It’s actually to combat negative inflation, which is just as bad, if not worse than inflation. Take a look at Japan. Once that starts, it’s very hard to stop.
If the symptoms are there, you can be pretty sure the disease is there. You youself used the Japan example. Their economy is debt and demographic fucked – two lost decades now and counting.
I think a blindingly good diversified deflation proof portfolio would be…
Meridian
Warners
MRP
Rio Tinto
Genesis
Sky City
Bank of America
Scales Corp
JP Morgan
former Sth Cant asset given away for about $43mil ,then floated for about $143 mil,with one of the main ‘actors being John Spys next door neighbour in Parnell.
Yes, literally given to govt by Hubbard when requested for a sign of good faith. In fact, it has been reported that English delayed the entry of SCF into guarantee scheme until Scales and his helicopter company were signed over. I think there is evidence they occurred on the same day as soon as the two companies were ‘gifted’ by Hubbard.
This story is out and about … there is evidence, it’s just never been looked at thoroughly in daylight. One of the biggest most corrupt rorts by Key and English, and that’s really saying something.
Will find a link and come back … a main part if it –here you are:
Having known quite a bit about this for some time I would dearly love to see this be a topic for investigation by Hager or Jon Stephenson..
If even half of what I’ve heard is true then the current government would be gone in the blink of an eye – potentially to the point of not being electable for a very long time.
‘South Canterbury Finance receivers have signed an agreement to sell a 79.7% stake in apple exporter and cold store company Scales Corporation to Direct Capital for $44 million.
Direct Capital is a local investment firm headed by Ross George. ‘
‘Goldman Sachs & Partners New Zealand Limited acted as financial advisor to the Receivers of the SCF Group’.
* CGT – Delayed effect, and would add to house pricing in auckland, while deflating it elsewhere
* Stop Foreign Investment/purchasing – Which would the crash the Auckland market. As nice as you think that would be, it would be a disaster for NZ economically.
Besides, house prices are only affecting two cities.
Couldn’t be bothered figuring out the other city you are referring to because if you don’t recognise there is a knock-on effect for the whole country, you are a bit deluded.
“* Stop Foreign Investment/purchasing – Which would the crash the Auckland market. As nice as you think that would be, it would be a disaster for NZ economically.”
How about we actually do the research first, hmm, instead of leaping to conclusions?
The fact is, there are no firm numbers about the amount or extent of foreign investment in Auckland, only anecdotes, hunches and guesses.
Also, you don’t have to completely restrict it – you could require that all foreign bought homes must be new-builds. Use all of that excess cash coming in from offshore for something productive, instead of locking out NZers from buying homes at sensible prices.
The government, being sovereign, can literally do anything they like in order to combat house prices. Here’s a suggestion: any entity that has owned land for 5+ years and not made any moves to develop it (ie, land-bankers), must pay a 1% capital tax, calculated based on the council valuation for the land. If that isn’t a big enough stick to get them to sell it, start increasing the rate by 0.5% per year after 5 years.
1. Banning foreign ownership of homes
2. Stop the banks from creating money
3. Ban foreign ownership of anything and everything in NZ
4. Build enough homes through Housing NZ to ensure 1% to 2% over-supply of housing
5. http://thestandard.org.nz/real-monetary-reform/
Stop Foreign Investment/purchasing – Which would the crash the Auckland market. As nice as you think that would be, it would be a disaster for NZ economically.
No it wouldn’t. Sure, the financial markets would crash but economically we’d end up being much stronger.
The Auckland house market is going to crash anyway. All pyramid schemes do. The question is whether Kiwis will control the property after the crash, or whether the strings will be pulled from overseas. It’s better we decide on the preferred outcome and aim for that.
Herald editorial this morning framing Little as having lost his nerve over Northland; by implication – “silly, no-guts, useless Little……”
“Andrew Little’s initial instinct to compete strongly in the byelection was the right one. If any contest was tailor-made for Labour and its new leader, it is Northland.”
Who writes this shit ? “Tailor-made” ? For what/whom ? Oh that’s right – TheGodKey. Herald abusing its power again.
The beauty/ugly fact is every Northlander knows they get the modern day equivalent of broken plates and beads from the Treaty era, the morden being broken roads and a undemocratically implemented Super Council to strip rural Zombie towns of a say.
So spin as they are the MSM have little say, the true glimmer of hope is Peters motto “Help is on it’s way.”
Sir Bernard Hogan Howe, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, is now urging residents to put CCTV cameras in their homes and businesses. Because safety. It gets better though…
Sir Bernard is encouraging inhabitants to install cameras at eye level, because according to the Scotland Yard chief,
‘Facial recognition software has got better, and we can now apply it to images of burglaries, and then compare them with images we take when we arrest people.
‘What we need to be able to do is to be able to compare that photograph with the images we have of people committing a crime.
‘Taking the tops of their heads is not that helpful for facial recognition which relies on the eyes and the configuration of the area around the nose and the mouth. So we’re trying to get people to, ideally, add a camera at face level.
‘If anyone listening has a business, think about installing a new one – they’re relatively cheap. If you can’t buy one, could you think about moving it?
What freedom is being given away? It’s entirely up to the homeowner what happens to the video. Modern cameras have motion sensors and if all they record is the cat, big deal. But if they capture a burglar, then yeah, share that for sure.
Yep, entirely serious. The home or business owner has total control over the what is recorded and what happens to the video. I think the mistake being made here is the thought that the video is going to be actively monitored by the police. Which it ain’t.
Yep, so what? If you are worried enough to put in a camera, then the copper in the article has suggested you set it at head height so the video can be useful in catching burglars. That’s it. That’s the extent of his advice. It’s not compulsory, it’s controllable by the owner and it’s a good idea in high crime areas. What is it about freedom of choice you don’t like?
You are deliberately missing the highly relevant tangent issue which is being put to you. Namely that that “freedom of choice” will disappear. This is the history. Recent, real. Just ask John Key and the Tongans. There will be no choice.
What freedom is being given away? It’s entirely up to the homeowner what happens to the video
Most of these modern CCTV systems will be hooked up to a PC hooked up to the internet, silly. Homeowners will be told they can monitor their home and their kids from work or while on holiday. Who wouldn’t want that?
And once its on the internet it will be collected and recorded by the intelligence services.
Actually most of them work on flash drives, CV. And in the real world, who’s going to be actively monitoring what your cat does while you’re asleep anyway? Get a grip.
So what? I think we are all aware that there are internet compliant systems, but most people go with the cheaper systems that aren’t. If you’re paranoid about the man monitoring your moggy, that’s the obvious option. Or simply don’t put a system in at all.
that the authorities will move to collect this data as its recording becomes more prevalent (of course some of it is already recorded by the authorities right now as CV has amply shown)
TRP: You probably think that the “black government helicopter” raids meme is funny.
The truth is of course is that “black government helicopters” accompanying paramilitaries in body armour with automatic weapons have already been in use around NZ. Against unarmed civilians with families and children. Who have had loaded weapons pointed at them for no just reason.
They went for Kim Dotcom on a foreign governments orders, and they went to the Ureweras on trumped up terrorism charges.
vto: yep some people can’t even seem to remember recent Kiwi history let alone European 20th century history.
Some of us do a little more in our homes than sit patting a cat that’s asleep on our knee shawl. But hey, don’t worry, they’ll make the cameras compulsory for beneficiaries first, probably ones with little kids. Then Sabin’s Methcon will get a contract to monitor them. Yeah, don’t worry.
People want to be able to watch their pets, kids, house while at work, so more and more of these systems will be connected to the internet via wifi straight to the modem, the home PC or a cellular connection.
And once it is connected to the internet even indirectly, it’s a gift to the intelligence services who are collecting everything and recording it permanently.
Don’t be silly, I haven’t taken to typing in my passwords with a hood over the computer – yet.
However, it’s also very clear that you are someone who is not taking Snowden and Hager’s cybersecurity messages particularly seriously. Thankfully, many credible outlets are:
The Atlantic: remote access webcam hacking tools “an epidemic”
Yes. I do.
My tinfoil hat is very stylish.
also there are videos online that show you just how fuckn easy it is to hack in these cameras. In fact there have been a few peeps in the states that have gone to prison for it.
web cam hacked on google will entertain you for hours
I actually feel sorry for people that are so scared that they would wire their house with cameras, want all of their roads wired, their shops wired, their toilets wired, and what not. So that if the boogie man comes and gets them, the cops get to identify the boogie man.
best thing i ever did was loose my effn phone, and have black tape of my computer eye.
You don’t see a point where maybe the data of those who voluntarily do this is used to show what a great “crime fighting” success it is so everyone should have one and to make it easier we (govt) will subsidise the cost and installation…. but you must instal…
There are privacy rights issues for people visiting the businesses and private homes where such systems are installed, esp if the police are using such systems to gather data for nationwide face recognition systems, which I’m pretty sure would be the intent. You really think the police want to go through hours of localised files that aren’t connected to a network each time there is a burglary?
We already know that there is significant connection happening between the police and places like nightclubs, where private businesses are feeding the police data.
In NZ I think there would be legal issues. Do you have the right to record me in your home without me knowing? Or your business? How about in the toilet or bathroom of both those places? Where’s the limit? Can you record images, or can you record sounds as well? How about phone calls I make from there on my own phone? Now think about how this links into the meta and content data being collected by every spy and his dog as well as private contractors.
I’m also surprised by your responses TRP, because they sound exactly what people used to say about other kinds of data collection, when us paranoid lot were being told there was nothing to fear and nothing to hide. It’s patently obvious that the people developing surveillance systems are intending them to go much further than just having a isolated recording device in your hallway.
Like tracey said, more people need to read 1984 (again).
Yes, it is. Unless intent has a new meaning not previously known. The cop concerned wants to catch burglars. He suggested that those home owners who already have CCTV devices put them at a better angle so the pictures can help identify crooks. He further suggested that other home owners might consider getting the devices as well. That’s it. That’s all he said. That was his intent. To catch burglars. Anything more is speculation and fantasy.
Your determination to limit this discussion to cops and robbers does your credibility no good trp. This discussion goes beyond that – the cop was the starting point only.
The discussion is about the creep of government surveillance – the cop was the starting point only.
Why are you ignoring this? (and please don’t repeat what the copper said again)
He wants to match the images against the 12 000 000 images of suspects and offenders the police already have. Note the word suspects there? (And the existence of 12 million ‘mug shots’ from a population of…!?)
Labour MP Andrew Miller said: ‘We were alarmed to discover that the police have begun uploading custody photographs of people to the police national database and using facial recognition software without any regulatory oversight. Some of the people had not even been charged.
Given the penchant of authorities to ask for an inch while they take a mile, and the fact that the Commons Committee discovered the police have been using facial recognition software without any oversight, I’d say there’s a fair bet they will do matches against their entire data base. Actually, unless their data base is subdivided into ‘arrested but not charged’ and various other categories, then I don’t see how such an outcome can be avoided.
They sure as hell ain’t wanting face level photos just so they can print them off and take them around the neighbourhood.
It’s quite likely that FVEY police forces are following the example of the US FBI and other law enforcement organisations in participating in what Bill Binney calls a “planned programme perjury policy”.
This is where law enforcement uses NSA data without warrants or probable cause to finger individuals, then reconstructs in parallel (so-called “parallel reconstruction”) legal evidence which can be presented to a court of law while concealing their original sources of knowledge.
It’s stasi state secret police, secret evidence stuff.
No, you’re probably right that it will be the broader usage, Bill, but that’s what happens now anyway. All that will happen if those with cameras follow the cop’s advice is that they will get clearer pictures, which will mean the right people have their collars felt. That’s gotta be better than just arresting the nearest kid that vaguely looks like a grainy photo taken from a bad angle or simply not solving the crime at all.
I have cameras in my house on the out side. One covers the garage, two on they alley way side (main reason I got them) and one in the drive way.
Night vision motion sensors.
All came about as there is a bottle shop across the road and alley way right next to my house. Fence was always being tagged/booted in. People coming up the drive way and fucking with stuff on the property.
probably only a few hundred bucks if it was an off the shelf domestic system with 3 cameras and DVR, and a monitor thrown in for luck. “Night vision” is just a pretty standard ccd with IR leds and “motion detection” is a software option. The pan/tilt/zoom cameras get more pricey, as do more durable or higher def professional surveillance cameras.
Although if the result is deterrence rather than trying to get the cops to track down taggers, simpler would do (although those cheap dummy domes look like crap).
I recall one ptz I was working with back in the day automatically flipped to macro-focus to get a clear shot of the small spider sitting on the dome an inch from the lens. You don’t want that to suddenly pop up when you’ve a coffee halfway to your mouth 🙂
thats right, read it as a kid and was fascinated to find that original title was “1948”, the author was critiquing existing totalitarian regimes as much as projecting futurism.
But much of Orwell’s book has come to pass though, TVs, computer webcams and other electronic gadgets and drones that can watch and monitor you, politicians that say the exact opposite of what they mean, a pervasive surveillance state, various snitch networks (such as Whaleoil’s Tipline and the blue bellies star555–its only traffic safety, 0800 consumer lines and web tracking) and so on. Auckland Transport is going to run facial recognition software on its traffic intersection cams that photograph license plates, driver and front seat passengers linked to US based servers.
The ability to go about your life reasonably privately and unmolested by the state is nearly gone. But you can do things like use cash for most purchases and turn some of the gadgets off occasionally. There is plenty to fear when you have nothing to hide.
Agree – there are so many parallels with manipulating information, obfuscating meanings, denial of having said something…..basically trying to change the facts. Veutoviper @14 below, also makes some interesting points about Key’s post-cabinet press conferences being published.
I really like this essay “Plato and the Internet”, extending old philosophical ideas with new technology…… (available here http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/40292.pdf), and have taken out one relevant passage:
“The written is infinitely less interesting to Plato than live discussion. But nowadays technology has blurred the distinction. Some speech – as recorded on TV or radio – is as unchanging as a piece of text. One cannot interact with a recording; it will not change if one debates with it (it ‘cannot come to its own support’). One can, of course, debate with the person who made the recording, but the recording will still stand. Like a piece of writing, a recorded utterance will remain in existence even if it has been exposed as a lie, or if its author has changed his mind. Like writing, it can be broadcast to a wide and undiscriminating audience (it ‘rolls about everywhere’).”
I find this fascinating, in the context of a) a blog such as this, where everything is retained for future cross-checking…….b) the internet in itself, where humans are cataloguing everything, it seems…….and c) the mass surveillance and collection of data that Snowden has made us privy to.
Also, I am not sure whether written word is immutable! What if we go back in 5 years from now, and the text of what we have written has changed?! I know there are projects archiving the internet, but are these beyond manipulation?
…..and on interesting literature in this regard, we should also relook at The Minority Report (K. Dick’s original book, not the movie) as to where this could lead us.
In East Germany, neighbours, friends and family members were encouraged to inform on each other. There were inducements and advantages provided for doing so.
Plenty of Kiwis would love the official wink to train a camera on their neighbours. Some of them would even support Labour. We can be a cringeworthy little people at times.
As I work in the roading industry in the Far North, I can assure readers that Joe Carr was quite right on Morning Report this morning. Both the Taipa bridge and the Kaeo bridge are both on the nine year plan and have been for years, no new money there. I want to know why the government isn’t doing anything about the 2 one lane bridges on state hi way 1, north of Kaitaia. The amount of accidents and near misses that occur with tourists at these sites is staggering. Something needs to be done.
“Joekerr” (Carr) is with right breakaway Focus NZ but still backs up the tories–the Nats were actually going to progress Taipa and Kaeo regardless of the by election eh? Yeah right.
There needs to be all sorts of planning, cost benefit analysis and local input before these much needed upgrades actually happen.
I wouldn’t knock the Focus NZ candidate. Osbourne may get clipped by Carr (polling 6℅) and flattened by the Winston Express.
They may well rue not selecting the Focus NZ Leader Kenny R who lost the Nat candidate race to Carters pasty Osbourne. In other words Focus NZ would not have
stood a candidate. Expect more protest votes to Carr from disgruntled Tories who can’t bring themselves to directly support Peters.
Key and Joyce’s heads will be spinning faster than the taxpayers money machine spitting out money to pay for their By-Election bribes.
Cheers, skinny, that answers something for me. If I read you correctly, the Focus group are not a party in their own right, just a ginger group. So National are likely to be putting pressure on them to cease campaigning to help Osborne out, yes?
Focus NZ are break away NL rural Tories. Front man Kenny R is no mug 6,000 votes in the NL election backs this up. Funny setup when he can drift back to the Nat’s and nom to stand for them. What a slap in the face to farmers (over & over again) getting rejected with 2 very capable rural characters. I would be spewing if i were a farmer.
Key may have to offer new milking sheds all round to keep the farmers from defecting.
We went to the Kaikohe candidates meeting last night, and it was very clear that Joe Carr is using the by-election as a public platform to get some basic info across about
the regional council’s draft 10 year transport plan, and also to correct some of the bullshit being talked by the Nats re the so-called “new” money for the 10 bridges.
Focus might be naturally tory, but they sure as heck are not impressed with how the tories have treated the north over the last few decades – that was very clear from what was said at the meeting. Neglect was the word used, over and over again.
yes but; Focus are ‘good ’ol boys’, conservative and reactionary rather than modern citified Nats or the petit bourgeois of Kerikeri. They will wriggle and squiggle but never see beyond a blue political solution.
People that are at core landowners and farmers in denial of the post colonial situation the Far North is in.
Huh? If its going pretty well between the Shiite militia, the Iraqi Army and the Iranian Quds forces, then what the hell do they need our soldiers there for?
They can always use more training, Tracey. It’s been a major focus of the yanks in the last six months and seems to have paid some dividends. It will be interesting how Tikrit goes. If they can’t win there, then the bigger prize of Mosul will have to be reassessed. But the indications are that the Iraqi army are showing much more discipline and organisation than was previously evident. And training will have a bit to do with that.
Newsweek: Tikrit will be a bloody disaster led by Shiite militia
Several months after thousands of American advisers showed up for training sessions, Iraqi troops still aren’t ready for combat. Iranian-backed Shiite militias will do most of the fighting against the ISIS militants in Tikrit and other largely Sunni towns and cities in Iraq, raising the chances of more sectarian slaughter…
That’s the grim assessment of a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, James Dubik, who oversaw the training of Iraqi soldiers in the final months of the eight-year U.S. occupation…he wasn’t surprised when the Iraqi forces collapsed.
“Yup,” Dubik says with a dry chuckle, “those were my guys.”
…
Iranian involvement has created an awkward situation for the Obama administration, which has been launching airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since last August, effectively putting Washington and Tehran on the same side…
Iranian-backed Shiite militias like the Badr Brigade and K’taib Hezbullah say their fighters make up two-thirds of the 30,000-strong force that’s gathered near Tikiti…But the presence of Shiite fighters on a predominantly Sunni battlefield is cause for concern, Dubik and other military analysts say.
The Rojava Revolution has no interest in forming a state entity (eg – a Kurdistan). Where it exists within Syria, it has stated its recognition of Syrian territorial integrity and law.
The inclusion of an armed, anachronistic Marxist/Leninist organisation gives me the shits though. (See comment 5.2)
Nope, not correct. Idiots can be brave. The mad can be brave. Evil is very brave. Murderers are also brave, as are rapists. Soldiers are brave. Gay peopleare brave. Psychopaths are brave. Political extremists are brave.
Brave, in this context is the same as that other tiresome word Honour. Toss anything into it. Worthless.
Hang on! So she died fighting for the MLPK! The same MLPK that “believes that a sharp class struggle will also continue under the power of proletariat against the danger of restoration, that the dictatorship of proletariat is a real democracy, a socialist democracy, and it aims at it.”
I’m thinking that the MLPK have a long ideological road to travel. Meanwhile, I’m (sadly) seeing Spain writ large again, where authoritarian Leninist elements essentially undermined the democratic potential of that revolution.
That aside, I take it there will be calls from within the authoritarian left that travel bans to Rojava be lifted, that the designation of the PKK as terrorist be lifted and that the political/economic embargo on Rojava be lifted?
Last night in the comments on the Caption Contest post, Clemgeopin, Sans Cle and I shared a few more ‘funnies’ related to the Northland By-election. (Thread is at 30.)
As they are rather lost in the comments there, I thought I would re-post them here in case you missed them!
First, the TV3 News bulletin which shows the original of the Key Nailing failure, and Osborne showing he is at least reasonably competent in the nailing skill. It also shows Key playing ‘Daddy’ to Osborne, and Osborne playing second fiddle to Key including acting as Key’s personal photographer – rather than the centre of attention as the actual Nat candidate. All in the first 2 minutes of the video.
There has also been some very amusing photoshopping of Osborne’s billboards on Twitter. Here are the two supplied by Clemgeopin and Sans Cle last night. http://t.co/XFhW3zgvNN
It’s quite clear from that article that the Otago University Faculty of Law is inefficient, surplus to requirements, full of screaming Lefties, and should be defunded.
Thanks for the link, Adam – and I thoroughly agree that this is a must read.
A little more information – Andrew Geddis discusses the ethics of the Nat candidate, Osborne, fronting yesterday’s announcement about the 10 Northland bridges funding from taxpayers’ funds when currently he is still a private citizen running as a candidate and not a current MP.
Andrew also examines the 10 bridge proposal against the Northland regional plan which mentons only two of those 10 bridges in the plan and not as high priorities.
‘Mr Key said National “unashamedly” wanted to win the byelection. He said it was standard practice to release policies during byelections, although he could not recall instances of National doing so in previous byelections.’.(nzh)…..he does it every day…!unbelievable.
But are the bridges a tainted gift. This is a gift that needs a hard look.
The Nacts want bigger trucks on the roads so have kept at the state highway network widening roads and fixing bridges. I don’t think the Reginal councils have been the least bit interested in spending money to accomodate bigger trucks. So if Nact up grades these bridges is it really looking at putting bigger trucks on Northland’s roads and is this what voters want? Or are they being suckered?
Adam at 7 above has provided a link to a post by Andrew Geddis at Pundit which is well worth reading.
Andrew raises the ethics of a candidate (not an already elected MP so therefore still just a private citizen) fronting a government announcement such as that yesterday where Osborne fronted the bridge funding intentions.
He then goes on to examine the 10 bridge proposals against the Northland regional plan currently under development where only two of the bridges are even mentioned in the plan.
And this comment and photo from Sevy on Gower’s twitter feed last night is interesting if true …..
Tiger Mountain, as I said both those bridges are on the books. This is not New money being waved here, I should know, we have the Transit contract and the FNDC contract. Whether the bridges would have got the go ahead remains to be seen, although I will say there has been a lot of office johnny activity going onsite over the last year.
As for Joe Carr, yep he’s a tory acolyte, and I don’t pay much attention to him, he just happens to be correct in this matter.
Sorry dont have numbered reply on my cell.
Tracy, how many nat voters north of Kaitaia youa ask, well every farmer and his wife normally, the wealthy elite in Pukenui and the forestry block owners and most of the logging truck drivers I come across.
On a bit more serious note than some of my comments over the last day or so, this article by Audrey Young may have escaped your notice with everything else that has been happening.
Audrey has scored a small win in getting the PM’s office to produce and supply the transcripts of the PM’s post Cabinet press conferences via the Beehive website (www.beehive.govt.nz) – although these are not currently searchable, apparently.
To date, recordings have been available via Scoop for example, but not actual transcripts.
Audrey details the background to this small win, the excuses put up to date for not doing so, and the fact that she took the matter to the Ombudman (with this aspect still ongoing).
What does it mean? It means that anyone will now be able to view what Key actually said, as opposed to what may have been reported in the media etc. Sometime different things. – in terms of actualy wordings, lack of context etc.
What I want to know now is what effort is required to make a PDF document non-searchable. I assume it’s not the default setting, that someone has had to intentionally alter the document to make it nonsearchable before uploading it to the govt website.
Young, When I asked why the transcripts were not searchable, Sia said it was decided that making them searchable was the “safest” way to present them so they could not be “manipulated.”
They appear to have been printed then scanned as images, so they’re no longer text but pictures of text. It’s all a bit pointless, as you can just upload the PDF to Google Drive, then open it in Google Docs, wherein it’s all nicely OCR-d, then download it as a Word document containing the original images and the now searchable text. It takes about 3 minutes per document.
It’s all a bit pointless, as you can just upload the PDF to Google Drive, then open it in Google Docs, wherein it’s all nicely OCR-d,
Nice tip.
I like noting how the security and surveillance state has all these handy tools. Like auto-captioning in Youtube – they can take a recording of someone speaking and automatically turn it into a transcript.
Speech recognition seems to be always on the cusp of working properly – I remember building something in VB6 in 1999 that used some fairly crude version of it.
Anyway, someone should tell Sia that it takes her longer to make the PDFs unsearchable than it does to make them searchable again.
A few violent extremists are not representative of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. Your statement seems designed to be inflammatory and to stir up antagonism towards Muslims. That’s gross.
Islamic radicalism would only be a tiny shadow of it’s current self without centuries long and ongoing western imperial interventions in the Middle East and other Muslim countries in general (including Indonesia, Pakistan and Afghanistan).
I’m asking you to take a look at Infused’s point and compare it in terms of simplifications. Seeing you butted into their conversation, I’m interested in your thoughts on it.
You don’t have to of course, I was just wondering is all.
There was a telling question to the PM in yesterdays press conference which appears to have been overlooked/ignored by MSM.
The question was; “Would the government still abide by their promise to upgrade 10 Northland one-way bridges even if National lose the Northland bye-election?”
The reposnse by Key was simply: “Yes”
So there you have it Northland voters, you don’t have to vote National to get your bridges upgraded, it’s a set in stone promise by John Key and how could you not trust honest John?
Talking of these bridges, Simon Bridges, in replying to an opposition question in parliament today, acknowledged that the decision to build them was made just LAST WEEK !
FYI folks – just had a significant victory in the Auckland District Court today.
Within 35 minutes, District Court Judge Harvey ‘set aside’ the ‘rates judgment debt’ upon which Auckland Council had been relying, in order to force the rating sale of my freehold property.
The ‘Rates Statement’ upon which Auckland Council had been relying, as evidence of rates owed, had included legal fees, which are NOT rates.
CLUNK – went Auckland Council’s case.
I am now actively seeking the assistance of legal counsel competent in local government matters to help
prepare a ‘Declaratory Judgment’ in the High Court to test the ‘validity’ of my rates assessment notices and rates invoices against the statutory requirements of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.
The painstaking ‘due diligence’ has been done.
This will be QUITE a case – because – generically, my rates assessment notices and rates invoices are arguably the same as every other residential ratepayer in the Auckland region.
Why has the TVNZ website put up a picture of Andrew Little to accompany their piece about David Seymour’s pathetic attempt to refer Winston to the courts if he wins Northland without first resigning his NZ First List placing. There is nothing whatsoever in Katie Bradford’s piece which has any relevance to the Labour leader.
Britain’s Daily Mail has covered the story of Mathilda Crisp, the youngest known person in the world to be diagnosed with narcolepsy, which causes sufferers to suddenly fall asleep, as well as hallucinations and excruciating pain.
Her Mum, who remains in favour of vaccines, says it was caused by the Pandemrix pandemic strain vaccine, which she received aged 3 in 2009, and this is a link that has now been accepted.
Before 2011 this vaccine was given universally to those under 20 in Britain.
Now, since the causal link can no longer be denied, the U.K Government has started to claim narcolepsy is not a proper disability anyway, so as to decline the compensation claim. Unbelievable!
”This wrangling has continued despite the fact the Government’s scientists admitted two years ago that the vaccine, Pandemrix, could cause narcolepsy, having previously denied any link. In a statistical investigation, published in the British Medical Journal, they found children given the vaccine were 14 times more likely to have developed narcolepsy than unvaccinated children.”
Yep sounds about right. Over blown threats, understated risks, plenty of unknowns. Pushed on the public anyway with minimal or no effort to obtain informed consent.
Lawyer Peter Todd has been pursuing the cases with the Vaccines Damage Payment Scheme. ‘The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) initially refused our application because it would not accept there was a link between Pandemrix and narcolepsy,’ he says.
This was before the publication of the BMJ study. ‘Now they are saying narcolepsy is not a severe disability and does not qualify for compensation.’
I wonder if the tories have been screwing with the compensation system.
We are still, despite several decades of campaigning, living in a world where we still ‘shoot the messenger’.
His crime? He passed on damning information to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which showed what a paedophile-protecting hypocrite Australia’s chief rabbi really was.
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
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 ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
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 ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
Lying Prime Minister whines as Rockstar cancels gig.
inflation target plucked out of thin air
@Miravox
Interesting – thanks for link
Yes, Thanks for that miravox
The economy must be doing worse than anticipated if Key’s pretty much demanding that the RBNZ lower interest rates.
It’s actually to combat negative inflation, which is just as bad, if not worse than inflation. Take a look at Japan. Once that starts, it’s very hard to stop.
LOL deflation is a symptom of economic spending declines, debt over burdens and household incomes going backwards; it’s not some separate thing.
This is where neoliberal policies and monetarism have taken us to.
Which isn’t actually happening.
If the symptoms are there, you can be pretty sure the disease is there. You youself used the Japan example. Their economy is debt and demographic fucked – two lost decades now and counting.
I think a blindingly good diversified deflation proof portfolio would be…
Meridian
Warners
MRP
Rio Tinto
Genesis
Sky City
Bank of America
Scales Corp
JP Morgan
Why Scales Corp?
former Sth Cant asset given away for about $43mil ,then floated for about $143 mil,with one of the main ‘actors being John Spys next door neighbour in Parnell.
really?
really and truly…P.M at 105 St Stephens,and the entrepreneur at 106.
Yes, literally given to govt by Hubbard when requested for a sign of good faith. In fact, it has been reported that English delayed the entry of SCF into guarantee scheme until Scales and his helicopter company were signed over. I think there is evidence they occurred on the same day as soon as the two companies were ‘gifted’ by Hubbard.
This story is out and about … there is evidence, it’s just never been looked at thoroughly in daylight. One of the biggest most corrupt rorts by Key and English, and that’s really saying something.
Will find a link and come back … a main part if it –here you are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9CE1a4pSeQ
Having known quite a bit about this for some time I would dearly love to see this be a topic for investigation by Hager or Jon Stephenson..
If even half of what I’ve heard is true then the current government would be gone in the blink of an eye – potentially to the point of not being electable for a very long time.
‘South Canterbury Finance receivers have signed an agreement to sell a 79.7% stake in apple exporter and cold store company Scales Corporation to Direct Capital for $44 million.
Direct Capital is a local investment firm headed by Ross George. ‘
‘Goldman Sachs & Partners New Zealand Limited acted as financial advisor to the Receivers of the SCF Group’.
Guess why there has never been an equiry.
Les could you write a post about the SCF scam?
Then he should sack Wheeler who clearly has no understanding of the necessary matters to do his job.
Yeah, that’s what I said – the economy is tanking despite all the talk from the government about ‘rock-star economies’.
chuckle
Not wanting to interfere the PM says at.8% the reserve bank is short of its 2% target but denies putting pressure on for an interest rate cut…
the cut would lower the dollar (I assume) but lower borrowing costs as well, so no stop to Auckland’s runaway property market in mind from this PM.
And Wheeler is just thinking “yes, and if you’d do something about the housing market, then maybe I could drop interest rates”.
spot on with my thinking Lanth
And what do you propose?
* CGT – Delayed effect, and would add to house pricing in auckland, while deflating it elsewhere
* Stop Foreign Investment/purchasing – Which would the crash the Auckland market. As nice as you think that would be, it would be a disaster for NZ economically.
Besides, house prices are only affecting two cities.
“Besides, house prices are only affecting two cities.”
One of which – Auckland – accounts for a third of the population.
Couldn’t be bothered figuring out the other city you are referring to because if you don’t recognise there is a knock-on effect for the whole country, you are a bit deluded.
According to key if i recall correctly foreign investment isn’t causing the house price boom so no problem to exclude them from the market.
“* Stop Foreign Investment/purchasing – Which would the crash the Auckland market. As nice as you think that would be, it would be a disaster for NZ economically.”
How about we actually do the research first, hmm, instead of leaping to conclusions?
The fact is, there are no firm numbers about the amount or extent of foreign investment in Auckland, only anecdotes, hunches and guesses.
Also, you don’t have to completely restrict it – you could require that all foreign bought homes must be new-builds. Use all of that excess cash coming in from offshore for something productive, instead of locking out NZers from buying homes at sensible prices.
The government, being sovereign, can literally do anything they like in order to combat house prices. Here’s a suggestion: any entity that has owned land for 5+ years and not made any moves to develop it (ie, land-bankers), must pay a 1% capital tax, calculated based on the council valuation for the land. If that isn’t a big enough stick to get them to sell it, start increasing the rate by 0.5% per year after 5 years.
1. Banning foreign ownership of homes
2. Stop the banks from creating money
3. Ban foreign ownership of anything and everything in NZ
4. Build enough homes through Housing NZ to ensure 1% to 2% over-supply of housing
5. http://thestandard.org.nz/real-monetary-reform/
No it wouldn’t. Sure, the financial markets would crash but economically we’d end up being much stronger.
The Auckland house market is going to crash anyway. All pyramid schemes do. The question is whether Kiwis will control the property after the crash, or whether the strings will be pulled from overseas. It’s better we decide on the preferred outcome and aim for that.
Herald editorial this morning framing Little as having lost his nerve over Northland; by implication – “silly, no-guts, useless Little……”
“Andrew Little’s initial instinct to compete strongly in the byelection was the right one. If any contest was tailor-made for Labour and its new leader, it is Northland.”
Who writes this shit ? “Tailor-made” ? For what/whom ? Oh that’s right – TheGodKey. Herald abusing its power again.
Herald sees that as a good use of its power as a tory rag.
The beauty/ugly fact is every Northlander knows they get the modern day equivalent of broken plates and beads from the Treaty era, the morden being broken roads and a undemocratically implemented Super Council to strip rural Zombie towns of a say.
So spin as they are the MSM have little say, the true glimmer of hope is Peters motto “Help is on it’s way.”
pretty sure journalist’s opinion is no more valid than anyone elses, but how about just giving us some facts and letting us decide for ourselves?
god forbid they be spending this morning opining about Bridges bridges.
http://livenews.co.nz/2014/09/12/regional-land-transport-programme-2015-18-underway/
Thought having access to all emails, texts, and phone conversations was invasive?
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/scotland-yard-chief-wants-cctv-cameras-in-every-home_032015
Sir Bernard Hogan Howe, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, is now urging residents to put CCTV cameras in their homes and businesses. Because safety. It gets better though…
Sir Bernard is encouraging inhabitants to install cameras at eye level, because according to the Scotland Yard chief,
‘Facial recognition software has got better, and we can now apply it to images of burglaries, and then compare them with images we take when we arrest people.
‘What we need to be able to do is to be able to compare that photograph with the images we have of people committing a crime.
‘Taking the tops of their heads is not that helpful for facial recognition which relies on the eyes and the configuration of the area around the nose and the mouth. So we’re trying to get people to, ideally, add a camera at face level.
‘If anyone listening has a business, think about installing a new one – they’re relatively cheap. If you can’t buy one, could you think about moving it?
What a twit! Give away your freedom so that the Police can catch your burglar…oh, sorry…he was wearing a mask?
What freedom is being given away? It’s entirely up to the homeowner what happens to the video. Modern cameras have motion sensors and if all they record is the cat, big deal. But if they capture a burglar, then yeah, share that for sure.
” It’s entirely up to the homeowner what happens to the video”
Are you serious trp? You truly believe that freedom would not be lost? ….. after all eh, nothing to fear nothing to hide…
everything else is already recorded – there is only the inside of ones home left.
Yep, entirely serious. The home or business owner has total control over the what is recorded and what happens to the video. I think the mistake being made here is the thought that the video is going to be actively monitored by the police. Which it ain’t.
yet
read some history
start with ird
“The home or business owner has total control ”
You do realise trp that the home or business owner does not have total control over things in their home or business in countless ways already?
Yep, so what? If you are worried enough to put in a camera, then the copper in the article has suggested you set it at head height so the video can be useful in catching burglars. That’s it. That’s the extent of his advice. It’s not compulsory, it’s controllable by the owner and it’s a good idea in high crime areas. What is it about freedom of choice you don’t like?
You are deliberately missing the highly relevant tangent issue which is being put to you. Namely that that “freedom of choice” will disappear. This is the history. Recent, real. Just ask John Key and the Tongans. There will be no choice.
Can’t miss what doesn’t exist.
Meanwhile, here’s a song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZyVZFJGX5g
What doesn’t exist sorry?
Government mass collection of personal data?
while we’re swapping songs ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MFAKf6bwvg
Most of these modern CCTV systems will be hooked up to a PC hooked up to the internet, silly. Homeowners will be told they can monitor their home and their kids from work or while on holiday. Who wouldn’t want that?
And once its on the internet it will be collected and recorded by the intelligence services.
Actually most of them work on flash drives, CV. And in the real world, who’s going to be actively monitoring what your cat does while you’re asleep anyway? Get a grip.
I am staggered at your mindset here trp, in light of the recent revelations that ALL our communications are being hoovered up by the ‘authorities’.
This is la-la land stuff that you are dwelling in
Dick Smith $599 home CCTV system enabling “remote viewing” by PC, smartphone or tablet. Compatible with Apple, Android and Windows devices. How handy.
http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/security/uniden-digital-wireless-surveillance-pack-dsnz-l9272
So what? I think we are all aware that there are internet compliant systems, but most people go with the cheaper systems that aren’t. If you’re paranoid about the man monitoring your moggy, that’s the obvious option. Or simply don’t put a system in at all.
Get. A. Grip.
Lets place a bet shall we……
that the authorities will move to collect this data as its recording becomes more prevalent (of course some of it is already recorded by the authorities right now as CV has amply shown)
LOL just making a point that you’re not paying proper attention to Snowden and Hager’s revelations.
Um, I think you’re the one missing the point of their revelations, CV. But keep looking out for the black helicopters anyway. You never know.
That’s what the populists said in Germany in the 1930s. Why is it that humans do not learn from history?
TRP: You probably think that the “black government helicopter” raids meme is funny.
The truth is of course is that “black government helicopters” accompanying paramilitaries in body armour with automatic weapons have already been in use around NZ. Against unarmed civilians with families and children. Who have had loaded weapons pointed at them for no just reason.
They went for Kim Dotcom on a foreign governments orders, and they went to the Ureweras on trumped up terrorism charges.
vto: yep some people can’t even seem to remember recent Kiwi history let alone European 20th century history.
Some of us do a little more in our homes than sit patting a cat that’s asleep on our knee shawl. But hey, don’t worry, they’ll make the cameras compulsory for beneficiaries first, probably ones with little kids. Then Sabin’s Methcon will get a contract to monitor them. Yeah, don’t worry.
People want to be able to watch their pets, kids, house while at work, so more and more of these systems will be connected to the internet via wifi straight to the modem, the home PC or a cellular connection.
And once it is connected to the internet even indirectly, it’s a gift to the intelligence services who are collecting everything and recording it permanently.
So, do what most people do and use the cheaper flash drive systems. Easy.
Data cables transmit RF signals able to be picked up at close ranges. The ability to pick up what is being typed on a keyboard etc.
So what? Let me guess, you’ve got black tape over your laptop’s camera, haven’t you? Tin foil on the roof? Gravy for the mind, CV!
Don’t be silly, I haven’t taken to typing in my passwords with a hood over the computer – yet.
However, it’s also very clear that you are someone who is not taking Snowden and Hager’s cybersecurity messages particularly seriously. Thankfully, many credible outlets are:
The Atlantic: remote access webcam hacking tools “an epidemic”
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/12/the-webcam-hacking-epidemic/383998/
Slate: why you should never leave your webcam uncovered when you aren’t using it
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/12/19/webcam_security_never_leave_it_uncovered_if_you_aren_t_using_it.html
Yes. I do.
My tinfoil hat is very stylish.
also there are videos online that show you just how fuckn easy it is to hack in these cameras. In fact there have been a few peeps in the states that have gone to prison for it.
web cam hacked on google will entertain you for hours
https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=hacked+web+cam
I actually feel sorry for people that are so scared that they would wire their house with cameras, want all of their roads wired, their shops wired, their toilets wired, and what not. So that if the boogie man comes and gets them, the cops get to identify the boogie man.
best thing i ever did was loose my effn phone, and have black tape of my computer eye.
No tv either. So good.
You don’t see a point where maybe the data of those who voluntarily do this is used to show what a great “crime fighting” success it is so everyone should have one and to make it easier we (govt) will subsidise the cost and installation…. but you must instal…
“What freedom is being given away?”
There are privacy rights issues for people visiting the businesses and private homes where such systems are installed, esp if the police are using such systems to gather data for nationwide face recognition systems, which I’m pretty sure would be the intent. You really think the police want to go through hours of localised files that aren’t connected to a network each time there is a burglary?
We already know that there is significant connection happening between the police and places like nightclubs, where private businesses are feeding the police data.
In NZ I think there would be legal issues. Do you have the right to record me in your home without me knowing? Or your business? How about in the toilet or bathroom of both those places? Where’s the limit? Can you record images, or can you record sounds as well? How about phone calls I make from there on my own phone? Now think about how this links into the meta and content data being collected by every spy and his dog as well as private contractors.
I’m also surprised by your responses TRP, because they sound exactly what people used to say about other kinds of data collection, when us paranoid lot were being told there was nothing to fear and nothing to hide. It’s patently obvious that the people developing surveillance systems are intending them to go much further than just having a isolated recording device in your hallway.
Like tracey said, more people need to read 1984 (again).
TRP’s approach to this really is surprising. Raises questions about the place heshe occupies in the system. Again.
Agreed. It’s a viewpoint congruent with those who have authority and influence in the power establishment.
“esp if the police are using such systems to gather data for nationwide face recognition systems, which I’m pretty sure would be the intent.”
The intent is to catch burglars.
so? That’s not incompatible with what I said.
Yes, it is. Unless intent has a new meaning not previously known. The cop concerned wants to catch burglars. He suggested that those home owners who already have CCTV devices put them at a better angle so the pictures can help identify crooks. He further suggested that other home owners might consider getting the devices as well. That’s it. That’s all he said. That was his intent. To catch burglars. Anything more is speculation and fantasy.
Have a read: http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10032015/#comment-982707
Your determination to limit this discussion to cops and robbers does your credibility no good trp. This discussion goes beyond that – the cop was the starting point only.
The discussion is about the creep of government surveillance – the cop was the starting point only.
Why are you ignoring this? (and please don’t repeat what the copper said again)
You’re being disingenuous trp.
He wants to match the images against the 12 000 000 images of suspects and offenders the police already have. Note the word suspects there? (And the existence of 12 million ‘mug shots’ from a population of…!?)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2985202/Scotland-Yard-chief-Hogan-Howe-calls-DIY-surveillance-help-police.html
Still. Everyone (who counts) is a good guy and a cop in this brave new world you seem prepared to relax into.
It’s you and the daily mail using the word ‘suspects’ (strange bedfellows, Bill!).
The cop actually says: “What we need to be able to do is to be able to compare that photograph with the images we have of people committing a crime.”
Aw ffs! – the infantile school yard dance aside…
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner says…’x’.
House of Commons Committee discovered…’y’.
And in this instance you’re going with the word of a Met Officer over a House of Commons Committee. Whatever.
Bill, you wrote: “He wants to match the images against the 12 000 000 images of suspects and offenders the police already have.”
Which was wrong, as it turns out.
How are you showing that opinion to be wrong?
Given the penchant of authorities to ask for an inch while they take a mile, and the fact that the Commons Committee discovered the police have been using facial recognition software without any oversight, I’d say there’s a fair bet they will do matches against their entire data base. Actually, unless their data base is subdivided into ‘arrested but not charged’ and various other categories, then I don’t see how such an outcome can be avoided.
They sure as hell ain’t wanting face level photos just so they can print them off and take them around the neighbourhood.
It’s quite likely that FVEY police forces are following the example of the US FBI and other law enforcement organisations in participating in what Bill Binney calls a “planned programme perjury policy”.
This is where law enforcement uses NSA data without warrants or probable cause to finger individuals, then reconstructs in parallel (so-called “parallel reconstruction”) legal evidence which can be presented to a court of law while concealing their original sources of knowledge.
It’s stasi state secret police, secret evidence stuff.
No, you’re probably right that it will be the broader usage, Bill, but that’s what happens now anyway. All that will happen if those with cameras follow the cop’s advice is that they will get clearer pictures, which will mean the right people have their collars felt. That’s gotta be better than just arresting the nearest kid that vaguely looks like a grainy photo taken from a bad angle or simply not solving the crime at all.
and to that end everyone is guilty unless proven innocent by facial recognition.
Yeah, right Tui.
I have cameras in my house on the out side. One covers the garage, two on they alley way side (main reason I got them) and one in the drive way.
Night vision motion sensors.
All came about as there is a bottle shop across the road and alley way right next to my house. Fence was always being tagged/booted in. People coming up the drive way and fucking with stuff on the property.
Never had an issue since the cameras went in.
what did it cost you?
probably only a few hundred bucks if it was an off the shelf domestic system with 3 cameras and DVR, and a monitor thrown in for luck. “Night vision” is just a pretty standard ccd with IR leds and “motion detection” is a software option. The pan/tilt/zoom cameras get more pricey, as do more durable or higher def professional surveillance cameras.
Nah… if you buy the cheap stuff you will get what you pay for. I did a lot of research as i’d heard horror stories about night vision cameras.
You need to pay for the $800 cameras for outdoor+night vision or you are going to get a shitty picture. indoor ones are a lot cheaper.
For a DVR, I just used a NAS with some software to do the job. I already had the NAS for storage, so you just add the app to do the processing.
Camera is here: http://www2.acti.com/product/support/B87
Fair enough.
Although if the result is deterrence rather than trying to get the cops to track down taggers, simpler would do (although those cheap dummy domes look like crap).
I recall one ptz I was working with back in the day automatically flipped to macro-focus to get a clear shot of the small spider sitting on the dome an inch from the lens. You don’t want that to suddenly pop up when you’ve a coffee halfway to your mouth 🙂
I don’t disagree. being a tech head, it was also for my learning and tinkering 😉
a motive I can always respect 🙂
People really need to re-read 1984. Too often the media and the pollies only feed people the so-called “upside”…
thats right, read it as a kid and was fascinated to find that original title was “1948”, the author was critiquing existing totalitarian regimes as much as projecting futurism.
But much of Orwell’s book has come to pass though, TVs, computer webcams and other electronic gadgets and drones that can watch and monitor you, politicians that say the exact opposite of what they mean, a pervasive surveillance state, various snitch networks (such as Whaleoil’s Tipline and the blue bellies star555–its only traffic safety, 0800 consumer lines and web tracking) and so on. Auckland Transport is going to run facial recognition software on its traffic intersection cams that photograph license plates, driver and front seat passengers linked to US based servers.
The ability to go about your life reasonably privately and unmolested by the state is nearly gone. But you can do things like use cash for most purchases and turn some of the gadgets off occasionally. There is plenty to fear when you have nothing to hide.
Agree – there are so many parallels with manipulating information, obfuscating meanings, denial of having said something…..basically trying to change the facts. Veutoviper @14 below, also makes some interesting points about Key’s post-cabinet press conferences being published.
I really like this essay “Plato and the Internet”, extending old philosophical ideas with new technology…… (available here http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/40292.pdf), and have taken out one relevant passage:
“The written is infinitely less interesting to Plato than live discussion. But nowadays technology has blurred the distinction. Some speech – as recorded on TV or radio – is as unchanging as a piece of text. One cannot interact with a recording; it will not change if one debates with it (it ‘cannot come to its own support’). One can, of course, debate with the person who made the recording, but the recording will still stand. Like a piece of writing, a recorded utterance will remain in existence even if it has been exposed as a lie, or if its author has changed his mind. Like writing, it can be broadcast to a wide and undiscriminating audience (it ‘rolls about everywhere’).”
I find this fascinating, in the context of a) a blog such as this, where everything is retained for future cross-checking…….b) the internet in itself, where humans are cataloguing everything, it seems…….and c) the mass surveillance and collection of data that Snowden has made us privy to.
Also, I am not sure whether written word is immutable! What if we go back in 5 years from now, and the text of what we have written has changed?! I know there are projects archiving the internet, but are these beyond manipulation?
…..and on interesting literature in this regard, we should also relook at The Minority Report (K. Dick’s original book, not the movie) as to where this could lead us.
Okay, so as TRP says ‘It’s up to you’, but….
1. Insurance premiums dropping if approved home surveillance systems in place.
2. Cops issuing seizure orders (or whatever they might be called) on spurious as well as legitimate grounds.
3. The ‘license’ and permission for neighbours to be snooping on neighbours…the guy on ACC, the guy on the dole, the single mother next door…
4. Panopticon
In East Germany, neighbours, friends and family members were encouraged to inform on each other. There were inducements and advantages provided for doing so.
This is the way our society is heading.
Stasi Archives online
might be interesting for the one or the other
http://www.bstu.bund.de/EN/Home/home_node.html
Plenty of Kiwis would love the official wink to train a camera on their neighbours. Some of them would even support Labour. We can be a cringeworthy little people at times.
As I work in the roading industry in the Far North, I can assure readers that Joe Carr was quite right on Morning Report this morning. Both the Taipa bridge and the Kaeo bridge are both on the nine year plan and have been for years, no new money there. I want to know why the government isn’t doing anything about the 2 one lane bridges on state hi way 1, north of Kaitaia. The amount of accidents and near misses that occur with tourists at these sites is staggering. Something needs to be done.
“Joekerr” (Carr) is with right breakaway Focus NZ but still backs up the tories–the Nats were actually going to progress Taipa and Kaeo regardless of the by election eh? Yeah right.
There needs to be all sorts of planning, cost benefit analysis and local input before these much needed upgrades actually happen.
I wouldn’t knock the Focus NZ candidate. Osbourne may get clipped by Carr (polling 6℅) and flattened by the Winston Express.
They may well rue not selecting the Focus NZ Leader Kenny R who lost the Nat candidate race to Carters pasty Osbourne. In other words Focus NZ would not have
stood a candidate. Expect more protest votes to Carr from disgruntled Tories who can’t bring themselves to directly support Peters.
Key and Joyce’s heads will be spinning faster than the taxpayers money machine spitting out money to pay for their By-Election bribes.
Cheers, skinny, that answers something for me. If I read you correctly, the Focus group are not a party in their own right, just a ginger group. So National are likely to be putting pressure on them to cease campaigning to help Osborne out, yes?
Focus NZ are break away NL rural Tories. Front man Kenny R is no mug 6,000 votes in the NL election backs this up. Funny setup when he can drift back to the Nat’s and nom to stand for them. What a slap in the face to farmers (over & over again) getting rejected with 2 very capable rural characters. I would be spewing if i were a farmer.
Key may have to offer new milking sheds all round to keep the farmers from defecting.
We went to the Kaikohe candidates meeting last night, and it was very clear that Joe Carr is using the by-election as a public platform to get some basic info across about
the regional council’s draft 10 year transport plan, and also to correct some of the bullshit being talked by the Nats re the so-called “new” money for the 10 bridges.
Focus might be naturally tory, but they sure as heck are not impressed with how the tories have treated the north over the last few decades – that was very clear from what was said at the meeting. Neglect was the word used, over and over again.
yes but; Focus are ‘good ’ol boys’, conservative and reactionary rather than modern citified Nats or the petit bourgeois of Kerikeri. They will wriggle and squiggle but never see beyond a blue political solution.
People that are at core landowners and farmers in denial of the post colonial situation the Far North is in.
how many national voters north of Kaitaia?
it depends on the time of year, how many Parnell tractors are touring through before heading back to the yacht in Paihia
Sad to read of this death, but what a brave woman.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/09/first-female-western-fighter-ivana-hoffmann-dies-fighting-islamic-state
brave?
Yep.
Ahhh the propaganda machine and their spokespeople creating martyrs, heroes and freedom fighters. Exactly what I would expect.
It’s a quagmire over there, a sectarian civil war against Baghdad authorities. How’s Tikrit going by the way.
You are so small minded. It’s a lot bigger than baghdad. The fact you even say that shows you don’t actually grasp what is going on on there.
Just speaking the truth that it’s a sectarian civil war against corrupt partisan incompetent rule from Baghdad.
Tikrit is going well, apparently, CV. Good thing the Iraqi army isn’t relying on you for military advice, eh?
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/03/iraqi-forces-advance-isil-held-tikrit-150308054623411.html
Huh? If its going pretty well between the Shiite militia, the Iraqi Army and the Iranian Quds forces, then what the hell do they need our soldiers there for?
For training. It was in the news, surprised you missed it.
sounds like their current training will suffice if they are heading for success in Tikrit?
They can always use more training, Tracey. It’s been a major focus of the yanks in the last six months and seems to have paid some dividends. It will be interesting how Tikrit goes. If they can’t win there, then the bigger prize of Mosul will have to be reassessed. But the indications are that the Iraqi army are showing much more discipline and organisation than was previously evident. And training will have a bit to do with that.
Armchair General Westmoreland, confident as ever about the mission at hand.
How come you never mention the salient fact about the Qods and the militia, TRP?
Iraqi army this, Iraqi army that. Who is doing the fighting in Tikrit and in what proportion?
Who is in command? Who is advising him?
Newsweek: Tikrit will be a bloody disaster led by Shiite militia
http://www.newsweek.com/iraqi-army-fight-against-isis-312105
don’t need us then
They’ve been trying for a week and haven’t made much progress at all. Maybe they should ask CR for advice.
Without the promise of serious political and administrative reform in Baghdad, no lasting peace with Iraq’s majority Sunni areas is going to hold.
The Rojava Revolution has no interest in forming a state entity (eg – a Kurdistan). Where it exists within Syria, it has stated its recognition of Syrian territorial integrity and law.
The inclusion of an armed, anachronistic Marxist/Leninist organisation gives me the shits though. (See comment 5.2)
Here’s a link to the constitution of Rojava. Leninism flies full tilt into the face of it. http://civiroglu.net/the-constitution-of-the-rojava-cantons/
Nope, not correct. Idiots can be brave. The mad can be brave. Evil is very brave. Murderers are also brave, as are rapists. Soldiers are brave. Gay peopleare brave. Psychopaths are brave. Political extremists are brave.
Brave, in this context is the same as that other tiresome word Honour. Toss anything into it. Worthless.
Hang on! So she died fighting for the MLPK! The same MLPK that “believes that a sharp class struggle will also continue under the power of proletariat against the danger of restoration, that the dictatorship of proletariat is a real democracy, a socialist democracy, and it aims at it.”
http://www.mlkp.info/?kategori=1012&Who_we_are?
I’m thinking that the MLPK have a long ideological road to travel. Meanwhile, I’m (sadly) seeing Spain writ large again, where authoritarian Leninist elements essentially undermined the democratic potential of that revolution.
That aside, I take it there will be calls from within the authoritarian left that travel bans to Rojava be lifted, that the designation of the PKK as terrorist be lifted and that the political/economic embargo on Rojava be lifted?
Then can they all ‘go to school’ and get a grip?
The PKK should not be designated as a terrorist organisation. The US Department of Defense should be.
Last night in the comments on the Caption Contest post, Clemgeopin, Sans Cle and I shared a few more ‘funnies’ related to the Northland By-election. (Thread is at 30.)
As they are rather lost in the comments there, I thought I would re-post them here in case you missed them!
First, the TV3 News bulletin which shows the original of the Key Nailing failure, and Osborne showing he is at least reasonably competent in the nailing skill. It also shows Key playing ‘Daddy’ to Osborne, and Osborne playing second fiddle to Key including acting as Key’s personal photographer – rather than the centre of attention as the actual Nat candidate. All in the first 2 minutes of the video.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/national-pulls-out-team-key-in-northland-2015030717?ref=video
There has also been some very amusing photoshopping of Osborne’s billboards on Twitter. Here are the two supplied by Clemgeopin and Sans Cle last night.
http://t.co/XFhW3zgvNN
http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1813/4074/original.jpg?w=600&h
There are also a couple more in the photos on this Twitter feed
https://twitter.com/insiderslive/media
Enjoy – and share!
Oh noes, I wonder if all the little trolls will be crying into their milk over these.
Or will we get the same bollocks/fake anger from the act puppets as we got through the election.
Thanks for the links veutoviper
Thanks for the giggles
Veutoviper. Thanks for the clips
The only thing missing in he Key /Osbourn video was the Benny Hill theme song.
“Bronagh gets a man in. Don’t worry about that”
from the horses mouth…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11414883
She’d need to.
I know I’m a day late – but if you have not read this post From Andrew – I think you should. It really is that good
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/to-call-each-thing-by-its-right-name
It’s quite clear from that article that the Otago University Faculty of Law is inefficient, surplus to requirements, full of screaming Lefties, and should be defunded.
I am hoping you forgot the sarc/ tag!
I’m writing government policy. If Osborne can do it why can’t I?
LOL! Go for it. IMO your policy will be way better than his.
Did quite a bit of that in the past, on a paid basis. Don’t miss it one bit.
Thanks for the link, Adam – and I thoroughly agree that this is a must read.
A little more information – Andrew Geddis discusses the ethics of the Nat candidate, Osborne, fronting yesterday’s announcement about the 10 Northland bridges funding from taxpayers’ funds when currently he is still a private citizen running as a candidate and not a current MP.
Andrew also examines the 10 bridge proposal against the Northland regional plan which mentons only two of those 10 bridges in the plan and not as high priorities.
‘Mr Key said National “unashamedly” wanted to win the byelection. He said it was standard practice to release policies during byelections, although he could not recall instances of National doing so in previous byelections.’.(nzh)…..he does it every day…!unbelievable.
Wow. Look what Peters has achieved for Northland already and he is not even elected. A bevy of bridges to start with. Wonder what is next.
But are the bridges a tainted gift. This is a gift that needs a hard look.
The Nacts want bigger trucks on the roads so have kept at the state highway network widening roads and fixing bridges. I don’t think the Reginal councils have been the least bit interested in spending money to accomodate bigger trucks. So if Nact up grades these bridges is it really looking at putting bigger trucks on Northland’s roads and is this what voters want? Or are they being suckered?
Adam at 7 above has provided a link to a post by Andrew Geddis at Pundit which is well worth reading.
Andrew raises the ethics of a candidate (not an already elected MP so therefore still just a private citizen) fronting a government announcement such as that yesterday where Osborne fronted the bridge funding intentions.
He then goes on to examine the 10 bridge proposals against the Northland regional plan currently under development where only two of the bridges are even mentioned in the plan.
And this comment and photo from Sevy on Gower’s twitter feed last night is interesting if true …..
https://twitter.com/graemeseverinse/status/574839853608652801
Have just seen Marksman33’s comment at 9 below which is also very relevant and apparently from someone involved in Northland.
Tiger Mountain, as I said both those bridges are on the books. This is not New money being waved here, I should know, we have the Transit contract and the FNDC contract. Whether the bridges would have got the go ahead remains to be seen, although I will say there has been a lot of office johnny activity going onsite over the last year.
As for Joe Carr, yep he’s a tory acolyte, and I don’t pay much attention to him, he just happens to be correct in this matter.
Sorry dont have numbered reply on my cell.
Have they said when the bridges will begin?
Just after National admits that Auckland needs the CRL so sometime next century.
Tracy, not that im aware of, but im just a pleb.
Tracy, how many nat voters north of Kaitaia youa ask, well every farmer and his wife normally, the wealthy elite in Pukenui and the forestry block owners and most of the logging truck drivers I come across.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/67117104/call-for-kiwisaverstyle-health-cover
Say bye bye to our Public Health sector from later this term or if not, then next term the Nacts are in power.
Last month saw the death of Dick Morrison, one of the founders of the gay liberation movement in NZ, and like most of the other activists in the GLM at the time, a fervent anti-capitalist:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/remembering-dick-morrison-marxist-and-gay-liberation-pioneer/
Phil
I’m just going to leave this here:
https://twitter.com/HDPA/status/575040205759119360
Oh dear 🙂
And I will just add to it:
https://twitter.com/BrookSabin/status/575040041266761728
On a bit more serious note than some of my comments over the last day or so, this article by Audrey Young may have escaped your notice with everything else that has been happening.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/audrey-young/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501219&objectid=11414366
Audrey has scored a small win in getting the PM’s office to produce and supply the transcripts of the PM’s post Cabinet press conferences via the Beehive website (www.beehive.govt.nz) – although these are not currently searchable, apparently.
To date, recordings have been available via Scoop for example, but not actual transcripts.
Audrey details the background to this small win, the excuses put up to date for not doing so, and the fact that she took the matter to the Ombudman (with this aspect still ongoing).
What does it mean? It means that anyone will now be able to view what Key actually said, as opposed to what may have been reported in the media etc. Sometime different things. – in terms of actualy wordings, lack of context etc.
wow.
What I want to know now is what effort is required to make a PDF document non-searchable. I assume it’s not the default setting, that someone has had to intentionally alter the document to make it nonsearchable before uploading it to the govt website.
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/feature/pms-beehive-press-conference
Young, When I asked why the transcripts were not searchable, Sia said it was decided that making them searchable was the “safest” way to present them so they could not be “manipulated.”
Unfuckingbelievable.
They appear to have been printed then scanned as images, so they’re no longer text but pictures of text. It’s all a bit pointless, as you can just upload the PDF to Google Drive, then open it in Google Docs, wherein it’s all nicely OCR-d, then download it as a Word document containing the original images and the now searchable text. It takes about 3 minutes per document.
Nice tip.
I like noting how the security and surveillance state has all these handy tools. Like auto-captioning in Youtube – they can take a recording of someone speaking and automatically turn it into a transcript.
Speech recognition seems to be always on the cusp of working properly – I remember building something in VB6 in 1999 that used some fairly crude version of it.
Anyway, someone should tell Sia that it takes her longer to make the PDFs unsearchable than it does to make them searchable again.
lol
You could even run it back through text to speech so you can not only search it, but listen to Stephen Hawking reading the transcript 🙂
The religion of peace strikes again
http://rt.com/news/239093-islamist-calls-destroy-pyramids/
A few violent extremists are not representative of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. Your statement seems designed to be inflammatory and to stir up antagonism towards Muslims. That’s gross.
I wouldn’t call it a few.
http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview/
Islamic radicalism would only be a tiny shadow of it’s current self without centuries long and ongoing western imperial interventions in the Middle East and other Muslim countries in general (including Indonesia, Pakistan and Afghanistan).
That is gross oversimplification
More or less of an oversimplification than infused’s apparent reading of all that polling data?
I don’t know because I am not addressing anything infused has stated.
that doesn’t make any sense, but ok
I’m asking you to take a look at Infused’s point and compare it in terms of simplifications. Seeing you butted into their conversation, I’m interested in your thoughts on it.
You don’t have to of course, I was just wondering is all.
I was addressing CR’s point about it being the fault of western intervention as that is an overly simplistic POV
I know.
I was asking you a question about that.
Everything short of a library is an oversimplification, but if you want to point them all out, that’s cool.
+100 CR
Amateurs.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/op-ed/648/first-americans-now-insurgents-cultural-vandalism-in-iraq.html
http://mic.com/articles/76321/9-priceless-artifacts-museums-should-return-to-their-home-countries
Watch a misogynist moron and his shameful behaviour (ironically on the day the world had dedicated as the ‘International Women’s Day’)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/67169084/sexism-on-air-in-this-studio-i-run-the-show
Beautiful. The guy really believes in himself and his 12th century ideas.
Why do we still have daylight savings and how do we get rid of it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br0NW9ufUUw
I’ve found that being unemployed with no visible clocks in the house helps…right up until I have an appointment to be somewhere 😉
Don’t know but, despite the fact that everyone seems to hate the bloody thing, all that our governments have done is extend it.
There was a telling question to the PM in yesterdays press conference which appears to have been overlooked/ignored by MSM.
The question was; “Would the government still abide by their promise to upgrade 10 Northland one-way bridges even if National lose the Northland bye-election?”
The reposnse by Key was simply: “Yes”
So there you have it Northland voters, you don’t have to vote National to get your bridges upgraded, it’s a set in stone promise by John Key and how could you not trust honest John?
Talking of these bridges, Simon Bridges, in replying to an opposition question in parliament today, acknowledged that the decision to build them was made just LAST WEEK !
No Right Turn has a good post here : http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2015/03/pork-and-poor-governance.html
FYI folks – just had a significant victory in the Auckland District Court today.
Within 35 minutes, District Court Judge Harvey ‘set aside’ the ‘rates judgment debt’ upon which Auckland Council had been relying, in order to force the rating sale of my freehold property.
The ‘Rates Statement’ upon which Auckland Council had been relying, as evidence of rates owed, had included legal fees, which are NOT rates.
CLUNK – went Auckland Council’s case.
I am now actively seeking the assistance of legal counsel competent in local government matters to help
prepare a ‘Declaratory Judgment’ in the High Court to test the ‘validity’ of my rates assessment notices and rates invoices against the statutory requirements of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.
The painstaking ‘due diligence’ has been done.
This will be QUITE a case – because – generically, my rates assessment notices and rates invoices are arguably the same as every other residential ratepayer in the Auckland region.
Kind regards
Penny Bright
+100 …GO Penny!…great news
+1 heard the good news for you today Penny jolly grand outcome. Now please get on to protesting the POAL expansion out into the beautiful harbour.
NICE
I was surprised this wasn’t from The Civilian
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67169170/cunliffe-offers-to-climb-threatened-kauri
Why has the TVNZ website put up a picture of Andrew Little to accompany their piece about David Seymour’s pathetic attempt to refer Winston to the courts if he wins Northland without first resigning his NZ First List placing. There is nothing whatsoever in Katie Bradford’s piece which has any relevance to the Labour leader.
Poor Rimmer.
Hahahahahahahaha!
Rimmer: You’ve got no right to go through my wardrobe.
Lister: You keep your underpants on coat hangers, don’t you?
Britain’s Daily Mail has covered the story of Mathilda Crisp, the youngest known person in the world to be diagnosed with narcolepsy, which causes sufferers to suddenly fall asleep, as well as hallucinations and excruciating pain.
Her Mum, who remains in favour of vaccines, says it was caused by the Pandemrix pandemic strain vaccine, which she received aged 3 in 2009, and this is a link that has now been accepted.
Before 2011 this vaccine was given universally to those under 20 in Britain.
Now, since the causal link can no longer be denied, the U.K Government has started to claim narcolepsy is not a proper disability anyway, so as to decline the compensation claim. Unbelievable!
”This wrangling has continued despite the fact the Government’s scientists admitted two years ago that the vaccine, Pandemrix, could cause narcolepsy, having previously denied any link. In a statistical investigation, published in the British Medical Journal, they found children given the vaccine were 14 times more likely to have developed narcolepsy than unvaccinated children.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2987209/Did-swine-flu-jab-little-Mathilda-crippling-sleep-disorder.html
Yep sounds about right. Over blown threats, understated risks, plenty of unknowns. Pushed on the public anyway with minimal or no effort to obtain informed consent.
I wonder if the tories have been screwing with the compensation system.
http://www.humanheadline.com.au/hinch-says/shoot-the-messenger1
We are still, despite several decades of campaigning, living in a world where we still ‘shoot the messenger’.
His crime? He passed on damning information to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which showed what a paedophile-protecting hypocrite Australia’s chief rabbi really was.