Ideology is like your favourite music – all the notes you need are there and everything seems perfect when you hear it. You never need notice the notes that are missing.
If you want a perfect example of this, consider the brouhaha that greeted the opening of the 1km of rainbow cycleway on Karangahape road built for the bougie gay and gay adjacent crew of inner city Auckland. It cost well over five million dollars (an eye watering $5,400 per metre), value for money we are told. Then jump in your car and take a look at the muddly, rutted, sorry state of affairs that is the car park at the Avondale markets (frequented by thousands and thousands of less fashionable types working class types) on a rainy morning.
So many perfect notes making so much beautiful music up on K road though.
PS – the toal cost of the K rd upgrade in north of 18 million dollars, or $18,000+ per freaking metre. Anywhere else in the world there would be calls for an inquiry at what looks like a case of price gouging by contractors but not here. After all, NZ has no corruption.
Bigotry is like a fart of thrash metal blaring through the early hours. There may be some music in there, but mostly it's ugly noise to those in the blast radius.
Define "gay adjacent" for us Sanctuary. You may have a point about the price of the K road cycleway – maybe you can make it without the homophobia?
I have to confess my original post was designed as a little experiment to see if the propositions about liberal identity politics and class put forward by Ash Sarkar in her Double Down News segment are valid (see I think open mike yesterday). I am not that interested if your identity feels threatened to the point of vulgar tortured analogy, Because I think that is just boring. But as you post seems to show, Sarkar's proposition we can't escape identity politics because that is largely where politics are at right now is true.
The problem, as Sarkar eloquently pointed out, is the bourgeois outrage of your liberal identity politics puts recognition by the state and it's actors above self organisation, and your priority is more the distractions of political conflict on the terrain of identity than you are about asking about the underpinning ideology as to who and why those contracts were let to redevelop K road. And that's was kinda the entire point of my post, so thanks for playing.
PS – The PM self-described herself as "youth adjacent", are we to presume she was consumed with a dislike of those who consort with young people? Perhaps you could enlighten me on the PM's view of young people?
Sanctuary, I am mainly onsite to find interesting links that I might otherwise been exposed to in other fora. I haven't read every word on OM daily for many years now. A link to Sarkar's post would be nice – in fact any links to substantiate any of your points wouldn't hurt.
So; you were writing to provoke a response, and now claim that; someone questioning your bizarre claims, is proof that they would have responded that way even if the original assertion had not been made?
I am starting to remember why I don't much bother commenting on NZpolitics blogs anymore. People here are just too desperately clever about how they say things, to bother much about what they are saying.
The projects labelled as 'cycling' ones end up bundling huge underground services upgrades etc. K Rd is no different in that sense. You may be conflating the rainbow pedestrian crossing with its perpendicular cycleway.
good point sacha. too many people look at a $$$ figure and dont think about the services below ground that are included in costs. in many parts of the country, services like water, sewerage etc are over 100 yrs old and either way too small or in case of pipeing, completely knackered, earthquakes,ground settlement etc. and now with extra internet demanded as well as other undergrounding, cycleways are far easier to dig up than heavily trafficked streets.
Western world media collectively expose their deep rooted ties to the political status quo by shamefully remaining silent while Julian Assange is made an example of, for all the world to witness, of what will happen to anyone brave enough to expose their lies, corruption and murderous wars .
Some—not all—of the exalted intellects on RNZ National did not "shamefully remain silent" during Assange's torture by the state; they joined in the persecution. Those who laughed at his plight, and mocked him, include: Jim Mora, Denise L'Estrange-Corbet, Graham Bell, Chris Trotter, Lisa Scott, Susan Baldacci, Caitlin Cherry, Zara Potts. Here are some of those witty commentators "yukking it up" in June 2013….
SUSAN BALDACCI: Julian Assange is a little bit paranoid. MORA: Oh yes? Hur, hur, hur, hur! SUSAN BALDACCI: Yeah, he claims that being holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy, he is deprived of his human right of getting enough sun. MORA: Is it a human right to get enough sun? SUSAN BALDACCI: That’s what he claims! He claims that being not allowed to leave London is violating his “human rights”. MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! LISA SCOTT: Ha ha ha ha ha ha! CHRIS TROTTER: Haw haw haw haw haw! SUSAN BALDACCI: He thinks he should be allowed out of his Ecuador embassy hideout to sunbathe. MORA: He can get out on the balcony, where he gave that speech! LISA SCOTT: Yeah! Ha ha ha ha ha! CHRIS TROTTER: Yeah! Ha ha ha ha ha! Or get him a sun lamp! THAT’s what he needs! LISA SCOTT: Ha ha ha ha ha! SUSAN BALDACCI: He he he he he! TROTTER: I suspect the ambassador’s just sick of the sight of him! “Are you ever going to LEEEEAAAVE?” MORA: Sun lamp! Get him a sun lamp!!! LISA SCOTT: Ha ha ha ha ha! MORA: Back after the news!
One New Zealand journalist who did remain shamefully silent at his plight was Tova O'Brien. She was chosen to sit quietly on the panel during a farcical "World Press Freedom Day" run by the scofflaw U.K. regime just days after it had dragged Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy…..
I have sent a couple of emails to Colin Peacock and Media watch, appealing to his sense of journalist integrity to do a piece on the general lack of coverage in this moment, but the relentless coverage when Assange was being accused of rape, however sadly it was to no avail….looks like they only run their critical eye over 'soft' subjects.
Thanks for that update greywarshark, disturbingly most MSM, and a good proportion of the commenters on this site are OK with the fact that while Assange is being prosecuted with anything but a fair trial, and essentially being tortured in full public view, for bravely exposing US war and political crimes… none of the perpetrators of those crimes have been suffered even the slightest bump in their lives, and in the case of the DNC, some have been promoted for their crimes.
I guess the takeaway from this travesty, is that propaganda works..even on people who you would have thought were a bit smarter than they have turned out to be..or maybe they have just slowly become lazy and cynical as they drifted to the Centre-Right?
In the last years of the Blair regime, Tony Bliar and his chief hangman Alistair Campbell unleashed an absurd tirade against the media, which they claimed had continually undermined and questioned the integrity of the U.K. regime.
Shortly after, on Mediawatch, Colin Peacock failed to remind his listeners that, apart from a brief deviation by the BBC pointing out that the case for attacking Iraq had been manufactured by U.K. and U.S. propagandists and spin doctors, and poor stupid Piers Morgan falling into a trap set by Army pranksters, the major U.K. media had in fact been in lockstep with the government. Instead, Peacock pronounced in deadly serious tones that Blair and Campbell had “made many good points.”
In 2011, Peacock defended another politician, this time one John Key, after Key had made some foolish and ignorant remarks about the mass murder in Norway carried out by Anders Breivik.
In 2013, Peacock conducted a fawning interview with BBC journalist Lyse Doucet, which ended like this:
LYSE DOUCET: I welcome criticism—as long as it’s not done to score a point or because someone has an agenda. … When I get negative Twitter messages, unless I think there is an agenda and I have no control over that, I respond with kindness. Some people are on a certain campaign… I always say journalism is story-telling. I listen to our competitors. I listen to Al Jazeera, and Russia Today.
COLIN PEACOCK:[snorting] But some of those are backed by the state, aren’t they, in a way that is different to the BBC obviously….
The world of opinion is firmly split,
On Julian Assange and Wiki leaks,
There is that of peaceful people,
And that of war monger freaks.
Peace loving folk hail him as hero,
War lovers want to fill him with lead,
Wiki leaks though, clearly shows,
How democrazy is dead.
Thanks McFlock, your having to ask that question makes my point quite succinctly….yes it was two years ago that Assange was seized from the Ecuadorian embassy.
If MSM journalists were at all concerned with keeping the spotlight on this travesty of justice, outrageous attack on whistleblowers and press freedoms, they would use every opportunity to keep pressure on power, but they will of course never do any of the above, as they are nothing more than stenographers for their corporate owners.
Two years since Assange was seized from the Ecuadorian Embassy
" Two years ago on Sunday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was seized from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He has been incarcerated ever since, fighting extradition to the United States where he faces life imprisonment in barbaric conditions for exposing war crimes, coup plots, mass state surveillance, torture and corruption. "
And again you make my point very nicely, you would have to ask people on The Standard if there is any developments in Assange's case, because you are well aware of the lack of news coverage his plight gets on MSM..thanks.
dude, I got up, had brekky, turned on the computer, checked emails, did a quiz or two, came here, and there was an extended wank about Assange. So I thought something might have happened.
Apparently not.
I did not wake up yearning for an update on the latest Assange case regardless of whether anything substantive had actually happened, but woe, the accursed msm is suppressing all the court days where he expertly skewers the fascistic oppressors' pseudo-legal arguments, so I had to read Adrian's latest rant to get my fix.
Just mildly curious.
Any thoughts on whether Biden's new AG might affect Justice Dept policy on the current case? Seems to have a wider view of the first amendment, so that could be relevant.
I was kinda hoping that by now they would have made a statement that it's not in the US national interest to continue pursuing Assange, because of the "New York Times problem". I'm kinda disappointed something like that hasn't happened, it could be dealt with really quickly.
Maybe they're too busy dealing with other shitfights, like the window is closing fast on undoing a lot of Fuckface von Clownstick's damaging executive actions. So maybe it will just be quietly dropped when the next court appearance comes around and they have to do something one way or another.
I figure there are basically two milestones where they might back off: first couple of months of the new AG (i.e. directive to re-examine their basis for action, then the opinion suggests first amendment is an issue, so they back off), or yeah the next court date or shortly before it.
They sort of have to appeal the finding that their prison conditions are so awful it would be unjust to extradite Assange to the US. It's like showing their awful underwear in public, and could be used to oppose extradition of other criminals and suspects.
But if there's another reason to drop the case entirely, it might be a welcome exit plan. If the UK supreme court upheld that finding, there's many a drug trafficker, murderer, or even Kim Dotcom who might be interested in that precedent. Even in other jurisdictions it could hold some weight.
It was recently revealed that Pope Francis sent a personal message to Assange, whose partner Stella Moris said: “After a hard night, Julian woke up this morning to a kind, personal message from Pope Francis @pontifex delivered to his cell door by the prison priest.”
Can't understand why that didn't make global headlines and chirons across all channels. Truly there is a grand conspiracy to suppress all news of such importance.
I can't avoid it when you keep waving it in front of people's faces.
No thoughts on Garland then? He's actually an interesting pick which lends itself to a subtle and considered analysis, and could have important repercussions on this case.
.… where he expertly skewers the fascistic oppressors' pseudo-legal arguments….
He doesn't have to skewer anything. The scofflaw British and U.S. regimes, whose brutal power and malice you trivialize with your sarcasm, have to prove their case. They have not, of course.
so I had to read Adrian's latest rant…
???? Trivializing and mischaracterizing Adrian's thoughtful contributions does your credibility no good whatsoever. But then again, who would expect anything better from you?
Saturday 10 April 2021. It's 5:45 p.m., halfway through the half hour which Prime calls "News." A portly "U.K. correspondent", standing on a London street, is wrapping up the story that has occupied the whole programme so far….
LLOYD BURR:[sententiously] It's fair to say that this is a country in mourning.
Back in the New Zealand studio, host Janika ter Allen accepts that hilariously wrong statement with the same straight face she employed during the time she endured as Paul Henry's cheerful sidekick on TV3's horrid, best-forgotten Paul Henry Show (mercifully euthanised in late 2014, less than a year after its inception).
A flick of the remote control takes us to TVNZ1, where a trailer for the 6pm news ends with Melissa Stokes announcing what's on the menu: "…and the HUNDREDS of Kiwi Kids helped by the Duke of Edinburgh!"
These New Zealand "reporters" were, as usual, merely mimicking an overseas model, in this case the British state broadcaster.
… The BBC is reported to have heavily invested in coverage of Philip’s death for fear that otherwise they would face a barrage of criticism from rightwing newspapers for showing a lack of patriotism and revealing a supposed “leftwing bias”. That was allegedly what happened when the BBC failed to sufficiently grovel to the royal family over the Queen Mother’s death in 2002. But if that is so, doesn’t it simply underscore quite how vulnerable the supposedly “neutral” state broadcaster is to pressure from the rightwing billionaire owners of the establishment media?
If Rupert Murdoch and company can force the BBC into alienating and antagonising its own viewers with endless homilies to a royal little loved by large sections of the population, how else is the BBC’s coverage being skewed for fear of the potential backlash from corporate media tycoons? Is the fear of such repercussions also responsible for the BBC’s complicity in the recent, evidence-free smearing of a socialist Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, or the BBC’s consistent failures in reporting honestly on countries like Syria, Libya, Iraq and Venezuela – all of them in the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and Latin America that the United States and the west demand control over? …
Does there now need to be a democratic process for the time limit on a news item?
Do people need to be told that they have an off button on the remote?
The Royal family are going through the loss of a husband, a father, a grandfather and a great grandfather. The Royal family have always been easy picking for the media and the Duke of Edinburgh did not want fuss. Good on him for max 30 people being able to attend his funeral service.
Since my comment under the "Sustainability and learning from forest gardening" post has disappeared, I'll go to the trouble of rewriting it here:
The final sentence of that post concludes: " … no reason this cannot be done at scale. "
There's productivity to consider. Reportedly, the Guyton's two acres supplies 60 to 70% of their vegetarian diet. Make allowance for land area lost to house, driveway, etc, and for surplus food going off the property to others, it nets out to this food forest producing roughly the food for one person eating a vegetarian diet from one acre of land.
How does this compare to other agricultural methods? Worldwide there's about 4.8 billion hectares of land used for feeding 8 billion humans. That averages out to 0.6 hectares, or 1.5 acres per person. But that's an average of roughly a 12x variation from roughly 0.25 acres per person in predominantly vegetarian places such as India, Malawi, to over 3 acres per person needed to feed high beef consumers such as NZ, US, Brazil, Argentina.
Consider a middle of the pack nation such as Austria (large pdf, see p19). Their current consumption of animal products is higher than considered optimal for good health, at least by some authorities (cue Psycho Milt disputing this). In their case, merely reducing their consumption of animal products down to healthier levels would shift their food production land footprint down to significantly under one acre per person, of which half is still due to animal products and is still well above the quarter acre or so per person for predominantly vegetarian diets.
So all in all, the Guyton's food forest looks like it's very low productivity when considered as food-production land. It seems that the Guyton's sustainability improvements come from their adoption of a vegetarian diet much more than their food production practices. Indeed, the ability to devote 2 acres to partially feeding a vegetarian diet to two people is as much a manifestation of wealth and privilege as my trying to care for an acre of bush for local ecosystem health without producing any food.
This low productivity of the food forest means that there is indeed reason it can't be done at the kind of scale needed for it to be a pointer for feeding the masses in the future. At best, there's aspects of it that could be adapted to further improve higher productivity agricultural methods.
An interesting article indeed. Just wondering, people living in rural or semi rural areas are able to maintain their vege garden if they are so inclined and fruit trees which is better still. Some keep chickens for eggs and meat. How many people live like that vs urban areas where one has to fight for a parking spot or even a save bike stand. I believe urban populations are in the majority and they have no land at all.
There are simply too many people on this planet. The situation will not improve at all, no matter how many platitudes are being presented and how many 3rd world produced sneakers are worn out on protest marches by those who go afterwards straight to McDonalds.
As usual, Our World in Data has plenty of good info collated together about urbanisation. Yes, worldwide more than half the population is urban, and in wealthy countries the urban share is often in the 90% range.
As population continues to grow, feeding everyone will require some mix of reducing the the per capita footprint of everyone ( which runs against the trend of when people get wealthier they want to eat more meat), and improving the productivity of the resources we use to produce food. I really can't see a pathway forward for methods that increase labour intensiveness and decrease land productivity.
To be sure, there's plenty of good individual ideas and elements that can transfer over from regenag, organic etc to more conventional higher productivity methods. Ideas such as the value of having diverse healthy microbial, invertebrate and larger ecosystems doing some of the work now being done by massive applications of emissions-intensive chemicals.
But it's going to be very difficult to move away from a lot of the things that make modern agriculture so productive. Personally, I'm guessing there's places for things such as micro-robots doing targeted chemical applications and pest control, as well as splashier tech such as vat-grown substitutes for animal products, GMOs that can tolerate much more stressful environments etc.
But all that will not do away with the population explosion.
In order to to achieve any transformation in all countries, especially those with large populations would take decades. Far too long to combat the already increasing impact on the environment. Looking at the scale and scope of changing methods etc., there is the danger of a trade off – creating political systems that are oppressive. Greens are not immune to imposing believes, knowledge (proven or not) and self interest.
Then there is the task of moving a generation brought up on fast food away from that in the "first world" that actually no longer exists. Especially if it is the cheaper version vs groceries and cooking. The later is a skill increasingly lost in an average household. The focus has be at home level working outwards not the other way around. Income levels have to improve a lot if we want to have birth rate sustainability too. There are many issues feeding into this but suffice to say it will take longer to address than seeing the consequences unfold. I hope I am wrong.
When I was young…. we had cooking classes and I still have a cookbook with recipes that the young can manage or are just basic. It would be a must if the education people had any idea of what the modern individual needs to know to provide them with a toolbag of useful knowledge, if primary and intermediate kids had meal planning and fun with vegs, and how to cook with fruit so you only need a pinch of sugar and lemon peel to bring out flavours etc.
And also how to put up a shelf, how to repair something, useful things to do with cartons, so recycling them and saving yourself $15 for shelves in a 'cubby'. Just being practical and not expecting the world to look after you, and needing it all the time. That is the trend we are being encouraged to accept, doors that open for you, voice activated blah.
Let's get capable. How to repair a tyre, oil a chain, a squeaky door, change a fuse etc. That houses and rooms need some ventilation, how to instal a window guard slide so it can be left open a bit but safely.
Simply put Treetop, the answer is Yes. So we must accept this is so and see how we can make tasks exciting enough to carry out. There was a system where putting an aluminium can in a container would give a receipt that could be used somewhere. That is the sort of thing that would produce a positive response. It's a case of thinking creatively to deal with new realities.
I'm kinda curious about how and why my comment under the "Sustainability and learning from forest gardening" post disappeared without trace or moderator comment, and just now my approximate rewrite of that comment in Open Mike has gone into moderation.
There are reasons but none are directly related to you comment(s) and patience is a virtue; Moderators are not and cannot be around all the time and see and deal with everything straight away. Apologies for the inconvenience.
I don't think it was that. I'm well aware of the need to strip out extraneous links from the likes of wikipedia quotes.
My first comment posted OK, then I edited a typo, and it seemed to go back up OK. Then I went and did an errand, and when I came back an hour later, it was gone.
No, it’s more than three links to trigger Auto-Mod. In Andre’s case it was something different and even less suspect. It all happened without any human intervention. A Mod has to review pending comments and figure out why they triggered Auto-Mod. I can tell you that sometimes it is a bit like ‘where’s Wally’ without knowing what Wally looks like 😉
I don't understand that interesting trend – but it makes you think perhaps along these lines:
The idealist philosopher George Berkeley argued that physical objects do not exist independently of the mind that perceives them. An item truly exists only as long as it is observed; otherwise, it is not only meaningless but simply nonexistent. Solipsism – Wikipedia
What's under the cover? It's perhaps more interesting to ponder than confirm. Also reminds me of Christo's work wrapping iconic buildings in lots of plastic? That is very decadent and of course now not environmentally sound.
edit: one of the comments kinda sums up my view of the idea of getting vaccines from Russia:
But Russian damage control did a really good job here. All media mention their claim that Slovakia has breached the contract, while very few mention Slovakian allegations. If those are really true, no one sane would approve this vaccine.
From the article:
Quote:
“The comparability and consistency of different batches produced at different locations has not been demonstrated,” the Slovak regulator said, according to the New York Times. “In several cases, they appear to be vaccines with different properties (lyophilisate versus solution, single-dose ampoules versus multi-dose vials, different storage conditions, composition and method of manufacture).”
When there were news about this vaccine, my comment was that I believe Russian scientists but I doubt their manufacturing. Unfortunately, I was proved to be right.
[changed format as last part of text did not appear to belong in the quoted text – Incognito]
Thanks, Incognito, but that bit of text actually was part of the quote, not me. Even though it looks like what I would say, and actually did say back awhile ago about russian manufacturing vs their scientists. I can usually fight off the annoying urge to say I wuz right. I just ran out of time in the edit window trying to figure out how to get the format clear.
Oh, I opened your link, of course, and didn’t see this text anywhere so I moved it outside the block quote:
When there were news about this vaccine, my comment was that I believe Russian scientists but I doubt their manufacturing. Unfortunately, I was proved to be right.
Don't bother. I'm happy to own those words, they're very close to what I would say. As long as the original commenter on the arstechnicha article (waaaay down in the comments) doesn't get tetchy about their words getting attributed to me.
edit: lemme see if this goes straight to the comment:
India 152,000 recorded Covid cases today. With the low level of testing in India at present you could probably double this number-another right-wing government Covid epic fail to go with Trump, Macron, Boris, Bolsonaro, Duda, etc
That two week NZ ban on people flying from India is going to end up as several months.
Have special hazard suits become available to enclose passengers flying? It wouldn't be pleasant but if one had a pre-test for health, and then wore that could that enable some people who have had to travel to dodgy places for family or personal reasons, to get home? And then automatic quarantine. Not sure if it should apply to business travellers.
India shot itself in the foot by going for flaming nationalist and fundamentalist leader. Now they need to think again but hey why worry – it's gone out of fashion in so many countries. Edict by wishful thinking and command is in instead.
I am not clear what you are suggesting, greywarshark – If people are being automatically quarantined, all that the hazard suits are doing is giving a little more confidence that they may not have been infected in flight (whether in their seat or when breaching the suit for toilet purposes). There have been suggestions that some pre-flight tests are not very reliable. But if a precaution is reasonable, who should it not apply to business travellers? If there are a lot of New Zealand citizens in India, it may become necessary to have a special flight just for them . . .
I think it would be the Air condition system that needs to be cleaned, filters exchanged etc. Hazard suits would not help really. Maintenance of the Air condition system like this is expensive and I am not sure whether Airlines will just take this as a insurance risk proposal and run with it. If anybody makes a claim they have to proof a fault – and how would this be possible? Even if people test negative of the virus before boarding, as soon as they are on the plain, that's it.
Perhaps the cruise ships should be repurposed. It takes longer to reach the destination but it could double up as quarantine time. I am sure a deal can be reached.
The cruise ship idea would be an intelligent approach with them doubling as possible hospital ships for those who seemed clean but had the lingering lurgy – would have to be one of the smaller ones.
Sea transport will have to come around again like I used in the 1970s on my OE. It was all part of the experience, so it would keep the industry going for the present to use them for Covid 19 travel, and as a side issue might give us cheaper transport for mail and packages than the horrific prices we pay now for international stuff over letter size and width.
There's something about cruise ships that seems to make them petrie dishes for infectious disease – covid, gastro, you name it.
Dunno if it's a design thing or the passengers or shitty conditions for crew. But the worry is one person with an infection gets on the ship, and by the time it reaches port 1000 people have caught it and 300 are still sick. So rather than an automatically-quarantined arrival, the damned thing swamps our quarantine and ICU facilities overnight.
Firstly, having up to some 400 passengers on a flight, being infected by air conditioning recycling cabin air is far more certain to be contagious. Secondly, using Cruise ships that hold some 3000 passengers is clearly better in terms of transporting more people. It doesn't mean that this is to become an entertainers dream. But you have the time on your side if corona is to be found amongst passengers and a quarantine location without using hotels and infected security guards do not even enter the scenario.
Far more efficient and secure as far as I can see. People will appreciate that they have some time to settle down after being through major anxiety too.
3000 passengers can end up being 3000 patients. Worse than batches of 400.
Yes. more efficient energy-wise. And maybe operating a "liner" model rather than a "cruise" model (transatlantic vs caribbean fun park) would result in outbreaks onboard being easier to control.
But it's not a public health tendril to be jumping for when we're already on a reasonably safe ledge.
All of the above will become the basis of multiple law suits once the cruise fleet has to come into port and the writs can be served.
The issues are intrinsic to the design of the ships and the business model so not a lot that can be done to change things without the economics going all to pot.
air conditioning and buffet food are mostly to blame for cruise ships being petrie dishes. breathing badly scrubed air and coughing over the food bain marie. yuk.
Yeah. One might be able to adapt away from buffet style, but making the aircon quarantine-safe could well be an impractical refit for many vessels.
Don't forget the living conditions for the crew, either. And the laundry setup. And the water system.
It's a bit like hotels as quarantine facilities – if they're not designed with that function in mind from the start, there could be some fundamental flaws in a facility.
I'd like to know what the level of Covid – 19 is in the water and if people are being infected or picking up another strain from the water in India and Brazil?
And also check Dubai as a transit port. I understand that people fly there to book on a Emirates to NZ.
Brazil had something like 4000 dead on the 9th. The whole world is in a fourth wave it seems, and worse even it is now the young that get it and transmit it. France is exploding with them. Germany is not doing well. Neither is Italy or Spain for that matter. US, went from 200 death a few days ago to back up 900 odd on the ninth.
I don't care which vaccine, i want the fauci ouchi.
edit https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440229/historic-christchurch-swimming-club-fights-closure The 111-year-old Wharenui Pool has produced scores of Olympic and Commonwealth Games medalists. But with the impending opening of the Metrosports Centre, it's been decided it's not needed. Club president Chris Averill said ongoing maintenance costs were being blamed, but the council wouldn't say what they were.
The local swimming pool used by locals and serving their needs and wishes must go in favour of having a stadium that matches or betters what other cities have, so there! It will hold elite events that the incontinently wealthy are happy to drop their money on. Also it gives bragging rights to the city's leaders and top bureaucrats and makes them feel they are doing important work and worth their salaries, erecting iconic edifices that can gild their CVs.
The case found the stadium would cost more to build and run than it would return in economic benefits, but notes the city faces problems without a stadium and some benefits cannot be measured.
Led by Australian-based stadium construction experts, BESIX Watpac, Kōtui includes Christchurch-based construction companies Southbase Construction and Fulton Hogan, local seismic engineering specialists Lewis Bradford, Christchurch architects Warren and Mahoney, and global stadium design experts Populous and Mott MacDonald.
Watch a video about Kōtui.
Christchurch Council has imported a Ceo from UK especially to push through budget cuts on anything and nearly, everything. That's why overseas people are so good, they don't care about anything here, and can overlook the local yokels – we are just a sojourn on their way to wealth and a house in the stockbroker belt in UK or Australia or even here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon%27s_ArkBabylon's Ark, The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo (2007) is a book by South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, with writer Graham Spence. The book tells of the struggle to save the Baghdad Zoo during the US-led Coalition invasion of Iraq.
Shame on the author who is playing racism in reverse. Nearly 80% of the positive Covid cases coming into NZ are from India. If this trend continues – and it will given the horrendous numbers of cases in India which are likely only a fraction of the true numbers – then they pose a real threat of community Covid clusters re-surfacing in NZ. It's untenable at the moment.
The government had no choice but to temporarily halt the returnees from India until such a time as the situation stabilises in that country. To suggest that it is a racially biased move is not only garbage but its offensive, and those peddling it should be 'hung, drawn and quartered' in my humble opinion.
Sorry, but you can't play around with the current Covid variants. Can you imagine the uproar if the whole country had to go back into Lockdown 4 because of a return of community clusters directly related to returnees from a particular country and the government didn't do anything about it? It would be enormous and rightly so.
The fact it is India is not surprising, but if it had been another country [eg UK] where the bulk of the cases were coming from, then it would be the UK returnees who would have to be temporarily halted.
Some people need to use their brains. This pandemic is unprecedented in modern history. There are always going to have to be exceptions to what is normal protocol.
He's talking about people on temporary working visa's not citizens or permanent residents. So to me an overblown sense of entitlement and fake presentation.
These are not visa's ( some probably "the buy some study that sells a work visa too") that would not have led to automatic residency. Some of these old work study visa's must be due to expire soon. Worldwide there must be plenty of people who had/ have a visa that they cannot now use including a lot of younger NZer's. That's the breaks.
Be very interesting to know how many incomers from India are using either a second passport or a residency visa who had not been ordinarily resident for quite some time before covid hit. But we won't be told that.
The title is definitely misleading but so is the story. Work visas are not enough to get onto the plane. My understanding is that it has to be a passport or permanent residency to get through.
I can understand the government not trying to do too much to sort this because they can't really see the future – imagine the uproar if they simply cancelled most of them because we won't have borders open rather than letting them expire. Under the rules now many of these visas would not be issued -particularly the low grade study while you work ones. We have also been letting people stay here far too long on a mishmash of various temporary visas and no immigration system should raise "false or exaggerated hopes". Frankly for the size of the population the immigration queue seems to be utterly excessive. As to financial loss – the government has been utterly clear that this is not a factor- and plenty of people have been pushed into all sorts of situations that they would rather not be in and that has been life for a lot of us.
Hamilton City Councillor Dave Macpherson said an Official Information Act request to his own council showed it had 58 requests from the lobby group since the start of 2018, costing an estimated $61,364 in staff time.
The sheer number and complexity of requests had meant extra staff had to be employed, he said.
"When you realise there are nearly 70 councils getting these requests on what are usually inane or irrelevant subjects, I'd say they are costing us all over a million dollars a year," Councillor Macpherson said.
It was hypocritical of the Taxpayers’ Union, which frequently criticised councils for wasting public money, to be costing ratepayers so much, he said.
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Is it just me, or does the writer reek of entitlement?
The use of the term stateless is the kind of inaccuracy that characterizes yellow journalism – from our state broadcaster no less.
One hopes that Tracy Martin's review will not reduce RNZ to peddling breathless rubbish like this – the writer should be with Newshub or one of the other clickbait sewers.
I was just about to post this too. Over 80% of the cases coming in seem to be from India, the guy that wrote this article needs to get a grip and see sense.
What is the protocol with Harry returning for the funeral? In NZ he'd have to quarantine for 14 days before being allow to attend, but Phil's do is just 6 days away.
Pretty high risk to the Queen having Harry fly in from California for hugs and kisses.
Another fascinating example of added value and productivity being stripped from New Zealand's economy by neoliberals. There is a race to the bottom, the end goal seemingly to have New Zealand produce the most raw and undeveloped primary products in the world.
(New Zealand) wheat farmers are some of most productive in the world but the vast majority of it is sold for animal feed while the bread we eat is made using imported Australian flour.
This runs counter to all economists' pleadings for New Zealand to up its game on productivity. We also seem to have primary industries competing with each other. Dairy, promoted so heavily under the last national government grabbing all the land for itself, whether suitable or not, then taking all the local grain that was left to feed cows.
I'm reminded of the often used turn of phrase, "work smarter, not harder". It seems since Rogernomics we have been going in the opposite direction.
Historically the quality of flour in New Zealand was very variable and often quite crap, as a result of poorly designed regulations. So when deregulation happened, a lot of users happily switched to overseas flour and got better results from their baked goods. Since then, supply chain inertia may be a large part of the difficulty NZ growers are having with selling their goods. Or maybe there's still quality issues, I vaguely remember some mutterings about significant differences in the composition of NZ wheat compared to overseas, possibly as a consequence of it not getting the extreme dry heat here that other growing areas get, or differences in trace elements.
Here's a piece talking about the regulatory environment:
So nothing to do with New Zealand conditions but perhaps the type of wheats used and probably the processing (they don't really have an answer in that article).
I'm not surprised an artisan baguette causes less trouble than a bag of Tip-Top. are you?
I feel like the Canterbury plains are an ideal wheat growing area. But it's all irrigated Dairy conversions now.
not quite…theres still a good amount of cropping, but my understanding is that conditions do dictate the type and quality of wheat we can produce…and as much as it may grate the Oz wheat is superior for bread making…such is life.
I don't have an issue with Australian wheat. In the original article it says it's cheaper because it's grown on lower value land and for some reason it's cheaper to transport it from Australia than from the South Island.
Part of the beauty of New Zealand is we have a variety of different conditions all within our borders. Can't see France having Australian conditions (it's more like NZ) yet their bread making is supposedly amazing.
Australia are great a producing two things. Shiraz and racists.
Capitalism (free market or otherwise) rewards competitive advantage…Australia has a competitive advantage in wheat production…but our apples are better.
We can produce suitable quality wheat BUT we cant do it at the required volume or the required consistency…our climate is too variable which increases the base costs…its hard to be competitive when you only have one good producing year in every 3 or 4 seasons …that drives the end users to import.
NZ has never been self sufficient in milling wheat and to be so would require a pretty large redundancy that would impact the price significantly….id suggest the public may object to bread products at significantly higher prices than current regardless of their quality
Historically the country produced its own grain for baked products and not that long ago there were 30 or 40 mills across the country. Going back further there were hundreds of mills, according to the book, Flour Milling in New Zealand.
The country was self-sufficient in wheat production until government control of the industry under the Wheat Board ended in 1987, and led to imports by the mid-1990s.
Theres still a few growing wheat in Canterbury ,especially around where I live,I buy wheat for chicken feed from a local farmer a few k's down the road from me,when I asked him why he sells it for animal feed he says it's too expensive to get the protein content high enough for human consumption.
[That user name is immediately attracting the attention of the Moderators – Incognito]
Look like rater than savining taxpayers money like the so called Taxpayers' Union claim they are infact costing the country a lot of money daily.
OIAs to Hamilton council cost $60k in staff time
And as the article mentions that is just one of the many councils in NZ they are bombarding on a regular basis with OIA requests.
"They make an art-form of spraying Official Information Act information demands to pretty much every council in the country, trawling for information that will bolster their own political viewpoint," he said.
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
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Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
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This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
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.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
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Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
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For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
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Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
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Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
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How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
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The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
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The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
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The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
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The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
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The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
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New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
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Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Ideology is like your favourite music – all the notes you need are there and everything seems perfect when you hear it. You never need notice the notes that are missing.
If you want a perfect example of this, consider the brouhaha that greeted the opening of the 1km of rainbow cycleway on Karangahape road built for the bougie gay and gay adjacent crew of inner city Auckland. It cost well over five million dollars (an eye watering $5,400 per metre), value for money we are told. Then jump in your car and take a look at the muddly, rutted, sorry state of affairs that is the car park at the Avondale markets (frequented by thousands and thousands of less fashionable types working class types) on a rainy morning.
So many perfect notes making so much beautiful music up on K road though.
PS – the toal cost of the K rd upgrade in north of 18 million dollars, or $18,000+ per freaking metre. Anywhere else in the world there would be calls for an inquiry at what looks like a case of price gouging by contractors but not here. After all, NZ has no corruption.
Bigotry is like a fart of thrash metal blaring through the early hours. There may be some music in there, but mostly it's ugly noise to those in the blast radius.
Define "gay adjacent" for us Sanctuary. You may have a point about the price of the K road cycleway – maybe you can make it without the homophobia?
I have to confess my original post was designed as a little experiment to see if the propositions about liberal identity politics and class put forward by Ash Sarkar in her Double Down News segment are valid (see I think open mike yesterday). I am not that interested if your identity feels threatened to the point of vulgar tortured analogy, Because I think that is just boring. But as you post seems to show, Sarkar's proposition we can't escape identity politics because that is largely where politics are at right now is true.
The problem, as Sarkar eloquently pointed out, is the bourgeois outrage of your liberal identity politics puts recognition by the state and it's actors above self organisation, and your priority is more the distractions of political conflict on the terrain of identity than you are about asking about the underpinning ideology as to who and why those contracts were let to redevelop K road. And that's was kinda the entire point of my post, so thanks for playing.
PS – The PM self-described herself as "youth adjacent", are we to presume she was consumed with a dislike of those who consort with young people? Perhaps you could enlighten me on the PM's view of young people?
Sanctuary, I am mainly onsite to find interesting links that I might otherwise been exposed to in other fora. I haven't read every word on OM daily for many years now. A link to Sarkar's post would be nice – in fact any links to substantiate any of your points wouldn't hurt.
So; you were writing to provoke a response, and now claim that; someone questioning your bizarre claims, is proof that they would have responded that way even if the original assertion had not been made?
I am starting to remember why I don't much bother commenting on NZpolitics blogs anymore. People here are just too desperately clever about how they say things, to bother much about what they are saying.
Joe90 posted the Sarkar clip in this comment yesterday.
Conflict in Auckland's gay activists is intense and has been for over two years. Too many foolish splits and outrages
The projects labelled as 'cycling' ones end up bundling huge underground services upgrades etc. K Rd is no different in that sense. You may be conflating the rainbow pedestrian crossing with its perpendicular cycleway.
good point sacha. too many people look at a $$$ figure and dont think about the services below ground that are included in costs. in many parts of the country, services like water, sewerage etc are over 100 yrs old and either way too small or in case of pipeing, completely knackered, earthquakes,ground settlement etc. and now with extra internet demanded as well as other undergrounding, cycleways are far easier to dig up than heavily trafficked streets.
Western world media collectively expose their deep rooted ties to the political status quo by shamefully remaining silent while Julian Assange is made an example of, for all the world to witness, of what will happen to anyone brave enough to expose their lies, corruption and murderous wars .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICDEQ2fnUNs
Some—not all—of the exalted intellects on RNZ National did not "shamefully remain silent" during Assange's torture by the state; they joined in the persecution. Those who laughed at his plight, and mocked him, include: Jim Mora, Denise L'Estrange-Corbet, Graham Bell, Chris Trotter, Lisa Scott, Susan Baldacci, Caitlin Cherry, Zara Potts. Here are some of those witty commentators "yukking it up" in June 2013….
One New Zealand journalist who did remain shamefully silent at his plight was Tova O'Brien. She was chosen to sit quietly on the panel during a farcical "World Press Freedom Day" run by the scofflaw U.K. regime just days after it had dragged Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy…..
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-05-2019/#comment-1618504
I forgot to cite one of the most brutal denouncers of them all: Noelle McCarthy.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2017/12/possibly-most-repellent-panel-pre-show.html
"Abstaining from the witchhunt would have classed the dissenter as an enemy. Stalin was supported by fanatics, cynics, sadists and moral cowards."
—Donald Rayfield, Stalin and His Hangmen: An Authoritative Portrait of a Tyrant and Those Who Served Him (Viking, 2004)
I have sent a couple of emails to Colin Peacock and Media watch, appealing to his sense of journalist integrity to do a piece on the general lack of coverage in this moment, but the relentless coverage when Assange was being accused of rape, however sadly it was to no avail….looks like they only run their critical eye over 'soft' subjects.
What I can find on Julian Assange lately.
Mar.14/21 https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7165583/julian-assanges-father-takes-freedom-fight-to-canberra/
Mar.15/21 https://www.arabnews.com/node/1504621/world WikiLeaks’ Assange suffering ‘psychological torture’: UN expert
Undated by the Evening Standard but they are talking about the two year commemoration of Julian's imprisonment on April 11. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/julian-assange-belmarsh-prison-wikileaks-ecuadorian-london-b928720.html
Undated https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/04/10/assa-j01.html (World Socialist Web) Two years since Assange was seized from the Ecuadorian Embassy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks
Thanks for that update greywarshark, disturbingly most MSM, and a good proportion of the commenters on this site are OK with the fact that while Assange is being prosecuted with anything but a fair trial, and essentially being tortured in full public view, for bravely exposing US war and political crimes… none of the perpetrators of those crimes have been suffered even the slightest bump in their lives, and in the case of the DNC, some have been promoted for their crimes.
I guess the takeaway from this travesty, is that propaganda works..even on people who you would have thought were a bit smarter than they have turned out to be..or maybe they have just slowly become lazy and cynical as they drifted to the Centre-Right?
In the last years of the Blair regime, Tony Bliar and his chief hangman Alistair Campbell unleashed an absurd tirade against the media, which they claimed had continually undermined and questioned the integrity of the U.K. regime.
Shortly after, on Mediawatch, Colin Peacock failed to remind his listeners that, apart from a brief deviation by the BBC pointing out that the case for attacking Iraq had been manufactured by U.K. and U.S. propagandists and spin doctors, and poor stupid Piers Morgan falling into a trap set by Army pranksters, the major U.K. media had in fact been in lockstep with the government. Instead, Peacock pronounced in deadly serious tones that Blair and Campbell had “made many good points.”
In 2011, Peacock defended another politician, this time one John Key, after Key had made some foolish and ignorant remarks about the mass murder in Norway carried out by Anders Breivik.
In 2013, Peacock conducted a fawning interview with BBC journalist Lyse Doucet, which ended like this:
So, based on his past performance, I would not expect Peacock to mount a serious defence of the most important dissenting journalist of our time.
@ Morrissey, thanks for that insight on Peacock, I missed those important little glimpse’s into his geo political positions.
The world of opinion is firmly split,
On Julian Assange and Wiki leaks,
There is that of peaceful people,
And that of war monger freaks.
Peace loving folk hail him as hero,
War lovers want to fill him with lead,
Wiki leaks though, clearly shows,
How democrazy is dead.
Bravo, BydOnz!
Excellent!….
Has anything new actually happened with the case?
Thanks McFlock, your having to ask that question makes my point quite succinctly….yes it was two years ago that Assange was seized from the Ecuadorian embassy.
If MSM journalists were at all concerned with keeping the spotlight on this travesty of justice, outrageous attack on whistleblowers and press freedoms, they would use every opportunity to keep pressure on power, but they will of course never do any of the above, as they are nothing more than stenographers for their corporate owners.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/04/10/assa-j01.html
Two years since Assange was seized from the Ecuadorian Embassy
" Two years ago on Sunday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was seized from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He has been incarcerated ever since, fighting extradition to the United States where he faces life imprisonment in barbaric conditions for exposing war crimes, coup plots, mass state surveillance, torture and corruption. "
So, no. Nothing new. I was thinking there’d maybe been another court argument or something.
And again you make my point very nicely, you would have to ask people on The Standard if there is any developments in Assange's case, because you are well aware of the lack of news coverage his plight gets on MSM..thanks.
dude, I got up, had brekky, turned on the computer, checked emails, did a quiz or two, came here, and there was an extended wank about Assange. So I thought something might have happened.
Apparently not.
I did not wake up yearning for an update on the latest Assange case regardless of whether anything substantive had actually happened, but woe, the accursed msm is suppressing all the court days where he expertly skewers the fascistic oppressors' pseudo-legal arguments, so I had to read Adrian's latest rant to get my fix.
Just mildly curious.
Any thoughts on whether Biden's new AG might affect Justice Dept policy on the current case? Seems to have a wider view of the first amendment, so that could be relevant.
I was kinda hoping that by now they would have made a statement that it's not in the US national interest to continue pursuing Assange, because of the "New York Times problem". I'm kinda disappointed something like that hasn't happened, it could be dealt with really quickly.
Maybe they're too busy dealing with other shitfights, like the window is closing fast on undoing a lot of Fuckface von Clownstick's damaging executive actions. So maybe it will just be quietly dropped when the next court appearance comes around and they have to do something one way or another.
I figure there are basically two milestones where they might back off: first couple of months of the new AG (i.e. directive to re-examine their basis for action, then the opinion suggests first amendment is an issue, so they back off), or yeah the next court date or shortly before it.
They sort of have to appeal the finding that their prison conditions are so awful it would be unjust to extradite Assange to the US. It's like showing their awful underwear in public, and could be used to oppose extradition of other criminals and suspects.
But if there's another reason to drop the case entirely, it might be a welcome exit plan. If the UK supreme court upheld that finding, there's many a drug trafficker, murderer, or even Kim Dotcom who might be interested in that precedent. Even in other jurisdictions it could hold some weight.
Nothing new – nice.
The poor misguided fool!
Can't understand why that didn't make global headlines and chirons across all channels. Truly there is a grand conspiracy to suppress all news of such importance.
As I said previously, Deep State buries bad news 😉 [emoticon for people who miss subtle humour]
Mate if you got up looked at TS and all you could think about was wanking, maybe you should have stayed in bed a little longer?
I can't avoid it when you keep waving it in front of people's faces.
No thoughts on Garland then? He's actually an interesting pick which lends itself to a subtle and considered analysis, and could have important repercussions on this case.
.… where he expertly skewers the fascistic oppressors' pseudo-legal arguments….
He doesn't have to skewer anything. The scofflaw British and U.S. regimes, whose brutal power and malice you trivialize with your sarcasm, have to prove their case. They have not, of course.
so I had to read Adrian's latest rant…
???? Trivializing and mischaracterizing Adrian's thoughtful contributions does your credibility no good whatsoever. But then again, who would expect anything better from you?
https://thestandard.org.nz/assange-arrested/#comment-1606579
Grovel
Saturday 10 April 2021. It's 5:45 p.m., halfway through the half hour which Prime calls "News." A portly "U.K. correspondent", standing on a London street, is wrapping up the story that has occupied the whole programme so far….
LLOYD BURR: [sententiously] It's fair to say that this is a country in mourning.
Back in the New Zealand studio, host Janika ter Allen accepts that hilariously wrong statement with the same straight face she employed during the time she endured as Paul Henry's cheerful sidekick on TV3's horrid, best-forgotten Paul Henry Show (mercifully euthanised in late 2014, less than a year after its inception).
A flick of the remote control takes us to TVNZ1, where a trailer for the 6pm news ends with Melissa Stokes announcing what's on the menu: "…and the HUNDREDS of Kiwi Kids helped by the Duke of Edinburgh!"
These New Zealand "reporters" were, as usual, merely mimicking an overseas model, in this case the British state broadcaster.
Does there now need to be a democratic process for the time limit on a news item?
Do people need to be told that they have an off button on the remote?
The Royal family are going through the loss of a husband, a father, a grandfather and a great grandfather. The Royal family have always been easy picking for the media and the Duke of Edinburgh did not want fuss. Good on him for max 30 people being able to attend his funeral service.
Since my comment under the "Sustainability and learning from forest gardening" post has disappeared, I'll go to the trouble of rewriting it here:
The final sentence of that post concludes: " … no reason this cannot be done at scale. "
There's productivity to consider. Reportedly, the Guyton's two acres supplies 60 to 70% of their vegetarian diet. Make allowance for land area lost to house, driveway, etc, and for surplus food going off the property to others, it nets out to this food forest producing roughly the food for one person eating a vegetarian diet from one acre of land.
How does this compare to other agricultural methods? Worldwide there's about 4.8 billion hectares of land used for feeding 8 billion humans. That averages out to 0.6 hectares, or 1.5 acres per person. But that's an average of roughly a 12x variation from roughly 0.25 acres per person in predominantly vegetarian places such as India, Malawi, to over 3 acres per person needed to feed high beef consumers such as NZ, US, Brazil, Argentina.
Consider a middle of the pack nation such as Austria (large pdf, see p19). Their current consumption of animal products is higher than considered optimal for good health, at least by some authorities (cue Psycho Milt disputing this). In their case, merely reducing their consumption of animal products down to healthier levels would shift their food production land footprint down to significantly under one acre per person, of which half is still due to animal products and is still well above the quarter acre or so per person for predominantly vegetarian diets.
So all in all, the Guyton's food forest looks like it's very low productivity when considered as food-production land. It seems that the Guyton's sustainability improvements come from their adoption of a vegetarian diet much more than their food production practices. Indeed, the ability to devote 2 acres to partially feeding a vegetarian diet to two people is as much a manifestation of wealth and privilege as my trying to care for an acre of bush for local ecosystem health without producing any food.
This low productivity of the food forest means that there is indeed reason it can't be done at the kind of scale needed for it to be a pointer for feeding the masses in the future. At best, there's aspects of it that could be adapted to further improve higher productivity agricultural methods.
An interesting article indeed. Just wondering, people living in rural or semi rural areas are able to maintain their vege garden if they are so inclined and fruit trees which is better still. Some keep chickens for eggs and meat. How many people live like that vs urban areas where one has to fight for a parking spot or even a save bike stand. I believe urban populations are in the majority and they have no land at all.
There are simply too many people on this planet. The situation will not improve at all, no matter how many platitudes are being presented and how many 3rd world produced sneakers are worn out on protest marches by those who go afterwards straight to McDonalds.
As usual, Our World in Data has plenty of good info collated together about urbanisation. Yes, worldwide more than half the population is urban, and in wealthy countries the urban share is often in the 90% range.
https://ourworldindata.org/urbanization
As population continues to grow, feeding everyone will require some mix of reducing the the per capita footprint of everyone ( which runs against the trend of when people get wealthier they want to eat more meat), and improving the productivity of the resources we use to produce food. I really can't see a pathway forward for methods that increase labour intensiveness and decrease land productivity.
To be sure, there's plenty of good individual ideas and elements that can transfer over from regenag, organic etc to more conventional higher productivity methods. Ideas such as the value of having diverse healthy microbial, invertebrate and larger ecosystems doing some of the work now being done by massive applications of emissions-intensive chemicals.
But it's going to be very difficult to move away from a lot of the things that make modern agriculture so productive. Personally, I'm guessing there's places for things such as micro-robots doing targeted chemical applications and pest control, as well as splashier tech such as vat-grown substitutes for animal products, GMOs that can tolerate much more stressful environments etc.
But all that will not do away with the population explosion.
In order to to achieve any transformation in all countries, especially those with large populations would take decades. Far too long to combat the already increasing impact on the environment. Looking at the scale and scope of changing methods etc., there is the danger of a trade off – creating political systems that are oppressive. Greens are not immune to imposing believes, knowledge (proven or not) and self interest.
Then there is the task of moving a generation brought up on fast food away from that in the "first world" that actually no longer exists. Especially if it is the cheaper version vs groceries and cooking. The later is a skill increasingly lost in an average household. The focus has be at home level working outwards not the other way around. Income levels have to improve a lot if we want to have birth rate sustainability too. There are many issues feeding into this but suffice to say it will take longer to address than seeing the consequences unfold. I hope I am wrong.
When I was young…. we had cooking classes and I still have a cookbook with recipes that the young can manage or are just basic. It would be a must if the education people had any idea of what the modern individual needs to know to provide them with a toolbag of useful knowledge, if primary and intermediate kids had meal planning and fun with vegs, and how to cook with fruit so you only need a pinch of sugar and lemon peel to bring out flavours etc.
And also how to put up a shelf, how to repair something, useful things to do with cartons, so recycling them and saving yourself $15 for shelves in a 'cubby'. Just being practical and not expecting the world to look after you, and needing it all the time. That is the trend we are being encouraged to accept, doors that open for you, voice activated blah.
Let's get capable. How to repair a tyre, oil a chain, a squeaky door, change a fuse etc. That houses and rooms need some ventilation, how to instal a window guard slide so it can be left open a bit but safely.
Some people need to be shown what a rubbish bin is for and how to use it.
Have some people become so apathetic that they can no longer perform a simple task?
Simply put Treetop, the answer is Yes. So we must accept this is so and see how we can make tasks exciting enough to carry out. There was a system where putting an aluminium can in a container would give a receipt that could be used somewhere. That is the sort of thing that would produce a positive response. It's a case of thinking creatively to deal with new realities.
I'm kinda curious about how and why my comment under the "Sustainability and learning from forest gardening" post disappeared without trace or moderator comment, and just now my approximate rewrite of that comment in Open Mike has gone into moderation.
edit: … and now they are visible …
There are reasons but none are directly related to you comment(s) and patience is a virtue; Moderators are not and cannot be around all the time and see and deal with everything straight away. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Thanks for that, Incognito.
Including three or more links in your comment triggers moderation, as far as I recall.
I don't think it was that. I'm well aware of the need to strip out extraneous links from the likes of wikipedia quotes.
My first comment posted OK, then I edited a typo, and it seemed to go back up OK. Then I went and did an errand, and when I came back an hour later, it was gone.
No, it’s more than three links to trigger Auto-Mod. In Andre’s case it was something different and even less suspect. It all happened without any human intervention. A Mod has to review pending comments and figure out why they triggered Auto-Mod. I can tell you that sometimes it is a bit like ‘where’s Wally’ without knowing what Wally looks like 😉
Seven links seems OK, though no guarantees. Could/should 'link density' be a factor?
😀
WordPress is not smart enough for that.
Thought from Man Ray RIP who was an artist in many ways.
and
I think that is maybe what we try and do here with words; and often achieve.
https://www.sothebysinstitute.com/news-and-events/news/may-ray-what-we-can-learn
Man Ray was a true genius. A bit of a trope, but one of my favourite works here:
https://nga.gov.au/international/catalogue/detail.cfm?IRN=43741
I don't understand that interesting trend – but it makes you think perhaps along these lines:
The idealist philosopher George Berkeley argued that physical objects do not exist independently of the mind that perceives them. An item truly exists only as long as it is observed; otherwise, it is not only meaningless but simply nonexistent.
Solipsism – Wikipedia
What's under the cover? It's perhaps more interesting to ponder than confirm. Also reminds me of Christo's work wrapping iconic buildings in lots of plastic? That is very decadent and of course now not environmentally sound.
Vaccine politics ….
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/04/russia-cries-sabotage-after-slovakia-questions-quality-of-sputnik-vaccine/
edit: one of the comments kinda sums up my view of the idea of getting vaccines from Russia:
When there were news about this vaccine, my comment was that I believe Russian scientists but I doubt their manufacturing. Unfortunately, I was proved to be right.
[changed format as last part of text did not appear to belong in the quoted text – Incognito]
Thanks, Incognito, but that bit of text actually was part of the quote, not me. Even though it looks like what I would say, and actually did say back awhile ago about russian manufacturing vs their scientists. I can usually fight off the annoying urge to say I wuz right. I just ran out of time in the edit window trying to figure out how to get the format clear.
Oh, I opened your link, of course, and didn’t see this text anywhere so I moved it outside the block quote:
If I made a mistake, I will correct it.
Don't bother. I'm happy to own those words, they're very close to what I would say. As long as the original commenter on the arstechnicha article (waaaay down in the comments) doesn't get tetchy about their words getting attributed to me.
edit: lemme see if this goes straight to the comment:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/04/russia-cries-sabotage-after-slovakia-questions-quality-of-sputnik-vaccine/?comments=1&post=39809574#comment-39809574
edit: yep, goes straight to the comment. I s’pose in future I could put a link to the article and a separate link to the quoted comment.
India 152,000 recorded Covid cases today. With the low level of testing in India at present you could probably double this number-another right-wing government Covid epic fail to go with Trump, Macron, Boris, Bolsonaro, Duda, etc
That two week NZ ban on people flying from India is going to end up as several months.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR3gp6yv7rvSWynvpdFjNL5Qb6j-hlSQcitFh7Chy5M02JuD6TiJpMq6Oq4
Have special hazard suits become available to enclose passengers flying? It wouldn't be pleasant but if one had a pre-test for health, and then wore that could that enable some people who have had to travel to dodgy places for family or personal reasons, to get home? And then automatic quarantine. Not sure if it should apply to business travellers.
India shot itself in the foot by going for flaming nationalist and fundamentalist leader. Now they need to think again but hey why worry – it's gone out of fashion in so many countries. Edict by wishful thinking and command is in instead.
I am not clear what you are suggesting, greywarshark – If people are being automatically quarantined, all that the hazard suits are doing is giving a little more confidence that they may not have been infected in flight (whether in their seat or when breaching the suit for toilet purposes). There have been suggestions that some pre-flight tests are not very reliable. But if a precaution is reasonable, who should it not apply to business travellers? If there are a lot of New Zealand citizens in India, it may become necessary to have a special flight just for them . . .
I am suggesting returning family matters first, then business Ed1. To prevent distress and hardship. But case by case I guess.
I think it would be the Air condition system that needs to be cleaned, filters exchanged etc. Hazard suits would not help really. Maintenance of the Air condition system like this is expensive and I am not sure whether Airlines will just take this as a insurance risk proposal and run with it. If anybody makes a claim they have to proof a fault – and how would this be possible? Even if people test negative of the virus before boarding, as soon as they are on the plain, that's it.
Perhaps the cruise ships should be repurposed. It takes longer to reach the destination but it could double up as quarantine time. I am sure a deal can be reached.
The cruise ship idea would be an intelligent approach with them doubling as possible hospital ships for those who seemed clean but had the lingering lurgy – would have to be one of the smaller ones.
Sea transport will have to come around again like I used in the 1970s on my OE. It was all part of the experience, so it would keep the industry going for the present to use them for Covid 19 travel, and as a side issue might give us cheaper transport for mail and packages than the horrific prices we pay now for international stuff over letter size and width.
There's something about cruise ships that seems to make them petrie dishes for infectious disease – covid, gastro, you name it.
Dunno if it's a design thing or the passengers or shitty conditions for crew. But the worry is one person with an infection gets on the ship, and by the time it reaches port 1000 people have caught it and 300 are still sick. So rather than an automatically-quarantined arrival, the damned thing swamps our quarantine and ICU facilities overnight.
Firstly, having up to some 400 passengers on a flight, being infected by air conditioning recycling cabin air is far more certain to be contagious. Secondly, using Cruise ships that hold some 3000 passengers is clearly better in terms of transporting more people. It doesn't mean that this is to become an entertainers dream. But you have the time on your side if corona is to be found amongst passengers and a quarantine location without using hotels and infected security guards do not even enter the scenario.
Far more efficient and secure as far as I can see. People will appreciate that they have some time to settle down after being through major anxiety too.
Also, getting less planes in the air also means less pollution. https://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/air-travel-climate-change/
3000 passengers can end up being 3000 patients. Worse than batches of 400.
Yes. more efficient energy-wise. And maybe operating a "liner" model rather than a "cruise" model (transatlantic vs caribbean fun park) would result in outbreaks onboard being easier to control.
But it's not a public health tendril to be jumping for when we're already on a reasonably safe ledge.
Less passengers, more isolation of cabins, decks etc.?
Some thoughts that come to mind:
All of the above will become the basis of multiple law suits once the cruise fleet has to come into port and the writs can be served.
The issues are intrinsic to the design of the ships and the business model so not a lot that can be done to change things without the economics going all to pot.
air conditioning and buffet food are mostly to blame for cruise ships being petrie dishes. breathing badly scrubed air and coughing over the food bain marie. yuk.
Yeah. One might be able to adapt away from buffet style, but making the aircon quarantine-safe could well be an impractical refit for many vessels.
Don't forget the living conditions for the crew, either. And the laundry setup. And the water system.
It's a bit like hotels as quarantine facilities – if they're not designed with that function in mind from the start, there could be some fundamental flaws in a facility.
Visualised
https://twitter.com/Thoughtfulnz/status/1380690799491354625
https://twitter.com/Thoughtfulnz/status/1380750143985573892
I'd like to know what the level of Covid – 19 is in the water and if people are being infected or picking up another strain from the water in India and Brazil?
And also check Dubai as a transit port. I understand that people fly there to book on a Emirates to NZ.
Brazil had something like 4000 dead on the 9th. The whole world is in a fourth wave it seems, and worse even it is now the young that get it and transmit it. France is exploding with them. Germany is not doing well. Neither is Italy or Spain for that matter. US, went from 200 death a few days ago to back up 900 odd on the ninth.
I don't care which vaccine, i want the fauci ouchi.
edit
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440229/historic-christchurch-swimming-club-fights-closure
The 111-year-old Wharenui Pool has produced scores of Olympic and Commonwealth Games medalists.
But with the impending opening of the Metrosports Centre, it's been decided it's not needed.
Club president Chris Averill said ongoing maintenance costs were being blamed, but the council wouldn't say what they were.
The local swimming pool used by locals and serving their needs and wishes must go in favour of having a stadium that matches or betters what other cities have, so there! It will hold elite events that the incontinently wealthy are happy to drop their money on. Also it gives bragging rights to the city's leaders and top bureaucrats and makes them feel they are doing important work and worth their salaries, erecting iconic edifices that can gild their CVs.
The glittering prize is unveiled:
Dec.9/2019 https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/117978037/christchurchs-470m-stadium-plan-revealed-25000-seats-clear-roof-finished-in-5-years
The report says a 25,000 seat mostly clear-roofed facility is the best fit for the city, and could be built within the budgeted $473 million, including running costs. Temporary seating was not included but could be added later…
The case found the stadium would cost more to build and run than it would return in economic benefits, but notes the city faces problems without a stadium and some benefits cannot be measured.
https://newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/kotui-consortium-confirmed-for-canterbury-multi-use-arena-design-and-build
The consortium, called Kōtui, will bring together local and international expertise to design the $473 million state-of-the-art arena that will re-establish Canterbury as a premier sporting and events destination in New Zealand.
Led by Australian-based stadium construction experts, BESIX Watpac, Kōtui includes Christchurch-based construction companies Southbase Construction and Fulton Hogan, local seismic engineering specialists Lewis Bradford, Christchurch architects Warren and Mahoney, and global stadium design experts Populous and Mott MacDonald.
Watch a video about Kōtui.
Christchurch Council has imported a Ceo from UK especially to push through budget cuts on anything and nearly, everything. That's why overseas people are so good, they don't care about anything here, and can overlook the local yokels – we are just a sojourn on their way to wealth and a house in the stockbroker belt in UK or Australia or even here.
Springfield know all about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDOI0cq6GZM
But the invasion was never about oil.
/
https://twitter.com/Beefy_Sharify/status/1380854268626878469
And Babylons Ark! Baghdad Iraq.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon%27s_ArkBabylon's Ark, The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo (2007) is a book by South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, with writer Graham Spence. The book tells of the struggle to save the Baghdad Zoo during the US-led Coalition invasion of Iraq.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/409377.Babylon_s_Ark
Google – Zawraa park zoo inside
Priorities, we has them. Now gimme cheeseburger… please.
How do we fit this in with our so-called principled political system? Not just based on instant stimulus to satisfy profit or other targets.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440244/indian-travel-ban-leaves-kiwis-stateless
It's bullshit stuff!
Shame on the author who is playing racism in reverse. Nearly 80% of the positive Covid cases coming into NZ are from India. If this trend continues – and it will given the horrendous numbers of cases in India which are likely only a fraction of the true numbers – then they pose a real threat of community Covid clusters re-surfacing in NZ. It's untenable at the moment.
The government had no choice but to temporarily halt the returnees from India until such a time as the situation stabilises in that country. To suggest that it is a racially biased move is not only garbage but its offensive, and those peddling it should be 'hung, drawn and quartered' in my humble opinion.
But there is the Kiwi citizens point. That is problematic.
Sorry, but you can't play around with the current Covid variants. Can you imagine the uproar if the whole country had to go back into Lockdown 4 because of a return of community clusters directly related to returnees from a particular country and the government didn't do anything about it? It would be enormous and rightly so.
The fact it is India is not surprising, but if it had been another country [eg UK] where the bulk of the cases were coming from, then it would be the UK returnees who would have to be temporarily halted.
Some people need to use their brains. This pandemic is unprecedented in modern history. There are always going to have to be exceptions to what is normal protocol.
Our community cases are coming from MIQ. Now a case C linked to case B, tonight on stuff. Two weeks of breath holding.
He's talking about people on temporary working visa's not citizens or permanent residents. So to me an overblown sense of entitlement and fake presentation.
These are not visa's ( some probably "the buy some study that sells a work visa too") that would not have led to automatic residency. Some of these old work study visa's must be due to expire soon. Worldwide there must be plenty of people who had/ have a visa that they cannot now use including a lot of younger NZer's. That's the breaks.
Be very interesting to know how many incomers from India are using either a second passport or a residency visa who had not been ordinarily resident for quite some time before covid hit. But we won't be told that.
That is what needs to be sorted out, the condition of the visa when a pandemic.
RedBaronCV The title was misleading apparently – talking up spurious cases. Written by Sandeep Singh who is giving a biased viewpoint it seems.
The title is definitely misleading but so is the story. Work visas are not enough to get onto the plane. My understanding is that it has to be a passport or permanent residency to get through.
I can understand the government not trying to do too much to sort this because they can't really see the future – imagine the uproar if they simply cancelled most of them because we won't have borders open rather than letting them expire. Under the rules now many of these visas would not be issued -particularly the low grade study while you work ones. We have also been letting people stay here far too long on a mishmash of various temporary visas and no immigration system should raise "false or exaggerated hopes". Frankly for the size of the population the immigration queue seems to be utterly excessive. As to financial loss – the government has been utterly clear that this is not a factor- and plenty of people have been pushed into all sorts of situations that they would rather not be in and that has been life for a lot of us.
Sorry, I didn't see you'd beaten me to the punch on this.
Nitwits turning to expensive fu..wits.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440245/taxpayers-union-oias-to-hamilton-council-cost-60k-in-staff-time
Hamilton City Councillor Dave Macpherson said an Official Information Act request to his own council showed it had 58 requests from the lobby group since the start of 2018, costing an estimated $61,364 in staff time.
The sheer number and complexity of requests had meant extra staff had to be employed, he said.
"When you realise there are nearly 70 councils getting these requests on what are usually inane or irrelevant subjects, I'd say they are costing us all over a million dollars a year," Councillor Macpherson said.
It was hypocritical of the Taxpayers’ Union, which frequently criticised councils for wasting public money, to be costing ratepayers so much, he said.
.
Jordan inspires some people with positive and spiritual feelings.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRtqPxvWSKw
But to others the name Jordan produces stress and anxiety.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U29xdvLBUIs
Indian travel ban leaves Kiwis stateless | RNZ News
Is it just me, or does the writer reek of entitlement?
The use of the term stateless is the kind of inaccuracy that characterizes yellow journalism – from our state broadcaster no less.
One hopes that Tracy Martin's review will not reduce RNZ to peddling breathless rubbish like this – the writer should be with Newshub or one of the other clickbait sewers.
I was just about to post this too. Over 80% of the cases coming in seem to be from India, the guy that wrote this article needs to get a grip and see sense.
its very trendy to be a victim.
What is the protocol with Harry returning for the funeral? In NZ he'd have to quarantine for 14 days before being allow to attend, but Phil's do is just 6 days away.
Pretty high risk to the Queen having Harry fly in from California for hugs and kisses.
read about it in next weeks womens weekly, and the next etc,etc,etc.
It'll be a big story if the Queen gets Covid-19 at Phil the Greek's funeral.
Muttonbird @ 14
She's been vaccinated.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55602007
Great. Let's see if the vaccine works.
Yep, hope the vaccines work well, for all our sakes.
I thought the 30 attending the funeral had to wear masks and social distance. I expect all those attending would have a Covid test.
Another fascinating example of added value and productivity being stripped from New Zealand's economy by neoliberals. There is a race to the bottom, the end goal seemingly to have New Zealand produce the most raw and undeveloped primary products in the world.
This runs counter to all economists' pleadings for New Zealand to up its game on productivity. We also seem to have primary industries competing with each other. Dairy, promoted so heavily under the last national government grabbing all the land for itself, whether suitable or not, then taking all the local grain that was left to feed cows.
I'm reminded of the often used turn of phrase, "work smarter, not harder". It seems since Rogernomics we have been going in the opposite direction.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/124700980/local-farmers-grow-quality-wheat-but-most-of-us-arent-eating-it-heres-why
Historically the quality of flour in New Zealand was very variable and often quite crap, as a result of poorly designed regulations. So when deregulation happened, a lot of users happily switched to overseas flour and got better results from their baked goods. Since then, supply chain inertia may be a large part of the difficulty NZ growers are having with selling their goods. Or maybe there's still quality issues, I vaguely remember some mutterings about significant differences in the composition of NZ wheat compared to overseas, possibly as a consequence of it not getting the extreme dry heat here that other growing areas get, or differences in trace elements.
Here's a piece talking about the regulatory environment:
https://nzier.org.nz/static/media/filer_public/62/f1/62f18e59-82d8-4301-9961-5e29e2ed9665/nztcwp4.pdf – yes it's NZIER, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're completely wrong.
Here's a piece hinting that there may still be differences between NZ wheat and overseas:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/gluten-intolerant-kiwis-can-eat-bread-overseas-but-not-in-new-zealand/NZBVIMMBI2IDJV4HD2TUA3V7JU/
So nothing to do with New Zealand conditions but perhaps the type of wheats used and probably the processing (they don't really have an answer in that article).
I'm not surprised an artisan baguette causes less trouble than a bag of Tip-Top. are you?
I feel like the Canterbury plains are an ideal wheat growing area. But it's all irrigated Dairy conversions now.
not quite…theres still a good amount of cropping, but my understanding is that conditions do dictate the type and quality of wheat we can produce…and as much as it may grate the Oz wheat is superior for bread making…such is life.
For terrible bread making? That seems true.
I don't have an issue with Australian wheat. In the original article it says it's cheaper because it's grown on lower value land and for some reason it's cheaper to transport it from Australia than from the South Island.
Part of the beauty of New Zealand is we have a variety of different conditions all within our borders. Can't see France having Australian conditions (it's more like NZ) yet their bread making is supposedly amazing.
Australia are great a producing two things. Shiraz and racists.
Then buy NZ wheat and bake your own….or talk to a baker.
And France like Australia has a continental climate…unlike NZ
It's not about how I like my bread.
The point of my comment is about how free market capitalism does not produce the elusive productivity holy grail New Zealand is looking for.
It appears free market capitalism renders us in particular more and more dependent on low value primary industry.
Capitalism (free market or otherwise) rewards competitive advantage…Australia has a competitive advantage in wheat production…but our apples are better.
We can produce suitable quality wheat BUT we cant do it at the required volume or the required consistency…our climate is too variable which increases the base costs…its hard to be competitive when you only have one good producing year in every 3 or 4 seasons …that drives the end users to import.
NZ has never been self sufficient in milling wheat and to be so would require a pretty large redundancy that would impact the price significantly….id suggest the public may object to bread products at significantly higher prices than current regardless of their quality
https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=nz&commodity=wheat&graph=imports
Thats odd…why then did we import hundreds of thousands of tons during the 60s and 70s.
We have imported wheat from Australia since the 1930s
Theres still a few growing wheat in Canterbury ,especially around where I live,I buy wheat for chicken feed from a local farmer a few k's down the road from me,when I asked him why he sells it for animal feed he says it's too expensive to get the protein content high enough for human consumption.
[That user name is immediately attracting the attention of the Moderators – Incognito]
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018791074/we-need-a-building-ministry-doco-reveals-high-rise-horrors
We were talking about buildings yesterday in Australia etc – see https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10-04-2021/#comment-1787687
So that report that said there was no institutional racism in the uk a week or two back? Some of the authors reckon what they handed to Downing St doesn't match what Downing St published.
Spoilers: apparently they said that racism did, in fact, exist in the UK.
Look like rater than savining taxpayers money like the so called Taxpayers' Union claim they are infact costing the country a lot of money daily.
And as the article mentions that is just one of the many councils in NZ they are bombarding on a regular basis with OIA requests.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440245/taxpayers-union-oias-to-hamilton-council-cost-60k-in-staff-time
They are politial leaches sucking up much needed taxpayer funds to sasify thier egos.
[fixed typo in user name]