He was born in Guangzhou, a city in southern China, to a wealthy family that lost everything when the communists took power in 1949. He was 12 years old when he fled his village in mainland China, arriving in Hong Kong as a stowaway on a fishing boat.
Like a number of the city’s famed tycoons, he went from a menial role, toiling in a Hong Kong sweatshop, to founding a multi-million dollar empire. From working odd jobs and knitting in a small clothing shop he taught himself English, eventually founding the international clothing brand Giordano. The chain was a huge success.
But when in 1989 China sent in tanks to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, Mr Lai began a new journey as a vocal democracy activist as well as an entrepreneur. He started writing columns criticising the massacre that followed the demonstrations in Beijing and established a publishing house that went on to become one of Hong Kong's most influential.
In recent years masked attackers have firebombed Mr Lai’s house and company headquarters. The 71-year-old has also been the target of an assassination plot. His arrest on Monday is the highest-profile use of the national security law imposed on the territory by Beijing in June.
So we await the regime's decision of whether to take him to China for trial or leave prosecution to the HK govt. If they make the latter choice we may still get some media exposure of the court case – but it may be censored.
China is not communist. We know this because it is not democratic.
Democracy is an essential part of communism. Workers controlling businesses can only be done through democracy and it goes upwards from there to the city and nation state.
China is, presently, anti-democratic.
But, then, so is capitalism – the boss doesn't want the workers telling him what to do but is certainly of the opinion that the workers should do what he tells them.
But his political opponents are, and the regime requires total control of the people.
Lai also wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in May stating that China was repressing Hong Kong with the legislation. “I have always thought I might one day be sent to jail for my publications or for my calls for democracy in Hong Kong,” Lai wrote. “But for a few tweets, and because they are said to threaten the national security of mighty China?
Yes, because the regime is threatened by exercise of the right of free speech. Communists have always been big on using state control to eliminate human rights.
Hmm. You seem to be using communism as if it were an ideal rather than a state practice. Stuart likewise. Viewed as a belief system, that's valid.
In realpolitik though, people apply the label on the basis of practical utility (if it walks like a duck etc). So my usage reflects standard political practice.
Reminds me when I was at uni the Trots, Leninists, Stalinists & Maoists were engaged in four-way sectarian competition over which group were the real communists…
The ideal is the measuring stick. If standard practice doesn't meet the measure in any way, shape or form but calls itself communist then it is obviously misrepresenting itself.
Your usage is empowering people to misrepresent themselves.
People actually empower themselves via misrepresentation: that's the human condition. Why women wear lipstick. Why Labour folk describe themselves as progressive.
The root of this behaviour lies deep within nature itself. Biologists have documented deceit strategies and tactics in many species.
I didn't write that. Both deceit and misrepresentation derive from the same behavioural root, obviously. Think of it as a survival strategy. Haven't you kept up with evolutionary psychology? Since Robert Wright authored The Moral Animal there's been about a quarter-century of follow-through by many contributors.
We realise Dennis, that you reject the content of Communism en bloc, so of course the distinction between states that practiced it to any degree, and those who only pretended to do so is not important to you. But that is as valid as including the DPRK in a discussion of democracy simply because they use the name in the title of their state.
Tbh, Stuart, I'm unaware that any states ever actualised the ideal of communism. Which inclines me to view the ideal as unattainable in practice due to being contrary to human nature. I agree that the ideal seems appealing, in a nebulous way, since I was born an extreme idealist and had to grow a pragmatic side to my character so as to become successful in this society.
I'm far less sanguine Dennis; communists are every bit as 'out of bounds' as are fascists in my book. In the 20th century there were at least six major attempts to implement communist states and each one was a genocidal failure.
People who say that the 'wrong people were in charge' are really just saying that if they had been running the show it would have all turned out good. Which is an delusional conceit, a wet mess of naive idealism, deep intellectual dishonesty and obdurate denial.
The left needs to draw a line under this horribly failed idea called marxism and commit to never doing it again.
To the extent that Communism might have been achievable, much of that had to do with the states claiming to be pursuing it, without putting much effort into doing so. As such it is part of a long tradition of similar attempts at improving government virtue, from Confucianism through Christianity, and Gandhi’s reforms, to the current attempts to form an Islamic state.
Throughout his later life Confucius was pursued by leaders of states for his imprimatur, but had to abandon them as they failed to live up to the ideals they had signed up for. The unprincipled behaviour of these rulers did not invalidate the principles that Confucius had derived, and, but for a certain inconsistency in his writings, the same is true of Marx.
Where communism fails is in its inability to deal with internal failures. In a democracy, the individual is sovereign, and anything that affects them is a legitimate ground to access the representative process (though of course in practice NZ MPs will simply ignore anything that might conceivably reflect badly upon them or their party or require them to get off their spotty bottoms and do anything).
Communism, by contrast, reposes sovereignty in the Party, which promptly claims to be ineffable. When a problem occurs therefore, like an oil light coming on in one's car, democracy in principle fixes it, while communism accuses the oil light of political unreliability, being a refusenik or a saboteur or whatever, until the whole system suffers a catastrophic failure and seizes up.
One should not lay the determination of the Kim dynasty to be God kings entirely on the dark side of communism's ledger however. Their existence has as much or more to do with the retreat of Japan and the geopolitical interests of neighbouring states as anything Marx or his successors wrote.
Washington, a thin-skinned chief executive, only decided to stay on for a second term to prevent his lieutenants from, as he feared, splitting the country into two parties. To him, political parties spelled disunion.
and
To suppress the challenge of a second party, Washington’s successor, Federalist John Adams, signed into law the Alien and Sedition Acts, making it a federal crime to criticize the president or his administration’s policies.
and
In his turn, when Jefferson became president he instituted what later became known as the spoils system. With his idea of even-handedness, he dismantled the Federalist Party. He fired half of all federal officeholders, the top half. He kept Federalists only in low-level clerical, postal and customs service jobs. Jefferson effectively deprived the Federalists of any chance of rebuilding a power base by excluding them not only from the federal payroll but from political and administrative experience. The Federalists never won another election. Their party died.
Over time the US realised that they couldn't get rid of political parties but their system is such that they can only have two. This is a problem in that most voices aren't heard.
Perhaps what we need is everyone belonging to a political party where they have a say on the policies that that party puts forward. But then we'd need a system which allowed for each party to be able to have at least one representative in parliament.
Both communism and capitalism are idealistic and both operate with a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature….communism could operate in a world entirely populated by cooperative individuals and capitalism in a world of competitors…neither world exists…we live in a world of degrees and compromise.
I'm not especially keen on trials of communism per se, I just don't like to see it blamed for flaws that arise from other causes. Marx's solution wasn't particularly good, and the likes of Marcuse did not improve it. But Marx did elucidate the issues of unfairness that come with unregulated capital.
The acceptability of capitalism is a function of how well regulated it is. NZ's housing crisis is an instance of failure to regulate, and it has unhomed and impoverished a substantial proportion of our population. This must necessarily concern any party or parties that pretend to govern it or us.
Completely agree. I would be inclined to support a pro workers Democracy movement in China/Hong Kong, but certainly not a rightwing privaliged student/ rightwing media based one like the current HK protests. This is Capitalist infighting, certainly nothing to do with the working class.
I know of the "QC" who is acting on behalf of David Wong-Tung.
My family had a brief experience of her some years ago. She also wrote a letter on behalf of an estranged relative which contained falsehoods and threatening language if her client didn't get his way. She came across to me as one of those lawyers who uses professional bullying tactics in order to win her cases. Truth and fair play seem not to be part of her playbook.
Looks like back stabbings and leaks about the internal turmoil are still coming out of the National Party. The hopes they had of putting the crusher in charge to stem the leaks has not worked for them. The news around the selection of its candidate for the Auckland Central seat point to a party still at war within itself. I hope this helps some current blue seats turn red.
That's the thing, Collins isn't in charge, as well as saying "I'm not the leader of the National Party" (wtf???), a few weeks back when asked had she forced everyone in the party to stop leaking, she said no, she just told them if they want to win, stop leaking. She's a pathetic & weak boss.
When the dust finally settles on the COVID crisis, I think one of the aspects that will stand out will be that nations with health systems that are properly integrated with a unified governance model, and have strong medical leadership, will generally do better than those that don't.
In other words, for all the daily briefings and public health orders, the Victorian government simply had no apparatus to actually handle the crisis. The cogs were not connected. It is like a mechanic giving a long and impassioned speech about how your car ought to run only for you to pop the bonnet and discover it has no engine.
A close friend of ours has worked in the health system there all her life. She daily tells us of the contradictions and disconnects she constantly encounters. Poorly implemented procedures and PPE are her biggest gripe. To the extent that from Queensland we are posting down to her N95 masks we can buy off the shelf in Bunnings here, but she cannot access through her employer. All a bit weird really.
Yet at the same time it will be researchers and innovators who will eventually break the back of this crisis, people working with data and evidence who will unlock the secrets and change our thinking.
As an engineer I'm struck by this pandemic as a good example of how our systems need to strike a balance between sufficiently integrated and unified to deal effectively with a crisis, while at the same time the components of it need to adapt and evolve to deal with novel challenges in the environment. This constant tug of war between the need for stability and adaptability is a fundamental feature of our existence, and lies at the heart of our political systems. We might do well to keep this essential frame in mind more often.
If you were watching the AM show this morning around 8.20am, you would have seen the Justice Minister concluding his interview on the cannabis referendum by responding to a question about his personal experience.
"Well, it pretty much always fell off the back of a truck for me." "Actually, the last time was when I'd just qualified as a lawyer. There were lawyers, QCs and a judge all there and they were passing around a joint."
Duncan quickly moved on. The notion that pillars of the legal establishment might be that enlightened must have spooked him, though he covered it well. Amanda & Mark likewise avoided the implication. Vital to keep up false pretences.
The dominance of National party news and images in Stuff and the Herald leaves you wondering if these outfits are unbiased or actually are Natz alternate facebook.
Trite shite-
"National leader Judith Collins has been speaking to about 200 people at the Lake Taupo Yacht Club. Journalist Matt Bowen has sent through some of the main points:
The RMA would go of if National get in power. “We made a critical mistake of embracing a piece of legislation that is all about stopping people doing things rather than getting them done.”
NZ would not be awash with methamphetamine and gangs if National get in power. “We need to take it seriously and we are.”
On light rail in Auckland. “It’s very light. It will never happen. It’s a mirage.”
On if Labour teams up with the greens following the election: “The greens say tax is love, well I have had too much love over the years.”
I don't think that we should be pandering to marginalised people, I think we should do it because there's something that they can't do in the market place.
[I don’t know which marginalised people you mean, but some of your comments aren’t making a lot of sense and you’re now on my radar as a mod. If you are new here, please read the Policy, and have a think about what you are doing before you comment again. I’m not going to let people troll my posts – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
"He now seems to think that he can return here from his self-imposed exile with a blatant troll comment.
Sam is wrong about that.
Banned for a year so that we can all recover from the pandemic and prepare for the election without having to endure his inane troll comments that create more work for Moderators – Incognito]"
I don't have time to check if it's the same Sam, But his comments are close enough to trolling that I’m dropping him into the blacklist until I have time to look at what is going on (later in the day).
Reads the same to me. Different ip and/or email – going by the avatart change, but there's certainly a very similar style and post habit going on. Should be an easy deduction going on from here if it is the same person.
I'm sure it won't, and it wouldn't be the first time the banned Sam posted after an enforced time out with a different gravitar. I recall you extending the one from April for another six months at the beginning of May.
What’s wrong with opposing views and free speech? Why does Sam scare you so much? If you don’t agree with him can’t you just ignore him?
[lprent: I’d point out that speech isn’t free here – nor anywhere else. It costs money and time to provide a venue like this.
Speech here is controlled by our policy, the legal structure we’re in and our moderators who are trying to maintain a robust debate within those bounds.
A first comment simply attacking another commenter with a pigfucker question doesn’t help robust debate. It just raises question about how much of a troll you are. I’d suggest reading the policy. ]
A lot of Radionz texts this morning in favour of charging people coming back to NZ pointing out the often disregarded fact that they want to come back here because it is the best place to be in the world during Covid-19 even though we are reasonably poor country.
But they had the money and opportunity to leave which has costed for travel etc. and now there is another cost that has to be covered. Life does not unroll with roses spread in your way and everything you wish arriving on a tray – for most of us. Sometimes things will not be just as you wish. That is all!
Another right-wing group on Facebook! Calling themselves The Team of Six Million is lobbying for the Me Generation. People like this want to turn us into a copy of those countries with fabulously rich top and a large middle class, but a large group of people in grinding poverty and stuck there as an eternally indentured class.
They haven't heard those forecasts about the disappearance of the middle class going on in the world. We are in a new millenium, toddling forward uneasily, dragging our teddies behind us. We haven't the money, so we have to think is the idea from a famous New Zealander who helped science along, but was it good for us in the long run? Now we have to think harder.
I still continue to think that the border should be closed to permanent residents unless they can show they have a permanent abode in NZ or have lived here for more than 6 months in the last 2 years. PRs are citizens of another country. NZ should not be so naive.#nzpol
National party's shite on the big issues vs the Others published.
Election 2020 – SMC science Q&A with political parties
National can't focus on answering the questions and keeps poking at that useless Labour lot as their solution.
*Smash gangs
* punish youth ( standing in a yacht club)
* our mental health programs really worked
* provide analysis on how we reduce emissions ( because we haven't read the plethora already there)
* don't know- concept black out on support ethnic and gender diversity in the research sector
* address Matauranga Maori…um.. through our partnership schools. didn't read yesterday's news on achievement in private schools.
* cannabis no
*Fresh water – Auckland Auckland the .No shit sherlock..duh..response
"Auckland needs considerable investment in properly separating stormwater and sewage to clean up streams " .
* Pests- We know about science.. we might try some now.
* Biosecurity- vigilence is needed to stop decimating agricultural industries. Yeah we were so vigilant in July 2017 with our action on m.bovis. And Labour is f#king up the Covid border plan again.Probably going to utilise Chris Penks book, Labour’s particular form of lockdown lunacy”, arguing it was too harsh and was unnecessarily extended.
* smoking and vaping.. Labour's dawdling. Perhaps we need an associate minister of health like Dunne to ' speed' them up.
Belarus: After too many voted for #Tikhanovskaya, Belarus official filmed climbing down ladder with bag thought to contain voting slips of the opposition leader pic.twitter.com/scEAvDoGKh
According to preliminary results announced by Belarus' Central Election Commission, Lukashenko took 80% of the vote, with Tikhanovskaya coming in second with 10%. But Tikhanovskaya disputed those figures. She said that her campaign staff had seen results from more than 50 polling stations and that her share of the vote exceeded Lukashenko's by many times.
Stopped when I read "Nationwide House Arrest" in the first paragraph. Anything with such a cartoonish understanding of the notions of freedom, consent and collective action isn't worth the time.
AB agree I limit the number of daft things I read. The future is a serious matter, freedom is something to conserve and it comes in different modes to be narrowed or widened as appropriate.
OK – sorry for being unnecessarily rude. But if sticking one's tongue in one's cheek means un-ironically using the language of libertarian nutters, it might be worth reconsidering.
Its a conversation thats rather pointless when it relies on an imaginary situation….when (or if) there is a vaccine and its efficacy is known then an informed discussion can take place.
Compared to the 250,000+ motorcycle dickheads converging on South Dakota. What is it with Americans and their absolutely massive social distancing! I was just waiting in line at the bank, I think NZrs naturally socially distance, no one wants to be in anyone elses space.
Some Sun Tzu quotes on how to approach Australian politicians.
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.
The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
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Alex Ford, University of Portsmouth and Gary Hutchison, Edinburgh Napier UniversityWithin just a few generations, human sperm counts may decline to levels below those considered adequate for fertility. That’s the alarming claim made in epidemiologist Shanna Swan’s new book, “Countdown”, which assembles a raft of evidence to show that ...
Just like last year, this year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will happen virtually instead of in person in Vienna. Contrary to last year, the organizers decided early on to hold their conference online and planned for it accordingly (quite a difference to last year's scramble where they switched ...
Time for a strange rant. A very strange rant. But bear with me, because this is serious business. A True Story, by Lucian of Samosata is not Science-Fiction. What on earth am I talking about? Well, it was one of those Wikipedia rabbit holes. I was reading ...
By Kate Evans for UndarkOne of New Zealand’s most spectacular fossil sites originated 23.2 million years ago. It was formed in a valley dotted with small volcanoes, when rising magma deep below the Earth’s surface came into contact with groundwater. Lava and water don’t mix — they explode. The ...
A Thorn In Their Side: As Chair of the Auckland Regional Council, Mike Lee made sure Auckland’s municipal resources remained in Aucklanders’ hands. Not surprisingly the neoliberal powers-that-be (in both their centre-left and centre-right incarnations) hated this last truly effective standard-bearer for democratic-socialist values and policies.MIKE LEE is the closest ...
It’s always something of a shock to come across a page run by a health-focused business that contains substantial misinformation. This one left me gobsmacked, given the sheer number of statements that are demonstrably untrue. And while a fair bit of the content is prefaced by the statement that it’s ...
Previously (9 February) I wrote about how business consultants Ernst & Young were used to do a hatchet job on the former senior management team at Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB). While this hatchet job was planned in 2019 its gestation was much longer. Its underlying causes involved differences in ...
Flying beneath the radar of guilt Fight or Flight: How Advertising for Air Travel Triggers Moral Disengagement(open access) by Stubenvoll & Neureiter not only takes an interesting approach to decomposing the effects of airline travel advertisements but also helps us to understand the general psychological landscape of our often conflicted ...
Yesterday I got told to “do some research” &, by extension, to think critically. The biologist in me cringed a little when I read it (and not because of the advice about doing research). Biology teachers I know suggested that perhaps everyone should take the NCEA standard that ...
Lis Ku, De Montfort University Since the onset of the pandemic, everyone from newspaper columnists to Twitter users has advanced the now idea that extroverts and introverts are handling the crisis differently. Many claim that introverts adapt to social distancing and isolation better than extroverts, with some even suggesting that ...
A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this blog post by New Zealand’s “Plan B” group. While initially this group opposed the government’s use of lockdowns to manage covid19 outbreaks in this country, they seem to have since moved on to opposing the rollout of vaccines against ...
Twenty years after it invaded, the US is finally leaving Afghanistan. What's surprising is that it took them so long - its been clear for over a decade that their presence there was pointless and just pissing people off. But imperial pride leads to exactly this sort of stupidity. Their ...
The government has announced that it will ban the export of livestock by sea. Huzzah! A vile, cruel and unconscionable trade will be ended! But there's a catch: the ban won't kick in until 2023, giving farmers two ful years to continue to profit from extreme animal cruelty. But why ...
Today is unexpectedly a Member's Day - the Business Committee granted it early in the year, to make up for time list to government business. First up is a two-hour debate on the budget policy statement, with questions to Ministers, replacing the general debate. Then its the second reading of ...
. . Two stories which appeared almost side-by-side on RNZ’s website. Parent, Miranda Cross, was quoted as saying; “I think the expectations are that we can at least send our kids to school where they will receive an education.” An American parent would probably demand; “I think the expectations are ...
The future of local government must empower the young people who will live with the decisions made today, by enabling them to vote, and strengthen our national commitment to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Green Party said today. ...
Former employees of Government security and intelligence agencies should face at least a five-year stand down period before taking up private sector security contracts, the Green Party said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the major healthcare reforms announced today by the Minister of Health, including the creation of a Māori Health Authority – Manatū Hauora Māori as we call it. ...
We’re committed to ensuring that our health system works for all New Zealanders – so we’re taking big steps to improve health outcomes, support our frontline workers, and promote equitable access to healthcare across the country and across communities. ...
I tēnei tau i Waitangi, I whakahua ake te Tira o Te Mātāwaka o te Pātī Kākāriki i tā rātau aronga matua, ki te waihanga I tētahi Manatū Hauora Māori, mā Māori te kawe, mā Māori ngā whakahaere. Ko tā te tira; Kua rongohia ngā karanga a ngā Tangata Whenua, ...
During Waitangi this year the Green Party’s Te Mātāwaka caucus announced their priority for an independent Māori Health Authority. We have heard the call from Tangata Whenua wanting any authority to be independent, and properly resourced. ...
The Greens welcome $6.6 million from the Government’s $455 million programme to increase access to mental health and addiction services for our Pasifika communities in Auckland and Wellington. ...
The Green Party is putting a Member’s Bill into the ballot today which will be a significant step towards overhauling the Social Security Act by embedding a tikanga Māori framework into the welfare system. ...
The Green Party have reaffirmed their strong commitment to the union movement in Aotearoa New Zealand by renewing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with E Tū. ...
Soon, more kids in Aotearoa will have access to the in-school mental health support that has boosted the resilience of tamariki and whānau in Canterbury. ...
The Green Party supports the open letter released today by a cross-sector coalition calling for the Government to treat all drug use as a health issue, to repeal and replace the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. ...
Small businesses are not only the heart of our economy – they’re also the heart of our communities. They provide important goods and services, as well as great employment opportunities. They know and love their locals. And after a tough year, they need our support! ...
Green Party spokesperson for Pacific Peoples Teanau Tuiono MP, supports the demand from Pasifika communities fighting for climate action as their homelands are more at risk in the Pacific region. ...
The Green Party supports the six demands for climate action put forward by School Strike for Climate NZ, who are striking across the country today. ...
The Ministry of Justice Māori victimisation report, released today, reinforces what we already know about the impact of systemic racism in Aotearoa and that urgent action is needed. ...
Ricardo Menéndez March’s Members Bill to ensure that disabled New Zealanders do not face discrimination for having a disability assist dog was today pulled from the biscuit tin to be debated in Parliament. ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood today announced that former Chief Executive of Manukau City Council Leigh Auton has been appointed as Independent Chair of the Auckland Light Rail Establishment Unit to engage with Aucklanders and take the project forward. Leigh Auton has been appointed as chair for an 11 month term ...
“The Government continues to honour our commitment to survivors which we made when the Royal Commission was established in 2018, and has refined the Terms of Reference to make sure the Commission delivers its final report in 2023,” says Minister of Internal Affairs, Jan Tinetti. In December 2020, the Royal ...
New ‘very high risk’ country designation Returnees to be cohorted into MIQs The Government is taking significant additional steps to make our borders even safer, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “New Zealand is in a strong position and Kiwis enjoy freedoms most other countries do not ...
250 new warm, dry homes officially opened in Auckland today including: • 90 public housing homes • 34 KiwiBuild homes • 43 market homes and • 83 transitional housing homes The Government’s commitment to ensuring more New Zealanders have warm, dry, healthy homes is paying off in Auckland, where the ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says an independent review of local government will explore how councils can maintain and improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders in the communities they serve long into the future. Announcing the review today Nanaia Mahuta says it will focus on how our system of local ...
New Zealand’s first government funded space mission has taken a ‘giant leap’ with Auckland University’s Te Pūnaha Ātea-Auckland Space Institute announced as the permanent host of the New Zealand based mission control centre for a global methane tracking satellite. “MethaneSAT is a really exciting opportunity to showcase New Zealand’s science ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined President Biden at the virtual Leaders’ Summit on Climate hosted by the United States overnight. The summit, held for Earth Day, brought world leaders together to galvanise efforts to reduce emissions this decade and keep the shared goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees ...
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, met in Wellington today for biannual Australia-New Zealand Foreign Minister Consultations. Marise Payne’s visit is the first official visit to New Zealand by Australia since both ...
Cabinet has finalised a package of new measures to protect New Zealanders’ interests in the banking and financial system, including guaranteeing deposits of up to $100,000 per eligible institution. These measures, the final part of a comprehensive review of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act, have been the subject ...
The number of apprentices continues to grow, with people from across the community signing up for careers in the trades, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) for enrolments in tertiary and vocational study as at December 2020 shows that the number of apprentices increased by 17.6 per ...
New Zealand will open a new Trade Commission in Fiji later this year, Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “Fiji is New Zealand’s largest trading partner in the Pacific region”, Damien O’Connor said. “Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, annual two-way trade between New Zealand and Fiji was ...
HON ANDREW LITTLE SPEECH Morena tātau katoa. Tēnā tātau kua karahuihui mai nei i tēnei ata, Ki te whakarewa te rautaki hauora matua o Aotearoa, Kia hua ko te oranga pai o te motu. Tena tatau katoa. INTRODUCTION Welcome. Today, I am laying out for you a plan to ...
All DHBs will be replaced by one national organisation, Health New Zealand A new Māori Health Authority will have the power to commission health services, monitor the state of Māori health and develop policy New Public Health Agency will be created Strengthened Ministry of Health will monitor performance and advise ...
We talk a lot about being a transformational Government. Some imagine this statement means big infrastructure builds, massive policy commitments all leading up to a single grand reveal. But this is what I see as transformation. Something quite simply and yet so very complex. Māori feeling comfortable and able to ...
On Wednesday morning, Minister of Health Andrew Little and Associate Minister of Health (Māori) Peeni Henare are announcing major health reforms. You can watch the announcement live here from 8am Wednesday. ...
New research into the probability of an Alpine Fault rupture reinforces the importance of taking action to plan and prepare for earthquakes, Acting Minister for Emergency Management Kris Faafoi says. Research published by Dr Jamie Howarth of Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington today, shows there is a ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Defence Minister Peeni Henare today announced that New Zealand is deploying a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion maritime patrol aircraft in support of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions on North Korea. The Resolutions, adopted unanimously by the UNSC between 2006 and 2017, ...
The Transmission Gully Interim Review has found serious flaws at the planning stage of the project, undermining the successful completion of the four-lane motor north of Wellington Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Transport Minister Michael Wood said. Grant Robertson said the review found the public-private partnership (PPP) established under the ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today that Australian Foreign Minister Hon Marise Payne will visit Aotearoa New Zealand for the first face-to-face Foreign Ministers’ Consulations since the COVID-19 pandemic began. “Australia is New Zealand’s closest and most important international partner. I’m very pleased to be able to welcome Hon Marise ...
Hundreds more families who were separated by the border closure will be reunited under new border exceptions announced today, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said. “The Government closed the border to everyone but New Zealand citizens and residents, in order to keep COVID-19 out, keep our economy open and keep New ...
Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Foreign Minister 8.30am, 19 April 2021 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] Speech to the NZCC Korihi Pō, Korihi Ao E rongo e turia no Matahau Nō Tū te winiwini, Nō Tū te wanawana Tū Hikitia rā, Tū Hapainga mai Ki te Whai Ao, Ki te Ao Mārama Tihei Mauri ...
The Government is supporting a new project with all-wool New Zealand carpet company, Bremworth, which has its sights on developing more sustainable all-wool carpets and rugs, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced. The Ministry for Primary Industries is contributing $1.9 million towards Bremworth’s $4.9 million sustainability project through its Sustainable Food ...
New Zealand is providing further support to Timor-Leste following severe flooding and the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Our thoughts are with the people of Timor-Leste who have been impacted by the severe flooding and landslides at a time when the country is ...
A ceremony has been held today in Gisborne where the unclaimed medals of 28 (Māori) Battalion C Company soldiers were presented to their families. After the Second World War, returning service personnel needed to apply for their medals and then they would be posted out to them. While most medals ...
The Government is committed to increasing the number of mothers who breastfeed for longer to give babies born in New Zealand the best start in life. The Ministry of Health recommends that babies are exclusively breastfed for the first six month but only about 20 percent of children at this ...
New Zealand has today added its voice to the international condemnation of the malicious compromise and exploitation of the SolarWinds Orion platform. The Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau, Andrew Little, says that New Zealand's international partners have analysed the compromise of the SolarWinds Orion platform and attributed ...
An expert consenting panel has approved the Queenstown Arterials Project, which will significantly improve transport links and reduce congestion for locals and visitors in the tourism hotspot. Environment Minister David Parker welcomed the approval for the project that will construct, operate and maintain a new urban road around Queenstown’s town ...
Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash says a landmark deal has been agreed with Amazon for The Lord of the Rings TV series, currently being filmed in New Zealand. Mr Nash says the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) secures multi-year economic and tourism benefits to New Zealand, outside the screen ...
The Government welcomes the findings from a rapid review into the health system response to lead contamination in Waikouaiti’s drinking water supply. Sample results from the town’s drinking-water supply showed intermittent spikes in lead levels above the maximum acceptable value. The source of the contamination is still under investigation by ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood today marked the start of construction on the New Zealand Upgrade Programme’s Papakura to Drury South project on Auckland’s Southern Motorway, which will create hundreds of jobs and support Auckland’s economic recovery. The SH1 Papakura to Drury South project will give more transport choices by providing ...
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karanga maha o te wa, tēnā koutou, tēna koutou, tēna tātou katoa. Ki ngā mana whenua, ko Ngāi Tahu, ko Waitaha, ko Kāti Māmoe anō nei aku mihi ki a koutou. Nōku te hōnore kia haere mai ki te ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood today marked the completion of upgrades to State Highway 20B which will give Aucklanders quick electric bus trips to and from the airport. The State Highway 20B Early Improvements project has added new lanes in each direction between Pukaki Creek Bridge and SH20 for buses and ...
The Government is putting in place a review of the work being done on animal welfare and safety in the greyhound racing industry, Grant Robertson announced today. “While Greyhound Racing NZ has reported some progress in implementing the recommendations of the Hansen Report, recent incidents show the industry still has ...
The infringement fee for using a mobile phone while driving will increase from $80 to $150 from 30 April 2021 to encourage safer driving, Transport Minister Michael Wood announced today. Michael Wood said too many people are still picking up the phone while driving. “Police issued over 40,000 infringement notices ...
Pacific people in New Zealand will be better supported with new mental health and addiction services rolling out across the Auckland and Wellington regions, says Aupito William Sio. “One size does not fit all when it comes to supporting the mental wellbeing of our Pacific peoples. We need a by ...
New measures are being proposed to accelerate progress towards becoming a smokefree nation by 2025, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced. “Smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke kills around 12 people a day in New Zealand. Recent data tells us New Zealand’s smoking rates continue to decrease, but ...
More children will be able to access mental wellbeing support with the Government expansion of Mana Ake services to five new District Health Board areas, Health Minister Andrew Little says. The Health Minister made the announcement while visiting Homai School in Counties Manukau alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate ...
The Government’s COVID-19 response has meant a record number of people moved off a Benefit and into employment in the March Quarter, with 32,880 moving into work in the first three months of 2021. “More people moved into work last quarter than any time since the Ministry of Social Development ...
A stocktake undertaken by France and New Zealand shows significant global progress under the Christchurch Call towards its goal to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. The findings of the report released today reinforce the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach, with countries, companies and civil society working together to ...
Racing Minister Grant Robertson has announced he is appointing Elizabeth Dawson (Liz) as the Chair of the interim TAB NZ Board. Liz Dawson is an existing Board Director of the interim TAB NZ Board and Chair of the TAB NZ Board Selection Panel and will continue in her role as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Walker, Adjunct Fellow, Centre for Workforce Futures, Macquarie University “Working at an Amazon warehouse is no easy thing. The shifts are long. The pace is super-fast. You are constantly being watched and monitored. They seem to think you are just another ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland This week’s announcement that all district health boards (DHBs) would be abolished and replaced with a centralised health agency took a lot of people by surprise. Most key health sector interest groups appear ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rik Thompson, Professor of Breast Cancer Research, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Biomedical Sciences,, Queensland University of Technology Australian women are being asked to think about the timing of breast cancer screening as they prepare to receive their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, La Trobe University On Thursday, national cabinet agreed to list India as a “high-risk” country and temporarily reduce the number of people returning to Australia from the country by 30%. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said other countries would ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Goldrick, Adjunct Professor in Naval and Maritime Strategy and Policy, Australian National University In waters north of Bali, a frantic search is underway for the Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala, missing with 53 crew since the boat failed to make a routine ...
There was an international flavour to two of the new statements from the Beehive and a cosmic flavour to a third, when we checked earlier in the day. But the most ominous announcement, signalling big changes in the offing very close to home, emerged from the office of Nanaia Mahuta, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney This weekend marks 50 years since the television premiere of Young Talent Time — a pastel-coloured, saccharine-sweet mix of talent competition, pop music tribute show and star factory. Accordingly, the National Film ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan discusses the week in politics with University of Canberra Associate Professor Caroline Fisher. This week the pair discuss some of the developments in the Biden climate summit, which commenced Thursday night. They also ...
By Janet Holborow, Deputy Mayor, Kāpiti Coast District Council Opinion On Friday Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced a review of Local Government in New Zealand, and the appointment of a panel to be chaired by Jim Palmer to to start ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pradeep Taneja, Senior Lecturer in Asian Politics, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne India reported 314,000 new cases of COVID-19 on April 22, the highest-ever infection tally recorded by any country on a single day. Many hospitals across ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lesley Hughes, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University Prime Minister Scott Morrison overnight addressed a much anticipated virtual climate summit convened by US President Joe Biden, claiming future generations “will thank us not for what we have promised, but what we ...
A new international exhibition on a mission to ‘spread happiness around the world’ has landed in Auckland. Jihee Junn went along to see if it made her happy.To describe yourself as “the world’s most Instagrammable event” is a pretty big claim to make, but that’s the Happy Place for you ...
Analysis - The government's health shake-up is generally well-received, while Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta deals with a delicate international issue around our relationships with Five Eyes and China, writes Peter Wilson. ...
This once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the machinery behind local government cannot ignore some significant challenges facing local democracy, Property Council of New Zealand Chief Executive Leonie Freeman says. “Today’s announcement that ...
The union for local government workers welcomes Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s planned review of the sector, but more of a focus on worker participation is needed. The Public Service Association represents nine thousand local government staff around ...
It’s the speech that keeps on giving. This gives the lie to advice we were given on the art of delivering a memorable speech: an audience remembers best the first five minutes of a speech and the last five. In the case of Nanaia Mahuta’s dragons-and-taniwha speech, at Point of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Verna Smith, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington It is rare to get excited about institutional reform, but the government’s announcement of wholesale changes to the health system has the potential to be transformative. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury This review contains spoilers for the first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale season four. Dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale is at a crossroads. Four years on from its critically ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rowan Light, Lecturer / Project Curator – University of Auckland / Auckland Museum, University of Auckland While economists and politicians have celebrated the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble and its promised relief for struggling businesses, it’s also a reminder of something we’ve ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Georgia McWhinney, Honorary Postdoctoral Associate, Macquarie University We think we know a lot about Australian and New Zealand soldiers’ health in the first world war. Many books, novels and television programs speak of wounds and war doctors, documenting the work of both ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Mirror Book by Charlotte Grimshaw (Vintage, $38)Linda Herrick over at Stuff has joined the titillating conversation ...
There will be no health sector shakeup as long as its fetish for acronyms is allowed to continue unfettered. Elsewhere, Jacinda Ardern's level of waffle exceeded the five slice capacity. James Elliott has the news of the week. In many countries there would be unbridled panic and alarm if you watched ...
Hutt City Council and the Dowse Art Museum today hosted the Minister of Local Government Hon Nanaia Mahuta for her announcement of a review into the future of local government. Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry has welcomed the review, saying it will support work ...
“The independent review of local government announced today is a genuine opportunity to address a wave of serious issues across housing, transport and water by strengthening the ability of councils to execute, address long standing infrastructure funding ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Navid Constantinou, Research Fellow, Australian National University Scientists already know the oceans are rapidly warming and sea levels are rising. But that’s not all. Now, thanks to satellite observations, we have three decades’ worth of data on how the speeds of ocean ...
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry was advised yesterday of Cabinet’s decision to “narrow its scope by removing the requirement for it to look at modern day care policy settings”. The Royal Commission will speak to the Minster of Internal ...
Greenpeace is calling out Jacinda Ardern’s lack of action on emissions from agriculture as the Prime Minister speaks at the Leaders Summit on Climate convened by US President Biden. In a speech during the summit, Ardern encouraged all countries to put a price ...
The New Zealand government is introducing a new category of a "very high risk country" - including India, Brazil, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea - to further bolster the country's defence against Covid-19. ...
Grey Power commends the Minister of Health on what appears to be the most progressive and well-structured health system review for many years. The initial document presented by the Minister on Wednesday 21 April 2020 embraces many issues that Grey Power has ...
The government is expected to announce a further bolstering of the border, with passengers arriving on high-risk flights to be kept in separate managed isolation hotels from other arrivals. ...
An aspiring film-maker gets the opportunity to share her vision for a new movie – but then the studio decides to get involved. Dunedin team Bus of the Undead talk us through their VF48Hours invitation movie, Pitches Be Crazy.Daniel Macshane estimates he spent around 43 hours working on his team’s ...
These are perhaps the most exciting times for cancer care in our nation’s history, writes epidemiologist Jason Gurney, who welcomes the shake-up to the ‘greater good’ approach that’s been so disadvantageous for Māori.On my first day as a paycheque-drawing epidemiologist, my boss – who would later become my friend and ...
A poem from Nina Mingya Powles’ Ockham-shortlisted collection Magnolia 木蘭.Maggie Cheung’s blue cheongsam Maggie Cheung’s blue cheongsam is patterned with pink peonies. Dark magenta, dark magnolia, a colour that is edible. Nests of deep green leaves extend from the base of each fat flower, their edges painted gold. ...
The dragon, the taniwha - and the kangaroo? This week the Australian and New Zealand foreign ministers shared a podium and China was very much the dragon in the room. ...
An independent review of local government will explore how councils can maintain and improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders in the communities they serve, long into the future. ...
Australia Week: It’s the age-old question: which fictional soap neighbourhood would you most like to live in? We know you’ve thought about it, but Tara Ward has thought about it more than most. To mark the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble, The Spinoff is casting an eye across the ditch all ...
A new play about the lead-up to the first lockdown, built from interviews with Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson and Michael Baker, is a window into the unfathomable responsibility of political power.It felt pretty surreal to be sitting in a packed theatre for the opening night of Transmission, Miranda Harcourt and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Norman, Professor of Reproductive and Periconceptual Medicine, The Robinson Institute, University of Adelaide An expensive IVF technique, routinely offered in fertility clinics around the world, offers no extra benefits to standard IVF in the vast majority of cases, our new research ...
The Future for Local Government initiative must make the most of a historic opportunity to set communities up for success now and in the future, as it looks into the roles and responsibilities of councils amid a flurry of major policy reform, says Local ...
Saturday 24 April marks World Veterinary Day and this year New Zealand veterinarians find themselves facing another year of significant stress and challenging workloads. There are many reasons for this including the fact that veterinarians were classified ...
Catherine Woulfe’s son’s school is nothing fancy. But it’s theirs. Auckland’s new zoning rules will mean her daughter, when she turns five, will have to go to a different one – and that’s heartbreaking.I just saw a map that puts us 100 metres out of zone for the primary school ...
Greenpeace is today condemning a large-scale irrigation consent as ‘locking in overstocking of the land with dairy cows which is bad news for our climate, a guarantee of more water pollution and a risk to human health.’ Environment Canterbury has ...
They might be the most popular companion animal in New Zealand, but cats are not so popular in the wild. Stray and feral cats are a widespread problem across the country, with numbers estimated to be in the millions. At this scale, they not only ...
Those of us who govern are acutely aware of the problems inherent in the requirement to mind our own patch, not everybody else’s, writes Auckland DHB chair Pat Snedden.This week’s health announcements signalled a big day in a number of ways. Health minister Andrew Little took time in a thoroughly ...
Some parents have started petitions to send their kids to the closest school; others threaten to 'blow up' the system to ensure children can go to the same college as their parents and siblings. ...
Some parents are starting petitions to send their kids to their closest school; others are beating down the doors of government to be allowed to drive across town. ...
Health Minister Andrew Little says the reforms the government has announced this week will mean for the first time New Zealand will have “a truly national health system”. The new system will consist of a national health organisation, a Maori health authority, and a new public health authority to centralise ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona McLeod, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland The revival of interest in Anzac since the 1980s has depended in part on the repositioning of soldiers as victims. We rarely celebrate their martial virtues, and instead note their resilience, fortitude and suffering. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of Melbourne On Anzac Day each year, Australians remember those who served and died in wars and conflicts. We may attend a dawn service, go to a march or lay a wreath at a war ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Adams, Professor at the Centre of Policy Studie, Victoria University The European Union has committed to very significant emission cuts — 55% on 1990 levels by 2030, and zero net emissions by 2050. To help it get there without too much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Breaking down the old boys’ club in business, government and other organisations is intrinsically important. Ensuring greater diversity in organisations – on gender, racial, ethnic and other lines – is, simply put, the right thing to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, The University of Melbourne Modern warfare produces both trauma and boredom in equal measure. During the first world war, one way troops found solace was by writing and reading magazines created by soldiers, for soldiers. ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for April 23, bringing you the latest news updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz8.00am: High risk arrivals will be kept together in MIQ as India flight ban tipped to endThe government is tipped to end the ban on flights from India ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: India’s Covid situation and the travel ban decision, lockout hit for striking Wellington bus drivers, and Australian PM to visit NZ. Plus: A feature on a major carbon-farming landowner that is quietly growing.There will be an announcement today on the ...
Recent studies reveal surprising changes in the Ross Sea region, a choke-point in ocean circulation. David Williams reports As the three-masted British ship Erebus sailed south in Antarctic waters with the slightly smaller Terror in January 1841, commander James Clark Ross, the world’s most experienced polar explorer, saw a low ...
Business & Investing: NZ to join other OECD nations with a substantive deposit guarantee scheme, Plus: Australia's diplomatic standoff with China worsens ...
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care has asked for three emergency funding top-ups because it had blown the $56 million budget- meant to last another two years. ...
As long as we make decisions on the basis of discretion or intuition, like the banning of flights from India, many of these decisions will invariably fall prey to bias - no matter how well-meaning we are, writes Ananish Chaudhuri In the aftermath of New Zealand banning flights from India, I have been ...
Hanging out in central Christchurch, waiting for a mate, St Bede’s teenager Jamayne Feast and his two friends filmed and posted a short music clip. Now they are famous.A moment of boredom, a 15-second capella, and #FliFlaFlo has hurtled one Christchurch teenager into instant fame.It was school holidays, ...
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Communists vs capitalist: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53718901
So we await the regime's decision of whether to take him to China for trial or leave prosecution to the HK govt. If they make the latter choice we may still get some media exposure of the court case – but it may be censored.
China is not communist. We know this because it is not democratic.
Democracy is an essential part of communism. Workers controlling businesses can only be done through democracy and it goes upwards from there to the city and nation state.
China is, presently, anti-democratic.
But, then, so is capitalism – the boss doesn't want the workers telling him what to do but is certainly of the opinion that the workers should do what he tells them.
China is not communist
But his political opponents are, and the regime requires total control of the people.
Yes, because the regime is threatened by exercise of the right of free speech. Communists have always been big on using state control to eliminate human rights.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/300079006/owner-of-a-hong-kong-newspaper-thats-often-critical-of-chinas-communist-party-government-arrested-under-new-security-law
No they haven't. People who called themselves communists have. There's a difference.
Democracy, human rights – these things are essential to communism. If a nation or a person denies them then they are not communist.
Quite right – totalitarian might be a better term – those states that like ancient Persia required submission of their subjects.
Hmm. You seem to be using communism as if it were an ideal rather than a state practice. Stuart likewise. Viewed as a belief system, that's valid.
In realpolitik though, people apply the label on the basis of practical utility (if it walks like a duck etc). So my usage reflects standard political practice.
Reminds me when I was at uni the Trots, Leninists, Stalinists & Maoists were engaged in four-way sectarian competition over which group were the real communists…
The ideal is the measuring stick. If standard practice doesn't meet the measure in any way, shape or form but calls itself communist then it is obviously misrepresenting itself.
Your usage is empowering people to misrepresent themselves.
People actually empower themselves via misrepresentation: that's the human condition. Why women wear lipstick. Why Labour folk describe themselves as progressive.
The root of this behaviour lies deep within nature itself. Biologists have documented deceit strategies and tactics in many species.
Women wearing lipstick is a deceit strategy!? What Wikipedia page did you get that from?
I didn't write that. Both deceit and misrepresentation derive from the same behavioural root, obviously. Think of it as a survival strategy. Haven't you kept up with evolutionary psychology? Since Robert Wright authored The Moral Animal there's been about a quarter-century of follow-through by many contributors.
O’kay, and Judith Collins is not the Leader of the National Party.
Of course, it was Pat McGrath who wrote it first.
Beats Wikipedia hands down.
We realise Dennis, that you reject the content of Communism en bloc, so of course the distinction between states that practiced it to any degree, and those who only pretended to do so is not important to you. But that is as valid as including the DPRK in a discussion of democracy simply because they use the name in the title of their state.
Tbh, Stuart, I'm unaware that any states ever actualised the ideal of communism. Which inclines me to view the ideal as unattainable in practice due to being contrary to human nature. I agree that the ideal seems appealing, in a nebulous way, since I was born an extreme idealist and had to grow a pragmatic side to my character so as to become successful in this society.
I'm far less sanguine Dennis; communists are every bit as 'out of bounds' as are fascists in my book. In the 20th century there were at least six major attempts to implement communist states and each one was a genocidal failure.
People who say that the 'wrong people were in charge' are really just saying that if they had been running the show it would have all turned out good. Which is an delusional conceit, a wet mess of naive idealism, deep intellectual dishonesty and obdurate denial.
The left needs to draw a line under this horribly failed idea called marxism and commit to never doing it again.
To the extent that Communism might have been achievable, much of that had to do with the states claiming to be pursuing it, without putting much effort into doing so. As such it is part of a long tradition of similar attempts at improving government virtue, from Confucianism through Christianity, and Gandhi’s reforms, to the current attempts to form an Islamic state.
Throughout his later life Confucius was pursued by leaders of states for his imprimatur, but had to abandon them as they failed to live up to the ideals they had signed up for. The unprincipled behaviour of these rulers did not invalidate the principles that Confucius had derived, and, but for a certain inconsistency in his writings, the same is true of Marx.
Where communism fails is in its inability to deal with internal failures. In a democracy, the individual is sovereign, and anything that affects them is a legitimate ground to access the representative process (though of course in practice NZ MPs will simply ignore anything that might conceivably reflect badly upon them or their party or require them to get off their spotty bottoms and do anything).
Communism, by contrast, reposes sovereignty in the Party, which promptly claims to be ineffable. When a problem occurs therefore, like an oil light coming on in one's car, democracy in principle fixes it, while communism accuses the oil light of political unreliability, being a refusenik or a saboteur or whatever, until the whole system suffers a catastrophic failure and seizes up.
One should not lay the determination of the Kim dynasty to be God kings entirely on the dark side of communism's ledger however. Their existence has as much or more to do with the retreat of Japan and the geopolitical interests of neighbouring states as anything Marx or his successors wrote.
That sounds remarkably like the US:
and
and
Over time the US realised that they couldn't get rid of political parties but their system is such that they can only have two. This is a problem in that most voices aren't heard.
Perhaps what we need is everyone belonging to a political party where they have a say on the policies that that party puts forward. But then we'd need a system which allowed for each party to be able to have at least one representative in parliament.
The irony had not escaped me. But at least formally, the individual's franchise remains determinate in Trumpistan.
Both communism and capitalism are idealistic and both operate with a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature….communism could operate in a world entirely populated by cooperative individuals and capitalism in a world of competitors…neither world exists…we live in a world of degrees and compromise.
As long as it lasts
I'm not especially keen on trials of communism per se, I just don't like to see it blamed for flaws that arise from other causes. Marx's solution wasn't particularly good, and the likes of Marcuse did not improve it. But Marx did elucidate the issues of unfairness that come with unregulated capital.
The acceptability of capitalism is a function of how well regulated it is. NZ's housing crisis is an instance of failure to regulate, and it has unhomed and impoverished a substantial proportion of our population. This must necessarily concern any party or parties that pretend to govern it or us.
China is considered state-capitalism as far as I am aware
Completely agree. I would be inclined to support a pro workers Democracy movement in China/Hong Kong, but certainly not a rightwing privaliged student/ rightwing media based one like the current HK protests. This is Capitalist infighting, certainly nothing to do with the working class.
Communism is as much a failure as pure capitalism you can't fight Nature where greed is an inbuilt survival instinct where the Strongest survive .
Communism is just a word for utopic ideology where no one is supposed to compete .
Capitalism is the winner takes all monopoly
[Fixed typo in user name]
[Fixed typo in user name]
That's just it – greed isn't an inbuilt survival instinct.
In fact, it is greed that destroys societies and it is working together that brought us to the top of the food chain.
Do you really want to try and survive in the wilderness by yourself? No fangs, no teeth, no claws, weaker per body weight than any other animal?
If we were actually catering to our natural instincts we wouldn't have capitalism because our natural instincts tell us to work together.
Judith Collins’s husband, David Wong-Tung is threatening to sue Newsroom for defamation.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/wong-tung-threatens-to-sue-newsroom
A shame judges can't order remedial reading lessons.
I know of the "QC" who is acting on behalf of David Wong-Tung.
My family had a brief experience of her some years ago. She also wrote a letter on behalf of an estranged relative which contained falsehoods and threatening language if her client didn't get his way. She came across to me as one of those lawyers who uses professional bullying tactics in order to win her cases. Truth and fair play seem not to be part of her playbook.
Not uncommon among some lawyers I know.
Looks like back stabbings and leaks about the internal turmoil are still coming out of the National Party. The hopes they had of putting the crusher in charge to stem the leaks has not worked for them. The news around the selection of its candidate for the Auckland Central seat point to a party still at war within itself. I hope this helps some current blue seats turn red.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/out-of-controversy-a-candidate/ar-BB17N91z
That's the thing, Collins isn't in charge, as well as saying "I'm not the leader of the National Party" (wtf???), a few weeks back when asked had she forced everyone in the party to stop leaking, she said no, she just told them if they want to win, stop leaking. She's a pathetic & weak boss.
Another one of Codger's little jokes. She will have her little joke.
When the dust finally settles on the COVID crisis, I think one of the aspects that will stand out will be that nations with health systems that are properly integrated with a unified governance model, and have strong medical leadership, will generally do better than those that don't.
It seems that it is no accident that Victoria is the state which is struggling at the moment.
A close friend of ours has worked in the health system there all her life. She daily tells us of the contradictions and disconnects she constantly encounters. Poorly implemented procedures and PPE are her biggest gripe. To the extent that from Queensland we are posting down to her N95 masks we can buy off the shelf in Bunnings here, but she cannot access through her employer. All a bit weird really.
Yet at the same time it will be researchers and innovators who will eventually break the back of this crisis, people working with data and evidence who will unlock the secrets and change our thinking.
As an engineer I'm struck by this pandemic as a good example of how our systems need to strike a balance between sufficiently integrated and unified to deal effectively with a crisis, while at the same time the components of it need to adapt and evolve to deal with novel challenges in the environment. This constant tug of war between the need for stability and adaptability is a fundamental feature of our existence, and lies at the heart of our political systems. We might do well to keep this essential frame in mind more often.
If you were watching the AM show this morning around 8.20am, you would have seen the Justice Minister concluding his interview on the cannabis referendum by responding to a question about his personal experience.
"Well, it pretty much always fell off the back of a truck for me." "Actually, the last time was when I'd just qualified as a lawyer. There were lawyers, QCs and a judge all there and they were passing around a joint."
Duncan quickly moved on. The notion that pillars of the legal establishment might be that enlightened must have spooked him, though he covered it well. Amanda & Mark likewise avoided the implication. Vital to keep up false pretences.
Yep DF, that has always bugged me, the hypocrisy.
Like there were no gay judges before homosexual law reform.
The dominance of National party news and images in Stuff and the Herald leaves you wondering if these outfits are unbiased or actually are Natz alternate facebook.
Trite shite-
"National leader Judith Collins has been speaking to about 200 people at the Lake Taupo Yacht Club. Journalist Matt Bowen has sent through some of the main points:
The RMA would go of if National get in power. “We made a critical mistake of embracing a piece of legislation that is all about stopping people doing things rather than getting them done.”
NZ would not be awash with methamphetamine and gangs if National get in power. “We need to take it seriously and we are.”
On light rail in Auckland. “It’s very light. It will never happen. It’s a mirage.”
On if Labour teams up with the greens following the election: “The greens say tax is love, well I have had too much love over the years.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300078917/live-jacinda-ardern-judith-collins-hit-the-election-trail?cid=app-android
I don't think that we should be pandering to marginalised people, I think we should do it because there's something that they can't do in the market place.
[I don’t know which marginalised people you mean, but some of your comments aren’t making a lot of sense and you’re now on my radar as a mod. If you are new here, please read the Policy, and have a think about what you are doing before you comment again. I’m not going to let people troll my posts – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
mod note for you.
Is that censorship weka? Gabby doesn’t make a lot of sense often.
Nope
Woodhouse lying again can't front media Collins has to make excuses for her strong team.
Homeless man returning from Melbourne had to stay in quarantine.
Collins on the back foot trying to look tough .
How many cars did she crush
Tough on gangs when she was minister not. National cut police numbers by 800.
Key was going to wipe out the scourge of P. Not even.
Not new it would appear.
"He now seems to think that he can return here from his self-imposed exile with a blatant troll comment.
Sam is wrong about that.
Banned for a year so that we can all recover from the pandemic and prepare for the election without having to endure his inane troll comments that create more work for Moderators – Incognito]"
I don't have time to check if it's the same Sam, But his comments are close enough to trolling that I’m dropping him into the blacklist until I have time to look at what is going on (later in the day).
Nope, different Sam AFAIK. The other one is still commenting on the TDB and full of praise of TS. \sarc
The current Sam may want to read the TS Policy; it might save us all some time …
Reads the same to me. Different ip and/or email – going by the avatart change, but there's certainly a very similar style and post habit going on. Should be an easy deduction going on from here if it is the same person.
I have no evidence so I won’t take immediate action. If they’re indeed the same then it won’t take long …
I'm sure it won't, and it wouldn't be the first time the banned Sam posted after an enforced time out with a different gravitar. I recall you extending the one from April for another six months at the beginning of May.
What’s wrong with opposing views and free speech? Why does Sam scare you so much? If you don’t agree with him can’t you just ignore him?
[lprent: I’d point out that speech isn’t free here – nor anywhere else. It costs money and time to provide a venue like this.
Speech here is controlled by our policy, the legal structure we’re in and our moderators who are trying to maintain a robust debate within those bounds.
A first comment simply attacking another commenter with a pigfucker question doesn’t help robust debate. It just raises question about how much of a troll you are. I’d suggest reading the policy. ]
Ah, I see you’ve met the SYSOP 😀
I figured a holier than thou commenter deserved a holier than thou lecture…
There’s no baptism like baptism by fire.
A lot of Radionz texts this morning in favour of charging people coming back to NZ pointing out the often disregarded fact that they want to come back here because it is the best place to be in the world during Covid-19 even though we are reasonably poor country.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/423224/kiwis-overseas-unhappy-about-unfair-managed-isolation-charges
But they had the money and opportunity to leave which has costed for travel etc. and now there is another cost that has to be covered. Life does not unroll with roses spread in your way and everything you wish arriving on a tray – for most of us. Sometimes things will not be just as you wish. That is all!
Another right-wing group on Facebook! Calling themselves The Team of Six Million is lobbying for the Me Generation. People like this want to turn us into a copy of those countries with fabulously rich top and a large middle class, but a large group of people in grinding poverty and stuck there as an eternally indentured class.
They haven't heard those forecasts about the disappearance of the middle class going on in the world. We are in a new millenium, toddling forward uneasily, dragging our teddies behind us. We haven't the money, so we have to think is the idea from a famous New Zealander who helped science along, but was it good for us in the long run? Now we have to think harder.
They're a very mixed group – my cousin is in it. A lot of stranded folk, or those with disrupted travel alongside the entitled ones.
Agree grey. It's too much
I think the government should stop charging Tax to these people, if these returning citizens are currently non-resident tax payers.
Playing into the rights agenda.
Our people overseas are facing unemployment most likely homelessness.
To charge them to come home would be inhumane.
[Corrected a different typo in user name]
[Corrected a different typo in user name]
Yeah, there are research costs, this going to take time. What are you trying to do here? solve everything all in one go?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I hear on the radio that National will "create a new group to tackle gangs"
A new "Red Squad?"
Strike Force Raptor?
Raids mentioned as the modus operandi.
No new ideas yet.. just churning out old failed divisive stuff.
National party's shite on the big issues vs the Others published.
Election 2020 – SMC science Q&A with political parties
National can't focus on answering the questions and keeps poking at that useless Labour lot as their solution.
*Smash gangs
* punish youth ( standing in a yacht club)
* our mental health programs really worked
* provide analysis on how we reduce emissions ( because we haven't read the plethora already there)
* don't know- concept black out on support ethnic and gender diversity in the research sector
* address Matauranga Maori…um.. through our partnership schools. didn't read yesterday's news on achievement in private schools.
* cannabis no
*Fresh water – Auckland Auckland the .No shit sherlock..duh..response
"Auckland needs considerable investment in properly separating stormwater and sewage to clean up streams " .
* Pests- We know about science.. we might try some now.
* Biosecurity- vigilence is needed to stop decimating agricultural industries. Yeah we were so vigilant in July 2017 with our action on m.bovis. And Labour is f#king up the Covid border plan again.Probably going to utilise Chris Penks book, Labour’s particular form of lockdown lunacy”, arguing it was too harsh and was unnecessarily extended.
* smoking and vaping.. Labour's dawdling. Perhaps we need an associate minister of health like Dunne to ' speed' them up.
https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2020/08/11/election-2020-qa/
Of course, a landslide.
/
According to preliminary results announced by Belarus' Central Election Commission, Lukashenko took 80% of the vote, with Tikhanovskaya coming in second with 10%. But Tikhanovskaya disputed those figures. She said that her campaign staff had seen results from more than 50 polling stations and that her share of the vote exceeded Lukashenko's by many times.
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/10/900903506/belarus-elections-end-with-landslide-winner-and-massive-protests
Masks – which are best.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8611963/N95s-offer-best-protection-coronavirus-neck-fleeces-trap-infectious-particles.html
On what New Zealand might be facing a couple of years down the track:
https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/after-the-virus-new-zealands-sticky-situation/
Stopped when I read "Nationwide House Arrest" in the first paragraph. Anything with such a cartoonish understanding of the notions of freedom, consent and collective action isn't worth the time.
thanks for parsing AB, indeed. "Freeeeeeeeedom!!!!"
AB agree I limit the number of daft things I read. The future is a serious matter, freedom is something to conserve and it comes in different modes to be narrowed or widened as appropriate.
FFS, it was a tongue-in-cheek exaggeration. The article is in favour of the Government measures.
OK – sorry for being unnecessarily rude. But if sticking one's tongue in one's cheek means un-ironically using the language of libertarian nutters, it might be worth reconsidering.
Its a conversation thats rather pointless when it relies on an imaginary situation….when (or if) there is a vaccine and its efficacy is known then an informed discussion can take place.
Anything prior is mere speculation
Just saw a report on NBC Night News about the Navajo Nation "Flattening the curve", how they're doing better because they are following science and experts, no big social gatherings,curfews, 100% mask compliance. Another angle https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/watch-how-the-navajo-nation-rallies-to-support-its-community-in-the-face-of-covid-19/ar-BB17NgR9?li=BBnbcA1
Compared to the 250,000+ motorcycle dickheads converging on South Dakota. What is it with Americans and their absolutely massive social distancing! I was just waiting in line at the bank, I think NZrs naturally socially distance, no one wants to be in anyone elses space.
Far out
I knew Sturgis was big, but never realised just how big.
From Wiki.
"Attendance highest: 739,000 (2015)[1]"
Check out the images Chris T, just insane (for us introverts anyway, hell!).
lemmings find cliff
Dr Bloomfield is the people's hero
Judith still on the campaign trail using we can do it better on border control.
Paul Henry says in Herald today
Henry said he was happy to be back in New Zealand and praised the workers managing the isolation facilities.
"New Zealand's lovely, just arriving back, the whole system is just a well-oiled machine. The people involved it in are spectacular."
The 60-year-old called the process "absolutely faultless".https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12355635
Yet another paywall on Labour info today.
Suck on that lemon !
I’m not sure slagging NZ off to the Aussie’s is ever a good move?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/judith-collins-tells-aussie-media-nz-government-useless-has-achieved-almost-nothing
Some Sun Tzu quotes on how to approach Australian politicians.
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.
The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/sun_tzu_717950