How the UK press is misinforming the public about Britain’s role in the world
by MARK CURTIS, 9 March 2020
Britain’s national press consistently portrays Britain as a supporter of noble objectives such as human rights and democracy. The extraordinary extent to which the public is being misinformed about the UK’s foreign and military policies is revealed in new statistical research by Declassified UK.
The research suggests that the public is being bombarded by views supporting the priorities of policy-makers. It also finds that there is only a very small space in the British press for critical, independent analysis and key facts about UK foreign policy.
The research, which analyses the UK national print media and does not include broadcasters such as the BBC, suggests that there is little divergence between the liberal and conservative press.
This is the first of a two-part analysis of UK national press coverage of British foreign policy.
Disappearing foreign policies
Key British foreign policies, particularly in the Middle East, are being routinely under- or un-reported in the UK national press.
The Egyptian regime under Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in a 2013 coup, which killed hundreds of people and has become increasingly repressive, jailing tens of thousands of opponents as well as journalists. During this period, the UK government has deepened military, trade and investment with the regime, in effect acting as an apologist for it.
Yet a search for press articles in the two years ending in December 2019 finds none covering the full range of UK cooperation with the Sisi regime. A handful of articles (less than a dozen, mainly in the Independent and Guardian) occasionally mention an aspect of UK support for the regime. But this number is very low given 1,018 articles mentioning Sisi during the same period, Egypt’s long historical relationship to the UK and the fact that the UK is the largest investor in Egypt.
The lack of press reporting is especially striking given that the government has itself been consistently announcing its support, especially in military relations, for the Sisi regime.
so the west is complicit in supporting both arab despotic regimes and israeli apartheid regimes.
love them or hate them, you've got to respect the governments of the wests ability to be all things to all people while supporting all sides in all arguments
Well, if the economy does all go to hell in a handbasket, I want to see our Minister of Finance avoid the cumbersome corporate-welfare routes suggested by National or continued by NZF's PGF.
It's time for giving money to the workers.
Cut out the businesses: support the people direct, as recommended buy the EPI.
The Dow's drop of 2,000 points was a decline of 7.79%; the S&P 500 fell 7.60% and the Nasdaq dropped by 7.29%.
Warning that the economic hit from the outbreak "will come fast" when it arrives and "hit lower-wage workers first and hardest," Josh Biven of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said it will be crucial for the government to introduce a swift and targeted response.
Biven called on the government to make a plan for "rapid direct payments to individuals" just as was done by President George W. Bush in 2008—when one-time checks of $600 for individual tax-filers and $1,200 for joint tax filers were issued—in order to stem the bleeding from the financial crash that year.
"We could use this model but do even better this time," said Biven, suggesting $1,000 for each individual and $500 per child.
Retro-fit the entire housing stock so homes are fit for habitation in the coming decades of climatic changes brought about by global warming.
That would be quite a stimulus package, aye?
Not going to happen. What was that measure Cullen put in place that would allow personal bank accounts to be dipped into by banks in a bind? I can't remember the details. You?
"New Zealand stands apart form the rest of the world in having no formal or permanent deposit protection, this means Kiwis with bank deposits have no protection of a financial institution from risks beyond their control.
New Zealand: A New Zealand Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme was introduced in October 2008, but terminated in December 2011. Unlike other countries, it was an open-ended scheme with investors in nine covered finance companies receiving their money back. The largest payout was in relation to South Canterbury Finance, where depositors received $1.6 billion from the Crown.
Ffs it is not NZ1 PGF, this government implemented the strategy. Same as under the 1980’s reforms was under a labour govt. Allow labour to also take ownership of what is implemented when they are in power.
Great to see our reserve bank has managed our economy that we are almost at a 0% interest rate, with no room to move, all because our economy for some time not been performing and needed propping up by our central bank. With vested interests evident the GFC was never addressed just had a few bandaids applied.
joined at the hip–.'On Monday both ANZ and National called on the Government to cancel a minimum wage hike from $17.70 to $18.90 per hour slated for April, pointing out that under-stress businesses are already under the pump.'(Stuff)
Why should a foreign bank interfere in NZ politics?
We do know they have a record of fraud,money laundering and misfeasance,can blame junior staff for non compliance with regulations ,do not welcome the new reserve capital ratios and that a favourite to become the new executive is former N.Z National P.M-John Key.
Capitalists don't like Capitalism. Not really news.
The capitalist notion that "businesses that can't, or won't, pay the cost of the resources they use, should be allowed to fail, and make room for more efficient users of resources" very quickly turns into looking for a handout from the "socialists" when things turn to custard.
Rather ironic. Especially as the businesses looking for handouts, are the ones that have most successfully privatised their profits, and socialised their losses, in recent times. Paying minimal wages, and getting tax payers, and rate payers, to subsidise their business costs.
I heard the roaring inferno this morning. The conflagration, the bonfire of all the regulations being turned to cinders.
"The reality is though," to quote the esteemed leader of the Opposition, is the Australian bushfire image he's trying to create is a mirage, election crap.
This is quite unlikely to occur this time around. Not to put too fine a point on it, from an entirely disinterested economic perspective, the COVID-19 might even prove mildly beneficial in the long term by disproportionately culling elderly dependents.
I know most people won't care about people with PTSD not being accommodated in social housing.
Words cannot express the terror of being constantly triggered due to living in a home that is unsuitable. We call ourselves civilised while pissing on the most vulnerable and ensuring they know their needs are resented and considered a great inconvenience.
FYI anyone with PTSD (and with medical documentation stating they need low noise, privacy, etc) is simply told "we don't have properties like that" and it's been that way for decades. Disabled put last as usual.
The shit of it all is that the same people in the welfare system will point out that these people, without trigger free/low trigger housing haven’t worked, or don’t want to work. Well, yes because they are in a constant state of panic or drugged into zombie status so they can handle their fucking housing.
In the meantime Kainga Ora puts up another video letting everyone know the story of the priviliged state house tenants who didn't have PTSD and could use the available housing stock had their lives improved…eg, "living here allowed me to…..". Others are supported in buying the home they are in.
I happen to believe that counseling in particular is the most dangerous alternative therapy we have in NZ. Why?
– there is no definition of what counseling is/is not. This means any number of random or in some cases made up techniques can be incorporated without any oversight or valid research into what is being offered (think of gay conversion therapy as one example)
– hard to believe but there is no regulation of who can call themselves a counselor (sexual predators, conmen, pretty much anyone you can imagine). And yes, I am certain that this point is correct – people are so naive they can't understand that there are no barriers to practice.
– public has a false sense of security around getting help, fueled in no small part by the constant reinforcing blurb at the bottom of any mildly concerning news article
In summary, counseling presents itself more like an alternative therapy than anything scientific and the lack of skeptics looking critiquing it is concerning.
The most dangerous place in the world is your mind, so who you permit in there matters. As individuals we should do everything you can to avoid our broken and overburdened mental health system. I disagree strongly with the current strategy which is to encourage even more people into this system, many of whom may not even need treatment.
And I’m waffling on again. I don’t know what kind of therapy Prince Harry had, but the fact that it was 7 years screems exploitation and fostered dependency. In my experience this seems more like counseling, less like other treatment modalities that have science behind them, and set time frames
A – I didn't realise there was no basic licensing that would sort out the types of people you mention. I suppose it is a follow-up on that airy-fairy idea of 'treatment in the community', people rallying round helping each other etc. As you say the mind is us. I get confused as to why young people are so willing to take drugs, white powders that could be mostly Ajax cleaner. One way to get the synapses fizzing and fusing.
Proper counselors have a post grad qualification (diploma or masters level) in counseling & membership of a professional body with code of ethics etc (NZAC.org.nz). So called or self proclaimed counselors lacking both of these are more likely snake oil types
Are there safeguards against the snake oil merchants? Something that would limit what a helper/listening ear does, and come down hard on someone getting into real supposed therapy?
There are good counselors out there without postgrad qualifications, some don't even have a professional body. Some of the counselors who are bad for clients have postgrad degrees and a professional body. Being a member of NZAC doesn't mean you are good at what you do or that you don't cause harm.
I know people who've had bad experiences & that colours my opinion. I wouldn't go to anyone unqualified or without membership of a professional body. You are correct that isn't an absolute guarantee.
Simon's front bench must be shaking their collective heads in disbelief and his ineptitude.
My guess is they've decided to take the loss of the election in 2020 on the chin, and dump him shortly after. It's now too late to make a change at the top without having it look like panic. I know Labour managed it in 2017, but there is no Jacinda in the National Party.
What makes you think the nats front bench are any better, if anyone heard Mark Mitchel on the radio with Hoskings this morning you would shake your head and say, ineptitude
I hope that our suits in parliament have enough brains and heart and above all guts to put something like this forward should shit hit the fan and the thus distriubted shit cover all of us.
Mortgage payments will be suspended across Italy as part of measures to soften the economic blow of coronavirus on households, a minister has said.
Laura Castelli, Italy's deputy economy minister, told Radio Anch'io: "Yes, that will be the case, for individuals and households."
Italy's banking lobby group ABI said lenders would offer debt holidays to small firms and families.
Suspending debt payments is not unheard of in Italy.
Some small businesses and families were given time off during the financial crisis before having to repay.
I would even go so far that maybe the government could put out a rule that forbids landlords from evicting people who may not be able to make rent payments (commercial/residential) should the country need to pull a shut down like we have now seen in China and Italy. That may actually help people to get over such a period and then be able to go back to their businesses and start working again.
If we can bail out Insurance Companies, the Farming Industry, etc then surely our critters in parliament can come up with something like that to help the people who actually finance government. Joe and Jane Six Pack aka 'The Tax Payer".
wonder how many shell companies the orange shitgibbon has and how much he stole from the treasury – not only by way of tax cuts for the rich only – but also by ways of 'building a shitty wall that falls over in the wind', 'sanitizer', 'facemask' and of course 'oil' and 'hotel' and 'tourism' and 'golfing' and "hospitality' and and and.
Here is hoping that our overlords have more sense then that. But then, i wonder if forsight is something that is done in our government. Or if they just go lalalalala and wait for the worst to happen before they start doing something.
According to the Associated Press, Donald Trump, the current President of the United States who is supposed to be managing the Coronavirus epidemic and how the testing is conducted, has listed investments in V.F. Corp (VFC) and Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation (TMO), both of which moved jobs out of the U.S. in high profile outsourcing deals. There is reason to believe that Donald Trump stands to profit from medical testing of coronavirus that will now take place in the United States.
If this scenario plays out, then we will see the longest drought period in the north on record ending with a big bang towards the end of next week and into the weekend:
And the middle of the country too. Because it has not rained much here either. And the waikato is burned crisp – all these brown hills of New Zealand. Many of whom never grassed over since the drought from the last year.
Yep. And hopefully not to much soil erosion. Crop you cna replant, structures you can rebuild, but rebuilding washed down soil is another thing altogether.
This is the second soap-box Stuff's given this guy to spout his smug, self-aggrandising crap about how renting is a mug's game and the real money's in ownership. (The last one was about how not all landlords are miserly vultures out to ruin the lives of their tenants.) Thanks for that, Captain Obvious. What's next week's article? Graeme Fowler tells us trees are made of wood and water is wet?
While much of what Graeme writes in this article will be nothing new to anyone over 30, it does have a legitimate audience of younger people who may not have yet thought these things through. Certainly I don't read anything that rates as "Fucker of the Year" in it.
Very few people go from leaving their parents home direct to owning their own; almost everyone by choice rents for a period of their lives.
It takes time to get a deposit together and have enough income to qualify for a mortgage.
Until you are in a stable relationship most people don't want to be tied down to a single home; they want to travel, move to different places, and want the flexibility of renting.
Or you are going through a period of transition in your life, new job in a new town, break up of a relationship, etc that means renting is the best choice for a period. Sometimes misfortune means that a dream crumbles, life takes a turn never planned for and owning your own home now lies out reach.
This doesn't gainsay any of the obvious problems NZ has with it's entire housing market, the lack of social housing, the lack of a mature rental market, and the unaffordability of new housing, combined with an effectively insatiable demand are creating many, many problems.
Renting is a legitimate market … yet it obviously brings out that envious, resentful aspect of many people in the way landlords get routinely demonised; especially on the left. Everyone denies it, but it's plain as the sullen words on the page, and it's weirdly unhelpful because once trust is lost in the landlord/tenant relationship it always ends unhappily.
I agree totally. When we started 20 years ago we had several tenants who made the transition to ownership, and we celebrated with them. That isn't happening now, but it's a problem with the whole housing sector, not just landlords.
Almost everyone needs to rent at some point in their lives, so providing them is scarcely a 'fucker of the year' offence.
What he is saying that renting long term is not a smart plan; which when you think about it's not obviously in his business' best interests. He's giving advice in the best interests of his tenants …
Which of the "Seven Deadly Sins" one trots out in a slanging match can be informative. Wonder if, on the way to 70 rentals, the individual concerned ever paused to ask themself: "Is 10/20/30/40/50/60 enough?"
Why on earth would anyone envy the greedy – they're 'ugly', and a bit sad.
So nice to be off the treadmill – now, if I can just find my Lotto ticket…
I have more respect for Graeme's hard work and risk tolerance than hoping on a Lotto win TBH. Yes he is an outlier, most landlords stop at one or two units because the work and risk involved is more than they can accept. A smaller number like us stop at less than 10. Many who try to go past this go broke pushing the limits.
So what exactly is the threshold that defines 'greed'? And why do so many on the left despise competency and success?
Can’r speak for the “so many”, but I don’t depise.
For myself, greed is "more than I need".
For others, greed might be "more than I want", in which case the 'greed threshold' becomes much more elastic. I feel genuinely ‘blessed’ to have steered clear of that particular trap.
@Chris
There are many ways to measure success, but in his chosen domain Graeme has done spectacularly well. It took a lot of hard work, discipline, and competency. You're welcome to say this isn't for you, but turning it into an ethical issue strikes me as really odd.
Consider your favourite big hit musicians … those outliers who make tens millions as distinct from the vast majority of equally talented musos who can't feed their families. We never think of these people as 'ugly' and 'greedy' … because we're primed to like and admire them and we see them as remote from us.
But culturally there is a widespread resentment of landlords for a complex of interesting reasons, some psychological and some because of class resentments festering back generations.
I'm happy about socially useful "competency and success" being rewarded. So long as the "successful" person pays enough tax, to pay for the public expenditures that helped his/her "success".
About, finding more "successful" ways of ripping everyone else off, by investing in making a disfunctional housing market, more dysfunctional, not so happy.
ways of ripping everyone else off, by investing in making a disfunctional housing market,
Again there are all the usual pathology's on display. Providing a home via the rental market is not 'ripping anyone off'. If you cannot or do not want to qualify for a mortgage, nor for social housing, then you need a landlord to provide one for you.
The deal is simple, you the tenant get a home on terms that suit your immediate needs, and the landlord invests in their long-term prosperity.
And interestingly if you talk to actual landlords, most of us hate high asset prices. For us the ideal unit to purchase is something in the last 20% of it's economic life, that no-one else really wants, and we can buy cheaply then add some value to bring it up to an acceptable standard. For most buy and hold rental investors, high asset prices are a bit of a PITA and we tend to close our cheque books.
Yes I know that paying $400 pw rent looks like we're making out like bandits. But the reality is that after fixed costs like rates, insurance and management typically only 50% is left. Then we have any mortgage interest and tax to pay. Many tenants would be quite surprised if they saw their landlord's annual accounts.
For us the ideal unit to purchase is something in the last 20% of it's economic life, that no-one else really wants, and we can buy cheaply then add some value
What utter bullshit. These are the same houses that first home buyers want because they can add value in the same way.
I did say 'ideally'. I agree that a dysfunctional housing sector has created a big shortage of houses across the whole market, and that this now means landlord investors and first home buyers compete with each other all too often.
But the idea that we drive prices up is not always correct; typically investors make their best margin when they buy. They work strictly on the numbers and look for properties they can get as cheaply as possible, while home buyers will get emotionally invested and will often pay over the odds.
As I said, everyone denies being envious always. Yet for something that apparently never happens, it's kind of odd that we have such a well known word for it.
What do you want me to say to that? “Yeah, sorry, you've caught me out. I lied. I'm envious"? I’m in fact anything but envious. There’d be some situations I’d find repulsive, but I’m likely to be saddened more than anything. I’m certainly not envious.
I'm not expecting you to say anything you don't want to.
I'm not here to score points, I much prefer to converge a conversation toward at least a common understanding of each other's perspective, rather than diverge into mutually antagonistic dugouts.
Yes there is such a thing as greed, but it's doesn't necessarily follow that every competent, successful person must be greedy. Outcomes are by nature never evenly distributed. You might want to look up Price's Law. It's a bit brutal, but it's a fact of life.
"Everyone", "always", "never" – what do they say about hyperbole?
Nevertheless, given a choice between being labelled 'greedy' or 'envious', more NZers would opt for 'greedy' – why, it's almost a virtue. God save us from those virtuous ‘greed-is-good‘ righties.
“If we allow our appetites to become so disordered that we ignore the welfare of others, our spiritual life dies. We are no longer able to be the channels of God's love and so are cut off from our true life, that which endures for eternity. That does not mean that we are not part of God's plan. We do fit into his providence, but in the same sense that a greedy pig is part of the monks' plan. The pig is eaten and so contributes to the life of others. The greedy and sinful person contributes to the life of others by, for example, enabling them to develop the virtue of patience and the gift of forgiveness.”
If we allow our appetites to become so disordered that we ignore the welfare of others
So when Graeme Fowler advises people renting to that it's not in their long-term interests exactly how is this 'ignoring the welfare of others'?
He provides rental homes that almost everyone will need at some stage in their life. Not everyone qualifies or wants a mortgage. Exactly how is this 'ignoring the welfare of others'?
There always was an idea that somehow poverty is a virtue. Well it isn't, it's the source of many evils and far too often used as an excuse to justify failure.
There is some truth in that. Mainly because I don't set up a false dichotomy between left and right wing thinking, and I reject the false binaries of typical tribal politics, us good, them bad.
So yes you are going to sniff me and wrinkle your nose because I'm saying things that challenge a lot of left wing assumptions. Put me on a right wing site and I'll get the same response for exactly complementary reasons; they'll sniff the lefty in me.
After decades of sterile, largely futile lefty rage, I realised the only people who get anything of lasting value done are those who can create a conversation and sustain the creative tension between left and right. Pete George in his own way has long been attempting something similar. (Whether we’re any good at it or not is another matter.)
Yet oddly enough last time PG and I conversed we had such a robust exchange I realised I'm not all that right wing at all.
@RL – Clearly we need a lot more virtuous lefties like your mate Graeme and your good self. Would either of you be prepared to share your 'rental property largess' in order to make that happen? Might even go some way to addressing the evils of poverty!
Maybe sharing is an antidote for both greed and envy. Now, what to do about the other five. You know I'm just kidding, right? Why should/would any hard-working individual share more than a small fraction of their wealth – it’s their wealth, for God’s sake.
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of the linguistically insecure."
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of the incompetent."
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of someone with nothing useful to say."
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of a failed argument."
Nobody's saying poverty is a virtue. To the contrary, the left is about, or should be about, eradicating poverty. That's what the right responds with when accused of denying the poor access to resources.
(And saying you're wrong about what I think is far from diverging into an antagonistic dugout.)
Well I'd guess that GF pays more tax than all us combined, but I don't think that is what you mean by 'sharing'; that is a concept that only has meaning when it's undertaken voluntarily. (By contrast taxation is an essential social obligation that no-one would call sharing.)
Many left wingers struggle with the idea that outcomes are inherently unequal, and for a very small minority, spectacularly so. This has always been the case throughout all human history, long before capitalism or bastard landlords, it's a tendency that is baked into all social systems that pass over a minimal threshold of prosperity. Success creates opportunity, which combined with good luck and competency, will always produce more success … in whatever field of endeavour. This of course drives inequality, which left unmoderated drives to gross extremes of wealth, and triggers it's own cascade of known problems.
Trying to drive equal outcomes by preventing success is the terrible mistake the Soviets and Maoist's made. We do not need to repeat this failed experiment.
Therefore the left might want to look at the problem of inequality through fresh thinking. Andrew Yang promoted his own version and there are a lot of people doing this in quiet corners of the internet working through what is a much more difficult and intractable problem than is commonly assumed.
In some senses you may well be in the right domain, that relative poverty (inequality in this context) is not so much an economic problem, but a spiritual or psychological one.
@RL: Not fussed about absolute equality of outcomes; would settle for all NZers having at least enough resources, and there is 'enough' in NZ for that to happen – the barriers lie elsewhere.
For those that find the goal of 'enough for all' unpalatable/unrealistic, there's always the issues of defining and distributing 'enough' to fall back on.
Not envy, just push-back against the class distinction amateur landlordism encourages.
Encouraging everyone to own two or more houses is incomparable with encouraging everyone owning a house. They are contrary positions and it is impossible to achieve both without there being a lot of empty houses.
Fowler and his followers suggest that winners and losers just are and always will be and that is a very right wing view of the world – just ask Hosking.
Socially conscious lefties, as far as I know, hope for a situation where everyone has enough rather than an increasingly divided world of first and second class citizens. Haven’t we supposed to have left all that behind?
It just not believable to talk about socially conscious people (in your words, middle class liberals) wanting working class people to remain poor. The idea of one person owning 70 houses, or nine, or two even, if followed to its conclusion ensures a lot of people will definitely remain poor. A lot of them working class families.
Encouraging everyone to own two or more houses is incomparable with encouraging everyone owning a house.
GF with 70 units is an extremely outlier, the vast majority of landlords are ordinary middle class people who work for a living and over time have one or two units they rent. These days often through professional property managers.
Not everyone will ever want to do this; being a landlord is absolutely more risk and work than most people want to take on. Most people don't want to make the necessary 20 -30 year sacrifice to make it work.
Moreover there are only about 250,00 landlords in NZ, and the point many people miss is that the individuals involved actually move in and out of the industry all the time. We are not a fixed group.
wanting working class people to remain poor.
Yet this is precisely where GF started and now everyone slams him for becoming wealthy.
I don’t slam him for becoming wealthy, professional landlords are required as you say. But Fowler getting on the soapbox, having a column as is so important for self important realty people these days, and encouraging amateur landlordism isn’t really helpful for a fair society, in my opinion.
His advice is for everyone to buy, fine if that were possible, but also for young people to buy a rental first then another home to live in later but importantly, "don't sell the rental".
This is amateur landlordism and the point I'm trying to make is that not everyone shares in the benefits of the logical outcome. Those being secure communities and confident kids.
This doesn't sit well with true lefties who consider the wider picture.
I can see the apparent objection you have; in this I think GF is projecting his own experience without properly qualifying it.
Let's put it this way, if I outlined an investment opportunity that demanded 20 – 30 years of work and sacrifice, with no certainty of success … just how many people do you think would leap at it?
I'd accept that GF might have been more accurate if he'd explicitly made this point; that being a landlord just isn't for everyone.
Because I can assure you that after 20 years at this it's pushed my risk tolerance to the edge more than a few times.
There's a few of these opinion columns cropping up on the enlarged property platforms offered by the main news organisations.
Fowler for Homed on Stuff and Ashley Church for One Roof in the Herald.
Church is increasingly political, particularly over the last few months.
This is against the new background of real estate agents promoting themselves as rock stars. They have glossy billboards all over town often with short and sage life advice one-liners for the public.
Fowler doesn't even seem that bright. I don't mean that as an insult – just that the article posted by Chris is pretty basic and offered nothing useful to renters or investors really.
So it doesn't matter what the endeavour is, it's okay if it involves sacrifice and hard work? Loan sharks? Clothing trucks? All okay if they work hard and make sacrifices? The consequences of that endeavour don't matter?
I can understand why you ask this question, and I really don't think it has any easy or glib answers.
The obvious answer is just repeating what I think we both agree on, that landlords do provide a legitimate and necessary service. Almost everyone at some stage in their life will need a rental home for a period.
At another level landlords are doing something akin to what banks do, we make our capital available to others to use for their immediate benefit, the tenant gets a home now, the landlord gets a long term investment. This is a win for both parties.
But I suspect neither answer is going to satisfy you. TBH I'm a bit distracted at the moment and don't feel I can do this justice. The whole notion of 'the greater good' feels like a conceptual can of worms.
At another level landlords are doing something akin to what banks do, we make our capital available to others to use for their immediate benefit, the tenant gets a home now, the landlord gets a long term investment. This is a win for both parties.
Fowler disagrees. He believes this is only a win for the landlord and he advises the public as such.
I'd say 'the greater good' is a cornerstone of socially conscious thought. It's distressing to read it labeled as a conceptual can of worms.
He believes this is only a win for the landlord and he advises the public as such.
Again you clearly misconstrue what he is saying. Given that virtually everyone wants or needs to rent a home at some point in their lives, this is clearly an immediate win for the tenant compared to sleeping under a bridge.
But in the long run you need to be thinking about how to move on, we all agree that renting is not an ideal long term solution. But too many people won't take responsibility for this and procrastinate … they don't act.
It's distressing to read it labeled as a conceptual can of worms.
Oh it's one of those nice ideas that looks superficially simple and attractive enough on the outside, but the devil is in the details. Like marxism.
You seem to be saying that everyone needs to rent at some stage and that it's a temporary thing until the person’s ready to buy a house and for those who stay renting it's their fault because they fail to act.
The difficulty with that is an unacceptably high number of people are never ready because they've been completely locked out of the market. And a significant part of the problem are people like Graeme Fowler.
Had no idea who Peterson is, but according to his Wikipedia page he was/is something of a climate change skeptic – sad about his medical conditions, but best given a wide berth, IMHO.
"But in the long run you need to be thinking about how to move on, we all agree that renting is not an ideal long term solution. But too many people won't take responsibility for this and procrastinate … they don't act." – RL
Thing is, renting is an ideal very long term 'solution' for many, just not so many in New Zealand. Might that have something to do with a greater percentage of NZ landlords playing 'fast and loose', or is it mainly because NZ renters make comparatively 'poor' tenants?
In fact, all renters by choice unanimously agreed that tenants rights in New Zealand needed drastic improvement, especially when compared to countries like Germany or Sweden where long-term renting remains a common practice.
“I’m appalled by the lack of rights tenants have in New Zealand and how poorly you’re treated by agencies. It truly is the only negative thing about this country,” says Laura, a Wellington-based renter originally from Ireland. “We’ve never missed a week’s rent in over three years, always have perfect inspections, and we’re still treated like scum by the agency we rent from.”
“I do think that New Zealand would greatly benefit from some of the rental protections put in place elsewhere in the world, such as rent control and decade-long leases, to cultivate a sense of security for those people who prefer not to buy. But let’s face it, I’ll have to move back to Europe if I want this type of thing in the near future.”
While some improvements to renter’s rights have been made in the past year, such as banning rental bidding and limiting rent increases to once a year, rental insecurity remains a constant source of stress for many tenants. Research from Australia suggests subpar tenancy law reflects broader cultural values that associate the meaning and making of home with homeownership. As a result, many tenants struggle to feel at home in their rental property which subsequently impacts psychological health and overall well-being.
And if either of you bothered to read the thread properly you would see at least two places where I clearly acknowledge exactly these problems … that we have a housing sector beset by high demand, low supply and high prices. This impacts everyone, from social housing tenants, everyone in the rental sector and home owners.
There has been a toxic brew of reasons why this dysfunction has come about … but fixating on landlords as the sole cause of these problems reveals more about underlying resentment and bitterness than anything that will actually help.
And yes much of our older housing stock falls well short of modern expectations. But they were all new homes decades ago and generations of families did happily live in them without it necessarily affecting their mental health. That they were built 50 or more years ago poorly oriented to the sun and prone to dampness is not actually the fault of their current owner.
Getting them to perform to modern expectations is like pretending you can make a Hillman Avenger run just like a modern 2020 model car. Sure you can mitigate the worst of it, but a full noise reno in many cases makes little economic sense. Spending $50k to bring an 80 yr old house up to spec when you're barely netting $5kpa profit out it simply isn't feasible.
It would make much more sense to demolish and build new, but building costs in this country are off the scale. Trust me I've run the numbers on this many times, but they never quite add up.
There are some great builders out there, but in general I’m eternally disappointed by the NZ building industry; they’ve long under-performed. Again just one of many factors in a toxic brew.
"…but fixating on landlords as the sole cause of these problems reveals more about underlying resentment and bitterness than anything that will actually help." – RL
I asked your opinion about the cause(s) of "these problems", and suggested two possibilities – that you chose to characterise that question as "fixating on landlords as the sole cause of these problems" is a classic misrepresentation, and reveals an unnecessarily defensive position, IMHO. I certainly have no reason to be resentful or bitter towards landlords – I've been a tenant in four properties (in NZ, England (x2), and NZ), the last thirty years ago, and the landlords were straight-up, as was I. I'll never be a renter again (touch wood), and I have no desire or need to be a landlord (thank God).
I do feel that bad landlords should not be landlords, and that bad tenants should not be tenants. But I also believe that bad landlords typically have more 'options' than bad tenants – just the way it is.
Apologies, my response was to both of you and I didn't accurately answer your question
Might that have something to do with a greater percentage of NZ landlords playing 'fast and loose', or is it mainly because NZ renters make comparatively 'poor' tenants?
There is certainly be an element of both. I can't speak to how many bad landlords there are but I can tell you that of the 50 odd tenants we've had in 20 years, 5 of them have caused problems. (Although I have to say that since we moved to 100% professional management that number has dropped to zero, tenants don't tend to play games with managers who will evict them without compunction.) But just for the sake of argument I'm willing to accept that bad landlords and bad tenants exist in similar numbers and total impact.
It is however definitely true is that the vast majority of both landlords and tenants are perfectly good people and discharge their side of the contract reliably. In all the rancour it's easy to overlook this. When we were still in NZ we often got to know our tenants, and generally enjoyed interacting with them. Sadly a small minority saw this as a weakness and wound up exploiting it, and we made our share of naive mistakes as well.
But these are problems that would exist regardless of any other consideration, so my specific answer to your question is 'neither'. Yes bad landlords and bad tenants do exist, but this isn't especially germane to the much wider problems our whole housing sector is chronically groaning under.
RL – So you acknowledge the problem but reject the suggestion that the likes of Graeme Fowler (70 houses, major income generating operation) are a significant cause of that problem?
Or is that you acknowledge the problem and accept that the likes of Graeme Fowler (70 houses, major income generating operation) are a significant cause of the problem?
Surely good/bad tenants doesn't matter. It's an occupational hazard any landlord must accept. The consequences might be worse for those with one or two extra houses, but bad tenants come with the territory.
Latest from Peak. Starts with pointing out it is too late for Europe and the US where the “don’t test, don’t tell” policy is about to backfire in a phenomenal manner.
Goes through what the gold standard of handling the pandemic should be (most western countries are screwed…thanks CDC and WHO!)
Makes suggestions around what govt's could do to improve the situation for people including
– removing restrictions of dispensing medication so people can get a few months at a time
– ensuring quality information and understanding panicking people is not the same as preparing them. We need to be prepared and the best way to do that is gradual, additional purchases over multiple shopping trips.
– testing asap, don't make it hard
– mortgage relief so the choice isn't go to work and spread the illness or lose the house
Too right A I have heard about these people self-isolating. That solves the government's problem, but what about their living costs, their possible need to have food delivered to the house if they are on their own, or the family is in lock down with them?
Who ties the threads together in the back of the rousing announcements so that there is a robust safety net – ensuring what people need to survive is available. Government needs to be there to assist those who need care out of the institutions. Is there a help-line and a set of officials for sourcing and delivering different needs and a weekly budget that meets the costs?
Some good points there. I would add raising benefits.
I don't think it's too late for the US and Europe, it's a matter of degrees and how people cope. Unless we are going to close our borders, what happens there affects us here.
Charles Kindleberger, one of the intellectual architects of the Marshall Plan, argued that the disastrous decade of the 1930s was a result of the United States' failure to provide global public goods after it had replaced Britain as the leading power. Today, as China’s power grows, will it make the same mistake?
As US President-elect Donald Trump prepares his administration’s policy toward China, he should be wary of two major traps that history has set for him. The “Thucydides Trap,” cited by Chinese President Xi Jinping, refers to the warning by the ancient Greek historian that cataclysmic war can erupt if an established power (like the United States) becomes too fearful of a rising power (like China). But Trump also has to worry about the “Kindleberger Trap”: a China that seems too weak rather than too strong.
Charles Kindleberger, an intellectual architect of the Marshall Plan who later taught at MIT, argued that the disastrous decade of the 1930s was caused when the US replaced Britain as the largest global power but failed to take on Britain’s role in providing global public goods. The result was the collapse of the global system into depression, genocide, and world war. Today, as China’s power grows, will it help provide global public goods?
Health minister and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries says she has been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Ms Dorries, the first MP to test positive, said she had taken all the advised precautions after finding out, and had been self-isolating at home.
[..]
It is not known how many meetings Ms Dorries had attended at Westminster or in her constituency in recent days.
The Department of Health said she first showed symptoms on Thursday – the same day she attended a Downing Street event hosted by the prime minister – and had been self-isolating since Friday.
No 10 did not comment on whether Boris Johnson had undergone testing, or whether he will now be tested.
All health ministers, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock, are to undergo testing for the virus, along with other officials who have come into contact with Ms Dorries.
Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi have been called for Biden.
Michigan exit polls have Biden 52% Sanders 43%
Missouri exit polls Biden 55% Sanders 39%
Mississippi exit polls have Biden 76% Sanders 20%
Awfully hard to see a path to the nomination for Sanders now, barring Biden suffering a major medical event. Or even what value might be achieved by Sanders staying in the campaign much longer.
Time for his supporters to get behind Biden and throw out Trump, Pence, DeVos, Carson and all those other slime bags who want a theocratic free market state.
It's not like there is much of a choice. Believe me, I am aware of Uncle Joe's record. Jacobinmag puts up an article every other day, but we have to work with what we have to work with.
We may even get surprise. LBJ was pretty conservative, but his record, apart from that little war in SE Asia, is the most left wing one since FDR.
I do not know much about the US politics, but who is more likely to be able to beat Trump in the next election? Biden or Sanders? Surely the answer to that question is who the Democrats want to win this thing.
Hi everyone, sorry for not posting here on a more regular basis as I’ve been bumping my fat fingers over on Twitter and I’ve been back down the tunnel as well.
Anyway I thought I might share this with everyone, as a lefty I’m a bit weird as I’m pro defence but also pro green with social issues as well.
I’ve been following this new SOPV capability announcement by NZG since the 2019 WP on the Defence since my two cousins (one as a cook in the RNZN & the other as a part of research team doing his PhD on something to do Ocean thingy’s) caught up in a near capsizing of one the RNZN OPV’s a while back on a run down Sth. The current OPV’s a barely fit for duty down Sth or operate in the Southern Ocean all yr round, the current OPV’s are 100t over weight, too short in length and in the beam (width), the lack of a combat mission system to talk/ data link to the new P8’s, Seasprite Helo’s note these are not normally carried down Sth to the weight issues of the OPV’s and UAV’s when they eventually enter service, and the unsafe means of launching & recovering boarding parties with their RIB.
This PPP show https://pacificexpo.com.au/conferences/PDFs/New-Zealand-Southern-Ocean-Patrol-Vessel-Pacific-2019-Presentation.pdfthe… capabilities that the RNZN & NZG are after this ship isn’t going to come cheap, but when one considers the operation environment and the effects of CC in the Southern Ocean with no or little hope of help if something goes wrong is going to be money well spent. Especially when the Antarctic Treaty is up for renewal in the early 2040’s and the ever increasing threat from over fishing from poachers by nation states or via 3rd parties operating in what is now called the “Grey Zone” also known as “Hybrid Warfare” which the current International Base Rule System is push to it limits of normality at we are so use too in its current form.
The sad fact is ExKF that when it comes to major purchases such as replacement ships aircraft, etc. cost is the determining factor – inter-operability is second, and actual ability to do the job it is supposed to do is third. I remember when I first joined the RNZN in 1974 – it was the time of commissioning the 4 Brooks Marine PVs which were to replace the long serving ex WW2 inshore ML's. What a disaster they were. Designed for the Atlantic and expected to operate in the Pacific with a much greater wave length. We fought fro years to get the politicians to understand they need to give those manning the vessels extra hard living allowances because they were so sick making and everyone was injury prone from being flung about in rough weather. I remember the day while I was then on the Naval Staff in Def HQ in Stout St. The 4 Patrol Craft happened to be in port at Wellington for some celebration or other and the Admiral decided it would be a good idea to invite the cabinet on board for a trip around the harbour 😉 Oh and by the way it might be an idea to have a little excursion out beyond the heads. Fortunately there was bit of a swell in the Strait. We had our submission for extra allowances for PC crew prepared and it was agreed by Cabinet pretty much the next day.
As your foaf's dad arrived from India 14 days ago, the chances of him having COVID -19 is very slight. India reported it's first case of the virus on 30 Jan. – after he had travelled from India – and that was a case of the virus being imported by an arrival from China so it is unlikely that foaf's dad had picked it up from them.
India reported the first confirmed case of the coronavirus infection on 30 January 2020 in the state of Kerala. The affected had a travel history from Wuhan, China.
There are now a number of further cases being reported and more detail is on the link above. Obviously it depends on the area from which your foaf's dad arrived as to whether there is a likelihood of infection or not – but again all of these seem to have arisen after he has left the country.
BTW the two young women on the start of the video sang a beautiful wiaata for Jeanette at the gathering on Sunday. Two amazing young people. The spirit of Jeanette lives on.
I smell malice in them thar allegations against Goff in particular. Sour grapes and jealousy are a common cause of questionable accusations.
Dalziel seems to have been the victim of incorrect advice but it does not exonerate her from some of the blame. She, or someone on her behalf, should have checked the donations in question with the Electoral Commission.
Yep. He's the one that put her crook although that has yet to be confirmed. She assumed he was correct. Bad mistake. As any good woman would tell you. 😉
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
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Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
How the UK press is misinforming the public about Britain’s role in the world
by MARK CURTIS, 9 March 2020
Britain’s national press consistently portrays Britain as a supporter of noble objectives such as human rights and democracy. The extraordinary extent to which the public is being misinformed about the UK’s foreign and military policies is revealed in new statistical research by Declassified UK.
The research suggests that the public is being bombarded by views supporting the priorities of policy-makers. It also finds that there is only a very small space in the British press for critical, independent analysis and key facts about UK foreign policy.
The research, which analyses the UK national print media and does not include broadcasters such as the BBC, suggests that there is little divergence between the liberal and conservative press.
This is the first of a two-part analysis of UK national press coverage of British foreign policy.
Disappearing foreign policies
Key British foreign policies, particularly in the Middle East, are being routinely under- or un-reported in the UK national press.
The Egyptian regime under Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in a 2013 coup, which killed hundreds of people and has become increasingly repressive, jailing tens of thousands of opponents as well as journalists. During this period, the UK government has deepened military, trade and investment with the regime, in effect acting as an apologist for it.
Yet a search for press articles in the two years ending in December 2019 finds none covering the full range of UK cooperation with the Sisi regime. A handful of articles (less than a dozen, mainly in the Independent and Guardian) occasionally mention an aspect of UK support for the regime. But this number is very low given 1,018 articles mentioning Sisi during the same period, Egypt’s long historical relationship to the UK and the fact that the UK is the largest investor in Egypt.
The lack of press reporting is especially striking given that the government has itself been consistently announcing its support, especially in military relations, for the Sisi regime.
Read more….
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-03-09-how-the-uk-press-is-misinforming-the-public-about-britains-role-in-the-world-part-one/
so the west is complicit in supporting both arab despotic regimes and israeli apartheid regimes.
love them or hate them, you've got to respect the governments of the wests ability to be all things to all people while supporting all sides in all arguments
Well, if the economy does all go to hell in a handbasket, I want to see our Minister of Finance avoid the cumbersome corporate-welfare routes suggested by National or continued by NZF's PGF.
It's time for giving money to the workers.
Cut out the businesses: support the people direct, as recommended buy the EPI.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2003/S00170/as-dow-jones-drops-2000-points-progressives-say-response-should-focus-on-working-people.htm
The Dow's drop of 2,000 points was a decline of 7.79%; the S&P 500 fell 7.60% and the Nasdaq dropped by 7.29%.
Warning that the economic hit from the outbreak "will come fast" when it arrives and "hit lower-wage workers first and hardest," Josh Biven of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said it will be crucial for the government to introduce a swift and targeted response.
Biven called on the government to make a plan for "rapid direct payments to individuals" just as was done by President George W. Bush in 2008—when one-time checks of $600 for individual tax-filers and $1,200 for joint tax filers were issued—in order to stem the bleeding from the financial crash that year.
"We could use this model but do even better this time," said Biven, suggesting $1,000 for each individual and $500 per child.
Retro-fit the entire housing stock so homes are fit for habitation in the coming decades of climatic changes brought about by global warming.
That would be quite a stimulus package, aye?
Not going to happen. What was that measure Cullen put in place that would allow personal bank accounts to be dipped into by banks in a bind? I can't remember the details. You?
From these links, not a lot of protection for those with deposits. Unless there is something that google has missed !!!
://www.interest.co.nz/banking/100359/government-signs-principle-decision-introduce-deposit-protection-regime-under-phase-2
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/392841/govt-s-bank-deposit-protection-doesn-t-go-far-enough-national
"New Zealand stands apart form the rest of the world in having no formal or permanent deposit protection, this means Kiwis with bank deposits have no protection of a financial institution from risks beyond their control.
New Zealand: A New Zealand Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme was introduced in October 2008, but terminated in December 2011. Unlike other countries, it was an open-ended scheme with investors in nine covered finance companies receiving their money back. The largest payout was in relation to South Canterbury Finance, where depositors received $1.6 billion from the Crown.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=12014245
Open bank resolution.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/9988749/OBR-policy-a-scary-bank-secret
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/regulation-and-supervision/banks/open-bank-resolution
Ffs it is not NZ1 PGF, this government implemented the strategy. Same as under the 1980’s reforms was under a labour govt. Allow labour to also take ownership of what is implemented when they are in power.
Great to see our reserve bank has managed our economy that we are almost at a 0% interest rate, with no room to move, all because our economy for some time not been performing and needed propping up by our central bank. With vested interests evident the GFC was never addressed just had a few bandaids applied.
joined at the hip–.'On Monday both ANZ and National called on the Government to cancel a minimum wage hike from $17.70 to $18.90 per hour slated for April, pointing out that under-stress businesses are already under the pump.'(Stuff)
Why should a foreign bank interfere in NZ politics?
We do know they have a record of fraud,money laundering and misfeasance,can blame junior staff for non compliance with regulations ,do not welcome the new reserve capital ratios and that a favourite to become the new executive is former N.Z National P.M-John Key.
With the banks concern for businesses, seems like the time is right for a Tobin tax or FTT.
Also if business relies on minimum wage to function then perhaps a few of them should disappear.
Capitalists don't like Capitalism. Not really news.
The capitalist notion that "businesses that can't, or won't, pay the cost of the resources they use, should be allowed to fail, and make room for more efficient users of resources" very quickly turns into looking for a handout from the "socialists" when things turn to custard.
Rather ironic. Especially as the businesses looking for handouts, are the ones that have most successfully privatised their profits, and socialised their losses, in recent times. Paying minimal wages, and getting tax payers, and rate payers, to subsidise their business costs.
I heard the roaring inferno this morning. The conflagration, the bonfire of all the regulations being turned to cinders.
"The reality is though," to quote the esteemed leader of the Opposition, is the Australian bushfire image he's trying to create is a mirage, election crap.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018737887/simon-bridges-promising-bonfire-of-regulations
It's like someone who can't talk or use sign language trying to sell ice cubes in Greenland.
When Susie Ferguson asked him how high a single storey house was, that you could fall off without scaffolding, Bridges simply ignored her.
The guy is a complete and utter fuckwit.
Come on covid-19, ninth circle these vile pricks.
https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1237341888421736450
https://twitter.com/MoniqueOMadan/status/1237330503637884933
This fucker, too,
This is quite unlikely to occur this time around. Not to put too fine a point on it, from an entirely disinterested economic perspective, the COVID-19 might even prove mildly beneficial in the long term by disproportionately culling elderly dependents.
http://archive.li/eiB5s#selection-2695.0-2695.252
Occasionally, the mask slips and you see the true nature of things.
1. If you're not generating revenue, go away and die.
2. If you're poor, go away and die.
3. If you're old and dependent upon the state, go away and die.
4. If you're not old, but still dependent upon the state, go away and die.
5. If you're disabled, sickly or mentally ill, go away and die.
6. If you're not one of us, go away and die.
Pretty much it. Even from many "fakes" who pretend to be left wing.
I know most people won't care about people with PTSD not being accommodated in social housing.
Words cannot express the terror of being constantly triggered due to living in a home that is unsuitable. We call ourselves civilised while pissing on the most vulnerable and ensuring they know their needs are resented and considered a great inconvenience.
FYI anyone with PTSD (and with medical documentation stating they need low noise, privacy, etc) is simply told "we don't have properties like that" and it's been that way for decades. Disabled put last as usual.
The shit of it all is that the same people in the welfare system will point out that these people, without trigger free/low trigger housing haven’t worked, or don’t want to work. Well, yes because they are in a constant state of panic or drugged into zombie status so they can handle their fucking housing.
In the meantime Kainga Ora puts up another video letting everyone know the story of the priviliged state house tenants who didn't have PTSD and could use the available housing stock had their lives improved…eg, "living here allowed me to…..". Others are supported in buying the home they are in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s6DpqVeUC4
NOTHING for people with PTSD because after being abused, shot at (possibly in service to our country), tortured they just have to deal with it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/120151726/northland-state-housing-tenant-devastated-over-leaving-home-of-15-years
A this might interest you.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/mind/seven-years-therapy-could-making-prince-harrys-trauma-worse/?li_source=LI&li_medium=li-recommendation-widget
I happen to believe that counseling in particular is the most dangerous alternative therapy we have in NZ. Why?
– there is no definition of what counseling is/is not. This means any number of random or in some cases made up techniques can be incorporated without any oversight or valid research into what is being offered (think of gay conversion therapy as one example)
– hard to believe but there is no regulation of who can call themselves a counselor (sexual predators, conmen, pretty much anyone you can imagine). And yes, I am certain that this point is correct – people are so naive they can't understand that there are no barriers to practice.
– public has a false sense of security around getting help, fueled in no small part by the constant reinforcing blurb at the bottom of any mildly concerning news article
In summary, counseling presents itself more like an alternative therapy than anything scientific and the lack of skeptics looking critiquing it is concerning.
The most dangerous place in the world is your mind, so who you permit in there matters. As individuals we should do everything you can to avoid our broken and overburdened mental health system. I disagree strongly with the current strategy which is to encourage even more people into this system, many of whom may not even need treatment.
And I’m waffling on again. I don’t know what kind of therapy Prince Harry had, but the fact that it was 7 years screems exploitation and fostered dependency. In my experience this seems more like counseling, less like other treatment modalities that have science behind them, and set time frames
A – I didn't realise there was no basic licensing that would sort out the types of people you mention. I suppose it is a follow-up on that airy-fairy idea of 'treatment in the community', people rallying round helping each other etc. As you say the mind is us. I get confused as to why young people are so willing to take drugs, white powders that could be mostly Ajax cleaner. One way to get the synapses fizzing and fusing.
A is somewhat misleading.
Proper counselors have a post grad qualification (diploma or masters level) in counseling & membership of a professional body with code of ethics etc (NZAC.org.nz). So called or self proclaimed counselors lacking both of these are more likely snake oil types
Are there safeguards against the snake oil merchants? Something that would limit what a helper/listening ear does, and come down hard on someone getting into real supposed therapy?
"proper counselors"
There are good counselors out there without postgrad qualifications, some don't even have a professional body. Some of the counselors who are bad for clients have postgrad degrees and a professional body. Being a member of NZAC doesn't mean you are good at what you do or that you don't cause harm.
I know people who've had bad experiences & that colours my opinion. I wouldn't go to anyone unqualified or without membership of a professional body. You are correct that isn't an absolute guarantee.
Agree, Weka. But it does presuppose a degree of monitoring and accountability.
kjt I think that is a vital point.
Thank-you for this comment. All compassion this government.
Simon's front bench must be shaking their collective heads in disbelief and his ineptitude.
My guess is they've decided to take the loss of the election in 2020 on the chin, and dump him shortly after. It's now too late to make a change at the top without having it look like panic. I know Labour managed it in 2017, but there is no Jacinda in the National Party.
Looks like he has had the hard word from Goodfellow and the other party bosses, judging by the backpedalling. Loser.
What makes you think the nats front bench are any better, if anyone heard Mark Mitchel on the radio with Hoskings this morning you would shake your head and say, ineptitude
Listening to Mike Hosking causes your brain to atrophy – medical fact.
I hope that our suits in parliament have enough brains and heart and above all guts to put something like this forward should shit hit the fan and the thus distriubted shit cover all of us.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51814481
I would even go so far that maybe the government could put out a rule that forbids landlords from evicting people who may not be able to make rent payments (commercial/residential) should the country need to pull a shut down like we have now seen in China and Italy. That may actually help people to get over such a period and then be able to go back to their businesses and start working again.
If we can bail out Insurance Companies, the Farming Industry, etc then surely our critters in parliament can come up with something like that to help the people who actually finance government. Joe and Jane Six Pack aka 'The Tax Payer".
Billionaires' economic anxieties first.
https://twitter.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1237431615325954053?s=20
wonder how many shell companies the orange shitgibbon has and how much he stole from the treasury – not only by way of tax cuts for the rich only – but also by ways of 'building a shitty wall that falls over in the wind', 'sanitizer', 'facemask' and of course 'oil' and 'hotel' and 'tourism' and 'golfing' and "hospitality' and and and.
Here is hoping that our overlords have more sense then that. But then, i wonder if forsight is something that is done in our government. Or if they just go lalalalala and wait for the worst to happen before they start doing something.
tRump declined to use the WHO test kits.
According to the Associated Press, Donald Trump, the current President of the United States who is supposed to be managing the Coronavirus epidemic and how the testing is conducted, has listed investments in V.F. Corp (VFC) and Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation (TMO), both of which moved jobs out of the U.S. in high profile outsourcing deals. There is reason to believe that Donald Trump stands to profit from medical testing of coronavirus that will now take place in the United States.
https://shero.substack.com/p/trump-could-profit-from-coronavirus
If this scenario plays out, then we will see the longest drought period in the north on record ending with a big bang towards the end of next week and into the weekend:
https://www.windy.com/?-36.851,174.768,5
And the middle of the country too. Because it has not rained much here either. And the waikato is burned crisp – all these brown hills of New Zealand. Many of whom never grassed over since the drought from the last year.
Lets hope it happens without damage to structures and crops. 🙂
Yep. And hopefully not to much soil erosion. Crop you cna replant, structures you can rebuild, but rebuilding washed down soil is another thing altogether.
And the award for Fucker of the Year goes to Graeme Fowler:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/119672018/with-80-properties-investor-says-benefits-of-home-ownership-outweigh-renting
This is the second soap-box Stuff's given this guy to spout his smug, self-aggrandising crap about how renting is a mug's game and the real money's in ownership. (The last one was about how not all landlords are miserly vultures out to ruin the lives of their tenants.) Thanks for that, Captain Obvious. What's next week's article? Graeme Fowler tells us trees are made of wood and water is wet?
While much of what Graeme writes in this article will be nothing new to anyone over 30, it does have a legitimate audience of younger people who may not have yet thought these things through. Certainly I don't read anything that rates as "Fucker of the Year" in it.
Very few people go from leaving their parents home direct to owning their own; almost everyone by choice rents for a period of their lives.
It takes time to get a deposit together and have enough income to qualify for a mortgage.
Until you are in a stable relationship most people don't want to be tied down to a single home; they want to travel, move to different places, and want the flexibility of renting.
Or you are going through a period of transition in your life, new job in a new town, break up of a relationship, etc that means renting is the best choice for a period. Sometimes misfortune means that a dream crumbles, life takes a turn never planned for and owning your own home now lies out reach.
This doesn't gainsay any of the obvious problems NZ has with it's entire housing market, the lack of social housing, the lack of a mature rental market, and the unaffordability of new housing, combined with an effectively insatiable demand are creating many, many problems.
Renting is a legitimate market … yet it obviously brings out that envious, resentful aspect of many people in the way landlords get routinely demonised; especially on the left. Everyone denies it, but it's plain as the sullen words on the page, and it's weirdly unhelpful because once trust is lost in the landlord/tenant relationship it always ends unhappily.
Renting used to enable saving the required deposit. Not any more. People 'resent' being told that the moon is made of cheese.
I agree totally. When we started 20 years ago we had several tenants who made the transition to ownership, and we celebrated with them. That isn't happening now, but it's a problem with the whole housing sector, not just landlords.
He owns 70 houses and says renting is for losers because it's money down a black hole. That's at least a nomination for Fucker of the Year.
Almost everyone needs to rent at some point in their lives, so providing them is scarcely a 'fucker of the year' offence.
What he is saying that renting long term is not a smart plan; which when you think about it's not obviously in his business' best interests. He's giving advice in the best interests of his tenants …
He owns 70 houses.
Ah … so it really is just envy.
Yeah. Sure.
Graeme started out as a very working class auto mechanic and has succeeded at something very few people manage at this level.
It's my observation that middle class liberals tend to prefer working class people to remain poor.
ka-ching!
I'll see your 'envy', and raise you 'greed'.
Which of the "Seven Deadly Sins" one trots out in a slanging match can be informative. Wonder if, on the way to 70 rentals, the individual concerned ever paused to ask themself: "Is 10/20/30/40/50/60 enough?"
Why on earth would anyone envy the greedy – they're 'ugly', and a bit sad.
So nice to be off the treadmill – now, if I can just find my Lotto ticket…
now, if I can just find my Lotto ticket
I have more respect for Graeme's hard work and risk tolerance than hoping on a Lotto win TBH. Yes he is an outlier, most landlords stop at one or two units because the work and risk involved is more than they can accept. A smaller number like us stop at less than 10. Many who try to go past this go broke pushing the limits.
So what exactly is the threshold that defines 'greed'? And why do so many on the left despise competency and success?
So you've got about nine rentals?
Can’r speak for the “so many”, but I don’t depise.
For myself, greed is "more than I need".
For others, greed might be "more than I want", in which case the 'greed threshold' becomes much more elastic. I feel genuinely ‘blessed’ to have steered clear of that particular trap.
@ Chris
None of your business … literally.
@ DMK
That I can accept.
You think owning 70 houses is a measure of success?
@Chris
There are many ways to measure success, but in his chosen domain Graeme has done spectacularly well. It took a lot of hard work, discipline, and competency. You're welcome to say this isn't for you, but turning it into an ethical issue strikes me as really odd.
Consider your favourite big hit musicians … those outliers who make tens millions as distinct from the vast majority of equally talented musos who can't feed their families. We never think of these people as 'ugly' and 'greedy' … because we're primed to like and admire them and we see them as remote from us.
But culturally there is a widespread resentment of landlords for a complex of interesting reasons, some psychological and some because of class resentments festering back generations.
I'm happy about socially useful "competency and success" being rewarded. So long as the "successful" person pays enough tax, to pay for the public expenditures that helped his/her "success".
About, finding more "successful" ways of ripping everyone else off, by investing in making a disfunctional housing market, more dysfunctional, not so happy.
ways of ripping everyone else off, by investing in making a disfunctional housing market,
Again there are all the usual pathology's on display. Providing a home via the rental market is not 'ripping anyone off'. If you cannot or do not want to qualify for a mortgage, nor for social housing, then you need a landlord to provide one for you.
The deal is simple, you the tenant get a home on terms that suit your immediate needs, and the landlord invests in their long-term prosperity.
And interestingly if you talk to actual landlords, most of us hate high asset prices. For us the ideal unit to purchase is something in the last 20% of it's economic life, that no-one else really wants, and we can buy cheaply then add some value to bring it up to an acceptable standard. For most buy and hold rental investors, high asset prices are a bit of a PITA and we tend to close our cheque books.
Yes I know that paying $400 pw rent looks like we're making out like bandits. But the reality is that after fixed costs like rates, insurance and management typically only 50% is left. Then we have any mortgage interest and tax to pay. Many tenants would be quite surprised if they saw their landlord's annual accounts.
For us the ideal unit to purchase is something in the last 20% of it's economic life, that no-one else really wants, and we can buy cheaply then add some value
What utter bullshit. These are the same houses that first home buyers want because they can add value in the same way.
@ Solkta
I did say 'ideally'. I agree that a dysfunctional housing sector has created a big shortage of houses across the whole market, and that this now means landlord investors and first home buyers compete with each other all too often.
But the idea that we drive prices up is not always correct; typically investors make their best margin when they buy. They work strictly on the numbers and look for properties they can get as cheaply as possible, while home buyers will get emotionally invested and will often pay over the odds.
I'm not envious one jot. I can't see how you've arrived at that conclusion, not logically.
As I said, everyone denies being envious always. Yet for something that apparently never happens, it's kind of odd that we have such a well known word for it.
What do you want me to say to that? “Yeah, sorry, you've caught me out. I lied. I'm envious"? I’m in fact anything but envious. There’d be some situations I’d find repulsive, but I’m likely to be saddened more than anything. I’m certainly not envious.
I'm not expecting you to say anything you don't want to.
I'm not here to score points, I much prefer to converge a conversation toward at least a common understanding of each other's perspective, rather than diverge into mutually antagonistic dugouts.
Yes there is such a thing as greed, but it's doesn't necessarily follow that every competent, successful person must be greedy. Outcomes are by nature never evenly distributed. You might want to look up Price's Law. It's a bit brutal, but it's a fact of life.
"Everyone", "always", "never" – what do they say about hyperbole?
Nevertheless, given a choice between being labelled 'greedy' or 'envious', more NZers would opt for 'greedy' – why, it's almost a virtue. God save us from those virtuous ‘greed-is-good‘ righties.
@DMK
If we allow our appetites to become so disordered that we ignore the welfare of others
So when Graeme Fowler advises people renting to that it's not in their long-term interests exactly how is this 'ignoring the welfare of others'?
He provides rental homes that almost everyone will need at some stage in their life. Not everyone qualifies or wants a mortgage. Exactly how is this 'ignoring the welfare of others'?
There always was an idea that somehow poverty is a virtue. Well it isn't, it's the source of many evils and far too often used as an excuse to justify failure.
For a "lefty" you sure parrot a lot of right wing memes.
@KJT
There is some truth in that. Mainly because I don't set up a false dichotomy between left and right wing thinking, and I reject the false binaries of typical tribal politics, us good, them bad.
So yes you are going to sniff me and wrinkle your nose because I'm saying things that challenge a lot of left wing assumptions. Put me on a right wing site and I'll get the same response for exactly complementary reasons; they'll sniff the lefty in me.
After decades of sterile, largely futile lefty rage, I realised the only people who get anything of lasting value done are those who can create a conversation and sustain the creative tension between left and right. Pete George in his own way has long been attempting something similar. (Whether we’re any good at it or not is another matter.)
Yet oddly enough last time PG and I conversed we had such a robust exchange I realised I'm not all that right wing at all.
@RL – Clearly we need a lot more virtuous lefties like your mate Graeme and your good self. Would either of you be prepared to share your 'rental property largess' in order to make that happen? Might even go some way to addressing the evils of poverty!
Maybe sharing is an antidote for both greed and envy. Now, what to do about the other five. You know I'm just kidding, right? Why should/would any hard-working individual share more than a small fraction of their wealth – it’s their wealth, for God’s sake.
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of the linguistically insecure."
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of the incompetent."
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of someone with nothing useful to say."
"Hyperbole is the last refuge of a failed argument."
Nobody's saying poverty is a virtue. To the contrary, the left is about, or should be about, eradicating poverty. That's what the right responds with when accused of denying the poor access to resources.
(And saying you're wrong about what I think is far from diverging into an antagonistic dugout.)
@DMK
Well I'd guess that GF pays more tax than all us combined, but I don't think that is what you mean by 'sharing'; that is a concept that only has meaning when it's undertaken voluntarily. (By contrast taxation is an essential social obligation that no-one would call sharing.)
Many left wingers struggle with the idea that outcomes are inherently unequal, and for a very small minority, spectacularly so. This has always been the case throughout all human history, long before capitalism or bastard landlords, it's a tendency that is baked into all social systems that pass over a minimal threshold of prosperity. Success creates opportunity, which combined with good luck and competency, will always produce more success … in whatever field of endeavour. This of course drives inequality, which left unmoderated drives to gross extremes of wealth, and triggers it's own cascade of known problems.
Trying to drive equal outcomes by preventing success is the terrible mistake the Soviets and Maoist's made. We do not need to repeat this failed experiment.
Therefore the left might want to look at the problem of inequality through fresh thinking. Andrew Yang promoted his own version and there are a lot of people doing this in quiet corners of the internet working through what is a much more difficult and intractable problem than is commonly assumed.
In some senses you may well be in the right domain, that relative poverty (inequality in this context) is not so much an economic problem, but a spiritual or psychological one.
@RL: Not fussed about absolute equality of outcomes; would settle for all NZers having at least enough resources, and there is 'enough' in NZ for that to happen – the barriers lie elsewhere.
For those that find the goal of 'enough for all' unpalatable/unrealistic, there's always the issues of defining and distributing 'enough' to fall back on.
Not envy, just push-back against the class distinction amateur landlordism encourages.
Encouraging everyone to own two or more houses is incomparable with encouraging everyone owning a house. They are contrary positions and it is impossible to achieve both without there being a lot of empty houses.
Fowler and his followers suggest that winners and losers just are and always will be and that is a very right wing view of the world – just ask Hosking.
Socially conscious lefties, as far as I know, hope for a situation where everyone has enough rather than an increasingly divided world of first and second class citizens. Haven’t we supposed to have left all that behind?
It just not believable to talk about socially conscious people (in your words, middle class liberals) wanting working class people to remain poor. The idea of one person owning 70 houses, or nine, or two even, if followed to its conclusion ensures a lot of people will definitely remain poor. A lot of them working class families.
Encouraging everyone to own two or more houses is incomparable with encouraging everyone owning a house.
GF with 70 units is an extremely outlier, the vast majority of landlords are ordinary middle class people who work for a living and over time have one or two units they rent. These days often through professional property managers.
Not everyone will ever want to do this; being a landlord is absolutely more risk and work than most people want to take on. Most people don't want to make the necessary 20 -30 year sacrifice to make it work.
Moreover there are only about 250,00 landlords in NZ, and the point many people miss is that the individuals involved actually move in and out of the industry all the time. We are not a fixed group.
wanting working class people to remain poor.
Yet this is precisely where GF started and now everyone slams him for becoming wealthy.
I don’t slam him for becoming wealthy, professional landlords are required as you say. But Fowler getting on the soapbox, having a column as is so important for self important realty people these days, and encouraging amateur landlordism isn’t really helpful for a fair society, in my opinion.
His advice is for everyone to buy, fine if that were possible, but also for young people to buy a rental first then another home to live in later but importantly, "don't sell the rental".
This is amateur landlordism and the point I'm trying to make is that not everyone shares in the benefits of the logical outcome. Those being secure communities and confident kids.
This doesn't sit well with true lefties who consider the wider picture.
I can see the apparent objection you have; in this I think GF is projecting his own experience without properly qualifying it.
Let's put it this way, if I outlined an investment opportunity that demanded 20 – 30 years of work and sacrifice, with no certainty of success … just how many people do you think would leap at it?
I'd accept that GF might have been more accurate if he'd explicitly made this point; that being a landlord just isn't for everyone.
Because I can assure you that after 20 years at this it's pushed my risk tolerance to the edge more than a few times.
There's a few of these opinion columns cropping up on the enlarged property platforms offered by the main news organisations.
Fowler for Homed on Stuff and Ashley Church for One Roof in the Herald.
Church is increasingly political, particularly over the last few months.
This is against the new background of real estate agents promoting themselves as rock stars. They have glossy billboards all over town often with short and sage life advice one-liners for the public.
Fowler doesn't even seem that bright. I don't mean that as an insult – just that the article posted by Chris is pretty basic and offered nothing useful to renters or investors really.
In the FIRE economy, realtors are the priests of the House of Mammon and their prophecies are taken for gospel.
So it doesn't matter what the endeavour is, it's okay if it involves sacrifice and hard work? Loan sharks? Clothing trucks? All okay if they work hard and make sacrifices? The consequences of that endeavour don't matter?
@MB
Fowler doesn't even seem that bright.
Actually no. He's an ordinary bloke, but since when was it necessary to have an IQ north of 130 to express a legitimate opinion?
The difference is this, GF read the same books that many other people were at the time, but he acted while others procrastinated.
But is his (and others’) advice doing any good for greater society, Red?
For the many, not the few, and all that.
advice doing any good for greater society,
I can understand why you ask this question, and I really don't think it has any easy or glib answers.
The obvious answer is just repeating what I think we both agree on, that landlords do provide a legitimate and necessary service. Almost everyone at some stage in their life will need a rental home for a period.
At another level landlords are doing something akin to what banks do, we make our capital available to others to use for their immediate benefit, the tenant gets a home now, the landlord gets a long term investment. This is a win for both parties.
But I suspect neither answer is going to satisfy you. TBH I'm a bit distracted at the moment and don't feel I can do this justice. The whole notion of 'the greater good' feels like a conceptual can of worms.
Fowler disagrees. He believes this is only a win for the landlord and he advises the public as such.
I'd say 'the greater good' is a cornerstone of socially conscious thought. It's distressing to read it labeled as a conceptual can of worms.
He believes this is only a win for the landlord and he advises the public as such.
Again you clearly misconstrue what he is saying. Given that virtually everyone wants or needs to rent a home at some point in their lives, this is clearly an immediate win for the tenant compared to sleeping under a bridge.
But in the long run you need to be thinking about how to move on, we all agree that renting is not an ideal long term solution. But too many people won't take responsibility for this and procrastinate … they don't act.
It's distressing to read it labeled as a conceptual can of worms.
Oh it's one of those nice ideas that looks superficially simple and attractive enough on the outside, but the devil is in the details. Like marxism.
I haven't misconstrued what he was saying at all. It would be hard to since it was so staggeringly basic of thought.
‘You should own a home because pets’.
Read like wannabe Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life…
..and where is he now?
and where is he now?
Taking sly pleasure in a family's medical misfortune really is ugly.
You seem to be saying that everyone needs to rent at some stage and that it's a temporary thing until the person’s ready to buy a house and for those who stay renting it's their fault because they fail to act.
The difficulty with that is an unacceptably high number of people are never ready because they've been completely locked out of the market. And a significant part of the problem are people like Graeme Fowler.
Had no idea who Peterson is, but according to his Wikipedia page he was/is something of a climate change skeptic – sad about his medical conditions, but best given a wide berth, IMHO.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Peterson#Climate_change
"But in the long run you need to be thinking about how to move on, we all agree that renting is not an ideal long term solution. But too many people won't take responsibility for this and procrastinate … they don't act." – RL
Thing is, renting is an ideal very long term 'solution' for many, just not so many in New Zealand. Might that have something to do with a greater percentage of NZ landlords playing 'fast and loose', or is it mainly because NZ renters make comparatively 'poor' tenants?
And if either of you bothered to read the thread properly you would see at least two places where I clearly acknowledge exactly these problems … that we have a housing sector beset by high demand, low supply and high prices. This impacts everyone, from social housing tenants, everyone in the rental sector and home owners.
There has been a toxic brew of reasons why this dysfunction has come about … but fixating on landlords as the sole cause of these problems reveals more about underlying resentment and bitterness than anything that will actually help.
And yes much of our older housing stock falls well short of modern expectations. But they were all new homes decades ago and generations of families did happily live in them without it necessarily affecting their mental health. That they were built 50 or more years ago poorly oriented to the sun and prone to dampness is not actually the fault of their current owner.
Getting them to perform to modern expectations is like pretending you can make a Hillman Avenger run just like a modern 2020 model car. Sure you can mitigate the worst of it, but a full noise reno in many cases makes little economic sense. Spending $50k to bring an 80 yr old house up to spec when you're barely netting $5kpa profit out it simply isn't feasible.
It would make much more sense to demolish and build new, but building costs in this country are off the scale. Trust me I've run the numbers on this many times, but they never quite add up.
There are some great builders out there, but in general I’m eternally disappointed by the NZ building industry; they’ve long under-performed. Again just one of many factors in a toxic brew.
"…but fixating on landlords as the sole cause of these problems reveals more about underlying resentment and bitterness than anything that will actually help." – RL
I asked your opinion about the cause(s) of "these problems", and suggested two possibilities – that you chose to characterise that question as "fixating on landlords as the sole cause of these problems" is a classic misrepresentation, and reveals an unnecessarily defensive position, IMHO. I certainly have no reason to be resentful or bitter towards landlords – I've been a tenant in four properties (in NZ, England (x2), and NZ), the last thirty years ago, and the landlords were straight-up, as was I. I'll never be a renter again (touch wood), and I have no desire or need to be a landlord (thank God).
I do feel that bad landlords should not be landlords, and that bad tenants should not be tenants. But I also believe that bad landlords typically have more 'options' than bad tenants – just the way it is.
@DMK
Apologies, my response was to both of you and I didn't accurately answer your question
Might that have something to do with a greater percentage of NZ landlords playing 'fast and loose', or is it mainly because NZ renters make comparatively 'poor' tenants?
There is certainly be an element of both. I can't speak to how many bad landlords there are but I can tell you that of the 50 odd tenants we've had in 20 years, 5 of them have caused problems. (Although I have to say that since we moved to 100% professional management that number has dropped to zero, tenants don't tend to play games with managers who will evict them without compunction.) But just for the sake of argument I'm willing to accept that bad landlords and bad tenants exist in similar numbers and total impact.
It is however definitely true is that the vast majority of both landlords and tenants are perfectly good people and discharge their side of the contract reliably. In all the rancour it's easy to overlook this. When we were still in NZ we often got to know our tenants, and generally enjoyed interacting with them. Sadly a small minority saw this as a weakness and wound up exploiting it, and we made our share of naive mistakes as well.
But these are problems that would exist regardless of any other consideration, so my specific answer to your question is 'neither'. Yes bad landlords and bad tenants do exist, but this isn't especially germane to the much wider problems our whole housing sector is chronically groaning under.
RL – So you acknowledge the problem but reject the suggestion that the likes of Graeme Fowler (70 houses, major income generating operation) are a significant cause of that problem?
Or is that you acknowledge the problem and accept that the likes of Graeme Fowler (70 houses, major income generating operation) are a significant cause of the problem?
Surely good/bad tenants doesn't matter. It's an occupational hazard any landlord must accept. The consequences might be worse for those with one or two extra houses, but bad tenants come with the territory.
Latest from Peak. Starts with pointing out it is too late for Europe and the US where the “don’t test, don’t tell” policy is about to backfire in a phenomenal manner.
Goes through what the gold standard of handling the pandemic should be (most western countries are screwed…thanks CDC and WHO!)
Makes suggestions around what govt's could do to improve the situation for people including
– removing restrictions of dispensing medication so people can get a few months at a time
– ensuring quality information and understanding panicking people is not the same as preparing them. We need to be prepared and the best way to do that is gradual, additional purchases over multiple shopping trips.
– testing asap, don't make it hard
– mortgage relief so the choice isn't go to work and spread the illness or lose the house
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0HYh6zjTUo
Too right A I have heard about these people self-isolating. That solves the government's problem, but what about their living costs, their possible need to have food delivered to the house if they are on their own, or the family is in lock down with them?
Who ties the threads together in the back of the rousing announcements so that there is a robust safety net – ensuring what people need to survive is available. Government needs to be there to assist those who need care out of the institutions. Is there a help-line and a set of officials for sourcing and delivering different needs and a weekly budget that meets the costs?
Some good points there. I would add raising benefits.
I don't think it's too late for the US and Europe, it's a matter of degrees and how people cope. Unless we are going to close our borders, what happens there affects us here.
Move over 'Murica, there's a new kid in town.
https://twitter.com/RushDoshi/status/1237482553252237316
Charles Kindleberger, one of the intellectual architects of the Marshall Plan, argued that the disastrous decade of the 1930s was a result of the United States' failure to provide global public goods after it had replaced Britain as the leading power. Today, as China’s power grows, will it make the same mistake?
As US President-elect Donald Trump prepares his administration’s policy toward China, he should be wary of two major traps that history has set for him. The “Thucydides Trap,” cited by Chinese President Xi Jinping, refers to the warning by the ancient Greek historian that cataclysmic war can erupt if an established power (like the United States) becomes too fearful of a rising power (like China). But Trump also has to worry about the “Kindleberger Trap”: a China that seems too weak rather than too strong.
Charles Kindleberger, an intellectual architect of the Marshall Plan who later taught at MIT, argued that the disastrous decade of the 1930s was caused when the US replaced Britain as the largest global power but failed to take on Britain’s role in providing global public goods. The result was the collapse of the global system into depression, genocide, and world war. Today, as China’s power grows, will it help provide global public goods?
https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/kindleberger-trap
Labour ad ideas:
11 March 2020
Will Simon raise GST to 17.5%?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/03/national-isn-t-planning-gst-increase-if-elected-but-won-t-entirely-rule-it-out-simon-bridges.html
I note : Min wage proposed increase from $17.70 to $18.90 = 6.8% so how does this equate to a 20% cost increase 1:52 into video.
Coming from Bridges that's as good as a promise they will.
Wonder if Boris is going to take this on the chin.
Health minister and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries says she has been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Ms Dorries, the first MP to test positive, said she had taken all the advised precautions after finding out, and had been self-isolating at home.
[..]
It is not known how many meetings Ms Dorries had attended at Westminster or in her constituency in recent days.
The Department of Health said she first showed symptoms on Thursday – the same day she attended a Downing Street event hosted by the prime minister – and had been self-isolating since Friday.
No 10 did not comment on whether Boris Johnson had undergone testing, or whether he will now be tested.
All health ministers, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock, are to undergo testing for the virus, along with other officials who have come into contact with Ms Dorries.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51827356
Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi have been called for Biden.
Michigan exit polls have Biden 52% Sanders 43%
Missouri exit polls Biden 55% Sanders 39%
Mississippi exit polls have Biden 76% Sanders 20%
Awfully hard to see a path to the nomination for Sanders now, barring Biden suffering a major medical event. Or even what value might be achieved by Sanders staying in the campaign much longer.
Sanders is sinking without trace.
Time for his supporters to get behind Biden and throw out Trump, Pence, DeVos, Carson and all those other slime bags who want a theocratic free market state.
And. So does Biden.
So. How is supporting Biden going to end up any different from Clinton?
It's not like there is much of a choice. Believe me, I am aware of Uncle Joe's record. Jacobinmag puts up an article every other day, but we have to work with what we have to work with.
We may even get surprise. LBJ was pretty conservative, but his record, apart from that little war in SE Asia, is the most left wing one since FDR.
I do not know much about the US politics, but who is more likely to be able to beat Trump in the next election? Biden or Sanders? Surely the answer to that question is who the Democrats want to win this thing.
It seems fairly clear that Dem primary voters have collectively decided the answer to that question is Biden.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/10/politics/exit-polls-michigan-missouri-mississippi-washington/index.html
You know time is up and the race is run when the regular anti Bernie conspiracies become they cheated anti Bernie conspiracies.
Hi everyone, sorry for not posting here on a more regular basis as I’ve been bumping my fat fingers over on Twitter and I’ve been back down the tunnel as well.
Anyway I thought I might share this with everyone, as a lefty I’m a bit weird as I’m pro defence but also pro green with social issues as well.
I’ve been following this new SOPV capability announcement by NZG since the 2019 WP on the Defence since my two cousins (one as a cook in the RNZN & the other as a part of research team doing his PhD on something to do Ocean thingy’s) caught up in a near capsizing of one the RNZN OPV’s a while back on a run down Sth. The current OPV’s a barely fit for duty down Sth or operate in the Southern Ocean all yr round, the current OPV’s are 100t over weight, too short in length and in the beam (width), the lack of a combat mission system to talk/ data link to the new P8’s, Seasprite Helo’s note these are not normally carried down Sth to the weight issues of the OPV’s and UAV’s when they eventually enter service, and the unsafe means of launching & recovering boarding parties with their RIB.
This PPP show https://pacificexpo.com.au/conferences/PDFs/New-Zealand-Southern-Ocean-Patrol-Vessel-Pacific-2019-Presentation.pdfthe… capabilities that the RNZN & NZG are after this ship isn’t going to come cheap, but when one considers the operation environment and the effects of CC in the Southern Ocean with no or little hope of help if something goes wrong is going to be money well spent. Especially when the Antarctic Treaty is up for renewal in the early 2040’s and the ever increasing threat from over fishing from poachers by nation states or via 3rd parties operating in what is now called the “Grey Zone” also known as “Hybrid Warfare” which the current International Base Rule System is push to it limits of normality at we are so use too in its current form.
That's a laser light on that particular policy matter that we wouldn't hear much about Ex Kiwi keep it up. Helps to be informed.
The sad fact is ExKF that when it comes to major purchases such as replacement ships aircraft, etc. cost is the determining factor – inter-operability is second, and actual ability to do the job it is supposed to do is third. I remember when I first joined the RNZN in 1974 – it was the time of commissioning the 4 Brooks Marine PVs which were to replace the long serving ex WW2 inshore ML's. What a disaster they were. Designed for the Atlantic and expected to operate in the Pacific with a much greater wave length. We fought fro years to get the politicians to understand they need to give those manning the vessels extra hard living allowances because they were so sick making and everyone was injury prone from being flung about in rough weather. I remember the day while I was then on the Naval Staff in Def HQ in Stout St. The 4 Patrol Craft happened to be in port at Wellington for some celebration or other and the Admiral decided it would be a good idea to invite the cabinet on board for a trip around the harbour 😉 Oh and by the way it might be an idea to have a little excursion out beyond the heads. Fortunately there was bit of a swell in the Strait. We had our submission for extra allowances for PC crew prepared and it was agreed by Cabinet pretty much the next day.
macro what a good tale, seizing the moment won the day.
I agree.
Note the purchase of the Charles chuckum after my mates at sea on her sister ship, and one of our ex seagoing managers, all said, "don't buy it".
The 72 year old dad of a foaf arrived in NZ about a fortnight ago on his first visit. Spiked a temp and developed a cough last night.
Foaf phoned Healthline rather than risk potential spread of Something Nasty by taking dad to a GP clinic.
Healthline totally dismissive and discounted even the remotest chance of papa having picked up Covid 19 prior to leaving India.
Whew. What a relief.
Foaf has papa at local after hours clinic as I write.
System working just fine.
what's a foaf?
friend of a friend?????
As your foaf's dad arrived from India 14 days ago, the chances of him having COVID -19 is very slight. India reported it's first case of the virus on 30 Jan. – after he had travelled from India – and that was a case of the virus being imported by an arrival from China so it is unlikely that foaf's dad had picked it up from them.
https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/features/coronavirus-affected-countries-india-measures-impact-pharma-economy/
There are now a number of further cases being reported and more detail is on the link above. Obviously it depends on the area from which your foaf's dad arrived as to whether there is a likelihood of infection or not – but again all of these seem to have arisen after he has left the country.
Doubt that the reporting and testing in India is particularly accurate.
Don't miss link at 11 above. He seems onto it and shows sources and diagrams.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/120175034/thamescoromandel-council-fails-to-bat-off-climate-change-court-case
This is very,very goodnews indeed.
Nasty wee silencing tactic from everyone's favourite council stymied by onto it judge.
Excellent!
BTW the two young women on the start of the video sang a beautiful wiaata for Jeanette at the gathering on Sunday. Two amazing young people. The spirit of Jeanette lives on.
SFO confirms investigations into Auckland & Christchurch mayoral election donations. (link)
I smell malice in them thar allegations against Goff in particular. Sour grapes and jealousy are a common cause of questionable accusations.
Dalziel seems to have been the victim of incorrect advice but it does not exonerate her from some of the blame. She, or someone on her behalf, should have checked the donations in question with the Electoral Commission.
does she not talk to her husband?
Yep. He's the one that put her crook although that has yet to be confirmed. She assumed he was correct. Bad mistake. As any good woman would tell you. 😉
And her a lawyer herself…
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/rnz/chch-mayor-blames-husband-donor-non-disclosure