rise of the generic manager). The "respect my authority!!!! " authoritarian, complacent, self-entitled culture that's evolved. We can see what's just happened with NZTA. It probably doesn't help much either that MBIE is full of ex-cops (some decent enough, others having to be 'managed' out).
The theory of the way things are supposed to operate, and what actually happens are often miles apart
Immigration decisions shouldn't be left up to officials. Nothing should be left entirely to the decisions of the sort of people who get to head entities and meet targets. They get harder and harder with often excuse of 'efficiency', and over time they get precedents that lock them into behaviours that do no credit to their department's standards or that of the country.
I think of the Hoover USA example. A nasty man it is said, and also staying in place and spying on everyone, with information useful for blackmail through leaks etc. The harder they are, the nastier they are, and more difficult to move on, till the system gets corrupted beyond recognition.
That's the nature of it @grey. The Hoover example will be the inevitable result of what's been in progress over the past 30 years.
The reforms all came equipped with the corporate culture (totally inappropriate for govt agencies – especially those dealing with social and cultural issues and policy). And with it also came the buzz and excuses that provide an out and preventing proper accountability (unless of course you're a rambunctious bugger with a heap of money prepared to push back). "I can't comment on operational matters" (which are ill-defined and when it suits), which I L-G just did.
Apparently, the senior ranks of the public service have become so precious that they are unable to suffer any critique (which is one of the reasons, supposedly, they get the big bucks for – going forward)
l’ll spare you from the rant I'm tempted to start. But quelle surprise there are now allegations of bullying and high staff turnovers. The sad thing is that a lot of it is all a matter of record and SFA changes until it all falls apart (such as with NZTA)
Any half sensible person would have looked at the info. presented and decided (probably in about two minutes) Sourbek would not make a good citizen and deported him.
I agree that any National minister of Immigration would have looked at a report saying the person's life could be in danger if they were deported and without the slightest qualm immediately chosen to deport the person. Fortunately, not everybody is like that, and personally I'm glad that Lees-Galloway isn't, because he's my electorate MP.
MBIE are now basically saying ILG should leave the decisions up to their officials as he is not competent to make them.
The same report points to a similarly "unexpected" decision by Woodhouse, so if the concern is ministerial incompetence there's a lot of it to go around.
Yes I believe a National immigration minister back in the nineties actually did have a complex case like that (Danny Butler?). I think one of the telling factors here is the polite way they have said ILG's decision was 'unexpected', in other words What the f#@$? We gave you enough ammunition and you still want this POS to be a resident!
Hopefully once Sourbek appeals and if he wins, he decides to live in your and ILG electorate and not mine.
Why should he win. Surely you are not saying hes POS and has a good case ?
I hope you are correct and he does not win (I did say "if") and is deported as soon as his sentence is finished.
I just think due to ILG's original unexpected decision he may have a strengthened case….but hopefully not.
If Helen Clark was prime minister, I think it would be a case of:
"Ian ……you are the weakest link……goodbye"
She wasnt all that ruthless
as long as you weren't one of those 'undeserving-families' she so successfully stigmatised/scape-goated…eh..?
Yes or no answers. Clark was better than 3 more years of Shipley, English or Brash governments in '02 and '05, and would have been much less damaging to NZ than Key in '08?
aah..!..the old not-as-bad-as excuse…
clark left a low-wage/high cost of living environment –
she did nothing on climate-change (didn't she know..?)
she blocked cannabis-law-reform..
she did nothing for the homeless..
and her stigmatising of the 'undeserving families'..
prepared the ground nicely for the incoming tory gummint and their war on the poor..didn't it..?
basically clark was/is a neoliberal-incrementalist –
just keeping the seat warm for the next one..
meet the new boss – same as the old boss..
Okay, question was obviously too tough, so let's ty again.
Clark was better than 3 more years of Shipley, English or Brash governments in '02 and '05, and would have been much less damaging to NZ than Key in '08, no?
see above..
Yeah, nah, evasion, not nearly good enough.
Another angle, then. In 2008, you celebrated the end of Clark as pm and welcomed the result which gave us a national government and key?
She didn't put up with fools.
Yea/nah, be fair Jimmy! A hae ma doots he'd end up anywhere near you, but if that ever came about, you could always lock yourself behind a gated "community". That'd be the most transformational and kind thing to do.
…I think one of the telling factors here is the polite way they have said ILG's decision was 'unexpected'…
Well, yeah, I expect the empathy void that is a National MP would far better match the officials' experience and expectations.
Hopefully once Sourbek appeals and if he wins, he decides to live in your and ILG electorate and not mine.
Yeah, right-wingers used to reply along the same lines when I commented that Ahmed Zaoui should be treated fairly, after which he did move to Palmerston North and lived here for years. Somehow that "POS" managed to restrain himself from carrying out the massacres and suicide bombings that right-wingers scare-mongered about. Likewise, if Sroubek (NB: not Sourbek, or "Shruu-brek" as Simon Bridges would have it) did move here, I don't think the community would be living in dread that he might try to import a few more ecstasy tabs.
Likewise, if Sroubek (NB: not Sourbek, or "Shruu-brek" as Simon Bridges would have it) did move here, I don't think the community would be living in dread that he might try to import a few more ecstasy tabs.
At least you would have the best parties!
Now do you know that from personal experience, Jimmy? Or are you just making another misguided jibe?
Just a jibe that time. I don't mix in the right circles (or want to) to do drugs. Guess I'm boring.
'..I don't think the community would be living in dread that he might try to import a few more ecstasy tabs. .'
heh..!
German white supremacist sets out to kill the Jews…posts mission statement on-line before killing two.
How's that bid to get the tech companies to prevent this kind if shit happening going???
Talk is cheap and easy.
On phone, can't provide link.
Here's one from CBS.
Thanks Molly.
Beggars belief that anyone could think that a few well orchestrated media events making The Christchurch Call was ever, ever going to prevent those who want/need to broadcast their hate from being able to do so.
ISIS made very good use of the www to broadcast their atrocities….I've been trying to remember which particular faction of violent haters began this live streamed terrorism.
Words will not stop this.
Beggars belief that anyone could think that a few well orchestrated media events making The Christchurch Call was ever, ever going to prevent those who want/need to broadcast their hate from being able to do so.
Basically the same argument the gun lobby is making re tighter firearm regulations, and with the same gaping hole in its logic.
For me the argument is for "effective firearm regulations", not just tighter.
I think that is may be the point Rosemary is trying to make. If it is, I agree with her.
Rosemary is completely wrong because she doesnt check it out
"anyone could think that a few well orchestrated media events making The Christchurch Call was ever"
They have taken real action on their video hosting services
"Take transparent, specific measures seeking to prevent the upload of terrorist and violent extremist content and to prevent its dissemination on social media and similar content-sharing services, including its immediate and permanent removal, without prejudice to law enforcement and user appeals requirements
https://www.christchurchcall.com/call.html
Not all platforms have the huge resources of the giants..
"Support smaller platforms as they build capacity to remove terrorist and violent extremist content, including through sharing technical solutions and relevant databases of hashes or other relevant material, such as the GIFCT shared database."
Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism – GIFCT
And yes Amazon is part of the 'call'
And no Rosemary it wasnt just some media appearances as thnese countries have 'signed' up
Founders
Founding supporters announced in Paris, May 15 2019
Supporters announced in New York on 23 September 2019
After looking at some facts, mabe the ‘beggars belief’ claim can be utterly refuted.
Isn't there an objectionable material publication approach that already exists that could be utilised and enforced – not just in this case – but in others? Surely it would be better to strengthen and utilise existing laws and guidelines rather than create another for specific material.
My concern lies with future arguments about which criteria offences occur under, rather than effectively stopping or punishing such offences. Also, countries signing up – means just that – countries signing up. Until actions are created that have teeth and consequences, we should hold off on the celebrations, the work has only just begun.
I will be surprised if you can get away with that extensive and ultimately not essential list taking up the screen DoU. When i spread myself I am trying to bring forward some joined up thoughts. A link and advice from you to study the list in situ would be quite enough for your purpose.
+ 1 duke
it streamed on an amazon gaming platform..
so outside the control of those ardern was talking to..
Amazon is part of the call.
The platform used in Germany was called Twitch which seems to be part opf the Amazon group.
There will be serious questions of Amazon over this
Ooooh!!!
"Serious Questions"!!!!
I bet Amazon are fair shitting themselves.
To stop this, the internet as we know it will have to be shut down.
are you saying we should shut the internet down, or that we can't stop white supremacy?
Picked up a couple of German hitch hikers making their way to the Cape the other day . Talkative one went to some trouble to explain the political and sociological differences between various parts of Germany. Much of the "white supremacy" angst originated back from the days of the Wall. East Germans, some of them feel like they've never caught up with the West. Influx of refugees and the immigrant support structures provided by the German government has enhanced the sense of disconnectedness in those groups.
As long as the world has populations who feel disenfranchised and excluded there will be these terrorist acts, and those who want to will always find a way of broadcasting their hate.
What we need is a worldwide, universal crisis that will transcend all these differences and historic grievances and unite us all. Something like the destruction of life on the planet due to climate change….?
Let's face it….as a species we're very probably doomed.
Unfortunately Rosemary you know even less about the internet than you do about the Christchurch call. (Usually you always give considered views with backup and not wild claims like this)
Plus terrorist attacks hadnt until recently been live streamed at all. They get massive publicity outside the live stream, so not possible to 'stop them ' even if every main platform did crack down hard.
Live streaming of users is only a small part of 'the internet' and a small part of the online video world.
Twitch was a gaming and e sports ( ha!) live streaming site but has moved into 'real event's more recently. Maybe they are a forgotten part of Amazon, they wont be now.
Fire. In a water deprived world it will obliterate infrastructure and natural life and environment, masses of human energy trying to plant forests to ameliorate climate change, and destroy our archives of the past, and our dreams for the future.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/400652/northern-california-hit-by-major-power-cuts-over-wildfire-fears
A number of areas in the world are fire prone because of the climate and vegetation and often hot dry winds which spread smaller fires into larger ones. The electric lines company is just taking precautions because if power lines start a fire they will have to pay for all the damage.
Fuck Spark sport. I, along with over 80,000 others in the country have not only lost the rugby, Formula1, World Rally champs but now cricket.
NZ Cricket have fucked up in a big way, after their best year ever for increasing the games popularity they have run themselves out on the first ball. Fuck you as well.
Yes I agree. Makes it hardly worth having Sky Sport now.
Only Cricket played in NZ. Doesnt include international cricket or Black Caps playing outside NZ
Thanks…I didn't know that.
So?. And how long before Spark falls over?. They are spending far more money than they can realisticly get back, only 80,000 "watched "their word, the first world cup game , is that watchers or subscribers, either way its not a lot of money. I notice Spark has not been crowing about how many are watching even the All Blacks games.I was an avid follower of F1 and WRC, but since Spark took it over I haven''t seen a single race, and I bet thousands of others are the same . It's my bet that they are losing huge amounts on those events alone. The same will happen to cricket, if people can't watch NZ play in NZ without paying a lot of money, projected subscriber numbers will fall a long way short of expectations.
Thats live streams . They dont know how many watchers for each stream, plus they did a tie in with Sky for a popup channel for pubs and clubs who pay commercial rates.
Isnt streaming a better delivery , as you can start when you like even 15 mins late, and make the half time longer before seeing the second half. The heavy rain doesnt affect the satellite feed.
I dont have it but isnt that 'more convenient'
Not in the country areas, broadband is still sub par. Like watching something in the 60s. Most have Sky just to get the news etc, art, docos, sport etc are an expensive little add-on, now the cost is considerably more, so in the country we are paying a shit load more than free to air in towns.
Once Sky was beamed from towers like TV signals but things changed.
Sky will move all sport to streaming , you can bet on it
Adrian don’t talk shit. You generalise without the facts. I live in the country without cable broadband. I’m served by wireless Vodafone through farmside. It’s not fast. 8- 11 MB’s. The reception through the Spark app although not perfect is perfectly adequate. None of the problems that have hit the headlines that have been poking a stick at spark. A lot of people haven’t done their homework or haven’t bothered to get advice thinking the games might be shown live on sky eventually . Duh. I’m in my sixties and have plenty of mates like that. I know not everyone can get wireless , ‘not to be confused with satellite’ but in some cases could be more reliable than landline. People who think they need ultra fast broadband to stream successfully are mistaken. By the way my phone and internet with plenty of Gigs is just over $100 a month. I would say a lot of the problems are more to do with the home setups
Is it shit to now need up to 6 subscriptions to get half of what one was able to supply.
Absolutely is shit to have to pay subs all over the place. I for one won’t be buying the spark cricket even though I like watching it occasionally. It was your opinion of rural internet coverage that was a wide sweeping generalisation in my opinion. From what I can see a lot of people haven’t worked out they don’t need a smart TV to stream. A chrome cast or similar is just fine. I’m picking the next time this happens people will be prepared. Maybe not my 92 year old mum in law.
Listen, New view. If your Mum-in-law is 92, you are already far too old to claim the pseudonym you use. You stale old thing.
Well “In Vino” What ever that is supposed to mean. If you took the time read my original comment you would see I stated I was in my sixties. Not that old these days In Vino ( what ever that means ). I thought that my comment actually contributed some information so what did yours contribute. Apart from having a pointless poke at me. I would suggest you analyse your own comments a little more instead.
That's great news!
India, Australia, England and Sth African Women are all tourists in 2020. Best schedule for NZ cricket @ home in a long spell.
I am a consumer of the spark rugger content.
All the games are there to watch on demand.
I love the product.
Duke
Check out GreaterAuckland for commentary on the light rail NZSuper ppp and concession.
Thanks . Involving Bombardier, I always thought, was a scam as they are the vehicle builders.
The PPP structure is never good anyway, as the total costs structure is higher , even worse now that interest rates to build are low.
The details of Montreal are even more disturbing, as there is no risk for the 8-9% return. None at all. And the Consortium is likely to sell out to an investment bank consortium after 5 years to take their profits early.
Australia upping the authoritarianism ante, again.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/09/absurd-bail-conditions-prevent-extinction-rebellion-protesters-going-near-other-members
Australian Constitution doesnt seem to have any provisions regarding political expression. It did say ( now repealed) that Aborigines werent to be counted as part of States populations.
Dont seem to be able to find the Constitution of NSW
Australian authorities (federal or state) may be standing on shaky ground when it comes to intervening in demonstrations/protests relating to or pertaining to the environment.
And they sure don't make a lot of friends by doing so. But they would argue that disruption to commerce in CBD areas doesn't solve or resolve anything, and that peaceful protests can turn ugly very quickly when those disrupted become angered due to the inconvenience.
While not everyone may share the same belief as many of those involved in or supporting the Extinction Rebellion movement, it must be clearly evident that so many of those attending such events honestly and forthrightly believe that they are making a stand in relation to right of life and well-being. For many, it is a fight for their lives in relation to their future existence. To use government mechanism as a tool to obstruct or dismantle the expression of people who are in survival mode, is most unwise.
History has shown this to be true so many times.
Both open debate and education in relation to known scientific fact, and general deliberation on global temperature concerns would be very healthy at this juncture.
Politicising it and engaging in fervour tactics only goes so far.
These people will not be going away any time soon, irrespective of how much government is thrown at them. This includes muppets who believe that because a lower court has deemed something as appropriate, (bail conditions for example), that it is a matter of Simon Says.
Countermeasures in relation to this court imposed circumvention:
Permitted street demonstrations authorised by various city authorities. Permits in relation to lawful assembly demonstrations at parks and reserves. Rock solid legal representation (more likely requiring money, money and money) for the movement, and both mainstream media and social media scrutinising of all and any decisions made at local authority level which might show evidence of anti Extinction Rebellion sentiment and/or bias in relation to permit decision making.
So often, at street level, so much of the intricacy of environmental matters relates to local authority decision making, not just political central government rhetoric, narrative or transient mandate.
I observe that Joel Fitzgibbon, (Australian Labor Party, Hunter, NSW) appears open to at least arriving at something close to climate change policy along the lines of the Paris Accord, which could be fine tuned later.
Perhaps following his sort of lead could be helpful for Australians to consider.
Bail is supposed to be given with conditions only so they cant repeat the offences or contact people who were also involved. But only for serious offences
Not sure street blocking offences are covered by bail – as they are probably what is known as Summary Offences which are a 'fine only' if convicted
https://www.ruleoflaw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-09-20-Bail-Laws-in-NSW-FINAL.pdf
In London they would arrest those blocking the streets who would return the next day to do it all over again
A judge has now revoked the bail conditions.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/10/extinction-rebellion-scott-ludlam-has-absurd-bail-conditions-dismissed-by-judge?CMP=share_btn_tw
anyone wondering what citizen thiel has been up to..?
https://www.mintpressnews.com/cia-israel-mossad-jeffrey-epstein-orwellian-nightmare/261692/
(it's quite a long read – but an interesting one..)
"Upon this rock, they shall build a monolith".
He most certainly seems to be, a busy bee !
Assadist falls out of love.
https://twitter.com/Partisangirl/status/1181393097952940032
https://twitter.com/Partisangirl/status/1181281166726295553
https://twitter.com/Partisangirl/status/1181388945289932800
Sorry I couldn't put the fix in for your money launderer. Here, have some some Kurds.
https://twitter.com/ColinKahl/status/1182071789737795584
President Donald Trump pressed then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to help persuade the Justice Department to drop a criminal case against an Iranian-Turkish gold trader who was a client of Rudy Giuliani, according to three people familiar with the 2017 meeting in the Oval Office.
Tillerson refused, arguing it would constitute interference in an ongoing investigation of the trader, Reza Zarrab, according to the people. They said other participants in the Oval Office were shocked by the request.
Tillerson immediately repeated his objections to then-Chief of Staff John Kelly in a hallway conversation just outside the Oval Office, emphasizing that the request would be illegal. Neither episode has been previously reported, and all of the people spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the conversations.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-09/trump-urged-top-aide-to-help-giuliani-client-facing-doj-charges
Interesting. Seems Matt Drudge ain't quite such a Fake-bronze Fuhrer fanboi anymore. Or maybe he's just getting his jollies watching it all erupt.
Feel the chill – lesser journalists would be frozen solid by now.
In reality, Nicky Hager probably never left the surveillance; "them against the rest of us" chain gang, and may never.
Certain agency staff may have long memories, but by public account, they appear genuine about moving on, and to kind of forgive and forget.
But how about the little brothers, big sisters, little sisters and the Sgt Dickheads of all shapes and sizes who believe that, just the same, it is their civic duty to hold a grudge against him for matters probably already considered by higher echelon to be more or less historical, and not needing a re-visited?
Perhaps it is food for thought.
I personally believe that he could find further fulfillment (over and above advisory to the IGIS Reference Group), working part time in the field of law practice procedures pertaining to both the secure handling, and the prevention of mishandling of clients' material by law practitioners.
If your elected representative doesn't appear to be pulling his or her weight, if grabbing them by the horns doesn't work, or if their oratory skills aren't producing sufficient bang for buck, perhaps try this:
https://golf.swingbyswing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/hog.jpg
Parliamentary and local body salaries are not meant to be hog to get high on.
Parliamentary session presentations, (via Hansard), not to be used for hog wash either.
With all due respect.
With all due respect karol121 you seem to have deep concerns about security, and whistleblowers and other things, hogs amongst them.
Incomprehensible to follow. What was your point again. Perhaps list multiple ones with bullet points for the benefit of us all.
+1. Unclear, karol121.
Sure, Greywarshark/In Vino
I accept. Syntax and context can sometimes be an issue for me, especially when presenting my quarter in haste.
The point is that while so many people express concern (both justified and not) at the extent of surveillance by the state mechanism, and while they also express concern with regard to the powers relating to physical access by the state, fixation on this can distract people from recognizing the many opportunists, well established, who operate as their own form of surveillance mechanism, along with handling of trouble-makers, irrespective of state intent or even political intent.
The other point is that it is the people who generally both make demands, and set the standard in relation to state observation (or interference).
It would be reasonable to assume that after the state infrastructure has long since closed it's books on people who were once of interest, there would be others with considerable portfolios and access who, for their own emotional or positional reasons, carry on "the fight".
So, in context, whilst not necessarily sympathizing with Nicky Hager, the chances are very high that he will never be free from intrusion or loose observation of one sort or another, if not for the sole reason of grudges held by many with regard to his historical behavior.
Many might advise him to stay as publicly visible as he can.
If he ceased doing what he has been doing, the state would probably consider that their resources are to be best spent elsewhere.
Believing that the state infrastructure would keep much of an eye on him once salient operational matters have been laid to rest might be just a little shallow, but believing that others would keep an eye on him is most realistic.
Which is why, once marked with a particular label, it can be difficult for people to avoid the impact of the association with it.
For example, if a person punched a star All-Black in the mouth and put him out of action during a test series, that person would likely be convicted of assault. But that would not be the end of the matter for the offender. Others would wish to send him their message.
The so-called good folk will very often take over (often quietly) where and when they do not feel that the state mechanism has adequately dealt with an issue.
It is clear that there is a massive amount of surveillance opportunity available to people. Even sophisticated hardware and software can now be managed by a school child.
The wider community, Hell bent on asserting it's right to security, privacy, justice and freedom, is basically creating it's own surveillance society.
Even in New Zealander, people are fast adopting a quasi-marae style culture where, aside from episodic engagement in matters of one to one approved intimacy, personal hygiene considerations and business confidentiality, most everything else is running at a fast pace to being public domain, and needing to be scrutinized by others.
Both state and corporate will usually mimic the masses on such matters.
Where it goes once it reaches the point where most everything is visible is anybody's guess. It's not my intention to argue whether this is good, bad, right or wrong. It is just a fact.
Perhaps social credit bureau scoring such as we hear reported throughout the People's Republic of China would be the next step. I wouldn't envisage too many Kiwis getting up on their hind legs and doing much of anything to prevent it, other than to vent dissatisfaction.
Now billionaires in the USA can pay less tax than workers, even before 'optimising' their tax liabilities – the basic tax rates permit them to pay less.
John Key's wet dream!
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-billionaires-low-tax-rate-working-class-cost-a9148746.html
The arrogance of the UK Conservatives is outstanding. One of their strongest traits it seems. Beyond that is an aching void.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPcx3cIlamg Brexit: Saturday parliamentary session to decide UK future confirmed for October – BBC News
Jeremy Hunt former Foreign Secretary to the Conswervs says with a straight face that the EU are perhaps going to have a catastrophic failure in statecraft or they haven't really understood what is happening in British politics right now. He looks quite exited to be the centre of attention explaining how important Britain is and the rest are mired in bureaucratic circumlocutions. Or words to that effect.
19th October is a Saturday, and Parliament is sitting that day, an historic event and I think it was said, the last time this occurred was over the Falkland War and Maggie was busy screwing over Britain to start it, and cynics say, to turn the disenchanted public eye from the unpopularity of her and the Conservatives. It is a shame that the Conservatives want to upend Britain every few decades.
It seems that the EU is trying strenuously to cope with Britain (United Kingdom?) playing fast and loose with their important national agreement and treaty, but Tusk is getting testy, and the others are being deliberately temperate no doubt to balance Johnson's Trump-like presentation.
Associated press 9 Oct 2019: The Latest: EU's Tusk says Brexit part of brutality….
…During a speech in Athens on Wednesday, European Council President Donald Tusk encouraged political leaders to heed ancient Athenian general Thucydides’ warning about the dangers of war and confrontation….
The president of the European Union’s council of national leaders says Brexit results from confrontational politics with “the ability to deal brutally with opponents, competitors, misfits or strangers.”…
He cited the Trump administration and European countries “where the foundations of liberal democracy and the rule of law are being undermined” as being part of the same trend that is taking the U.K. out of the EU.
Tusk said: “Violence, lies, hate speech, myths, and resentment: These are the tools of today’s politics.”
3:55 p.m.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker says he is working with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to find a way to end a stalemate with Britain’s government over a Brexit agreement.
Juncker told the European Parliament on Wednesday: “Personally, I don’t exclude a deal. Michel and myself are working on a deal.”
He refused to be more specific but made clear that talks between the two sides haven’t come to an irreparable standstill.
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
I agree we have to take action NOW to minimise and mitigate human cause Global Warming and Sea levels rising. Kia Kaha to all the intelligence tangata that know and can see the effects of Global Warming.
Ocasio-Cortez tells world's mayors drastic action needed on climate crisis
In a passionate address to leaders of 94 cities in Copenhagen, the congresswoman called ‘runaway’ pursuit of profit unsustainable
US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that tackling the climate crisis will involve making dramatic economic changes in a passionate closing speech at the C40 World Mayors summit in Copenhagen on Friday.
In her first overseas appearance as an elected politician, the 29-year-old was invited to speak after the C40, which represents the mayors of 94 cities worldwide, and which this week pledged support for a global version of her flagship Green New Deal policy.
“It is unsustainable to continue to believe [in] our system of runaway, unaccountable, lawbreaking pursuit of profit,” she told the conference.
Instead, she said, the world needed to adopt “a cooperative, collaborative” system, “whose economy … benefits the middle and lower classes and marginalised people”.
‘Inspirational': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez applauds mayors’ Global Green New Deal
Read more
“Our current logic created this mess and operating in the same way will not get us out.”
This uncompromising message won her a powerful round of applause. But it was when she came to the impact climate change had had on her own life, and on her family in Puerto Rico, that she became emotional.
“I speak to you as a human being, a woman whose dreams of motherhood now taste bittersweet because of what I know about our children’s future,” she said, her voice breaking as if she was struggling to hold back tears.
“That our actions are responsible for bringing their most dire possibilities into focus.”
From the moment she began speaking, the main hall at the summit became completely still, and when she finished, the ovation she received far exceeded that received by the veteran climate campaigner and former vice-president Al Gore, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen; or the UN secretary general, António Guterres.
“She got a rockstar welcome in that audience,” Nicholas Reece, a city councillor from Melbourne, Australia, said. “There’s just something about her which is really mobilising and electrifying people around the world, particularly young people.”
After her speech, Ocasio-Cortez joined the weekly Fridays for Future rally outside Copenhagen city hall, where she called on the gathered activists to “make sure the politicians sweat a little bit”.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/11/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-c40-world-mayors-summit-climate-crisis
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/KSN7Nz4ECQM
Kia Ora 1 News.
Its great that a quater of Aotearoa Mayors are Wahine.
Jailhouse witness will say what ever they are told to say times are changing.
I don't agree our farms need to respect our futures environment and Wai of course they are going to cry foul about the new water laws when I drive around I see Wai ways not fence off and stock in them these are dry stock farms.
Don't you think its suspicious that all of a sudden there's heaps of data breaches now we have a Left leaning Government.
Te Wahine will lead Ngapuhi towards the correct route to build a moanga for their Mokopuna.
I think Wellington Bucket fountain is cool.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Its good to hear that Te Maori party wants to line up with the left Tangata .
Ka pai to all Te tangata whenua running for Council in Turangi Nui A Kiwa.
Its great to see that Rotorua has elected a diverse selection of councilors.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Breakfast Show.
I read a article about someone examineing our history he came to a conclusion that it was ballance of the left and right side of man Yin Yang. He was 1/2 correct it is ballance but the correct fact is its a ballance of human leadership between Wahine and Tane 50/50.
Nice Bubble. It amazing me that tangata have a 1 minute memorie.
Ha what about the Great statement I will not raise GST he loaded Aotearoa taxes load on the Common Poor people who have to spend all their putea guess what culture has the most poor tangata. The big elephant in the room on Kiwisaver is the way the broke rates went up to %10 to 20 under shonky is it a coincidence that banks prophets went through the roof to I think not.
Wai is a taonga. Tangata need to learn to give it respect try to use as little as possible so Our other beings creatures on Papatuanuku can live a long healthy life look around Papatuanuku and see what happens when we use it in excess and treat it like a thing that is only created for tangata.
Its a fact that money rules the Papatuanuku not logic.
Congratulations on 5 years of being Alcohol free.
Ka kite Ano
I think the the local tangata of Ethiopia National Wildlife parks should be running the parks this method will solve quite a few problems.
Last wolves in Africa: the fragile wildlife of Ethiopia's ravaged parks
Conservationist Getachew Assefa points across the valley. “It started close to the mist over there, by the most spectacular viewpoint,” he says. “Almost all the grassland was burnt. All of that plateau and the steep cliff over there.”
Six months after wildfires torched this part of Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains, the scars are healing: heather and grass have returned to carpet the hilltop, brightened by the yellow daisies which bloom after the long rains. On the near side of the valley lie barley fields, rippling in the wind.
The scene is bucolic. But, as Assefa explains, these montane grasslands and the rare wildlife they host are under threat.
The Simien Mountains are home to the highly endangered Ethiopian wolf. Photograph: Claudio Sillero/EWCP
Two fires broke out earlier this year, ravaging one of the oldest natural Unesco world heritage sites, and destroying, at least temporarily, the habitat of some of the world’s rarest species: the copper-coated Ethiopian wolf and the walia ibex, a goat found nowhere else on earth
Few doubt the blazes’ cause. The park’s wolf monitors – which include Assefa – saw, through binoculars, two men setting tussocks alight, though they couldn’t confirm their identities.
For Crane, one answer is to increase the park price for foreign visitors, to try to limit the number coming to the Simien Mountains each year.
Meanwhile Watkin suggests Ethiopia considers alternative conservation approaches that allow communities to take ownership of the process, moving away from the state-led “fortress conservation” model that prevails. He notes examples in Kenya and Tanzania, where local communities run eco-lodges and tourism ventures while ensuring the landscape is protected. “They’re 20 to 30 years ahead of Ethiopia in this,” he says.
Such approaches might make it possible for Ethiopia to square the circle between conservation and development.
“The core of the problem is that tourism is not working for the locals,” says Joshua Amlakse, a Simien Mountains guide. “Nothing ends up in the local community
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/11/last-wolves-in-africa-fragile-wildlife-ethiopia-park
Let hope that European Investment Bank does the correct thing and stops lending to fossil fuel companies. Its a logical step to take considering the facts that Europe is going to be one of the hardest hit by Global Warming and sea level rising. Some countries are already feeling the negative effects of Global Warming Sea levels rising need I say whom.
Divestment works – and one huge bank can lead the way
Bill McKibben
On 15 October, the European Investment Bank meets to decide its policy on fossil fuels. The hand of history is on its shoulder
Millions of people marched against climate crisis over the past two weeks, in some of the largest demonstrations of the millennium. Most people cheered the students who led the rallies – call them the Greta Generation. But now we’ll start to find out if all their earnest protest actually matters.
EIB plans to cut all funding for fossil fuel projects by 2020
Read more
Perhaps the first real test will come on 15 October, when the board of the EU’s European Investment Bank – the largest public bank in the world – meets to decide whether the time has finally come to stop expanding the fossil fuel sector. This should be a no-brainer decision: the bank’s staff has put forward a cogent proposal, supported by campaigners across the continent, that would end loans to new fossil fuel projects by 2020.
And if the EIB does act, it will send a strong signal to markets and to other lenders. For almost a decade now, observers have understood that restricting the flow of money to the fossil fuel industry is a key part of the climate fight. That’s why endowments and portfolios worth more than $11tn have begun divesting their fossil fuel stocks; last month the University of California system became the latest big player to join in, scrubbing its $80bn endowment and pension fund of fossil fuel stocks. Heck, even a major American utility announced that it was divesting its pension fund because it could see where the future lay.
The fifteenth of October is a crucial day in the most important fight the planet has ever faced, and a sign of whether Europe’s governments, particularly those of Germany and Italy, who insiders report have been strongly against a fossil-free EIB policy, will respond with open hearts to the outpouring of hope we have seen in the past weeks.
• Bill McKibben is the founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org and author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/13/divestment-bank-european-investment-fossil-fuels
Kia Ora 1 News.
Ka pai to the Canadian Rugby team for helping clean up in Japan.
Congratulations to Japan for making the 1/4 finals in the Rugby Papatuanuku Cup.
The kane toads a killing Australia native wildlife Australia has had A problem with Kane TOADS for a while – – – – – – – – – – -??????? Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
That's awesome a recycling old phones system that cool that some are being reused a lot of phones just need new batteries.
That's a great idea a public holiday to remember The New Zealand Wars this event needs to be known by all Kiwis Ka pai Ming
Kia Kaha to the students striking for their future climate the harder you mahi the better future you will have.
Japan made the 1/4 finals in Te Papatuanuku Rugby Cup it awesome to see Te Tangata Whenua o Aotearoa connections.
7 week programme to teach tamariki about respecting Wai Awa and Tangaroa ki ora.
Excellent Ngāti Porou Tane training people about how to hunt and gather Open Places.
Congratulations on your being honoured for your great Waiata Dennis Mash
Ka kite Ano
https://youtu.be/g_D5vzqBVWo
Kia Ora Breakfast.
Tawhirimate has been going strong and still is I had to reset my satellite dish because it had moved my wind turbine is going to.
Elton John is a incredibly talented person.
Kiwi Space radar is a very good idea tracking space rubbish space junk. Keeping a track of the junk so other space vehicles /devices can stay clear of the space junk.
Its good that Pharmac is going to pay for things that some Wahine need.
I agree the Big interest in Wahine Sports around the Papatuanuku is not A fad Nicola from the Wahine Sports institute of Minnesota
Biketober is a great way to get the Tangata of Christchurch out of cars and onto bike that is good for our environment and one's health. We have Ebikes now.
Condolences to the person who was losted in the Yacht sinking.
That's the big picture put the bottle of Alcohol down bar fight
Trampolines are great exasize for Te mokopuna in Tawhirimate like this they have to be weighted down sand bags on the feet. I went to check my cows one morning next minute I got there a neighbour trampoline had blown onto my electric set fence cows had broken out and made a mess.
Ka kite Ano
It's amazing technology that has made it very easy for the Papatuanuku to change to Green Carbon free Energy. I congratulate the 3 scientists for their Awesome improvements of batteries that are going to power our Futures
Nobel prize in chemistry awarded for work on lithium-ion batteries
John B Goodenough, M Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino honoured for sparking a portable technology revolution
The Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for their work in developing lithium-ion batteries.
John B Goodenough of the University of Texas at Austin, M Stanley Whittingham of Binghamton University and Akira Yoshino of Meijo University will receive equal shares of the 9m Swedish kronor (£74o,000) prize, which was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on Wednesday.
At 97 years old, Goodenough is the oldest laureate to receive a Nobel prize in any discipline; Whittingham is the second British-born researcher to win a science Nobel this year.
Ion age: why the future will be battery powered
Read more
Lithium-ion batteries have long been tipped for the award, not least since they have proved pivotal in the development of the high-tech world we inhabit.
“They have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind,” the academy said.
Far lighter and more compact than earlier types of rechargeable battery, and able to hold their charge for longer, they are found in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric cars.
“The [electric car] batteries no longer weigh two tonnes, but 300kg,” said Prof Sara Snogerup Linse, a member of the Nobel committee for chemistry. “The ability to store energy from renewable sources, the sun, the wind, opens up for sustainable energy consumption,” she added.
The upshot was a lightweight, compact battery that could be recharged many, many times – the bedrock of modern technology. The battery continues to be developed, not least to improve its environmental impact.
Prof Dame Carol Robinson, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said battery technology remained an exciting field.
“It’s not the end of the journey, as lithium is a finite resource and many scientists around the world are building on the foundations laid by these three brilliant chemists,” she said Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/oct/09/nobel-prize-in-chemistry-awarded-for-work-on-lithium-ion-batteries
yeah, right. TUI
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lithium-batteries-environment-impact
cause we want our cars, we are deserving of our cars, we shall not be using public transport, we are entitled to our private transport, and the world can get fucked, so as long as i have mine and my comforts. besides you and i shall never see the mess lithium mining makes so it must be green, and good, and such.
I know Sabine. But few developed nations aren't hooked on them, or well on their way to still becoming hooked? Private motorcars that is.
But a general rule of thumb is that, aside from the basics pertaining to well being, from a consumption standpoint, as newer generations come along, what they have not had the use of cannot be missed by them. This rule also extends to private motorcars.
Considering this, it is easy to seriously consider the likelihood that global plans have been on the drawing board for quite some time to fully maximise the use of shared transport to the point where most living in even moderately sized locales will be heavily discouraged from private vehicle ownership, or forbidden outright to do so relatively soon.
By 2035, a child born in New Zealand today may well be forced to use modernized, high technology public transport infrastructure as their primary or sole means of wheeled of transport, even in little old isolated K1W1.
However, if New Zealand plays its cards right with regard to what I suspect is a general global understanding based on resource and environmental necessity, it may well end up with a stay of execution, and may well be one of the last countries on the planet to still continue to provide private motor vehicle options for the mainstream public past 2035.
In part, Ms Collins puts up some reasonable argument in relation to petroleum, carbon emissions and the global warming topic. But she would, wouldn’t she? As many respondents have already indicated, many of her assertions are not so widely accepted. But it is not all anecdotal in support of current energy use.
Perhaps most New Zealanders may not have considered where things are so likely to be heading to, and soon. Perhaps partly because little has really been done politically to deprive people of the opportunity to acquire private motor cars, petrol, diesel or electric.
There are a very fearful group of NZ politicians who suspect that their political futures would be curtailed if they voted in favor of any such future policy. Not because of any underhand mechanism backed by the oil industry or motor vehicle manufacturing industry obstructing them or punishing them for being so bold, but as a result of the bitterness of a general public which will always hold long memories on matters pertaining to the removal of their traditional lifestyle "choices".
I wouldn't blame politicians for adopting this stance, nor damn them for acting on such fears. After all, it's not the same as a plastic bag or tobacco campaign.
Personally I am grateful for the motor vehicle advantage that I've had over the coarse of my life. Selfish sounding, I guess.
A well respected and noted American (Robert Lutz) who held senior positions with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler has put forward his stance on the likely path that will be taken in relation to private motor car ownership in the medium term, and he's not the only person with a wealth of automotive industry senior management experience to hold similar views.
Petroleum fueled private motor cars out, and battery powered in. This wont bring about a cessation in the use of petroleum products as fuel alternative, but will redirect the use of it to industries and mechanisms considered critical. This currently includes passenger airliners and merchant marine, (not just military or industries described as dirty).
If the current manufacture of such components are an environmental issue for many in the meantime, then it is just the price that is paid for attempting to continue to provide both convenience and lifestyle related mechanism to a very hungry, consumption orientated global market, and with a global population growing at a rate of about 220,000 people a day.
its ok. don't worry, you are not the only one who is happy to replace fossil fuel with lithium mining. its hard giving up privilege and comfort especially when we are grown accustomed to it. Lifestyle they call it. Right?
Yes Sabine. To use a (sort of) oxymoron; happy, in a sad sort of way.
So, agreed. New Zealander's are very accustomed to it, rich and poor. And they are so unlikely to break the habit any time soon.
Wheels, (and perhaps nuts as well)!
I Question these figures to as Cat poo thing YEA RIGHT get off the grass
Questions remain over Māui threat plan cost
Ongoing drama surrounds the Māui and Hector's dolphin threat management plan, with worries key information is not being made public promptly
The way costs were calculated for fishing bans to protect Māui and Hector’s dolphins is under review – but will go to Government ministers before the public is told
For one year, stopping set-netting in 14,600 square km off the west coast of the North Island, the draft plan estimates a reduction of total economic value of $16.8m.This is based on the lost revenue of what the fish sells for, as well as value from processing and supply.
Yeoman’s estimation of the value of the fishery is substantially lower, at $1.1m.
With only 63 Māui dolphins remaining, the stakes are high for the sub-species. The threat management plan proposes human-induced deaths of Māui dolphins need to be reduced to as “near as practicable to zero”.
It hasn't just been economists querying numbers. Scientists have disagreed with a calculation regarding the impact of toxoplasmosis on Māui dolphins. The plan estimates two Māui dolphin die each year due to the disease, making it more lethal to the species than commercial fishing. This was based on analysis of dead dolphins and interpreting what's found in dead dolphins to what is happening with live dolphins
Ka kite Ano link below
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/10/15/859096/hold-maui-dolphin
Kia Ora 1 News.
That's is cool the Japan Rugby fan painting the rugby Jersey on his skin and becoming a celebrity in the process.
Minority culture being treated very badly in America no guns Condolences to Miss Jefferson whanau for their loss.
I seen the launch of that Manuka Honey Branded product that's being sold in Harrods Britain.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Awsome a Maori centred $ 80 million building being built in Rotorua
Awsome that some schools are getting more putea especially the Maori ones everyone knows we are pohara.
I''' our netball team is in good form
Mana Wahine Te Wahine sports stars are shining bright now Kia Kaha
Ka kite Ano