The Prime Minister has set up a semi-secretive digital and media expert group to advise on regulating social media. It took an OIA request by @MatthewHootonNZ to disclose the identity of members of the group.
Jordan Carter, Chief Executive, Internet NZ
Nat Torkington, technologist
Miriyana Alexander, Premium Content Editor, NZME
Rick Shera, Internet and Digital Business Law Partner, Lowndes Jordan
Michael Wallmansberger, cybersecurity professional, independent director; Chair of the CERT NZ Establishment Advisory Board
Victoria Maclennan, Managing Director, MD OptimalBI Ltd; Chair of the Digital Economy and Digital Inclusion Ministerial Advisory Group; Co-Chair, NZRise
John Wesley-Smith, GL Regulatory Affairs, Spark
Lizzie Marvelly, NZ Herald columnist, Villainesse.com co-founder and editor
But the objectives remain secret 'in the public interest'.
1. This is an advisory group. Most politicians could easily be described as extreme technophobes (by my standards). They need advice about what is achievable and desirable.
2. I know several of those listed. I really don’t have any issues. They provide the required bridge between the technical and the political.
3. If there are any problems with implementing their advice, I am pretty sure that they will be entirely aware of exactly how the technical community who have to implement it will view and deal with it.
4. Hooton is technically a useless idiot who specializes in disruption. I’d prefer the people I know on this list to give advice to politicians.
My handy rule of thumb on this sort of thing is to ask 'how might my political adversaries use this power or regulation against me, when they next get the levers of power in their hands?'
Or in this instance, imagine if National had set up a 'semi-secret' committee to propose regulating social media and 'left wing extremism' … for instance.
.. imagine if National had set up a 'semi-secret' committee to propose regulating social media and 'left wing extremism'
To get quick advice after a left-wing terrorist mass murder entangled with social media? Sure, I can imagine that. As Mr George notes, the objectives did not arise from the advisory group.
I'd prefer the consultation was being done a lot more widely and openly.
Withholding any information about the objectives of the group is troubling. Either they are keeping the objectives secret (having considered the public interest), or they have formed the group and started operating with no objectives (and no work programme established). There must be objectives to have prompted the formation of the group.
It's not a broad "consultation" vehicle; it is a dedicated group for specific advice at a particular time.
Government is full of them and they are not a substitute for broader engagement during policy processes. By all means jump up and down if there are resulting law changes without appropriate process.
If there are resulting law changes without appropriate process I think it's far too late.
What if those law changes required full time moderation of The Standard? Or made it illegal to criticise laws that regulate speech in social media?
Best to jump up and down when it might still make a difference. I don't think we should leave it up to a group working on a secret agenda to serve our best interests.
Do you think that policy on the regulation of speech in social media should be formulated in secret? It's not just an advisory group that's involved, it's the Government who set up the group and meet with the group.
And as I understand things the Government can set law.
And as I understand things the Government can set law.
Your understanding is quite flawed.
Parliament can set law. The Legislative council can request changes in regulation. The cabinet can propose legislation to Parliament and regulation to the GG. Even that is subject to scrutiny by various bodies like the soliciter general, various statutory bodies, and eventually the courts.
Plus of course we live in a MMP system. That means coalition agreement.
Any proposal is a compromise. Requiring advice.
The ‘goverment’ is an interesting near fiction.. They can initiate but not control without agreement – what century are you living in?
"The ‘goverment’ is an interesting near fiction.. They can initiate but not control without agreement – what century are you living in?"
Linear time is an irrelevance to the man in the beige safari suit (just as it is, and has become to a good number in that 'gummint'). Much as he'd like to be operating in the 5th Dimension, we've yet to discover Pete's Whurl of Reality
Sorry to say @ Cleeangreen "Jacinda lets have inclusion please" probably won't happen in your (or my) lifetime. You should have had learnings by now that buzz such as 'inclusion' – even 'truth' are subject to an individual's interpretation.
All very nice of course, AND aspirational (going forward).
If Marx were alive today, it wouldn't be a case of religion being the opium of the sheeple, but consumerism and the gorgeous self.
And why not? Like a sex addict would say – what better way to go out than to fuck yourself to death. Bugger all else
It's patently obvious from the group slection what it is about, even Hooton must know even if he pretends otherwise for political stirring reasons – to feed the paranoia of the paranoid.
This is just the group one would form before the Paris meet, it certainly looks like one associated with the take down notice implementation regime for social media the Paris meet will try to agree on (inciting violence, promotion of violence glorification of violence etc).
The Paris meet is narrowly focused and does not include hate speech law, so no reason to get your …
But the objectives remain secret 'in the public interest'.
That, and the fact there are no civil libertarians or free speech advocates on the panel, suggest the government has an agenda of censorship but would prefer not to advertise the fact.
At this point, it would help if we had a credible opposition party, rather than the collection of ruthless, smarmy grifters that is our National Party caucus.
I channelled the EFF, provided lists of similar orgs and people critical of censorship who should be engaged, IDed good speech not to be lost while chasing terrorists, etc.
Most academics have absolutely no experience with the underlying structure of the internet. Why would anyone think that they have much to contribute at a technical level?
And you’d have to be daft to think that anything can be done except at a technical level when it comes to the net.
If you look at the speed used in the legal system with any of the existing tools like the defamation act, privacy act, HDCA, or even the police – then they take years to deal with.
It is hard to see what else could be done with anything like the existing structures. Besides getting anything done would be
And anything else relies upon the technical people to have figured out something that will actually work.
After that is done, then we can use wafflers to fine-tune it.
Nobody is stopping academics and universities to fulfil their legal role acting as critics and conscience of society. One would like to think that the Government does listen to advice from more than one source and that one advisory group would neither have or aim for a monopoly on nor as a filter of genuine proper advice.
Just because I see a red flag doesn’t mean the whole world is a red flag. I can zoom in and out, I can entertain multiple PoVs, I can even attempt integration of multi-level or paradoxical concepts. In very few instances, I will even admit that I don’t know shit. Or I can decide to stare myself blind on the bird shit splatter on the windscreen and drive off the road into a ditch.
There's been some angry reactions from some gun owners recently. A former neighbour weighed in against the PM, and all politicians when I pointed out that all but one MPs had voted for the Act, because friends who had been active on social media and were gun owners got a visit from the police.
Today in the Press we learn of armed police teams raiding the homes of two men who the day after the mosque shootings went and bought AR15 style weapons from Gun City in Christchurch.
They just didn't get that such a response was brought about by their actions. They bought the weapons hoping that existing gun owners would be exempt. ONe said he'd 'always wanted one.' They didn't hand in the weapons having found out the weapons would have to be impounded. They bought the guns in the same city as the massacre one day after.
They got upset because a team of armed police visited a man who bought the same weapon as used in the massacre which killed 51 people, and acted according to the possible threat and danger from a man who had two assault convictions.
As Mrs Mac1 says, " we have some very fragile people in our country."
At least one of them had been mouthing off online about Muslims, the attack's target.
The way NZ police behaved here was standard worldwide procedure, including armed police being posted everywhere. I have no sympathy for these guys whining about their hurt feelings.
And bollocks to it being standard procedure- police don’t raid people who have purchased firearms legally without a reason – and they have provided none in this case.
I have heard mutterings from inside the gun owning fraternity that they know of friends who are buying plastic piping and sealing their automatic weapons in them before burying them in the garden.
I think that the police should carry metal detectors on every such raid and check out the yard.
Man that Slate piece you linked to is one of the most racist things I have read in a long time..holy shit.
" In Peru, he recalls, a doctor reported seeing 50 cases of rape in the preceding five days. All the victims were less than 15 years old."
Yet according toNation Master you are 17% more lightly to be raped in the USA than Peru, in fact it shows that the risk from nearly all crime is higher in the US than Peru
" The abuse of state power turned out to be a human problem, not a colonial one."
Colonialist invade a poor country, completely destroy and disrupt centuries of structure and life for the inhabitants, they eventually get kicked out. and suddenly everything is meant to just go back to how it was before colonization?..seriously, I mean I am no academic, but even I understand that the deep damage caused to these formally colonized societies lays squarely at the feet of their former oppressors.
Uhh, you have any idea of the difference between recorded crime and actual crime is in places with really corrupt authorities? Particularly for a deeply personal crime such as rape, where attempting to pursue justice is much much more likely to result in further victimisation and humiliation than any kind of punishment for the perpetrator?
In your rush to find something to whine about and make yourself feel morally superior, you seem to have totally missed the point of the article. Which is to look at ways to improve things for people living in fucked up parts of the world.
Well of course we all want " to look at ways to improve things for people living in fucked up parts of the world." how that is done and under what context and by whom is also incredibly important, all I was saying is that I found the piece to be extremely condescending to the people of those poor counties, and it's lack of historical context was disturbing.
BTW Andre, When I read statements like…' You can’t just do good. You have to grapple with evil', I of course get instantly suspicious…so I was in no ' rush to find something to whine about and make yourself feel morally superior" so go get fucked with your ad hominem attacks (as you and your pals always fall quickly back to). maybe you should just try displaying a little more critical thinking.
I would have thought the same problem, patriarchal power structure existed in the first world and in the pre colonial "third world". And that, as a result of colonialism one can add institutional racism. Those dealing with both in the first world can bring that knowledge to the third world in their foreign aid programmes.
I wish these assurances were true. They aren’t. Tests do show an IQ deficit, not just for Africans relative to Europeans, but for Europeans relative to Asians. Economic and cultural theories have failed to explain most of the pattern, and there’s strong preliminary evidence that part of it is genetic. It’s time to prepare for the possibility that equality of intelligence, in the sense of racial averages on tests, will turn out not to be true.
William Salatan…racist. Or maybe just lazy and attention grabbing. Or maybe all 3.
In your rush to whine about the person whose name is on the byline, did you miss the actual content of the piece? And that the piece was almost entirely just a summary of content originally produced by Gary Haugen, with a bit of additional info about Haugen and the organisation he heads?
No actually the piece you linked to has the heading and then 'By WILLIAM SALETAN' (Their caps) so it isn't a byline.
Don't you think it is about time you grow up and stop your incessant whining and whinging every time some one points to all the holes in the shit you put up.
When you and Siobhan stop responding to just about everything with a diversionary whine that's unrelated to the content of the comment you're responding to, I'll stop telling you what you're doing is diversionary whining.
Firstly my initial comment WAS about the content of your link, and as far as I can see so was Siobhan’s. so don’t know what your are talking about there.,,just whinging for the sake of it I guess.
Secondly, maybe I will stop critiquing you when you stop putting up links that are dodgy and making comments that I don't agree with, but until then I will comment how ever I see fit, as is the nature of open political forums in case you hadn't noticed
You don't see me getting all sad and defensive on it like you when people constantly critique my links and comments (which they do)…maybe you need to harden up a bit.
So in short, if you can only understand being critiqued as whining then that is your problem not mine.
"Some liberals don’t like to hear this message. They’re uncomfortable with the language of power, punishment, deterrence, and force. They prefer to talk about amnesty, rehabilitation, or demilitarization"
Congratulations on finding one of the very few bits of the piece that's Saletan's content, not a summary of Haugen's views.
Now, do you think you can actually take the very brave step of actually considering Haugen's views about how the lack of a fair justice system is a significant part of continuing poverty? And that concentrating more aid efforts into improving justice systems might have better results than current aid efforts?
Or is it just too big a mental obstacle for you to overcome, purely because he's an evangelical, that someone might actually have developed worthwhile observations from his work helping the impoverished ?
An estimated 60% of Peruvian mothers aged between 12 and16 years old become pregnant as a result of rape. And your reaction to anecdotal reports of appalling levels of sexual violence is but America!.
@joe90, Look all I was trying to say was that the piece that was linked to initially seemed to me to be quite racist in tone, just because someone wants to help in poor third world countries doesn't mean they don't have all kinds of hooks and personal agendas that go along with that 'help’,so when I read this … ' You can’t just do good. You have to grapple with evil' and this 'The abuse of state power turned out to be a human problem, not a colonial one.' in that piece, and then looked up the author who turned out to be involved in some racist controversies, well my alarm bells started ringing…wouldn't yours?
Random morning thought: there should be a word for that really discomfiting feeling you get when someone that's nuttier than pecan pie actually agrees with you.
The Germans probably already have one. Sabine, can you help?
That's a really cool definition Gabby and as always leads to the need for further elucidation. For the benefit of very uncool people like me here is an Urban Dictionary's definition of Dre (the others were so packed with sex-loaded foul-mouthed expletives I passed them by).
an adjective used to describe anything that is cool and/or dope beyond comprehension. Applicable only to those individuals with the highest levels of swag. Derivative of the popular rapper name Dre and thus is most commonly used as an expression by members of hip hop culture. However, it is sometimes used by a select few individuals who wish they had swag…
Maybe. Works for most of the sensation. Bit it doesn't quite convey that additional little hint of feeling maybe your own views need an urgent re-examining, tho.
The scale of procrastination is increasingly evident…
"Emission budgets will be set for five-year periods once we are past 2025 and up to 2035 these will be all set by December 31st, 2021. In setting the targets consideration must be given as to how these targets may be realistically met plus another range of “cover all options” clauses.
If a budget period achieves greater savings than budgeted these can be carried forward into the next period and if a budgeted period falls short of budgeted emissions government may drag back up to 1% (borrow) from the following period."
“So it appears meaningful climate action has been deferred until post the next election”
Even further than that….
As there is no concrete plan on how to meet these targets….
It is all very well having a target, but without a concrete plan to work towards it, it is meaningless.
I could have a target to be a millionaire in 5 years.
I could even say that I will need to get $200,000 per year to reach my target.
I have a target, I am almost there.
The same with the Zero Carbon Bill, lots of targets lots of deadlines, Zero actual policy on how to meet them.
Meanwhile in the real world, business as usual continues, huge area of Taranaki opened up for oil and gas exploration. Huge coal mine expansion in Huntly Rotowaro open cast. More motorway expansion. Business as usual in all spheres
The purposes of the targets is to require those contesting elections and forming coalition governments to have plans to meet the said targets – though we have yet to see National buy in to confirm it.
The targets themselves are in accord with the OECD international consensus – sans outliers such as Oz and USA and Canada.
the stated purpose of the Bill is to confine to 1.5 degC of warming (but definitely less than 2) as per the Paris accord……and this admin is going to further waste this 3 year term and part of the next (should they get another) before any practical policy is enacted…..on current projections 1.5 will have already been exceeded by then.
This lot could teach the EU a thing or two about can kicking on that performance
Future thinking. Past thinking. Just thinking and trying and being a bit entrepreneurial and not putting it off till many of us thinking oldies will be dead. (How are we all planning for the environmentally appropriate way to be laid to rest?)
I thought of Futuro houses – alien looking double saucered homes on stilts.
I see from Nelson Mail paper that a guy has been sourcing some of these in NZ. Apparently only 100 were made in the 1970's (worldwide?) then the oil crisis, so rare. Nick McQuoid brought one from Northland to Christchurch in 2012 and later sold it to Museum in Tasmania for $280,000!
His latest is at Ohoka, Christchurch, and was a whitebait shelter in South Westland.
Futuro houses were conceived by Matti Suuronen in Finland in 1968 to be used as "portable" ski chalets. The insulated fibreglass structures were designed so the interior could heat up in just 20 minutes.
Grey, about a month ago I saw a lil truck towing a house on a trailer in Thorp St, was super impressed.
It looked like a tall prefab cottage, but what buzzed me out was the vehicle towing it, was one of those landcrusier style trucks, the ones many kiwi's own. It was so cool to watch. They backed it down their drive way and voila, instant house. Must have been lightweight to be able to be moved by such an average vehicle.
Those chalets, awesome, I think there is one at the wreckers on the left driving into Mot next to a phonebox with an alien in it….hmmmm…. going to the tip today, will double check if it is, I wonder if they've seen the article, that would be worth stopping in and sharing with them, might just do that…..thanks for sharing Grey, very cool.
Displaced people in the world 41 million!! Extreme weather displaces more people than conflicts and violence. Norway has a group keeping track.
(Me: Scandinavia for the modern UN! Time for a change of place, practice, hegemony, away from hedgemoney!)
Fog in Auckland stopping ferry sailings and international departures. (This is NZ idea of what displaced people are! We have to up our thinking, I think.)
Greed has overcome both good sense and decency, as the government opens a up huge area for oil and gas exploration on land violently seized from Maori by Colonial authorities
Iwi in Taranaki are upset the government has put their ancestral land up for oil and gas drilling…..
……Former Green Party candidate for Te Tai Hauāuru, Jack McDonald, is gutted with the offer, which covers his own tribal lands.
“It is a slap in the face that this so-called progressive government, which is meant to be taking a new approach to climate change and a new approach to Māori-Crown relations, would actually continue with this approach.”
Greed has overcome both good sense and decency, as the government opens a up huge area for oil and gas exploration on land violently seized from Maori by Colonial authorities
Iwi in Taranaki are upset the government has put their ancestral land up for oil and gas drilling…..
……Former Green Party candidate for Te Tai Hauāuru, Jack McDonald, is gutted with the offer, which covers his own tribal lands.
“It is a slap in the face that this so-called progressive government, which is meant to be taking a new approach to climate change and a new approach to Māori-Crown relations, would actually continue with this approach.”
….The problem – and it’s an existential threat both profound and perverse – is that those who lead us and have power over our shared destiny are ignoring global warming to the point of criminal negligence. Worse than that, their policies, language, patronal obligations and acts of bad faith are poisoning us, training citizens to accept the prospect of inexorable loss, unstoppable chaos, certain doom. Business as usual is robbing people of hope, white-anting the promise of change. That’s not just delinquent, it’s unforgivable…..
The Australian term white-anting comes from the action of termites that hollow out and empty something that looks fine on the surface.
The Zero Carbon Bill is an example of white-anting stopping any real action on climate change, looking substantial, but completely hollowed out of any real action.
The argument made for the Zero Carbon Bill by its supporters, is that we have to seek 'Consensus' with the National Party, otherwise when they get back into power they will repeal any concrete legislation we put in place.
As well as being a defeatist position, the evidence for for this argument is actually extremely weak.
The Nats never repealed the Nuclear Free Legislation. Labour have never repealed the Anadarko Amendment. Phil Goff traveled the Country in a big red bus with "Kill The Bill" (the National Government Bill to increase GST to 15%) before admitting that if he was elected he wouldn't repeal it.
Consensus is not democracy it is an attack on democracy.
As Winston Churchill famously said, Democracy is the worst of all possible systems, except for all those others that have been tried.
Democracy has been described by its detractors as the dictatorship of the majority over the minority.
This is the sound of ideologies crashing, sang Billy Bragg
Consensus is an effort to paper over these differences between ideologies.
And it fits into one of those worst ways Churchill spoke of.
Consensus is not democracy. Consensus is going for the lowest possible denominator to achieve unanimity.
In effect Consensus is an effort to silence and stifle political debate. To suffocate the sound of ideologies clashing.
The tragedy of Consensus politics is that it robs the electorate of making a clear choice between one way forward and another. Consensus politics prevents us hearing the arguments between both ways forward, and for making an informed decision with our vote.
Consensus politics murders democracy in back room deals between politicians.
What consensus politics displays, is a lack of faith in the people.
Consensus politics is a cowardly abrogation of leadership.
Instead of appeasing the National Party politicians what our leaders should do instead is enact the legislation that their conscience and the science demands, and then openly defy the opposition to repeal it if they dare.
“Black/white thinking is a bigger problem than consensus decision-making ever will be.” Sacha
Or are you like the oil and coal companies, scared of the possibility that you may, one day, have to submit to the dictatorship of the majority?
Democracy has its faults, but its better, as Churchill said than all those others that have been tried and that includes the so called the consensus style of politics.
Personally I think that many people are heartily sick of consensus between the two major political parties.
Which delivers no choice, and which sees many turn away from even voting, finding it hard to determine any difference between them.
Maybe you would like to enlarge on that comment Solkta?
In there is a difference of opinion between two parties, (or people), there can be only three possible outcomes. Either one side is right, or the other side is right, or both sides are wrong.
Where is the ground for consensus if both sides disagree?
An international consensus – a co-ordinated effort – is required to deal with a global issue. Whether global social media regulation against incitement/promotion/glorification of violence, money laundering, tax havens, taxation of international cartels, extradition agreements, war crimes, 200 mile economic zones, freedom of the sea, diplomatic immunity, free trade rules (WTO), and global environment concerns.
And where there is an international consensus as to national targets – nations formulate how they meet their obligations. This will include national plans – which can include an internal consensus within which parties contest elections and form coalition agreements. The recent proposal would need to be agreed to by National to become one.
As to being more ambitious than the international community programme, being a fast follower rather than a prevaricator is progress for now. The only way to be effective is by
1. taking the resistance (aka National) along with you.
2. convincing the international community to be bolder.
Subjects; The way forward' /consensus /climate change/well being/ – all in one here folks
11/5/19
Our HB/Gisborne community is still awaiting the Labour coalition promises made to us all in 2016 in the Gisborne Herald.
Three parties all now in Labour coalition had promised restoration of our rail services that the National Government has allowed to become partly washed out in 2012 by a lack of funding for rail maintenance to keep the infrastructure free of damages from any storms.
This service was already under community restoration as industry was wanting more freight services then in 2011 when in december the HBRC had evidence that more freight was wanted to be carried on Gisborne rail in a press release 21st December 2011 entitled “At risk rail can’t cope”.
(links are all provided below"
We are claiming our right to have our rail services restored by this new Labour Coalition Government under the new “well being budget policy .
This promise will see Government reducing carbon emissions and increasing infrastructure under two of the ‘five priorities’ using – Boosting Innovation, & Creating Opportunities .
QUOTE; “Alongside GDP, we will measure ourselves against five key priorities that will make real improvements to the lives of New Zealanders. We’ve used evidence to identify the five areas we can make the greatest difference. Boosting Innovation, Creating Opportunities, Backing Māori & Pasifika, Supporting Mental Health, Improving Child Wellbeing.
Please Government give us in HB/Gisborne back our Gissbone Rail as you are doing already in most other provinces, such as Wairarapa, Tananaki, Canterbury, Otago, Westland, Waikato and Northland. – So we await your response in the new GPS called "wellbeing budget" https://www.labour.org.nz/wellbeingbudget
Yesterday I made brief comment on Micky's post, that I hoped that the National Party continue to oppose the Zero Carbon Bill so as to give the voters at least some chance to decide.
I just think you like your "war" too much. What if National oppose the Bill and win the election?
In my opinion, any party that fought an election campaign against the scientific evidence of climate change and the need to act against it, would be in for the political drubbing of their life.
The evidence is that strong.
The tragedy is that the current consensus strategy will prevent that debate ever being held.
1. propose legislation and see if National oppose it
2. if National do, win in 2020 and force them to reconsider their position.
3. post 2020 gain consensus around the plan.
4. compete in subsequent elections with policies and coalition agreements that specify implementaiton arrangements.
5. within the framework that this plan is in accord with existing international agreements which can be made more progressive should there be consensus around this.
I think it is most likely that National will vote for the Zero Carbon Bill. If certain goals prove too difficult down the track, say the reduction in methane by 2030, adjustments can be made.
After all, it it is highly unlikely Labour will still be the govt then!
The too good to be true back door wheeling and dealing arrangements are inherently unstable and readily detrimental, as the National Party involvement shows.
Why we should never considering privatising our health industry and abandon Pharmac. A small inroad by some private companies providing services for the wealthy, and some limited crossover, but very limited interaction.
Specialists in infectious disease are protesting a gigantic overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old drug that is the standard of care for treating a life-threatening parasitic infection.
The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
That's more an artefact of the way the FDA won't recognise approvals from other countries. Daraprim's generic name is pyrimethamine and it's widely available around the world as a generic for about $1 a dose. But the US market for it is small enough it wasn't worth it for any other company to go through the rigmarole of bringing in a generic.
A thornier problem is simply the unpredictability of private health care costs. Which leads to horrifying stuff like parents with kids that have done something that really does need any emergency room visit, but the risk of a ruinous bill is so high they'll wait with the kid outside in the carpark and hope the kid pulls through so they don't have to go in.
How far the USA has declined or flat-lined. In the 1860s in Semmelweiss' time in Vienna, pregnant mums might hire a horse-drawn cab to circle the hospital to see how they went with the birth because of the high death rate for mothers at the hospital. It was a last resort.
When Semmelweiss carried out a handwashing experiment on young trainee doctors who had been handling cadavers before viewing the birthing mothers, he reduced that death rate. But his methods didn't suit the PTB and they discontinued the practice. The knowledge of those avoidable deaths practically drove him mad and to his death.
What a disgrace that the United States is as low as the 1800s in its unconcern for its citizens. I'll mention Joan Brady here. She wrote a novel Death Comes for Peter Pan based on a paper she had written about defects in the medical services in one of the States. She couldn't get her work published. So she wrote it up as 'faction' .
Review Good Reads by Steve:
High 4. This is a devastating portrait of the iniquities of the medical system in the US. When Alice Wexler is told her husband is dying and that no medical treatment can prevent this outcome, they return to their American homeland. What follows is a tale of her passionate crusade to attain a more promising diagnosis, but as Alice's hopes of her country providing a second chance become shattered`in the face of the harsh realities of the Medicare system, her struggle becomes one of fighting for her husband's right to a dignified end. As she witnesses her husband's deterioration her self-reflection rveals hidden aspects of their relationship, and as any meaningful contact with her partner becomes more and more remote, we are witness to her growing emotional attachment to the one person who provides support. The author cuts through with scalpel-precision the layers of bureaucratic hypocrisy to reveal a health care system where poorly trained staff ensure passivity of patients through over-medication, and where those in such a vagetative state are regarded by those who manage the system, as mere 'product' to keep the coffers full. In the epilogue, Joan Brady reveals that she faced her own such struggle when she returned with her terminally-ill husband to the US. The questions she raises over the allocation of funds and the impersonal operation of the US health-care system, and the call for more discussion of 'mercy killings' contained within its pages brought condemnation across the pond, but this is a wonderful novel which deftly exposes social injustice.
Amsterdam audio – Joan Brady second half of audio on her book Death Comes for Peter Pan.
May 11, 2019
gisborneherald.co.nz
Prime time to expand
by Andrew AshtonPublished: May 11, 2019 11:58AM
Report says container port, restoration of rail can boost growth
A Deloitte report says investing in rail could be more commercially viable if Eastland Port had container port facilities.
The lack of a container port in Gisborne is costing the region $36 million a year and potentially hindering the return of the Gisborne to Wairoa rail line, a report from a top finance firm says.
The second edition of Deloitte’s Shaping Our Slice of Heaven report, entitled Regions of Opportunity, assesses the economic impact of increasing exports in tourism, agribusiness, food processing and advanced manufacturing from Auckland, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay/Gisborne, Wellington and Canterbury from 2019 to 2040.
The report says Gisborne is in a prime position to take advantage of growth industries and highlights the expansion of Eastland Port and the restoration of rail as aspects that can boost the region further.
“Gisborne needs increased connectivity to flourish,” the report states.
“While the Wairoa-Napier rail line has been reopened and road upgrades between Wairoa and Gisborne have been promised, extending the operating rail line up to Gisborne would increase trade efficiency going south from Gisborne.
Whakatane residents are supplied 'E' grade water…the lowest of the low…while New Zealand Government officials woo wealthy investors to a local spring so the investor can potentially bottle 580 million litres of pure, clear water per year.
The runanga has previously said it has concerns about the health of the Awaiti aquifer, from which the water would be drawn, and the consent regime: "At every turn, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa has had to advocate for transparency and accountability by local and central government, namely making the consent hearing public, and the participation of hapū, iwi and community in decisions that affect us."
Whether the legal challenges succeed or fail, the focus on Nongfu Spring has highlighted the ease with which overseas company can access vast quantities of water for little to no cost.
In this case, consent to bottle and export 580m litres of water would cost the company around $2000 a year, the price of a resource consent monitoring fee.
Seriously beggars belief that we're still protesting this shit. If we only consider the plastic used to bottle 580 million litres of water per year then we have a strong indicator that those promoting this madness have not been listening.
That the NZ government is behind this is bordering on treason.
Talk about mitigating climate change and cleaning up our water ways and reducing plastic use….all bullshit.
This is just a fiction made up by malcontents??? Tell me the truth – this isn't really happening right? I think I need another cup of tea, it's enough to drive you to drink. But not pure water. Can someone explain why this is allowed to happen. Is it just no backbone? Is it being left up to local Councils to decide? Is it that central government can't put a stop to treating an essential resource for everything being mined? It would be right to stop it now. And try to claw back what has already been signed up to, even if it costs big money.
Does this come under the CPPPTPA etc? Have we the citizens got no come-back to this dreadful, stupid bit of 'trade’? @$%$&$ *** 👿 😈 😡 😥
(unfortunately) I'm a bit of a Ben Shapiro fan boy….
That truly is unfortunate. He's one of the truly wicked opinion-vomiters, and unlike, say, Donald Trump, he lacks even a smattering of rudimentary charm.
Why would you call yourself a "fan boy" of that chump?
Actually, and I really hate to say this, but Shapiro didn't do to badly really, he batted off Neil's questions mostly pretty well, Neil seemed to base the whole interview on just a string of lazy gotcha questions.
Most of the blogs and you tube channels I follow are framing this as a huge fail and an embarrassment for Shapiro, and when you watched their edited clips it sure looks like it, but when you take the time and watch the whole thing, it reads quite differently I think.
It is so easy to believe things when they align with your own ideology, but truth matters. if you start believing your own bullshit you end up losing elections like the Dems in 2016.
Yeah he definitely lost his shit in the end, but in a way I can kind of see why, Neil didn't seem interested in having a discussion with him, he only seemed interested in cornering him with one of his single fire questions, which is a very lazy way to expose Shapiro for the arsehole that he is, in my opinion Neil didn't do a good job in this interview.
For other uses, see Ring Road (disambiguation). "Beltway" redirects here. For the term used in American politics, see Inside the Beltway. "Periférico" redirects here. For Mexico City's beltway, see Anillo Periférico.
The inner ring road of Sheffield, England
A ring road (also known as beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country.
The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducing traffic volumes in the urban centre, such as by offering an alternate route around the city for drivers who do not need to stop in the city core.
Dunedin just needs a bypass. I was actually in an exam years ago when a slinky (lamb carcass) truck on a hot day exploded its load all down the middle of town. The stench was insane (apparently they'd filled the truck fine, but the swellage on a hot day caused overflow).
Most of the double-trailers passing through are going nowhere close to the inner hills areas. There are a couple of trans-shipping depots in southD, lots of logging trucks crunch roads up to Port Chalmers, but the stock trucks are going straight through.
Dangers of 5G – Mark Steele interview notes regarding a claim weapons expert Mark Steele marks that autonomous vehicles are never going to be a reality because of the amount of microwave radiation they emit. What's impossible is having 20-50 of them all together.
BMW did a study that showed autonomous cars interfered with pacemakers. 13:25. Nobody has warned of the danger looking at these cars with binoculars or telescopes – if the laser from the autonomous car catches the sight it will put your eye out
The Greens are not ugly centrists like NZF so they are unlikely to ever be king-makers. Unlike NZF, king-making is not what drives the Greens. Environmental and social concerns drive the Greens.
Yes. And seeing as they've got little from Labour and been forced to swallow a few dead rats, surely it wouldn't take much for National to try and entice them over?
They would only have to offer a little more than Labour has allowed them which hasn't been much. And with going with National, there is less chance of Winston getting in the way.
Personally speaking I'd rather deal with any party before I'd deal with Winston. I get the feeling that National, Labour, the Greens, Maori Party and Act all want to achieve something but Winston only wants whats best for Winston
I don't know if you've been paying attention but the Greens will not and can not 'go with' National because their political ideologies run counter to each other.
It's not going to happen.
Mind you, NZF and the Greens might be closer on policy in some areas than is generally acknowledged. Given your hatred of rail (which is weird for a self-pronounced far left activist) the idea that Winston Peters is driving a big boost for rail will leave you stinging I’m sure.
When stacked up against what Labour has offered them, the reversal and alienation would be minimal, manageable, thus survivable if it was required to secure them power.
Did you miss where the government scrapped new oil exploration and introduced methane targets and refocussed big highway funding to clean public transport?
Remembering you yourself advocate for big highways I'm not surprised you have overlooked these developments.
You think nats would support the climate change stuff, even as it is? Not to mention the fact that the entire Nat philosophy is based on exploitation rather than conservation: environment, resources, people…
Even without the social policy aspect to the Greens (because holistic attitudes cannot be restricted to one narrowly defined area, by definition), it's not a case of concessions on individual policies buying cooperation. Everybody has to be on the same broad page on most of everything else that comes up, and generally treat each other with respect. That's what would require a complete change in the nats for them to realistically have the Greens as an option.
This should be pretty basic stuff to any Green voter.
Here is a guy who should get a good Parkour workout and training. Then make some sculpture of his own that goes outside on public display for our critical judgment, which we are all very good at it in NZ. That will teach him some skills, some planning, some discipline, some understanding of materials, some mentoring, the ability to see a thought from start to finish and outcome. And how vulnerable we all are to others' respect for ourselves and our works.
I think the tridition on single marriage is westernised. Marriage is a
very important to the old Maori thats where te Mokopuna are going to come from.
I don't think that the high devorce rate in NZ is good for anyone but lawyers.
I say that people who are going to marry should look HARD at there potential partners to make sure they are compatible as there are a lot of players out there.
I just a few years ago I new all my neighbours the way of the west goal is to individualised the common tangata easer to use there blind/fool people if they are ALONE. For tangata whenua we have to work together to make a better future for te Mokopuna.
Moden living has to change back to the hapu /familys cooperationing in all aspects of life the Marae way of living is way of the future we will use less resources and that is going to be beneficial for our future shear the tools shareing is caring if we learn that respect is a big thing that needs to be promoted.
I get pissed at accounts who say it better to rent than buy a house.
A whare is the Whanau moanga it gives the Whanau security no one can tell you to leave with out good cause it will help with financial security once you have good equity you can lend money with low interest rates you can use your equity to help the tamariki and Mokopuna get there own house.
I agree with Marama if one is paying rent WHY can't the government and the banks lend money to buy A whare the rent has to be paid or your under the bridge. Rents are higher than a mortgage in a lot of places. Figure that one out.
All the tangata of Papatuanukue need to put huge pressure on all the Papatuanukue ruling class to force them to protect OUR Mokopuna futures first and formost.
Hague climate change judgement could inspire a global civil movement
Dutch ruling could trigger similar cases worldwide with citizens taking their governments to courts to make them act on climate promises Ka kite ano links below.
Social media needs to have boundaries set to stop the haters using it to cause harm to others verbally and physically but let's not compromise free speach in the reaction.
Parlm kernel fire the stuff can self combust if not stored correctly.
Its good that more money for the homeless people to be housed,
Well national has a policy that I will back 2 days more care after our Wahine give birth to Te Mokopuna I think it's a real good policy te Wahine go thru a enormous amount of stress giveing birth to our tamariki it is quite easy for them to slip into depression.
I say that IWIs paying for health insurance for there tangata whenua is on to it yes the crown should be paying for it but we can not Rely on the government this will keep the kaumatua around longer to guide our Mokopuna up there ladders of Life.
I miss it last night Sir Heke Busby passed he will be missed dearly.
I see that the United nations Antonio is in Aotearoa promoting Papatuanukue PEACE Ka pai and championing the mitigatetion against climate change we must respect our future and past tipuna.
The poor common people need help its cool more funding is coming from our government for tangata whenua as we are the majority in those stats of homeless. Kia ora to the Black Ferns Ka kite ano
Chris you do a good job in Auckland caring for OUR homeless tangata.
The Ausse election in on hope you are wrong Jason the Papatuanukue can not afford to have the same government in power that is prow coal.
It is awesome that the protesting the lack of action against climate change around the Papatuanukue is still going strong.
Paul I agree with your words I say no more.
I say white supremacist are a bit of a problem in NZ I see there actions all the time.?
My diet is no additional sugar in prosessed food and a little hear and there and porridge rolled oats gets the digest system working it fulls you up easy as to I notice with te Mokopuna good feed of porridge and toast keeps them happy for 3 hours any other food 2 hours it a super food.
The white supremacist problem if you ignore a sore eventually it gets that big it burst.
Your mother day prize for that Wahine who lost her loved one's recently is cool she will be happy Wahine are the unsung Hero's of OUR society.
You should see how my WiFi and laptop get hacked so easily so be careful about the new technology you put in your whare if your privacy matters to you.
Now is the time to buy second hand electric car. I say our government should be investing in the technology of refurbishment of the battery's of the second hand car market or they will have to quickly try and clean up a mess that is easily foreseeable heaps of dead batterys and cars if the manufacturer won't back their secondhand car the government has to mabe legerslate but NZ is to small to have a impact at that level. Its a no brainer to chase a phenomenon that will sharply reduce our carbon footprint and can save the country billion at the same time a smart investment I say. I know heavy industries need fuel like gas or hydrogen but I say working smarter not harder is what little AOTEAROA has to do to keep up with the phase of change and get the best returns from the changes. The technology can be sold to other that are interested. There are many more poor people in the Papatuanukue than wealthy so the market for refurbishment of batteries is huge Ka kite ano links below.
Equality for all is needed Wahine are treated the less equal of OUR society. Wahine from 3 world countries have it very hard they do most of the heavy lifting in the mahi of providing for there familys. The men get most of any money they get and some waster it. Eco Maori backs Tau toko this micro financing for Wahine.
Gender inequality is a global problem, but it is especially amplified when it comes to the financial opportunities presented to men and women. While there has been a significant improvement in gender equality since women were first allowed to vote,statistically, women are underrepresented in most financial positions: form borrowers to lenders, not to mention regulatory bodies or high-standing positions in banking institutions.
Micro-financing for female borrowers
Micro-financing platforms like AssetStream will allow women with lower social status and lack of work or credit history to start borrowing small sums of money, to jumpstart their finances or even start their own small business Ka kite ano links below
We don't have to invent the wheel to fix our environment. Papatuanukue has already achieved this we just have to find the creature to will help in clearing up the mess and nerture them use mother nature creations to help clean up mess we have made with our Environment. I Back the kicks principles keep it smart and simple.
The big, beautiful Baltic Sea hides a dirty secret in its 377,000km of water.
A number of agricultural spills has turned the Baltic into one of the most polluted seas in the world, due to excess nitrogen and phosphorus lacing its waters.
This process of eutrophicationhas led to the depletion of oxygen and an overgrowth of algae in the body of water, but not all hope is lost Ka kite ano link below
Its cool that the people who can't hear have Maori sign te reo language I will find the time in the near future to master te reo.
The side of the road drug test on the roads would be fine with Eco Maori in a perfect Papatuanukue but from all the data and stories I can see. Tangata whenua will end up with the short end of that STICK.
Its awesome that school fees will be dropped and focused on education Alot of intelligent tamariki would fail or not set the test because of the fees being un payed.
Ma te wa
Antonio the tangata whenua of the Pacific Islands need help in combining climate change.
Its cool that the United nations is Tau toko indigenous culture te reo /language.
I would not be a happy MAN if that happens to my Mokopuna.
Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
The big dairy co-op Fonterra had some Christmas cheer to offer its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came from Education Minister Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has been under pressure from rising costs. Down on the farm, this has been hitting hard. But there was more positive news this week, first from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where prices rose, and then from a report ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normalcolumn of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
The electorate has high expectations of the new government. The question is: can it deliver? Some might say the signs are not promising. Protestors are already marching in the streets. The new Prime Minister has had little experience of managing very diverse politicians in coalition. The economy he ...
Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to …. Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand! Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations. • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme – that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.Brian Easton writes – The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate changeDaily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenanceBeehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
Open access notables From this week's government/NGO section, longitudinal data is gold and Leisorowitz, Maibachi et al. continue to mine ore from the US public with Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2023: Drawing on a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, the authors describe how registered ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
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The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
Labour’s immigration spokesperson Phil Twyford is calling on the Government to follow the example of Australia and help New Zealanders’ close family members stuck in Gaza to escape and take shelter here. ...
The Green Party is urging the Government to recognise its commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi so our tamariki and mokopuna can grow up in an Aotearoa where their language is celebrated, their health is prioritised, and their whenua is protected. ...
By scrapping Aotearoa’s world-leading smokefree laws, this government is sacrificing Māori lives to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Not only is this plan revolting, but it doesn’t add up. Treasury has estimated that the reversal of smokefree laws to pay for tax cuts will cost our health system $5.25bn, ...
Figures showing National needs to find another $900 million for landlords highlights the mess this coalition Government is in less than a week into the job. ...
Community organisations, mana whenua and the Greens have written to the incoming Minister of Oceans and Fisheries to call for the progression without delay of the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill. ...
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The New Zealand Labour Party is urgently calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel to put a halt to the appalling attacks and violence, so that a journey to a lasting peace can begin, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
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With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids. The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
Most weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...
The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber. I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States. This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
Labour's leader says O'Connor is "incredibly passionate" about the issue but party policy is that relevant international bodies will determine whether Israel's actions are lawful. ...
Liv McGoverne has just returned from an enjoyable season playing rugby in England, but playing there in a Black Ferns jersey, on the sport’s biggest stage, remains the ultimate goal. McGoverne, 26, played the 2022-23 campaign for Exeter Chiefs in the Premier 15s competition. Coached by former England half-back ...
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The first regular sitting day of the new Parliament took place on Thursday and the country got a peek at what Question Time will look like over the next three years. The sitting started with a rare moment of cross-party unity, when the Government adopted Labour MP Phil Twyford’s ...
It could be the most consequential international climate change conference yet, but it’s being held in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s major oil producers and led by one of the country’s top oil bosses. Newsroom journalist Rod Oram is attending COP28 and joins The Detail from ...
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Opinion: Courts are halls of justice, but they are also well-financed institutional purchasers of goods and services, outsourcing much of their work to private consultants and contractors, including lawyers, advocates, psychologists, social workers, and drug counsellors who earn their living from court contracts. Though there is nothing inherently wrong ...
Analysis: The United Nations’ COP28 climate negotiations have begun their final phase with only five days or so left to agree a wide range of measures designed to accelerate nations’ climate responses in coming years. While the draft text prepared by government officials over the past week has some ...
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He's refusing to express confidence in Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt, and while he won't abolish the commission like ACT wants, changes will be made. ...
A new chapter in the controversial dispute between an Auckland tech company and a government agency, with the tabling of a withering report in parliament today. A highly critical report from the auditor general has been tabled in parliament today, the latest twist in an acrimonious dispute between government agency ...
After most of a billion dollars and six years of work, the Puhoi to Warkworth section of State Highway One has been warmly received by long-distance motorists no longer slowed by small town traffic lights. Where once cars would back bumper to bumper on a Sunday evening, the road ...
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The prime minister has appeared to suggest that Act’s Treaty principles bill will not be allowed to proceed beyond the select committee stage. Supporting such legislation to select committee is promised in the Act-National coalition agreement, which implies the bill won’t go any further, but Luxon has not said it ...
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Sentencing judges need to stop going lightly on those convicted of illegal hunting and the killing or stealing of livestock, Federated Farmers rural policing spokesperson Richard McIntyre says. And to keep pressure on the Government to ensure rural areas ...
The following quote can be attributed to Lisa Woods, Campaigns Director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand. This statement is in response to the news that the New Zealand Government has passed a motion indicating the government’s support ...
The motion by deputy prime minister Winston Peters to call for “urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire” in Gaza has passed in parliament, after the majority of amendments suggested by the opposition were rejected. Labour leader Chris Hipkins said New Zealand should be calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has continued with National's approach in calling for "steps towards" a ceasefire, saying that must be in place before a ceasefire can begin. ...
$50,000 brand development package awarded to Rescued’s sustainable solution to surplus food Rescued, a social enterprise with a sustainable and delicious solution for food waste, has been named as the winner of the Brand For Good Competition. The ...
Responding to Hamilton City Council’s decision to spend $700,000 moving and re-developing a bus stop due to its location outside an adult toy store, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Only a couple of weeks ago, Hamilton City Council ...
During the first question time of the new parliament, MPs have debated a motion proposed by deputy prime minister Winston Peters for all parties involved in the conflict in Gaza to “take urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire”. Members have spoken passionately about the conflict, with Labour MP Damien O’Connor ...
Aotearoa was one of only a few OECD countries missing from the initial list of 118 signatories to the pledge, but a spokesperson for the Climate Change Minister has confirmed NZ is supporting it. ...
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The first question time of the new parliament is under way. Deputy prime minister Winston Peters has called on parties involved in the Gaza conflict to take urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire. Greens co-leader Marama Davidson is currently seeking amendments to the motion. ...
The new Parliament's first Question Time today is coming after a motion from the Foreign Minister calling for urgent steps towards a ceasefire in Gaza. ...
As the death and injury tolls mount in Gaza, this is the least that can be done to save lives and begin a peace and reconciliation process. O ver a month ago, UNICEF was already calling Gaza “ a graveyard for children, ” and now warns in the strongest ...
At a rally in the grounds of Parliament, Bishop Brian Tamaki said "we have to stand on the right side of history and standing with Israel is right". ...
At a rally in the grounds of Parliament attended by about 400 people, Bishop Brian Tamaki has asked for Foreign Minister Winston Peters not to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. ...
Having a nicely scented, well-dressed guest in the corner of your living room is always a festive treat. But has it always been this pricey?Despite often being put in a corner, she’s Christmas’s main character. Green, fragrant, and usually the best-dressed member of your household throughout the festive period, ...
The Taxpayers' Union is dismayed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (MFAT) outrageous expenditure on its delegation to the COP 27 climate conference. New information revealed under the Official Information Act shows that the total ...
Commenting on the Human Rights Commission’s appointment of a second “shared leader” to work alongside the existing Chief Executive , Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said: “The cushy jobs-for-lefties culture at the top of the ...
Responding to Wellington city’s earthquake-strengthening crisis, which sees the city on track to upgrade just 20% of vulnerable buildings , Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said: “Hundreds of millions of dollars are being burnt upgrading ...
The housing crisis is hitting senior renters especially hard, and their numbers are set to double in 25 years. Rachel Judkins explores this unsettling trend.When retired nurse Jenny* bought her first house with her husband in 1986, it felt like she was starting down a road of financial security ...
This morning at 10:30am around 20 Restore Passenger Rail supporters staged a sleep-in at the Auckland Council, to highlight the Council’s decision to slow progress on sustainable transport options. “We don’t want Auckland Council ...
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Peters is expected, later today, to call on all parties involved in the Gaza conflict - including countries with influence in the region - to "take urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire". ...
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Peters is expected, later today, to call on all parties involved in the Gaza conflict - including countries with influence in the region - to "take urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire". ...
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Peters is expected, later today, to call on all parties involved in the Gaza conflict - including countries with influence in the region - to "take urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire". ...
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The Prime Minister has set up a semi-secretive digital and media expert group to advise on regulating social media. It took an OIA request by @MatthewHootonNZ to disclose the identity of members of the group.
But the objectives remain secret 'in the public interest'.
https://yournz.org/2019/05/11/digital-and-media-expert-group-advising-on-social-media-regulation-revealed/
Four points.
1. This is an advisory group. Most politicians could easily be described as extreme technophobes (by my standards). They need advice about what is achievable and desirable.
2. I know several of those listed. I really don’t have any issues. They provide the required bridge between the technical and the political.
3. If there are any problems with implementing their advice, I am pretty sure that they will be entirely aware of exactly how the technical community who have to implement it will view and deal with it.
4. Hooton is technically a useless idiot who specializes in disruption. I’d prefer the people I know on this list to give advice to politicians.
My handy rule of thumb on this sort of thing is to ask 'how might my political adversaries use this power or regulation against me, when they next get the levers of power in their hands?'
Or in this instance, imagine if National had set up a 'semi-secret' committee to propose regulating social media and 'left wing extremism' … for instance.
To get quick advice after a left-wing terrorist mass murder entangled with social media? Sure, I can imagine that. As Mr George notes, the objectives did not arise from the advisory group.
I'd prefer the consultation was being done a lot more widely and openly.
Withholding any information about the objectives of the group is troubling. Either they are keeping the objectives secret (having considered the public interest), or they have formed the group and started operating with no objectives (and no work programme established). There must be objectives to have prompted the formation of the group.
It's not a broad "consultation" vehicle; it is a dedicated group for specific advice at a particular time.
Government is full of them and they are not a substitute for broader engagement during policy processes. By all means jump up and down if there are resulting law changes without appropriate process.
If there are resulting law changes without appropriate process I think it's far too late.
What if those law changes required full time moderation of The Standard? Or made it illegal to criticise laws that regulate speech in social media?
Best to jump up and down when it might still make a difference. I don't think we should leave it up to a group working on a secret agenda to serve our best interests.
You are acting as if this advisory group can set law.
Funny. Are you serious?
Do you think that policy on the regulation of speech in social media should be formulated in secret? It's not just an advisory group that's involved, it's the Government who set up the group and meet with the group.
And as I understand things the Government can set law.
Advice is not policy 'formulation'. Govt has a process to set law. Consultation is part of that process.
Your understanding is quite flawed.
Parliament can set law. The Legislative council can request changes in regulation. The cabinet can propose legislation to Parliament and regulation to the GG. Even that is subject to scrutiny by various bodies like the soliciter general, various statutory bodies, and eventually the courts.
Plus of course we live in a MMP system. That means coalition agreement.
Any proposal is a compromise. Requiring advice.
The ‘goverment’ is an interesting near fiction.. They can initiate but not control without agreement – what century are you living in?
🙂
"The ‘goverment’ is an interesting near fiction.. They can initiate but not control without agreement – what century are you living in?"
Linear time is an irrelevance to the man in the beige safari suit (just as it is, and has become to a good number in that 'gummint'). Much as he'd like to be operating in the 5th Dimension, we've yet to discover Pete's Whurl of Reality
"I don't think we should leave it up to a group working on a secret agenda to serve our best interests."
Continue to lobby the government.
I agree Pete.
I’d prefer the consultation was being done a lot more widely and openly.
Jacinda promised us to be included, – she said "her government will bring a kinder warmer inclusive Government"
Jacinda lets have inclusion please.
Sorry to say @ Cleeangreen "Jacinda lets have inclusion please" probably won't happen in your (or my) lifetime. You should have had learnings by now that buzz such as 'inclusion' – even 'truth' are subject to an individual's interpretation.
All very nice of course, AND aspirational (going forward).
If Marx were alive today, it wouldn't be a case of religion being the opium of the sheeple, but consumerism and the gorgeous self.
And why not? Like a sex addict would say – what better way to go out than to fuck yourself to death. Bugger all else
It's patently obvious from the group slection what it is about, even Hooton must know even if he pretends otherwise for political stirring reasons – to feed the paranoia of the paranoid.
This is just the group one would form before the Paris meet, it certainly looks like one associated with the take down notice implementation regime for social media the Paris meet will try to agree on (inciting violence, promotion of violence glorification of violence etc).
The Paris meet is narrowly focused and does not include hate speech law, so no reason to get your …
… doesn't bear thinking about. 🙂
But the objectives remain secret 'in the public interest'.
That, and the fact there are no civil libertarians or free speech advocates on the panel, suggest the government has an agenda of censorship but would prefer not to advertise the fact.
At this point, it would help if we had a credible opposition party, rather than the collection of ruthless, smarmy grifters that is our National Party caucus.
"the fact there are no civil libertarians or free speech advocates on the panel"
Really? From panel member and long-time internet expert Nathan Torkington: https://twitter.com/gnat/status/1126991181554970626
No reason to, as it has nothing to do with censoring free speech, the Paris meet does not even cover hate speech. See my 1123.
Bomber raises a good point
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/05/11/ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm-shouldnt-an-advisory-board-to-the-pm-on-censoring-the-internet-require-some-academics-and-experts-on-civil-rights-and-freedom-of-speech/
It's like you guys know little about either the historically US-liberal culture of internet policy, or about the specific people named here.
And what leads you to assert that?
Relevant knowledge.
Most academics have absolutely no experience with the underlying structure of the internet. Why would anyone think that they have much to contribute at a technical level?
And you’d have to be daft to think that anything can be done except at a technical level when it comes to the net.
If you look at the speed used in the legal system with any of the existing tools like the defamation act, privacy act, HDCA, or even the police – then they take years to deal with.
It is hard to see what else could be done with anything like the existing structures. Besides getting anything done would be
And anything else relies upon the technical people to have figured out something that will actually work.
After that is done, then we can use wafflers to fine-tune it.
Academics can help provide balance in the creation of the policy ideas being tested.
"After that is done, then we can use wafflers to fine-tune it."
It would be preferable to have their input in the initial creation of the policy ideas.
This would publicly demonstrate that safeguards to freedom of speech will be instilled from the outset.
Nobody is stopping academics and universities to fulfil their legal role acting as critics and conscience of society. One would like to think that the Government does listen to advice from more than one source and that one advisory group would neither have or aim for a monopoly on nor as a filter of genuine proper advice.
Yes, one would like to think that. However, thus far, in this instance the Government hasn't shown that.
Just because I see a red flag doesn’t mean the whole world is a red flag. I can zoom in and out, I can entertain multiple PoVs, I can even attempt integration of multi-level or paradoxical concepts. In very few instances, I will even admit that I don’t know shit. Or I can decide to stare myself blind on the bird shit splatter on the windscreen and drive off the road into a ditch.
Hooters is whipping himself into a frenzy over this as well. Tunnel vision narrowing ..
Not really, the group is advising on the take down regime, implementation – not legislative policy on free speech and hate speech.
It is stated the group provides an informal way to test policy ideas.
In this case, merely implementation – practicality of.
If hate speech legislation were proposed it would go through the Select Committee process.
Nevertheless, policy ideas are being drafted and tested.
She didn't ask Sarah Dowie? WTF?
Well, that's just irresponsible and it's clear why Pete George and The Chairman are full-on affronted!
There's been some angry reactions from some gun owners recently. A former neighbour weighed in against the PM, and all politicians when I pointed out that all but one MPs had voted for the Act, because friends who had been active on social media and were gun owners got a visit from the police.
Today in the Press we learn of armed police teams raiding the homes of two men who the day after the mosque shootings went and bought AR15 style weapons from Gun City in Christchurch.
They just didn't get that such a response was brought about by their actions. They bought the weapons hoping that existing gun owners would be exempt. ONe said he'd 'always wanted one.' They didn't hand in the weapons having found out the weapons would have to be impounded. They bought the guns in the same city as the massacre one day after.
They got upset because a team of armed police visited a man who bought the same weapon as used in the massacre which killed 51 people, and acted according to the possible threat and danger from a man who had two assault convictions.
As Mrs Mac1 says, " we have some very fragile people in our country."
I had some sympathy until i read they bought the guns the day after the raids in ChCh . DUH
did they buy the guns legally?
If so – whats the problem? There is no justification of a raid unless there was evidence they were planning something
There had just been a major terrorist mass murder involving the type of weapon these guys purchased the next day. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/112634121/police-seize-gun-collectors-firearms-in-over-the-top-raid
At least one of them had been mouthing off online about Muslims, the attack's target.
The way NZ police behaved here was standard worldwide procedure, including armed police being posted everywhere. I have no sympathy for these guys whining about their hurt feelings.
”At least one of them had been mouthing off online about Muslims, the attack's target”
there is is no mention of that in the link at all. What’s this guy done that deserved a raid like that ?????
You're right. I'm confusing it with a different story. Leaves the other factor I've already mentioned.
And bollocks to it being standard procedure- police don’t raid people who have purchased firearms legally without a reason – and they have provided none in this case.
It is standard procedure after a terrorist attack. Don't be so wilfully dim.
Well, the plods do tend to turn up armed to the teeth when they visit people possessing firearms, legally or otherwise.
Plus there was a high terror alert.
I have heard mutterings from inside the gun owning fraternity that they know of friends who are buying plastic piping and sealing their automatic weapons in them before burying them in the garden.
I think that the police should carry metal detectors on every such raid and check out the yard.
Some interesting thoughts on how and why building more just law-enforcement systems should get more emphasis in aid to developing countries.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/how-to-fix-poverty-gary-haugen-ijm.html?via=homepage_taps_top
Man that Slate piece you linked to is one of the most racist things I have read in a long time..holy shit.
" In Peru, he recalls, a doctor reported seeing 50 cases of rape in the preceding five days. All the victims were less than 15 years old."
Yet according to Nation Master you are 17% more lightly to be raped in the USA than Peru, in fact it shows that the risk from nearly all crime is higher in the US than Peru
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Peru/United-States/Crime.
Love this little gem….
" The abuse of state power turned out to be a human problem, not a colonial one."
Colonialist invade a poor country, completely destroy and disrupt centuries of structure and life for the inhabitants, they eventually get kicked out. and suddenly everything is meant to just go back to how it was before colonization?..seriously, I mean I am no academic, but even I understand that the deep damage caused to these formally colonized societies lays squarely at the feet of their former oppressors.
Uhh, you have any idea of the difference between recorded crime and actual crime is in places with really corrupt authorities? Particularly for a deeply personal crime such as rape, where attempting to pursue justice is much much more likely to result in further victimisation and humiliation than any kind of punishment for the perpetrator?
In your rush to find something to whine about and make yourself feel morally superior, you seem to have totally missed the point of the article. Which is to look at ways to improve things for people living in fucked up parts of the world.
Well of course we all want " to look at ways to improve things for people living in fucked up parts of the world." how that is done and under what context and by whom is also incredibly important, all I was saying is that I found the piece to be extremely condescending to the people of those poor counties, and it's lack of historical context was disturbing.
BTW Andre, When I read statements like…' You can’t just do good. You have to grapple with evil', I of course get instantly suspicious…so I was in no ' rush to find something to whine about and make yourself feel morally superior" so go get fucked with your ad hominem attacks (as you and your pals always fall quickly back to). maybe you should just try displaying a little more critical thinking.
I would have thought the same problem, patriarchal power structure existed in the first world and in the pre colonial "third world". And that, as a result of colonialism one can add institutional racism. Those dealing with both in the first world can bring that knowledge to the third world in their foreign aid programmes.
I am fairly sure the UN Development agency does.
William Salatan…racist. Or maybe just lazy and attention grabbing. Or maybe all 3.
https://slate.com/technology/2007/11/liberal-creationism.html
https://slate.com/culture/2007/12/a-response-to-liberal-creationism.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20071203013749/http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/weblog/546.html
In your rush to whine about the person whose name is on the byline, did you miss the actual content of the piece? And that the piece was almost entirely just a summary of content originally produced by Gary Haugen, with a bit of additional info about Haugen and the organisation he heads?
No actually the piece you linked to has the heading and then 'By WILLIAM SALETAN' (Their caps) so it isn't a byline.
Don't you think it is about time you grow up and stop your incessant whining and whinging every time some one points to all the holes in the shit you put up.
When you and Siobhan stop responding to just about everything with a diversionary whine that's unrelated to the content of the comment you're responding to, I'll stop telling you what you're doing is diversionary whining.
Firstly my initial comment WAS about the content of your link, and as far as I can see so was Siobhan’s. so don’t know what your are talking about there.,,just whinging for the sake of it I guess.
Secondly, maybe I will stop critiquing you when you stop putting up links that are dodgy and making comments that I don't agree with, but until then I will comment how ever I see fit, as is the nature of open political forums in case you hadn't noticed
You don't see me getting all sad and defensive on it like you when people constantly critique my links and comments (which they do)…maybe you need to harden up a bit.
So in short, if you can only understand being critiqued as whining then that is your problem not mine.
"Some liberals don’t like to hear this message. They’re uncomfortable with the language of power, punishment, deterrence, and force. They prefer to talk about amnesty, rehabilitation, or demilitarization"
Like this, most of the article is
By WILLIAM SALETAN
As for Haegen, I'm sure the guy means well, but I try and stay well clear of Evangelicals. too problematic.
.
Congratulations on finding one of the very few bits of the piece that's Saletan's content, not a summary of Haugen's views.
Now, do you think you can actually take the very brave step of actually considering Haugen's views about how the lack of a fair justice system is a significant part of continuing poverty? And that concentrating more aid efforts into improving justice systems might have better results than current aid efforts?
Or is it just too big a mental obstacle for you to overcome, purely because he's an evangelical, that someone might actually have developed worthwhile observations from his work helping the impoverished ?
An estimated 60% of Peruvian mothers aged between 12 and16 years old become pregnant as a result of rape. And your reaction to anecdotal reports of appalling levels of sexual violence is but America!.
FFS.
@joe90, Look all I was trying to say was that the piece that was linked to initially seemed to me to be quite racist in tone, just because someone wants to help in poor third world countries doesn't mean they don't have all kinds of hooks and personal agendas that go along with that 'help’,so when I read this … ' You can’t just do good. You have to grapple with evil' and this 'The abuse of state power turned out to be a human problem, not a colonial one.' in that piece, and then looked up the author who turned out to be involved in some racist controversies, well my alarm bells started ringing…wouldn't yours?
Random morning thought: there should be a word for that really discomfiting feeling you get when someone that's nuttier than pecan pie actually agrees with you.
The Germans probably already have one. Sabine, can you help?
Pfennigfallen dredre.
That's a really cool definition Gabby and as always leads to the need for further elucidation. For the benefit of very uncool people like me here is an Urban Dictionary's definition of Dre (the others were so packed with sex-loaded foul-mouthed expletives I passed them by).
dre
an adjective used to describe anything that is cool and/or dope beyond comprehension. Applicable only to those individuals with the highest levels of swag. Derivative of the popular rapper name Dre and thus is most commonly used as an expression by members of hip hop culture. However, it is sometimes used by a select few individuals who wish they had swag…
Boy 1: bruh, did you see them new Nike Blasers?
Boy 2: you know i did foo, i aint neva seen shoes so dre.
#cool#dope#awesome#boss#prime
by camster82 May 15, 2011
The pfennig must have lodged somewhere on the way down greysy.
Don't they call it The Standard?
Bumboozled
Maybe. Works for most of the sensation. Bit it doesn't quite convey that additional little hint of feeling maybe your own views need an urgent re-examining, tho.
Introprobation
Yeah!
Phew
Discombobulated
Too broad. What I'm talking about is a very specific subset of discombobulated.
The scale of procrastination is increasingly evident…
"Emission budgets will be set for five-year periods once we are past 2025 and up to 2035 these will be all set by December 31st, 2021. In setting the targets consideration must be given as to how these targets may be realistically met plus another range of “cover all options” clauses.
If a budget period achieves greater savings than budgeted these can be carried forward into the next period and if a budgeted period falls short of budgeted emissions government may drag back up to 1% (borrow) from the following period."
https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/99610/legal-degree-may-become-necessary-skill-farmers-feel-good-politicians-and
So it appears meaningful climate action has been deferred until post the next election
“So it appears meaningful climate action has been deferred until post the next election”
Even further than that….
As there is no concrete plan on how to meet these targets….
It is all very well having a target, but without a concrete plan to work towards it, it is meaningless.
I could have a target to be a millionaire in 5 years.
I could even say that I will need to get $200,000 per year to reach my target.
I have a target, I am almost there.
The same with the Zero Carbon Bill, lots of targets lots of deadlines, Zero actual policy on how to meet them.
Meanwhile in the real world, business as usual continues, huge area of Taranaki opened up for oil and gas exploration. Huge coal mine expansion in Huntly Rotowaro open cast. More motorway expansion. Business as usual in all spheres
the cognitive dissonance within the coalition is something to behold….how the Greens cope with this humourless farce I cannot fathom.
The purposes of the targets is to require those contesting elections and forming coalition governments to have plans to meet the said targets – though we have yet to see National buy in to confirm it.
The targets themselves are in accord with the OECD international consensus – sans outliers such as Oz and USA and Canada.
the stated purpose of the Bill is to confine to 1.5 degC of warming (but definitely less than 2) as per the Paris accord……and this admin is going to further waste this 3 year term and part of the next (should they get another) before any practical policy is enacted…..on current projections 1.5 will have already been exceeded by then.
This lot could teach the EU a thing or two about can kicking on that performance
Future thinking. Past thinking. Just thinking and trying and being a bit entrepreneurial and not putting it off till many of us thinking oldies will be dead. (How are we all planning for the environmentally appropriate way to be laid to rest?)
I thought of Futuro houses – alien looking double saucered homes on stilts.
I see from Nelson Mail paper that a guy has been sourcing some of these in NZ. Apparently only 100 were made in the 1970's (worldwide?) then the oil crisis, so rare. Nick McQuoid brought one from Northland to Christchurch in 2012 and later sold it to Museum in Tasmania for $280,000!
His latest is at Ohoka, Christchurch, and was a whitebait shelter in South Westland.
Futuro houses were conceived by Matti Suuronen in Finland in 1968 to be used as "portable" ski chalets. The insulated fibreglass structures were designed so the interior could heat up in just 20 minutes.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/houses/112505522/canterbury-entrepreneur-tackles-weird-and-wonderful-restoration-project
Grey, about a month ago I saw a lil truck towing a house on a trailer in Thorp St, was super impressed.
It looked like a tall prefab cottage, but what buzzed me out was the vehicle towing it, was one of those landcrusier style trucks, the ones many kiwi's own. It was so cool to watch. They backed it down their drive way and voila, instant house. Must have been lightweight to be able to be moved by such an average vehicle.
Those chalets, awesome, I think there is one at the wreckers on the left driving into Mot next to a phonebox with an alien in it….hmmmm…. going to the tip today, will double check if it is, I wonder if they've seen the article, that would be worth stopping in and sharing with them, might just do that…..thanks for sharing Grey, very cool.
http://www.breezepod.com/
Newest news from Radionz:
Displaced people in the world 41 million!! Extreme weather displaces more people than conflicts and violence. Norway has a group keeping track.
(Me: Scandinavia for the modern UN! Time for a change of place, practice, hegemony, away from hedgemoney!)
Fog in Auckland stopping ferry sailings and international departures. (This is NZ idea of what displaced people are! We have to up our thinking, I think.)
https://thestandard.org.nz/how-to-get-there-5-5-19/?fbclid=IwAR2buGynxzZepSvtH0anscmwPuVcq08GfXFFCTXR66IM4kdrZcUY9i1sh3w#comment-1613431
Greed has overcome both good sense and decency, as the government opens a up huge area for oil and gas exploration on land violently seized from Maori by Colonial authorities
Greed has overcome both good sense and decency, as the government opens a up huge area for oil and gas exploration on land violently seized from Maori by Colonial authorities
Why consensus stinks
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/20/our-leaders-are-ignoring-global-warming-to-the-point-of-criminal-negligence-its-unforgivable
Unforgiveable
The Australian term white-anting comes from the action of termites that hollow out and empty something that looks fine on the surface.
The Zero Carbon Bill is an example of white-anting stopping any real action on climate change, looking substantial, but completely hollowed out of any real action.
The argument made for the Zero Carbon Bill by its supporters, is that we have to seek 'Consensus' with the National Party, otherwise when they get back into power they will repeal any concrete legislation we put in place.
As well as being a defeatist position, the evidence for for this argument is actually extremely weak.
The Nats never repealed the Nuclear Free Legislation. Labour have never repealed the Anadarko Amendment. Phil Goff traveled the Country in a big red bus with "Kill The Bill" (the National Government Bill to increase GST to 15%) before admitting that if he was elected he wouldn't repeal it.
Consensus is not democracy it is an attack on democracy.
As Winston Churchill famously said, Democracy is the worst of all possible systems, except for all those others that have been tried.
Democracy has been described by its detractors as the dictatorship of the majority over the minority.
This is the sound of ideologies crashing, sang Billy Bragg
Consensus is an effort to paper over these differences between ideologies.
And it fits into one of those worst ways Churchill spoke of.
Consensus is not democracy. Consensus is going for the lowest possible denominator to achieve unanimity.
In effect Consensus is an effort to silence and stifle political debate. To suffocate the sound of ideologies clashing.
The tragedy of Consensus politics is that it robs the electorate of making a clear choice between one way forward and another. Consensus politics prevents us hearing the arguments between both ways forward, and for making an informed decision with our vote.
Consensus politics murders democracy in back room deals between politicians.
What consensus politics displays, is a lack of faith in the people.
Consensus politics is a cowardly abrogation of leadership.
Instead of appeasing the National Party politicians what our leaders should do instead is enact the legislation that their conscience and the science demands, and then openly defy the opposition to repeal it if they dare.
This is what is called leadership.
"Consensus politics prevents us hearing the arguments between both ways forward"
Black/white thinking is a bigger problem than consensus decision-making ever will be.
“Black/white thinking is a bigger problem than consensus decision-making ever will be.” Sacha
Or are you like the oil and coal companies, scared of the possibility that you may, one day, have to submit to the dictatorship of the majority?
Democracy has its faults, but its better, as Churchill said than all those others that have been tried and that includes the so called the consensus style of politics.
Personally I think that many people are heartily sick of consensus between the two major political parties.
Which delivers no choice, and which sees many turn away from even voting, finding it hard to determine any difference between them.
Democracy can include consensus.
Really?
Maybe you would like to enlarge on that comment Solkta?
In there is a difference of opinion between two parties, (or people), there can be only three possible outcomes. Either one side is right, or the other side is right, or both sides are wrong.
Where is the ground for consensus if both sides disagree?
An international consensus – a co-ordinated effort – is required to deal with a global issue. Whether global social media regulation against incitement/promotion/glorification of violence, money laundering, tax havens, taxation of international cartels, extradition agreements, war crimes, 200 mile economic zones, freedom of the sea, diplomatic immunity, free trade rules (WTO), and global environment concerns.
And where there is an international consensus as to national targets – nations formulate how they meet their obligations. This will include national plans – which can include an internal consensus within which parties contest elections and form coalition agreements. The recent proposal would need to be agreed to by National to become one.
As to being more ambitious than the international community programme, being a fast follower rather than a prevaricator is progress for now. The only way to be effective is by
1. taking the resistance (aka National) along with you.
2. convincing the international community to be bolder.
Subjects; The way forward' /consensus /climate change/well being/ – all in one here folks
11/5/19
Our HB/Gisborne community is still awaiting the Labour coalition promises made to us all in 2016 in the Gisborne Herald.
Three parties all now in Labour coalition had promised restoration of our rail services that the National Government has allowed to become partly washed out in 2012 by a lack of funding for rail maintenance to keep the infrastructure free of damages from any storms.
This service was already under community restoration as industry was wanting more freight services then in 2011 when in december the HBRC had evidence that more freight was wanted to be carried on Gisborne rail in a press release 21st December 2011 entitled “At risk rail can’t cope”.
(links are all provided below"
We are claiming our right to have our rail services restored by this new Labour Coalition Government under the new “well being budget policy .
https://www.labour.org.nz/wellbeingbudget
This promise will see Government reducing carbon emissions and increasing infrastructure under two of the ‘five priorities’ using – Boosting Innovation, & Creating Opportunities .
QUOTE; “Alongside GDP, we will measure ourselves against five key priorities that will make real improvements to the lives of New Zealanders. We’ve used evidence to identify the five areas we can make the greatest difference. Boosting Innovation, Creating Opportunities, Backing Māori & Pasifika, Supporting Mental Health, Improving Child Wellbeing.
Please Government give us in HB/Gisborne back our Gissbone Rail as you are doing already in most other provinces, such as Wairarapa, Tananaki, Canterbury, Otago, Westland, Waikato and Northland. – So we await your response in the new GPS called "wellbeing budget" https://www.labour.org.nz/wellbeingbudget
http://www.scoop.co.nz/…/PA1302/S00183/kiwirail-admits-lack-of-maintenance-led-to-wash-out.htm
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2535803-135/three-parties-say-fix-rail
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/6170590/At-risk-rail-line-can-t-cope-with-demand
Cleangreen did you hear Winston today? A big boost for Rail in the budget.
Yesterday I made brief comment on Micky's post, that I hoped that the National Party continue to oppose the Zero Carbon Bill so as to give the voters at least some chance to decide.
To which Solkta replied:
In my opinion, any party that fought an election campaign against the scientific evidence of climate change and the need to act against it, would be in for the political drubbing of their life.
The evidence is that strong.
The tragedy is that the current consensus strategy will prevent that debate ever being held.
The coalition's approach is to
1. propose legislation and see if National oppose it
2. if National do, win in 2020 and force them to reconsider their position.
3. post 2020 gain consensus around the plan.
4. compete in subsequent elections with policies and coalition agreements that specify implementaiton arrangements.
5. within the framework that this plan is in accord with existing international agreements which can be made more progressive should there be consensus around this.
I think it is most likely that National will vote for the Zero Carbon Bill. If certain goals prove too difficult down the track, say the reduction in methane by 2030, adjustments can be made.
After all, it it is highly unlikely Labour will still be the govt then!
Certainly not if they keep odious company like the Gnats.
That's not like you to be so open about how the nats decide policy. You must've had had a few wines, and was only 5 o'clock.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/112321733/chinese-water-giant-nongfu-spring-had-a-rocky-road-to-setting-up-in-new-zealand
More national government filth revealed.
See also at #16.
The too good to be true back door wheeling and dealing arrangements are inherently unstable and readily detrimental, as the National Party involvement shows.
Why we should never considering privatising our health industry and abandon Pharmac. A small inroad by some private companies providing services for the wealthy, and some limited crossover, but very limited interaction.
Specialists in infectious disease are protesting a gigantic overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old drug that is the standard of care for treating a life-threatening parasitic infection.
The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sept 20, 2015
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight-increase-in-a-drugs-price-raises-protests.html
That's more an artefact of the way the FDA won't recognise approvals from other countries. Daraprim's generic name is pyrimethamine and it's widely available around the world as a generic for about $1 a dose. But the US market for it is small enough it wasn't worth it for any other company to go through the rigmarole of bringing in a generic.
A thornier problem is simply the unpredictability of private health care costs. Which leads to horrifying stuff like parents with kids that have done something that really does need any emergency room visit, but the risk of a ruinous bill is so high they'll wait with the kid outside in the carpark and hope the kid pulls through so they don't have to go in.
https://www.vox.com/health-care/2019/5/10/18526696/health-care-costs-er-emergency-room
How far the USA has declined or flat-lined. In the 1860s in Semmelweiss' time in Vienna, pregnant mums might hire a horse-drawn cab to circle the hospital to see how they went with the birth because of the high death rate for mothers at the hospital. It was a last resort.
When Semmelweiss carried out a handwashing experiment on young trainee doctors who had been handling cadavers before viewing the birthing mothers, he reduced that death rate. But his methods didn't suit the PTB and they discontinued the practice. The knowledge of those avoidable deaths practically drove him mad and to his death.
What a disgrace that the United States is as low as the 1800s in its unconcern for its citizens. I'll mention Joan Brady here. She wrote a novel Death Comes for Peter Pan based on a paper she had written about defects in the medical services in one of the States. She couldn't get her work published. So she wrote it up as 'faction' .
Review Good Reads by Steve:
High 4. This is a devastating portrait of the iniquities of the medical system in the US. When Alice Wexler is told her husband is dying and that no medical treatment can prevent this outcome, they return to their American homeland. What follows is a tale of her passionate crusade to attain a more promising diagnosis, but as Alice's hopes of her country providing a second chance become shattered`in the face of the harsh realities of the Medicare system, her struggle becomes one of fighting for her husband's right to a dignified end. As she witnesses her husband's deterioration her self-reflection rveals hidden aspects of their relationship, and as any meaningful contact with her partner becomes more and more remote, we are witness to her growing emotional attachment to the one person who provides support. The author cuts through with scalpel-precision the layers of bureaucratic hypocrisy to reveal a health care system where poorly trained staff ensure passivity of patients through over-medication, and where those in such a vagetative state are regarded by those who manage the system, as mere 'product' to keep the coffers full. In the epilogue, Joan Brady reveals that she faced her own such struggle when she returned with her terminally-ill husband to the US. The questions she raises over the allocation of funds and the impersonal operation of the US health-care system, and the call for more discussion of 'mercy killings' contained within its pages brought condemnation across the pond, but this is a wonderful novel which deftly exposes social injustice.
Amsterdam audio – Joan Brady second half of audio on her book Death Comes for Peter Pan.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS-I-hfiIEM
and – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
Use of rail will reduce over use of truck freight emissions.
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/4077328-135/prime-time-to-expand
May 11, 2019
gisborneherald.co.nz
Prime time to expand
by Andrew AshtonPublished: May 11, 2019 11:58AM
Report says container port, restoration of rail can boost growth
A Deloitte report says investing in rail could be more commercially viable if Eastland Port had container port facilities.
The lack of a container port in Gisborne is costing the region $36 million a year and potentially hindering the return of the Gisborne to Wairoa rail line, a report from a top finance firm says.
The second edition of Deloitte’s Shaping Our Slice of Heaven report, entitled Regions of Opportunity, assesses the economic impact of increasing exports in tourism, agribusiness, food processing and advanced manufacturing from Auckland, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay/Gisborne, Wellington and Canterbury from 2019 to 2040.
The report says Gisborne is in a prime position to take advantage of growth industries and highlights the expansion of Eastland Port and the restoration of rail as aspects that can boost the region further.
“Gisborne needs increased connectivity to flourish,” the report states.
“While the Wairoa-Napier rail line has been reopened and road upgrades between Wairoa and Gisborne have been promised, extending the operating rail line up to Gisborne would increase trade efficiency going south from Gisborne.
The infamous District Judge Michael Snow in his pomp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyos-M48B8U
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/11/assange-branded-a-narcissist-by-judge-who-found-him-guilty
Whakatane residents are supplied 'E' grade water…the lowest of the low…while New Zealand Government officials woo wealthy investors to a local spring so the investor can potentially bottle 580 million litres of pure, clear water per year.
The runanga has previously said it has concerns about the health of the Awaiti aquifer, from which the water would be drawn, and the consent regime: "At every turn, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa has had to advocate for transparency and accountability by local and central government, namely making the consent hearing public, and the participation of hapū, iwi and community in decisions that affect us."
Whether the legal challenges succeed or fail, the focus on Nongfu Spring has highlighted the ease with which overseas company can access vast quantities of water for little to no cost.
In this case, consent to bottle and export 580m litres of water would cost the company around $2000 a year, the price of a resource consent monitoring fee.
Seriously beggars belief that we're still protesting this shit. If we only consider the plastic used to bottle 580 million litres of water per year then we have a strong indicator that those promoting this madness have not been listening.
That the NZ government is behind this is bordering on treason.
Talk about mitigating climate change and cleaning up our water ways and reducing plastic use….all bullshit.
This is just a fiction made up by malcontents??? Tell me the truth – this isn't really happening right? I think I need another cup of tea, it's enough to drive you to drink. But not pure water. Can someone explain why this is allowed to happen. Is it just no backbone? Is it being left up to local Councils to decide? Is it that central government can't put a stop to treating an essential resource for everything being mined? It would be right to stop it now. And try to claw back what has already been signed up to, even if it costs big money.
Does this come under the CPPPTPA etc? Have we the citizens got no come-back to this dreadful, stupid bit of 'trade’? @$%$&$ *** 👿 😈 😡 😥
Does this come under the CPPPTPA etc?
Which this Current Mob broke land speed records to sign…with the ink barely dry on the Coalition Agreement.
Or the China (F?)TA…which the Previous Labour Government tripped over their feet to sign?
Treason. Traitors.
heh
https://twitter.com/euro268/status/1126959569559855104
https://twitter.com/RobBurl/status/1126816217669488640
I'll have to wait until I get home to watch this (unfortunately) I'm a bit of a Ben Shapiro fan boy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXb4h6cXvX4
(unfortunately) I'm a bit of a Ben Shapiro fan boy….
That truly is unfortunate. He's one of the truly wicked opinion-vomiters, and unlike, say, Donald Trump, he lacks even a smattering of rudimentary charm.
Why would you call yourself a "fan boy" of that chump?
Facts don't care about your feelings
Actually, and I really hate to say this, but Shapiro didn't do to badly really, he batted off Neil's questions mostly pretty well, Neil seemed to base the whole interview on just a string of lazy gotcha questions.
Most of the blogs and you tube channels I follow are framing this as a huge fail and an embarrassment for Shapiro, and when you watched their edited clips it sure looks like it, but when you take the time and watch the whole thing, it reads quite differently I think.
It is so easy to believe things when they align with your own ideology, but truth matters. if you start believing your own bullshit you end up losing elections like the Dems in 2016.
Shapiro couldn't cope when the interviewer ignored his babbling and demanded he answer the question. He folded and took his ball home.
Yeah he definitely lost his shit in the end, but in a way I can kind of see why, Neil didn't seem interested in having a discussion with him, he only seemed interested in cornering him with one of his single fire questions, which is a very lazy way to expose Shapiro for the arsehole that he is, in my opinion Neil didn't do a good job in this interview.
Wag the Dog. When all else fails, start a war
https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1126838297249099776
Today another truck fire in the city caught fire and burnt completely out surrounded by residential traffic in the close proximity of homes.
We need ‘US style’ ‘ring road’ heavy truck routes around our NZ cities not through the middle of them like this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_road Ring road – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Ring Road (disambiguation). "Beltway" redirects here. For the term used in American politics, see Inside the Beltway. "Periférico" redirects here. For Mexico City's beltway, see Anillo Periférico.
The inner ring road of Sheffield, England
A ring road (also known as beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country.
The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducing traffic volumes in the urban centre, such as by offering an alternate route around the city for drivers who do not need to stop in the city core.
Wake up useless NZTA!!!!
Dunedin just needs a bypass. I was actually in an exam years ago when a slinky (lamb carcass) truck on a hot day exploded its load all down the middle of town. The stench was insane (apparently they'd filled the truck fine, but the swellage on a hot day caused overflow).
Most of the double-trailers passing through are going nowhere close to the inner hills areas. There are a couple of trans-shipping depots in southD, lots of logging trucks crunch roads up to Port Chalmers, but the stock trucks are going straight through.
I think you mean just need to bypass Dunedin 🙂
Depends entirely on who wants to avoid who 🙂
Dangers of 5G – Mark Steele interview notes regarding a claim weapons expert Mark Steele marks that autonomous vehicles are never going to be a reality because of the amount of microwave radiation they emit. What's impossible is having 20-50 of them all together.
BMW did a study that showed autonomous cars interfered with pacemakers. 13:25. Nobody has warned of the danger looking at these cars with binoculars or telescopes – if the laser from the autonomous car catches the sight it will put your eye out
https://youtu.be/DK3zVjG-koc
Get your protection products here:
http://www.lessemf.com/personal.html
But we need 5G – self-driving flying cars are coming (in 5 years, apparently) – how ‘cool’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuCeQvacwcQ
That will keep the shareholders happy, going forward…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/euthanasia-debate/112559499/cancer-snuck-up-on-me-now-i-deserve-to-die-peacefully
It is often touted the Greens need more votes to implement change.
But would it really make a difference?
They still won't have king maker leverage.
They've shown they'd prefer to be in the tent than out. So no leverage there.
Thus, they would still be the smaller partner of Labour that prefers not to rock the boat.
The Greens are not ugly centrists like NZF so they are unlikely to ever be king-makers. Unlike NZF, king-making is not what drives the Greens. Environmental and social concerns drive the Greens.
Yes. And seeing as they've got little from Labour and been forced to swallow a few dead rats, surely it wouldn't take much for National to try and entice them over?
They would only have to offer a little more than Labour has allowed them which hasn't been much. And with going with National, there is less chance of Winston getting in the way.
Personally speaking I'd rather deal with any party before I'd deal with Winston. I get the feeling that National, Labour, the Greens, Maori Party and Act all want to achieve something but Winston only wants whats best for Winston
The sooner he's gone the better
He has his benefits and his experience will be a great loss.
He has his perks and his experience will not be missed
No one packs a hall like Winston, so I say he will be missed.
By greying lamington-seekers, sure.
Greying lamington-seekers are voters too, and motivated voters at that!
I don't know if you've been paying attention but the Greens will not and can not 'go with' National because their political ideologies run counter to each other.
It's not going to happen.
Mind you, NZF and the Greens might be closer on policy in some areas than is generally acknowledged. Given your hatred of rail (which is weird for a self-pronounced far left activist) the idea that Winston Peters is driving a big boost for rail will leave you stinging I’m sure.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/112648672/deputy-pm-winston-peters-signals-budget-boost-for-railways
I wasn't advocating they go with National, just pointing out it wouldn't take much for National to out offer Labour.
I fully support trains. My comment in that other thread was merely a reference to the timetable (one each way a day) which is vastly insufficient.
And yes, NZF and the Greens are closer on policy in some areas than is generally acknowledged.
Just a complete reversal of their policies and an alienation of their corporate and rural support.
When stacked up against what Labour has offered them, the reversal and alienation would be minimal, manageable, thus survivable if it was required to secure them power.
Yep, more mining, dirty dairying and big highways would be just what Green voters were seeking. You're a genius!
Labour haven't offered much less in that respect. There is still more mining, dirty dairying and big highways.
Remove Winston from the equation and we'll see about that.
Did you miss where the government scrapped new oil exploration and introduced methane targets and refocussed big highway funding to clean public transport?
Remembering you yourself advocate for big highways I'm not surprised you have overlooked these developments.
@Muttonbird
Did you miss how Labour has fallen short on most of that, hence they aren't that apart from National when one looks deeper than the soundbites.
And we will still require highways going forward for environmentally friendly vehicles.
No Mate, that's what they government has actually done. Things National would have the guts for.
No, on the part of National.
You think nats would support the climate change stuff, even as it is? Not to mention the fact that the entire Nat philosophy is based on exploitation rather than conservation: environment, resources, people…
Even without the social policy aspect to the Greens (because holistic attitudes cannot be restricted to one narrowly defined area, by definition), it's not a case of concessions on individual policies buying cooperation. Everybody has to be on the same broad page on most of everything else that comes up, and generally treat each other with respect. That's what would require a complete change in the nats for them to realistically have the Greens as an option.
This should be pretty basic stuff to any Green voter.
The Chairman is an ACT voter.
Hell no!
Everything comment you make suggests so I'm afraid.
No.
or Chairman of "Sustainable New Zealand"
They most likely will with methane further reduced And as it has no teeth, it won't really be such a big one to swallow. Despite the current noise.
National can act respectably and professionally when required And have worked with the Greens before.
lol rubbish – you're just another wanker sending the kids to hell cos you can't be bothered changing your cushy lifestyle. You are a gnat supporter.
Not for confidence and supply. Especially come budget time.
As the the great politician M.E. Atloaf once said “I’d do anything for power, but I won’t do that!”.
Yep, Greens would be like a bat out o hell.
I feel there is a rap base here. Alienation, exploration, exploitation, equation, conservation, commendation – chacha.
Well, well well, here is Mr Green the party activist toying with the idea of a Nat-Green coalition. Never saw that one coming lol.
Thread.
https://twitter.com/paddydocherty/status/1120756675210817538
https://tttthreads.com/thread/1120756675210817538.html
RIP Pua
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/112648625/pua-magasiva-found-dead
Only 38. We need to look after our creatives. RIP.
Here is a guy who should get a good Parkour workout and training. Then make some sculpture of his own that goes outside on public display for our critical judgment, which we are all very good at it in NZ. That will teach him some skills, some planning, some discipline, some understanding of materials, some mentoring, the ability to see a thought from start to finish and outcome. And how vulnerable we all are to others' respect for ourselves and our works.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/384071/man-who-broke-wellington-s-len-lye-sculpture-sentenced-to-community-work
Watched Chernobyl.
Fuck.
Kia ora R&R.
I think the tridition on single marriage is westernised. Marriage is a
very important to the old Maori thats where te Mokopuna are going to come from.
I don't think that the high devorce rate in NZ is good for anyone but lawyers.
I say that people who are going to marry should look HARD at there potential partners to make sure they are compatible as there are a lot of players out there.
I would not use a dating website.
Ka kite ano P.S chose your partners wisely
Kia ora R&R on Maori Tv.
I just a few years ago I new all my neighbours the way of the west goal is to individualised the common tangata easer to use there blind/fool people if they are ALONE. For tangata whenua we have to work together to make a better future for te Mokopuna.
Moden living has to change back to the hapu /familys cooperationing in all aspects of life the Marae way of living is way of the future we will use less resources and that is going to be beneficial for our future shear the tools shareing is caring if we learn that respect is a big thing that needs to be promoted.
I get pissed at accounts who say it better to rent than buy a house.
A whare is the Whanau moanga it gives the Whanau security no one can tell you to leave with out good cause it will help with financial security once you have good equity you can lend money with low interest rates you can use your equity to help the tamariki and Mokopuna get there own house.
I agree with Marama if one is paying rent WHY can't the government and the banks lend money to buy A whare the rent has to be paid or your under the bridge. Rents are higher than a mortgage in a lot of places. Figure that one out.
Ka kite ano
I Back the call for IWI leaders to declare Human Caused Climate change a national emergency in Aotearoa as in my view on our REALITY it is.
Iwi leaders say New Zealand should declare an environment and climate emergency, as the British parliament did last week Ka kite ano links below
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/388691/we-have-to-react-with-speed-iwi-leaders-on-climate-change
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/cEXhZ8PwM-Y
All the tangata of Papatuanukue need to put huge pressure on all the Papatuanukue ruling class to force them to protect OUR Mokopuna futures first and formost.
Hague climate change judgement could inspire a global civil movement
Dutch ruling could trigger similar cases worldwide with citizens taking their governments to courts to make them act on climate promises Ka kite ano links below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/24/hague-climate-change-judgement-could-inspire-a-global-civil-movement
https://youtu.be/oJ_QkjieLmw
Kia ora Newshub.
Social media needs to have boundaries set to stop the haters using it to cause harm to others verbally and physically but let's not compromise free speach in the reaction.
Parlm kernel fire the stuff can self combust if not stored correctly.
Its good that more money for the homeless people to be housed,
Well national has a policy that I will back 2 days more care after our Wahine give birth to Te Mokopuna I think it's a real good policy te Wahine go thru a enormous amount of stress giveing birth to our tamariki it is quite easy for them to slip into depression.
I say that IWIs paying for health insurance for there tangata whenua is on to it yes the crown should be paying for it but we can not Rely on the government this will keep the kaumatua around longer to guide our Mokopuna up there ladders of Life.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Te ao Maori News.
I miss it last night Sir Heke Busby passed he will be missed dearly.
I see that the United nations Antonio is in Aotearoa promoting Papatuanukue PEACE Ka pai and championing the mitigatetion against climate change we must respect our future and past tipuna.
The poor common people need help its cool more funding is coming from our government for tangata whenua as we are the majority in those stats of homeless. Kia ora to the Black Ferns Ka kite ano
Kia ora The AM Show.
Chris you do a good job in Auckland caring for OUR homeless tangata.
The Ausse election in on hope you are wrong Jason the Papatuanukue can not afford to have the same government in power that is prow coal.
It is awesome that the protesting the lack of action against climate change around the Papatuanukue is still going strong.
Paul I agree with your words I say no more.
I say white supremacist are a bit of a problem in NZ I see there actions all the time.?
My diet is no additional sugar in prosessed food and a little hear and there and porridge rolled oats gets the digest system working it fulls you up easy as to I notice with te Mokopuna good feed of porridge and toast keeps them happy for 3 hours any other food 2 hours it a super food.
The white supremacist problem if you ignore a sore eventually it gets that big it burst.
Your mother day prize for that Wahine who lost her loved one's recently is cool she will be happy Wahine are the unsung Hero's of OUR society.
You should see how my WiFi and laptop get hacked so easily so be careful about the new technology you put in your whare if your privacy matters to you.
Ka kite ano
Now is the time to buy second hand electric car. I say our government should be investing in the technology of refurbishment of the battery's of the second hand car market or they will have to quickly try and clean up a mess that is easily foreseeable heaps of dead batterys and cars if the manufacturer won't back their secondhand car the government has to mabe legerslate but NZ is to small to have a impact at that level. Its a no brainer to chase a phenomenon that will sharply reduce our carbon footprint and can save the country billion at the same time a smart investment I say. I know heavy industries need fuel like gas or hydrogen but I say working smarter not harder is what little AOTEAROA has to do to keep up with the phase of change and get the best returns from the changes. The technology can be sold to other that are interested. There are many more poor people in the Papatuanukue than wealthy so the market for refurbishment of batteries is huge Ka kite ano links below.
https://youtu.be/K9m9WDxmSN8
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/jZHcuKeau8M
Equality for all is needed Wahine are treated the less equal of OUR society. Wahine from 3 world countries have it very hard they do most of the heavy lifting in the mahi of providing for there familys. The men get most of any money they get and some waster it. Eco Maori backs Tau toko this micro financing for Wahine.
Gender inequality is a global problem, but it is especially amplified when it comes to the financial opportunities presented to men and women. While there has been a significant improvement in gender equality since women were first allowed to vote,statistically, women are underrepresented in most financial positions: form borrowers to lenders, not to mention regulatory bodies or high-standing positions in banking institutions.
Micro-financing for female borrowers
Micro-financing platforms like AssetStream will allow women with lower social status and lack of work or credit history to start borrowing small sums of money, to jumpstart their finances or even start their own small business Ka kite ano links below
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cryptopolitan.com/implications-of-greater-gender-equality-through-microfinance/amp/
https://youtu.be/4viXOGvvu0Y
We don't have to invent the wheel to fix our environment. Papatuanukue has already achieved this we just have to find the creature to will help in clearing up the mess and nerture them use mother nature creations to help clean up mess we have made with our Environment. I Back the kicks principles keep it smart and simple.
The big, beautiful Baltic Sea hides a dirty secret in its 377,000km of water.
A number of agricultural spills has turned the Baltic into one of the most polluted seas in the world, due to excess nitrogen and phosphorus lacing its waters.
This process of eutrophicationhas led to the depletion of oxygen and an overgrowth of algae in the body of water, but not all hope is lost Ka kite ano link below
https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/09/pollution-fighting-mussels
https://youtu.be/6LAT1gLMPu4
Kia ora Newshub.
I say that the gumman would have had others helping him he was just the minupulate puppet.
I say it's dumb Fonterra selling Tip Top you know how to win monuply not selling ASSETS.??????.
What's the point of a study on unreported unproven crime it will be similar everywhere
Drones delivery orgain/kidneys is a sign of the Times technology is cool in the correct HANDS.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Te ao Maori News.
Sir Heke will have a huge tangi
Its cool that the people who can't hear have Maori sign te reo language I will find the time in the near future to master te reo.
The side of the road drug test on the roads would be fine with Eco Maori in a perfect Papatuanukue but from all the data and stories I can see. Tangata whenua will end up with the short end of that STICK.
Its awesome that school fees will be dropped and focused on education Alot of intelligent tamariki would fail or not set the test because of the fees being un payed.
Ma te wa
Antonio the tangata whenua of the Pacific Islands need help in combining climate change.
Its cool that the United nations is Tau toko indigenous culture te reo /language.
I would not be a happy MAN if that happens to my Mokopuna.
Ka kite ano