Has quite a few quirks on mobile. I'll ignore those because the theme is due to get upgraded shortly. Mobile will disappear and it will just be an flexing attribute of the theme.
I felt a bit cold yesterday when fighting asp.net/c#, and woke with a stuffy head this morning so had sick day and read a three books in bed between naps then idled with some comments.
But I did some work on it this evening.
Fast enough, especially when you consider that I'm passing the content to sphinx search to figure out the snippets for each line. Works best on the simple searches.
Why is there radio silence on tory and wellington council wanting to sell wellington airport 🛫 🛬 yet it was such a big deal when auckland were thinking of it??
Well at 2.00pm a Special General meeting of the WCC is taking place called by a majority of councillors in an effort to rescind the decision to sell the shares….Greens, Labour and some independents. Nikau wi Neera a Green councilor who is one who opposes the sale and wants it overturned, is apparently coming under tremendous personal/family pressure from his Aunt who is one of the two iwi reps. One of the iwi reps is not acting to recuse themselves on a conflict of interest, where the iwi is planning to buy the shares should the sale proceed and neither is Tim Brown who works for Infratil.
In addition the Mayor is saying that the proposed resolution has to go to a committee on which the the two Iwi reps have been given a vote and not to the full Council because of 'delegation' issues. Hugn Rennie KC has said the council legal advice is incorrect. The council advice is that having delegated an action the delegator is unable to act itself. This advice is contrary to well established legal precedent that was around when I was involved with Boards with stautory repsosilites 'back in the day'. This was that the delegator was able to either rescind in part or in whole a delegation or reserve to itself matters within a delegation scheme that it wants to deal with itself.
A short time ago a sewer pipe broke around Bowen street?parliament within walking distance of the place where the meeting is to be held, I think the 'pipes call' in Wgtn as this happened but with water when PM/Simeon Brown fired a shot over the bows of the local authorities over rating increases, and nice to haves at the LGA conference in August.
As we wait now there has been a security alert where the meeting is to be held.
Work is required clearly on the iwi rep issue as to whether selected reps have a vote at the full council and to clarify the delegation issue, yet again
Rumour has it, beltway rumours are endemic here, that the Chief Ombudsman and Audit are waiting in the wings to act should 'something' to happen.
In the meantime the issue has united many who other would seen as not being able to unite working on a best for Wellington point of view.
Quick question regarding WordPress with the "wp-comments-post.php" suffix lprent. A lot of corporates block this on their firewalls, any easy fix for that?
It is true that the British/or their ancestors have been at war every day for the past 3000 years making the British the most violent race in world history. Simple fact.
You continue spouting simplistic factoids, e.g., the British are not a race and nor are Māori for that matter. I don’t think you’re that smart after all.
Exactly. Though ironically, there was a time when the British regarded their control of large parts of the world as evidence of the superiority of the British 'race'. Koina is therefore repeating a fallacious understanding of 'race' that was first popularised by white supremacists.
Incognito, when I evaluate the 'feel' of Belladonna's comment, to me there is a strong subtext of 'race' to their statements. So while koina may not use the correct language according to definition, I believe koina has captured the intent of BD's comments accurately.
And Maori also had a society that was heavily interconnected and stabilised by family alliances and strategic marriages. Plus Maori culture gave rise, via Parihaka (which was reported in the Commonwealth press, inspiring Ghandi in South Africa), to an international movement of peaceful, non-violent protest.
As for Te Rauparaha epitomising Maori culture; by extension of your judgement, therefore Hitler epitomises German culture. Get real. It's either a whole culture, or a 'great man' – you cannot pick and choose from case to case.
You seem to be drinking at the eugenics well of pitting one culture against another, to claim superiority for a narrow range of European Enlightenment values which skipped large parts of the actual political reality.
This is the sort of cod history that will be more and more amplified by Seymour and others in the mess of Te Tiriti debate.
By all means continue in your misguided defense of living standards in Victorian England. Perhaps you can put up some life expectancy stats from the 1800s to 1880s?
Realizing that there is a 90% hole in 90% of all historical " accounts" pre 1900 has served me well. 99% of "history" and it is "his "story is about the 1% of the upper classes while every one else is ignored. When I first went to England in 1977 having been "taught" how Britain was the the birth of a great empire I was shocked because to my eyes England looked like a slum and most of the people lived in poverty. Where was the great Empire? I stopped watching TV 1 news in 1974 (Only one TV channel in those days) because I realized there was no news just right wing White propaganda. So realizing that 90% of what people tell me is either B/S or so badly skewed I rarely believe any thing any one tells me and I question everything. So by the time I was ten years old I realized that 90% of the White "accounts" of the "history " of these lands were so riddled with holes and drenched in White prejudice and were simply propaganda to justify the illegal White invasion.
I find koina's statements in this conversation to be a perfectly justifiable world view, based on their own experience, especially when critiquing Britain based on what they lived through there. I may not agree with all they say, but it shows up narrow-mindedness to write off all koina says to an ignorance of the world and how it works 'according to Belladonna'.
I'll put up the life expectancy stats of Victorian England, when you put up the life expectancy stats of 18th century Maori.
I won't hold my breath.
Actually, putting up those stats might be quite easy – almost as easy as holding one’s breath. I recall Anne Salmond writing about some such in the early 90s – there's a citation link embedded in this paper.
Salmond’s 1991) comparative ethnography of early contact argues that, despite differences in population, culture and technology in Britain and Aotearoa, Māori health was likely better and longevity quite similar:
… Europeans lived about as long as pre-European Māori, but overall … they were more prone to disease and quite often less well fed. (Salmond 1991, p. 48)
I was asked for life expectancy in Victorian England.
Yes, but you asked for "the life expectancy stats of 18th century Maori", and said you wouldn't be holding your breath, in your typically respectful manner.
It was that request of yours I was responding to – why it this so difficult?
You haven't given any statistics of life expectancy for 18th century Maori – just an opinion.
And one which is contradicted by other sources (see earlier comment)
I'm still not holding my breath. For the very simple reason that they don't exist. A pre-literate culture (regardless of the high cultural level), simply doesn't collect or record statistics on anything.
' Liverpool, England’s second largest city and its second port, with a population of 376,000 in 1851, was infamous for its high mortality rates, and life expectancy was as low as 28 years in the period 1838-44. Manchester, only slightly smaller than Liverpool in size, experienced similarly low levels of life expectancy in the mid-nineteenth century, but also experienced more rapid improvements. Manchester and Liverpool provide some support for the argument that large northern industrial and manufacturing cities experienced much worse conditions, and higher mortality rates, than their slower-growing southern counterparts.'
If you think that births and deaths in Britain's noisome Victorian slums were accurately recorded, then dream on. Working back from rural parish registers does not properly measure pre-census Britain's population either.
Are you then equating the life experience of people in Victorian Liverpool or Manchester, with pre-European NZ. Hardly a ringing endorsement….. People living in the worst slums in Britain had the same life-expectancy as 18th century Maori.
There were huge population influxes to Northern England from the Irish escaping the potato famine. Picking Manchester and Liverpool is purposefully picking the worst cities.
(But that sets me up for a recommendation – North and South (2004) – a romance set amongst strife between the mill owners and mill workers in Manchester (in disguise) just after that time period. Lots of great actors and a reminder why unions are needed.)
The potato famine was in 1845-52, outside the timeframe quoted.
And I do remember reading in some NZ history or other that NZ Maori population was close to the limit of the food resources available. Which is why people ground their teeth down to the nerves eating fern root in some areas.
And why Maori were extremely quick to pick up agriculture and horticulture, and benefit from food plants introduced by incoming Europeans.
You picked out two particular years with the implication that their were many similar years. Given you mentioned 1851 specifically, the potato famine fits within the timeframe. According to Wikipedia, in 1851, 20% of Liverpool's population was Irish.
My point was that these cities were atypical compared to other English cities for this and other reasons.
Actually, I can across an interesting reference. Basically, it says that a more virulent strain of scarlet fever increased death rates in children to such an extent that the average life expectancy dropped. But also other things mattered "including the Irish famine and the epidemiological effects of rising population densities and connectedness,".
Davenport RJ. Urbanization and mortality in Britain, c. 1800-50. Econ Hist Rev. 2020 May;73(2):455-485. doi: 10.1111/ehr.12964. Epub 2020 Feb 21. PMID: 32355360; PMCID: PMC7186836.
Of course, now I got so interested in the story that I've forgotten what point I was trying to argue.
In December 2020 Salmond expressed optimism that a worldview for New Zealand based on key concepts such as aroha (‘love’) and kaitiakitanga (‘guardianship’) could build relationships, not just between people, but also with the living world.
…
As New Zealand prepared for a general election in 2023, Salmond questioned whether either Chris Hipkins or Christopher Luxon as leaders of the two main political parties in the country were being "honest and long-sighted, or cynical or expedient…[in developing policies]…to address climate change at pace and scale".
As I said, there is a divergence of opinion – quoting Te Ara.
Salmond is an academic with a defined opinion (one you clearly agree with).
And very clearly, her opinions are well to the left of centre – given that she equates Hipkins with Luxon.
If that's your definition of centrist, I'm no longer amazed that you appear to regard everyone else as some form of right wing.
This particular ‘analysis’ of yours is revealing – using such "respectful centrist" logic, wouldn't it make just as much sense to write:
And very clearly, her [Salmond's] opinions are well to the right of centre – given that she equates Luxon with Hipkins.
Given Salmond's resolute rejection of Seymour's claim to basing his Treaty Principles Bill on her work, it is very clear that she's not an ACT supporter.
Centrists are usually better placed to place commentary more accurately on the left/right spectrum. Marxists are hampered by the fact that virtually all commentary is right-wing from their perspective.
Honestly B, it's no more nonsensical than your original wording in your comment @ 3:38 pm yesterday. In that comment, you clearly state that Salmond’s opinions are well to the left of centre, and your ‘evidence’ is “that she equates Hipkins with Luxon.”
Imho, you just can't get your head around it is all, and that's OK – a righty might have more difficult with this than a centrist.
And Europe's 16th, 17th and early 18th century the wars of religion?
(The Thirty Years War alone claimed the lives of around a third of Germans, in the territory of Brandenburg close to half the population perished, and in some areas populations declined by an estimated two thirds.)
and (with greater violence) afterwards.
Now do the Napoleonic Wars, the population of France declined by an estimated 10%, the numerous French/Anglo/Spanish/Prussian/Russian/minor duchy tiffs, assorted uprisings, revolutions, and colonial conquests, and the mechanised killing sprees of the 20/21st C.
If you want to discuss the massive death tolls – we should also include the Soviet Union and China, not to mention Pol Pot.
According to Te Ara, the pre-European population of NZ was somewhere between 100K and 200K – a 20,000 death toll – is right on par with the Napoleonic Wars.
And Britain's administration in the Great Famines of Ireland and India, where millions died while Britain continued food exports from those countries for profit.
And the Armenian massacre (genocide) committed by Turkey in the early years of the 20th century.
The point is, that wars happen. And have historically happened.
The proportional death toll of Maori during the Musket Wars is equivalent to some of the worst of them. The death toll during the NZ wars, doesn't even make the top 10,000.
Or, is somehow Maori vs Maori territorial aggression OK; but British vs Maori territorial aggression is not.
BTW: If you think that 19th century Britain was the "worst living conditions on planet earth" – your ignorance is laughable.
I think you are missing some important points. Iwi and Hapū have historically had distinctly different understandings of and practices around injustice. The British largely ignored these and imported their own and embedded them into custom, policy and law.
The point isn't that Māori were good and Brits were bad. It's that the Brits had the bigger stick and were able to forceable remove much from Māori. It's not valid to suggest that Māori vs Māori warfare is analogous to British vs Māori. Colonisation is in the power dynamics.
My understanding of Māori invasions on other Iwi was that while it was brutal (that's the reality of warfare), and there were degrees of what might be called colonisation, and there wasn't the obliteration of people and culture that we've seen from the British and other Europeans. Again, not because Māori were virtuous and the whiteys were evil, but because of different values and cultural practices. Once you get to empire building, colonisation is viable. When you live in a island far from everywhere else and you are living a paleolithic/neolithic reality, the kinds of imperialism the Brits were doing is a death sentence for everyone.
And sure, I'd like to see the Romans held accountable for the colonisation of the Brits, or the English of the Scots. If someone can make a compelling case, why not? I doubt it would look much like NZ Treaty settlements and such, but at core is decolonisation of culture and making sure that people are ok.
Koina certainly over-eggs the pudding, and I agree the statements about the UK are off, but the central point remains. Māori suffered great injustice, and there is a move in NZ currently to cement than in rather than remedying it.
I certainly agree that one of the gravest injustices was as the result of the NZ colonial government deliberately breaching their own laws in relation to Maori land.
But the English have had wave after wave of colonisation – Celts, Romans, Vikings, Jutes, Angels, Saxons, Normans. Try dis-entangling that. And how long should the last lot of colonizers live there before getting compensation from the next group of colonizers.
And who are the Romans that the English should get compensation from? To be Roman was to be a citizen of an Empire not an ethnicity. The empire no longer exists. And what about the technology and economic uplift from the wealth and trade the Romans bought to England. Should they get some recompence for the roads they built that still exist or are the basis for those that exist today? https://www.mylearning.org/stories/roman-roads/1502
There is a cool video by mapmen explaining why English names are so hard to pronounce – by looking at which migrant group named them – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYNzqgU7na4
Dog eat dog is a philosophical position that I hope we have moved on from since Roman, or even Victorian, times. Sweeping the idea of reparations under the carpet benefits the dominant culture. But have a look, one million Maori make too big a lump there.
I am pointing out the silliness of trying to get recompence from the Roman Empire, which no longer exists, for a group of people who can't now be distinguished from further waves of colonisation and invasion.
And that the "English" were violently colonised many, many times.
Got it in one, weka, well said. I was thinking about why I reacted so strongly to Belladonna's critique of kiona, who mainly put up quite factual statements about the Waikato invasion of Maori land, with a touch of emotion against the British.
As weka says, the dynamics of colonisation are not the dynamics of general societal violence. The analogy that came to my mind last night was saying it's OK to rape someone who has a promiscuious lifestyle, because they already have a lot of sex.
But weka said it so much more elegantly than me, of course.
The Guardian describes the implementation of UNDRIP, which gathers momentum there.
What we started here in NZ, but moving along. There's a critique of NZ's pathway, too.
"“In 2019, the expert mechanism was invited into New Zealand to give advice on how to implement the declaration. We recommended legislation, reporting mechanisms and an action plan, similar to what’s happening in BC now. And there was work in New Zealand on the action plans, but the weakness was they didn’t do legislation first.”
While 'special' groups get targetted funding from the government: Like the Gumboot Friday grant to Mike King.
Big HairyNews (from 33 min ) discuss the Auditor General's finding that the grant did not follow due process.
Mike King 'made big hits on Jacinda's government' through media contacts before the election, according to Chewie. He didn’t get funding from Labour because he didn’t fill in the paperwork to do so correctly.
“Funding to supplier, vs funding to specific policies” is not transparent democracy, according to the AG.
'Opt-out' clause used to justify lack of procurement process for Gumboot Friday funding
The chair of the charity behind the initiative says the level of scrutiny it has faced has been "devastating" and there was an assumption that the organisation must have done something "dodgy".
Naomi Ballantyne…is Chair
Also….
Children's Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad was also critical of the way Gumboot Friday was funded.
"I'd like us to ensure that whenever funding decisions are being made in the youth mental health space, that we're doing that in a holistic way."
Asked whether that had been the case with this funding she said: "I don't think so."
"It was somewhat unusual to see that one organisation show up in the coalition agreement.
One understands why the effects of colonisation are often front-of-mind. They are frequently appalling. That said, a greater focus on the causes of colonisation in different periods of history, particularly post 16th Century, may help to refine more appropriate contemporary political understanding and responses.
That focus might usefully address the consequences of, for example, Dependency Theory, which shifted the focus of causation from a “universal” system of accumulation (Capitalism) to a spatial process of region/state against region/society (for example, Core-Periphery).
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
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I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
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One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
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This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
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We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
2024 is now officially my best-ever year for short stories. My 1,850-word dark fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens, has been accepted for the upcoming solstice edition of Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/), thereby making that six published short stories for the calendar year. As always, see the Bibliography page for ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
The government has confirmed its plan to break up Te Pūkenga / New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology and re-establish independent polytechnics. ...
Search is back.
Complete rewrite using a different technique (SphinxQL with mysqli calls rather than the older API).
Still has a few flaws that I will correct at some point. Mostly to make it easier to find a particular page.
The usual extended query syntax still applies for those who are interested.
https://sphinxsearch.com/docs/current.html#extended-syntax
The fields exposed are
@title
@author
@body
@category (haven’t tested that myself)
@isPage (untested)
@isPost (untested)
@isComment (untested)
Bit of an issue with putting quotes – it keeps adding a backslash to the quote characters. That will be easy to fix.
@category thinktank
works. But multi-word categories do not.
fails on
@category monetary policy
@category "monetary policy"
@category ^monetary policy$
Has quite a few quirks on mobile. I'll ignore those because the theme is due to get upgraded shortly. Mobile will disappear and it will just be an flexing attribute of the theme.
Functional on both Mozilla and Chrome browsers.
Yeah, just a bit quirky.
I felt a bit cold yesterday when fighting asp.net/c#, and woke with a stuffy head this morning so had sick day and read a three books in bed between naps then idled with some comments.
But I did some work on it this evening.
Fast enough, especially when you consider that I'm passing the content to sphinx search to figure out the snippets for each line. Works best on the simple searches.
Why is there radio silence on tory and wellington council wanting to sell wellington airport 🛫 🛬 yet it was such a big deal when auckland were thinking of it??
International Passenger numbers? and revenue
Number of international passenger movements 2023
Auckland Airport 8,555,112
Christchurch Airport 1,262,287
Dunedin Airport 212
Queenstown Airport 835,196
Wellington Airport 710,154
No one in the Green Party has the courage to criticise the Green Party Mayor.
Also doesn't help that a chunk of the current minority shareholder Infratil – who will buy it – is now run by James Shaw.
And of course Tim Brown the Wellington Councillor was previously Chair of Wellington Airport and was also a longtime senior player in Infratil.
Well at 2.00pm a Special General meeting of the WCC is taking place called by a majority of councillors in an effort to rescind the decision to sell the shares….Greens, Labour and some independents. Nikau wi Neera a Green councilor who is one who opposes the sale and wants it overturned, is apparently coming under tremendous personal/family pressure from his Aunt who is one of the two iwi reps. One of the iwi reps is not acting to recuse themselves on a conflict of interest, where the iwi is planning to buy the shares should the sale proceed and neither is Tim Brown who works for Infratil.
In addition the Mayor is saying that the proposed resolution has to go to a committee on which the the two Iwi reps have been given a vote and not to the full Council because of 'delegation' issues. Hugn Rennie KC has said the council legal advice is incorrect. The council advice is that having delegated an action the delegator is unable to act itself. This advice is contrary to well established legal precedent that was around when I was involved with Boards with stautory repsosilites 'back in the day'. This was that the delegator was able to either rescind in part or in whole a delegation or reserve to itself matters within a delegation scheme that it wants to deal with itself.
A short time ago a sewer pipe broke around Bowen street?parliament within walking distance of the place where the meeting is to be held, I think the 'pipes call' in Wgtn as this happened but with water when PM/Simeon Brown fired a shot over the bows of the local authorities over rating increases, and nice to haves at the LGA conference in August.
As we wait now there has been a security alert where the meeting is to be held.
Work is required clearly on the iwi rep issue as to whether selected reps have a vote at the full council and to clarify the delegation issue, yet again
Rumour has it, beltway rumours are endemic here, that the Chief Ombudsman and Audit are waiting in the wings to act should 'something' to happen.
In the meantime the issue has united many who other would seen as not being able to unite working on a best for Wellington point of view.
Quick question regarding WordPress with the "wp-comments-post.php" suffix lprent. A lot of corporates block this on their firewalls, any easy fix for that?
On the comment form? Should be easy enough to divert through something else. Ummm maybe something like 'thestandard.org.nz/process-contribution/'
I will have a look around the site for other generated outputs.
Drat. I need another notebook.
Otago University has dropped down the university rankings.
Could throwing heaps of money at a new logo, then making academic staff redundant, have something to do with that?
And Auckland University has dropped too.
The Cheatie
The simple truth.
!840. At least 90% of the British people are feudal slaves and
living in the worst living conditions on planet earth.
A few escape their horror prison.
Feb 1840 Waitangi.
British are heavily out numbered by Tangata whenua.
The British stall for time.
British make huge promise to Tangata Whenua .
By 1865 British bring in 14,000 trained soldiers.
Waikato refuse to sell land .
So British send in 14,000 British soldiers against 2000 Waikato.
After furious battles Waikato withdraw south
British invade and steal more than a million acres.
Then they do the same in the Taranaki.
Invade butcher massacre steal destroy.
Like the British did all around the world for 300 years.
Governor Grey who orders invasions becomes a Knight.
The year 2000 a small group of Pakeha make tiny apology .
Pakeha pay 1% compensation.
2023 Whites withdraw apology and take back the 1% compensation.
Pakeha call this One people One country Justice for all.
Just like Maori had been doing to each other in NZ, both before the Europeans arrived and (with greater violence) afterwards.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/musket-wars
Don't see Ngāti Toa issuing apologies and compensation for the (very successful) warfare carried out by Te Rauparaha.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1t74/te-rauparaha
Or, is somehow Maori vs Maori territorial aggression OK; but British vs Maori territorial aggression is not.
BTW: If you think that 19th century Britain was the "worst living conditions on planet earth" – your ignorance is laughable.
Just like Maori had been doing to each other in NZ, both before the Europeans arrived and (with greater violence) afterwards.
They couldn't just buy land from one another: they didn't have any money. They had never heard of fractional reserve banking.
It is true that the British/or their ancestors have been at war every day for the past 3000 years making the British the most violent race in world history. Simple fact.
You continue spouting simplistic factoids, e.g., the British are not a race and nor are Māori for that matter. I don’t think you’re that smart after all.
Exactly. Though ironically, there was a time when the British regarded their control of large parts of the world as evidence of the superiority of the British 'race'. Koina is therefore repeating a fallacious understanding of 'race' that was first popularised by white supremacists.
Perpetuating these same narratives either shows a lack of understanding or a disingenuous agenda.
These narratives avoid nuanced understanding and encourage and enforce perceptions of divisive distinctions.
By one’s words we can recognise their thinking although not necessarily their motives.
Incognito, when I evaluate the 'feel' of Belladonna's comment, to me there is a strong subtext of 'race' to their statements. So while koina may not use the correct language according to definition, I believe koina has captured the intent of BD's comments accurately.
High on irony.
And Maori also had a society that was heavily interconnected and stabilised by family alliances and strategic marriages. Plus Maori culture gave rise, via Parihaka (which was reported in the Commonwealth press, inspiring Ghandi in South Africa), to an international movement of peaceful, non-violent protest.
As for Te Rauparaha epitomising Maori culture; by extension of your judgement, therefore Hitler epitomises German culture. Get real. It's either a whole culture, or a 'great man' – you cannot pick and choose from case to case.
You seem to be drinking at the eugenics well of pitting one culture against another, to claim superiority for a narrow range of European Enlightenment values which skipped large parts of the actual political reality.
This is the sort of cod history that will be more and more amplified by Seymour and others in the mess of Te Tiriti debate.
By all means continue in your misguided defense of living standards in Victorian England. Perhaps you can put up some life expectancy stats from the 1800s to 1880s?
Musket Wars: total (estimated) death toll, around 20,000
https://teara.govt.nz/en/musket-wars/page-1
NZ Wars: total (estimated) death toll from both sides, around 3,000
https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars
Te Rauparaha is simply one example of a very successful warrior chieftain – there are literally dozens of others.
You seem to be drinking from the eugenics well, of justifying violence from one culture, while condemning it from another.
I'll put up the life expectancy stats of Victorian England, when you put up the life expectancy stats of 18th century Maori.
I won't hold my breath.
Realizing that there is a 90% hole in 90% of all historical " accounts" pre 1900 has served me well. 99% of "history" and it is "his "story is about the 1% of the upper classes while every one else is ignored. When I first went to England in 1977 having been "taught" how Britain was the the birth of a great empire I was shocked because to my eyes England looked like a slum and most of the people lived in poverty. Where was the great Empire? I stopped watching TV 1 news in 1974 (Only one TV channel in those days) because I realized there was no news just right wing White propaganda. So realizing that 90% of what people tell me is either B/S or so badly skewed I rarely believe any thing any one tells me and I question everything. So by the time I was ten years old I realized that 90% of the White "accounts" of the "history " of these lands were so riddled with holes and drenched in White prejudice and were simply propaganda to justify the illegal White invasion.
Yep. Your posts are certainly illustrating that ignorance is serving you well. No need to worry about facts, you have right on your side. /sarc/
I find koina's statements in this conversation to be a perfectly justifiable world view, based on their own experience, especially when critiquing Britain based on what they lived through there. I may not agree with all they say, but it shows up narrow-mindedness to write off all koina says to an ignorance of the world and how it works 'according to Belladonna'.
I'm sure you do.
Given that Koina has specifically said that he discounts virtually all historical evidence – really there is no point in debating them.
The facts koina stated on the Waikato war are all correct.
Actually, putting up those stats might be quite easy – almost as easy as holding one’s breath. I recall Anne Salmond writing about some such in the early 90s – there's a citation link embedded in this paper.
Two worlds: First meetings between Maori and Europeans, 1642-1772
https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-hauora-maori-i-mua-history-of-maori-health/page-1
Opinion, not statistics.
I was asked for life expectancy in Victorian England. It was around 40-45 years.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/articles/howhaslifeexpectancychangedovertime/2015-09-09
Te Ara’s estimate for Maori pre-European contact, is 28-30. Of course, this is only opinion as well. There are no statistics for this period.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-hauora-maori-i-mua-history-of-maori-health/page-1
Yes, but you asked for "the life expectancy stats of 18th century Maori", and said you wouldn't be holding your breath, in your typically respectful manner.
It was that request of yours I was responding to – why it this so difficult?
You haven't given any statistics of life expectancy for 18th century Maori – just an opinion.
And one which is contradicted by other sources (see earlier comment)
I'm still not holding my breath. For the very simple reason that they don't exist. A pre-literate culture (regardless of the high cultural level), simply doesn't collect or record statistics on anything.
The figure of life expectancy you give, Belldonna, is an aggregate.
From a study of demographics measurement in the UK
' Liverpool, England’s second largest city and its second port, with a population of 376,000 in 1851, was infamous for its high mortality rates, and life expectancy was as low as 28 years in the period 1838-44. Manchester, only slightly smaller than Liverpool in size, experienced similarly low levels of life expectancy in the mid-nineteenth century, but also experienced more rapid improvements. Manchester and Liverpool provide some support for the argument that large northern industrial and manufacturing cities experienced much worse conditions, and higher mortality rates, than their slower-growing southern counterparts.'
If you think that births and deaths in Britain's noisome Victorian slums were accurately recorded, then dream on. Working back from rural parish registers does not properly measure pre-census Britain's population either.
Are you then equating the life experience of people in Victorian Liverpool or Manchester, with pre-European NZ. Hardly a ringing endorsement….. People living in the worst slums in Britain had the same life-expectancy as 18th century Maori.
There were huge population influxes to Northern England from the Irish escaping the potato famine. Picking Manchester and Liverpool is purposefully picking the worst cities.
(But that sets me up for a recommendation – North and South (2004) – a romance set amongst strife between the mill owners and mill workers in Manchester (in disguise) just after that time period. Lots of great actors and a reminder why unions are needed.)
The potato famine was in 1845-52, outside the timeframe quoted.
And I do remember reading in some NZ history or other that NZ Maori population was close to the limit of the food resources available. Which is why people ground their teeth down to the nerves eating fern root in some areas.
And why Maori were extremely quick to pick up agriculture and horticulture, and benefit from food plants introduced by incoming Europeans.
You picked out two particular years with the implication that their were many similar years. Given you mentioned 1851 specifically, the potato famine fits within the timeframe. According to Wikipedia, in 1851, 20% of Liverpool's population was Irish.
My point was that these cities were atypical compared to other English cities for this and other reasons.
Actually, I can across an interesting reference. Basically, it says that a more virulent strain of scarlet fever increased death rates in children to such an extent that the average life expectancy dropped. But also other things mattered "including the Irish famine and the epidemiological effects of rising population densities and connectedness,".
Davenport RJ. Urbanization and mortality in Britain, c. 1800-50. Econ Hist Rev. 2020 May;73(2):455-485. doi: 10.1111/ehr.12964. Epub 2020 Feb 21. PMID: 32355360; PMCID: PMC7186836.
Of course, now I got so interested in the story that I've forgotten what point I was trying to argue.
Belladonna only considers the life expectancy of the elite to be relevant.
Unlike Muttonbird, I consider everyone's life expectancy to be relevant.
For sure, Dame Anne Salmond's opinions aren't everyone's cuppa tea.
Now there's a political centrist.
As I said, there is a divergence of opinion – quoting Te Ara.
Salmond is an academic with a defined opinion (one you clearly agree with).
And very clearly, her opinions are well to the left of centre – given that she equates Hipkins with Luxon.
If that's your definition of centrist, I'm no longer amazed that you appear to regard everyone else as some form of right wing.
And one you disagree with?
This particular ‘analysis’ of yours is revealing – using such "respectful centrist" logic, wouldn't it make just as much sense to write:
The truth will set you free
Given Salmond's resolute rejection of Seymour's claim to basing his Treaty Principles Bill on her work, it is very clear that she's not an ACT supporter.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/dame-anne-salmond-takes-act-leader-david-seymour-to-task-over-his-claims-that-her-work-supports-his-treaty-call/2TJ7YYJ4BVHDZPRJYKIEAKFPOA/
So your re-wording is simply nonsense.
Centrists are usually better placed to place commentary more accurately on the left/right spectrum. Marxists are hampered by the fact that virtually all commentary is right-wing from their perspective.
Most accurately, Salmond is someone who has interacted with the modern Maori world, and studied its past, for decades.
Honestly B, it's no more nonsensical than your original wording in your comment @ 3:38 pm yesterday. In that comment, you clearly state that Salmond’s opinions are well to the left of centre, and your ‘evidence’ is “that she equates Hipkins with Luxon.”
Imho, you just can't get your head around it is all, and that's OK – a righty might have more difficult with this than a centrist.
And Europe's 16th, 17th and early 18th century the wars of religion?
(The Thirty Years War alone claimed the lives of around a third of Germans, in the territory of Brandenburg close to half the population perished, and in some areas populations declined by an estimated two thirds.)
Now do the Napoleonic Wars, the population of France declined by an estimated 10%, the numerous French/Anglo/Spanish/Prussian/Russian/minor duchy tiffs, assorted uprisings, revolutions, and colonial conquests, and the mechanised killing sprees of the 20/21st C.
/
Amazingly, none of those happened in NZ.
If you want to discuss the massive death tolls – we should also include the Soviet Union and China, not to mention Pol Pot.
According to Te Ara, the pre-European population of NZ was somewhere between 100K and 200K – a 20,000 death toll – is right on par with the Napoleonic Wars.
And Britain's administration in the Great Famines of Ireland and India, where millions died while Britain continued food exports from those countries for profit.
And the Armenian massacre (genocide) committed by Turkey in the early years of the 20th century.
The point is, that wars happen. And have historically happened.
The proportional death toll of Maori during the Musket Wars is equivalent to some of the worst of them. The death toll during the NZ wars, doesn't even make the top 10,000.
I think you are missing some important points. Iwi and Hapū have historically had distinctly different understandings of and practices around injustice. The British largely ignored these and imported their own and embedded them into custom, policy and law.
The point isn't that Māori were good and Brits were bad. It's that the Brits had the bigger stick and were able to forceable remove much from Māori. It's not valid to suggest that Māori vs Māori warfare is analogous to British vs Māori. Colonisation is in the power dynamics.
My understanding of Māori invasions on other Iwi was that while it was brutal (that's the reality of warfare), and there were degrees of what might be called colonisation, and there wasn't the obliteration of people and culture that we've seen from the British and other Europeans. Again, not because Māori were virtuous and the whiteys were evil, but because of different values and cultural practices. Once you get to empire building, colonisation is viable. When you live in a island far from everywhere else and you are living a paleolithic/neolithic reality, the kinds of imperialism the Brits were doing is a death sentence for everyone.
And sure, I'd like to see the Romans held accountable for the colonisation of the Brits, or the English of the Scots. If someone can make a compelling case, why not? I doubt it would look much like NZ Treaty settlements and such, but at core is decolonisation of culture and making sure that people are ok.
Koina certainly over-eggs the pudding, and I agree the statements about the UK are off, but the central point remains. Māori suffered great injustice, and there is a move in NZ currently to cement than in rather than remedying it.
Thanks for a rational response, Weka.
I certainly agree that one of the gravest injustices was as the result of the NZ colonial government deliberately breaching their own laws in relation to Maori land.
And this is subject to redress.
But the English have had wave after wave of colonisation – Celts, Romans, Vikings, Jutes, Angels, Saxons, Normans. Try dis-entangling that. And how long should the last lot of colonizers live there before getting compensation from the next group of colonizers.
And who are the Romans that the English should get compensation from? To be Roman was to be a citizen of an Empire not an ethnicity. The empire no longer exists. And what about the technology and economic uplift from the wealth and trade the Romans bought to England. Should they get some recompence for the roads they built that still exist or are the basis for those that exist today? https://www.mylearning.org/stories/roman-roads/1502
There is a cool video by mapmen explaining why English names are so hard to pronounce – by looking at which migrant group named them – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYNzqgU7na4
Is that Hobson's Pledge you pledge to?
Dog eat dog is a philosophical position that I hope we have moved on from since Roman, or even Victorian, times. Sweeping the idea of reparations under the carpet benefits the dominant culture. But have a look, one million Maori make too big a lump there.
I am pointing out the silliness of trying to get recompence from the Roman Empire, which no longer exists, for a group of people who can't now be distinguished from further waves of colonisation and invasion.
And that the "English" were violently colonised many, many times.
Got it in one, weka, well said. I was thinking about why I reacted so strongly to Belladonna's critique of kiona, who mainly put up quite factual statements about the Waikato invasion of Maori land, with a touch of emotion against the British.
There is no question that it was a blatant land-grab, and was even seen as so by some Europeans at the time.
As weka says, the dynamics of colonisation are not the dynamics of general societal violence. The analogy that came to my mind last night was saying it's OK to rape someone who has a promiscuious lifestyle, because they already have a lot of sex.
But weka said it so much more elegantly than me, of course.
Co-governance and de-colonisation in British Columbia.
The Guardian describes the implementation of UNDRIP, which gathers momentum there.
What we started here in NZ, but moving along. There's a critique of NZ's pathway, too.
"“In 2019, the expert mechanism was invited into New Zealand to give advice on how to implement the declaration. We recommended legislation, reporting mechanisms and an action plan, similar to what’s happening in BC now. And there was work in New Zealand on the action plans, but the weakness was they didn’t do legislation first.”
Fast tracking unfunded projects.
Why not a New Zealand based gondola to an elevator to the moon?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_space_elevatormoon
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/thedetail/530319/fast-track-list-the-favoured-projects-that-could-be-pie-in-the-sky
Meanwhile in today's New Zealand many community groups lack funding.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/community-advocate-dave-letele-to-shut-down-south-auckland-foodbank-citing-costs/ZLUQERNVSFAWTMD2TKBLPBBUSI/
While 'special' groups get targetted funding from the government: Like the Gumboot Friday grant to Mike King.
Big HairyNews (from 33 min ) discuss the Auditor General's finding that the grant did not follow due process.
Mike King 'made big hits on Jacinda's government' through media contacts before the election, according to Chewie. He didn’t get funding from Labour because he didn’t fill in the paperwork to do so correctly.
“Funding to supplier, vs funding to specific policies” is not transparent democracy, according to the AG.
Luxon ‘blamed officials’.
Naomi Ballantyne…is Chair
Also….
Naomi Ballantyne….nothing to see here. Much
Mike King..unaware. Oh right….
We have a government that doesn't care about you unless you are either:
1. A farmer,
2. A landlord,
3. An urban boomer, or
4. A rich lister.
One understands why the effects of colonisation are often front-of-mind. They are frequently appalling. That said, a greater focus on the causes of colonisation in different periods of history, particularly post 16th Century, may help to refine more appropriate contemporary political understanding and responses.
That focus might usefully address the consequences of, for example, Dependency Theory, which shifted the focus of causation from a “universal” system of accumulation (Capitalism) to a spatial process of region/state against region/society (for example, Core-Periphery).