About time. The problem with these simple minded slogan policies is that they such large amounts of resources away from programs that are actually in place and working.
In NZ fad slogans like national standards pulled money away from and effectively terminated programmes that were operational and effective like adult education to the reading and numerical. For what? The national standards don’t look like they are achieving anything apart from killing trees producing meaningless reports even in the schools and the now disillusioned parents that enthusiastically took it up.
How well is national standards actually doing? We don’t know. Because the idiots that pushed it into the system seem to have forgotten to put in any monitoring of the new system to find out if it is actually achieving anything.
Asset sell-off
Just what would the comeback be to those who are “promising” the majority of the 49% going to NZ and NZ mums and dads if that didn’t eventuate and they did finish up in foreign hands? Could those ministers with the respective portfolios be liable for prosecution?
What financial crisis…
Are we mugs or not? I can think of a few needs in New Zealand that could have been met if this profit had remained sloshing around in New Zealand owned banks – we used to have some – but instead has been sucked away to Australia and further afield.
I don’t understand how people fail to see how damaging it is to send this sort of profit off-shore.
Only a tiny portion of that money will ever make its way into the til of a New Zealand shopkeeper.
And now we’re going to do the exact same thing with the power companies: send the money off-shore to be spent in foreign shops, when it could be spent in the shops of Kiwis, who would then employ Kiwis and buy goods from other Kiwis (even if they were imported…but let’s not go there).
It boggles my mind that people don’t see the problem. How can you have increasing levels of wealth and prosperity for the masses when all your wealth gets shipped into the pockets of people overseas?
The majority of the NZ banking industry has pretty much always been in overseas hands. Three of the major banks ANZ/National (prior to the merger), and Westpac. The exception was BNZ and POSB. I exclude ASB because prior to the 1990’s it was not a big player nation wide.
Inmteresting though that some lefties were arguing that the introduction of Kiwibank somehow stopped the other banks from making extraordinary profits. How is this theory looking now? Mighty flawed I’d suggest.
Just more proof that we need to drop the private banks and go all national. Have banking as a state service as it should be rather than a rort that enriches only the few.
ome lefties were arguing that the introduction of Kiwibank somehow stopped the other banks from making extraordinary profits. How is this theory looking now? Mighty flawed I’d suggest.
KiwiBank as it stands now was but one step.
Putting the backing of Government behind KiwiBank would do it.
For once I agree with CV (I hope this not a trend…)- Kiwibank may not have drastically changed the fee landscape but on the margin it will have had some impact – who knows what would have happened without them
In fact when Kiwibank started my own fees went down by over $100 a month. Multiply that by all New Zealander’s business and private accounts. That is why the banking industry is so keen to get rid of Kiwibank. It keeps them partially honest.
Yep suddenly I had people ringing me from my bank suddenly noticing I was entitled to reduced fees, offering me a credit card with lower interest rates, asking me for my opinion on what they could do for me and knocking 1/4 percent off my mortgage.
Saved me quite a bit of money.
The struggle against climate change, and the struggle against autocracy, and for democracy are closely linked.
One of the fronts in the global battle against climate change is the Maldives.
The democratically elected president and global campaigner against climate change has been injured in a military and police coup.
President Mohammed Nasheed who was also a political prisoner of the previous autocratic dictatorship that ruled his country for 30 years. Says he will stand again if democratic elections are allowed by the new regime.
As the Climate Change Crisis deepens, events are showing, that the 1 percenters are prepared to, lie, conspire, and even kill, to protect their right to exploit both the human and natural environment to the point of collapse. (and beyond)
[lprent: Dickhead. Regardless of what you (or I or anyone) thinks of his business practices, remember that people including his family will google and find this tasteless and upsetting. I haven’t had to deal with you before so you get the introductory 1 week ban. ]
When the 1% reform, and desist from lying, conspiring and killing to further their control of society, then I’ll shed a tear. Until then I’ll celebrate the death of these animals. Evil doesn’t deserve compassion.
[lprent: Ah. You may – but not on our space. Ban increased to 2 weeks. And read the policy. ]
Writen like a true leftist despot in waiting. I can see you organising the ‘re-education’ camps now for those who dare disagree with the ‘mainstream’ views.
The silience of other lefties on this site to the above comment is telling….they either
1) Agree with TT
2) Are so biased that they refuse to critize a comrade
Or, as in my case, they didn’t even see it! (It was deleted some time ago) I gather it celebrated someone’s death, and that is never acceptable!
Right on TT. I really hope Gareth Morgan gets Aids and Bob Jones gets something really painfull like Ebola.
Fuck you.
[lprent: You just came off a ban for being a dick. And I see that you have moved on from wanting to shoot people to wanting them infected instead. http://thestandard.org.nz/the-biggest-fraud/comment-page-1/#comment-413972 I will be generous and I won’t give you a year.. 4 weeks for being a reactive dumbarse. ]
I have no idea who or what she/he is. Only had 4 comments, 2 today (which picked up two bans).
The others were run of the mill extremist. Could be a wingnut trying to sound like one of their fantasies (it has been done before). Or as much of a moonbeam as he/she reads. But whatever; it will get educated about acceptable behaviour the same way everyone else does.
Apparently some doofus made a pretty loathsome comment and picked up a ban because of it. But because the guy was allegedly a lefty, apparently it’s proof that all the left are just as bitter and small-minded as some on the right.
Oh, and a whole bunch of tories believe that if they read a comment before the mods catch it, everyone else has, too.
It was pretty crass. I have no idea who he was talking about (apart from the company), but I think that families should be allowed to let their loved ones get laid to rest without reading about some idiot gloating about it.
“We do,” said US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland when asked by reporters, if Washington recognizes the new government as the legitimate government of the Maldives. Nuland called Waheed the president and Nasheed the former president.
Meanwhile, at the same time, as the US was busy cosying up to the coup leaders.
Nasheed, according to reports, has been threatened with arrest and ‘life in jail’ just days after he was forced to resign at gunpoint by renegade police and military forces.
I think you are overstating the current position of Climat Change. There is general consensus that the world is more likely to be cooling rather than warming. There has been no perceptible increase in sea levels. The ice caps are stable and the glaciers growing.
Using a unique pair of satellites that have monitored the disappearing ice over the entire surface of the globe, scientists estimated that some 1,000 cubic miles of ice has disappeared between 2003 and 2010 – enough to cover the US in one-and-a-half feet of water.
The survey found that the melting of the cryosphere has been responsible for raising sea levels by about half an inch over the same period, equivalent to a rise of about 1.5mm a year. This was on top of sea-level increases due to the thermal expansion of seawater caused by rising ocean temperatures.
The survey found that the melting of the cryosphere has been responsible for raising sea levels by about half an inch over the same period, equivalent to a rise of about 1.5mm a year. This was on top of sea-level increases due to the thermal expansion of seawater caused by rising ocean temperatures.
MILANO – L’attuale fase di riscaldamento globale almeno un lato positivo ce l’ha. La prossima era glaciale, il cui inizio era stato indicato tra circa 1.500 anni, è rinviata di alcune migliaia di anni. La fase interglaciale in cui stiamo vivendo, iniziata circa 12 mila anni fa dopo che 6 mila anni prima i ghiacci avevano raggiunto la massima espansione, è infatti un’anomalia in un periodo complessivamente freddo che dura da circa 1,2 milioni di anni e che negli ultimi 500 mila anni ha già fatto registrare quattro lunghe glaciazioni.
MILAN – The current phase of global warming has at least one positive side. The next ice age, the beginning of which was expected in about 1,500 years, is postponed for some thousands of years. The interglacial stage in which we live, which began about 12,000 years ago after 6 thousand years before the ice had reached its apex, is in fact an anomaly in a cold period that lasted a total of about 1.2 million years and that in the last 500 thousand years has already seen four long ice ages.
The underlying trend for the next 10k years is for cooling. That is the major solar cycles and orbital cycles. However that is being washed under by greenhousing the atmosphere.
Quite simply it is a effect that would have already made a difference if we hadn’t already been modifying the atmosphere fot tge last 5k years or so. Basically since we started pushing methane out.
Those cooling effects make no difference for the next few thousand years regardless what happens now. The last 200 years of CO2 releases will persist washing out underlying effects for at least that long. The question is how much worse we make it in pursuit of profits and SUVs
BTW the current ice age is easily traceable back to about 40Mya. Antarticia drifted fully into the polar position then and started to ice up. Our species developed in ice ages. It is unlikely we’d survive normal earth climates. In a few generations they will find out.
We have a thing called tides and weather that confuses the issue. Seeing cm’s of average rise over decades when sealevels normally change by meters daily is hard.
But of course there is no perceptible change in sea levels. Humans aren’t equipped to perceive it. Most cannot remember what they had for breakfast on the same day last year. That is why we rely on records of previous measurements. However contrary to your carefully worded statement, sealevels are measurably steadily rising, mostly at present from thermal expansion. In many locations this is probably not perceptible because people don’t remember well enough to perceive it.
A few (but not most) mountain glaciers are growing. It is what you expect to happen when you measure increased precipitation in their circes. It is a sign of shifting weather patterns and is actually something to worry about. Weather patterns don’t shift outside of cylic events unless there is significiant climate change. Glaciers are a complex mix of the rate that they get fed vs the rate that they melt. You are thinking of one without considering the other.
See the reply about overall cycles I made to someone else. But surfice into say that is you wanted to show how much of a stupid arse you are on the science of climate change, then your two observations (that I pointed out the half truths in above) made that amply clear.
Even you should have been able to see the idiotic flaws in the statements to anyone who’d done any science.
While i don’t condone illegal downloading is anyone else getting more uneasy with the Kim Dotcom fiasco?
I am getting the distinct impression that the NZ Government & Police will do anything to please the USA/FBI.
Heavy handed is an understatement.
There is also the instance of the British kid facing deportation to the US for the same thing. His revenue came from the advertisers on his site and as far as I know. I wonder how many other cases there are?
Briefly, they hold that a .org or .net address = US jurisdiction and that ‘inducing’ others to download copy right material (by running a link site) is enough of a reason to seek extradition and prosecute in the US. The fact that O’Dwyer did nothing illegal under UK law and had no US based servers is apparently irrelevant. So I guess the same goes for Dotcom with regards NZ law.
What is scary beyond the means of arrest is that there has been no evidence produced to substantiate the arrest and detention of Mr Dotcom. Surely it would be remarkable if you or I was arrested without any case having been made to the Courts. Uneasy? Yes.
I’ve been trying to collect all the links to the excellent ‘Divided Auckland’ series in the Herald this week (the website itself doesn’t seem to have them centrally located anywhere).
If anyone has missed any of these, they are well worth a read. A very comprehensive look at inequality and poverty in Auckland by the Herald’s social issues reporter Simon Collins. There is still one more part to go tomorrow, which is supposed to be about what can be done to improve this situation.
I know some on this site believe that Mediaworks are in the pocket of this government. I don’t think that. A large number of people in broadcasting (I’d argue MSM) are inherently conservative (learned from two decades around these people – I think it’s because they need to reach a mass audience meaning they lean right) so naturally they will support a government made of conservative elements.
More to the point, though, Mediaworks is largely devoid of decency. We saw this prior to the election where they were prepared to hand over an hour or programming to Mr Key even though it was obviously not in the interests of democracy. Here’s the latest stunt from one of their radio stations – surprise your spouse with a divorce on air. http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/valentines-day-2012/6394715/Radio-stations-divorce-promo-cowardly
The Rock also do the vile Wind Up Your Wife segment, where practical ‘jokes’ like telling a woman she took the wrong baby home from the hospital is par for the course.
And Mediaworks were behind that show that thought breaching airport security would be good for a laugh. When they appeared in court the culprits were all cowardly in the extreme – if you’re such rebels guys you go down fighting, not with a whimper.
And the government did a deal with these people to keep them in business?
I know some on this site believe that Mediaworks are in the pocket of this government.
Actually, I think it’s more that this government is in the pockets of the MSM.
I think it’s because they need to reach a mass audience meaning they lean right) so naturally they will support a government made of conservative elements.
The majority of people in the country are neither conservative nor right leaning. This would indicate that they have another reason for producing right leaning news.
“The majority of people in the country are neither conservative nor right leaning. This would indicate that they have another reason for producing right leaning news”
Nor as the election showed left leaning…..hence they must all be in the centre!
Does that include the 27% who didn’t vote? We can’t just assume that they would have voted in lock step with everyone else and research shows a) that it’s the poor who tend not to vote and b) that they would normally vote left if they did.
BTW, if we continue to accept Labour as a left-wing party then today’s centre is right-leaning.
A few factors at play here.
1. Senior journalism. It takes experience, intellect and good research backing it. Most have retired or left the industry, those that remain don’t get the resouces due to below.
2. Short attention span and cheap reality TV amongst others. Why bother crafting a well strctured 20 min piece on say the GFC when most folk can’t focus beyond the first 5 minutes and celebrity strip snooker sex darts on ice rates 5 times higher amd costs less….ka ching
3. Who’s your dadddy. Stories that upset the management/owners are never going to get focus…recall ‘the insider’ and GE’s influence on 60 minutes etc etc not to mention the links between mediawonks and a certain govt minister who brokered the interest free loan that renewed their licences.
4. Emotion’s a quick easy target over intellect, so dog whistle away.
5. those well crafted press releases look just journalism if you don’t look to hard and soo much cheaper than doing any actual research.
There’s others but you get the picture….and it’s SBW taking his shirt off again…awww swoon.
So Key says now that the returns from state assets are not as good Greens and Labour are saying, this of course
belies the obvious reality of peak oil naturally increasing the worth of renewables energy sources. So National is
willing to risk the irony that future state asset ledgers showing massive returns in the future, and Nationals future
economic competence is brought into question each year (when the state assets profits are declared to parliament),
the opposition parties will rise in a coarse and loud laughter, never let National sell your home! But what I find
find immediately funny is the uber investment salesman Key is talking down the state assets even as he is trying to
sell them. Can Key be any more ridiculous? National trying NOT to explain how peak oil will blow out profit as demand
rises in the face of peaks in oil price, and is in fact trying to damage the past history of dividend returns.
But as I have pointed out, governments cannot mislead foriegn investers because of free trade rules, but can mislead native investors. One problem core to world capitalism is boardrooms paying themselves huge bonuses despite selling shareholders down the river.
Free trade inevitably means a global elite of global firms and dynasties will emerge who can lobby native
governments to rip local tax payers off.
Imagine for a second government in one term buying land, building a dam and
then selling the dam immediately, if the market could not provide the funding at the time the dam was built then why
should the market be able to buy the dam once it has been built and makes a huge one off windfall profit (no innovation there!).
Especially when there are other instruments to offset debt without losing ownership, like selling off future returns
on product like Fonterra has. So the question is why is Key so purposefully clueless? Asset sales, even with iwi
agreement, is a bad deal for NZ, a best hopelessly incompetence, at worse against the long term interests of the nation.
And we have not even got to the question of standing, how will the government insure all Kiwis have first dibs at the
shares without provoking the ire of the free trade? Unless government admits that since tax payers already own the
assets! And if government does that then taxpayers have a right to take their case to the free trade judges and argue
that government intervention has to be in their best interest, and government cannot sell off assets without a
referendum of the people, the shareholders, like any company who has to take big decisions to the shareholders.
And treat them like any other investor!!!
Free trade works for “all” investors not just foriegn investors, otherwise it is unconscionable. Many people voted
National despite its asset sale policy, its naive of National to argue that every citizen that voted for them agreed
with every line of their manifesto – especially when their MPs have said as much in times past.
So Dunne says he supports the decision of the people, to sit with the National party, Dunne went to the electorate as
the voice of moderation in the centre, who has worked with all sides. Now National got less than 50% of the vote, and
the moderate position to take surely when there is a hanging chad situation (and time to sort out the issue) is to go
back and have some form of recount, like a referendum. So is Dunne going to suggest that he will vote for partial
asset sales if there is a referendum on such a significant national issue? Why should we have all this fog about
asset sales, as if they were now a foregone conclusion once iwi sign on them? Dunne can clear the way with one word,
referendum. Does Dunne like Key believe the voters would vote for them anyway, well then put up a referendum.
Its like Key getting off a plane from Hier Hitler waving a agreement to sell assets…
…was just a delaying tactic because Key lost by winning the last election with a smaller coalition.
Will Dunne go the way of Hide? Hide was unelectable when he covered up Garrett crime and punishment history, will Dunne go the same way by not forcing a referendum and going against his moderating center of politics. Can you image for a moment the Greens forcing a citizens referendum on asset sales after Dunne had been sitting on his hands?
Free trade protects (rightly) foreign investors equal treatment but if local investors cannot (or do not) gain access to WTO arbitration then over time without remedy too poor government policy (like asset sales) . Foreign investors have the incentive to lubricate the political elite to produce favorable policies (at the expense tax payers). What are Asset Sales but selling off dams built with tax payer money and returning very nice profits (and likely to get much better due to peak oil)? So if a company board were to fail to take a partial sell off of their company to a shareholder vote they’d be sued, but if the government fails to take partial asset sales a referendum at considerable lose (due to world governments printing money and prospects for the assets being so considerable in the peak oil future).
Key is currently trying to get rich from China not by emulating China but by selling our assets to China. This is a profound article on “State Capitalism” and why the free market will fail us..
Late last month, the Economist magazine published a debate on state capitalism, in which it proposed that state-led market economies are fast becoming a global rival to the old models of liberal, free market capitalism.
When you hear someone say the words ‘nanny state’, ask if they know the causes of Pike River
When you hear someone say we should cut red tape, ask if they know someone with a leaky home
When you hear someone say the words ‘nanny state’, ask if the know why the CTV building collapsed
When you hear someone say the market is the solution, ask if they know someone who lost all their savings from a finance company
It’s just a start….I imagine people can think of more
Now, why doesn’t the media ask those questions??
I guess Steven Joyce would say ” Each time we say ‘you can’t’ it carries a cost”
Maybe the media should ask him “What is the cost of saying “you can?”
The answer………….Pike River, leaky buildings, CTV, the 2008 crash….
Why are they so bad at their job?
They’re so bad at their job because they aren’t doing their job, they’re creating profit. The environment they do it in is irrelevent.
Ever wonder why the entertainment industry often turns out music, film and stories so awfully bad that you wonder how it happened? Then you read the credits and it’s like a telephone book of influencial friends? Because to make it in the entertainment world (or anywhere else that money collects) you must be, first and foremost, be a connected business person – not a competent craftsman. Musician, screen writer, builder, architect, manager, miner – business first, everything else way down the list. Until people realise money, political connections, “passion”, ambition and greed are not indicators of competency, we can expect a worsening of all crafts.
Ever wonder how it is that within any profession you choose, you’ll find a large percentage of the people as almost cookie cutter clones? Many aren’t doing their job. They’re living a persona generated to make profit.
In the last 2 weeks I have done flying trips to Germany, UK, Denmark Switzerland, and now Thailand. I have a few impressions.
1. Europe is bloody cold!!
2. Customs and immigration searches are getting over the top and much more invasive. The bastards at Heathrow (don’t go there) took my half empty bottle of contact lens solution (Helpfully telling me I could buy a new one in the transit lounge). With the ridiculous lengths they go to against bona fide travellers, I think the terrorists have already won. Notice how they don’t explosive search anyone even remotely looking like the might have a bomb – of course not!! If you searched a terrorist he might set it off – thats why you only see the hassling little old white ladies!
3. Swiss customs and cops don’t mess around – they are right into racial profiling. Arabic or black – you will be done over coming into the country and probably stopped at random in the street.
4. Picked up the inevitable cold but was delighted to find out that the only cold remedy at Dubai contained Pseudoephedrine. Needless to say, 24 hrs later I am cured. Looks like, in NZ the criminals have won, dooming us all to colds and flu that is impossible to get rid of!
5. iPads are the answer, no more lugging around the bloody laptop and with the bluetooth keyboard and iPad holder I bought duty free at Copenhagen, really useful.
6. The plane heading back to NZ is always the best flight!
Too bloody hot in Auckland at present. My brain starts misfiring from 2pm onwards ( programming makes you utterly aware if and when stupidity is setting in ). Roll on winter…
Re # 2: I disagree with you there. Being a person of indeterminate ethnic origin (I’m half PI and half English but I look vaguely Arabic, particularly if I haven’t shaved for a few days), I will ALWAYS get singled out for the carry-on bag swab and scan test. I don’t mind, they’re just doing their job. But I’m not kidding myself that I’m not being racially profiled. I’m yet to see any “little old white ladies” singled out.
I’ve been singled out (little white lady) – a few years ago carry-on bags were ‘randomly’ checked at Heathrow, and surprise – I was a ‘random’ checked at the U.S stopover as well. The added touch was extra questioning and luggage check by customs on arrival in Auckland.
After thinking about it, I guess buying tickets for a trip of only a few days, 2 days before the flight, gave me the profile of a drug smuggler (the trip was for a funeral).
Again an extra scan and bag checks at Heathrow just last month for no particular reason.
Re # 6: Yes it is, it’s always full of kiwis happy to be getting home or tourists happy to be heading here. And if you get an immigration officer that says to you “Welcome home”, that’s the icing on the cake.
I fekkin hate travelling through airports, the tyranny of the state becomes so obvious…we are all supposed to be scared that on our way between Auckland Wellington and Shakytown some Arab sympathiser iis going to set of a bomb in mid air. Or hijack us and fly us into the Beehive. For that I must be stoppped scanned, searched and deprived of metalic objects incase I use something as inocuous as a fishing reel as a weapon of mass destruction. Argghhhh!!!!!
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In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
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. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
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Obama waiving “No Child Left Behind”, Law. Tide going against National Stndards
It that supposed to be a haiku (it isn’t), or were you trying to communicate something?
About time. The problem with these simple minded slogan policies is that they such large amounts of resources away from programs that are actually in place and working.
In NZ fad slogans like national standards pulled money away from and effectively terminated programmes that were operational and effective like adult education to the reading and numerical. For what? The national standards don’t look like they are achieving anything apart from killing trees producing meaningless reports even in the schools and the now disillusioned parents that enthusiastically took it up.
How well is national standards actually doing? We don’t know. Because the idiots that pushed it into the system seem to have forgotten to put in any monitoring of the new system to find out if it is actually achieving anything.
Well spotted Monique. Sadly the new Minister of Ed has declared onwards and downwards.
I didnt think you would be the type of person to oppose National standards….
Asset sell-off
Just what would the comeback be to those who are “promising” the majority of the 49% going to NZ and NZ mums and dads if that didn’t eventuate and they did finish up in foreign hands? Could those ministers with the respective portfolios be liable for prosecution?
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/asset-sales-–-where-are-mum-and-dad’s-shares
What financial crisis…
Are we mugs or not? I can think of a few needs in New Zealand that could have been met if this profit had remained sloshing around in New Zealand owned banks – we used to have some – but instead has been sucked away to Australia and further afield.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6394291/Banks-take-3b-profit-overseas
Yep, just think what we could have done in R&D with $3b to throw at it. Instead it’s been wasted in profit.
I don’t understand how people fail to see how damaging it is to send this sort of profit off-shore.
Only a tiny portion of that money will ever make its way into the til of a New Zealand shopkeeper.
And now we’re going to do the exact same thing with the power companies: send the money off-shore to be spent in foreign shops, when it could be spent in the shops of Kiwis, who would then employ Kiwis and buy goods from other Kiwis (even if they were imported…but let’s not go there).
It boggles my mind that people don’t see the problem. How can you have increasing levels of wealth and prosperity for the masses when all your wealth gets shipped into the pockets of people overseas?
Shonkey and his corrupt crew don’t want wealth and prosperity for the masses they want it ALL for themselves.
That tired old politics of envy meme. You must be a riot at parties Marsman.
Ah, look, Gosman is here to protect his masters greed again, how cute.
Gosman plays the Politics of Greed.
And defends foreign masters emptying NZ of financial and investment capital.
Oh how cute! You two are like a double team like Abbott and Costello, Morcambe and Wise, Tweedledum and Tweedledumber…
+1
The majority of the NZ banking industry has pretty much always been in overseas hands. Three of the major banks ANZ/National (prior to the merger), and Westpac. The exception was BNZ and POSB. I exclude ASB because prior to the 1990’s it was not a big player nation wide.
Inmteresting though that some lefties were arguing that the introduction of Kiwibank somehow stopped the other banks from making extraordinary profits. How is this theory looking now? Mighty flawed I’d suggest.
Just more proof that we need to drop the private banks and go all national. Have banking as a state service as it should be rather than a rort that enriches only the few.
KiwiBank as it stands now was but one step.
Putting the backing of Government behind KiwiBank would do it.
For once I agree with CV (I hope this not a trend…)- Kiwibank may not have drastically changed the fee landscape but on the margin it will have had some impact – who knows what would have happened without them
In fact when Kiwibank started my own fees went down by over $100 a month. Multiply that by all New Zealander’s business and private accounts. That is why the banking industry is so keen to get rid of Kiwibank. It keeps them partially honest.
Yep suddenly I had people ringing me from my bank suddenly noticing I was entitled to reduced fees, offering me a credit card with lower interest rates, asking me for my opinion on what they could do for me and knocking 1/4 percent off my mortgage.
Saved me quite a bit of money.
Welcome to the new dystopian future.
The struggle against climate change, and the struggle against autocracy, and for democracy are closely linked.
One of the fronts in the global battle against climate change is the Maldives.
The democratically elected president and global campaigner against climate change has been injured in a military and police coup.
President Mohammed Nasheed who was also a political prisoner of the previous autocratic dictatorship that ruled his country for 30 years. Says he will stand again if democratic elections are allowed by the new regime.
Common Dreams .org Headlines
“President of Maldives, Climate Crusader, Ousted in Coup”
As the Climate Change Crisis deepens, events are showing, that the 1 percenters are prepared to, lie, conspire, and even kill, to protect their right to exploit both the human and natural environment to the point of collapse. (and beyond)
[deleted]
[lprent: Dickhead. Regardless of what you (or I or anyone) thinks of his business practices, remember that people including his family will google and find this tasteless and upsetting. I haven’t had to deal with you before so you get the introductory 1 week ban. ]
Disgraceful comment, Lloyd was a great businessman and a top chap – moderators can you please expunge the comment above.
this comment crosses the line of human decency
You are a seriously sad and deranged person TT.
When the 1% reform, and desist from lying, conspiring and killing to further their control of society, then I’ll shed a tear. Until then I’ll celebrate the death of these animals. Evil doesn’t deserve compassion.
[lprent: Ah. You may – but not on our space. Ban increased to 2 weeks. And read the policy. ]
Writen like a true leftist despot in waiting. I can see you organising the ‘re-education’ camps now for those who dare disagree with the ‘mainstream’ views.
The silience of other lefties on this site to the above comment is telling….they either
1) Agree with TT
2) Are so biased that they refuse to critize a comrade
Don’t be silly. They wait for a moderator to spot it. That can be several hours away depending on work.
It is really only the hysterical from the sewer and the like that assume that we should read every comment as it arrives.
Or, as in my case, they didn’t even see it! (It was deleted some time ago) I gather it celebrated someone’s death, and that is never acceptable!
True, best to celebrate a person’s life and this was a pretty remarkable one.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10784603
Right on TT. I really hope Gareth Morgan gets Aids and Bob Jones gets something really painfull like Ebola.
Fuck you.
[lprent: You just came off a ban for being a dick. And I see that you have moved on from wanting to shoot people to wanting them infected instead. http://thestandard.org.nz/the-biggest-fraud/comment-page-1/#comment-413972 I will be generous and I won’t give you a year.. 4 weeks for being a reactive dumbarse. ]
Meh, TT is another Right Wing troll. Talk about shooting at your own set up targets.
Sad to see that Morrison has passed on well before his time. He’s made a massive difference to the community in the too short a time that he was here.
I have no idea who or what she/he is. Only had 4 comments, 2 today (which picked up two bans).
The others were run of the mill extremist. Could be a wingnut trying to sound like one of their fantasies (it has been done before). Or as much of a moonbeam as he/she reads. But whatever; it will get educated about acceptable behaviour the same way everyone else does.
I have just got back to my computer. What on earth has been going on?
Apparently some doofus made a pretty loathsome comment and picked up a ban because of it. But because the guy was allegedly a lefty, apparently it’s proof that all the left are just as bitter and small-minded as some on the right.
Oh, and a whole bunch of tories believe that if they read a comment before the mods catch it, everyone else has, too.
It was pretty crass. I have no idea who he was talking about (apart from the company), but I think that families should be allowed to let their loved ones get laid to rest without reading about some idiot gloating about it.
A big loss, one smart hard working operator who saved the Pheonix. Regards to his family he’s left quite a hole.
Good grief.
It must be a record.
Unbelievably the US government has rushed to recognise the new military rulers of the Maldives.
Common Dreams .org, Headlines:
“US Recognizes Maldives Government That Ousted Democratically Elected Nasheed”
“We do,” said US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland when asked by reporters, if Washington recognizes the new government as the legitimate government of the Maldives. Nuland called Waheed the president and Nasheed the former president.
Meanwhile, at the same time, as the US was busy cosying up to the coup leaders.
I think you are overstating the current position of Climat Change. There is general consensus that the world is more likely to be cooling rather than warming. There has been no perceptible increase in sea levels. The ice caps are stable and the glaciers growing.
You can sleep easy.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/billions-of-tons-of-water-lost-from-worlds-glaciers-satellite-reveals-6672129.html
No doubt that’s intended to be a refutation of what Grumpy said above. However, I noted with both bemusement and some amusement, an article in Corriere della Sera recently that said gaily that the consensus is we’re heading for cooling – which, they said, is all good, as it will cancel out anthropogenic global warming!
http://www.corriere.it/ambiente/12_gennaio_09/prossima-era-glaciale_b323775e-3acc-11e1-8a43-34573d1838c1.shtml
The underlying trend for the next 10k years is for cooling. That is the major solar cycles and orbital cycles. However that is being washed under by greenhousing the atmosphere.
Quite simply it is a effect that would have already made a difference if we hadn’t already been modifying the atmosphere fot tge last 5k years or so. Basically since we started pushing methane out.
Those cooling effects make no difference for the next few thousand years regardless what happens now. The last 200 years of CO2 releases will persist washing out underlying effects for at least that long. The question is how much worse we make it in pursuit of profits and SUVs
BTW the current ice age is easily traceable back to about 40Mya. Antarticia drifted fully into the polar position then and started to ice up. Our species developed in ice ages. It is unlikely we’d survive normal earth climates. In a few generations they will find out.
Paolo Virtuani can make all the gay assertions he likes. It is afterall, his column. And he’s expected to offer an opinion.
We have a thing called tides and weather that confuses the issue. Seeing cm’s of average rise over decades when sealevels normally change by meters daily is hard.
But of course there is no perceptible change in sea levels. Humans aren’t equipped to perceive it. Most cannot remember what they had for breakfast on the same day last year. That is why we rely on records of previous measurements. However contrary to your carefully worded statement, sealevels are measurably steadily rising, mostly at present from thermal expansion. In many locations this is probably not perceptible because people don’t remember well enough to perceive it.
A few (but not most) mountain glaciers are growing. It is what you expect to happen when you measure increased precipitation in their circes. It is a sign of shifting weather patterns and is actually something to worry about. Weather patterns don’t shift outside of cylic events unless there is significiant climate change. Glaciers are a complex mix of the rate that they get fed vs the rate that they melt. You are thinking of one without considering the other.
See the reply about overall cycles I made to someone else. But surfice into say that is you wanted to show how much of a stupid arse you are on the science of climate change, then your two observations (that I pointed out the half truths in above) made that amply clear.
Even you should have been able to see the idiotic flaws in the statements to anyone who’d done any science.
While i don’t condone illegal downloading is anyone else getting more uneasy with the Kim Dotcom fiasco?
I am getting the distinct impression that the NZ Government & Police will do anything to please the USA/FBI.
Heavy handed is an understatement.
There is also the instance of the British kid facing deportation to the US for the same thing. His revenue came from the advertisers on his site and as far as I know. I wonder how many other cases there are?
Here’s a couple of links on O’Dwyers case and the actions/logic of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/07/big-content-unveils-latest-antipiracy-weapon-extradition.ars and http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/03/us-anti-piracy-extradition-prosecution
Briefly, they hold that a .org or .net address = US jurisdiction and that ‘inducing’ others to download copy right material (by running a link site) is enough of a reason to seek extradition and prosecute in the US. The fact that O’Dwyer did nothing illegal under UK law and had no US based servers is apparently irrelevant. So I guess the same goes for Dotcom with regards NZ law.
Absolutely yes! It’s scary…
What is scary beyond the means of arrest is that there has been no evidence produced to substantiate the arrest and detention of Mr Dotcom. Surely it would be remarkable if you or I was arrested without any case having been made to the Courts. Uneasy? Yes.
I’ve been trying to collect all the links to the excellent ‘Divided Auckland’ series in the Herald this week (the website itself doesn’t seem to have them centrally located anywhere).
If anyone has missed any of these, they are well worth a read. A very comprehensive look at inequality and poverty in Auckland by the Herald’s social issues reporter Simon Collins. There is still one more part to go tomorrow, which is supposed to be about what can be done to improve this situation.
Friday – Education
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784481
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784480
Thursday – Health
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784293
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784294
Wednesday – Housing
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784060
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784058
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784056
Tuesday – Tax and benefits
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/simon-collins/news/article.cfm?a_id=135&objectid=10783837
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/simon-collins/news/article.cfm?a_id=135&objectid=10783835
Monday – The widening gap
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/simon-collins/news/article.cfm?a_id=135&objectid=10783692
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/simon-collins/news/article.cfm?a_id=135&objectid=10783636
I know some on this site believe that Mediaworks are in the pocket of this government. I don’t think that. A large number of people in broadcasting (I’d argue MSM) are inherently conservative (learned from two decades around these people – I think it’s because they need to reach a mass audience meaning they lean right) so naturally they will support a government made of conservative elements.
More to the point, though, Mediaworks is largely devoid of decency. We saw this prior to the election where they were prepared to hand over an hour or programming to Mr Key even though it was obviously not in the interests of democracy. Here’s the latest stunt from one of their radio stations – surprise your spouse with a divorce on air.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/valentines-day-2012/6394715/Radio-stations-divorce-promo-cowardly
The Rock also do the vile Wind Up Your Wife segment, where practical ‘jokes’ like telling a woman she took the wrong baby home from the hospital is par for the course.
And Mediaworks were behind that show that thought breaching airport security would be good for a laugh. When they appeared in court the culprits were all cowardly in the extreme – if you’re such rebels guys you go down fighting, not with a whimper.
And the government did a deal with these people to keep them in business?
Actually, I think it’s more that this government is in the pockets of the MSM.
The majority of people in the country are neither conservative nor right leaning. This would indicate that they have another reason for producing right leaning news.
“The majority of people in the country are neither conservative nor right leaning. This would indicate that they have another reason for producing right leaning news”
Nor as the election showed left leaning…..hence they must all be in the centre!
Does that include the 27% who didn’t vote? We can’t just assume that they would have voted in lock step with everyone else and research shows a) that it’s the poor who tend not to vote and b) that they would normally vote left if they did.
BTW, if we continue to accept Labour as a left-wing party then today’s centre is right-leaning.
A few factors at play here.
1. Senior journalism. It takes experience, intellect and good research backing it. Most have retired or left the industry, those that remain don’t get the resouces due to below.
2. Short attention span and cheap reality TV amongst others. Why bother crafting a well strctured 20 min piece on say the GFC when most folk can’t focus beyond the first 5 minutes and celebrity strip snooker sex darts on ice rates 5 times higher amd costs less….ka ching
3. Who’s your dadddy. Stories that upset the management/owners are never going to get focus…recall ‘the insider’ and GE’s influence on 60 minutes etc etc not to mention the links between mediawonks and a certain govt minister who brokered the interest free loan that renewed their licences.
4. Emotion’s a quick easy target over intellect, so dog whistle away.
5. those well crafted press releases look just journalism if you don’t look to hard and soo much cheaper than doing any actual research.
There’s others but you get the picture….and it’s SBW taking his shirt off again…awww swoon.
So who are the real clowns?
So North American Indians are suing brewers
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10784587
How long before an Iwi takes on DB or Lion Nathan?
So Key says now that the returns from state assets are not as good Greens and Labour are saying, this of course
belies the obvious reality of peak oil naturally increasing the worth of renewables energy sources. So National is
willing to risk the irony that future state asset ledgers showing massive returns in the future, and Nationals future
economic competence is brought into question each year (when the state assets profits are declared to parliament),
the opposition parties will rise in a coarse and loud laughter, never let National sell your home! But what I find
find immediately funny is the uber investment salesman Key is talking down the state assets even as he is trying to
sell them. Can Key be any more ridiculous? National trying NOT to explain how peak oil will blow out profit as demand
rises in the face of peaks in oil price, and is in fact trying to damage the past history of dividend returns.
But as I have pointed out, governments cannot mislead foriegn investers because of free trade rules, but can mislead native investors. One problem core to world capitalism is boardrooms paying themselves huge bonuses despite selling shareholders down the river.
Free trade inevitably means a global elite of global firms and dynasties will emerge who can lobby native
governments to rip local tax payers off.
Imagine for a second government in one term buying land, building a dam and
then selling the dam immediately, if the market could not provide the funding at the time the dam was built then why
should the market be able to buy the dam once it has been built and makes a huge one off windfall profit (no innovation there!).
Especially when there are other instruments to offset debt without losing ownership, like selling off future returns
on product like Fonterra has. So the question is why is Key so purposefully clueless? Asset sales, even with iwi
agreement, is a bad deal for NZ, a best hopelessly incompetence, at worse against the long term interests of the nation.
And we have not even got to the question of standing, how will the government insure all Kiwis have first dibs at the
shares without provoking the ire of the free trade? Unless government admits that since tax payers already own the
assets! And if government does that then taxpayers have a right to take their case to the free trade judges and argue
that government intervention has to be in their best interest, and government cannot sell off assets without a
referendum of the people, the shareholders, like any company who has to take big decisions to the shareholders.
And treat them like any other investor!!!
Free trade works for “all” investors not just foriegn investors, otherwise it is unconscionable. Many people voted
National despite its asset sale policy, its naive of National to argue that every citizen that voted for them agreed
with every line of their manifesto – especially when their MPs have said as much in times past.
So Dunne says he supports the decision of the people, to sit with the National party, Dunne went to the electorate as
the voice of moderation in the centre, who has worked with all sides. Now National got less than 50% of the vote, and
the moderate position to take surely when there is a hanging chad situation (and time to sort out the issue) is to go
back and have some form of recount, like a referendum. So is Dunne going to suggest that he will vote for partial
asset sales if there is a referendum on such a significant national issue? Why should we have all this fog about
asset sales, as if they were now a foregone conclusion once iwi sign on them? Dunne can clear the way with one word,
referendum. Does Dunne like Key believe the voters would vote for them anyway, well then put up a referendum.
Its like Key getting off a plane from Hier Hitler waving a agreement to sell assets…
…was just a delaying tactic because Key lost by winning the last election with a smaller coalition.
Will Dunne go the way of Hide? Hide was unelectable when he covered up Garrett crime and punishment history, will Dunne go the same way by not forcing a referendum and going against his moderating center of politics. Can you image for a moment the Greens forcing a citizens referendum on asset sales after Dunne had been sitting on his hands?
Aero, if you want to do some sort of cut-and-paste for your comments, can you at least tidy it up so its readable? Cheers.
Free trade protects (rightly) foreign investors equal treatment but if local investors cannot (or do not) gain access to WTO arbitration then over time without remedy too poor government policy (like asset sales) . Foreign investors have the incentive to lubricate the political elite to produce favorable policies (at the expense tax payers). What are Asset Sales but selling off dams built with tax payer money and returning very nice profits (and likely to get much better due to peak oil)? So if a company board were to fail to take a partial sell off of their company to a shareholder vote they’d be sued, but if the government fails to take partial asset sales a referendum at considerable lose (due to world governments printing money and prospects for the assets being so considerable in the peak oil future).
Key is currently trying to get rich from China not by emulating China but by selling our assets to China. This is a profound article on “State Capitalism” and why the free market will fail us..
http://werewolf.co.nz/2012/02/why-state-capitalism-is-beating-the-free-market/
Dunno if this has been posted already, but there is now a Save Our Port fb page.
It’s:
https://www.facebook.com/saveourport?sk=wall
When you hear someone say the words ‘nanny state’, ask if they know the causes of Pike River
When you hear someone say we should cut red tape, ask if they know someone with a leaky home
When you hear someone say the words ‘nanny state’, ask if the know why the CTV building collapsed
When you hear someone say the market is the solution, ask if they know someone who lost all their savings from a finance company
It’s just a start….I imagine people can think of more
Now, why doesn’t the media ask those questions??
A good question…
I guess Steven Joyce would say ” Each time we say ‘you can’t’ it carries a cost”
Maybe the media should ask him “What is the cost of saying “you can?”
The answer………….Pike River, leaky buildings, CTV, the 2008 crash….
Why are they so bad at their job?
They’re so bad at their job because they aren’t doing their job, they’re creating profit. The environment they do it in is irrelevent.
Ever wonder why the entertainment industry often turns out music, film and stories so awfully bad that you wonder how it happened? Then you read the credits and it’s like a telephone book of influencial friends? Because to make it in the entertainment world (or anywhere else that money collects) you must be, first and foremost, be a connected business person – not a competent craftsman. Musician, screen writer, builder, architect, manager, miner – business first, everything else way down the list. Until people realise money, political connections, “passion”, ambition and greed are not indicators of competency, we can expect a worsening of all crafts.
Ever wonder how it is that within any profession you choose, you’ll find a large percentage of the people as almost cookie cutter clones? Many aren’t doing their job. They’re living a persona generated to make profit.
In the last 2 weeks I have done flying trips to Germany, UK, Denmark Switzerland, and now Thailand. I have a few impressions.
1. Europe is bloody cold!!
2. Customs and immigration searches are getting over the top and much more invasive. The bastards at Heathrow (don’t go there) took my half empty bottle of contact lens solution (Helpfully telling me I could buy a new one in the transit lounge). With the ridiculous lengths they go to against bona fide travellers, I think the terrorists have already won. Notice how they don’t explosive search anyone even remotely looking like the might have a bomb – of course not!! If you searched a terrorist he might set it off – thats why you only see the hassling little old white ladies!
3. Swiss customs and cops don’t mess around – they are right into racial profiling. Arabic or black – you will be done over coming into the country and probably stopped at random in the street.
4. Picked up the inevitable cold but was delighted to find out that the only cold remedy at Dubai contained Pseudoephedrine. Needless to say, 24 hrs later I am cured. Looks like, in NZ the criminals have won, dooming us all to colds and flu that is impossible to get rid of!
5. iPads are the answer, no more lugging around the bloody laptop and with the bluetooth keyboard and iPad holder I bought duty free at Copenhagen, really useful.
6. The plane heading back to NZ is always the best flight!
Too bloody hot in Auckland at present. My brain starts misfiring from 2pm onwards ( programming makes you utterly aware if and when stupidity is setting in ). Roll on winter…
Re # 2: I disagree with you there. Being a person of indeterminate ethnic origin (I’m half PI and half English but I look vaguely Arabic, particularly if I haven’t shaved for a few days), I will ALWAYS get singled out for the carry-on bag swab and scan test. I don’t mind, they’re just doing their job. But I’m not kidding myself that I’m not being racially profiled. I’m yet to see any “little old white ladies” singled out.
I’ve been singled out (little white lady) – a few years ago carry-on bags were ‘randomly’ checked at Heathrow, and surprise – I was a ‘random’ checked at the U.S stopover as well. The added touch was extra questioning and luggage check by customs on arrival in Auckland.
After thinking about it, I guess buying tickets for a trip of only a few days, 2 days before the flight, gave me the profile of a drug smuggler (the trip was for a funeral).
Again an extra scan and bag checks at Heathrow just last month for no particular reason.
Re # 6: Yes it is, it’s always full of kiwis happy to be getting home or tourists happy to be heading here. And if you get an immigration officer that says to you “Welcome home”, that’s the icing on the cake.
I fekkin hate travelling through airports, the tyranny of the state becomes so obvious…we are all supposed to be scared that on our way between Auckland Wellington and Shakytown some Arab sympathiser iis going to set of a bomb in mid air. Or hijack us and fly us into the Beehive. For that I must be stoppped scanned, searched and deprived of metalic objects incase I use something as inocuous as a fishing reel as a weapon of mass destruction. Argghhhh!!!!!
While the Occupy movement could justifiably be accused of killing grass, there has been even more evidence to show how the big four Aussie banks are killing our economy!
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/banking-profits-vindicate-occupy-nz.html
Meanwhile, Yet a another Democratically elected Government that challenges the profits of the US oil industry is removed.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/778615/coup_in_maldives_threatens_ousted_president_mohamed_nasheed%2C_a_leading_voice_for_island_states_threatened_by_global_warming/#paragraph2
How many is that again.