A Christchurch man who is going through a terrifying extortion ordeal wonders how many others might have been caught up in it.
Newstalk ZB has seen text messages sent to the man from an 020 number, demanding money or threatening violence against him and his family.
He believes his phone number was taken from advertising he placed in a local paper.
The man has gone to police who said they have had multiple complaints about the phone number.
He received the first phone call earlier this week. The call lasted for five minutes, but the ordeal lasted for an hour with the man constantly calling back and texting.
“I originally got told this person was a member of a gang and that a debt had been passed on and I now owed him the money.
“I asked ‘what debt? I don’t owe any money to anyone’ and he said [he knew who I worked for].
“He said I couldn’t go to police. It was actually terrifying as he started to threaten my kids and family.”
…..snip….
One scam reported by Southern District Police uses an automated message in a Kiwi accent.
The message says, “This is the Police you owe money to Inland Revenue, if you don’t pay you will be arrested. Please call 04 889 0505”.
When rung a person asks for your name and IRD number.
Another scam is said to use an automated call in a Chinese accent claiming to be from DHL.
“The automated call tells the phone user that DHL has goods waiting for them and that they need to press 9 to talk to somebody to discuss, and if they press 9 the call then goes to a person who will ask for personal information,” Senior Sergeant Charles Ip said.
Since TS is embarking on a new beginning, could I ask a favour which will hopefully be backed up by others.
Psycho Milt and One Anonymous Bloke apparently copped lengthy bans some time ago. I know OAB can be a bit pithy at times but he is ultra smart and his one/two liners are insightful and valuable. Pyscho Milt is also a valuable contributor for similar reasons.
I don’t know if either are willing to return, but they have been ‘punished ‘ for long enough. Any chance the ban can now be reversed?
Regardless of which commenters a person may agree with – or not as the case may be – there seems to be an inconsistency in the time spans of some of the more lengthy bans. I hope the authors are still working on introducing a fairer system that is acceptable to everyone.
We need social blog sites that promote sensible thoughts, so we need all to stick together as the “fake news media are so rampant out there and we need urgent balance to their crap.
And we do need to put the spotlight on ‘where is the Minister of Broadcasting’?
She (Clare Curran) was promising us a commercial free ‘investigative Journalism’ type channel seven called RNZ-plus) to be in service by now!!!!! but still as of now we have nothing yet to “add some balance the right wing troll media” and worse we have seen or heard nothing from this Minister who appears to be just a total wasted space and an embarrassment to us all and the Labour lead Government.
if I was Jacinda I would replace her now and find a real active strong Minister who will give us a voice that we need so desperately now since the rest of the media is trying to destroy the government.
“And we do need to put the spotlight on ‘where is the Minister of Broadcasting’?”
….add to that the Ass. Minister for State Services (Open Government).
MIA she is, in a foggy cloud…
TS was missed and agree with the donation thing. We are blessed here not only with a well functioning website with excellent archive access and search facility but the lack of advertising is singularly delightful.
Yes i do have deep misgivings with the Minister here as in November we asked Clare Curran to help get a new RNZ reporter for HB/Gisborne and Minister Curran refused in her letter to us that she would not get involved then!!!!.
So she didn’t mind that we were left without a reporter (under two years of national)
Now we cant even get the reporter now (assigned) “finally” to cover our transport issues as the new reporter said to us she was to busy!!!!!!
So the Minister has made a mess of everything here now.
The project remains unfinished because local authorities are yet to sign-off regulatory permits for a state-of-the-art abattoir, despite repeat efforts by the New Zealand Ambassador to get things moving.
On December 6 last year the governance group held a teleconference, with the Mfat representative advising, “the Al Khalaf Group had located the legal documents required by the Mayor [redacted] and these documents had been delivered to the Mayor’s office”.
Apparently they lost the paper work for a couple of years
Duh
National are still spinning that it was “Labour’s fault …”. I read somewhere that the anger was not so much at the ban of live sheep exporting but a National promise to lift the ban that was reneged on. The FTA has stalled and would have no matter what National did. So throwing the scary “$4.5 Billion dollar problem” phrase around is more spinning (aka lying).
They must be worried that this huge waste of money makes their claims that “more doctor not diplomats” shows they are useless at running a country and their criticisms of the Coalition are hollow at best.
Oh i read the article, i meant that dan Bidiot (or what ever) didn’t really give an answer to the question at any stage, or said agreed to both sides of a debate, ignored actual facts, went on tangents.. I mean if I lived in Northcoate I would want a bit more coherence from my elected official than what that transcript suggested
I’d live to see the government’s Kiwibuild’s like Unitec site have cheap rental accomodation reserved for teachers, firefighters and police workers. Not only is it important to be able to have these important people’s skills kept in NZ cities that are increasingly becoming less affordable with less rental accomodation but it would also serve a valuable function for those who think that there are more ‘social’ issues in social housing.
I can’t see a policeman letting his neighbour cook P for example or beat their partner up. Likewise having teachers around in a community that should be serving the poorer members of society.
I just hope these government land from the tax payer does not just end up as speculative purchases onsold in a few years… which clearly will happen if the government does not get it’s act together in ensuring they have non repealable conditions as long term state housing.
That may not be so simple as it seems on the surface but… it’s also completely brilliant. What I and a lot of my peers lacked as young folk was decent role models. Absentee/abusive parents were very common.
A community where key community players were present, and actually part of the community (not visiting with big sticks), could go a long way towards restoring some sense of stability and safety for people who’ve known neither. It does put a lot of onus on the people of service however.
Stability is key to turning lives around. Most street people are PTSD via what they’ve endured at the hands of their caregivers, often the state. Just putting National in power is enough to see many slink back into addiction and despair. A mob that not only doesn’t care, but actively victimises you.
Last time Labor was in power many fringe types were empowered to try their hand at life. I personally saw several long term performing artists off the dole. Some are now in the international spotlight.
Try that with Nats in power. Fines, benefits cut off, fraud accusations – “we were just trying to start a business”… Great talents kicked till they stay down.
I remember getting hauled over the coals age 18 for not being on WINZ books – it’s true! “But how did you live, you must be lying to us” – I lived in the bush. I was 16 going on 17, and I’d already had a gutsful.
Got to wonder if there’s any relationship between managements. Sounds as if someone was pretty determined to shovel more money in the builders’ direction.
Construction, banking and cow corporate welfare is what this country has become. All the laws and red carpet to keep the often poorly run businesses, getting benefits at every turn and employing cheerleaders to keep the pressure on government for them to get more benefits with less regulation, chugging along.
“Did they get financial advice? This is a shambles.”
The minutes of the CMDHB meetings provided at the bottom of that page says it all.
“A shambles” is an understatement. One day someone…Hager, are you free?…will properly investigate shit like this. We’re talking billions of tax dollars being poured down the throats of vultures like these.
And no sanctions for gross fuckups….just more contracts.
“Hawkins built the Botany Downs Secondary College in Auckland.
A related company, H Construction North Island – formerly called Hawkins Construction North Island – was last week ordered by the High Court to pay $13.4 million for a raft of construction errors at the leaky, damp, and rotting college.
Orange H Group – H Construction’s shareholder – has now been put in receivership.
It will now be up to receiver McGrath Nicol to decide what happens to the millions of dollars the Ministry of Education is owed.
Hawkins also built the four worst leaking buildings at Middlemore Hospital less than 20 years ago.
H Construction has gone into receivership owing a total of $30m.
Orange H director David McConnell said they decided some time ago to exit the construction industry “principally because of the dramatic rise in the risk profile” borne by contractors.
This same rise in risks was cited by Fletcher when its building unit announced it was closing up gradually after suffering $1 billion of losses.
Mr McConnell said Orange H took the decision reluctantly to go into receivership.
“The process to secure final payments from the various customers has been complex and has taken a lot longer than anticipated and created a cash flow timing issue,” he said.
“We were also concerned that a number of parties were commencing legal action and we were mindful of our responsibility to exercise our fiduciary duties.”
There was “significant value” in Orange H with all but two of the legacy projects now completed and only minor work still outstanding on one of these, Mr McConnell said.
“The board’s focus is now to leave the company in the best possible position for the receivers to achieve substantial recoveries.”
The board of trustees at Botany Downs Secondary College said it had not yet heard about the company going into liquidiation.
The school was disappointed, but not entirely surprised to hear the news, chair Murray Goodman said.
The board would wait for more instructions from the Ministry of Education on the matter.
In March 2017, Downer purchased the Hawkins brand, some projects, assets and employees, and called it Hawkins 2017 Limited.
Previous projects and a number of ongoing projects done by Hawkins or related companies – such as the Botany Downs school and Middlemore Hospital buildings – were retained by Orange H Group, part of McConnell Limited. Orange H is distinct from Hawkins.”
Slimy, wriggly arsed, bottom-feeding scumsuckers are everywhere….
Test as two previous comments submitted without problems have not appeared.
OK – this one worked without problems. But two previous comments to the “Toby Manhire Owns Ms Bennett” post did not (the second a repeat of the first), Not important or presumably contentious comments and no loss. From Vodaphone ISP.
Just the tip of the ice berg. I’d like to see government audits every year to make sure all these “IT errors” on the banks and financial industry are found and not permanently ripping off people who have nobody anymore to check up on the big business in any real terms. Would also help the banks and the government, if they screw up over years that’s a large hole in their accounts for the future and they go bankrupt.
While they are about it, would help people feel better if their cash was actually insured like other normal countries so that people don’t lose all their savings if they stuff up aka all the financial crashes not so long ago. Had a family member lose all their savings in Hanover finance for a deposit on their first home. They had to start out again with nothing. The banks should pay for the insurance and bail outs not the government or tax payers.
ANZ credits customers $10m after loan payment mix-up
“…. selling about $11 million of medical equipment, mostly sterilisers, to a finance company, then leasing them back.
This was an “unusual” method to get around the fact that usual sources of capital spending would not have been available for such a non-priority building, she said.
“It’s a very bad deal….””
Accompanying photo has an unfortunately inanely grinning acting CEO…
Now you are suggesting that Willis’ older clone*, Judith Collins, should be the one to lead National back to the promised land. Make up your mind, man. LOL
I really laughed when I watched Jude’s performance the other day. The person in the House I would least call ‘petulant’ is Jacinda Ardern – and the one I would most call ‘petulant’ is none other than Judith Collins herself.
* As I said in one of my comments under your ‘Willis for PM’ post last week, Willis seems like a younger Collins; and she seems to already be forming a fan club around herself amongst the younger, newer Nat MPs.
Bridges in his reshuffle following his rise to the Nat leadership has already moved a number of the older Nats further to the retirement back benches (eg Maggie Barry) and younger ones (eg Sarah Dowie) well up the list and into spokesperson positions. Others, eg Collins, I suspect he is keeping on the front bench from the perspective of keep your friends close but your enemies even closer. Time will tell …
“But Puckish Rogue, only a week ago you were proclaiming that Nicola Willis would be the next PM of NZ!”
I hope she can forgive my momentary lapse of reason (she will of course because shes just so awesome like that)
“As I said in one of my comments under your ‘Willis for PM’ post last week, Willis seems like a younger Collins; and she seems to already be forming a fan club around herself amongst the younger, newer Nat MPs.”
The future is looking bright for NZ
“Bridges in his reshuffle following his rise to the Nat leadership has already moved a number of the older Nats further to the retirement back benches (eg Maggie Barry) and younger ones (eg Sarah Dowie) well up the list and into spokesperson positions. Others, eg Collins, I suspect he is keeping on the front bench from the perspective of keep your friends close but your enemies even closer. Time will tell …”
The sooner he moves Paula Bennett closer to retirement the better
Yes PR another strange thing occurred today see here;
The Greens have decided on a candidate to run in North cote against National and Labour, now we know why we decided to leave the Green Party 15 yrs ago, and now feel vindicated as the greens are handing National another pass card after giving the question time to national already so they are showing us some inside the greens want to go with National as a Blue/green combo i believe now.
The story appears over on TDB.today.
Northcote by-election: Greens select Rebekah Jaung as candidate – is it worth it?
By Martyn Bradbury / May 11, 2018 /
The Greens are sick of being seen as a puppet for Labour and are desperate to show some independence, but was this by-election the best way to do that?
Actually i agree with it, the Greens will have looked at the Maori Party and Act and would know the danger of being seen to be lap dogs plus they also get to campaign for more party votes
@ cleangreen (10.1.1.1) … Not a good move at all from the Greens.
Seems to me Greens are putting up a challenge to the very coalition government they are part of, through selecting a candidate to contest the Northcote byelection! Strange!
I too have a feeling they are edging closer to going over to the Natz dark side eventually.
If they continue with these anti coalition tactics, then Greens can kiss my vote goodbye for good at the next election.
BTW where is Marama Davidson? I supported her being co leader. But she seems not to be making any impact at all so far!
Just watched the first minute and yes Ms Collins socking it…………She would have been a better choice for Nats. Do you see blood on the floor before 2020?
Also what are your thoughts about Ms Collins detour to have dinner with officials of Oravida and a Chinese boarder official when her husbands company were having difficulty getting their product into China after the baby infant formula isssue. She was paid to go there on Govt business. Just interested to hear your take on that.
It was investigated I believe and no wrong doing found. If you think there was wrong doing then perhaps you should lobby the current government to re-open the investigation.
No I don’t think the current govt will or should re-open that enquiry. To much other stuff to fix that impacts on kiwis lives…..although a fuller enquiry into dirty politics would be worthy. Have you read the book?
Gosman it was a massive conflict of interest. And some would say corrupt. Would you disagree with that? I didn’t read the report but my understanding was the terms of reference were kept very narrow.
I am just so happy we have this coalition govt who are fixing up years of neglect….yah
“Just watched the first minute and yes Ms Collins socking it…………She would have been a better choice for Nats. Do you see blood on the floor before 2020?”
I can’t answer because I’m biased so any answer i give would be less my head and more my heart but i will say I would like to see Jude take the leadership before the 2020 election
“Also what are your thoughts about Ms Collins detour to have dinner with officials of Oravida and a Chinese boarder official when her husbands company were having difficulty getting their product into China after the baby infant formula isssue. She was paid to go there on Govt business. Just interested to hear your take on that.”
My thoughts is that situation was wonderfully muddied (and well done to Labour)
Ok that’s cool puckish. I hope Jude doesn’t get the leadership as she is a bigger threat to us I think. I thought Simon would do better, and I thought David cunliffe and Andrew little would swing things for the left. I completely under estimated jacinda, who I think is outstanding…….so I wouldn’t trust my own judgement about leadership. I am pleased with the coalition. Extremely pleased. I want Middlemore fixed, I want child poverty reduced. I want a significantly improved mental health service (it deteriorated badly under national, trust me it’s my field)…..I want someone to at least attempt to fix the housing crisis and Auckland’s transport woes”……….theses things inspire me. On and throw climate change into that.
Tell me what is it about National that inspires you? Aside from Jude that is
Please make her leader – her vicious sociopathy and questionable past (smirkingly condoning prison rape for example) will turn normal people off in droves.
“So, the Ombudsman, who is meant to be the defender of transparency and the public participation it enables, thinks the public shouldn’t be able to have a say on policy until the government has already decided what’s going to happen. To put things back into his metaphor, in his view we don’t get to decide where we’re going to go, how we’re going to get there, or even if we’re going to go on a trip at all. But we might get to choose the music we listen to or which cafe we stop at along the way, if the government hasn’t already made up its mind about these things.
No matter which way you look at it, this is a deeply impoverished view of public participation. Pretty obviously, it reflects central government’s view of this – where they make the decisions, and public “consultation” is simply a rubberstamp designed to build legitimacy rather than give us a real say. But public participation is supposed to serve the interests of the people, not the government, and the Ombudsman is supposed to protect it. How the fuck is this supposed to be guarding the mana of the people?”
That’s exactly the impression I got from a quick skim of the paper.
I will give the paper better scrutiny later…always wise to better learn the ways of the enemy.
On this very important issue I am not in any way optimistic that this government has any greater interest in transparency and accountability than the Last Lot.
Yes Rosemary;
The trouble with new governments is that they rely to much on their In-house ‘advisers’ and stray off course so this appears to be just another example of the same result being contrary to what they promised us all at the election.
I’m sure one day, one of the pre-election promises will be met. Perhaps someone can raise an OIA on their modelling from 2 years ago…but best expect a redacted blank page to be returned.
Indiana visit labour’s website or go back through Gordon Campbell’s articles. There is a list of everything the coalition has done to date and it’s an impressive list. They will honour their election promises on for exampl e free drs, it will just be a little delayed. In my o wn life I would find that acceptable and it happens frequently every people saying they will deliver things by a certain date and then usually for 7nderstandable reasons the date is pushed back. Most of us are flexible enough to accept this
The ‘Capital Charge’……..probably one of the early initiatives in neo-lib thinking that is now coming into question. It was a feature of the new corporatised public service (during that era when greed became good, and John Travolta and an Olivia neutron bomb were wobbling their arses as though they were more special than the next person)…… that fishint n fektiv n de-pliticoised civil service that was designed to do us all proud.
While they’re busy reviewing the fishinsy n fektivness and worth of that ‘Capital Charge, they might consider applying the same criteria to a good many of the complete fucking Muppetry heading our ‘officlaldom’.
Sometimes I’ve had cause to reference the early pages of the telephone directory.
I find it difficult to find many of the bits that are listed in the government section one could genuinely describe as fully functioning (fishint n fektiv n apolitical) entities.
And let’s be clear, it’s NOT generally down to the plebs at the front line of these entities …. it IS the leadership (the senior and muddle management) – and the culture they instill in their plebs (often ambitious little units anxious to climb the ladder and end up as the next generation of muppetry if only in pursuit of a higher salary and prestigious job title going forward)
First up in the directory is ….. ACC. Then we have Ray Smith’s Corrections.
Next,, nothing too Earth shattering, but a bit of a fuckup if you’re an artist …. Creative NuZull….then Keating’s Defence Force…..then EQC (just check out tonight’s news and all its implications)…then Education Ministry Of.
I’m too scared to travel further, because we’re getting close to Health, and Transport/ Infrastructure, and WINZ , and Primary Industries and perhaps the biggest bugger’s muddle of all which is Mr Smol’s Joyce/Coleman Ministry of Everything.
Whilst I’l hold the ladder steady for Shane Shane – because sure as shit I’m not coming down into his arms, he does have a point in that some serious review is necessary in the muddle and senior management, and that is probbly long overdue.
I heard on Radionz about a good action of The Warehouse helping a woman who needed to escape an obssessed and violent partner, she was given time off and was relocated. One small step for womankind, one great step for one woman and her family.
Now if women can choose to not involve a partner from the first if there is likely to be violence or very erratic behaviour, it would be better. It is only the contempt of the politicians who consider sex moral corruption and illegitimacy the road to hell, that has forced women to be glued to the father often to the detriment of the child and the mother. If she refuses to be involved, she has benefit withheld as a sanction.
Look at all the synonyms relating to the adjective ‘immoral’. It is obviously
something that highly angers people, more than other bad activities that are not connected to simply being loving but when humanness and fertility unfortunately combine.
What a mouthful of dislike:
not conforming to accepted standards of morality.
“unseemly and immoral behaviour”
synonyms: unethical, bad, morally wrong, wrongful, wicked, evil, unprincipled, unscrupulous, dishonourable, dishonest, unconscionable, iniquitous, disreputable, fraudulent, corrupt, depraved, vile, villainous, nefarious, base, unfair, underhand, devious; sinful, impure, unchaste, unvirtuous, shameless, degenerate, debauched, abandoned, dissolute, reprobate, perverted, indecent, lewd, licentious, wanton, bawdy, lustful, promiscuous, whorish;
informal shady, low-down;
informal dodgy, crooked, not cricket;
archaic miscreant
“they deplored immoral behaviour among the upper classes”
Why do so many people mistrust the police? Because they pull shit like this:The police are flouting the rules on breath testing, carrying out tests in people's homes to catch them out sometimes up to two hours after they were ...
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...
The Herald reports that the housing shortage / bubble has hit a new level:New Zealand is short of 130,000 homes, the tally having risen lately by 30,000, two economists say. Jarrod Kerr and Jeremy Couchman, Kiwibank economists said: "This time ...
Milk producer Fonterra is one of New Zealand's biggest coal-users, using it to power all its South Island (and a few of its North Island) dairy factories. They'd previously "committed" to not building any new coal boilers after 2030. Now, ...
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...
Yesterday the government released its discussion document on action on agricultural emissions. As sadly usual, it proposed enormous subsidies for farm emissions, including for nitrogen-based fertiliser. This is a huge mistake. In addition to being one of the chief drivers ...
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act (this replaced their previous plans to hold a secret consultation with handpicked people). 285 people submitted on ...
Always Playing Catch-Up: Throughout the 1970s, the purchasing power of the ordinary worker’s pay packet – the only meaningful measure of his or her wealth – was being eaten away every passing year by seemingly inexorable rises in the cost-of-living. ...
The Interim Climate Change Committee's report on Action on agricultural emissions: Evidence, analysis and recommendations was finally released today, and as you might guess from the title, it is recommending that we actually act, rather than let farmers keep ...
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...
Agriculture is our biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 48% of the total. It follows that meeting any credible emissions reduction target requires cutting agricultural emissions, most likely by having fewer cows. But National thinks people shouldn't be ...
How scummy is the UK Home Office? This scummy:The Home Office lied to EU member states to remove victims of human trafficking and modern slavery in breach of European law, according to whistleblowers. Legal experts have said the practice is ...
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...
“We wuz robbed!” is the classic cry of the disappointed losers of a closely contested sporting contest – it is very much to the credit of the Black Caps that we heard no such sentiment from them following the stunning ...
The Youth Parliament is being held this week, and some of the youth MPs are campaigning for a lower voting age:Molly Doyle, 17, is one Youth MP who wants this to change. She is part of a non-partisan campaign run ...
Up till now, Australia has made its living by digging up coal and exporting it to other countries, destroying the global climate in the process. But now they have a new option: exporting solar power:The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep ...
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
To express concern about foreign ownership and control in New Zealand is often to invite accusations of xenophobia and economic illiteracy. It is worthwhile, therefore, to rehearse the grounds for that concern, and to explore the various forms it can ...
It must be a day ending in Y because the Guardian - remember when it used to be a good paper1 - is running another spurious story about Corbyn's leadership being threatened over anti-Semitism.The headline the Guardian runs is: "MPs tell ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 23 through Sat, June 29, 2019 Editor's Pick When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Kahungunu Māori Language Awards. Nominations closed on 5 July 2019, and were judged by the Senior Management Team of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated. The judges wish to acknowledge the very high calibre of all nominations received making it a very ...
High Court of Australia Judge, Justice Stephen Gageler, will address recent criticism of court judgment delays in Australia, at the University of Canterbury (UC) on 23 July at 6.15pm. ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Inquiry’s proceedings but does not constitute the official record. The full Minute is available at the link below. ...
The Tertiary Education Commission is laying charges under section 292A of the Education Act 1989 against three individuals for making a false representation for the purpose of receiving, or continuing to receive, free tertiary education from a tertiary education ...
New Zealand food businesses today welcomed a trio of new food safety tools, designed to make it faster, easier and more affordable to follow the rules and keep consumers safe. ...
AUT research shows that Māori children are almost four times more likely than those of European descent to be placed out of home by child protection services ...
The Government announced today that grants of up to $2,500 for energy efficient heaters are now available as part of the Government’s Warmer Kiwi Homes programme. ...
Fonterra’s use of coal has been the target of numerous grassroots campaigns in recent years. Last year 350 Aotearoa affiliated groups, Fossil Free Aoraki and 350 Nelson launched a petition dismissing the dairy giant’s initial target of no new ...
Information sessions on proposals for The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme take place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch over the next fortnight. The sessions are open to anyone with an interest in learning more about the proposed scheme. ...
“Our children are our most vulnerable, most innocent victims and we do not want to see any more children harmed by these ‘known sex offenders’. The safety of our community must be the paramount consideration.” ...
“The announcement that Fonterra will immediately stop installing any new coal boilers or increasing capacity to burn coal is the signal that the biomass fuel supply industry welcomes” said Brian Cox, Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association. ...
18 July 2019-- Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) today welcomed Fonterra’s commitment to build no new coal plants, a “no brainer” for the climate crisis the world faces. The group has been urging this transition for six years now and ...
The increase in demand for cage-free eggs is set to continue according to animal rights organisation SAFE, who says the egg industry should expect this and prepare. ...
Wellington, New Zealand – 350 Pacific made a formal submission to the New Zealand Government’s Environment Parliamentary Select Committee on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, led by the Pacific Climate Warriors (PCWs) based in ...
There used to be a school of thought on the centre right side of politics that the best way to neuter the Greens as a political force would be to let them have a spell in government. Then, according to ...
Today (18 July) is Nelson Mandela International Day when the United Nations highlights the importance of humane conditions of imprisonment. In New Zealand our prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. At 214 prisoners per 100,000 people, we have the fifth ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...
EDS has filed its submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. The Bill sets targets for greenhouse gas reductions, provides for the government to set a series of carbon budgets, and sets up a new, independent, Climate ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has identified an absurd case of mission creep at Wellington City Council: the decision to spend $21,750 on two Consumer NZ investigations into different brands of bike lights. ...
The Motor Trade Association is welcoming the release of the Government’s new draft road safety strategy. MTA Chief Executive Craig Pomare says the association is pleased to see vehicle safety has been made a priority in the Road to Zero ...
The Department of Conservation continue to repeat the same old story about attacks on staff and how it is affecting their role in protecting our precious wildlife. NZ herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12249704 ...
The government's silence on the fact that the country's second-largest milk processor is on the brink of becoming 25% Chinese Government owned has been deafening. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ welcomes the coalition Government’s endeavour to take action on reducing agricultural emissions but is disappointed at the weak stance that the Government has taken on the issue. ...
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has issued a formal warning under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act) to seven reporting entities within the Regus Management Limited (RNZML) designated business ...
The Northland Regional Council (NRC) has voted to exclude all GM/GE precautionary provisions in its regional plan, despite years of community engagement showing support for such protection. There is a sense of betrayal following the way the NRC Chairman ...
New Zealand’s ‘mission-driven’ charities working in international aid are showing early signs of changing the way they work, in particular prioritising building the capacity and resilience of local communities to do their own development. ...
Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Please find attached embargoed copies of two media statements from the Interim Climate Change Committee http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1907/Embargoed_Interim_Climate_Change_Committee_Accelerated_electrification_MEDIA_STATEMENT.pdf ...
Greenpeace Executive Director, Dr Russel Norman, has reacted with disbelief that the Government’s latest climate proposal includes an option for dairy to voluntarily deal with their emissions over the next six years. ...
This week’s “Youth Parliament” is an expensive waste of time that promotes taxpayer-funded junketeering, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “We shouldn’t be training kids on the joys of the trough,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones admitted on Q+A tonight that the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure planning is “dismal” and the government needs to get on with building “rather than writing more reports about it.” ...
DairyNZ has released its submission on the Zero Carbon Bill and is calling on the Government to revise the methane target in the Bill to one that does not put at risk New Zealand’s world-leading dairy sector. Farm profit could ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Children and Technology, Western Sydney University Instagram is running a social media experiment in Australia and elsewhere to see what happens when it hides the number of likes on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling You’ve probably heard that this week marks 50 years since humans first set foot on the Moon – a feat that still boggles the mind given ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane.Channel HoppingStupa or Stuka?Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit?Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck?*I’m young in my dreams, still young.*Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades—antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses.*I’m young in my dreams, still young,and I still have some ...
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
Wtf did we just watch?That sound you heard was a million furries screaming in ecstasy as their fantasy and everyone else’s nightmare came to life in the form of the first trailer for the live action version of Cats.Is it ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35)Fucking ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Griebsch, Specialist and Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine, University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Sydney, Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney Recently reported cases of the often fatal bacterial infection ...
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...
Finance companies say they shouldn’t have to be ‘fit and proper’ even though in some cases they charge more than the planned clampdown on high cost lending. A group of finance companies that charges well over the government’s proposed cap on ...
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentForeign Affairs and trade Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The new, ...
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Sarkissian, Operations Scientist, CSIRO The role Australia played in relaying the first television images of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the Moon 50 years ago this July features in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lyndal Sleep, Research Fellow, Griffith University In Australia’s social security laws, the “couple rule” is used to determine if a person is in a relationship, tying access to Centrelink payments to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Walker, Lecturer (Management), Victoria University of Wellington We live in a society obsessed with performance. For both young and old, competitions, awards and rankings are an inescapable feature of life. How ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan O’Connell, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne One-third of all preschools may lack a qualified teacher in the next four years if nothing changes, my new modelling shows. Currently, half of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is L’esprit Nouveau – The New Spirit. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Skifield snowmaking a sign of the future, vaccination rates fall alarmingly, and construction industry encouraged to lower emissions.Snowmaking has saved the ski industry from disaster this year, after the weather ...
Neil Armstrong may have been the first man on the moon, but if we define the ‘space race’ as spaceflight capability, the Soviets won it hands down, writes Jennifer Frost. ...
Joel Rindelaub explains why it's so important for those weighing on climate science to be transparent about their funding sources and conflicts of interest. ...
Our government and leaders are (still) divided on the question of compulsory te reo Māori. Who’s for it, who’s against it, and who’s flip flopping around in the middle?Under article two of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the government pledges to ...
When teenagers today are being called upon to solve the problems of tomorrow, why aren’t they given the right to participate in democracy? Fourteen-year-old Oli Morphew makes the case for lowering the voting age. If you’re going to deprive someone of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University Australia’s relations with China will be further complicated by the news that Australian citizen Yang Hengjun is set to be charged with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Kyne, Senior Research Fellow in conservation biology, Charles Darwin University More than 28,000 species around the world are threatened, according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Centre For Applied Philosophy & Public Ethics (CAPPE), Charles Sturt University Two Australian universities, University of Technology Sydney and Curtin University, are conducting internal reviews of ...
The dairy and red meat sectors are playing games and employing delaying tactics rather than facing up to the climate change challenge, says Rod Oram. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne The next US presidential election will be held on November 3, 2020. Incumbent president Donald Trump will almost certainly be ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has doubled down on her criticism of Australia's deportation policy as "corrosive", ahead of her meeting with counterpart Scott Morrison. ...
Open Mike 11/05/2018 
This week, in the wake of National's opposition to even talking about reducing agricultural emissions and Simon Bridges' refusal to recognise that there is a climate emergency, I've been saying that National is unfit to govern. And it looks like ...51 mins ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...4 hours ago
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...1 day ago
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...2 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...2 days ago
2 days ago
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...3 days ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...3 days ago
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...5 days ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...1 week ago
1 week ago
2 weeks ago
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...2 weeks ago
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...2 weeks ago
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: Blog Writing Tips. I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the ... 3 weeks ago
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...3 days ago
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...3 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Children and Technology, Western Sydney University Instagram is running a social media experiment in Australia and elsewhere to see what happens when it hides the number of likes on ...43 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...43 mins ago
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's repeated demands for Australia to back away from deporting New Zealand criminals will again be dismissed today. ...2 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...2 hours ago
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...2 hours ago
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...2 hours ago
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane. Channel Hopping Stupa or Stuka?Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit?Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck?*I’m young in my dreams, still young.*Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades—antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses.*I’m young in my dreams, still young,and I still have some ...3 hours ago
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...3 hours ago
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...3 hours ago
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...3 hours ago
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...3 hours ago
Wtf did we just watch?That sound you heard was a million furries screaming in ecstasy as their fantasy and everyone else’s nightmare came to life in the form of the first trailer for the live action version of Cats.Is it ...3 hours ago
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...4 hours ago
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...5 hours ago
John Banks' former lives, vegetable-based insults in Auckland's mayoral race and metaphorical cabbage - James Elliott has it all. ...5 hours ago
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...6 hours ago
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...7 hours ago
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...7 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan O’Connell, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne One-third of all preschools may lack a qualified teacher in the next four years if nothing changes, my new modelling shows. Currently, half of ...9 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is L’esprit Nouveau – The New Spirit. ...9 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Skifield snowmaking a sign of the future, vaccination rates fall alarmingly, and construction industry encouraged to lower emissions.Snowmaking has saved the ski industry from disaster this year, after the weather ...10 hours ago
A former MP and shock jock says Queenstown council’s making excuses in seeking a 35-year approval for sewer overflows. ...10 hours ago
Neil Armstrong may have been the first man on the moon, but if we define the ‘space race’ as spaceflight capability, the Soviets won it hands down, writes Jennifer Frost. ...11 hours ago
Joel Rindelaub explains why it's so important for those weighing on climate science to be transparent about their funding sources and conflicts of interest. ...11 hours ago
Emma Espiner takes a look at a deadly inequity happening in our poorest communities. ...11 hours ago
Rebecca Mahoney is about to make rugby history as the first woman to referee a Ranfurly Shield challenge. ...11 hours ago
At three weeks in, how is New Zealand coping with the plastic bag ban? ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Kyne, Senior Research Fellow in conservation biology, Charles Darwin University More than 28,000 species around the world are threatened, according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International ...18 hours ago
The dairy and red meat sectors are playing games and employing delaying tactics rather than facing up to the climate change challenge, says Rod Oram. ...20 hours ago
A controversial selection is on track to be the All Blacks' X-factor star at the Rugby World Cup. ...21 hours ago
By Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk The Indonesian government is furious over the Oxford City Council’s decision to award West Papuan activist Benny Wenda the Honorary Freedom of the City accolade, reports Kumparan. “Indonesia strongly condemns the award by the ...21 hours ago
The PM has been touting New Zealand's attractiveness to investors during her Australia visit - but can she win over the banks? ...21 hours ago
And we’re back up!
Phone extortion scam (incl businesses)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12049362
A Christchurch man who is going through a terrifying extortion ordeal wonders how many others might have been caught up in it.
Newstalk ZB has seen text messages sent to the man from an 020 number, demanding money or threatening violence against him and his family.
He believes his phone number was taken from advertising he placed in a local paper.
The man has gone to police who said they have had multiple complaints about the phone number.
He received the first phone call earlier this week. The call lasted for five minutes, but the ordeal lasted for an hour with the man constantly calling back and texting.
“I originally got told this person was a member of a gang and that a debt had been passed on and I now owed him the money.
“I asked ‘what debt? I don’t owe any money to anyone’ and he said [he knew who I worked for].
“He said I couldn’t go to police. It was actually terrifying as he started to threaten my kids and family.”
…..snip….
One scam reported by Southern District Police uses an automated message in a Kiwi accent.
The message says, “This is the Police you owe money to Inland Revenue, if you don’t pay you will be arrested. Please call 04 889 0505”.
When rung a person asks for your name and IRD number.
Another scam is said to use an automated call in a Chinese accent claiming to be from DHL.
“The automated call tells the phone user that DHL has goods waiting for them and that they need to press 9 to talk to somebody to discuss, and if they press 9 the call then goes to a person who will ask for personal information,” Senior Sergeant Charles Ip said.
Good morning good morning good morning. Well that was a long sleep.
Welcome back to the Standard.
Such an exciting countdown…..
Thanks to lprent yet again. Time for a wee donation. 🙂
Since TS is embarking on a new beginning, could I ask a favour which will hopefully be backed up by others.
Psycho Milt and One Anonymous Bloke apparently copped lengthy bans some time ago. I know OAB can be a bit pithy at times but he is ultra smart and his one/two liners are insightful and valuable. Pyscho Milt is also a valuable contributor for similar reasons.
I don’t know if either are willing to return, but they have been ‘punished ‘ for long enough. Any chance the ban can now be reversed?
I missed most of that post. Thanks Bill.
Redlogix has put it in a nutshell:
Regardless of which commenters a person may agree with – or not as the case may be – there seems to be an inconsistency in the time spans of some of the more lengthy bans. I hope the authors are still working on introducing a fairer system that is acceptable to everyone.
Yes it is good to see TS back.
Great work Iprent thanks.
We will donate also as Anne suggests.
We need social blog sites that promote sensible thoughts, so we need all to stick together as the “fake news media are so rampant out there and we need urgent balance to their crap.
And we do need to put the spotlight on ‘where is the Minister of Broadcasting’?
She (Clare Curran) was promising us a commercial free ‘investigative Journalism’ type channel seven called RNZ-plus) to be in service by now!!!!! but still as of now we have nothing yet to “add some balance the right wing troll media” and worse we have seen or heard nothing from this Minister who appears to be just a total wasted space and an embarrassment to us all and the Labour lead Government.
if I was Jacinda I would replace her now and find a real active strong Minister who will give us a voice that we need so desperately now since the rest of the media is trying to destroy the government.
Long live freedom of speech.
“And we do need to put the spotlight on ‘where is the Minister of Broadcasting’?”
….add to that the Ass. Minister for State Services (Open Government).
MIA she is, in a foggy cloud…
TS was missed and agree with the donation thing. We are blessed here not only with a well functioning website with excellent archive access and search facility but the lack of advertising is singularly delightful.
+1 Rosemary McDonald
Rosemary; 100%
Yes i do have deep misgivings with the Minister here as in November we asked Clare Curran to help get a new RNZ reporter for HB/Gisborne and Minister Curran refused in her letter to us that she would not get involved then!!!!.
So she didn’t mind that we were left without a reporter (under two years of national)
Now we cant even get the reporter now (assigned) “finally” to cover our transport issues as the new reporter said to us she was to busy!!!!!!
So the Minister has made a mess of everything here now.
+1 Anne
yes, thank you lprent. Your hard work enables this great forum.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12048890
Bidiot sounds all over the place to me.
He seems genuine and knowledgeable at the start of the article but by the end of it he seems neither.
National are still spinning that it was “Labour’s fault …”. I read somewhere that the anger was not so much at the ban of live sheep exporting but a National promise to lift the ban that was reneged on. The FTA has stalled and would have no matter what National did. So throwing the scary “$4.5 Billion dollar problem” phrase around is more spinning (aka lying).
They must be worried that this huge waste of money makes their claims that “more doctor not diplomats” shows they are useless at running a country and their criticisms of the Coalition are hollow at best.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12049120
This worth a full read
Is it just me or does that conversation make no sense, like rambling and disconnected…
It does appear to be a transcript.
Read the stuff about the bus lanes and transport for more weirdness.
Oh i read the article, i meant that dan Bidiot (or what ever) didn’t really give an answer to the question at any stage, or said agreed to both sides of a debate, ignored actual facts, went on tangents.. I mean if I lived in Northcoate I would want a bit more coherence from my elected official than what that transcript suggested
YES. YF.
He’s an economist so well schooled in the art of talking without making sense, reaching any conclusions or displaying a grasp of the real issue.
I’d live to see the government’s Kiwibuild’s like Unitec site have cheap rental accomodation reserved for teachers, firefighters and police workers. Not only is it important to be able to have these important people’s skills kept in NZ cities that are increasingly becoming less affordable with less rental accomodation but it would also serve a valuable function for those who think that there are more ‘social’ issues in social housing.
I can’t see a policeman letting his neighbour cook P for example or beat their partner up. Likewise having teachers around in a community that should be serving the poorer members of society.
I just hope these government land from the tax payer does not just end up as speculative purchases onsold in a few years… which clearly will happen if the government does not get it’s act together in ensuring they have non repealable conditions as long term state housing.
That may not be so simple as it seems on the surface but… it’s also completely brilliant. What I and a lot of my peers lacked as young folk was decent role models. Absentee/abusive parents were very common.
A community where key community players were present, and actually part of the community (not visiting with big sticks), could go a long way towards restoring some sense of stability and safety for people who’ve known neither. It does put a lot of onus on the people of service however.
Stability is key to turning lives around. Most street people are PTSD via what they’ve endured at the hands of their caregivers, often the state. Just putting National in power is enough to see many slink back into addiction and despair. A mob that not only doesn’t care, but actively victimises you.
Last time Labor was in power many fringe types were empowered to try their hand at life. I personally saw several long term performing artists off the dole. Some are now in the international spotlight.
Try that with Nats in power. Fines, benefits cut off, fraud accusations – “we were just trying to start a business”… Great talents kicked till they stay down.
I remember getting hauled over the coals age 18 for not being on WINZ books – it’s true! “But how did you live, you must be lying to us” – I lived in the bush. I was 16 going on 17, and I’d already had a gutsful.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
He’s in National that, as John Banks hinted at, must lie so as to get elected at all.
Yes I thought that that was particularly ironic after the comments during the conversation.
Is that a script for Yes Minister?
Could be, but sadly not.
Good work from Natrad.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/357100/middlemore-board-was-pressured-to-settle-for-3m
Be buggered if I can fathom why there are still “Hawkins” signs all over the show at Waikato Hospital still.
The bullying bastards should have been run out of the country….
Got to wonder if there’s any relationship between managements. Sounds as if someone was pretty determined to shovel more money in the builders’ direction.
Construction, banking and cow corporate welfare is what this country has become. All the laws and red carpet to keep the often poorly run businesses, getting benefits at every turn and employing cheerleaders to keep the pressure on government for them to get more benefits with less regulation, chugging along.
Did they get financial advice? This is a shambles.
“Did they get financial advice? This is a shambles.”
The minutes of the CMDHB meetings provided at the bottom of that page says it all.
“A shambles” is an understatement. One day someone…Hager, are you free?…will properly investigate shit like this. We’re talking billions of tax dollars being poured down the throats of vultures like these.
And no sanctions for gross fuckups….just more contracts.
Shakes head in despair.
+23,000,000 (dollars of course)
The plot sickens….https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/357152/firm-behind-leaky-buildings-goes-into-receivership
“Hawkins built the Botany Downs Secondary College in Auckland.
A related company, H Construction North Island – formerly called Hawkins Construction North Island – was last week ordered by the High Court to pay $13.4 million for a raft of construction errors at the leaky, damp, and rotting college.
Orange H Group – H Construction’s shareholder – has now been put in receivership.
It will now be up to receiver McGrath Nicol to decide what happens to the millions of dollars the Ministry of Education is owed.
Hawkins also built the four worst leaking buildings at Middlemore Hospital less than 20 years ago.
H Construction has gone into receivership owing a total of $30m.
Orange H director David McConnell said they decided some time ago to exit the construction industry “principally because of the dramatic rise in the risk profile” borne by contractors.
This same rise in risks was cited by Fletcher when its building unit announced it was closing up gradually after suffering $1 billion of losses.
Mr McConnell said Orange H took the decision reluctantly to go into receivership.
“The process to secure final payments from the various customers has been complex and has taken a lot longer than anticipated and created a cash flow timing issue,” he said.
“We were also concerned that a number of parties were commencing legal action and we were mindful of our responsibility to exercise our fiduciary duties.”
There was “significant value” in Orange H with all but two of the legacy projects now completed and only minor work still outstanding on one of these, Mr McConnell said.
“The board’s focus is now to leave the company in the best possible position for the receivers to achieve substantial recoveries.”
The board of trustees at Botany Downs Secondary College said it had not yet heard about the company going into liquidiation.
The school was disappointed, but not entirely surprised to hear the news, chair Murray Goodman said.
The board would wait for more instructions from the Ministry of Education on the matter.
In March 2017, Downer purchased the Hawkins brand, some projects, assets and employees, and called it Hawkins 2017 Limited.
Previous projects and a number of ongoing projects done by Hawkins or related companies – such as the Botany Downs school and Middlemore Hospital buildings – were retained by Orange H Group, part of McConnell Limited. Orange H is distinct from Hawkins.”
Slimy, wriggly arsed, bottom-feeding scumsuckers are everywhere….
Test as two previous comments submitted without problems have not appeared.
OK – this one worked without problems. But two previous comments to the “Toby Manhire Owns Ms Bennett” post did not (the second a repeat of the first), Not important or presumably contentious comments and no loss. From Vodaphone ISP.
And a big thanks lprent for all your hard work.
Just the tip of the ice berg. I’d like to see government audits every year to make sure all these “IT errors” on the banks and financial industry are found and not permanently ripping off people who have nobody anymore to check up on the big business in any real terms. Would also help the banks and the government, if they screw up over years that’s a large hole in their accounts for the future and they go bankrupt.
While they are about it, would help people feel better if their cash was actually insured like other normal countries so that people don’t lose all their savings if they stuff up aka all the financial crashes not so long ago. Had a family member lose all their savings in Hanover finance for a deposit on their first home. They had to start out again with nothing. The banks should pay for the insurance and bail outs not the government or tax payers.
ANZ credits customers $10m after loan payment mix-up
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2018/05/anz-credits-customers-10m-after-loan-payment-mix-up.html
And more even more (if that is possible) dodgy shit emerged from Middlemore while we were sleeping.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/357004/non-medical-facility-built-at-middlemore-without-approval
Flash new non medical buildings funded by…
“…. selling about $11 million of medical equipment, mostly sterilisers, to a finance company, then leasing them back.
This was an “unusual” method to get around the fact that usual sources of capital spending would not have been available for such a non-priority building, she said.
“It’s a very bad deal….””
Accompanying photo has an unfortunately inanely grinning acting CEO…
Was it the same ceo who urged getting hawkins to fix their mess at a blow out price?
Simon Bridges needs to do the right thing and resign and let this outstanding women lead National back to the promised land because she is on fire
Thats real Girl Power
Go Jude, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!
But Puckish Rogue, only a week ago you were proclaiming that Nicola Willis would be the next PM of NZ!
Now you are suggesting that Willis’ older clone*, Judith Collins, should be the one to lead National back to the promised land. Make up your mind, man. LOL
I really laughed when I watched Jude’s performance the other day. The person in the House I would least call ‘petulant’ is Jacinda Ardern – and the one I would most call ‘petulant’ is none other than Judith Collins herself.
* As I said in one of my comments under your ‘Willis for PM’ post last week, Willis seems like a younger Collins; and she seems to already be forming a fan club around herself amongst the younger, newer Nat MPs.
Bridges in his reshuffle following his rise to the Nat leadership has already moved a number of the older Nats further to the retirement back benches (eg Maggie Barry) and younger ones (eg Sarah Dowie) well up the list and into spokesperson positions. Others, eg Collins, I suspect he is keeping on the front bench from the perspective of keep your friends close but your enemies even closer. Time will tell …
“But Puckish Rogue, only a week ago you were proclaiming that Nicola Willis would be the next PM of NZ!”
I hope she can forgive my momentary lapse of reason (she will of course because shes just so awesome like that)
“As I said in one of my comments under your ‘Willis for PM’ post last week, Willis seems like a younger Collins; and she seems to already be forming a fan club around herself amongst the younger, newer Nat MPs.”
The future is looking bright for NZ
“Bridges in his reshuffle following his rise to the Nat leadership has already moved a number of the older Nats further to the retirement back benches (eg Maggie Barry) and younger ones (eg Sarah Dowie) well up the list and into spokesperson positions. Others, eg Collins, I suspect he is keeping on the front bench from the perspective of keep your friends close but your enemies even closer. Time will tell …”
The sooner he moves Paula Bennett closer to retirement the better
Yes PR another strange thing occurred today see here;
The Greens have decided on a candidate to run in North cote against National and Labour, now we know why we decided to leave the Green Party 15 yrs ago, and now feel vindicated as the greens are handing National another pass card after giving the question time to national already so they are showing us some inside the greens want to go with National as a Blue/green combo i believe now.
The story appears over on TDB.today.
Northcote by-election: Greens select Rebekah Jaung as candidate – is it worth it?
By Martyn Bradbury / May 11, 2018 /
The Greens are sick of being seen as a puppet for Labour and are desperate to show some independence, but was this by-election the best way to do that?
Actually i agree with it, the Greens will have looked at the Maori Party and Act and would know the danger of being seen to be lap dogs plus they also get to campaign for more party votes
@ cleangreen (10.1.1.1) … Not a good move at all from the Greens.
Seems to me Greens are putting up a challenge to the very coalition government they are part of, through selecting a candidate to contest the Northcote byelection! Strange!
I too have a feeling they are edging closer to going over to the Natz dark side eventually.
If they continue with these anti coalition tactics, then Greens can kiss my vote goodbye for good at the next election.
BTW where is Marama Davidson? I supported her being co leader. But she seems not to be making any impact at all so far!
Hi PR,
Just watched the first minute and yes Ms Collins socking it…………She would have been a better choice for Nats. Do you see blood on the floor before 2020?
Also what are your thoughts about Ms Collins detour to have dinner with officials of Oravida and a Chinese boarder official when her husbands company were having difficulty getting their product into China after the baby infant formula isssue. She was paid to go there on Govt business. Just interested to hear your take on that.
It was investigated I believe and no wrong doing found. If you think there was wrong doing then perhaps you should lobby the current government to re-open the investigation.
Gosman, Gosman. “Wrong” is a very relative term to the right.
And the word ‘build’, as opposed to ‘facilitate’, is a very relative term to the left.
Then get the current Government (no friend of Judith Collins) to reopen the investigation. Do you think they will?
No I don’t think the current govt will or should re-open that enquiry. To much other stuff to fix that impacts on kiwis lives…..although a fuller enquiry into dirty politics would be worthy. Have you read the book?
Gosman it was a massive conflict of interest. And some would say corrupt. Would you disagree with that? I didn’t read the report but my understanding was the terms of reference were kept very narrow.
I am just so happy we have this coalition govt who are fixing up years of neglect….yah
ankerawshark; 100%
Good question that is; How can Collins justify her political position over her business interests here???
She may prove more “loose”than John key was with the “truth”
Is that the way to run the country?
“Just watched the first minute and yes Ms Collins socking it…………She would have been a better choice for Nats. Do you see blood on the floor before 2020?”
I can’t answer because I’m biased so any answer i give would be less my head and more my heart but i will say I would like to see Jude take the leadership before the 2020 election
“Also what are your thoughts about Ms Collins detour to have dinner with officials of Oravida and a Chinese boarder official when her husbands company were having difficulty getting their product into China after the baby infant formula isssue. She was paid to go there on Govt business. Just interested to hear your take on that.”
My thoughts is that situation was wonderfully muddied (and well done to Labour)
Ok that’s cool puckish. I hope Jude doesn’t get the leadership as she is a bigger threat to us I think. I thought Simon would do better, and I thought David cunliffe and Andrew little would swing things for the left. I completely under estimated jacinda, who I think is outstanding…….so I wouldn’t trust my own judgement about leadership. I am pleased with the coalition. Extremely pleased. I want Middlemore fixed, I want child poverty reduced. I want a significantly improved mental health service (it deteriorated badly under national, trust me it’s my field)…..I want someone to at least attempt to fix the housing crisis and Auckland’s transport woes”……….theses things inspire me. On and throw climate change into that.
Tell me what is it about National that inspires you? Aside from Jude that is
And she’s been nailing Twyford day after day. Let her loose!
Please make her leader – her vicious sociopathy and questionable past (smirkingly condoning prison rape for example) will turn normal people off in droves.
You must be smoking something really good to think Collins is a sociopath…
Actually I was thinking you must be smoking something to NOT be able to see Collins is a sociopath.
Put up your argument. The label comes with very specific diagnosis.
Let’s start by taking GST off essential items, starting with food.
From the sidebar, Idiot Savant demonstrates his excellent hammer hand skills…
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2018/05/an-impoverished-idea-of-public.html
“So, the Ombudsman, who is meant to be the defender of transparency and the public participation it enables, thinks the public shouldn’t be able to have a say on policy until the government has already decided what’s going to happen. To put things back into his metaphor, in his view we don’t get to decide where we’re going to go, how we’re going to get there, or even if we’re going to go on a trip at all. But we might get to choose the music we listen to or which cafe we stop at along the way, if the government hasn’t already made up its mind about these things.
No matter which way you look at it, this is a deeply impoverished view of public participation. Pretty obviously, it reflects central government’s view of this – where they make the decisions, and public “consultation” is simply a rubberstamp designed to build legitimacy rather than give us a real say. But public participation is supposed to serve the interests of the people, not the government, and the Ombudsman is supposed to protect it. How the fuck is this supposed to be guarding the mana of the people?”
That’s exactly the impression I got from a quick skim of the paper.
I will give the paper better scrutiny later…always wise to better learn the ways of the enemy.
On this very important issue I am not in any way optimistic that this government has any greater interest in transparency and accountability than the Last Lot.
Yes Rosemary;
The trouble with new governments is that they rely to much on their In-house ‘advisers’ and stray off course so this appears to be just another example of the same result being contrary to what they promised us all at the election.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12049605
I’m sure one day, one of the pre-election promises will be met. Perhaps someone can raise an OIA on their modelling from 2 years ago…but best expect a redacted blank page to be returned.
You can say whatever prices you like when you know you won’t be building them
Indiana visit labour’s website or go back through Gordon Campbell’s articles. There is a list of everything the coalition has done to date and it’s an impressive list. They will honour their election promises on for exampl e free drs, it will just be a little delayed. In my o wn life I would find that acceptable and it happens frequently every people saying they will deliver things by a certain date and then usually for 7nderstandable reasons the date is pushed back. Most of us are flexible enough to accept this
The ‘Capital Charge’……..probably one of the early initiatives in neo-lib thinking that is now coming into question. It was a feature of the new corporatised public service (during that era when greed became good, and John Travolta and an Olivia neutron bomb were wobbling their arses as though they were more special than the next person)…… that fishint n fektiv n de-pliticoised civil service that was designed to do us all proud.
While they’re busy reviewing the fishinsy n fektivness and worth of that ‘Capital Charge, they might consider applying the same criteria to a good many of the complete fucking Muppetry heading our ‘officlaldom’.
Sometimes I’ve had cause to reference the early pages of the telephone directory.
I find it difficult to find many of the bits that are listed in the government section one could genuinely describe as fully functioning (fishint n fektiv n apolitical) entities.
And let’s be clear, it’s NOT generally down to the plebs at the front line of these entities …. it IS the leadership (the senior and muddle management) – and the culture they instill in their plebs (often ambitious little units anxious to climb the ladder and end up as the next generation of muppetry if only in pursuit of a higher salary and prestigious job title going forward)
First up in the directory is ….. ACC. Then we have Ray Smith’s Corrections.
Next,, nothing too Earth shattering, but a bit of a fuckup if you’re an artist …. Creative NuZull….then Keating’s Defence Force…..then EQC (just check out tonight’s news and all its implications)…then Education Ministry Of.
I’m too scared to travel further, because we’re getting close to Health, and Transport/ Infrastructure, and WINZ , and Primary Industries and perhaps the biggest bugger’s muddle of all which is Mr Smol’s Joyce/Coleman Ministry of Everything.
Whilst I’l hold the ladder steady for Shane Shane – because sure as shit I’m not coming down into his arms, he does have a point in that some serious review is necessary in the muddle and senior management, and that is probbly long overdue.
I heard on Radionz about a good action of The Warehouse helping a woman who needed to escape an obssessed and violent partner, she was given time off and was relocated. One small step for womankind, one great step for one woman and her family.
Now if women can choose to not involve a partner from the first if there is likely to be violence or very erratic behaviour, it would be better. It is only the contempt of the politicians who consider sex moral corruption and illegitimacy the road to hell, that has forced women to be glued to the father often to the detriment of the child and the mother. If she refuses to be involved, she has benefit withheld as a sanction.
Look at all the synonyms relating to the adjective ‘immoral’. It is obviously
something that highly angers people, more than other bad activities that are not connected to simply being loving but when humanness and fertility unfortunately combine.
What a mouthful of dislike:
not conforming to accepted standards of morality.
“unseemly and immoral behaviour”
synonyms: unethical, bad, morally wrong, wrongful, wicked, evil, unprincipled, unscrupulous, dishonourable, dishonest, unconscionable, iniquitous, disreputable, fraudulent, corrupt, depraved, vile, villainous, nefarious, base, unfair, underhand, devious; sinful, impure, unchaste, unvirtuous, shameless, degenerate, debauched, abandoned, dissolute, reprobate, perverted, indecent, lewd, licentious, wanton, bawdy, lustful, promiscuous, whorish;
informal shady, low-down;
informal dodgy, crooked, not cricket;
archaic miscreant
“they deplored immoral behaviour among the upper classes”