The jobs are not evenly spread around, and wages are “not shooting up”.
“While the median household income is $107,900 in the Upper Harbour local board area, it is less than half in Mangere-Otahuhu at $59,900,” Eaqub said, adding there are fewer blue-collar jobs.
“This has been hard on places like Mangere, Otahuhu, Otara, Papatoetoe and Manurewa where there has been little or no growth in jobs over the last seven years, even though Auckland as a region is doing much better.”
Most of the employment growth is being led by an increase in building.
Geoff Cooper, Auckland Council’s chief economist, said the unemployment rate was 6.3 per cent in the December quarter and 760,000 Aucklanders were in either full or part-time work in the city of 1.4 million people. Residential construction was driving job growth in building, real estate agencies, rental services, manufacturing, finance and insurance services, he said.
The main long term positive in that, seems to me to be an increase in manufacturing. But I’d like to know what sort of manufacturing?
Auckland’s economic growth had become increasingly broad-based and the upswing in housing construction was having significant flow-on effects to other sectors, particularly manufacturing.
Consumer spending had gained momentum, Auckland was enjoying strong visitor numbers and dairy prices, and had proved resilient in the face of a high New Zealand dollar and weakening Australian economy, he said.
I never like seeing consumer spending being used as a marker of a strong economy. Not all consumer sending is good for the environment and society.
together with national passing s59 a and gay marriage, lack of jobs etc, why would south auckland voters change to national? cos they are effective first class liars?
Some interesting revelations in Don Brash’s upcoming autobiography. The most interesting in the article relate to John key and his behind the scenes deal-making.
John key entered parliament in 2002. And it must have been pretty soon after that he was maneuvering to be leader of the Nat caucus:
Among them is that he never intended serving out a full term as prime minister had he won in 2005 – and that he and John Key hatched a plan in a Blenheim motel room for Brash to hand over the reins to Key before the 2008 election.
Nowadays, Key doesn’t return his calls, and Brash strongly suspects National plotted with Epsom MP John Banks to manoeuvre him out of the ACT leadership. He even questions whether that may have been the real reason for Key’s determination to keep secret the so-called teapot tapes recording a conversation between him and Banks without their knowledge.
[…]
Brash also talks about Key’s haste to get him out the door once he stepped down from the leadership – he believes due, only in part, to National wanting to distance itself from his legacy.
“There was also at the time a huge focus on the Nicky Hager book published in November 2006, a book which argued strongly that the National Party in general and I in particular were beholden to sinister influences – Big Business, the Exclusive Brethren and American neo-cons – and the quickest way of getting that story out of the headlines was to have me out of sight.
“That was particularly the case given that John himself was also implicated to some extent, particularly in the allegation that he and I had both received an email from the Exclusive Brethren offering substantial financial support in the 2005 election campaign.”
[..]
The go-quietly option Key offered him was a plum diplomatic posting in either Washington or London. But when National later became government Brash was told Washington was not available, though he could have London. He turned it down.
[…]
Brash also lists as one of his regrets his failure to speak out during caucus discussions on America’s invasion of Iraq – an issue on which he now believes former prime minister Helen Clark took the right stand.
He reveals just one National MP, Maurice Williamson, spoke out passionately in opposition, while the rest, including Key and many of his current front bench, backed the US.
In Watkins’ article, ‘Don Brash bares all’ with accompanying must be embarrassing (or maybe he’s proud of it) photo, she says..”The book skirts around the affair and does not mention Foreman .”
I think she meant ‘affairs around the skirts.’
Can’t wait to read Brash’s latest spleen contents. (Not!)
Just incase anybody still thought he was a person with a shred of credibility on anything, the choice to let that photo be used absolutely proves he has 0 sense.
And Dame Edna’s one time hubby Sir Les Patterson McCully aye ?
Reminds me of the one about poor Mildred who fell into the orangutang enclosure at the zoo. Boss orangutang swings over and ravages her savagely. Visited later in hospital by life long friend Agnes who’s beside herself with worry – “Oh Mils’ my darling…….what have they done to you ?” Mildred, tearful – “Oh Aggie……they haven’t rung…….they haven’t written”.
Strange how men of privilege whimper so when it all ends what ? Not that it hasn’t. Still, good on him for his frankness.
I get the feeling the tide has just begun to turn for JK. Not just this article. He looked tired and was not at all articulate when talking on Prime News last night about the Chch school closure.
Couldn’t have come at a better time I say. More John, more!
In Christchurch certain business and other ‘leaders’ think the Council should sell its high performing assets (like the airport and the port) so that the money can be invested in the anchor projects (like the convention centre and the covered stadium).
What planet do these loons live on? Sell strong assets that produce dividends to invest in structures that make a loss? Unbelievable.
If it is such a good deal then how about the Council sell the convention centre and the covered stadium? Eh? Let the businesspeople and the investors own the stadium and the convention centre.
The gall they have. Goes right to the heart of their dishonesty and untrustworthiness. Scum.
What planet do these loons live on? Sell strong assets that produce dividends to invest in structures that make a loss? Unbelievable.
They’re not loons, it’s not unbelievable – they want the city to sell so that they can a) get the rent from the strong assets and b) make a profit building and maintaining the loss making assets that they want the city to build. In other words, they want a transfer of wealth from the city to them.
It’s “disaster capitalism” vto. There is nothing unpredictable about this governments response to Chch and it has absolutely ZERO to do with actually helping the citizens of your fine city.
Describing “the growing propensity of former heads of government to monetise their service”, Simon Kuper writes in the Financial Times’s FT Magazine, the condition afflicts former leaders who amass great wealth as they become mouthpieces for all sorts of characters, some of them unsavoury.
The exemplar of the form, Blair “has shilled for JPMorgan Chase, Qatar and Kazakhstan’s cuddly regime”. But he’s not alone. “Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy have terrible Blair Disease too.”
Martin Bradbury again on about how the Greens and Winston /NZF must reach some sort of agreement to bury the hatchet soon!….i am in agreement…. All petty differences on the Left must be put aside
…the Labour led Left coalition must win this election.!…and that includes a coalition with Mana /Dotcom
Agree. Good comment by Bradbury on Peters going for legacy, when the mistakes of the Key government are remembered in 20 years time I doubt he himself seen as an enabler of those. Even though he is generally accused of wanting baubles, people forget his vanity means he wants to be remembered in a positive light.
The RNZ interview was a strong signal that he was willing to work with the Greens.
Peters’ legacy will be that he betrayed his voters; fucked MMP early on in the piece (which it may not recover from); and constistently undermined the left thus keeping NZ’s centre too far to the right.
Sorry Chooky, but that has to be one of the stupidest things I’ve seen Bomber write. Greens going to war with Labour and Mana, wtf? This is the party that’s led the way on building relationships. Why would it now take an antagonistic stance? Looks like Bomber spin to me (where are you allegiences currently Bomber?).
“If the Greens are serious about changing the Government, can they work with Winston and can they build some personal relationships with him before the election?”
Which party has a history of building relationships and whose kaupapa is based on co-operation? Which party has a history of betraying it’s voters, and of refusing to say before an election what it will do after the election?
It’s also a little odd of Bomber to be earnestly giving the Green Party strategic advice, given how many posts at The Daily Blog have heaped scorn on the Greens and their supporters.
Well the above comments do not seem to come near to what David Cunliffe said this morning which Radionz says is a comment distancing itself from Greens – Cunliffe talking again about seeing what the voters want. He said something like if voters want a parliament or government with more than two parties. I couldn’t quite get my head around his intention there.
And the radio comment was that Labour and the Greens were on opposite sides over mining and oil drilling off the coast and that appeared to be a serious schism.
Cunliffe talked bout Labour being a long standing Party for 100 years blah blah. Sort of stand alone and proud stuff. I felt – numb. One step forward with him as Leader with a promise of …? we hoped better vision, but now it is almost two steps back. What can you do with porridge-headed Labour? I think they are an old Party all right, senile.
“He said something like if voters want a parliament or government with more than two parties”
I haven’t listened to it, but I assume he means that the next govt will be a coalition, and the voters will decide if it’s just L/GP, or if NZF are part of that (and Mana/IP). It’s really down to people who may vote NZF. The best thing that could happen for NZ now is for NZF to not reach the 5%. Slim hope though.
Vto on assets in Christchurch you have it arse about. It is the role of the private sector to manage and own profit making assets. Why the hell should government own an airport? Your view if it prevailed would lead us to the horror we escaped. Go and live in Greece
ha ha srylands, if only you had some credibility….. you are an ideologue with a religious fervour that renders your seesaw impotent.
Sell strong assets that produce dividends to invest in structures that make a loss? What a fool.
Why should a local community own an asset like an airport? Or the port? If you cannot see through that then you are completely lost. Just like you think people are a commodity for competitive sale like your fucking plastic buckets. The fact you think so about the sale of people means you have not even reached first base in understanding the human condition or the history and reality of human community.
“Sell strong assets that produce dividends to invest in structures that make a loss? What a fool.”
but vto, they then have an excellent argument to sell off the poorly performing new asset and their masters can own everything. What I respect about incrementalism is that since its implementation a hundred years ago (conservative estimate) it has been shown to be quite a clever and ruthlessly successful operation. Sure it has cost the world almost any chance of a decent society where people are valued for who they are not what they wear but hey, when there is gold in sight, humans get stupid.
It is the role of the private sector to manage and own profit making assets.
Not necessarily especially when the profit making asset is a natural monopoly.
Why the hell should government own an airport?
Two reason:
1.) They’re better at managing such assets for the public good and won’t run it down to maximise profit the way that the private sector does
2.) So as to make a profit
Your view if it prevailed would lead us to the horror we escaped. Go and live in Greece
Contrary to what you want to believe we’re already heading towards being the next Greece and all due to the economic paradigm you worship.
” It is the role of the private sector to manage and own profit making assets.”
says who?
also – the well performing assets the CHCH holds publicly is what kept their rates rises down – you know, rates. That thing shits like you get your knickers in a twist about when they go up
srylands job is to be the infection that keeps the pus rising and running, the thorn with a dirty tip of contagion that can overpower the body’s ability to resist the strongly spreading and deadly germ.
One for srylands to charge for the hour under research – Future Suspended about how the privatisation of public spaces in Athens began with the 2004 Olympics and transferred public wealth to private purses.
Good column from Gordon Campbell (at right) today. Saying what I’d like to say, but more eloquently and with less bitterness and swear-words. Teaser:
…If there is a tactical fear of being tarred as “extreme left” – which should be a joke, when applied to Russel Norman and Metiria Turei – the only way to disarm that smear is to take control of the situation, own what the two parties share in common, and defend the relevant policies. Fear tactics will only work if you run scared of them, and the formation of the Labour/Greens alliance would have presented a golden opportunity to confront the “extremist” bogey and dispel it before the campaign proper begins. It would have seen Labour in charge of its destiny, and demonstrating before the election why there is no need to fear what such a partnership might entail after the election. Instead, Labour has chosen to keep its options open and wait plaintively by the phone for a call from Peters that is never likely to come. What does Labour believe in? Apparently, whatever it takes to get itself pushed across the line by its partners…
Thanks for the heads up. The closing line of Gordon’s piece is:
“What [the Key government] lacks is a leader of that opposition – but yesterday, Cunliffe decided not to turn up to work.”
At this rate, I may consider holding my nose and party-voting the Greens given that the Labour caucus is still in search for a true Progressive spine.
Any chance that Cunliffe will revisit the invitation?
Any chance that the soft tory idiots in the caucus will help him reframe, reposition and refine the messaging?
While he is at it, can he bang T.I.N.A. Parker’s head against those of the Nat Lites in his caucus to also revisit the retirement age proposal?
Ten days and five months to go: Wake Up, Labour Caucus!
Jim Naid, at some point we are going to have to realistically address the question,”did we get had” by the election of David Cunliffe to the leadership of the Labour Caucus,
That might on my part be an entirely inappropriate view/question of or put to the Labour leader, however, it aint only Finance spokesperson David Parker that needs be read the riot act,(in my opinion),
Andrew Little apparently the Labour spokesperson on mining, after attending a ‘piis-up’ in the Parliaments Grand Hall paid for? by the mining lobby group Straterra was quoted by RadioNZ National News as saying ”if the Green Party will not support Legislation that allows further mining in a future Labour/Green Government then Labour would simply seek the support of National to pass such Legislation”,
David Parker, we all heard the ”there is no alternative” when Parker recently addressed the question of raising the age of superannuation, such neo-liberal cliches are, i would suggest, the sum total of debate we are to get on this topic and the question remains,”how deeply steeped in the economics of neo-liberalism is David Parker”,
Phill Twyford, Labour’s Housing spokesperson,(and i genuinely have to thank Phill for turning up here at the Standard to debate an issue),but, can anyone be further out of touch from the real world,
Phill citing 250,000 kids living in poverty then went on in His post to explain how Labour will require all rental properties to not only be insulated but to also provide suitable cost effective heating,
i put it to Phill that (a), the definition of poverty would prohibit the parents of these 250,000 kids living in poverty to be able to afford to use such heating, and (b), landlords forced by Legislation to carry out such work on their rental properties are more then likely to simply crank up the rent to recover costs,
Both of the above questions Phill Twyford answered yes you are right too,(more or less),the third question i put to Phill, what i would consider to be the ‘crux’ of the matter as far as children living in poverty goes Phill didn’t bother to address,(c) asked ”can he not see the relationship to those on low incomes being forced to rent from the private sector and the fact that they are living in poverty”,
So the above simply outlines 3 complete ”disconnects” exhibited by three different Labour spokespeople who would be odds on to be Ministers holding the relevant portfolios in a future Government,
Myself i am becoming increasingly more pessimistic that there will be any ‘great’ change forthcoming from such a Government, Business as usual in other words…
David Parker, we all heard the ”there is no alternative” when Parker recently addressed the question of raising the age of superannuation, such neo-liberal cliches are, i would suggest, the sum total of debate we are to get on this topic and the question remains,”how deeply steeped in the economics of neo-liberalism is David Parker”,
I was wondering if srylands had replaced him.
(b), landlords forced by Legislation to carry out such work on their rental properties are more then likely to simply crank up the rent to recover costs,
What you find, once you look behind the facade, is that the rich don’t pay for anything. They always pass the costs onto the community in one way or another and because they don’t pay for anything they find it very easy to get richer.
As far as I can see, Twyford is just another career politician who planned his career path 30 years ago. Much like Key learning to play golf, he did what he thought would help advance him in Labour.
He isn’t. I’ve worked with the guy on campaigns and talked to him a lot over the years. You’ll note that I have no particular attraction for charm and a built in bullshit detector after decades of active politics. I wouldn’t agree with him on a many things, but he definitely has a direction outside of personal ambition. Since he is willing to do the effort he has always been a politician who I’d help if it was feasible.
It is more a case of having things that he considers being important, like getting into a position to be able to do something about them, and being willing to trade off to get there. Parliament pretty much runs on an apprenticeship basis with most of the actual power being held close to core of a relatively small number of people. You get kudos by getting things done that need to be done.
But it is also because you seldom can get everything done in a single hit on any policy matter when everything isn’t thoroughly broken.
You can get support to run massive campaigns to change things when you have a shock, and suddenly get 20-30% of the workforce out of work for many years and epidemics sweeping the land. As in the depression in the 1930s and even after the debt/borrowing crisis in the mid-80s after National had stuck its head in the sand for a decade. It is a damn sight harder to get the required widespread support when there is a incremental deterioration.
So at present in political terms you have to get things done incrementally. There isn’t a lot of widespread support for doing anything else. It is a bit of a problem when it comes to upcoming issues with things like preventing or even the decades long processes of adapting to climate change, or dealing with the age bulge in superannuiants
I guess this is what I’ve seen, and formed a less charitable opinion of:
“It is more a case of having things that he considers being important, like getting into a position to be able to do something about them, and being willing to trade off to get there.”
Anyway, I don’t see him as the main problem in the Labour caucus. He was not responsible for their lurch to the right, he became active after that had happened. He probably didn’t even have anything to do with the line in the sand they seem to have drawn, which can never be passed on the way leftwards, and which most of them seem happy to have as long as it is so very slightly to the left of NAct’s line.
It will take time for them to realize how much that attitude hurts them (and us). The ‘professional’ party attitude just disconnects them from their actual basis of support. And unlike the National party they can’t just run on fear of the other
Mallard made some comment on radio I think this morning about wanting to stay on in politics for some years. (It may have come up in the Tau Henare resignation context.)
So whatever he is feeding the others, however he managed to get a largely unchallenged position in Labour, he is intending to keep doing it to become the grand old man. And unfortunately he keeps too fit to pass away like big Norm who had numerous health factors to contend with.
I think Cunliffe talking this morning about Labour’s longevity is an indication of what I feel is the nub of present-day Labour. It is an institution with a history and privileges and few feel the burning desire to do anything except the minimum required to keep signing the timesheet.
That’s one reason why 70% of Labour supporters want Labour to treat the Greens as its most favoured coalition option, and not New Zealand First. These supporters include the same activists whose support was crucial to Cunliffe being voted into the leadership. They have just been given every incentive not to bother working for Cunliffe in this campaign. After all, the original idea was to elect a left wing government, not one that was striving to earn the Winston Peters Seal of Approval.
Well, my suggestion to those 70%: Leave Labour and join the Greens ASAP.
Or even just vote for them this time round. If it’s hard for Labour voters to party vote GP (nods to Jim above), then consider it a protest vote for this election to prompt Labour to sort it’s shit out.
My reading of the GP offer to Labour this week is that it’s a very clear signal to voters about what’s real at this point in time. Disappointing that Cunliffe didn’t show up for work, but now we know where things stand. You have some choices here Labour voters, what are you going to do?
Charlene Dill, a 32-year-old mother of three, collapsed and died on a stranger’s floor at the end of March. She was at an appointment to try to sell a vacuum cleaner, one of the three part-time jobs that she worked to try to make ends meet for her family. Her death was a result of a documented heart condition — and it could have been prevented.
Dill was uninsured, and she went years without the care she needed to address her chronic conditions because she couldn’t afford it.
And this is the type of living space that we’re missing out on because of National’s outdated ideology:
The buildings are also built to Passivhaus standards, which allows the project to produce four times the amount of energy it consumes!
Yeah, wonder what sort of profits the now privatised generators could get when they’re just not needed.
I find it bizarre that people would leave their neighbour to die like this.
Because that is what people like srylands do when they advocate policies such as these – they very directly leave their neighbours to die. It is pretty much a form of murder or manslaughter.
Crap. Markets promote prosperity and reflect liberty. I thought this argument was won about 25 years ago, at least in New Zealand.
“Markets, liberty and neoliberalism are murder”. Am I paraphrasing correctly? You sound like a crazy person. If you are not crazy and are serious you are on the wrong side of history. I suggest you travel and open your mind to the world.
Socialists – aka the Green Party of New Zealand – hate liberty. That hatred of liberty if they get the chance will lead to misery, stunted growth and immense hardship for the poor. That is the irony. Your rich pricks can ride out the storm, or ultimately leave. It is the poor and vulnerable, and their children that will pay the price. We won’t be a prosperous workers paradise with “Green growth” because it is an illusion. R Norman is promoting a green tainted version of Argentinian 1950s industry policy.
What you are promising with your tainted xenophobic world (sic) view is a future for New Zealand that looks like a mixture of Greece and Samoa. We will lose our world connectedness, and become a stunted, inflationary, Pacific island.
If you promise to slide into your snakeskin suit and slither off out of our country SSLands we will all to a woman and man undoubtedly vote for such a proposition,
We have enough scum here now without having imported an overdose of it in the form of you…
Your ability to conflate the disparate notions of “the market” with “liberty” demonstrates perfectly why people here simply can’t take you seriously.
Might I suggest you actually need to read more and think critically as your blinkered advocacy of the ideology you constantly espouse here is painting you into a corner.
Complete bullshit in each of your paragraphs and I aint wasting time going through them in detail.
I rest my assessment of you srylands on your baseline of treating people as a tradeable commodity in the same manner as plastic buckets at the warehouse.
You don’t even reach first base in your understanding of humans and their communities.
Why don’t you go live in the USA where they do not treat their sick neighbours – they leave them to die. Dead. The market leaves people to die. Above is perfect example.
That was a curious mixture of religious dogmatism and “Atlas Shrugged”, sspylands.
You believe only in the “liberty” you can pay for and defend by yourself. This is not universal liberty. Your markets demonstrate this repeatedly – the rich prosper, the poor die. You don’t even couch it in terms of social Darwinism, you just seem to think it’s a good thing by virtue of its own existence.
edit: damn, for the life of me I can’t remember the name for that religious belief that god rewards virtue in this world, so rich people must be good and poor people deserve it for some reason. Big in the states.
I thought this argument was won about 25 years ago, at least in New Zealand.
No, it was rammed down our throats 25 years ago. The GFC proved conclusively that your religion doesn’t work.
It is the poor and vulnerable, and their children that will pay the price.
Get it right. It is the poor and vulnerable that pay the price of having rich people. You’ve said it yourself – if the owner of a rental property has to do something to that property then that cost will be passed on to the people renting it. The rich person isn’t any worse off – in fact they’re probably better off as they will over inflate the rent rise.
SSLands, even by your warped measures of success, Argentina was economically successful in the 1950s, with GDP growing for the whole decade. Wanking yourself over a picture of Madonna, to the sounds of “Don’t Lie to Me, Argentina” hardly gives you any credibility at all.
Argentina started going down the drain once Uncle Sam’s favourite generals took over and invited the IMF and World Bank to help out. Theirs is the sort of liberty you love so much; the liberty of torturers and looters to do their foul business without fear of the consequences. You make me sick.
Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on being well dressed. He cared nothing about reviewing his soldiers, going to the theatre, or going for a ride in his carriage, except to show off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day, and instead of saying, as one might, about any other ruler, “The King’s in council,” here they always said. “The Emperor’s in his dressing room.”
In the great city where he lived, life was always gay. Every day many strangers came to town, and among them one day came two swindlers. They let it be known they were weavers, and they said they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable. Not only were their colors and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.
“Those would be just the clothes for me,” thought the Emperor. “If I wore them I would be able to discover which men in my empire are unfit for their posts. And I could tell the wise men from the fools. Yes, I certainly must get some of the stuff woven for me right away.” He paid the two swindlers a large sum of money to start work at once.
They set up two looms and pretended to weave, though there was nothing on the looms. All the finest silk and the purest old thread which they demanded went into their traveling bags, while they worked the empty looms far into the night.
“I’d like to know how those weavers are getting on with the cloth,” the Emperor thought, but he felt slightly uncomfortable when he remembered that those who were unfit for their position would not be able to see the fabric. It couldn’t have been that he doubted himself, yet he thought he’d rather send someone else to see how things were going. The whole town knew about the cloth’s peculiar power, and all were impatient to find out how stupid their neighbors were.
“I’ll send my honest old minister to the weavers,” the Emperor decided. “He’ll be the best one to tell me how the material looks, for he’s a sensible man and no one does his duty better.”
So the honest old minister went to the room where the two swindlers sat working away at their empty looms.
“Heaven help me,” he thought as his eyes flew wide open, “I can’t see anything at all”. But he did not say so.
Both the swindlers begged him to be so kind as to come near to approve the excellent pattern, the beautiful colors. They pointed to the empty looms, and the poor old minister stared as hard as he dared. He couldn’t see anything, because there was nothing to see. “Heaven have mercy,” he thought. “Can it be that I’m a fool? I’d have never guessed it, and not a soul must know. Am I unfit to be the minister? It would never do to let on that I can’t see the cloth.”
“Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of it,” said one of the weavers.
“Oh, it’s beautiful -it’s enchanting.” The old minister peered through his spectacles. “Such a pattern, what colors!” I’ll be sure to tell the Emperor how delighted I am with it.”
“We’re pleased to hear that,” the swindlers said. They proceeded to name all the colors and to explain the intricate pattern. The old minister paid the closest attention, so that he could tell it all to the Emperor. And so he did.
The swindlers at once asked for more money, more silk and gold thread, to get on with the weaving. But it all went into their pockets. Not a thread went into the looms, though they worked at their weaving as hard as ever.
The Emperor presently sent another trustworthy official to see how the work progressed and how soon it would be ready. The same thing happened to him that had happened to the minister. He looked and he looked, but as there was nothing to see in the looms he couldn’t see anything.
“Isn’t it a beautiful piece of goods?” the swindlers asked him, as they displayed and described their imaginary pattern.
“I know I’m not stupid,” the man thought, “so it must be that I’m unworthy of my good office. That’s strange. I mustn’t let anyone find it out, though.” So he praised the material he did not see. He declared he was delighted with the beautiful colors and the exquisite pattern. To the Emperor he said, “It held me spellbound.”
All the town was talking of this splendid cloth, and the Emperor wanted to see it for himself while it was still in the looms. Attended by a band of chosen men, among whom were his two old trusted officials-the ones who had been to the weavers-he set out to see the two swindlers. He found them weaving with might and main, but without a thread in their looms.
“Magnificent,” said the two officials already duped. “Just look, Your Majesty, what colors! What a design!” They pointed to the empty looms, each supposing that the others could see the stuff.
“What’s this?” thought the Emperor. “I can’t see anything. This is terrible!
Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be the Emperor? What a thing to happen to me of all people! – Oh! It’s very pretty,” he said. “It has my highest approval.” And he nodded approbation at the empty loom. Nothing could make him say that he couldn’t see anything.
His whole retinue stared and stared. One saw no more than another, but they all joined the Emperor in exclaiming, “Oh! It’s very pretty,” and they advised him to wear clothes made of this wonderful cloth especially for the great procession he was soon to lead. “Magnificent! Excellent! Unsurpassed!” were bandied from mouth to mouth, and everyone did his best to seem well pleased. The Emperor gave each of the swindlers a cross to wear in his buttonhole, and the title of “Sir Weaver.”
Before the procession the swindlers sat up all night and burned more than six candles, to show how busy they were finishing the Emperor’s new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth off the loom. They made cuts in the air with huge scissors. And at last they said, “Now the Emperor’s new clothes are ready for him.”
Then the Emperor himself came with his noblest noblemen, and the swindlers each raised an arm as if they were holding something. They said, “These are the trousers, here’s the coat, and this is the mantle,” naming each garment. “All of them are as light as a spider web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that’s what makes them so fine.”
“Exactly,” all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.
“If Your Imperial Majesty will condescend to take your clothes off,” said the swindlers, “we will help you on with your new ones here in front of the long mirror.”
The Emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put his new clothes on him, one garment after another. They took him around the waist and seemed to be fastening something – that was his train-as the Emperor turned round and round before the looking glass.
“How well Your Majesty’s new clothes look. Aren’t they becoming!” He heard on all sides, “That pattern, so perfect! Those colors, so suitable! It is a magnificent outfit.”
Then the minister of public processions announced: “Your Majesty’s canopy is waiting outside.”
“Well, I’m supposed to be ready,” the Emperor said, and turned again for one last look in the mirror. “It is a remarkable fit, isn’t it?” He seemed to regard his costume with the greatest interest.
The noblemen who were to carry his train stooped low and reached for the floor as if they were picking up his mantle. Then they pretended to lift and hold it high. They didn’t dare admit they had nothing to hold.
So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.
“But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said.
“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on. A child says he hasn’t anything on.”
“But he hasn’t got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.
The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on.” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all.
A civil defense shelter will actually keep people warm and dry in an emergency. Whereas this drug has been shown to not do what it promised. I don’t take this massive waste of tax payers money lightly.
But what’s your point? Even if the shelters you introduced as a deflection are leaky (and that wasn’t your premise in the analogy, which was that they hadn’t been used in a while) it’s not the issue.
The issue is the billions of dollars that continue to be spent (tens of millions in NZ) on maintaining stockpiles of useless drugs.
Do you think governments should reconsider stockpiling a drug that has no benefit beyond 12 hours of symptom relief, no reduction in complications, has side effects, and does not prevent the spread of flu?
Do you accept profit motive plays a role when drug companies withhold reams of data that show drugs did not have the claimed efficacy, upon which decisions were made to stockpile them all around the world?
If you do accept a profit motive, why do you infer those who might object to this must be conspiracy theorists?
Do you think governments should reconsider stockpiling a drug that has no benefit beyond 12 hours of symptom relief, no reduction in complications, has side effects, and does not prevent the spread of flu?
I think they should follow WHO guidelines. BTW, cutting treatment time by 7% still reduces the treatment burden of a pandemic by 7%.
Do you accept profit motive plays a role when drug companies withhold reams of data that show drugs did not have the claimed efficacy, upon which decisions were made to stockpile them all around the world?
Yep. Do you believe that funding&planning analysts are oblivious to this problem?
If you do accept a profit motive, why do you infer those who might object to this must be conspiracy theorists?
Because purchasing decisions aren’t made by naive children who are unaware of such issues, and because groups of corporations aren’t single monolithic entities that deserve capitalisation.
If they’re in hospital for 6.5 days rather than 7 on average, that’s a reduction in treatment burden.
Oh, don’t forget to add in the secondary treatment burden from people fucked up by the primary treatment. Especially those patients who weren’t going to need hospital care, until the mass medication drug treatment screwed them over that is.
I think a properly put together chicken broth could reduce hospital stay duration from 7 days average to 6.5 days average too.
I think a properly put together chicken broth could reduce hospital stay duration from 7 days average to 6.5 days average too.
While I seem to recall research that suggests chicken broth does have some medicinal properties, I’d still like to see the reviews on that.
Hell, do both.
Oh, and I think the review did cover adverse reactions.
Ministry of Health mass dumping of Tamiflu 1.5M doses binned
Once again, Big Pharma thanks the NZ tax payer for their generosity, and the medical profession for backing this profligate spending on long shot, ultimately proven ineffective, medicines.
Are you suggesting that Chiropractors can’t read, think, or have an opinion McFlock?
I much prefer to take health “advice” from all of those across the medical and holistic/naturopath spectrum in addition to my own reading and research rather than relying solely on a GP whose typical “go to” position is to prescribe some form of pharmaceutical..
No, I’m not implying that. Both have their detractors, as you alluded to by invoking glass houses and stones. But only one cost taxpayers several billion dollars in recent years – money that could be spent on other population needs – as highlighted in the review out this week.
Not sure how it connects to the actual point about glass houses, but whatever.
Would you have preferred no money was spent to prepare for a possible pandemic? They made the decision with the evidence they had available. More evidence has come to light that suggests that maybe other alternatives were better.
While no system is perfect, money still goes to the system that has demonstrable benefit. I’d much rather that than the other way around.
Oh look McFlock, establishment big medicine has been trying to discredit and get rid of chiropractic care and chiropractors for the last 120 years. As such your attitude is not particularly new nor novel.
NZ on the other hand is internationally famous for the massive levels of public support it gave to chiropractors in the 1970’s, as evidenced by the 1979 NZ Royal Commission of Inquiry into chiropractic care.
Nope. Just that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
Oh fuck off, chiropractors weren’t the ones who advocated for the tax payers purchase of 1.5M doses of a drug which didn’t work and was subsequently binned.
Would you have preferred no money was spent to prepare for a possible pandemic? They made the decision with the evidence they had available.
Pffft. Shovelling tens of millions of dollars to Big Pharma on the basis of grasping at straws and very thin evidence just to be seen to be doing something is not a coherent strategy.
McFlock, who is allowed to be a critical voice in terms of how precious public money is spent? You subscribe to a technocratic scientific model whereby those who haven’t spent thousands of hours studying the relevant field are shut out, and should just let the experts get on with the job.
The tamiflu saga is not just about medical science. It’s about regulation and democratic safeguards against big business. The idea that only suitably qualified people can participate in the democratic process is offensive.
You tried to marginalise CV by attacking his profession, which in your view lacks credibility. However, he could only be deemed hypocritical if his own profession had received billions of dollars by means of hiding relevant data.
CV, they did work (just not as well as hoped), and the reason they were binned was that the potential epidemic the doses were a contingency for did not eventuate.
Your failure to understand those two points is one reason why I don’t give a damn about your opinion on medical matters.
Ergo Robertina, once again you misunderstand my position. Anyone can have an opinion on anything. It’s just that I’m not required to think that the opinion of some internet quack is as accurate as the opinion of someone who’s spent a lifetime studying and working in the field.
So-called “big pharma” can be a problem in some issues. But the expiry of a contingency stock of a drug that had its acquisition expedited because of an emerging threat is not the smoking gun of any of those issues.
You mightn’t give me credence mate, but I didn’t buy 1.5M doses of a useless drug (literally almost completely unused) with tax payers money, then bin them (incurring even more costs to the tax payer in proper disposal).
You’re right, I don’t understand your position. You say further evidence ‘[came] to light’, without it seems any understanding of why it was kept in the dark, and whose interests that serves.
Even now, our government will continue to hold stockpiled drugs that are of little use in all likelihood, when that money could be spent on child health and nutrition.
You think it’s about the science, with no apparent awareness of the role played by money and ego.
But nobody’s come up with a better system. Sometimes it doesn’t make the best decisions, but consistently it does a lot better than any alternative system.
You think this decision was the wrong one? Fine. It’s not even the worst case in recent history. Maybe one of the more expensive ones, but not the worst one.
But it’s still better than pretending I know better than everyone who’s spent years working in the field, just because I googled a news site. Contingency planning for a global epidemic is a little bit more complex than that.
Talking of alternative systems….because obviously the present one isnt working
Kim Hill talking to Catherine De Angelis ( Editor Journal American Medical Assn?) on transparency in medical research, taking on the pharmaceutical companies and research as distinct from marketing
‘You think this decision was the wrong one? Fine. It’s not even the worst case in recent history. Maybe one of the more expensive ones, but not the worst one.’
McFlock: What was the worst case in recent history?
Although that doctor who falsified adverse reaction evidence about a medication so that the competing medication he was working on would look better, that was pretty bad.
It would be nice if you applied the same standard (or indeed any standard) of reference to your own claims as that which you bemoan as lacking in others.
You also claimed Tamiflu reduced treatment burden by 7% without substantiation.
And this:
”But the expiry of a contingency stock of a drug that had its acquisition expedited because of an emerging threat is not the smoking gun of any of those issues.”
Expiry is not the key concern – critics only point to the expiry/renewal issue because it increases the cost. The issue is hidden data, which had it been revealed at the outset might have precluded the mass purchases in the first place.
@ CV …that is a disgrace…and it has all sorts of implications for the credibility of the medical profession.
….certainly heard earned and sorely needed tax payer money for health is being siphoned out into the bank accounts of big multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical business ( half a billion pounds in this instance)
….with the collusion of governments and the medical profession
….it is a scandal and makes much other crookery seem minor in comparison
…the medical profession should be outraged and speaking out if they are truly concerned about public health…but i suspect many are too indoctrinated, embedded and compromised into the system themselves
However in New Zealand it is popular with our medical spokespeople:
Just listened to Mary Wilson interviewing Dr Jasamine, Ministry of Health, who put up a stirling defence of Tamiflu and the NZ govt continuing with Tamiflu…also apparently the flu expert Dr.Lance Jennings is in favour of it
Plus one CV. It’s good to see the joint call between the BMJ and the Cochrane Collaboration to governments and decision makers to consider a halt to stockpiling these useless drugs.
The more rational proponents of evidence based medicine should welcome the research and subsequent call over public health spending accountability, because the initial assessment leading to a spend of billions was not based on evidence, and seriously undermines the credibility of EBM based decision-making.
Meh.
When the transmission patterns suggest we might be on the cusp of a global pandemic, you expedite purchasing the most promising solutions. Even a cut in treatment time by 7% is useful in those situations.
If/when WHO update the guidelines to different treatments, keep following them accordingly. Take the best option you know at the time, not the option you will know is best in hindsight.
But if the decision was based on the available evidence 5 years ago, shouldn’t it be properly re-evaluated in light of the data extracted now from the drug companies?
How do you know the reduction in treatment time is not offset by the side effects highlighted in the cochrane review?
And if you believe the flu vaccine is effective at preventing the spread of flu, wouldn’t this antiviral money be better spent on expanding the free flu jab entitlement beyond those currently eligible?
But if the decision was based on the available evidence 5 years ago, shouldn’t it be properly re-evaluated in light of the data extracted now from the drug companies?
Indeed. And the WHO guidelines should be updated accordingly. There is a process for this. It is being followed. Random media reports aren’t a part of that process.
How do you know the reduction in treatment time is not offset by the side effects highlighted in the cochrane review?
Has there been a recall notice betause adverse reactions outweigh benefits? That’s a seperate bunch of bureaucrats from WHO and the purchasers, by the way.
And if you believe the flu vaccine is effective at preventing the spread of flu, wouldn’t this antiviral money be better spent on expanding the free flu jab entitlement beyond those currently eligible?
Possibly, knowing then what we know now (assuming that the media reports and single review are 100% correct and in no way skewed in some way). Thanks for that assistance, Captain Hindsight.
A must read, in the Guardian, by Bad Pharma author Ben Goldacre about the Tamiflu scandal and its wider implications in the fight for trial data transparency.
@ ER…quite damning of the medical industry and its deeply flawed ‘science’..it makes a mockery of science …i would have expected better from the medical profession
…the implications of this ‘science’ which is really a PR exercise on the part of big business and not ‘science’ at all ……has implications for the vaccination industry as well
….the arguments that have been made that there are no safeguards for the unwitting public and their children, no proper independent evaluations, and no independent publicly available statistics on effectiveness, adverse side effects or long term consequences…are now through this Tamiflu expose given extra weight
We are guinea pigs, and the powers that be resent mere peasants asking questions, taking sensible precautions, or viewing healthcare from a different perspective.
For the evidence based medicine paradigm itself to maintain any credibility there has to be real change, and the more enlightened practitioners with an instinct for self preservation understand that.
It’s great to see Goldacre – who made his name criticising alternative medicine – set his sights on the pharmaceutical industry. We need more iconoclasts like Goldacre. They’re unlikely to pop up in little old conformist NZ though.
I wouldn’t call him and iconoclast, (and I doubt he would label himself as that) but we do need more campaigners like Ben Goldacre. Note that he hasn’t ‘set his sights’ on big pharma, and didn’t make his name trashing alternative meds. He simply hates untrustworthy peddlers of quakery, whoever they may be.
Ben Goldacre is a doctor, academic, campaigner and writer whose work focuses on uses and misuses of science and statistics by journalists, politicians, drug companies and alternative therapists.
No, what we need is a government funded organisation that does it’s full testing of drugs before they’re released for use. Testing that will be released to public scrutiny. Also, a requirement that all testing that the pharmaceutical company has done be publicly available.
Transparency is how you get rid of these sorts of rort.
I saw this yesterday. It looks pretty weird. Imagine if it was a left wing politician how Slater would have handled it. The clip would have been subject of a whole series of posts.
We live in a tired, battered economy. It does not pay its way. It is worryingly unproductive. It offers increasingly insecure and poorly-paid work for growing numbers of us, and even that it can only provide by inflating, yet again, a bubble of debt. Without a change of course, we are coming due for what Wynne Godley, warning of the crash last time, called a “sensational day of reckoning”.
It’s about the UK but, IMO, NZ is in about the same position. Growth is coming from debt fueled house prices and our focus on farming keeps our economy unproductive. Unemployment is staying close to the 6% point and jobs are poorly paid, precarious and based upon ever increasing amounts of debt.
In other words, we have a massively unsustainable economy and the global economy is all based upon the same unsustainable practices.
Solar power has won the global argument. Photovoltaic energy is already so cheap that it competes with oil, diesel and liquefied natural gas in much of Asia without subsidies.
So much for the RWNJs calls of renewable generation being too expensive.
Pity we didn’t have the R&D going and the factories being built so that we could have built up our economy and shifted it away from its fragility of reliance upon one sector.
An energy technology which requires the high energy extraction and complex processing of rare earth minerals in order to work?
PV may be much cheaper nowadays than 10 years ago, but there is also some evidence that part of the price drop has come from significant quality and service life reductions. Otherwise known as ‘cutting corners.’
An energy technology which requires the high energy extraction and complex processing of rare earth minerals in order to work?
Yes, and?
We have the power/energy available to do both of those things. Done properly we won’t even have to send anybody into a mine either.
PV may be much cheaper nowadays than 10 years ago, but there is also some evidence that part of the price drop has come from significant quality and service life reductions. Otherwise known as ‘cutting corners.’
Actually, the price drop seems to have come from massive investment in manufacturing them from the Chinese government. We could, and should, have done the same thing but we got bitten by the delusional free-market bug and so saw our development stutter.
The Chinese advances in solar panels are due largely to Australian government support of the mining industry, and lack of support for alternatives. Shi Zhengrong, an Australian citizen, had made some important advances but had problems obtaining research money and start up funding in Australia. The Australian agencies were too busy funding “clean coal” at the behest of the miners, and quantum computing, insisted on by the US defence establishment. Shi set up Suntech back in China, but later ran into difficulties. Given the opacity of Chinese justice, I have no idea what happened or what he did wrong, but China ended up leading the world in photovoltaics.
I can imagine the same sort of thing happening in Aotearoa if any researcher came up with a breakthrough in any area except for sucking milk out of cows and the life out of rivers even faster.
Srylands you were bleating on about airports up thread.
Public ownership of airports around the world is widespread. Even in the USA. LAX, JFK in New York and the like are all publicly owned, and even in that socialist Marxist hotbed of Houston, Texas, you will find the airports owned by the Houston City Council.
I think only the UK, Australia and New Zealand have large scale private ownership of major airports, and even then, here, only Auckland, Wellington, Paraparaumu and Ardmore are controlled by private interests, the rest are (the majority at least) owned by local and central government.
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Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
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A mixed picture of Auckland, while the headlines talk up growth in employment/decline in unemployment.
The jobs are not evenly spread around, and wages are “not shooting up”.
Most of the employment growth is being led by an increase in building.
The main long term positive in that, seems to me to be an increase in manufacturing. But I’d like to know what sort of manufacturing?
I never like seeing consumer spending being used as a marker of a strong economy. Not all consumer sending is good for the environment and society.
together with national passing s59 a and gay marriage, lack of jobs etc, why would south auckland voters change to national? cos they are effective first class liars?
Some interesting revelations in Don Brash’s upcoming autobiography. The most interesting in the article relate to John key and his behind the scenes deal-making.
John key entered parliament in 2002. And it must have been pretty soon after that he was maneuvering to be leader of the Nat caucus:
Meanwhile, the NZ Herald just goes with Brash’s sex life.
[Edit] … As the headline article, but a less prominent article gives an outline of some of the political content of Brash’s autobiography.
In Watkins’ article, ‘Don Brash bares all’ with accompanying must be embarrassing (or maybe he’s proud of it) photo, she says..”The book skirts around the affair and does not mention Foreman .”
I think she meant ‘affairs around the skirts.’
Can’t wait to read Brash’s latest spleen contents. (Not!)
That photo! mmm sexytime!
Just incase anybody still thought he was a person with a shred of credibility on anything, the choice to let that photo be used absolutely proves he has 0 sense.
No honour amongst thieves.
If they can do that among their own, it turns one’s heart cold to think what they would do to others.
given this, why would brash want to call key?
Don Brash is clearly a loony left-wing conspiracy theorist.
I was thinking that too 😉
He confirms what the left has been saying about the Smiling Assassin who is our current Liar-in-Chief
I never liked Brash’s politics, but I always had the impression he was in over his head. Hopefully he’s found some emotional stability now.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9923621/Don-Brash-bares-all
ShonKey PYTHON aye ?
And Dame Edna’s one time hubby Sir Les Patterson McCully aye ?
Reminds me of the one about poor Mildred who fell into the orangutang enclosure at the zoo. Boss orangutang swings over and ravages her savagely. Visited later in hospital by life long friend Agnes who’s beside herself with worry – “Oh Mils’ my darling…….what have they done to you ?” Mildred, tearful – “Oh Aggie……they haven’t rung…….they haven’t written”.
Strange how men of privilege whimper so when it all ends what ? Not that it hasn’t. Still, good on him for his frankness.
Best seller for holler feller gets smeller and smeller and smeller ! Check out to the right and four inches down.
I get the feeling the tide has just begun to turn for JK. Not just this article. He looked tired and was not at all articulate when talking on Prime News last night about the Chch school closure.
Couldn’t have come at a better time I say. More John, more!
In Christchurch certain business and other ‘leaders’ think the Council should sell its high performing assets (like the airport and the port) so that the money can be invested in the anchor projects (like the convention centre and the covered stadium).
What planet do these loons live on? Sell strong assets that produce dividends to invest in structures that make a loss? Unbelievable.
If it is such a good deal then how about the Council sell the convention centre and the covered stadium? Eh? Let the businesspeople and the investors own the stadium and the convention centre.
The gall they have. Goes right to the heart of their dishonesty and untrustworthiness. Scum.
+100 vto
They’re not loons, it’s not unbelievable – they want the city to sell so that they can a) get the rent from the strong assets and b) make a profit building and maintaining the loss making assets that they want the city to build. In other words, they want a transfer of wealth from the city to them.
It’s “disaster capitalism” vto. There is nothing unpredictable about this governments response to Chch and it has absolutely ZERO to do with actually helping the citizens of your fine city.
Describing “the growing propensity of former heads of government to monetise their service”, Simon Kuper writes in the Financial Times’s FT Magazine, the condition afflicts former leaders who amass great wealth as they become mouthpieces for all sorts of characters, some of them unsavoury.
The exemplar of the form, Blair “has shilled for JPMorgan Chase, Qatar and Kazakhstan’s cuddly regime”. But he’s not alone. “Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy have terrible Blair Disease too.”
http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/the-internaut/health-warning-for-world-leaders-tony-blair-disease/
Ouch. Don’t know what the offline was this morning. Fixed.
Martin Bradbury again on about how the Greens and Winston /NZF must reach some sort of agreement to bury the hatchet soon!….i am in agreement…. All petty differences on the Left must be put aside
…the Labour led Left coalition must win this election.!…and that includes a coalition with Mana /Dotcom
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/04/10/time-for-the-greens-to-stay-cool-cunliffes-best-shot-at-being-pm-is-to-unify-the-opposition/
Agree. Good comment by Bradbury on Peters going for legacy, when the mistakes of the Key government are remembered in 20 years time I doubt he himself seen as an enabler of those. Even though he is generally accused of wanting baubles, people forget his vanity means he wants to be remembered in a positive light.
The RNZ interview was a strong signal that he was willing to work with the Greens.
Peters’ legacy will be that he betrayed his voters; fucked MMP early on in the piece (which it may not recover from); and constistently undermined the left thus keeping NZ’s centre too far to the right.
Sorry Chooky, but that has to be one of the stupidest things I’ve seen Bomber write. Greens going to war with Labour and Mana, wtf? This is the party that’s led the way on building relationships. Why would it now take an antagonistic stance? Looks like Bomber spin to me (where are you allegiences currently Bomber?).
“If the Greens are serious about changing the Government, can they work with Winston and can they build some personal relationships with him before the election?”
Which party has a history of building relationships and whose kaupapa is based on co-operation? Which party has a history of betraying it’s voters, and of refusing to say before an election what it will do after the election?
It’s also a little odd of Bomber to be earnestly giving the Green Party strategic advice, given how many posts at The Daily Blog have heaped scorn on the Greens and their supporters.
Well the above comments do not seem to come near to what David Cunliffe said this morning which Radionz says is a comment distancing itself from Greens – Cunliffe talking again about seeing what the voters want. He said something like if voters want a parliament or government with more than two parties. I couldn’t quite get my head around his intention there.
And the radio comment was that Labour and the Greens were on opposite sides over mining and oil drilling off the coast and that appeared to be a serious schism.
Cunliffe talked bout Labour being a long standing Party for 100 years blah blah. Sort of stand alone and proud stuff. I felt – numb. One step forward with him as Leader with a promise of …? we hoped better vision, but now it is almost two steps back. What can you do with porridge-headed Labour? I think they are an old Party all right, senile.
Perhaps he thinks his party will get 45% of the vote.
He has no interest in reaching across to the Greens to form a progressive left Government, if he can reach across to embrace Winston.
“He said something like if voters want a parliament or government with more than two parties”
I haven’t listened to it, but I assume he means that the next govt will be a coalition, and the voters will decide if it’s just L/GP, or if NZF are part of that (and Mana/IP). It’s really down to people who may vote NZF. The best thing that could happen for NZ now is for NZF to not reach the 5%. Slim hope though.
Vto on assets in Christchurch you have it arse about. It is the role of the private sector to manage and own profit making assets. Why the hell should government own an airport? Your view if it prevailed would lead us to the horror we escaped. Go and live in Greece
Fucking idiot.
Only in your fascist corporate wet dream, gosman.
An airport is a service, not a profit-making entity, for crying out loud – at least it was before the world went quite mad
+1
Maybe a government could own an airport and use the profits to offset loss of tax take?
Why the hell should a currency trader know anything about how to run a country?
Life’s a mystery and your economic newspaper doesn’t have all the answers
ha ha srylands, if only you had some credibility….. you are an ideologue with a religious fervour that renders your seesaw impotent.
Sell strong assets that produce dividends to invest in structures that make a loss? What a fool.
Why should a local community own an asset like an airport? Or the port? If you cannot see through that then you are completely lost. Just like you think people are a commodity for competitive sale like your fucking plastic buckets. The fact you think so about the sale of people means you have not even reached first base in understanding the human condition or the history and reality of human community.
Fail.
“Sell strong assets that produce dividends to invest in structures that make a loss? What a fool.”
but vto, they then have an excellent argument to sell off the poorly performing new asset and their masters can own everything. What I respect about incrementalism is that since its implementation a hundred years ago (conservative estimate) it has been shown to be quite a clever and ruthlessly successful operation. Sure it has cost the world almost any chance of a decent society where people are valued for who they are not what they wear but hey, when there is gold in sight, humans get stupid.
+1
ah, but just think, the first thing he does when he gets to work each day is to read The Standard, and post…
Just doing his job.
Not necessarily especially when the profit making asset is a natural monopoly.
Two reason:
1.) They’re better at managing such assets for the public good and won’t run it down to maximise profit the way that the private sector does
2.) So as to make a profit
Contrary to what you want to believe we’re already heading towards being the next Greece and all due to the economic paradigm you worship.
” It is the role of the private sector to manage and own profit making assets.”
says who?
also – the well performing assets the CHCH holds publicly is what kept their rates rises down – you know, rates. That thing shits like you get your knickers in a twist about when they go up
” It is the role of the private sector to manage and own profit making assets.”
There’s that sense of entitlement again. Pathetic.
srylands job is to be the infection that keeps the pus rising and running, the thorn with a dirty tip of contagion that can overpower the body’s ability to resist the strongly spreading and deadly germ.
One for srylands to charge for the hour under research – Future Suspended about how the privatisation of public spaces in Athens began with the 2004 Olympics and transferred public wealth to private purses.
Good column from Gordon Campbell (at right) today. Saying what I’d like to say, but more eloquently and with less bitterness and swear-words. Teaser:
…If there is a tactical fear of being tarred as “extreme left” – which should be a joke, when applied to Russel Norman and Metiria Turei – the only way to disarm that smear is to take control of the situation, own what the two parties share in common, and defend the relevant policies. Fear tactics will only work if you run scared of them, and the formation of the Labour/Greens alliance would have presented a golden opportunity to confront the “extremist” bogey and dispel it before the campaign proper begins. It would have seen Labour in charge of its destiny, and demonstrating before the election why there is no need to fear what such a partnership might entail after the election. Instead, Labour has chosen to keep its options open and wait plaintively by the phone for a call from Peters that is never likely to come. What does Labour believe in? Apparently, whatever it takes to get itself pushed across the line by its partners…
It’s looking more and more like Labour believes what it believed between 1998 and 2008, problem is National holds that ground right now…
Good stuff
@ Just Saying
Good article by Gordon Campbell – thanks for pointing it out.
Thanks for the heads up. The closing line of Gordon’s piece is:
“What [the Key government] lacks is a leader of that opposition – but yesterday, Cunliffe decided not to turn up to work.”
At this rate, I may consider holding my nose and party-voting the Greens given that the Labour caucus is still in search for a true Progressive spine.
Any chance that Cunliffe will revisit the invitation?
Any chance that the soft tory idiots in the caucus will help him reframe, reposition and refine the messaging?
While he is at it, can he bang T.I.N.A. Parker’s head against those of the Nat Lites in his caucus to also revisit the retirement age proposal?
Ten days and five months to go: Wake Up, Labour Caucus!
+1 Jim Nald
Jim Naid, at some point we are going to have to realistically address the question,”did we get had” by the election of David Cunliffe to the leadership of the Labour Caucus,
That might on my part be an entirely inappropriate view/question of or put to the Labour leader, however, it aint only Finance spokesperson David Parker that needs be read the riot act,(in my opinion),
Andrew Little apparently the Labour spokesperson on mining, after attending a ‘piis-up’ in the Parliaments Grand Hall paid for? by the mining lobby group Straterra was quoted by RadioNZ National News as saying ”if the Green Party will not support Legislation that allows further mining in a future Labour/Green Government then Labour would simply seek the support of National to pass such Legislation”,
David Parker, we all heard the ”there is no alternative” when Parker recently addressed the question of raising the age of superannuation, such neo-liberal cliches are, i would suggest, the sum total of debate we are to get on this topic and the question remains,”how deeply steeped in the economics of neo-liberalism is David Parker”,
Phill Twyford, Labour’s Housing spokesperson,(and i genuinely have to thank Phill for turning up here at the Standard to debate an issue),but, can anyone be further out of touch from the real world,
Phill citing 250,000 kids living in poverty then went on in His post to explain how Labour will require all rental properties to not only be insulated but to also provide suitable cost effective heating,
i put it to Phill that (a), the definition of poverty would prohibit the parents of these 250,000 kids living in poverty to be able to afford to use such heating, and (b), landlords forced by Legislation to carry out such work on their rental properties are more then likely to simply crank up the rent to recover costs,
Both of the above questions Phill Twyford answered yes you are right too,(more or less),the third question i put to Phill, what i would consider to be the ‘crux’ of the matter as far as children living in poverty goes Phill didn’t bother to address,(c) asked ”can he not see the relationship to those on low incomes being forced to rent from the private sector and the fact that they are living in poverty”,
So the above simply outlines 3 complete ”disconnects” exhibited by three different Labour spokespeople who would be odds on to be Ministers holding the relevant portfolios in a future Government,
Myself i am becoming increasingly more pessimistic that there will be any ‘great’ change forthcoming from such a Government, Business as usual in other words…
I was wondering if srylands had replaced him.
What you find, once you look behind the facade, is that the rich don’t pay for anything. They always pass the costs onto the community in one way or another and because they don’t pay for anything they find it very easy to get richer.
As far as I can see, Twyford is just another career politician who planned his career path 30 years ago. Much like Key learning to play golf, he did what he thought would help advance him in Labour.
He isn’t. I’ve worked with the guy on campaigns and talked to him a lot over the years. You’ll note that I have no particular attraction for charm and a built in bullshit detector after decades of active politics. I wouldn’t agree with him on a many things, but he definitely has a direction outside of personal ambition. Since he is willing to do the effort he has always been a politician who I’d help if it was feasible.
It is more a case of having things that he considers being important, like getting into a position to be able to do something about them, and being willing to trade off to get there. Parliament pretty much runs on an apprenticeship basis with most of the actual power being held close to core of a relatively small number of people. You get kudos by getting things done that need to be done.
But it is also because you seldom can get everything done in a single hit on any policy matter when everything isn’t thoroughly broken.
You can get support to run massive campaigns to change things when you have a shock, and suddenly get 20-30% of the workforce out of work for many years and epidemics sweeping the land. As in the depression in the 1930s and even after the debt/borrowing crisis in the mid-80s after National had stuck its head in the sand for a decade. It is a damn sight harder to get the required widespread support when there is a incremental deterioration.
So at present in political terms you have to get things done incrementally. There isn’t a lot of widespread support for doing anything else. It is a bit of a problem when it comes to upcoming issues with things like preventing or even the decades long processes of adapting to climate change, or dealing with the age bulge in superannuiants
I guess this is what I’ve seen, and formed a less charitable opinion of:
“It is more a case of having things that he considers being important, like getting into a position to be able to do something about them, and being willing to trade off to get there.”
Anyway, I don’t see him as the main problem in the Labour caucus. He was not responsible for their lurch to the right, he became active after that had happened. He probably didn’t even have anything to do with the line in the sand they seem to have drawn, which can never be passed on the way leftwards, and which most of them seem happy to have as long as it is so very slightly to the left of NAct’s line.
It will take time for them to realize how much that attitude hurts them (and us). The ‘professional’ party attitude just disconnects them from their actual basis of support. And unlike the National party they can’t just run on fear of the other
Mallard made some comment on radio I think this morning about wanting to stay on in politics for some years. (It may have come up in the Tau Henare resignation context.)
So whatever he is feeding the others, however he managed to get a largely unchallenged position in Labour, he is intending to keep doing it to become the grand old man. And unfortunately he keeps too fit to pass away like big Norm who had numerous health factors to contend with.
I think Cunliffe talking this morning about Labour’s longevity is an indication of what I feel is the nub of present-day Labour. It is an institution with a history and privileges and few feel the burning desire to do anything except the minimum required to keep signing the timesheet.
+1
Well, my suggestion to those 70%: Leave Labour and join the Greens ASAP.
Or even just vote for them this time round. If it’s hard for Labour voters to party vote GP (nods to Jim above), then consider it a protest vote for this election to prompt Labour to sort it’s shit out.
My reading of the GP offer to Labour this week is that it’s a very clear signal to voters about what’s real at this point in time. Disappointing that Cunliffe didn’t show up for work, but now we know where things stand. You have some choices here Labour voters, what are you going to do?
me too
Good suggestion Draco
If people don’t move their votes around then they start being taken for granted….clearly….
That is why, after-all, this ‘centrist floating voter’ gets obsessed over….
+100
Or, in Bomber Bradbury’s case, join Winston First. I seem to remember he was pro-Cunliffe, as was I, but I’m forced to wonder if he knew why.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/audrey-young/news/article.cfm?a_id=164&objectid=11235338
Credit wheres it due time, this is a good move by Cunliffe
Many would agree more wholeheartedly if that sentence was completed as follows (given the full stop has not yet been inserted):
Credit wheres [sic] it due time, this is a good move by Cunliffe to strengthen Winston Peters’ kingmaker role, as well as John Key’s campaigning.
Surely that nzherald piece couldn’t have been written by a National MP’s sister or daughter !?
/sarc
If National and Act are allowed to continue down their preferred economic track of privatisation this is type of healthcare we’ll end up with:
And this is the type of living space that we’re missing out on because of National’s outdated ideology:
Yeah, wonder what sort of profits the now privatised generators could get when they’re just not needed.
Srylands should read that.
That the poor woman was left to die by her own community proves conclusively that private enterprise does not cater to the needs of community.
It is disgusting. What a poor poor community with fatally flawed structures. The USA is a failed community by this most basic of measures.
That people like srylands keep pushing to implement the same structures in NZ makes me sick.
I take it you mean conclusively?
woops yes … edited
I find it bizarre that people would leave their neighbour to die like this.
Because that is what people like srylands do when they advocate policies such as these – they very directly leave their neighbours to die. It is pretty much a form of murder or manslaughter.
Shameful. The poorest human conduct known.
/agreed
And it’s all done so that they can have a little more money, a few more material things.
Crap. Markets promote prosperity and reflect liberty. I thought this argument was won about 25 years ago, at least in New Zealand.
“Markets, liberty and neoliberalism are murder”. Am I paraphrasing correctly? You sound like a crazy person. If you are not crazy and are serious you are on the wrong side of history. I suggest you travel and open your mind to the world.
Socialists – aka the Green Party of New Zealand – hate liberty. That hatred of liberty if they get the chance will lead to misery, stunted growth and immense hardship for the poor. That is the irony. Your rich pricks can ride out the storm, or ultimately leave. It is the poor and vulnerable, and their children that will pay the price. We won’t be a prosperous workers paradise with “Green growth” because it is an illusion. R Norman is promoting a green tainted version of Argentinian 1950s industry policy.
What you are promising with your tainted xenophobic world (sic) view is a future for New Zealand that looks like a mixture of Greece and Samoa. We will lose our world connectedness, and become a stunted, inflationary, Pacific island.
Your vision will not prevail.
If you promise to slide into your snakeskin suit and slither off out of our country SSLands we will all to a woman and man undoubtedly vote for such a proposition,
We have enough scum here now without having imported an overdose of it in the form of you…
Your ability to conflate the disparate notions of “the market” with “liberty” demonstrates perfectly why people here simply can’t take you seriously.
Might I suggest you actually need to read more and think critically as your blinkered advocacy of the ideology you constantly espouse here is painting you into a corner.
said chicken little
You’re not very bright, really, are you!
Complete bullshit in each of your paragraphs and I aint wasting time going through them in detail.
I rest my assessment of you srylands on your baseline of treating people as a tradeable commodity in the same manner as plastic buckets at the warehouse.
You don’t even reach first base in your understanding of humans and their communities.
Why don’t you go live in the USA where they do not treat their sick neighbours – they leave them to die. Dead. The market leaves people to die. Above is perfect example.
Shameful. Poorest human conduct known.
lol
That was a curious mixture of religious dogmatism and “Atlas Shrugged”, sspylands.
You believe only in the “liberty” you can pay for and defend by yourself. This is not universal liberty. Your markets demonstrate this repeatedly – the rich prosper, the poor die. You don’t even couch it in terms of social Darwinism, you just seem to think it’s a good thing by virtue of its own existence.
edit: damn, for the life of me I can’t remember the name for that religious belief that god rewards virtue in this world, so rich people must be good and poor people deserve it for some reason. Big in the states.
Prosperity gospel.
that’s the one.
I suspect sspylands has a bit of that, as well – at the very least a secular version (i.e. they deserve to be poor because of their own failings)
No, it was rammed down our throats 25 years ago. The GFC proved conclusively that your religion doesn’t work.
Get it right. It is the poor and vulnerable that pay the price of having rich people. You’ve said it yourself – if the owner of a rental property has to do something to that property then that cost will be passed on to the people renting it. The rich person isn’t any worse off – in fact they’re probably better off as they will over inflate the rent rise.
SSLands, even by your warped measures of success, Argentina was economically successful in the 1950s, with GDP growing for the whole decade. Wanking yourself over a picture of Madonna, to the sounds of “Don’t Lie to Me, Argentina” hardly gives you any credibility at all.
Argentina started going down the drain once Uncle Sam’s favourite generals took over and invited the IMF and World Bank to help out. Theirs is the sort of liberty you love so much; the liberty of torturers and looters to do their foul business without fear of the consequences. You make me sick.
+1
Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on being well dressed. He cared nothing about reviewing his soldiers, going to the theatre, or going for a ride in his carriage, except to show off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day, and instead of saying, as one might, about any other ruler, “The King’s in council,” here they always said. “The Emperor’s in his dressing room.”
In the great city where he lived, life was always gay. Every day many strangers came to town, and among them one day came two swindlers. They let it be known they were weavers, and they said they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable. Not only were their colors and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.
“Those would be just the clothes for me,” thought the Emperor. “If I wore them I would be able to discover which men in my empire are unfit for their posts. And I could tell the wise men from the fools. Yes, I certainly must get some of the stuff woven for me right away.” He paid the two swindlers a large sum of money to start work at once.
They set up two looms and pretended to weave, though there was nothing on the looms. All the finest silk and the purest old thread which they demanded went into their traveling bags, while they worked the empty looms far into the night.
“I’d like to know how those weavers are getting on with the cloth,” the Emperor thought, but he felt slightly uncomfortable when he remembered that those who were unfit for their position would not be able to see the fabric. It couldn’t have been that he doubted himself, yet he thought he’d rather send someone else to see how things were going. The whole town knew about the cloth’s peculiar power, and all were impatient to find out how stupid their neighbors were.
“I’ll send my honest old minister to the weavers,” the Emperor decided. “He’ll be the best one to tell me how the material looks, for he’s a sensible man and no one does his duty better.”
So the honest old minister went to the room where the two swindlers sat working away at their empty looms.
“Heaven help me,” he thought as his eyes flew wide open, “I can’t see anything at all”. But he did not say so.
Both the swindlers begged him to be so kind as to come near to approve the excellent pattern, the beautiful colors. They pointed to the empty looms, and the poor old minister stared as hard as he dared. He couldn’t see anything, because there was nothing to see. “Heaven have mercy,” he thought. “Can it be that I’m a fool? I’d have never guessed it, and not a soul must know. Am I unfit to be the minister? It would never do to let on that I can’t see the cloth.”
“Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of it,” said one of the weavers.
“Oh, it’s beautiful -it’s enchanting.” The old minister peered through his spectacles. “Such a pattern, what colors!” I’ll be sure to tell the Emperor how delighted I am with it.”
“We’re pleased to hear that,” the swindlers said. They proceeded to name all the colors and to explain the intricate pattern. The old minister paid the closest attention, so that he could tell it all to the Emperor. And so he did.
The swindlers at once asked for more money, more silk and gold thread, to get on with the weaving. But it all went into their pockets. Not a thread went into the looms, though they worked at their weaving as hard as ever.
The Emperor presently sent another trustworthy official to see how the work progressed and how soon it would be ready. The same thing happened to him that had happened to the minister. He looked and he looked, but as there was nothing to see in the looms he couldn’t see anything.
“Isn’t it a beautiful piece of goods?” the swindlers asked him, as they displayed and described their imaginary pattern.
“I know I’m not stupid,” the man thought, “so it must be that I’m unworthy of my good office. That’s strange. I mustn’t let anyone find it out, though.” So he praised the material he did not see. He declared he was delighted with the beautiful colors and the exquisite pattern. To the Emperor he said, “It held me spellbound.”
All the town was talking of this splendid cloth, and the Emperor wanted to see it for himself while it was still in the looms. Attended by a band of chosen men, among whom were his two old trusted officials-the ones who had been to the weavers-he set out to see the two swindlers. He found them weaving with might and main, but without a thread in their looms.
“Magnificent,” said the two officials already duped. “Just look, Your Majesty, what colors! What a design!” They pointed to the empty looms, each supposing that the others could see the stuff.
“What’s this?” thought the Emperor. “I can’t see anything. This is terrible!
Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be the Emperor? What a thing to happen to me of all people! – Oh! It’s very pretty,” he said. “It has my highest approval.” And he nodded approbation at the empty loom. Nothing could make him say that he couldn’t see anything.
His whole retinue stared and stared. One saw no more than another, but they all joined the Emperor in exclaiming, “Oh! It’s very pretty,” and they advised him to wear clothes made of this wonderful cloth especially for the great procession he was soon to lead. “Magnificent! Excellent! Unsurpassed!” were bandied from mouth to mouth, and everyone did his best to seem well pleased. The Emperor gave each of the swindlers a cross to wear in his buttonhole, and the title of “Sir Weaver.”
Before the procession the swindlers sat up all night and burned more than six candles, to show how busy they were finishing the Emperor’s new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth off the loom. They made cuts in the air with huge scissors. And at last they said, “Now the Emperor’s new clothes are ready for him.”
Then the Emperor himself came with his noblest noblemen, and the swindlers each raised an arm as if they were holding something. They said, “These are the trousers, here’s the coat, and this is the mantle,” naming each garment. “All of them are as light as a spider web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that’s what makes them so fine.”
“Exactly,” all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.
“If Your Imperial Majesty will condescend to take your clothes off,” said the swindlers, “we will help you on with your new ones here in front of the long mirror.”
The Emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put his new clothes on him, one garment after another. They took him around the waist and seemed to be fastening something – that was his train-as the Emperor turned round and round before the looking glass.
“How well Your Majesty’s new clothes look. Aren’t they becoming!” He heard on all sides, “That pattern, so perfect! Those colors, so suitable! It is a magnificent outfit.”
Then the minister of public processions announced: “Your Majesty’s canopy is waiting outside.”
“Well, I’m supposed to be ready,” the Emperor said, and turned again for one last look in the mirror. “It is a remarkable fit, isn’t it?” He seemed to regard his costume with the greatest interest.
The noblemen who were to carry his train stooped low and reached for the floor as if they were picking up his mantle. Then they pretended to lift and hold it high. They didn’t dare admit they had nothing to hold.
So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.
“But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said.
“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on. A child says he hasn’t anything on.”
“But he hasn’t got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.
The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on.” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all.
An acknowledgement of the author of that particular piece would be nice…
Hans Christian Anderson
Cool
All the Worlds a Stage and John has to keep grinning in spite of having very cold – umm -fingers.
UK govt wasted half a billion pounds on useless Swine Flu drug stockpiles
Big Pharma profusely thanks the UK tax payer for adding generously to the bottom line.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/uk-wasted-560m-stockpiling-flu-drugs
They probably haven’t used civil defense shelters in a while, either. Must be a plot for Big Construction.
A civil defense shelter will actually keep people warm and dry in an emergency. Whereas this drug has been shown to not do what it promised. I don’t take this massive waste of tax payers money lightly.
+100…well said
How do you know the shelters aren’t leaky?
But what’s your point? Even if the shelters you introduced as a deflection are leaky (and that wasn’t your premise in the analogy, which was that they hadn’t been used in a while) it’s not the issue.
The issue is the billions of dollars that continue to be spent (tens of millions in NZ) on maintaining stockpiles of useless drugs.
Do you think governments should reconsider stockpiling a drug that has no benefit beyond 12 hours of symptom relief, no reduction in complications, has side effects, and does not prevent the spread of flu?
Do you accept profit motive plays a role when drug companies withhold reams of data that show drugs did not have the claimed efficacy, upon which decisions were made to stockpile them all around the world?
If you do accept a profit motive, why do you infer those who might object to this must be conspiracy theorists?
I think they should follow WHO guidelines. BTW, cutting treatment time by 7% still reduces the treatment burden of a pandemic by 7%.
Yep. Do you believe that funding&planning analysts are oblivious to this problem?
Because purchasing decisions aren’t made by naive children who are unaware of such issues, and because groups of corporations aren’t single monolithic entities that deserve capitalisation.
There is no reduction in hospital admissions and complications, thus the overall reduction in the treatment burden is not 7%.
If they’re in hospital for 6.5 days rather than 7 on average, that’s a reduction in treatment burden.
And in a pandemic, every bed is needed as much as possible.
Although I’m intrigued that a reduction in duration isn’t accompanied by a reduction in severity. I might actually bother looking it up sometime.
Oh, don’t forget to add in the secondary treatment burden from people fucked up by the primary treatment. Especially those patients who weren’t going to need hospital care, until the mass medication drug treatment screwed them over that is.
I think a properly put together chicken broth could reduce hospital stay duration from 7 days average to 6.5 days average too.
i think it is safest to stick with the chicken soup thanks
Hmmmmm, I appreciate your sentiments but am a tad concerned about the implications of your comment for your fellow chooks!
While I seem to recall research that suggests chicken broth does have some medicinal properties, I’d still like to see the reviews on that.
Hell, do both.
Oh, and I think the review did cover adverse reactions.
@CV…re chicken soup ….yes salutations and thanks are due to my mighty Totem the chicken
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem
….at least we know what chicken broth is and it is tried and tested unlike Tamiflu
Ministry of Health mass dumping of Tamiflu 1.5M doses binned
Once again, Big Pharma thanks the NZ tax payer for their generosity, and the medical profession for backing this profligate spending on long shot, ultimately proven ineffective, medicines.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/9768461/Mass-dump-of-Tamiflu-a-bitter-pill-to-swallow
Lol. this from a chiropractor.
prefer to take health advice from CV rather than you….based on the evidence….
Are you suggesting that Chiropractors can’t read, think, or have an opinion McFlock?
I much prefer to take health “advice” from all of those across the medical and holistic/naturopath spectrum in addition to my own reading and research rather than relying solely on a GP whose typical “go to” position is to prescribe some form of pharmaceutical..
Nope. Just that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
While there might be faults in both houses, only one is the recipient of billions of taxpayer dollars.
Are you implying that the respective faults of each are equivalent?
No, I’m not implying that. Both have their detractors, as you alluded to by invoking glass houses and stones. But only one cost taxpayers several billion dollars in recent years – money that could be spent on other population needs – as highlighted in the review out this week.
So the one that demonstrably has a beneficial effect (even if smaller than expected in some instances) also gets the funding.
Seems reasonable.
That wasn’t the issue.
Not sure how it connects to the actual point about glass houses, but whatever.
Would you have preferred no money was spent to prepare for a possible pandemic? They made the decision with the evidence they had available. More evidence has come to light that suggests that maybe other alternatives were better.
While no system is perfect, money still goes to the system that has demonstrable benefit. I’d much rather that than the other way around.
Oh look McFlock, establishment big medicine has been trying to discredit and get rid of chiropractic care and chiropractors for the last 120 years. As such your attitude is not particularly new nor novel.
NZ on the other hand is internationally famous for the massive levels of public support it gave to chiropractors in the 1970’s, as evidenced by the 1979 NZ Royal Commission of Inquiry into chiropractic care.
Oh fuck off, chiropractors weren’t the ones who advocated for the tax payers purchase of 1.5M doses of a drug which didn’t work and was subsequently binned.
Pffft. Shovelling tens of millions of dollars to Big Pharma on the basis of grasping at straws and very thin evidence just to be seen to be doing something is not a coherent strategy.
McFlock, who is allowed to be a critical voice in terms of how precious public money is spent? You subscribe to a technocratic scientific model whereby those who haven’t spent thousands of hours studying the relevant field are shut out, and should just let the experts get on with the job.
The tamiflu saga is not just about medical science. It’s about regulation and democratic safeguards against big business. The idea that only suitably qualified people can participate in the democratic process is offensive.
You tried to marginalise CV by attacking his profession, which in your view lacks credibility. However, he could only be deemed hypocritical if his own profession had received billions of dollars by means of hiding relevant data.
CV, they did work (just not as well as hoped), and the reason they were binned was that the potential epidemic the doses were a contingency for did not eventuate.
Your failure to understand those two points is one reason why I don’t give a damn about your opinion on medical matters.
Ergo Robertina, once again you misunderstand my position. Anyone can have an opinion on anything. It’s just that I’m not required to think that the opinion of some internet quack is as accurate as the opinion of someone who’s spent a lifetime studying and working in the field.
So-called “big pharma” can be a problem in some issues. But the expiry of a contingency stock of a drug that had its acquisition expedited because of an emerging threat is not the smoking gun of any of those issues.
You mightn’t give me credence mate, but I didn’t buy 1.5M doses of a useless drug (literally almost completely unused) with tax payers money, then bin them (incurring even more costs to the tax payer in proper disposal).
But then you’d also not spend money on vaccines.
So we’d have used those drugs – but oh wait, you wouldn’t have bought them…
You’re right, I don’t understand your position. You say further evidence ‘[came] to light’, without it seems any understanding of why it was kept in the dark, and whose interests that serves.
Even now, our government will continue to hold stockpiled drugs that are of little use in all likelihood, when that money could be spent on child health and nutrition.
You think it’s about the science, with no apparent awareness of the role played by money and ego.
I’m well aware of the issues that you bring up.
But nobody’s come up with a better system. Sometimes it doesn’t make the best decisions, but consistently it does a lot better than any alternative system.
You think this decision was the wrong one? Fine. It’s not even the worst case in recent history. Maybe one of the more expensive ones, but not the worst one.
But it’s still better than pretending I know better than everyone who’s spent years working in the field, just because I googled a news site. Contingency planning for a global epidemic is a little bit more complex than that.
Talking of alternative systems….because obviously the present one isnt working
Kim Hill talking to Catherine De Angelis ( Editor Journal American Medical Assn?) on transparency in medical research, taking on the pharmaceutical companies and research as distinct from marketing
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2592409/catherine-deangelis
‘You think this decision was the wrong one? Fine. It’s not even the worst case in recent history. Maybe one of the more expensive ones, but not the worst one.’
McFlock: What was the worst case in recent history?
No idea.
Although that doctor who falsified adverse reaction evidence about a medication so that the competing medication he was working on would look better, that was pretty bad.
It would be nice if you applied the same standard (or indeed any standard) of reference to your own claims as that which you bemoan as lacking in others.
You also claimed Tamiflu reduced treatment burden by 7% without substantiation.
And this:
”But the expiry of a contingency stock of a drug that had its acquisition expedited because of an emerging threat is not the smoking gun of any of those issues.”
Expiry is not the key concern – critics only point to the expiry/renewal issue because it increases the cost. The issue is hidden data, which had it been revealed at the outset might have precluded the mass purchases in the first place.
Seriously?
Everything prior to my wee reference to Wakefield was in the sources already supplied by other people in this thread.
@ CV …that is a disgrace…and it has all sorts of implications for the credibility of the medical profession.
….certainly heard earned and sorely needed tax payer money for health is being siphoned out into the bank accounts of big multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical business ( half a billion pounds in this instance)
….with the collusion of governments and the medical profession
….it is a scandal and makes much other crookery seem minor in comparison
…the medical profession should be outraged and speaking out if they are truly concerned about public health…but i suspect many are too indoctrinated, embedded and compromised into the system themselves
Tamiflu does not have a good reputation in Japan either
http://www.globalresearch.ca/2005-report-japan-links-tamiflu-to-sudden-deaths-in-children/14755
However in New Zealand it is popular with our medical spokespeople:
Just listened to Mary Wilson interviewing Dr Jasamine, Ministry of Health, who put up a stirling defence of Tamiflu and the NZ govt continuing with Tamiflu…also apparently the flu expert Dr.Lance Jennings is in favour of it
Plus one CV. It’s good to see the joint call between the BMJ and the Cochrane Collaboration to governments and decision makers to consider a halt to stockpiling these useless drugs.
The more rational proponents of evidence based medicine should welcome the research and subsequent call over public health spending accountability, because the initial assessment leading to a spend of billions was not based on evidence, and seriously undermines the credibility of EBM based decision-making.
Meh.
When the transmission patterns suggest we might be on the cusp of a global pandemic, you expedite purchasing the most promising solutions. Even a cut in treatment time by 7% is useful in those situations.
If/when WHO update the guidelines to different treatments, keep following them accordingly. Take the best option you know at the time, not the option you will know is best in hindsight.
But if the decision was based on the available evidence 5 years ago, shouldn’t it be properly re-evaluated in light of the data extracted now from the drug companies?
How do you know the reduction in treatment time is not offset by the side effects highlighted in the cochrane review?
And if you believe the flu vaccine is effective at preventing the spread of flu, wouldn’t this antiviral money be better spent on expanding the free flu jab entitlement beyond those currently eligible?
Indeed. And the WHO guidelines should be updated accordingly. There is a process for this. It is being followed. Random media reports aren’t a part of that process.
Has there been a recall notice betause adverse reactions outweigh benefits? That’s a seperate bunch of bureaucrats from WHO and the purchasers, by the way.
Possibly, knowing then what we know now (assuming that the media reports and single review are 100% correct and in no way skewed in some way). Thanks for that assistance, Captain Hindsight.
Of course, the only sure thing with the tax payer purchase of these ineffective drugs, was that Big Pharma was going to make a killing.
“less effective than expected” != “ineffective”.
I suppose one can set the statistical bar low enough mate and the drug will miraculously become “effective.”
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/10/tamiflu-saga-drug-trials-big-pharma.
A must read, in the Guardian, by Bad Pharma author Ben Goldacre about the Tamiflu scandal and its wider implications in the fight for trial data transparency.
@ ER…quite damning of the medical industry and its deeply flawed ‘science’..it makes a mockery of science …i would have expected better from the medical profession
…the implications of this ‘science’ which is really a PR exercise on the part of big business and not ‘science’ at all ……has implications for the vaccination industry as well
….the arguments that have been made that there are no safeguards for the unwitting public and their children, no proper independent evaluations, and no independent publicly available statistics on effectiveness, adverse side effects or long term consequences…are now through this Tamiflu expose given extra weight
…i suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg..
We are guinea pigs, and the powers that be resent mere peasants asking questions, taking sensible precautions, or viewing healthcare from a different perspective.
For the evidence based medicine paradigm itself to maintain any credibility there has to be real change, and the more enlightened practitioners with an instinct for self preservation understand that.
It’s great to see Goldacre – who made his name criticising alternative medicine – set his sights on the pharmaceutical industry. We need more iconoclasts like Goldacre. They’re unlikely to pop up in little old conformist NZ though.
“We need more iconoclasts like Goldacre”
I wouldn’t call him and iconoclast, (and I doubt he would label himself as that) but we do need more campaigners like Ben Goldacre. Note that he hasn’t ‘set his sights’ on big pharma, and didn’t make his name trashing alternative meds. He simply hates untrustworthy peddlers of quakery, whoever they may be.
No, what we need is a government funded organisation that does it’s full testing of drugs before they’re released for use. Testing that will be released to public scrutiny. Also, a requirement that all testing that the pharmaceutical company has done be publicly available.
Transparency is how you get rid of these sorts of rort.
It’s just as well the entire population of NZ went to Blenheim today because Key says it’s “proof” we are royalists…
…yes turned the radio off at that point
WTF!?!? John Key fondling the hair of a little girl????
http://i.imgur.com/wT4XtDj.gif
Is there a legit explanation for this?
I saw this yesterday. It looks pretty weird. Imagine if it was a left wing politician how Slater would have handled it. The clip would have been subject of a whole series of posts.
Yes there is a legit explanation. John Key is a creepy weirdo.
reminds me of the video of GWBush giving Merkel an unasked for massage.
Ha yeah. Also I think it’s a glimpse of Key forgetting to behave like a person. The act slipped for a moment and he drifted into instinct.
There are a whole slew of photos all over FB and not one of them show the Royals.
The JK photo tour is steaming ahead… well it is steaming anyway
The dangerous consequences of debt-led growth
It’s about the UK but, IMO, NZ is in about the same position. Growth is coming from debt fueled house prices and our focus on farming keeps our economy unproductive. Unemployment is staying close to the 6% point and jobs are poorly paid, precarious and based upon ever increasing amounts of debt.
In other words, we have a massively unsustainable economy and the global economy is all based upon the same unsustainable practices.
The 17 contradictions of capitalism.
http://davidharvey.org/2014/04/video-17-contradictions-capitalism-lse-apr-2-2014/
Global solar dominance in sight as science trumps fossil fuels
So much for the RWNJs calls of renewable generation being too expensive.
Pity we didn’t have the R&D going and the factories being built so that we could have built up our economy and shifted it away from its fragility of reliance upon one sector.
An energy technology which requires the high energy extraction and complex processing of rare earth minerals in order to work?
PV may be much cheaper nowadays than 10 years ago, but there is also some evidence that part of the price drop has come from significant quality and service life reductions. Otherwise known as ‘cutting corners.’
Yes, and?
We have the power/energy available to do both of those things. Done properly we won’t even have to send anybody into a mine either.
Actually, the price drop seems to have come from massive investment in manufacturing them from the Chinese government. We could, and should, have done the same thing but we got bitten by the delusional free-market bug and so saw our development stutter.
Yes – the great irony is that that the CCCP run an economy that most successfully combines state and private sector activity ever seen.
And are busy eating everyone else’s lunch as a result.
The Chinese advances in solar panels are due largely to Australian government support of the mining industry, and lack of support for alternatives. Shi Zhengrong, an Australian citizen, had made some important advances but had problems obtaining research money and start up funding in Australia. The Australian agencies were too busy funding “clean coal” at the behest of the miners, and quantum computing, insisted on by the US defence establishment. Shi set up Suntech back in China, but later ran into difficulties. Given the opacity of Chinese justice, I have no idea what happened or what he did wrong, but China ended up leading the world in photovoltaics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Zhengrong
I can imagine the same sort of thing happening in Aotearoa if any researcher came up with a breakthrough in any area except for sucking milk out of cows and the life out of rivers even faster.
Srylands you were bleating on about airports up thread.
Public ownership of airports around the world is widespread. Even in the USA. LAX, JFK in New York and the like are all publicly owned, and even in that socialist Marxist hotbed of Houston, Texas, you will find the airports owned by the Houston City Council.
I think only the UK, Australia and New Zealand have large scale private ownership of major airports, and even then, here, only Auckland, Wellington, Paraparaumu and Ardmore are controlled by private interests, the rest are (the majority at least) owned by local and central government.