Well this government is not doing a thing about the climate emergencyt. In fact they are going in the opposite direction causing more climate problems.
Last Sunday it was a nice frosty slightly foggy day so I decided to pack my camera gear and go down to Whakamarua and take some shots of the dense plantation forests I have been promising myself for years.
The forest at Whakamaru used to be dense and I suspect this could have been one of the first area’s that got planted in the work schemes of the great depression (no not this one, the one in the 20’s caused by the same rightwing shit that is happening today).
Some of the pine plantations have GONE. We now have a giant dairy farm, no cows on it at the moment but all the infrastructure is in place like races and water troughs.
Bloody brilliant I thought all done for greed. Rip out pine forests that help to suck up the surplus CO 2, that can be harvested about every 20 years, and grown again and again creating less damage to the environment. Replaced by farting cows, polluting all the waterways, plus masses of fertilizer to make the grass grow just to produce MORE milk powder which the world has a glut of.
No thought for the future, with no concern of the consequences.
Well this government is not doing a thing about the climate emergencyt. In fact they are going in the opposite direction causing more climate problems.
Rip out pine forests that help to suck up the surplus CO 2, that can be harvested about every 20 years, and grown again and again creating less damage to the environment. Replaced by farting cows, polluting all the waterways, plus masses of fertilizer to make the grass grow just to produce MORE milk powder which the world has a glut of.
No thought for the future, with no concern of the consequences.
Pie in the sky stuff. If enough people wanted it it would be happening , how many greenies and lefties want to get up and want to toil away in cold ,wet , hot and dirty conditions a small holder has to to make it economic.
Add to that there are so many food safety rules that i couldn’t get a beast killed at at the local home killers to sell to make small scale profitable.
Small block farming in the west is most often the hobby of the wealthy, and the domain of the poor in most other places.
You would have to completely reset the rules around land ownership and food supply rules for it to happen.
Re the beast – can’t you sell it to your mates? That is how the meat eaters in our house get it.
Re no one will do it because they arent already. People used to and i think they will again, maybe through choice maybe necessity but it is coming, and many will take it up.
This idea is a practical way to build resilience and sustainability and option are limited by our timeframes.
Info on HOW to do it would be a good part of a CC post
“Homekill is the slaughter and butchering of your farmed animals for your own consumption or use. Homekill is not subject to the same rigorous regulatory controls that apply to meat purchased from a supermarket or butcher, so homekill is eaten at your own risk. It is illegal to trade or sell homekill meat.”
That came up after a quick google, might pay to keep your meat habit on the down low!
I’ve lifestyle blocked and even with both of us working off (we’re not big earners) progress was glacial.
Yep lucky whānau is wide including non blood family ☺
One of the hardest things I had to get my head around when I did the cows was that in my previous corporate life I could work harder,get the work done quicker, and create space and time for myself. On the farm the cows walk at the pace they walk, the tractor chugs along and there was nothing I could do to speed it up I just had to accept the bitter truth that I wasn’t a master of the universe and I had to fit in not the other way round. Many who move from there lives to the country will find this lesson tough I think.
On a farm or at sea your boss is the cows, plants or the sea.
Both predictable and have a rhythm.
Both don’t care about bullshit, egos or perceptions.
Massaging your bosses ego is a huge part of life in an office.
If you want to dance, sing, ponder the nature of the universe, they don’t care.
You may have your storms, or bulls getting on the race, but it is your competence and preparation that determines the outcome, not others, often false, perceptions.
“On the farm the cows walk at the pace they walk, the tractor chugs along and there was nothing I could do to speed it up I just had to accept the bitter truth that I wasn’t a master of the universe and I had to fit in not the other way round.”
On the button marty.
That’s the reality that global humanity has to come to terms with. We can only go as fast as the world around us, and if we try and go too fast it gets really hard and there are consequences.
On the flipside, I recall what some folks in one or two local eateries have tried to get away with (and been shut down for), and quite frankly I’m thankful that commercial producers are held to mandatory standards rather than being left to their own devices.
I’m not suggesting a free for all, but a could get a beast killed at a home killers and invite 100 people around to eat it but i couldn’t sell it tho those same 100 people. cutting out the middle men could increase profits to small blockers and make meat more affordable.
And quite possibly bump up the e. coli infection rates. If not you, then some lifestyler who has NFI what they’re doing – their boutique “Central Otago” wines are bad enough.
ISTR a friend bought half a cow butchered in little packages last year, arranged with the farmer and a local butcher. Seemed to be legal. Maybe you could do something like that?
To be legal the friend would of had to own the cow for a period of time pre slaughter, and i bet he got it at cut price $5 a kilo carcass weight at best excluding butcher fees.
Where as if home killers where certified so joe small block(not me any more,got sick of the wolf lurking outside the door) could sell easily to locals he could double the price he’d get off the works and it would still be cheaper for the local buyer.
And doing it legal means he could be on the right side of the tax man.
“You would have to completely reset the rules around land ownership and food supply rules for it to happen.”
Yep a bit like Key is trying to reset the rules around land ownership by selling off our land assets offshore and joining the TPPA so that Monsanto and GM can control our future. Don’t forget his idea about forcible farm sales to solve his residential housing crisis so that we can house more ‘farm workers’ and ‘restaurant managers’ who are on our skills shortages immigration criteria.
Apparently something like 50% of the NZ farmers are near bankrupt under Nationals policies….
Probably more like we need to rethink the way we deal with food safety. A lot of the current rules effectively entrench the largest producers, and make it impossible for small producers to retain control of their produce to the consumer.
In beekeeping the food safety has pushed the small producers underground, cash sales and koha, or right out of the game. Big outfits are doing fine, and there’s some big corporates emerging, but when did you last see local honey at the supermarket, or even specialty shop.
+1 Graeme, how about a ‘food miles’ tax and a AGR chemicals tax ….
Of course in NZ this would be sacrilege as we are constantly told how much we need to export food to survive economically.
No one seems to point out that it is sad when many of your own consumers can’t afford a block of cheese and it is more expensive locally than in other countries.
“Food Miles” was really a nationalistic non-tariff trade barrier, and a very simplistic one at that. The outcome was that our farmers saw that there was not really any point in arguing that our low input pastural systems were better, so we may as well go high input as well. And look where that led.
Now they are trying to unwind from high inputs and get production costs back down, which is really why we had the low input systems in the first place.
Another reasonable option – thanks bm. Hopefully they won’t use the super lettuce from the other video to feed the beef cells. Im so glad I don’t eat meat.
Not bad although I wonder about the cost and I could see it helping if it went really big – have to start building and diversifying now. More likely as systems break down simpler rather than more complex solutions will be the option.
+1 Marty mars – yep keep it simple. The idea of people having control over their own food and (shock horror) not needing infrastructure, fuel and power to run it, is obviously very disturbing to those that profit from the current system.
What has really affected farmers for example is being encouraged to go into marginal areas to farm and bring in supplementary feed (like palm oil). The borrow to do this, the stock prices fall or commodities fall, and then the bank owns them…
The joke of Fonterra which is supposed to be owned by the farmers is that their milk payout is dependant on percentage of milk solids indexed to global dairy prices, and the value added payment for consumer products division. Not the overall profit of Fonterra. So although the “company” executives were allowed a bonus, the farmers were given a low payout and many left in debt.
So true and so funny. Bill will be puzzled at the roars of laughter the next time he or Key repeats the mantra. Key said it numerous times this week in QT.
Pat. That is a fascinating splurge from John McTernan the adamant supporter of Blair over Iraq. To him black is white and truth is misreported. A truly weird chap! Worth the time to watch the Aljazeera clip.
fascinating is one word……delusional is another. If he was advising Blair its not so difficult to understand how it all came about, though it doesn’t explain why Blair listened to him.
To the left wingers unwilling to question the 9/11 story we have been told to believe….
Can you produce any evidence that a Boeing 767 equipped with regular engines can fly for almost 2 minutes beyond 800 km / hour in the lowers strata of the atmosphere without suffering any visible structural damage?
Apart from on the morning of 9/11, when this feat was achieved.
seems like all the rules of normal physics were turned on their heads on that day paul …what particularly astonished me was how a plane weighing 300 ton and made largely from aluminum could collide with a massive structure such one of the wtc towers weighing 300 000 tons and fly right inside it like it was made of cheese and ultimately reduce that structure to dust and a compararatively small pile of rubble ..it just doesnt make sense .I look upon 911 like its THE murder mystery of the century and there are just so many angles to it and so many things that dont add up .Im aware of course that any variation of perception from the official conspiracy theory is anathema to most people and the 911 truther label will be applied instantly if one ever questions that there might be more to this story than the 19 highjackers version .Funny that on sites such as this and many others bringing governments to task and keeping them honest and uncovering their bad deeds is daily fare, its beyond the pale to consider that the us gov and those in power arround it might have something to hide about 911 !!!Shock horror !!! the us gov would NEVER keep secrets from its people !!All those secret intelligence agencies and industrial military establishments are engaged in peace making and making the world a better place dont you know ??Theres no such thing as corruption or warmongering or greed or torture .Yeah right
Explain the collapse of WTC7 please.
Name calling is not an argument.
I am glad you are more of an expert than experienced engineers, physicists, pilots and engineers.
People who questioned the official lie about Iraq have been vindicated.
Those who question the lie about 9/11 will be vindicated too.
They have google on the internet now, Paul. You can look up the answer for yourself. You really should try and be a bit more sceptical about right wing conspiracies; they’re engineered to make even good folk like yourself look foolish.
Right wing? You’re kidding me. The only consistent voices questioning 9/11 on this site are cv and myself. Both of us are to the left of the Labour Party.
And who attacked me?
Someone with a non de plume of ‘red delusion’!
And who is challenged by questioning 9/11?
Bush, Cheney and the neocon gang.
Hardly left wingers!
It would appear this is a question of ( like Iraq) the establishment vs those challenging it. And, as usual, Labour Party stalwarts like trp are on the wrong side of history.
Is that your view about Iraq as well?
You are aware about what has happened to the world since 2001 as a direct consequence of 9/11.
I care about the erosion of civil liberties, the invasions of countries around the world.
Don’t you?
Who cares?
The people of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and Yemenwhose countries have been ripped apart as a direct consequence of the official lie about 9/11.
The people of America, Britain and New Zealand, whose civil rights have been curtailed as a direct consequence of the official lie about 9/11.
A lot of people do care.
A lot of people don’t believe the 9/11 lie.
“….Prime Minister John Key’s response was immediate – and betrayed where he stands on the issue of using a supply shock to make housing affordable.
It was “crazy”, would leave people in the market with huge losses and put pressure on developers.
So there we have it.
The leader of the Government is more worried about the short-term fates of leveraged-up speculators and developers than the long-term fate of Generation Rent.
…..”
This is what has often been written on the Standard.
The Metro has an interesting column. Hope it is true.
“Is the age of denial over?By Graham Adams.
“The latest uproar over homelessness, Auckland house prices and immigration marks the end of an era when voters looked the other way at the government’s behest.
… But in 21st century New Zealand so much is denied by the National-led government and so many problems swept under the carpet it has been almost impossible for many people to know what to believe, what is true or even what matters any more……” http://www.metromag.co.nz/current-affairs/is-the-age-of-denial-over/
And this Morning on Media Watch:
“Is a ‘post-truth’ era upon us?
The government has shrugged off events and evidence contradicting claims made by ministers recently, frustrating many journalists. Are we really in a “post-truth” period where the facts don’t matter any more? If so, do the media share the blame?…” http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201807260
@ Ianmac Yep, we are defiantly in a post-truth period and have been for a long time.
But the good news is, time is a good healer most of the time. Aka Iraq war, what most people always knew and the MSM and politicians always denied – The Iraq war was a sham and Tony Blair was guilty of vanity and relationships to the US president rather than his responsibility to the British people and the UN. They did NOT had to invade as a last resort and they manufactured the reasons for the illegal war.
Blair has gone, but here in NZ we still have our vain and reckless PM who although self proclaimed popularity (like Blair) and ability to control the media, will still not help him in history, which will judge him and his judas sidekicks very harshly as he continues to sell Kiwis out, for magic beans and our land and troops for his own ego to be ‘in the club’ and make money for himself and his financial cronies.
Even Rebstock has been denounced as the neoliberal zealot and crony that she is.
A lot of journo’s and public servants are going to regret what they did, under Key. And we all know he will throw everyone under the bus to save himself as the truth starts coming out.
Soon even Business and farmers will be praying for a change of government to stop the madness of Key.
“Never read the comments” is usually a good rule regarding online newspaper articles, but this is interesting.
The faux-left Blairite Guardian hauls up the corpse of Neil Kinnock and attaches some jumper leads to it to attack Jeremy Corbyn and the readers overwhelmingly against it:
If only Kinnock had been as passionate in his opposition to Thatcher as he is to Corbyn he might have won a Fu**ing election for Labour. Granted, he wouldn’t have been as rich as he is now.
“But one (question) I got today really did puzzle me. They said: are you coping with the pressure that’s on you?
I said: ‘There’s no pressure on me. None whatsoever. The real pressure, the real pressure – real pressure – is when you don’t have enough money to feed your kids, when you don’t have a roof over your head, when you are wondering if you are going to be cared for.”
For those of you who like to fit your tinfoil hats nice and snug in the morning, Donald Trump is seriously considering Lieutenant-General Michael Flynn for Vice Presidential candidate.
Flynn was Chief of the Defence Intelligence Agency under Barack Obama.
I personally don’t mind retired Generals in ceremonial positions, like our own Sir Gerry Mateparae. I also don’t mind them as advisors – Flynn is already a key foreign policy advisor to Trump. And need I say that two-term Bush senior came straight out of running the CIA itself.
There needs to be modicum of separation of military intelligence and political oversight. Bit creepy.
Michael Flynn would be an outstanding choice for VP. A realist on Iraq and Iran, and who understands that US military adventurism has been a disaster for both the American people and people around the world.
Flynn contrasts directly with the ‘bombs for humanitarian purposes’ neocons that Killary has gathered around.
BTW did you not approve of Colin Powell as Sec State?
Wondering how this is reflected in NZ. The diminishing importance of the print media, the growth of online news, and the strength of TV. From Politico.
“A separate Pew Research Center report this week exposed the shrinking relevance of print newspapers in stark relief.
Only 20 percent of Americans said they often get news via print newspapers — down from 27 percent just three years ago. That leaves print behind the other major sources of media: television (57 percent), online (38 percent) and radio (25 percent).
The age differences are stark: Only 5 percent of Americans aged 18-29 get their news often from newspapers. And even among older audiences, few read newspapers. Only 10 percent of Americans aged 30-49, and just 23 percent of those aged 50-64, regularly get their news from newspapers. Roughly half of seniors, 48 percent, read newspapers often.
Half of younger Americans — 50 percent of 18-29 year-olds, and 49 percent of those aged 30-49 — said they often get news from online sources. But just 29 percent of those 50-64, and 20 percent of seniors, get their news online.
TV is king — for now. Television news, like newspapers, skews older: A whopping 85 percent of seniors and 72 percent of those aged 50-64 often get their news on television, whether local news, network or cable. But just 27 percent of Americans 18-29, and 45 percent of those 30-49, get their news from TV — a trend that guarantees a volatile media landscape in the years to come.”
there’s one upside to that list…..the media at least appear aware what is occurring and where it could lead…..whether the general public understand that before even more disengage in disgust or it all unravels is yet to be seen.
yeah i like the fact that web based news is kinda mad chaos at the moment, the last thing i want is for the current anarchy to be walled off by big sites like Facebook controlling the message
The last NZ figures I heard were roughly one third print alone as predominant news source, and another third print + online predominant.
The E Tu submission on the print media merger has some good analysis – it’s on the union’s website (plus all submissions to the merger are available on ComCom’s website).
NZ is a bit different from the States, for a start there’s no local news broadcast network.
There’s also potential confusion about how news is produced these days. I daresay many readers think they have seen something ‘on the Standard’ or ‘on Facebook’ but they are clicking linked content.
“Protests have taken place in Warsaw with members of the public angry the Polish capital is hosting a NATO summit. A few hundred demonstrators gathered in the city to march towards the national stadium where the conference was taking place…
The three-day ‘Anti-NATO Summit’ has brought together activists from Poland, the Czech Republic, France, the US, Belgium, Britain and other countries under the motto: “No to War! No to NATO! No to militarism!”
Moved to ‘open Mike’.Too many comments drifting too far from the topic of the post thanks to this comment. – Bill
Women will vote for a women just because of it, so theres no guarantee this coup of the Labour party isnt over yet.
2008 general election:
Other interesting voting behaviour statistics can be found in the Levine and Roberts chapters. For example, in terms of gender, ‘In 2008 – as in all the previous MMP elections – Labour’s vote was disproportionately female…. National’s vote was perfectly balanced in 2008 – half the party’s voters were men; half were women’ (p.37). Meanwhile, ‘Very nearly four-fifths of ACT’s voters are men’ (p.38).
No women don’t vote for women just because of it, and surely you are not saying that no man ever voted for Thatcher and that not women would ever have considered voting for Corbyn.
I’m with Sabine. It IS a stupid sexist statement.
It’s bordering on offensive for Greg to suggest that women put voting for another woman ahead of consideration of the policies and issues.
My point is that we should work together to discourage voting on demographic basis. It undermines the democratic process.
Please think about the memes you promote
Consider that women just obtained the right to vote about a 100 years ago. Until then it was only men voting, often voting only for men!
In the last hundred years since women have been given the vote in NZ they had two Lady PM – one of each side of the isle. Which means that some of the women must have voted for men. Oh, yeah, cause women don’t run that often cause its to hard or something right?
Absolutely !
My message to ALL.
Dont vote for the person who will do the most for your demographic
Vote for the person you believe will work for the good of everyone.
“My point is that we should work together to discourage voting on demographic basis. It undermines the democratic process.”
You still haven’t made the case that large numbers of women vote for women just because (as opposed to say because they feel that a woman might represent them better or support issues they are concerned about).
Really – women will vote for a female just because she’s female? The quote you provide doesn’t suggest that at all.
Women are voting further left – which is maybe not so surprising because they do a substantial part of the unpaid work ( child raising!) and a selfish right wing society derides those who aren’t “me first”.
Citation needed. The bit you already quoted says that more women will vote for Labour under MMP than men. Labour being a political party not a woman.
And just to save us all a lot of time, I’ll note your previous multiple anti-feminist and misogynistic comments in ts as a frame of reference for this conversation. Which means you have a bit of an uphill battle to demonstrate that your comments in this thread are anything other than pushing your sexist agenda again.
Some women will give gender a place in their voting deliberations.
Some men will give gender a place in their voting deliberations.
If there are slightly more women than men of voting age, then it figures that a given party might have more votes coming from women than it does from men.
Even if there’s no difference between the numbers of voting men and women, there’s a fair chance that one party or another will better reflect womens’ general concerns within a given social context, or that one will better reflect men’s concerns within a given social context – particularly in a world shaped by neo-liberal dog shite.
That and a whole pile of other stuff (shite featuring large)- besides no-one with half a mind giving a second’s credence to Greg’s rantings.
In essence, Gregs comments are stinky arse and Xanthe’s seem to be a weird attempt to perform some kind of internet rub-a-dub with them.
And yes, maybe I should have been paying attention to that bit of the thread and shit shoveled it over to ‘open mike’.
“That and a whole pile of other stuff (shite featuring large)- besides no-one with half a mind giving a second’s credence to Greg’s rantings.”
Nevertheless, on a left wing blog, regular anti-feminist and misogynistic comments are a problem that need to be addressed. Greg has form, and he’s been warned before.
Besides, if stupid were a criteria for not responding to a comment, then half the content on ts wouldn’t exists 😉 (am thinking of a chunk of the RW comments for instance).
My post was based on evidence of voting behaviour, read the book.
Go and look at the Guardian link i gave, it claimed what i posted.
vote for me cause im a breeder.
Helen Clark feminism saw he introducing middle class welfare to the breeder.
Now this is the outcome of polices against improving the economy of workers.
“Go and look at the Guardian link i gave, it claimed what i posted.”
I read what you cut and pasted. It didn’t say what you claimed.
And it’s not from the Guardian.
And I have no idea what book you are talking about.
The onus is on you to provide back up. In this case if you want to be taken seriously, you need to cut and paste the parts that you are referring to (not expect people to read whole articles and mindread your intent) as well as linking directly.
You have now established yourself on ts as a misogynist and a class bigot. It’s up to you if you want to address that. I’ll just keep naming it every time I see it.
Bill …Its actually a very serious question about the basis of democracy!
Is democracy where everyone votes for what they believe is the best outcome for their group? (or selves)
Or
Is democracy where everyone votes for what they believe is the best outcome for everyone?
And which of these two outcomes does each of us encourage in our actions?
This question cuts to the heart of this discussion. Please dont belittle it with talk of “rubadub”
Is democracy where everyone votes for what they believe is the best outcome for their group? (or selves)
Or
Is democracy where everyone votes for what they believe is the best outcome for everyone?
I hate to break it to you, but lots of peopel vote from self-interest.
As for people who vote for women, there are many reasons and at least some of those easily fall into the ‘best outcome for everyone’ category.
Agreed lots of people do vote for what they think is self interest. Our task is to convince them that their interest ultimatly lies in participating in democracy for the good of all
Agreed also that people do support representitives of all demographic as best for all
Bill.. Not quite ready to let go of representitive democracy yet even tho it demonstraively isnt working “for the good of all” at this time, I feel that direct democracy at this time would be worse!
The reasoning behind that is because untill we deal with the organised misinformation, lies, misdirection, fearmongering, and quasiscience . That currently pretends as news media, democracy of any stripe wont work.
oh dear wouldn’t want to try that strategy with too many topics but I suppose it doesn’t matter if 1 man maybe changes their distorted and obnoxious thinking.
I’m seeing it a bit like how all those UK TV celebrities suddenly discovered they’d never liked Jimmy Savile after all…like Michael fucking Aspel claiming he’d never had anything to do with him and then, upon being shown a clip from “This is Your Life” (that he hosted) claiming he had no memory and certainly never thought JS was anything other than a very nasty and unlikable piece of work.
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Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
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Great stuff about the housing. What about the climate emergency?
Any feedback or reports on this?
Well this government is not doing a thing about the climate emergencyt. In fact they are going in the opposite direction causing more climate problems.
Last Sunday it was a nice frosty slightly foggy day so I decided to pack my camera gear and go down to Whakamarua and take some shots of the dense plantation forests I have been promising myself for years.
The forest at Whakamaru used to be dense and I suspect this could have been one of the first area’s that got planted in the work schemes of the great depression (no not this one, the one in the 20’s caused by the same rightwing shit that is happening today).
Some of the pine plantations have GONE. We now have a giant dairy farm, no cows on it at the moment but all the infrastructure is in place like races and water troughs.
Bloody brilliant I thought all done for greed. Rip out pine forests that help to suck up the surplus CO 2, that can be harvested about every 20 years, and grown again and again creating less damage to the environment. Replaced by farting cows, polluting all the waterways, plus masses of fertilizer to make the grass grow just to produce MORE milk powder which the world has a glut of.
No thought for the future, with no concern of the consequences.
Unfortunately, not just the nats.
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/press/dairy-expansion-action/
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/news/reforesting-dairy/
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/press/Greenpeace-halts-forest-conversion-to-dairy/
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/campaigns/climate-change/smart-farming/Deforestation-for-dairy/
I think today is about Housing Jenny, it’s Labour’s birthday conference, not their main one that they hold.
Andrew is accused of being “muddled” if he tries to talk about more than one thing in an interview, how to get it right?
One policy at a time…
Leftie, and WN. If that is the strategy, that is great.
And undoubtably the housing policy is good one.
I can’t wait for the release of the climate change policy.
My hope is that it is as good.
UN Report Says Small-Scale Organic Farming Only Way to Feed the World
http://www.technologywater.com/post/69995394390/un-report-says-small-scale-organic-farming-only
Pie in the sky stuff. If enough people wanted it it would be happening , how many greenies and lefties want to get up and want to toil away in cold ,wet , hot and dirty conditions a small holder has to to make it economic.
Add to that there are so many food safety rules that i couldn’t get a beast killed at at the local home killers to sell to make small scale profitable.
Small block farming in the west is most often the hobby of the wealthy, and the domain of the poor in most other places.
You would have to completely reset the rules around land ownership and food supply rules for it to happen.
Re the beast – can’t you sell it to your mates? That is how the meat eaters in our house get it.
Re no one will do it because they arent already. People used to and i think they will again, maybe through choice maybe necessity but it is coming, and many will take it up.
This idea is a practical way to build resilience and sustainability and option are limited by our timeframes.
Info on HOW to do it would be a good part of a CC post
“Homekill is the slaughter and butchering of your farmed animals for your own consumption or use. Homekill is not subject to the same rigorous regulatory controls that apply to meat purchased from a supermarket or butcher, so homekill is eaten at your own risk. It is illegal to trade or sell homekill meat.”
That came up after a quick google, might pay to keep your meat habit on the down low!
I’ve lifestyle blocked and even with both of us working off (we’re not big earners) progress was glacial.
Yep lucky whānau is wide including non blood family ☺
One of the hardest things I had to get my head around when I did the cows was that in my previous corporate life I could work harder,get the work done quicker, and create space and time for myself. On the farm the cows walk at the pace they walk, the tractor chugs along and there was nothing I could do to speed it up I just had to accept the bitter truth that I wasn’t a master of the universe and I had to fit in not the other way round. Many who move from there lives to the country will find this lesson tough I think.
I don’t know about that.
On a farm or at sea your boss is the cows, plants or the sea.
Both predictable and have a rhythm.
Both don’t care about bullshit, egos or perceptions.
Massaging your bosses ego is a huge part of life in an office.
If you want to dance, sing, ponder the nature of the universe, they don’t care.
You may have your storms, or bulls getting on the race, but it is your competence and preparation that determines the outcome, not others, often false, perceptions.
“On the farm the cows walk at the pace they walk, the tractor chugs along and there was nothing I could do to speed it up I just had to accept the bitter truth that I wasn’t a master of the universe and I had to fit in not the other way round.”
On the button marty.
That’s the reality that global humanity has to come to terms with. We can only go as fast as the world around us, and if we try and go too fast it gets really hard and there are consequences.
did this policy proceed, then theirs no inspectors
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/psa-protests-handover-inspections-meatworkers-130729
On the flipside, I recall what some folks in one or two local eateries have tried to get away with (and been shut down for), and quite frankly I’m thankful that commercial producers are held to mandatory standards rather than being left to their own devices.
I’m not suggesting a free for all, but a could get a beast killed at a home killers and invite 100 people around to eat it but i couldn’t sell it tho those same 100 people. cutting out the middle men could increase profits to small blockers and make meat more affordable.
And quite possibly bump up the e. coli infection rates. If not you, then some lifestyler who has NFI what they’re doing – their boutique “Central Otago” wines are bad enough.
ISTR a friend bought half a cow butchered in little packages last year, arranged with the farmer and a local butcher. Seemed to be legal. Maybe you could do something like that?
To be legal the friend would of had to own the cow for a period of time pre slaughter, and i bet he got it at cut price $5 a kilo carcass weight at best excluding butcher fees.
Where as if home killers where certified so joe small block(not me any more,got sick of the wolf lurking outside the door) could sell easily to locals he could double the price he’d get off the works and it would still be cheaper for the local buyer.
And doing it legal means he could be on the right side of the tax man.
I think it was a grand all up for half the animal in little packets. dunno the details.
“You would have to completely reset the rules around land ownership and food supply rules for it to happen.”
Yep a bit like Key is trying to reset the rules around land ownership by selling off our land assets offshore and joining the TPPA so that Monsanto and GM can control our future. Don’t forget his idea about forcible farm sales to solve his residential housing crisis so that we can house more ‘farm workers’ and ‘restaurant managers’ who are on our skills shortages immigration criteria.
Apparently something like 50% of the NZ farmers are near bankrupt under Nationals policies….
Probably more like we need to rethink the way we deal with food safety. A lot of the current rules effectively entrench the largest producers, and make it impossible for small producers to retain control of their produce to the consumer.
In beekeeping the food safety has pushed the small producers underground, cash sales and koha, or right out of the game. Big outfits are doing fine, and there’s some big corporates emerging, but when did you last see local honey at the supermarket, or even specialty shop.
+1 Graeme, how about a ‘food miles’ tax and a AGR chemicals tax ….
Of course in NZ this would be sacrilege as we are constantly told how much we need to export food to survive economically.
No one seems to point out that it is sad when many of your own consumers can’t afford a block of cheese and it is more expensive locally than in other countries.
“Food Miles” was really a nationalistic non-tariff trade barrier, and a very simplistic one at that. The outcome was that our farmers saw that there was not really any point in arguing that our low input pastural systems were better, so we may as well go high input as well. And look where that led.
Now they are trying to unwind from high inputs and get production costs back down, which is really why we had the low input systems in the first place.
That’s not the future, this is
Where are the COWs BM
Another reasonable option – thanks bm. Hopefully they won’t use the super lettuce from the other video to feed the beef cells. Im so glad I don’t eat meat.
Maybe we don’t even need to go to that much trouble…
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/7/12106708/impossible-foods-ezra-klein-show
Not bad although I wonder about the cost and I could see it helping if it went really big – have to start building and diversifying now. More likely as systems break down simpler rather than more complex solutions will be the option.
+1 Marty mars – yep keep it simple. The idea of people having control over their own food and (shock horror) not needing infrastructure, fuel and power to run it, is obviously very disturbing to those that profit from the current system.
What has really affected farmers for example is being encouraged to go into marginal areas to farm and bring in supplementary feed (like palm oil). The borrow to do this, the stock prices fall or commodities fall, and then the bank owns them…
The joke of Fonterra which is supposed to be owned by the farmers is that their milk payout is dependant on percentage of milk solids indexed to global dairy prices, and the value added payment for consumer products division. Not the overall profit of Fonterra. So although the “company” executives were allowed a bonus, the farmers were given a low payout and many left in debt.
The scary thing is that you don’t know anymore if this is a spoof or actually what Bill English really said!
https://boonman.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/bill-english-we-were-the-first/
Haha…It isn’t too far from what he actually said.
The lying scuzz ball.
So true and so funny. Bill will be puzzled at the roars of laughter the next time he or Key repeats the mantra. Key said it numerous times this week in QT.
Chilcott has shown the deception behind the Iraq war.
Now the left must challenge the original lie that made Iraq possible.
9/11.
large river in Africa…..
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/upfront/2016/07/tony-blair-punished-iraq-war-160708122829653.html
Pat. That is a fascinating splurge from John McTernan the adamant supporter of Blair over Iraq. To him black is white and truth is misreported. A truly weird chap! Worth the time to watch the Aljazeera clip.
fascinating is one word……delusional is another. If he was advising Blair its not so difficult to understand how it all came about, though it doesn’t explain why Blair listened to him.
Yes Pat. Maybe McTernan is carrying a load of guilt so like Blair he is in denial. The truth might be too tough for him to cope with.
To the left wingers unwilling to question the 9/11 story we have been told to believe….
Can you produce any evidence that a Boeing 767 equipped with regular engines can fly for almost 2 minutes beyond 800 km / hour in the lowers strata of the atmosphere without suffering any visible structural damage?
Apart from on the morning of 9/11, when this feat was achieved.
seems like all the rules of normal physics were turned on their heads on that day paul …what particularly astonished me was how a plane weighing 300 ton and made largely from aluminum could collide with a massive structure such one of the wtc towers weighing 300 000 tons and fly right inside it like it was made of cheese and ultimately reduce that structure to dust and a compararatively small pile of rubble ..it just doesnt make sense .I look upon 911 like its THE murder mystery of the century and there are just so many angles to it and so many things that dont add up .Im aware of course that any variation of perception from the official conspiracy theory is anathema to most people and the 911 truther label will be applied instantly if one ever questions that there might be more to this story than the 19 highjackers version .Funny that on sites such as this and many others bringing governments to task and keeping them honest and uncovering their bad deeds is daily fare, its beyond the pale to consider that the us gov and those in power arround it might have something to hide about 911 !!!Shock horror !!! the us gov would NEVER keep secrets from its people !!All those secret intelligence agencies and industrial military establishments are engaged in peace making and making the world a better place dont you know ??Theres no such thing as corruption or warmongering or greed or torture .Yeah right
Look out conspiracy nutter alert
Explain the collapse of WTC7 please.
Name calling is not an argument.
I am glad you are more of an expert than experienced engineers, physicists, pilots and engineers.
People who questioned the official lie about Iraq have been vindicated.
Those who question the lie about 9/11 will be vindicated too.
Please explain how WTC 7 collapsed.
They have google on the internet now, Paul. You can look up the answer for yourself. You really should try and be a bit more sceptical about right wing conspiracies; they’re engineered to make even good folk like yourself look foolish.
Right wing? You’re kidding me. The only consistent voices questioning 9/11 on this site are cv and myself. Both of us are to the left of the Labour Party.
And who attacked me?
Someone with a non de plume of ‘red delusion’!
And who is challenged by questioning 9/11?
Bush, Cheney and the neocon gang.
Hardly left wingers!
It would appear this is a question of ( like Iraq) the establishment vs those challenging it. And, as usual, Labour Party stalwarts like trp are on the wrong side of history.
How about this angle Paul – who gives a fuck. Really why should anyone care – what does it tell us about our world that we don’t already know?
“what does it tell us about our world that we don’t already know?”
marty, that is the single best insight I have ever seen into the pointlessness of the 9/11 truthers.
Is that your view about Iraq as well?
You are aware about what has happened to the world since 2001 as a direct consequence of 9/11.
I care about the erosion of civil liberties, the invasions of countries around the world.
Don’t you?
“I care about the erosion of civil liberties, the invasions of countries around the world.
Don’t you?”
Of course I care – what has that got to do with anything?
These things happened as a direct result of the official 9/11 story being believed.
Who cares?
The people of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and Yemenwhose countries have been ripped apart as a direct consequence of the official lie about 9/11.
The people of America, Britain and New Zealand, whose civil rights have been curtailed as a direct consequence of the official lie about 9/11.
A lot of people do care.
A lot of people don’t believe the 9/11 lie.
Architects and engineers.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_nyogTsrsgI
Look out cognitive dissonance alert !!
If only they had MMP!
Green party’s Jill Stein invites Bernie Sanders to take over ticket
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/08/jill-stein-bernie-sanders-green-party
Sorry to post so much, but this is something positive!
New Zealand: Maori pop song with serious message knocks Justin Timberlake off No 1
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/09/new-zealand-maori-pop-song-with-serious-message-knocks-justin-timberlake-off-no-1
Wonderful, just wonderful. Heart felt thanks for this link savenz. A really uplifted Sunday now. Wow.
Love it thanks savenz. Uplifting as!
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key – working for property developers and speculators?
No surprises there , in my opinion, given John Key is a former Wall Street banker and current shareholder in the Bank of America.
Bernard Hickey – calls ‘a spade a spade’ :
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11671668
“….Prime Minister John Key’s response was immediate – and betrayed where he stands on the issue of using a supply shock to make housing affordable.
It was “crazy”, would leave people in the market with huge losses and put pressure on developers.
So there we have it.
The leader of the Government is more worried about the short-term fates of leveraged-up speculators and developers than the long-term fate of Generation Rent.
…..”
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Key is not betraying anything at all. He’s being utterly loyal to his roots as a money changer.
This is what has often been written on the Standard.
The Metro has an interesting column. Hope it is true.
“Is the age of denial over?By Graham Adams.
“The latest uproar over homelessness, Auckland house prices and immigration marks the end of an era when voters looked the other way at the government’s behest.
… But in 21st century New Zealand so much is denied by the National-led government and so many problems swept under the carpet it has been almost impossible for many people to know what to believe, what is true or even what matters any more……”
http://www.metromag.co.nz/current-affairs/is-the-age-of-denial-over/
And this Morning on Media Watch:
“Is a ‘post-truth’ era upon us?
The government has shrugged off events and evidence contradicting claims made by ministers recently, frustrating many journalists. Are we really in a “post-truth” period where the facts don’t matter any more? If so, do the media share the blame?…”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201807260
@ Ianmac Yep, we are defiantly in a post-truth period and have been for a long time.
But the good news is, time is a good healer most of the time. Aka Iraq war, what most people always knew and the MSM and politicians always denied – The Iraq war was a sham and Tony Blair was guilty of vanity and relationships to the US president rather than his responsibility to the British people and the UN. They did NOT had to invade as a last resort and they manufactured the reasons for the illegal war.
Blair has gone, but here in NZ we still have our vain and reckless PM who although self proclaimed popularity (like Blair) and ability to control the media, will still not help him in history, which will judge him and his judas sidekicks very harshly as he continues to sell Kiwis out, for magic beans and our land and troops for his own ego to be ‘in the club’ and make money for himself and his financial cronies.
Even Rebstock has been denounced as the neoliberal zealot and crony that she is.
A lot of journo’s and public servants are going to regret what they did, under Key. And we all know he will throw everyone under the bus to save himself as the truth starts coming out.
Soon even Business and farmers will be praying for a change of government to stop the madness of Key.
A lot of journo’s and public servants are going to regret what they did, under Key
Oh it will be a lot like the years after Muldoon; you could find no bastard who ever voted for him!
Another ghastly report from ‘The True Neverending Horror Story of teamkey’s Nightmare for so many in New Zealand’:
https://dimpost.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/the-sheer-awful-dumbness-of-what-they-have-wrought/
Unbelievable callousness from low life people…..the national party apparently!
All ‘teamkey patched ‘ members if I remember correctly.
Can’t help but feel angered and emotional about this disgraceful housing situation.
someone who hits the nail on the head……unlike some other high profile individual
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201807688/darrin-hodgetts-welfare-with-a-big-stick
“Never read the comments” is usually a good rule regarding online newspaper articles, but this is interesting.
The faux-left Blairite Guardian hauls up the corpse of Neil Kinnock and attaches some jumper leads to it to attack Jeremy Corbyn and the readers overwhelmingly against it:
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2016/jul/08/neil-kinnock-interview-brexit-corbyn-labour
Priceless comment here:
If only Kinnock had been as passionate in his opposition to Thatcher as he is to Corbyn he might have won a Fu**ing election for Labour. Granted, he wouldn’t have been as rich as he is now.
Some of us still have memories eh!
aye to that!!!
“But one (question) I got today really did puzzle me. They said: are you coping with the pressure that’s on you?
I said: ‘There’s no pressure on me. None whatsoever. The real pressure, the real pressure – real pressure – is when you don’t have enough money to feed your kids, when you don’t have a roof over your head, when you are wondering if you are going to be cared for.”
Jeremy Corbyn
For those of you who like to fit your tinfoil hats nice and snug in the morning, Donald Trump is seriously considering Lieutenant-General Michael Flynn for Vice Presidential candidate.
Flynn was Chief of the Defence Intelligence Agency under Barack Obama.
I personally don’t mind retired Generals in ceremonial positions, like our own Sir Gerry Mateparae. I also don’t mind them as advisors – Flynn is already a key foreign policy advisor to Trump. And need I say that two-term Bush senior came straight out of running the CIA itself.
There needs to be modicum of separation of military intelligence and political oversight. Bit creepy.
Things improved in America under this General,
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Dwight-Eisenhower-so-highly-rated-as-a-president
If Dwight can do it, why cant Key for New Zealand,
=another term to go.
Michael Flynn would be an outstanding choice for VP. A realist on Iraq and Iran, and who understands that US military adventurism has been a disaster for both the American people and people around the world.
Flynn contrasts directly with the ‘bombs for humanitarian purposes’ neocons that Killary has gathered around.
BTW did you not approve of Colin Powell as Sec State?
+100 CV
I don’t know Flynn’s views yet – I don’t want the military that close to executive authority on principle.
You didn’t approve of Winston Churchill then? Dwight Eisenhower? JFK? Bush snr? Teddy Roosevelt?
Flynn was head of the DIA. He wasn’t just a grunt general.
Wondering how this is reflected in NZ. The diminishing importance of the print media, the growth of online news, and the strength of TV. From Politico.
“A separate Pew Research Center report this week exposed the shrinking relevance of print newspapers in stark relief.
Only 20 percent of Americans said they often get news via print newspapers — down from 27 percent just three years ago. That leaves print behind the other major sources of media: television (57 percent), online (38 percent) and radio (25 percent).
The age differences are stark: Only 5 percent of Americans aged 18-29 get their news often from newspapers. And even among older audiences, few read newspapers. Only 10 percent of Americans aged 30-49, and just 23 percent of those aged 50-64, regularly get their news from newspapers. Roughly half of seniors, 48 percent, read newspapers often.
Half of younger Americans — 50 percent of 18-29 year-olds, and 49 percent of those aged 30-49 — said they often get news from online sources. But just 29 percent of those 50-64, and 20 percent of seniors, get their news online.
TV is king — for now. Television news, like newspapers, skews older: A whopping 85 percent of seniors and 72 percent of those aged 50-64 often get their news on television, whether local news, network or cable. But just 27 percent of Americans 18-29, and 45 percent of those 30-49, get their news from TV — a trend that guarantees a volatile media landscape in the years to come.”
The upside is that the corporate MSM narratives are getting less traction
The downside is that media is dumber than ever before, and fragmented into isolated bubbles of ideology.
At least Mediawatch has diagnosed the problem
https://twitter.com/MediawatchNZ/status/751895116957097985
Here’s another “reporter” being useless at her job and sucking up to Key:
https://twitter.com/DawgBelly/status/751872795538132992
And an excellent (factual) rant by Bomber
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/07/10/the-nz-medias-farcical-new-critique-of-the-opposition-why-you-should-show-it-contempt/
there’s one upside to that list…..the media at least appear aware what is occurring and where it could lead…..whether the general public understand that before even more disengage in disgust or it all unravels is yet to be seen.
yeah i like the fact that web based news is kinda mad chaos at the moment, the last thing i want is for the current anarchy to be walled off by big sites like Facebook controlling the message
The last NZ figures I heard were roughly one third print alone as predominant news source, and another third print + online predominant.
The E Tu submission on the print media merger has some good analysis – it’s on the union’s website (plus all submissions to the merger are available on ComCom’s website).
NZ is a bit different from the States, for a start there’s no local news broadcast network.
There’s also potential confusion about how news is produced these days. I daresay many readers think they have seen something ‘on the Standard’ or ‘on Facebook’ but they are clicking linked content.
Used to be…
‘Anti-NATO crowds march through Warsaw amid alliance summit (VIDEO)’
https://www.rt.com/news/350331-nato-protest-poland-greece/
“Protests have taken place in Warsaw with members of the public angry the Polish capital is hosting a NATO summit. A few hundred demonstrators gathered in the city to march towards the national stadium where the conference was taking place…
The three-day ‘Anti-NATO Summit’ has brought together activists from Poland, the Czech Republic, France, the US, Belgium, Britain and other countries under the motto: “No to War! No to NATO! No to militarism!”
Moved to ‘open Mike’.Too many comments drifting too far from the topic of the post thanks to this comment. – Bill
Women will vote for a women just because of it, so theres no guarantee this coup of the Labour party isnt over yet.
2008 general election:
Other interesting voting behaviour statistics can be found in the Levine and Roberts chapters. For example, in terms of gender, ‘In 2008 – as in all the previous MMP elections – Labour’s vote was disproportionately female…. National’s vote was perfectly balanced in 2008 – half the party’s voters were men; half were women’ (p.37). Meanwhile, ‘Very nearly four-fifths of ACT’s voters are men’ (p.38).
http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2010/02/key-to-victory-levine-and-roberts-new-book.html
It seems likely that we are going to get another woman British Prime Minister. Lucky Brits.
Should be a huge improvement on David Cameron. Right.
@Greg
Women will vote for a women just because of it,
Men will vote for a man just because of it……:)
No women don’t vote for women just because of it, and surely you are not saying that no man ever voted for Thatcher and that not women would ever have considered voting for Corbyn.
Stupid, sexist statement.
Sorry sabine it is real and it does happen.
Stupid and sexist….. yes but it does happen and it is significant in the results
I’m with Sabine. It IS a stupid sexist statement.
It’s bordering on offensive for Greg to suggest that women put voting for another woman ahead of consideration of the policies and issues.
But it still happens
Yes and some men vote for men just because they are men. What’s your point?
My point is that we should work together to discourage voting on demographic basis. It undermines the democratic process.
Please think about the memes you promote
so are you saying this to the men aswell?
Consider that women just obtained the right to vote about a 100 years ago. Until then it was only men voting, often voting only for men!
In the last hundred years since women have been given the vote in NZ they had two Lady PM – one of each side of the isle. Which means that some of the women must have voted for men. Oh, yeah, cause women don’t run that often cause its to hard or something right?
Absolutely !
My message to ALL.
Dont vote for the person who will do the most for your demographic
Vote for the person you believe will work for the good of everyone.
“My point is that we should work together to discourage voting on demographic basis. It undermines the democratic process.”
You still haven’t made the case that large numbers of women vote for women just because (as opposed to say because they feel that a woman might represent them better or support issues they are concerned about).
“Please think about the memes you promote”
What memes?
and then theirs population stats,
I’m not being sexist for pointing it out.
gee, its like shooting the messenger bring bad news,
I voted for Helen, and I’m a swinging voter.
I provided the data link to 2008 election showing where women voted,
its not a sexist statement, Helen was a popular polling PM leader,
But lost the election in a landslide.
Do you want a link to population stats, hint men are in the minority.
Please explain what you meant by “just because of it”
He means that women have a hive mind and are too stupid to see that voting for a woman is a bad thing.
“Women will vote for a women just because of it”
Wondering how he is going to explain how “its not a sexist statement”
I’m guessing he’s frantically searching for (yet more) links to try and justify what he wrote.
that must be the reason John Key is loosing.
Really – women will vote for a female just because she’s female? The quote you provide doesn’t suggest that at all.
Women are voting further left – which is maybe not so surprising because they do a substantial part of the unpaid work ( child raising!) and a selfish right wing society derides those who aren’t “me first”.
read the book,
Helen Clark 100% female vote, what isnt it saying,
“Women will vote for a women just because of it…”
Citation needed. The bit you already quoted says that more women will vote for Labour under MMP than men. Labour being a political party not a woman.
And just to save us all a lot of time, I’ll note your previous multiple anti-feminist and misogynistic comments in ts as a frame of reference for this conversation. Which means you have a bit of an uphill battle to demonstrate that your comments in this thread are anything other than pushing your sexist agenda again.
Gosh that small truth really got under your skin !
Do you feel some responsibility?
Feel free to present some actual evidence to support your argument. Or try addressing the actual points I made.
You guys want to draw a line under this?
Some women will give gender a place in their voting deliberations.
Some men will give gender a place in their voting deliberations.
If there are slightly more women than men of voting age, then it figures that a given party might have more votes coming from women than it does from men.
Even if there’s no difference between the numbers of voting men and women, there’s a fair chance that one party or another will better reflect womens’ general concerns within a given social context, or that one will better reflect men’s concerns within a given social context – particularly in a world shaped by neo-liberal dog shite.
That and a whole pile of other stuff (shite featuring large)- besides no-one with half a mind giving a second’s credence to Greg’s rantings.
In essence, Gregs comments are stinky arse and Xanthe’s seem to be a weird attempt to perform some kind of internet rub-a-dub with them.
And yes, maybe I should have been paying attention to that bit of the thread and shit shoveled it over to ‘open mike’.
“That and a whole pile of other stuff (shite featuring large)- besides no-one with half a mind giving a second’s credence to Greg’s rantings.”
Nevertheless, on a left wing blog, regular anti-feminist and misogynistic comments are a problem that need to be addressed. Greg has form, and he’s been warned before.
Besides, if stupid were a criteria for not responding to a comment, then half the content on ts wouldn’t exists 😉 (am thinking of a chunk of the RW comments for instance).
Shifting to OM might be a good idea.
My post was based on evidence of voting behaviour, read the book.
Go and look at the Guardian link i gave, it claimed what i posted.
vote for me cause im a breeder.
Helen Clark feminism saw he introducing middle class welfare to the breeder.
Now this is the outcome of polices against improving the economy of workers.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/81788403/the-struggle-to-balance-budgets-for-todays-working-poor
Will Labour make a difference, I doubt it, unless they improve workers bottom line, because it all just make workers poorer
“Go and look at the Guardian link i gave, it claimed what i posted.”
I read what you cut and pasted. It didn’t say what you claimed.
And it’s not from the Guardian.
And I have no idea what book you are talking about.
The onus is on you to provide back up. In this case if you want to be taken seriously, you need to cut and paste the parts that you are referring to (not expect people to read whole articles and mindread your intent) as well as linking directly.
You have now established yourself on ts as a misogynist and a class bigot. It’s up to you if you want to address that. I’ll just keep naming it every time I see it.
Bill …Its actually a very serious question about the basis of democracy!
Is democracy where everyone votes for what they believe is the best outcome for their group? (or selves)
Or
Is democracy where everyone votes for what they believe is the best outcome for everyone?
And which of these two outcomes does each of us encourage in our actions?
This question cuts to the heart of this discussion. Please dont belittle it with talk of “rubadub”
Voting for representatives is no basis for democracy.
Is democracy where everyone votes for what they believe is the best outcome for their group? (or selves)
Or
Is democracy where everyone votes for what they believe is the best outcome for everyone?
I hate to break it to you, but lots of peopel vote from self-interest.
As for people who vote for women, there are many reasons and at least some of those easily fall into the ‘best outcome for everyone’ category.
Agreed lots of people do vote for what they think is self interest. Our task is to convince them that their interest ultimatly lies in participating in democracy for the good of all
Agreed also that people do support representitives of all demographic as best for all
Bill.. Not quite ready to let go of representitive democracy yet even tho it demonstraively isnt working “for the good of all” at this time, I feel that direct democracy at this time would be worse!
The reasoning behind that is because untill we deal with the organised misinformation, lies, misdirection, fearmongering, and quasiscience . That currently pretends as news media, democracy of any stripe wont work.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/09/andrea-leadsom-remarks-childless-theresa-may-not-naive
if i said something like Leadsom did, and its her voter market,
what would Weka say,
heh, i vote out of self interest now,
Why not just delete it – what purpose does it hold, what does it offer for the left – nothing imo. Leaving it up just encourages more of it.
Maybe. Or maybe someone who was quietly thinking such thoughts has read the responses and altered their view.
oh dear wouldn’t want to try that strategy with too many topics but I suppose it doesn’t matter if 1 man maybe changes their distorted and obnoxious thinking.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11671955
Blairo might end up in court yet, his own dp has changed sides!
He’s just covering his arse.
I’m seeing it a bit like how all those UK TV celebrities suddenly discovered they’d never liked Jimmy Savile after all…like Michael fucking Aspel claiming he’d never had anything to do with him and then, upon being shown a clip from “This is Your Life” (that he hosted) claiming he had no memory and certainly never thought JS was anything other than a very nasty and unlikable piece of work.
This is seriously good…Tell Grandma and Grandpops about the ‘naughty drugs’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201807210/science-commentator-malvindar-singh-baines
“Neuroscientist, Dr Malvindar Singh-Bains, discusses new research about psychoactive drugs and the applications they might have for neurological diseases.”
Thought it was weird the youth turnout was supposedly very low in the EU referendum, and it turns out that was wrong – it was actually nearly twice as high as the first figure:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/09/young-people-referendum-turnout-brexit-twice-as-high