TPP Just in case you missed it late yesterday, and because Submissions are due by
5pm on Wednesday, 30 March 2016 I am repeating this post.
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Paul Goldsmith today released a consultation document showing how the Government proposes to implement the intellectual property changes required to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).
“While most of the provisions are consistent with New Zealand’s existing intellectual property settings, some changes to our laws will be required before we can ratify the final agreement.
“Releasing the consultation document shows how the changes could be implemented and allows for public comment and input before legislation is introduced to Parliament.
“The changes include a revised regime for technological protection measures, or digital locks, patent term extensions in certain situations when there are unreasonable delays in examining the patent or getting regulatory approval, a more extensive performers’ rights regime and new powers for Customs to detain goods that infringe copyright or registered trademarks.
“TPP has been the most widely-consulted Free Trade Agreement in New Zealand’s history and I encourage New Zealanders with an interest in intellectual property to have their say,” Mr Goldsmith says.
The intellectual property changes will be included in a bill covering all domestic legislative changes required to ratify TPP. This bill is expected to be introduced to Parliament this year.
“New Report on Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Raises Serious Concerns about Corporate Misalignment”
BERKELEY, Calif., March 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — A new report by the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at the University of California, Berkeley finds that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the mega-regional trade deal, raises serious concerns about how a world economy reregulated to suit corporate interests would undermine public accountability, transparency, and democratic participation.
Co-authored by john a. powell, Elsadig Elsheikh, and Hossein Ayazi, the Haas Institute’s analysis underscores how the TPP would grant greater transnational corporate influence over the fate of one third of all world trade, with TPP signatory members producing 40 percent of all global economic output.
The TPP’s nuanced provisions will give corporations the power to evade environmental regulations, bypass national courts and override governments, and control workers’ movements throughout the TPP countries.
Since the release of TPP text, debate has emerged over whether the trade deal will, in fact, stimulate economic growth and create jobs or violate labor laws and tank the economies of developing nations. While these discussions address important concerns, they have also overshadowed the deeper implications of the TPP. If it passes, the TPP would threaten key democratic principles, such as transparency and public accountability.
The USA is a degenerate society. That is why people don’t feel safe and have to carry guns. And they are so inward looking that the woman has a photo of her wearing makeup, a chosen outfit with expensive hat and large gun, and considers it a good thing to publish not an example of the endtimes for the country.
And what values has she to teach her wee son. She is bereft of them, living in a nation, that tries to keep it glossy on top but underneath is a simmering lot of sewage which is as full of toxic things as Flint water, and can never be cleansed and drunk safely. Probably the problem is their own polluted drinking water is driving them round the bend.
I’m a bit more hopeful that the increased militancy we’re seeing with gun owners in the US is a sign that they realize their fetish is becoming socially unacceptable and on the way out. Kinda like how smokers got really militant in the 80s and early 90s. Certainly the statistics are clear that there’s fewer gun owners, but the remaining gun owners have a lot more guns.
I had to laugh about my comment above. it reads like some communist propaganda from a story I am reading written by Colin Cotterill which is in Laos, but involve Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese in differing numbers.
Unfortunately I do think this about USA though I’m not a communist, probably more of a humanist. And believing in good for people generally and for oneself is the sort of value that I think is important.
“tragic”? She isn’t dead, and was upright and alert, and the kid probably has minimal understanding (if any) of what happened. And the irony can be cut with a knife.
“tragic” is the 9 year old who was given an uzi on full auto and accidentally killed her instructor because she was too small to handle the recoil.
OneTwo
I recognise your ploy. It gets used regularly by RW here. The emotional content of some tragedy is turned on to high, and swamps every attempt to treat the matter both humanely and rationally. Each ongoing tragedy is received more emotionally, and people are paralysed by grief and stress and cannot be allowed to concentrate on how to prevent the next tragedy.
I’ll drag myself to once again into the fray, against TPPA. Look at the hidden message in the link: It_sour_future. So on top of all the other things I try to do, to help community and keep NZ from being mean, I will do it. Thanks for backgrounding and informing saveNZ.
So is the kid on some sort of committee looking at adoption age law changes or is it just his personal opinion or something? I’m not aware of the context. I have heard there are some odd anomalies around adoption.
No, no context personal to Barclay – the rather large technicality that permits an MP of age 23 to decide (vote) on an issue concerning capacity of someone aged under 25….
That’s a different argument. We’re talking about civilised countries that are pro-choice. Why should men have a say beyond that if a 23 yr old shouldn’t vote on legislation affecting 24/25 yr olds?
Once you have answered the original question about age …… how is that justified? You know, that someone under 25 can decide if people under 25 are capable?
It is a nonsense.
Happy to hear an explanation in justification. Because the answer will surely provide some guidance to your male/abort question too……. come on …….
sheesh weka have you ever studied maths or logic? you have completely and utterly missed the point
let’s leave it for now – I have to rush out shortly and now you have me all confused and will need to be careful I don’t drive the wrong side of the road backwards …
When you come back, just start again. Make the statement about Barclay and then say what the problem is and how it it a problem. If you read back through the thread, you never said.
Lols. I’m still not with you. Are you suggesting an MP should be excluded from voting on age related legislation whether it be adoption, minimum purchase age for alcohol or anything, because of ….their age?
And if theres no such bills before parliament at the moment is your question more hypothetical than anything?
“Metalclad v. Mexico
Toxic waste
Investor win (awarded $16.2 million)
In 1997 Metalclad Corporation, a U.S. waste management firm, launched a NAFTA investor-state dispute against Mexico over the decision of Guadalcazar, a Mexican municipality, not to grant a construction permit for expansion of a toxic waste facility amid concerns of water contamination and other environmental and health hazards. Studies indicated that the site’s soils were very unstable, which could permit toxic waste to infiltrate the subsoil and carry contamination via deeper water sources. The local government had already denied similar permits to the Mexican firm from which Metalclad acquired the facility. Metalclad argued that the decision to deny a permit to it, as a foreign investor operating under NAFTA’s investor rights, amounted to expropriation without compensation, and a denial of NAFTA’s guarantee of “fair and equitable treatment.”
The tribunal ruled in favor of the firm, ordering Mexico to compensate Metalclad for the diminution of its investment’s value. The order to compensate for a “regulatory taking” was premised on the tribunal’s finding that the denial of the construction permit unless and until the site was remediated amounted to an “indirect” expropriation. The tribunal also ruled that Mexico violated NAFTA’s obligation to provide foreign investors “fair and equitable treatment,” because the firm was not granted a “transparent and predictable” regulatory environment. The decision has been described as creating a duty under NAFTA for the Mexican government to walk a foreign investor through the complexities of municipal, state and federal law and to ensure that officials at different levels never give different advice. After a Canadian court slightly modified the compensation amount ordered by the investor-state tribunal, Mexico was required to pay Metalclad more than $16 million.”
Yesterday Bill English admitted on NatRadio that pretty much all dairy farmers have been conducting their business to make money by way of capital gain rather than revenue….
These people need to account for that money in their income tax returns then.
Yes. Depends on how it is treated. Some regimes don’t require realisation before charging, others do. Michael Cullen seemed to think taxing before realisation was ok, personally I think it is a bit nuts.
Of course shortly there will be plenty of losses to counter gains anyway ….
Ha, yep like those people who manage to manufacture disabilities to make claims are simply indulging in ‘good’ income practice. They have clearly learned from Bill English and his types.
On RADIONZ this morning. About keeping young offenders out of the Courts and injustice treadmill.
09:20 How iwi led justice panels are keeping offenders away from crime
Funding is due to soon run out for three iwi led panels, which offer an alternative justice system for low level offenders.
The three panels, in Lower Hutt, Gisborne and Counties Manukau, were set up in 2014, with the objective of diverting low-level offenders away from crime, and keep them out of the criminal justice system.
The Justice Ministry has yet to decide whether it will continue funding them, saying while it appreciates the groundswell of enthusiasm, it has to consider the role and fit of the panels in the wider criminal justice system. Neville Baker is the chair of the Waiwhetu iwi led panel. Asher Hauwaho is the Iwi Liaison Officer for the Lower Hutt police.
Need more money, thank you very much, from the government. This citizen here says that time spent with young people having difficulties, helping them so they overcome their problems and limit reoffending to minor infringements, will save our tax dollars, my tax dollars, at present 15% on everything I buy., plus the cents tax you take off my small savings, and anything you get back from my taxable pension. (Don’t abandon programs for young people who are recidivists. If the offending comes down to really minor offences, it will stop as they get older. Just believe it is a good thing to do to work with them, and keep it going. It will prove a big saving and a big boost to the individual life.)
WhichAt present money received goes mostly on your and your servants’ salaries, and to the pockets of your business class running the prisons, the old people’s homes, and who knows what else you are going to hive off so you are paid for doing nothing useful for we the citizens.
Contemptible curs you are.
edited
Thanx Expat glad that the number of people saying this is growing.
There have been active intelligent rational measures to improve and reduce the numbers in prison for decades, while governments prefer to keep the bogeyman up their sleeves for a possible last minute election frisson.
The Future of Restorative Justice –Control, Co-option or Co …..
Kim Workman’s address to the 2008 Restorative Justice Aotearoa Conference. Let me first …. alternative justice movement in New Zealand, that has over the years sought to implement ….. Judge Andrew Becroft‟s advocacy for expanding.
Up to $7280 pledged for benighted journalist Bradley Ambrose. Going to 11 pm on Wednesday 16 March in his effort to raise for court fees – $38,000. I think Give a Little gives whatever is raised to the person, others only pay if target is reached. I could be wrong, but I should think anything would be helpful to him. https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/bradelyambrose
There is the link.
Put in a bit and you are doing something to stir things along against this government. The link to the post on The Standard tells more:
A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN
To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent
candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves,
we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence,
effective immediately. (You should look up ‘revocation’ in the
Oxford English Dictionary.)
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical
duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except
North Dakota, which she does not fancy).
Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a
Governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may
be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the
following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
———————–
1. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour,’
‘favour,’ ‘labour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell
‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix ‘-ize’
will be replaced by the suffix ‘-ise.’ Generally, you will be expected
to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up
‘vocabulary’).
————————
2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler
noises such as ”like’ and ‘you know’ is an unacceptable and
inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S.
English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft
spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated
letter ‘u” and the elimination of ‘-ize.’
——————-
3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
—————–
4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns,
lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers andtherapists shows that you’re not quite ready to be independent.
Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can’t sort
things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then
you’re not ready to shoot grouse.
———————-
5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry
anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a
permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in
public.
———————-
6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will
start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same
time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the
benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will
help you understand the British sense of humour.
——————–
7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have
been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
——————-
8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French
fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato
chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in
animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
——————-
9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually
beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to
as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance
will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable,
as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth
and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British
Commonwealth – see what it did for them. American brands will
be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine, so that all can be sold
without risk of further confusion.
———————
10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors
as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast Englishactors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell
attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an
experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a cheese grater.
———————
11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one
kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave
enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some
similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for
a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour
like a bunch of nancies).
———————
12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to
host an event called the World Series for a game which is not
played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there
is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You
will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first
to take the sting out of their deliveries.
——————–
13.. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.
—————–
14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s
Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of
all monies due (backdated to 1776).
—————
15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups,
with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies)
and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.
God Save the Queen!
PS: Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour
(NOT humor)
I’m just reading Affluenza by Oliver James. I had heard it being bandied about and have come to believe that there is a change that develops when we become affluent and able to stand unsupported. We think we are better and separate from the rest of our society. Hah. James is looking at the process. He calls it the Affluenza Virus. The WHO records that there is a lot of distress in developed countries. James describes it as being caused by the Virus.
He calls it Selfish Capitalism and says – I mean four basic things.
The first is that the success of businesses is judged almost exclusively by their current share price.
The second is a strong drive to privatise public utilities, such as water, gas and electricity, or in the case of America, to keep them in private hands.
The third is that there should be as little regulation of business as possible, with taxation for the rich and very rich so limited that whether to contribute becomes almost a matter of choice.
The fourth is the conviction that consumption and market forces can meet human needs of almost every kind.
America is the apotheosis of Selfish Capitalism, Denmark the nearest thing to its Unselfish opposite.
(That sounds to me how our country is operated. I think our governments have dived into this Selfish thing like Grandpa McDuck dived into his golden money pile!
He writes further that materialism is strong in the poor, because every dollar counts, there is rarely enough, the work is precarious, and everything received can help, if everything isn’t budgeted for, there will be days when there is literally no food etc.
But when there is sufficient and more, and materialism still reigns then society deteriorates.)
The Selfish Virus causes distress like this:
It impedes the meeting of our fundamental human needs: feeling secure, being part of a community, feeling competent, and being autonomous and authentic. A large body of scientific evidence suggests…the Virus impairs the meeting of each need.
You’re a good googler… Have you ever heard the saying about the exception that proves the rule?
Not sure how this helps the issue, but would be keen to see a credible answer to the point above about how an MP aged under 25 can decide (vote) that people under 25 are of insufficient capacity to adopt…
No, don’t avoid the question again. Whether it is a problem or not is separate. And I know you like throwing out the old “don’t what you’re talking about” banana skin but it is a falseity ….
The question again;
How is it that someone aged under 25 can decide (vote) on whether people under 25 are capable or not?
The answer is simple, he’s a legally elected representative and entitled to vote. His age is irrelevant to that. I really don’t get what your problem is.
In other words you’re objecting to something without knowing why. Or you’re being weasly and refusing to say what you think because you know you will get argued with. Neither are hardly the basis for useful political debate.
Weka he is been cute, from a logic point of view your statement is a circular argument , ie you are asking some one under 25 wether people under 25 are capable, by definition they can’t answer that question because you don’t know if their capable because there under 25?
I think 23 yr olds can be capable of making good MPs so it’s a nonsense argument to me. Vto seems to be arguing some principle and conflating that with his opinion that a young MP can’t do a good job because of their age.
Being an MP at 23 is not the same as adoption. But really the whole discussion is daft because the law as it stands is old and out dated and a report wants it to change to take the discriminatory aspects out. How Barclay would not be competent to vote in that because of his age is beyond me.
Hi weka – red delusion, grindlebottom and mr munro below have said it in slightly different ways that hopefully make sense to you. It was a curiousity, and illogicality.
It is a logical fallacy that the law both allows a person to decide (vote) that a person under 25 is incapable, but be capable enough to make that decision.
That is the problem.
But in further curiousity, it also highlights another discrepancy between our societies ways today and traditional ways borne out over long history …… whereby age was a factor in competency to a far greater extent than it is today. Two examples being – leaders of communities have typically been described as the “elders” (indicating the age factor), and secondly, this particular example whereby past NZ society has deemed people under 25 incapable of adopting.
This is just history. It is curious that we seem to think we are superior to this aspect of human history… time will tell whether we are right today (curiously enough)..
One final aspect – of course in societies past, far fewer people lived to a decent age, so the “elders” may have typically been in their 30’s, or heaven forbid their 20’s.
and one more final aspect – with my too many years on the planet my personal view is that age, combined with thinking (…), adds immeasurably to so very much of life. That time and experience is something that cannot be gained in other ways by most people. I do not value the views of the young on various relevant issues, to anything like the extent I value the views of the elders (subject to cogency etc..). This is my experience … and this would seem to be the experience of much of past societies too, given the prevalence of age in these matters …..
I don’t think he’s making an argument, I think he accepts a 23 year old can and will vote on the issue.
He’s just got it in his head that saying someone under 25 can decide whether someone else under 25 is capable of adopting looks to him like circular reasoning, a logical fallacy of some kind, and he wonders (out of curiosity) what kind it is.
If I’m right, the problem is that it’s a fallacy that this is a logical fallacy.
Hi vto
I think the argument for it is that it is the exception that proves the rule.
But if there were too many under 25’s, when would it stop being an exception? Would it be decided on proportionality, the same percentage in parliament, as the percentage of potentital under 25 voters. There is a lot to take in for someone that young who hasn’t lived long. So that is a mark against too many youth. Also they stop learning I think, and don’t do their own but the thinking bidden by their Party, so starting too young may see a dull old dog or bitch by the time they retire if they stay at heel for too long. One mark against career pollies.
Then again some older people don’t seem to have lived and learned despite all their years. They have set out with their gladstone bag full of precepts and prejudices and never had them washed and ironed throughout their whole lives. Our local MP Nick Smith has been in Parliament since he was a fresh faced youngster and the job has aged him, but I don’t know if it’s added to his wisdom.
I see Stuart M has put up a lively answer. I thought it was simpler than that – that if you say you are making an exception, that implies that there is a rule to which the present matter is different but is being allowed, thus it is being made one exception to the (normal and accepted) rule. Thus, the exception proves the rule.
edited
hi mr grey, I have tried to explain again just above, hopefully makes sense …
Woody Allen gets the last say…
“In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people’s home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm!”
The exception proves the rule is one of the famous sayings that have come to mean the opposite of what they originally meant. Exceptio probat regulam meant that when you have an apparent exception, you should apply the rule. The convenience to the likes of VTO of this position is it allows him to avoid refutation by what is effectively a selective use of the excluded middle. Something is something, or it is not.
Under 25s are capable of good judgment, or they are not. We have several instances of under 25s with good judgment, so the generalisation is unsound. But qualifying it might redeem it ‘many under 25s are not capable of good judgement’ is probably tenable.
The other inverted saying was Solon’s ‘A moral man is a law unto himself’ – the point being that moral persons are genuinely self-policing to some degree. The modern meaning refers to someone who does whatever they want – like our despicable substitute for a PM.
VTO is pointing to a Cretan liar’s paradox – “All Cretans are liars” says a Cretan, and the expectation is that the statement must be untrue. The paradox only works in an abstract situation because to be a liar only requires occasional lying. Thus a person under 25 could have inadequate judgment but still make the occasional good decision – as seems likely given that the police are now scheduled to investigate Todd Barclay. http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/375835/todd-barclay-electorate-staff-member-talk-police
Crikey, is that a scandal brewing? As Rosie said, bring on Popcorn April. Is that four legal process National will be involved in over the next months?
The question for me is, who decided that you shouldn’t be able to adopt under the age of 25, there are many under 25 who are mature enough to manage the adoption adequately , it’s not the age, it’s the ability to meet the requirements, surely.
In a democracy, as long as your’e old enough to vote then, your view point should not be dismissed.
VTO, I agree with your point to a large extent on this issue, if I was interested in adopting, and under 25, does this guy understand (at 23) the issues surrounding adoption, I see your point as 18 year olds voting on lowering the drinking age.
The point I make above about why there is a need to even make a decision based on age (age of the adopter), it’s discrimination isn’t.
Surely if you meet the necessary requirements for adoption, age is not a consideration, therefore the argument for voting on the question is irrelevant
The issue in the news is that a report is saying the current law (which says you can’t adopt if under 25) is outdated and discriminatory (not just the age issue) and should be changed.
I don’t know what vto’s point is. Barclay may or may not be competent to have a say on this proposed law change, but his age has nothing to do with it.
The law change would remove the prohibition on his particular age to adopt, so him having a say makes sense at that level anyway.
Thanks for answering my question that I asked of vto at round one of this thread, from this morning. I didn’t know whether it was a hypothetical question or related to actual current discussion of adoption law.
Which brings it back round to my question to him which was
“Are you suggesting an MP should be excluded from voting on age related legislation whether it be adoption, minimum purchase age for alcohol or anything, because of ….their age?”
I think, no they shouldn’t be excluded. That in itself would be discrimination.
Hi Rosie, sorry for missing your question earlier.. it raises the same interesting dilemma regarding age restrictions on anything and everything…
people around here seem to be saying that age is immaterial
if that is the case then there are an awful lot of statutes to clear up and remove the discrimination from – alcohol, marriage, sex, war, driving, adoption, school, voting, , ,
what to do?
allow the young to decide these matters for themselves? allow the elders to do the deciding?
it all ends in logical fallacy stew
seriously though, what should we do
Thanks for that, I wasn’t fully aware of the issue, so sounds like perhaps he should have a say and condemn two age discrimination issues at the same time, but regarding Barclay’s competency, in a democracy, he can’t be discriminated against for being incompetent either.
That’s a petition calling for Hoskings to apologise or be sacked for calling returned servicemen morons for having an opion about the flag. Seems important.
Yeah, the petition is important, to counter the absolute stupidity of the man, but he’s not important, anyone with only half a brain would switch off after only listening to him for a few seconds of his dribble, I don’t know anyone who could say he represents their view points, except for maybe the PM.
Thanks. Signed. The guy is a prize jerk, and that was a really offensive thing to say. He should lose his job for a number of reasons, but this is as good as any.
I can’t look at him for a few seconds without my blood pressure going up. A broadcaster should not inspire that reaction in people. A broadcaster should inspire their viewers to have an enquiring mind and a desire to be educated by their investigative journalism…………….
“A broadcaster should inspire their viewers to have an inquiring mind and a desire to be educated by their investigative journalism…………….”
Problem is, who is that broadcaster?, where is that reporter? the free to air ones have gone down the toilet and not even worth watching any more and sky news is Murdoch BS.
When I was their in Jan, I watched “One” news with “Peter whats his face”, how embarrassing, he looked like a possum about to be hit by a car.
It’s a real shame we don’t have a public broadcaster modeled on the Aus ABC, providing balanced points of view for the benefit of the viewers, Q & A on the ABC includes 5 or more commentators from a diverse range of fields, beliefs and political persuasions, and the audience (aprox 200) is made up of a proportional amount of each of the 3 main political parties.
Having said that, Turnbull has replaced some of the key mangers within the ABC, and there has been a slight change in the way in which information is presented in the news, with less criticism of the Govt, you know, change a few of the neutral reporters for ones which are more pro Govt skew.
The great thing about the ABC is that there is NO commercial advertising at all, it’s free to air in digital right across the country with 4 separate channels at a cost annually of aprox $1B.
The ABC serves the needs of the Australian people, not the govt.
It makes sense that slavery and environmental destruction would go hand in hand. In some ways they spring from the same root. Our consumer economy is driven at its most basic level by resource extraction, pulling things from the earth, an extraction that we never actually see. We pull food from the earth, of course, but we also pull our cellphones from the earth, our clothing, our computers, our flat-screen televisions, our cars—it all comes from the earth, ultimately. And pulling things from the earth can be a dirty business. To make our consumer economy hum and grow and instantly gratify, costs are driven down as low as they can go, especially at the bottom of the supply chain; this can lead to abusive conditions for workers and harm to the natural world. Taken to the extreme it means slavery and catastrophic environmental destruction. But all this normally happens far from any prying eyes. It’s a hidden world that keeps its secrets.
[…]
When it comes to global warming, these slaveholders outpace all but the very biggest polluters. Adding together their slave-based deforestation and other CO2-producing crimes leads to a sobering conclusion. If slavery were an American state it would have the population of California and the economic output of the District of Columbia, but it would be the world’s third-largest producer of CO2, after China and the United States. It’s no wonder that we struggle and often fail to stop climate change and reduce the atmospheric carbon count. Slavery, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas producers, is hidden from us. Environmentalists are right to call for laws and treaties that will apply to the community of nations, but that is not enough. We also have to understand that slavers—who don’t adhere to those laws and treaties—are a leading cause of the natural world’s destruction. And to stop them, we don’t need more laws. We need to end slavery.
What do the shrimp on your plate, the cell phone in your pocket and the rising pollution levels in the developing world have in common? Kevin Bales says, in a word: slavery. Paul Kennedy talks with the author of Blood and Earth: Modern Slavery, Ecocide and the Secret to Saving the World.
Thats one sound reason I only have an old dumb phone, slavery and it’s effects, eg early death for for people that extract cobalt from dangerous mines for the phones (and why I don’t eat shrimps from Vietnam).
And another reason I use an old dumb phone. I’ve never being able to trust the security on smart phones. Hackers will always win.
There are so many benefits to consider by being part of the dumb phone movement. It began as a psycho social issue but it’s really much larger than that.
+100 Rosie…the dumb phones are best imo…my smart phone stays under the chair and turned off…i reckon the apps my daughter loaded it with are bugged…ha ha
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...
Is the terrorist Organisation Greenpeace and the loony Green parties around the World hiring professional internet trolls? I have noticed a trend lately where if you post research, news articles or even comments that show the manmade climate change scam to be just that, you are immediately attacked, often within ...
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...
The Herald has a story today about the 400 MW of wind power currently under construction. Good news, right? Except that none of it is being driven by policy (instead, its about replacing Contact Energy's Taranaki Combined Cycle gas-fired power plant, due to shut down in 2022), and most of ...
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...
The Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age is launching this afternoon, and they have already announced plans to challenge the law in court:The campaign, named "Make it 16" will launch at Parliament on Friday, with plans to take their case to the High Court, testing the rights ...
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...
The Operation Burnham inquiry continued to question senior NZDF staff today, and their shoddy coverup over their knowledge of civilian casualties continue to fall apart. If you recall, first, we were asked to believe that it was all a series of "mistakes and errors": a senior officer with multiple degrees ...
The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) had part of its committee stage yesterday. its a generally tedious bill about the nitty-gritty of local government reorganisation. But it includes a clause making the Local Government Commission subject to the Ombudsmen Act, and hence the OIA. Great! Except of ...
Yesterday Ihumātao's mana whenua reached a consensus that they would like their land back, and asked the government to negotiate with Fletcher's for its return. The government's response? Try and undermine that consensus, while talking about how doing anything would undermine existing Treaty settlements. The first is just more bad ...
Its Suffrage Day, the 126th anniversary of women winning the right to vote (but not stand in elections) in New Zealand. And to celebrate, the government has bought Kate Sheppard's house in Christchurch:The government has bought Kate Sheppard's former home in Christchurch for more than $4 million. The Ilam villa ...
The UN climate summit is happening in new York next week, and unlike previous years, coal-burners and denier-states are not being invited to speak:Leading economies such as Japan and Australia will not be invited to speak at next week’s crunch UN climate change summit, as their continued support for coal ...
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...
Just when I was thinking that Palmerston North's mayoral race (which includes a convicted child molester / public wanker and a convicted child beater) was the worst in the country, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere opened his mouth:Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is being slammed for using the words "sieg ...
We reprint below an article from the excellent website the Economics of Imperialism by Tony Norfield This is an update of the statistics for my Index of Power, using data for 2018-19 and discussing what a country’s ranking reflects. The major change is that China’s rank has shifted up and ...
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...
Alone, Alone, All, All, Alone: To argue that the Prime Minister is the victim of her advisers’ failure to keep her informed may offer Jacinda some measure of exoneration – but only at the cost of casting her as a hopeless political ingénue. A star-dusted muppet, whose only purpose is to ...
In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...
I don't want to give pblicity to certain parts of the internet that are better left to fester in their own irrelevance (I know, a bit like this place) but the listing of Chris Trotter as a 'author' on Cameron Slater's spinoff website, the BFD requires some explanation.Now, I don't ...
The text below is a Twitter thread by Heather Heying that explains the essence of sexual reproduction and it long evolutionary history. She is an evolutionary biologist and a “professor-in-exile” after she and her husband, Bret Weinstein, stood up to supporters of an enforced “Day of Absence” for white staff and teachers ...
With crunch time for new Zealand climate policy approaching, most of the New Zealand media have got on board with a global reporting effort to cover the issue. There's one strand of stories today about polling and what it shows about changing public attitudes to the crisis, but the strand ...
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...
Current and former NZDF top brass are being publicly grilled this week by the hit and run inquiry over their public responses to allegations of civilian casualties. Previously, they've claimed there were no casualties, a position which led them to lie to Ministers and to the public. Now, they're saying ...
by Rafael D. Quiles (gender-critical gay man from Puerto Rico) The writing on the wall is right in people’s faces and people just don’t see it or don’t want to. What could actually possess a heterosexual male to want to feminize himself and claim that he is a lesbian? Because ...
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...
by the Redline blog collective At Redline we are very saddened to hear of the death of Magdalen Burns who passed away on the morning of Friday, September 13 (British time). Magdalen was a great fighter for the rights of women in general and lesbian women in particular, a defender ...
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...
The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...
Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...
When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...
by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...
The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...
Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...
As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...
Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Inclusion for trans women/men and non-binary peoples has today been announced as the cornerstone of a new resolution for the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ). ...
It took a testy Morning Report interview this week to remind me that Simon Bridges was still the Leader of the Opposition. Until then, he had been largely invisible as the events of recent weeks unfolded. ...
The National Council of Women NZ has today welcomed the news that the Government has purchased Kate Sheppard’s house in Christchurch, the base for the NZ suffrage campaign. ...
The Māori Party supports mana whenua of Ihumātao and acknowledges their coming together to reach consensus on the future of their whenua. “We also acknowledge the leadership of the Kīngitanga who have played an important role in supporting ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
FIRST Union today welcomed Westpac’s public admission of the significant gender pay gap in its workforce and reiterated its call for employers to work with unions to close this disparity, arguing that this work must begin at the bottom of the pay ...
Changes to the work visa system announced by the Minister of Immigration are not all positive for employers or migrants, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the ...
The Dairy Workers Union (DWU) has welcomed the announcement from dairy company, Synlait, that they will be boosting parental leave entitlements significantly for working parents. ...
In June, the Children’s Commissioner announced a thematic review into Oranga Tamariki’s policies, processes and practice relating to care and protection issues for tamariki Māori aged 0-3 months. Today the Children’s Commissioner has released the full ...
“Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues of the Western Bay region. We believe that this is ...
In response to DairyNZ's attempt to dismiss an economic report that highlighted dairy's role in the New Zealand economy is only three per cent of GDP, Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says: "If DairyNZ wishes to reject a report ...
Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has successfully guided the mana whenua of lhumaatao to reach a consensus on the future of their whenua. ...
Two activists disguised as shareholders interrupted the AGM of a gold mining company in central Auckland this morning to inform shareholders their plans to mine for gold in conservation estate in the Karangahake Gorge were unwelcome. ...
The Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) has been labelled ‘NATO’ (no action, talk only) when it comes to child mental health, with just 0.6 full time staff (24 hours per week) for inpatient child psychology and just 0.8 full time staff ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has awarded three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union , in partnership with the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance , has today published this year's Ratepayers' Report – online local government league tables – at www.ratepayersreport.nz . ...
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...
The recent NZIER report trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said ...
This week, the New Zealand Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will jointly host a seminar on tackling the global spread of illicit weapons. ...
In a landmark judgment issued this morning, the Court of Appeal confirmed that the Southern Response Concealment Class Action will proceed issued on an "opt out” basis. ...
Mainstream media, as the purveyors of truth and source of balanced information, took another backward step today with the announcement by Stuff that most New Zealand organisations had joined 170 media outlets from around the world in the “Covering ...
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...
"This is what Wellington boy said, after he finished his quick and bloody deed. You know what your problem is? Once a slut, always a slut": a short story by Auckland writer Eileen Merriman. ...
Michael Mann, a climatologist and famous press critic, talks to the Columbia Journalism Review about the dangers of both understating and overstating the dangers of climate change. ...
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...
Analysis - Jacinda Ardern heads for the UN as the sexual assault scandal rumbles on at home, and Simon Bridges says he isn't going to ease off his personal attacks on the PM. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday.In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises ...
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.With Duncan enjoying a MAFS-style beach holiday in Bali, Alex and Jane are left to cover another crazy week in reality television. Shannon Ryan has gone full beast-mode in Celebrity Treasure Island, Married ...
Dr Bryce Edwards“Diversity” is a central theme of the current local government elections – with the common criticism that incumbent politicians are generally too “stale, male, and pale” (or variations on that). Numerous commentators and candidates have lamented the lack of women, ethnic minorities, and youth in local government. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Climate change, environment Paul Gorman (Stuff): How would you spend an unlimited war chest for ...
A review into the Ministry for Culture and Heritage will look into the relationship between a staffer and the external developer responsible for a massive data breach. ...
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, $48)Obvs. (Read our review by Pip Adam here)2 Three ...
When comedy documentary Funny As was made, a lot of interviews got left on the cutting room floor which NZ On Screen quickly picked up. Here are some of our favourites.We’re a pretty funny bunch us Kiwis. Trapped on a tiny island at the end of the earth it appears ...
Auckland rapper JessB has just released a new EP and wraps up a national mini-tour tonight in her home town. Jogai Bhatt talked to her about her world travels, performing at Ihumātao, and how her community and her music intersect.It’s only been two years since JessB entered the public radar ...
A new poem by Waiheke poet Rata Gordon.PacingA deep bow to NerudaIt so happens I am sick of being a woman. It happens that I walk into BP stations and supermarkets greasy, swollen, like a cow made of soap, losing my way in a field of placentas and pesticides.The smell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Gardiner, Lecturer, Edith Cowan University In August, a 24-year-old woman appeared before the Western Australian District Court after pleading guilty to concealing the birth of her newborn baby in 2018. The charge of concealment of birth refers to hiding the dead ...
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...
Sydney shock-jock Alan Jones has written to Jacinda Ardern saying he didn't intend any violence towards her when he said on air that Australia's Prime Minister should "shove a sock down [her] throat". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Allen, Senior Lecturer in Public Management, Victoria University of Wellington This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. For three years in a row, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, UNSW Women’s nipples have long been a source of fascination and controversy, from celebrity gossip stories of wardrobe malfunctions and “nip slips” to feminist movements for gender equality. Nipples even became a fashion accessory. Men’s nipples ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University One of the great paradoxes of climate change communication in Australia is that politicians command the most attention on the issue, yet are among the least trusted sources of climate information. Research ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Sharman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Thousands of school students across Australia are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin., Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Newstart recipients and other Australians on benefits get their half-yearly pay rise today (and also on March 20). This one is vanishingly small. Announced very quietly by Social Services Minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Warren Hogan, Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney The budget was for practical purposes in neither deficit nor in surplus in 2018-19, the final figures released by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Thursday reveal. The underlying cash deficit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW This week NBN Co announced pricing changes for the National Broadband Network. It includes a new plan boasting a download speed of 1 gigabit per second and an upload speed of 50 megabits per second for ...
Covering Climate Now: Just how much of an impact would a shift to vegetarian diets have on the battle to halt climate change, asks Mirjam Guesgen.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Kiwi cuisine is replete with meat: fish and chips, meat and ...
It's not a risk assessment, but it's a start: an instruction manual for the experts who'll be writing New Zealand's first national climate risk report for the government was released on Thursday. ...
The Wellington Mayor's main rival in the upcoming local elections, Andy Foster, won't say how much Sir Peter Jackson has stumped up in a bid to get him elected. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: GDP growth slows in the latest quarter, questions raised over utter NZDF incompetence, and NZTA sends money intended for light rail elsewhere.The numbers are in, and GDP growth has slowed down for the second quarter of the year. Radio NZ reports it ...
As climate change crumbles coasts, lengthens droughts and increases extreme weather events, New Zealand’s seed bank for threatened indigenous plants lacks on-going funding. ...
Steve Tew marked the magnitude of the day by openly attacking the Six Nations power bloc and suggesting former ABs should be free to play for Samoa, Tonga or Fiji. ...
A classical approach to freshwater policy only serves to enforce well-established views, argue Maria Armoudian and Nicolas Pirsoul. Here they offer some more innovative alternatives. ...
Open mike 10/03/2016 
Open mike is your post.
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...1 hour ago
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...11 hours ago
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...19 hours ago
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...20 hours ago
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...21 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...23 hours ago
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...2 days ago
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...2 days ago
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...2 days ago
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...2 days ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...3 days ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...3 days ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...3 days ago
4 days ago
4 days ago
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...5 days ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...5 days ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...5 days ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...6 days ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...1 week ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...1 week ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...1 week ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...1 week ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...1 week ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 1 week ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...1 week ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...2 weeks ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...2 weeks ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...2 weeks ago
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...2 weeks ago
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...14 hours ago
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...1 hour ago
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...2 hours ago
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...3 hours ago
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...4 hours ago
To tackle the crises of climate and unsustainability we need great cultural changes in civil society, business and politics. ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...13 hours ago
Analysis - Jacinda Ardern heads for the UN as the sexual assault scandal rumbles on at home, and Simon Bridges says he isn't going to ease off his personal attacks on the PM. ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d ...15 hours ago
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday.In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises ...15 hours ago
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...16 hours ago
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...17 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...18 hours ago
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...18 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...19 hours ago
A congestion charge is needed to deter motorists from clogging central city districts at peak times, according to an economics consultancy. ...19 hours ago
Jacinda Ardern confuses Japan with China - and she's not the only one with a case of political foot-in-mouth. ...21 hours ago
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...21 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...22 hours ago
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...23 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, UNSW Women’s nipples have long been a source of fascination and controversy, from celebrity gossip stories of wardrobe malfunctions and “nip slips” to feminist movements for gender equality. Nipples even became a fashion accessory. Men’s nipples ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University One of the great paradoxes of climate change communication in Australia is that politicians command the most attention on the issue, yet are among the least trusted sources of climate information. Research ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kyllie Cripps, Scientia Felllow and Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law UNSW Sydney, UNSW In Western Australia more than half the children placed in state care are Aboriginal. The state government committed this month to reducing this over-representation, in a move that parallels ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin., Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Newstart recipients and other Australians on benefits get their half-yearly pay rise today (and also on March 20). This one is vanishingly small. Announced very quietly by Social Services Minister ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW This week NBN Co announced pricing changes for the National Broadband Network. It includes a new plan boasting a download speed of 1 gigabit per second and an upload speed of 50 megabits per second for ...1 day ago
Covering Climate Now: Just how much of an impact would a shift to vegetarian diets have on the battle to halt climate change, asks Mirjam Guesgen.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Kiwi cuisine is replete with meat: fish and chips, meat and ...1 day ago
It's not a risk assessment, but it's a start: an instruction manual for the experts who'll be writing New Zealand's first national climate risk report for the government was released on Thursday. ...1 day ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: GDP growth slows in the latest quarter, questions raised over utter NZDF incompetence, and NZTA sends money intended for light rail elsewhere.The numbers are in, and GDP growth has slowed down for the second quarter of the year. Radio NZ reports it ...1 day ago
As climate change crumbles coasts, lengthens droughts and increases extreme weather events, New Zealand’s seed bank for threatened indigenous plants lacks on-going funding. ...1 day ago
Steve Tew marked the magnitude of the day by openly attacking the Six Nations power bloc and suggesting former ABs should be free to play for Samoa, Tonga or Fiji. ...1 day ago
A classical approach to freshwater policy only serves to enforce well-established views, argue Maria Armoudian and Nicolas Pirsoul. Here they offer some more innovative alternatives. ...1 day ago
TPP Just in case you missed it late yesterday, and because
Submissions are due by
5pm on Wednesday, 30 March 2016 I am repeating this post.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/consulting-tpp%E2%80%99s-intellectual-property-implementation
To read the consultation document and provide a submission go to http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/business/intellectual-property/tpp-intellectual-property-chapter/implementation-consultation.
(my bold and italics)
Goodie bags FFS! Like a child’s birthday party!
“TPP representatives walk away with NZ goodie bag”
Why is taxpayers’ money being spent on an agreement designed to transfer some of the taxpayers’ rights to large foreign corporations? Did the corporations provide any money for this or just the taxpayer? OIA request?
Read more: http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/tpp-representatives-walk-away-with-nz-goodie-bag-2016030923#ixzz42QrXfeuC
“New Report on Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Raises Serious Concerns about Corporate Misalignment”
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-report-on-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-raises-serious-concerns-about-corporate-misalignment-300233471.html
Karma.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3484064/Pro-gun-poster-girl-shot-four-year-old-son-driving-Florida-boy-pistol-seat-truck.html
The USA is a degenerate society. That is why people don’t feel safe and have to carry guns. And they are so inward looking that the woman has a photo of her wearing makeup, a chosen outfit with expensive hat and large gun, and considers it a good thing to publish not an example of the endtimes for the country.
And what values has she to teach her wee son. She is bereft of them, living in a nation, that tries to keep it glossy on top but underneath is a simmering lot of sewage which is as full of toxic things as Flint water, and can never be cleansed and drunk safely. Probably the problem is their own polluted drinking water is driving them round the bend.
I’m a bit more hopeful that the increased militancy we’re seeing with gun owners in the US is a sign that they realize their fetish is becoming socially unacceptable and on the way out. Kinda like how smokers got really militant in the 80s and early 90s. Certainly the statistics are clear that there’s fewer gun owners, but the remaining gun owners have a lot more guns.
I had to laugh about my comment above. it reads like some communist propaganda from a story I am reading written by Colin Cotterill which is in Laos, but involve Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese in differing numbers.
Unfortunately I do think this about USA though I’m not a communist, probably more of a humanist. And believing in good for people generally and for oneself is the sort of value that I think is important.
🙂 After reading your posts for a few years grey, I’d agree you’re a humanist.
A thoughtful and reflective humanist.
Thanks Rosie. I think your judgment would be right. I hadn’t thought much about it, except I knew what I didn’t like, which narrowed things down.
And TC I will. I never did see it originally, and hey it isn’t out of date by the sounds of it.
Go and watch ‘bowling for columbine’ , 14 years old now.
Moore does a subtle and effective job of highlighting some of the reasons for a gun toting society that lives in fear of each other.
Gloating over a tragic event. That is what you have done
“tragic”? She isn’t dead, and was upright and alert, and the kid probably has minimal understanding (if any) of what happened. And the irony can be cut with a knife.
“tragic” is the 9 year old who was given an uzi on full auto and accidentally killed her instructor because she was too small to handle the recoil.
OneTwo
I recognise your ploy. It gets used regularly by RW here. The emotional content of some tragedy is turned on to high, and swamps every attempt to treat the matter both humanely and rationally. Each ongoing tragedy is received more emotionally, and people are paralysed by grief and stress and cannot be allowed to concentrate on how to prevent the next tragedy.
C’mon Folks – make sure you make a submission on TPP. The MSM are publicising that only a few people are opposed and protesting at the Roadshows….
The current closing date for public submissions on the TPP is Friday March 11th.
http://itsourfuture.org.nz/take-action/
I’ll drag myself to once again into the fray, against TPPA. Look at the hidden message in the link: It_sour_future. So on top of all the other things I try to do, to help community and keep NZ from being mean, I will do it. Thanks for backgrounding and informing saveNZ.
We want our taxpayers money going on health and schools, not Kangaroo IDS court lawyers….
http://www.isdscorporateattacks.org/#!basics/c66t
Server now up to date.
Thanks.You are the best!
So Todd Barclay is of sufficient age, 23 years, to decide that those under a certain age, 25 years, are not eligible to adopt.
how does that work?
cuckoo cuckoo
Hey, alllllmost 26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Barclay
All good then, except that the point above still stands.
People under 25 can decide whether people under 25 are of insufficient capacity.
Clearly a gigantic nonsense. But in existence. And the gigantic nonsense is supported by many people around here ….
Just pointing out the technicality vto.
So is the kid on some sort of committee looking at adoption age law changes or is it just his personal opinion or something? I’m not aware of the context. I have heard there are some odd anomalies around adoption.
No, no context personal to Barclay – the rather large technicality that permits an MP of age 23 to decide (vote) on an issue concerning capacity of someone aged under 25….
hence the cuckoos in la-la land
Oh, good, male MPs won’t be voting on abortion law any more. Excellent.
except when it is a male being aborted of course
That’s a different argument. We’re talking about civilised countries that are pro-choice. Why should men have a say beyond that if a 23 yr old shouldn’t vote on legislation affecting 24/25 yr olds?
You can’t have it both ways.
conflator conflatee conflataaarrrr…. yeeaahh…. tra la la la life goes on
giving up so soon vto?
that’s not what conflating means btw. I made a straight out comparison. Feel free to explain why it’s invalid if you can.
Yours was the different argument weka.
Once you have answered the original question about age …… how is that justified? You know, that someone under 25 can decide if people under 25 are capable?
It is a nonsense.
Happy to hear an explanation in justification. Because the answer will surely provide some guidance to your male/abort question too……. come on …….
You think it’s a nonsense but you haven’t said why. Go on, have a go and see if you can explain your thinking.
It’s justified because (I’m assuming) anyone aged 18 or older can stand for parliament.
sheesh weka have you ever studied maths or logic? you have completely and utterly missed the point
let’s leave it for now – I have to rush out shortly and now you have me all confused and will need to be careful I don’t drive the wrong side of the road backwards …
When you come back, just start again. Make the statement about Barclay and then say what the problem is and how it it a problem. If you read back through the thread, you never said.
Lols. I’m still not with you. Are you suggesting an MP should be excluded from voting on age related legislation whether it be adoption, minimum purchase age for alcohol or anything, because of ….their age?
And if theres no such bills before parliament at the moment is your question more hypothetical than anything?
I really liked the cuckoo’s btw. Nice touch. 😀
“Metalclad v. Mexico
Toxic waste
Investor win (awarded $16.2 million)
In 1997 Metalclad Corporation, a U.S. waste management firm, launched a NAFTA investor-state dispute against Mexico over the decision of Guadalcazar, a Mexican municipality, not to grant a construction permit for expansion of a toxic waste facility amid concerns of water contamination and other environmental and health hazards. Studies indicated that the site’s soils were very unstable, which could permit toxic waste to infiltrate the subsoil and carry contamination via deeper water sources. The local government had already denied similar permits to the Mexican firm from which Metalclad acquired the facility. Metalclad argued that the decision to deny a permit to it, as a foreign investor operating under NAFTA’s investor rights, amounted to expropriation without compensation, and a denial of NAFTA’s guarantee of “fair and equitable treatment.”
The tribunal ruled in favor of the firm, ordering Mexico to compensate Metalclad for the diminution of its investment’s value. The order to compensate for a “regulatory taking” was premised on the tribunal’s finding that the denial of the construction permit unless and until the site was remediated amounted to an “indirect” expropriation. The tribunal also ruled that Mexico violated NAFTA’s obligation to provide foreign investors “fair and equitable treatment,” because the firm was not granted a “transparent and predictable” regulatory environment. The decision has been described as creating a duty under NAFTA for the Mexican government to walk a foreign investor through the complexities of municipal, state and federal law and to ensure that officials at different levels never give different advice. After a Canadian court slightly modified the compensation amount ordered by the investor-state tribunal, Mexico was required to pay Metalclad more than $16 million.”
http://www.isdscorporateattacks.org/#!environment/c1wa0
Thanx for that important info savenNZ What we ‘The Gullibles’ need to know.
Crikey. Fined $16million for acting to protect a water supply and no appeal allowed. TPPA beware!
Yesterday Bill English admitted on NatRadio that pretty much all dairy farmers have been conducting their business to make money by way of capital gain rather than revenue….
These people need to account for that money in their income tax returns then.
and not be dirty tax-dodging bludgers ….
Bill English said it, not me…
will IRD ignore this?
Isn’t the capital gain only realised when they sell up ?
Yes. Depends on how it is treated. Some regimes don’t require realisation before charging, others do. Michael Cullen seemed to think taxing before realisation was ok, personally I think it is a bit nuts.
Of course shortly there will be plenty of losses to counter gains anyway ….
Probably realised when they go out and borrow huge amounts more money on the farm.
vto
No, silly. It’s just ‘good’ business practice!
Ha, yep like those people who manage to manufacture disabilities to make claims are simply indulging in ‘good’ income practice. They have clearly learned from Bill English and his types.
On RADIONZ this morning. About keeping young offenders out of the Courts and injustice treadmill.
09:20 How iwi led justice panels are keeping offenders away from crime
Funding is due to soon run out for three iwi led panels, which offer an alternative justice system for low level offenders.
The three panels, in Lower Hutt, Gisborne and Counties Manukau, were set up in 2014, with the objective of diverting low-level offenders away from crime, and keep them out of the criminal justice system.
The Justice Ministry has yet to decide whether it will continue funding them, saying while it appreciates the groundswell of enthusiasm, it has to consider the role and fit of the panels in the wider criminal justice system. Neville Baker is the chair of the Waiwhetu iwi led panel. Asher Hauwaho is the Iwi Liaison Officer for the Lower Hutt police.
Need more money, thank you very much, from the government. This citizen here says that time spent with young people having difficulties, helping them so they overcome their problems and limit reoffending to minor infringements, will save our tax dollars, my tax dollars, at present 15% on everything I buy., plus the cents tax you take off my small savings, and anything you get back from my taxable pension. (Don’t abandon programs for young people who are recidivists. If the offending comes down to really minor offences, it will stop as they get older. Just believe it is a good thing to do to work with them, and keep it going. It will prove a big saving and a big boost to the individual life.)
WhichAt present money received goes mostly on your and your servants’ salaries, and to the pockets of your business class running the prisons, the old people’s homes, and who knows what else you are going to hive off so you are paid for doing nothing useful for we the citizens.
Contemptible curs you are.
edited
Link to justice diversion system. Worth backing! Positive and fruitful policy.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201792645
Good points greywarshark, basic, fundamentaly good economics, prevention as opposed to reaction, I doubt whether the govt sees it that way.
Thanx Expat glad that the number of people saying this is growing.
There have been active intelligent rational measures to improve and reduce the numbers in prison for decades, while governments prefer to keep the bogeyman up their sleeves for a possible last minute election frisson.
links:
Rethinking Crime and Punishment
http://www.rethinking.org.nz/Default.aspx?page=3613
and
Restorative justice – Victim, Offender, Community
http://www.restorativejustice.org.nz/cms/WhoWeAre/tabid/65/Default.aspx
And an address by Kim Workman 2008 – Refers to another innovator and thinker Judge Andrew Becroft.
http://www.rethinking.org.nz/images/newsletter%20PDF/Issue%2048/080927_The_Future_of_Restorative_Justice.pdf
The Future of Restorative Justice –Control, Co-option or Co …..
Kim Workman’s address to the 2008 Restorative Justice Aotearoa Conference. Let me first …. alternative justice movement in New Zealand, that has over the years sought to implement ….. Judge Andrew Becroft‟s advocacy for expanding.
Up to $7280 pledged for benighted journalist Bradley Ambrose. Going to 11 pm on Wednesday 16 March in his effort to raise for court fees – $38,000. I think Give a Little gives whatever is raised to the person, others only pay if target is reached. I could be wrong, but I should think anything would be helpful to him.
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/bradelyambrose
There is the link.
Put in a bit and you are doing something to stir things along against this government. The link to the post on The Standard tells more:
+1
The disability hate-speech enabler is on Radio NZ’s Panel today. I suppose they have to have him on to keep their funding.
A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN
To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent
candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves,
we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence,
effective immediately. (You should look up ‘revocation’ in the
Oxford English Dictionary.)
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical
duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except
North Dakota, which she does not fancy).
Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a
Governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may
be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the
following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
———————–
1. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour,’
‘favour,’ ‘labour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell
‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix ‘-ize’
will be replaced by the suffix ‘-ise.’ Generally, you will be expected
to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up
‘vocabulary’).
————————
2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler
noises such as ”like’ and ‘you know’ is an unacceptable and
inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S.
English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft
spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated
letter ‘u” and the elimination of ‘-ize.’
——————-
3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
—————–
4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns,
lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers andtherapists shows that you’re not quite ready to be independent.
Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can’t sort
things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then
you’re not ready to shoot grouse.
———————-
5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry
anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a
permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in
public.
———————-
6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will
start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same
time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the
benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will
help you understand the British sense of humour.
——————–
7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have
been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
——————-
8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French
fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato
chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in
animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
——————-
9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually
beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to
as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance
will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable,
as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth
and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British
Commonwealth – see what it did for them. American brands will
be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine, so that all can be sold
without risk of further confusion.
———————
10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors
as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast Englishactors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell
attempt English dialect in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an
experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a cheese grater.
———————
11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one
kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave
enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some
similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for
a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour
like a bunch of nancies).
———————
12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to
host an event called the World Series for a game which is not
played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there
is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You
will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first
to take the sting out of their deliveries.
——————–
13.. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.
—————–
14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s
Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of
all monies due (backdated to 1776).
—————
15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups,
with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies)
and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.
God Save the Queen!
PS: Only share this with friends who have a good sense of humour
(NOT humor)
Like
LOL
😀 😀 😀
just another reason why I think Kiwis will stick with the flag
yup
I’m just reading Affluenza by Oliver James. I had heard it being bandied about and have come to believe that there is a change that develops when we become affluent and able to stand unsupported. We think we are better and separate from the rest of our society. Hah. James is looking at the process. He calls it the Affluenza Virus. The WHO records that there is a lot of distress in developed countries. James describes it as being caused by the Virus.
He calls it Selfish Capitalism and says – I mean four basic things.
The first is that the success of businesses is judged almost exclusively by their current share price.
The second is a strong drive to privatise public utilities, such as water, gas and electricity, or in the case of America, to keep them in private hands.
The third is that there should be as little regulation of business as possible, with taxation for the rich and very rich so limited that whether to contribute becomes almost a matter of choice.
The fourth is the conviction that consumption and market forces can meet human needs of almost every kind.
America is the apotheosis of Selfish Capitalism, Denmark the nearest thing to its Unselfish opposite.
(That sounds to me how our country is operated. I think our governments have dived into this Selfish thing like Grandpa McDuck dived into his golden money pile!
He writes further that materialism is strong in the poor, because every dollar counts, there is rarely enough, the work is precarious, and everything received can help, if everything isn’t budgeted for, there will be days when there is literally no food etc.
But when there is sufficient and more, and materialism still reigns then society deteriorates.)
The Selfish Virus causes distress like this:
Here’s an example of a brilliant young woman being an excellent MP at age 20. See, it can be done.
Mhairi Black’s maiden speech,
You’re a good googler… Have you ever heard the saying about the exception that proves the rule?
Not sure how this helps the issue, but would be keen to see a credible answer to the point above about how an MP aged under 25 can decide (vote) that people under 25 are of insufficient capacity to adopt…
Why don’t you start with explaining why you think it’s a problem? Then we’d know what you are talking about.
No, don’t avoid the question again. Whether it is a problem or not is separate. And I know you like throwing out the old “don’t what you’re talking about” banana skin but it is a falseity ….
The question again;
How is it that someone aged under 25 can decide (vote) on whether people under 25 are capable or not?
The answer is simple, he’s a legally elected representative and entitled to vote. His age is irrelevant to that. I really don’t get what your problem is.
it is a circular logic thing
maybe there are bigger brains around here who can pinpoint the descriptor for this …
In other words you’re objecting to something without knowing why. Or you’re being weasly and refusing to say what you think because you know you will get argued with. Neither are hardly the basis for useful political debate.
no no not at all – just looking for the technical description of this phenomenon which will help you understand it . Later
oks.
Weka he is been cute, from a logic point of view your statement is a circular argument , ie you are asking some one under 25 wether people under 25 are capable, by definition they can’t answer that question because you don’t know if their capable because there under 25?
I think 23 yr olds can be capable of making good MPs so it’s a nonsense argument to me. Vto seems to be arguing some principle and conflating that with his opinion that a young MP can’t do a good job because of their age.
Being an MP at 23 is not the same as adoption. But really the whole discussion is daft because the law as it stands is old and out dated and a report wants it to change to take the discriminatory aspects out. How Barclay would not be competent to vote in that because of his age is beyond me.
Hi weka – red delusion, grindlebottom and mr munro below have said it in slightly different ways that hopefully make sense to you. It was a curiousity, and illogicality.
It is a logical fallacy that the law both allows a person to decide (vote) that a person under 25 is incapable, but be capable enough to make that decision.
That is the problem.
But in further curiousity, it also highlights another discrepancy between our societies ways today and traditional ways borne out over long history …… whereby age was a factor in competency to a far greater extent than it is today. Two examples being – leaders of communities have typically been described as the “elders” (indicating the age factor), and secondly, this particular example whereby past NZ society has deemed people under 25 incapable of adopting.
This is just history. It is curious that we seem to think we are superior to this aspect of human history… time will tell whether we are right today (curiously enough)..
One final aspect – of course in societies past, far fewer people lived to a decent age, so the “elders” may have typically been in their 30’s, or heaven forbid their 20’s.
and one more final aspect – with my too many years on the planet my personal view is that age, combined with thinking (…), adds immeasurably to so very much of life. That time and experience is something that cannot be gained in other ways by most people. I do not value the views of the young on various relevant issues, to anything like the extent I value the views of the elders (subject to cogency etc..). This is my experience … and this would seem to be the experience of much of past societies too, given the prevalence of age in these matters …..
… now back to my weetbix
It’s a kind of authority-based hypocrisy, as far as I can judge.
Basically, I have the power of the establishment on my side so I can tell you what to do or not do.
I don’t think he’s making an argument, I think he accepts a 23 year old can and will vote on the issue.
He’s just got it in his head that saying someone under 25 can decide whether someone else under 25 is capable of adopting looks to him like circular reasoning, a logical fallacy of some kind, and he wonders (out of curiosity) what kind it is.
If I’m right, the problem is that it’s a fallacy that this is a logical fallacy.
Hi vto
I think the argument for it is that it is the exception that proves the rule.
But if there were too many under 25’s, when would it stop being an exception? Would it be decided on proportionality, the same percentage in parliament, as the percentage of potentital under 25 voters. There is a lot to take in for someone that young who hasn’t lived long. So that is a mark against too many youth. Also they stop learning I think, and don’t do their own but the thinking bidden by their Party, so starting too young may see a dull old dog or bitch by the time they retire if they stay at heel for too long. One mark against career pollies.
Then again some older people don’t seem to have lived and learned despite all their years. They have set out with their gladstone bag full of precepts and prejudices and never had them washed and ironed throughout their whole lives. Our local MP Nick Smith has been in Parliament since he was a fresh faced youngster and the job has aged him, but I don’t know if it’s added to his wisdom.
I see Stuart M has put up a lively answer. I thought it was simpler than that – that if you say you are making an exception, that implies that there is a rule to which the present matter is different but is being allowed, thus it is being made one exception to the (normal and accepted) rule. Thus, the exception proves the rule.
edited
In the case of Nick Smith .. er what wisdom?
Nick Smith is a good Minister, by National standards.
hi mr grey, I have tried to explain again just above, hopefully makes sense …
Woody Allen gets the last say…
“In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people’s home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm!”
@vto
Thanks for Woody Allen I’ve grabbed that for further reading. Seems like a gem, that will amuse me for some years even.
“Have you ever heard the saying about the exception that proves the rule?”
Marilyn Waring
Jacinda Ardern
Gareth Hughes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_of_the_House#New_Zealand
Someone else can comment on the global list as to whether any of the myriad of young politicians were any good,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_of_the_House
The exception proves the rule is one of the famous sayings that have come to mean the opposite of what they originally meant. Exceptio probat regulam meant that when you have an apparent exception, you should apply the rule. The convenience to the likes of VTO of this position is it allows him to avoid refutation by what is effectively a selective use of the excluded middle. Something is something, or it is not.
Under 25s are capable of good judgment, or they are not. We have several instances of under 25s with good judgment, so the generalisation is unsound. But qualifying it might redeem it ‘many under 25s are not capable of good judgement’ is probably tenable.
The other inverted saying was Solon’s ‘A moral man is a law unto himself’ – the point being that moral persons are genuinely self-policing to some degree. The modern meaning refers to someone who does whatever they want – like our despicable substitute for a PM.
VTO is pointing to a Cretan liar’s paradox – “All Cretans are liars” says a Cretan, and the expectation is that the statement must be untrue. The paradox only works in an abstract situation because to be a liar only requires occasional lying. Thus a person under 25 could have inadequate judgment but still make the occasional good decision – as seems likely given that the police are now scheduled to investigate Todd Barclay. http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/375835/todd-barclay-electorate-staff-member-talk-police
Crikey, is that a scandal brewing? As Rosie said, bring on Popcorn April. Is that four legal process National will be involved in over the next months?
The question for me is, who decided that you shouldn’t be able to adopt under the age of 25, there are many under 25 who are mature enough to manage the adoption adequately , it’s not the age, it’s the ability to meet the requirements, surely.
In a democracy, as long as your’e old enough to vote then, your view point should not be dismissed.
VTO, I agree with your point to a large extent on this issue, if I was interested in adopting, and under 25, does this guy understand (at 23) the issues surrounding adoption, I see your point as 18 year olds voting on lowering the drinking age.
The point I make above about why there is a need to even make a decision based on age (age of the adopter), it’s discrimination isn’t.
Surely if you meet the necessary requirements for adoption, age is not a consideration, therefore the argument for voting on the question is irrelevant
The issue in the news is that a report is saying the current law (which says you can’t adopt if under 25) is outdated and discriminatory (not just the age issue) and should be changed.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/375768/call-reform-adoption-laws
I don’t know what vto’s point is. Barclay may or may not be competent to have a say on this proposed law change, but his age has nothing to do with it.
The law change would remove the prohibition on his particular age to adopt, so him having a say makes sense at that level anyway.
Thanks for answering my question that I asked of vto at round one of this thread, from this morning. I didn’t know whether it was a hypothetical question or related to actual current discussion of adoption law.
Which brings it back round to my question to him which was
“Are you suggesting an MP should be excluded from voting on age related legislation whether it be adoption, minimum purchase age for alcohol or anything, because of ….their age?”
I think, no they shouldn’t be excluded. That in itself would be discrimination.
Good reminder of Mhairi Black btw. She’s a star.
Hi Rosie, sorry for missing your question earlier.. it raises the same interesting dilemma regarding age restrictions on anything and everything…
people around here seem to be saying that age is immaterial
if that is the case then there are an awful lot of statutes to clear up and remove the discrimination from – alcohol, marriage, sex, war, driving, adoption, school, voting, , ,
what to do?
allow the young to decide these matters for themselves? allow the elders to do the deciding?
it all ends in logical fallacy stew
seriously though, what should we do
Weka
Thanks for that, I wasn’t fully aware of the issue, so sounds like perhaps he should have a say and condemn two age discrimination issues at the same time, but regarding Barclay’s competency, in a democracy, he can’t be discriminated against for being incompetent either.
Can this guy go any lower?https://www.change.org/p/tv-one-and-seven-sharp-mike-hosking-s-seven-sharp-host-called-nz-returned-servicemen-morons-we-want-an-apology?recruiter=
Don’t listen to, or watch him, the only ones who do are wankers.
That’s a petition calling for Hoskings to apologise or be sacked for calling returned servicemen morons for having an opion about the flag. Seems important.
Yeah, the petition is important, to counter the absolute stupidity of the man, but he’s not important, anyone with only half a brain would switch off after only listening to him for a few seconds of his dribble, I don’t know anyone who could say he represents their view points, except for maybe the PM.
True, I don’t watch him. I think the petition deserved to be highlighted separately to that.
Does anybody?
At seven I’m on The Daily Blog for some ‘real’ discussion on problems of this country,
Isn’t everybody?
Can you please link to today’s one?
I don’t even watch tv, got this off a facebook feed.
Mark, I didn’t mean to imply “you” fitted the description I detailed.
No problem Expat.
The only time I watched his show was the online version when Jane Kelsey shot him down in flames over the TPP. That was fun.
He really is a thicko. She’s a joy to watch.
+1
Thanks. Signed. The guy is a prize jerk, and that was a really offensive thing to say. He should lose his job for a number of reasons, but this is as good as any.
That is his job ! Red neck ranting and shilling for national.
He uses his arrogant smug persona as a substitute for the intellectual rigour long gone from tvnz and enjoys the backing of besties jk.
Oh I know, but it’s up to us to not tolerate it.
I can’t look at him for a few seconds without my blood pressure going up. A broadcaster should not inspire that reaction in people. A broadcaster should inspire their viewers to have an enquiring mind and a desire to be educated by their investigative journalism…………….
Oh wait…………..
Rosie
“A broadcaster should inspire their viewers to have an inquiring mind and a desire to be educated by their investigative journalism…………….”
Problem is, who is that broadcaster?, where is that reporter? the free to air ones have gone down the toilet and not even worth watching any more and sky news is Murdoch BS.
When I was their in Jan, I watched “One” news with “Peter whats his face”, how embarrassing, he looked like a possum about to be hit by a car.
It’s a real shame we don’t have a public broadcaster modeled on the Aus ABC, providing balanced points of view for the benefit of the viewers, Q & A on the ABC includes 5 or more commentators from a diverse range of fields, beliefs and political persuasions, and the audience (aprox 200) is made up of a proportional amount of each of the 3 main political parties.
Having said that, Turnbull has replaced some of the key mangers within the ABC, and there has been a slight change in the way in which information is presented in the news, with less criticism of the Govt, you know, change a few of the neutral reporters for ones which are more pro Govt skew.
The great thing about the ABC is that there is NO commercial advertising at all, it’s free to air in digital right across the country with 4 separate channels at a cost annually of aprox $1B.
The ABC serves the needs of the Australian people, not the govt.
‘ ‘That’s horse sh*t!’: FBI can already unlock iPhone without Apple’s help – Snowden’
https://www.rt.com/usa/335054-snowden-apple-fbi-fight/
‘FBI changes rules on accessing NSA data on Americans, but won’t say how’
https://www.rt.com/usa/335058-fbi-nsa-rules-americans-surveillance/
‘Pentagon admits using drones to spy on Americans’
https://www.rt.com/usa/335068-pentagon-drones-spy-americans/
I saw that earlier and thought the FBI can’t hack an iphone, yeah right.
Or maybe it’s like NZ’s SIS who don’t have the fancy gear and so have to team up with the GCSB now 😉
Better than Icke! ( who is stupid and boring)
….Something to watch late at night if you cant sleep…to get yourself really paranoid
( but I dont agree with what they said about Queenie…it was a nasty fib!)
‘JFK to 911 Everything Is A Rich Man’s Trick’
(definitely say “NO” to the TPPA!)
ooops …see link below
Oh dear, How embarrassing for ISIS.
An insider has leaked a list of jihadi recruits to Sky News in Britain.
Full details of 22,00 of them. Edward Snowden would have been proud of this, I suppose.
http://news.sky.com/story/1656777/is-registration-forms-identify-22000-jihadis
So the US UK controllers and agents made a ‘mistake’
Some propganda is easier to identify
A primer on slavery today.
It makes sense that slavery and environmental destruction would go hand in hand. In some ways they spring from the same root. Our consumer economy is driven at its most basic level by resource extraction, pulling things from the earth, an extraction that we never actually see. We pull food from the earth, of course, but we also pull our cellphones from the earth, our clothing, our computers, our flat-screen televisions, our cars—it all comes from the earth, ultimately. And pulling things from the earth can be a dirty business. To make our consumer economy hum and grow and instantly gratify, costs are driven down as low as they can go, especially at the bottom of the supply chain; this can lead to abusive conditions for workers and harm to the natural world. Taken to the extreme it means slavery and catastrophic environmental destruction. But all this normally happens far from any prying eyes. It’s a hidden world that keeps its secrets.
[…]
When it comes to global warming, these slaveholders outpace all but the very biggest polluters. Adding together their slave-based deforestation and other CO2-producing crimes leads to a sobering conclusion. If slavery were an American state it would have the population of California and the economic output of the District of Columbia, but it would be the world’s third-largest producer of CO2, after China and the United States. It’s no wonder that we struggle and often fail to stop climate change and reduce the atmospheric carbon count. Slavery, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas producers, is hidden from us. Environmentalists are right to call for laws and treaties that will apply to the community of nations, but that is not enough. We also have to understand that slavers—who don’t adhere to those laws and treaties—are a leading cause of the natural world’s destruction. And to stop them, we don’t need more laws. We need to end slavery.
http://blog.longreads.com/2016/03/08/your-phone-was-made-by-slaves-a-primer-on-the-secret-economy/
Also – an interview with the author.
What do the shrimp on your plate, the cell phone in your pocket and the rising pollution levels in the developing world have in common? Kevin Bales says, in a word: slavery. Paul Kennedy talks with the author of Blood and Earth: Modern Slavery, Ecocide and the Secret to Saving the World.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/blood-and-earth-kevin-bales-1.3442119
Thats one sound reason I only have an old dumb phone, slavery and it’s effects, eg early death for for people that extract cobalt from dangerous mines for the phones (and why I don’t eat shrimps from Vietnam).
This from the Sydney Morning Herald today – haven’t seen it reported this side of the Tasman as yet though. http://www.smh.com.au/technology/consumer-security/malware-hijacks-big-four-australian-banks-apps-steals-twofactor-sms-codes-20160309-gnf528.html
Don’t do your banking from your phone!
And another reason I use an old dumb phone. I’ve never being able to trust the security on smart phones. Hackers will always win.
There are so many benefits to consider by being part of the dumb phone movement. It began as a psycho social issue but it’s really much larger than that.
+100 Rosie…the dumb phones are best imo…my smart phone stays under the chair and turned off…i reckon the apps my daughter loaded it with are bugged…ha ha
Any update on when the case of a prominent northland man is to be heard in the courts ?
Just thought of this when I was reading about M&M vs Nats