Prime Minister Chris Hipkins believes Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s claim New Zealand doesn’t have enough tax is being taken out of context. He also denies footage of O’Connor making the comment was withheld by the Government even as the Meat Industry Association, which organised the event O’Connor was speaking at, allege O’Connor’s office declined the association’s request to release the footage.
O’Connor appeared in a political debate with National’s agriculture and trade spokesman Todd McClay at the Red Meat Sector Conference on Sunday night.
During a Q+A with the crowd, a self-described sheep and beef farmer from Eketāhuna asked how the red meat sector might be affected by a wealth tax, which had been proposed by the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori – two parties that, on current polling, Labour would likely need to form a government.
So looks like the PM is seeking to evade the truth. Only extremely weak men do that. His biological signalling to the nation is likely to be widely interpreted as admission of defeat. Winners don't do such signalling.
I think the conclusion can be made that hipkins lurching labour into the centre ..has been a total misreading of the mood of the left/centre left…
Our present situation as a nation is redolent of the failures of the neoliberal-incrementalism that labour has clung to since the days of douglas…
It is all coming to the conclusions long predicted by critics of that poxy ideology…
The rich have got so much richer…the poor have got so much poorer..
And our institutions of our society are in many cases falling apart…showing the results of that neoliberal-incrementalism having been applied to them for those preceeding decades…
And many now know those above realities…and know we can't just continue doing the same things..and expect different outcomes ..
All of the rest of us know that the rich have become obscenely rich..and that they pay f*ck all tax…and have been laughing all the way to the bank…while things just get worse for the rest of us..
Hipkins has failed to read this mood..
We are now looking to politicians to fix what ails us ..and all we see from hipkins is a face blank to our wants..
(Who has now resorted to muldoonist think big bullshit..wot with his tunnel dreams…)
And I know labour have yet to release their election policies…and hipkins could still pull a flock of rabbits out of his hat..
But I fear that tax off fruit/veg could be it/their big bang policy..
And if it is..it will be nowhere near enough..
And I know that their are many in labour who know the party has to swivel to a democratic socialism brace of policies/ideas..for both it's own..and the countries sake .
And good on them..!..more power to them..!..and they should be in the ascendant…but hipkins has shut all that down..to his/labour's peril..
What's wrong with Damien O'Connors statement? I have more of a problem with the PMs response to the statement, which as usual uses a lot of words to say nothing at all.
Study after study has shown NZ has a taxation issue and for an extremely earthquake, volcanic and flood prone set of islands subject to whatever weather and sea currents are playing out in the Pacific that's a problem.
the rebuilds for the north island and Christchurch are astronomical and we never talk seriously about how to pay for them, imagine if we had another Christchurch level event in Wellington? We simply couldn't pay for it. Hell we still haven't fixed CHCH.
I usually defend journalists but Ryan Bridge's interview with the Pm was disgraceful, smarmy rich prick from a family of money vibes just oozes out of him.
Him and everyone like him would be absolutely happy with bankrupting the country from borrowing to pay for a rebuild to a natural disaster but heaven forbid he pay a cent more in tax
The PM just sucks… At everything… In these interviews he always comes off as a man of no ideology, principles or political beliefs, he just uses loads and loads of words to say nothing.
Not once have I ever seen this prime minister seriously challenge a tory journo when they are attacking the most modest basic center left position, Hipkins will just say lots of words and pretty much agree with the tory journo and say "wait and see" and he increasingly speaks like a president with "I have decided" "me" statements rather than a prime Minister "we have decided"
A man of no conviction, unwilling to stand up for the most modest left wing belief…
It's no wonder most people think he's full of shit. He's so ideology free he could lead national and it wouldn't shock anyone
I suspect he got spooked by Damien telling the truth – so un-Labour-like it almost seems subversive from such a conservative chappie. Anyone with half a working brain will have instantly correlated his statement with Parker's diffident ditching of his revenue portfolio, not to mention Grant's collaboration with him.
One or two journos have been speculating re cabinet division. After somnambulating for three years I doubt if any of them are capable of being that activist. Deep state theorists will be presuming they have been relentless in underperforming due to a directive from on high that they need to toss the baton to the Nats this time. Luxon needs their help due to incessant harping not working well for him.
Hipkins deserves credit for copying Ardern's captain's call on tax policy – divine right to rule hasn't been trendy for quite a while so the two of them trying to force the beast in thro the back door is an ongoing source of entertainment. Trying to teach thicko Labourites that the leader doesn't need a cabinet to make collective decisions is excellent subversion of democracy – but they're too thick to get it fast.
Helen Clark ought to give the two credit for their strategy of making Labour PMs seem presidential. She could point out that Lange started it, unilaterally jerking the rug from under the rogernomes in the new year of '88. However you may have been a little to hard on Hipkins re conviction/ideology, Corey. I suspect he is adhering to the neolib prescription like a limpet due to personal conviction that Thatcher's `no alternative' dictum is the correct ideological line to follow.
Rogan: No one is going to run against Trump on the Republican side and win because you are not going to get the Trump supporters… The fact that he was the President for four years, and the country was in a great economic situation
Unemployment was down. Business was booming. Regulations were being relaxed. More things were getting done.
When you look at the Russia collusion. When you look at the Steele dossier. When you look at all the bullshit, they tried to throw at him that we now know is bullshit.
Not just bullshit, but coordinated bullshit. When you look at the fact that they suppressed this Hunter Biden laptop story.
And 51 intelligence agency representatives signed off on that to say that this is Russian disinformation, which we know they know is not true. That's scary.
Because now you have the intelligence agencies colluding to keep a guy from being president, who was president during a time when the country was thriving economically."
[You have changed your username. We don’t generally allow this, but if you want to do this once, please let me know that this is now the username you will use going forward or if you want to go back to the previous one. In premod until I get a response. Also, I fixed the typo in your email address, please check each time your fill it in again – weka]
Also, it's unclear whether the words in your comment are yours, Rogan's, or someone else's. Please see how other people make quotes clear on TS for comments going forward.
Just got chewed out by Iprent and Incognito for not following policy (some thing about me being a dickhead – ). Fair comments from them as your all busy people. I will have a read of the policy and improve my posts.
It's time for all good christians to come to the aid of the party. Which party though?
A former National Party Cabinet minister will tomorrow enter the election fray with a Christian party. Alfred Ngaro was a minister in the Bill English Government but says none of the political parties running for office this year fully embrace the Christian ethic.
Ngaro admits it’s late to be launching a party but says the plan is to launch it like a rocket. To a suggestion that his party could drag votes away from National, which he represented for nine years in Parliament, Ngaro was philosophic. “It’s about what’s right and what’s wrong; that’s what people are saying. I’m a centrist, and that’s where I will always sit."
Go Alfred! Fire that rocket! Suck enough votes out of National & folks will call you Alfred the Great!
A reference to 'Dirty politics' today reminded me of the conspiracy theory,theory.
P.M John Key said Hagars revelations were a 'lefty conspiracy'.
People who buy into conspiracy theories are often characterised as gullible,easily manipulated,fools.
The term 'conspiracy theory' was the C.I.A's go to response to alternative viewpoints regarding geo political events .From around the the time of JFK's assassination ,to the present day, it became a standard response to anyone questioning the establishment version .
Even today in 2023, the findings regarding JFK's murder remain …classified.
Y'see it was a close vote..and the story goes that his father used his connections from his time as a bootlegger running alcohol into america from canada..to approach them to do all they could to get the vote out for his son… promising in return that under his presidency they would be largely left alone..
So they did..and their influence was particularly effective/important in Illinois..a state they largely controlled..where kennedy just squeaked in..
But then kennedy set up a special commission to target the mafia…run by his brother..
So they whacked them both..'cos my understanding is that you don't really want to do stuff like that to the mafia…
(Roberts assassin was a low ranking gangster guy..)
And as a theory..I reckon it hangs together quite well..
(And the fact the official findings are still classified.. pretty much demolishes the oswald alone official explanation..)
Also in the Washington Post today. Fancy Seymour being a shining light for American Libertarians.
Populist conservatism has been on the march around the globe in recent years. But in New Zealand, many conservatives are beginning to embrace an old ideology: libertarianism.
This surprising trend is thanks to David Seymour, leader of New Zealand’s classically liberal ACT Party. He has rapidly transformed his faction from a nearly extinct institution to a vibrant, growing movement, setting an example for conservatives worldwide.
Oh, but you forgot the Libertarian Party in Germany that is currently part of the Ample coalition. FDP. The Yellow party among the red SPD and green Green.
PDV is a 'libertarian' Party that was birthed in 2009 and died failing to thrive.
FDP, Free Democratic Party of Germany however is a bit more successful, aking to ACT, by appearing somewhat reasonable in regards to the excesses of the main parties.
Libertarian parties can have a 'progressive' bend, see Seymour supporting the Self ID bill for example, and euthanasia, and if enough money is involved the next thing i can see him support is the legalisation of drugs.
💢Rogan: No one is going to run against Trump on the Republican side and win because you are not going to get the Trump supporters… The fact that he was the President for four years, and the country was in a great economic situation
Unemployment was down. Business was booming. Regulations were being relaxed. More things were getting done.
When you look at the Russia collusion. When you look at the Steele dossier. When you look at all the bullshit, they tried to throw at him that we now know is bullshit.
Not just bullshit, but coordinated bullshit. When you look at the fact that they suppressed this Hunter Biden laptop story.
And 51 intelligence agency representatives signed off on that to say that this is Russian disinformation, which we know they know is not true. That's scary.
Because now you have the intelligence agencies colluding to keep a guy from being president, who was president during a time when the country was thriving economically."
This is a couple of days old – so apologies if it's already been posted, but Audrey Young has done a couple of articles on what a Left or Right cabinet might look like after October.
Yes, of course it's speculative – but interesting to see opinions on which areas the minor parties might stake out, and who might be scheduled for promotion, or demotion.
Originally published in the Herald – but paywalled – so here are the archived links as well.
Entirely possible that Parker (who Young tapped as Transport) may retire during the term – thus freeing up Transport (certainly Halbert – who has been chairing the Transport & Infrastructure Committee – and who might be seen as a replacement — hasn't exactly been outstanding in this role)
Of course, negotiations – including over party bottom lines – might change things substantively (e.g. Hipkins would probably have to go as PM, if the GP negotiated wealth tax as a bottom line).
I'd see that Parker distancing himself from Hipkins over tax could be seen as a signal to both the left wing (in general) and the left wing of the LP, that there is an alternative.
I don't see Parker, myself, as leadership material (and he's ruled it out himself a couple of times) – but he could well be the money man (Finance).
Prior to Wood's spectacular self-destruction – I'd seen him as pre-positioning himself for a run at the top job in the next few years. But October would be way too soon for him to have remedied his blotted copybook.
I'd also seen Allan as a strong candidate as deputy. But, well off the cards for the next few years (if she ever comes back to politics)
McAnulty has done well – but perhaps not enough experience yet.
The solid, competent and capable performer is Megan Woods. She's been carrying at least two people's ministerial workload and is all over the detail of her portfolios, is a solid performer in the house, and is quick-witted, persuasive and articulate in interviews (unlike Little, for example, who came across as dour and dogged). I wouldn't be surprised to see her emerge as a front contender.
Leaving aside questions about whether any particular individual would be interested, Parker and Little are former Labour leaders, Robertson a former Deputy PM and Sepuloni is the current Deputy PM. Davis is the deputy party leader so would also be someone to consider. From the rest of Cabinet, Woods would be the stand out and Tinetti and Verrall also stand out to me in terms of experience with big portfolios.
Nope – the reference was to the formation of a Government in the next term.
And the speculation that Parker would retire during that term. Obviously, if he gains a high cabinet post, then that's less likely – but if he's continuing in a mid-level one, and ongoing tension with Hipkins over wealth tax – then it seems much more likely.
When the new polls are published Curia usually has National's numbers higher than the rest. David Farrer maintains their methodology is among the best so there must be another reason for it. 😀
Looking at the last 7 polls (July/August) – the National Party reached a high of 36% – not in the Curia ones, but in those conducted by Talbot Mills and Newshub.
Talbot Mills doesn't seem to have released a recent poll – the last one I can find of theirs is end June-beginning of July.
Unless you have a link to a more recent one – or have some private information.
That poll, interestingly, has almost identical results for Labour to the Curia one taken over the same period – and the TM one has a higher result for National.
The key word is "usually". I'm talking in an historical sense. It has been noted many times over the years including by journalists – always in a slightly amused vein. 🙂
Your constant calls for evidence is boring. No way am I going back over 20-30 years of newspapers to satisfy your lust for links on comments you don't like.
Based on such an attitude, no-one would be able to offer any reflection on past events. History as we know it would become obsolete. 🙄
So – no evidence. A complete invention on your part.
Even when it is pointed out to you (with evidence) that your statement is certainly not true ATM; you double down, and insist that it must have been true sometime in the past – again with no evidence.
Your inventions and evasions are considerably more boring – and frankly, dishonest.
And, you seem to have missed the requirement, being enforced much more rigorously in the run up to the election – that evidence must be provided if called for on TS.
That appears to be only if you are asked by a moderator. Under the bit on current problems in the link you provided it says "and providing evidence when asked by a moderator"
If the moderator doesn't take action it can, as Anne is doing, be ignored.
We don’t generally expect people to provide evidence every single time they say something, some things are well known and don’t need backing up. But you do have to provide evidence when asked (see policy quote above).
Evidence guidelines
Providing evidence needs to be in a way that is easily accessible to authors, moderators, readers and commenters. These are the guidelines I currently use and expect people to meet,
an explanation of your point
with a quote/s to back it up
and a link to where that quote came from
An example of which, is that the sea salt has to be behind the mustard when the ball is passed to be onside.
It's a quote, from a film, so a link to the film from which the quote came was provided.
See 14 below.
It’s an expectation, with the possible consequence of moderator interest in the lack of.
Patricia did not provide a link to this information in her original post – although I asked for it. The fact that you can find it online in 5 seconds now, has nothing to do with the fact that it may not have been published when I was looking – much earlier in the day.
2. "Complete invention" refers to Anne's statement. "When the new polls are published Curia usually has National's numbers higher than the rest."
I asked for evidence for her statement – providing a link to the reported polling data for this year – to show that it did not appear to be true.
Note that 'usually' in common English would have to reflect at least 50% of the time – and probably quite a bit higher.
Do you think the quantity of polls is putting off working class and poor voters?
For me, this slew of them is making me spew. I'm still trying to get people enrolled, and the polls are just fluff, a real distraction. And at worst, they feel like a manipulation.
So – no evidence. A complete invention on your part.
Even when it is pointed out to you (with evidence) that your statement is certainly not true ATM;
Your arrogance is mind boggling Belladonna.
This 'fact' has been mentioned on this site by numerous commenters over the years which you would not know about because you are a newcomer. In the past I also saw it reflected upon on a few other public forums. Don’t ask me where because I've forgotten now. That does not mean they don't exist.
NO. I am not going to trawl through thousands upon thousands of comments to satisfy your desire to be the dominant force on this site.
Bd has my sympathy for the 'tricky' choices that political centrists face.
Zen and the art of motorway maintenance [7 August 2023]
In this sense the pothole is a good symbol how of this election is proceeding. There are itches all around the body politic that demand scratching. In the moment we are far more aware of them than we are of the tumour quietly growing inside, the virus caught but not yet symptomatic, the vehicle crash that awaits around the corner, the fire about to engulf our home. The snake oil retailers draw attention to the easy solutions to the surface and immediate issues and we are often only too willing to reward them for it.
If only that nice Mr Key had made good on his 2008 election promise to close the gap between Kiwi and Aussie wages. Another flood of Kiwis crossing the ditch (to a country with an even earlier Overshoot Day than Aotearoa NZ) may be looming.
The Dominion Post newspaper reported that while Economic Development Minister, Gerry Brownlee, was saying the wage gap had reduced since his party came into office, figures it obtained comparing average weekly earnings in November 2008 and February this year (2010) showed New Zealand wages grew by 5.2 per cent compared to 6.17 per cent for Australia. Australia's ordinary average wage rose from A$1165 to A$1243 ($1433 to $1529) while New Zealand's went from $891 to $947. One of John Key's election promises was to 'close the gap'.
Without knowing what methodology the polls use to address the undecided & unlikely to vote it's hard to know what to make of such huge disparities in the polling, they seem outside the margin of error – and remember all polling methods nowadays seem to be unable to overcome an inherent bias to the right (if the last few actual election results are any guide).
Still, the trend for Labour is down. Hipkins needs to come up with something more than insipid "prudent" centrist managerialism in the next few weeks to win back voters moving to non-voting, NZ First or the Greens. Labour needs a circuit breaker policy – some sort of mega extension of middle class welfare might do the job, but I would prefer a tax free threshold on income somehwere in the range of $10-20,000.
Apparently, the regular TM polls are not done for the Labour Party, but for one or more 'corporate clients'.
And are 'leaked' rather than released. [I have to say, that given that they are leaked every time, they should just bite the bullet and release them officially]
From the coverage of the last one…
Talbot Mills contacted 1036 people between June 28 and July 2. The poll has a margin of error of 3 per cent. The poll is produced for Talbot Mills’ corporate clients. The company also conducts Labour’s internal poll.
From memory they often do coincide but whether that is intentional is hard to say. Bearing in mind they have to conduct the poll which could take a few days and then collate the results, I think they follow a similar time-span especially at this time in the election cycle.
As far as I know Talbot Mills polls are commissioned by industrial and business communities. I guess each group highlight the information they require, including the Labour Party, so they might not be done on the same basis.
Just my thoughts on what I recall happening over the years.
Precondition: drought. Result: tinderbox. Unknown: spark. Scaling up factor: Dora to the south + anticyclone to the north = wind vortex between them.
Elemental analysis gives us a tetrad: drought/drying out/combustion/conflagaration.
Chaos theory taught us that two adjacent domains that are complex systems produce creative catalysis at the boundary where their influences balance out 30 years ago. Both scientists & opinion leaders have failed to get the picture ever since – even when reality clobbers them with the force of a piece of 4×2.
Climate change is increasingly giving us scenarios like this classic Maui picture to learn from. Mainstream leaders floundering are no good for anyone. We need people who learn the lessons nature is trying to teach us.
China is discovering the downside of a slide to authoritarianism, autarky and a loss of investor confidence that the rule of rule will be the norm in doing business in China.
"… foreign direct investment into China fell 89% from a year earlier in the second quarter of this year to $4.9 billion, according to data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange…."
89% collapse in investment year on year is huge. This the lowest in 25 years – in otherwords, for the lifespan of China's economic miracle.
4.9 billion or even 8 billion is no big deal in context.
'The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in China was worth 17963.17 billion US dollars in 2022, according to official data from the World Bank. The GDP value of China represents 7.97 percent of the world economy.'
I think Ukraine receives more than 4.9billion a month to fight the 'good' fight.
That is just nonsense. China has fallen into deflation and everyone knows the figures from Chinese economists are doctored up the wazoo – According to Bloomberg & Fortune (paywalled, although you can easily Google the headline) the already disasterous official youth unemplyment rate of 21.3% could actually be double that.
China has very high local government debt – so they can't use that to stimulate their way out of trouble like they did after the GFC. High debt and deflation are major headwinds, and China is far to dependent on export receipts (17% or so of GDP, the United States is about half that) fto achieve anything like the autarky that the United States has in it's economy for trying to stimulate growth. Putin’s mad invasion of the Ukraine is a disaster for China, because it has alerted the USA and EU to how hollowed out their own heavy industry base has become and led directly to economic measures to booset that base – which is a direct cost to China.
The main take away for me is an economic slow down in China brought on my Xi's hardline approach will be very destabilising, and probably very bad for NZ.
We know NZ is a trading nation which runs an 'open economy. How dependent are we.
Talking about debt, the U. S has a meaningless debt ceiling, that gets raised every year and has trillions of unpayable exposure. It would be a complete basket case apart from its privilege as default currency for international trade.
The world is tired of subsidising US hegemony and the desire to challenge it is accelerating.
China has merely responded to tariffs and military threats imposed by America.
Key admits he has some political bias……but then…Luxon and Seymour will squirm at this:
"……compared to the rest of the world, the international director, former Prime Minister and National Party leader said New Zealand was “pretty darn good”.
Economically Australia is less "boom and bust" than NZ…..then there is the politics….
Key goes on to say: “It’s a feeling that we’re in a malaise, that we’re not doing that well. That Australia’s doing better than us.”
This is the politics, the general perception that the opposition have been cultivating, during and since the Pandemic……which by the way now seems to be conveniently ignored as any influence at all….
Looking forward to their non-violent direct action to mark 86 years since Imperial Japan began the systemic murder of 200,000 – 300,000 residents of Nanjing.
I don't have a problem with that protest, I mean my take is they can still protest and just get away with a severe telling off and a conviction.
I question the relevance though, the use of nuclear weapons on Japan occurred eight decades ago now against the background of a global total war where the Axis were guilty of unspeakable acts of barbarism.
These days the people most likely to rattle the nuclear sabre are the likes of Dmitry Menvedev, who seems to enjoy getting stuck into his liquor cabinet and then posting wild threats of nuclear armageddon on his social media – which is exactly the sort of behaviour one would want from a senior politician of any major power with a massive nuclear stockpile /sarc/
The Japanese were pretty much the dictionary definition of "they were asking for it".
You know what they say – don't start what you can't finish, and if you decide to throw away any restraints on your behaviour and engage in barbarism you had better be 100% sure the other side don't get into a position to return the favour with interest, because you can be sure they’ll do so with alacrity.
I don't usually post this guy (as he's not well liked here), but this is interesting. The blockage to Green Transition is political, not technological, who knew!
Interview on the BBC in the 80s. Why do we not invest in large numbers in public transport? answer: because we could never meet demand, and besides it is easier for us to get people to buy private transport. It just stuck with me then that we are never going to get it done properly.
The destructing of public transport initially was political – the closure of rail lines for commercial and person transport, and the failure to revive it is also.
Instead we have :" here have up to 8 grand to buy an EV, it will make you feel all green here as the pollution is in the lands were we mine, build and then via shipping". But its ok, you get to feel all warm and fuzzy whilst driving in your own very green and progressive country.
It was explained in the movie Bend It Like Beckham – 1hour 10 minute 20sec – 1hour 11 min 30s – the sea salt has to be level or behind the mustard, when the ball is passed
Between the most forward of your players, and the goal.
When (and only when) the 'offside' player touches the ball or they are deemed (by the ref) to be active in play (blocking, etc – to enable their player to have a free run at goal)
If there is only the goalkeeper between you and the goal (and you don't have the ball) – then you are off-side – if your side is attacking, or you receive the ball.
If you have the ball – then it doesn't matter how many players are or aren't in front of you – you can't be off-side.
The tricky part comes with passing – when you pass the ball forward – you have to ensure that there is an opposing player (other than the goalkeeper) in front of the attacking player – to whom the ball is being passed – before they receive the ball.
Open to correction by someone with a greater degree of experience in coaching, refing or even watching soccer than I have!
The blue player (attacker) farthest left in this image is in an offside position when their teammate with the ball kicks it because only one red player (defender) is in front of them, in this case the goal keeper. The blue player at farthest left needs to be to the right of, or behind, the dotted line (which is marked by the next closest red player to their goal) so that more than one defender is in front of them.
Notes:
It doesn't need to be the keeper, just any two defending players.
It's not an offence to stand in an offside position, but it becomes an offence if you engage in play from that position.
No offsides from a throw in.
No offside if the ball passer is closer to the goal than the receiver (see corner kicks).
Offside is when any ball playing part of the attacking player is in front of second last defender ie, arm is fine up to the shoulder because in football the arm is not a ball playing part of the body.
I hope Winston First gets around 4.5% of the vote come election time. Soak up some of that protest vote that might otherwise go the ACT but not sufficient for him to get back into Parliament. The other odd ball and fringe parties like conservatives, brian tamaki party, outdoors etc can take a bit from the right wing as well. A realistic outcome on election night, Labour-Greens about equal with Nat-ACT and either needing the support of Maori party. Keep the Maori Health Authority, continual work on climate change and a CGT once the government is formed
Winston First will get 7-9% of the vote so long as he and Shane Jones keep their heads screwed on and don't start playing the Smart Arse Maori Tricks by letting their ultra ego's get in the way.
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
A man on telly tries to tell me what is realBut it's alright, I like the way that feelsAnd everybody singsWe are evolving from night to morningAnd I wanna believe in somethingWriter: Adam Duritz.The world is changing rapidly, over the last year or so, it has been out with the ...
MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
New Zealand’s housing crisis is a sad indictment on the failures of right wing neoliberalism, and the National Party, under Chris Luxon’s shaky leadership, is trying to simply ignore it. The numbers don’t lie: Census data from 2023 revealed 112,496 Kiwis were severely housing deprived...couch-surfing, car-sleeping, or roughing it on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on a global survey of over 3,000 economists and scientists showing a significant divide in views on green growth; and ...
Simeon Brown, the National Party’s poster child for hubris, consistently over-promises and under-delivers. His track record...marked by policy flip-flops and a dismissive attitude toward expert advice, reveals a politician driven by personal ambition rather than evidence. From transport to health, Brown’s focus seems fixed on protecting National's image, not addressing ...
Open access notables Recent intensified riverine CO2 emission across the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, Mu et al., Nature Communications:Global warming causes permafrost thawing, transferring large amounts of soil carbon into rivers, which inevitably accelerates riverine CO2 release. However, temporally and spatially explicit variations of riverine CO2 emissions remain unclear, limiting the ...
Once a venomous thorn in New Zealand’s blogosphere, Cathy Odgers, aka Cactus Kate, has slunk into the shadows, her once-sharp quills dulled by the fallout of Dirty Politics.The dishonest attack-blogger, alongside her vile accomplices such as Cameron Slater, were key players in the National Party’s sordid smear campaigns, exposed by Nicky ...
Once upon a time, not so long ago, those who talked of Australian sovereign capability, especially in the technology sector, were generally considered an amusing group of eccentrics. After all, technology ecosystems are global and ...
The ACT Party leader’s latest pet project is bleeding taxpayers dry, with $10 million funneled into seven charter schools for just 215 students. That’s a jaw-dropping $46,500 per student, compared to roughly $9,000 per head in state schools.You’d think Seymour would’ve learned from the last charter school fiasco, but apparently, ...
India navigated relations with the United States quite skilfully during the first Trump administration, better than many other US allies did. Doing so a second time will be more difficult, but India’s strategic awareness and ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is concerned for low-income workers given new data released by Stats NZ that shows inflation was 2.5% for the year to March 2025, rising from 2.2% in December last year. “The prices of things that people can’t avoid are rising – meaning inflation is rising ...
Last week, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended that forestry be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme. Its an unfortunate but necessary move, required to prevent the ETS's total collapse in a decade or so. So naturally, National has told him to fuck off, and that they won't be ...
China’s recent naval circumnavigation of Australia has highlighted a pressing need to defend Australia’s air and sea approaches more effectively. Potent as nuclear submarines are, the first Australian boats under AUKUS are at least seven ...
In yesterday’s post I tried to present the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement for 2025-30, as approved by the Minister of Finance and the Bank’s Board, in the context of the previous agreement, and the variation to that agreement signed up to by Grant Robertson a few weeks before the last ...
Australia’s bid to co-host the 31st international climate negotiations (COP31) with Pacific island countries in late 2026 is directly in our national interest. But success will require consultation with the Pacific. For that reason, no ...
Old and outdated buildings being demolished at Wellington Hospital in 2018. The new infrastructure being funded today will not be sufficient for future population size and some will not be built by 2035. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Thursday, April 17:Simeon Brown has unveiled ...
The introduction of AI in workplaces can create significant health and safety risks for workers (such as intensification of work, and extreme surveillance) which can significantly impact workers’ mental and physical wellbeing. It is critical that unions and workers are involved in any decision to introduce AI so that ...
Donald Trump’s return to the White House and aggressive posturing is undermining global diplomacy, and New Zealand must stand firm in rejecting his reckless, fascist-driven policies that are dragging the world toward chaos.As a nation with a proud history of peacekeeping and principled foreign policy, we should limit our role ...
Sunday marks three months since Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president. What a ride: the style rude, language raucous, and the results rogue. Beyond manners, rudeness matters because tone signals intent as well as personality. ...
There are any number of reasons why anyone thinking of heading to the United States for a holiday should think twice. They would be giving their money to a totalitarian state where political dissenters are being rounded up and imprisoned here and here, where universities are having their funds for ...
Taiwan has an inadvertent, rarely acknowledged role in global affairs: it’s a kind of sponge, soaking up much of China’s political, military and diplomatic efforts. Taiwan soaks up Chinese power of persuasion and coercion that ...
The Ukraine war has been called the bloodiest conflict since World War II. As of July 2024, 10,000 women were serving in frontline combat roles. Try telling them—from the safety of an Australian lounge room—they ...
Following Canadian authorities’ discovery of a Chinese information operation targeting their country’s election, Australians, too, should beware such risks. In fact, there are already signs that Beijing is interfering in campaigning for the Australian election ...
This video includes personal musings and 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). From "founder" of Tesla and the OG rocket man with SpaceX, and rebranding twitter as X, Musk has ...
Back in February 2024, a rat infestation attracted a fair few headlines in the South Dunedin Countdown supermarket. Today, the rats struck again. They took out the Otago-Southland region’s internet connection. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360656230/internet-outage-hits-otago-and-southland Strictly, it was just a coincidence – rats decided to gnaw through one fibre cable, while some hapless ...
I came in this morning after doing some chores and looked quickly at Twitter before unpacking the groceries. Someone was retweeting a Radio NZ story with the headline “Reserve Bank’s budget to be slashed by 25%”. Wow, I thought, the Minister of Finance has really delivered this time. And then ...
So, having teased it last week, Andrew Little has announced he will run for mayor of Wellington. On RNZ, he's saying its all about services - "fixing the pipes, making public transport cheaper, investing in parks, swimming pools and libraries, and developing more housing". Meanwhile, to the readers of the ...
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming, 1921ALL OVER THE WORLD, devout Christians will be reaching for their bibles, reading and re-reading Revelation 13:16-17. For the benefit of all you non-Christians out there, these are the verses describing ...
Give me what I want, what I really, really want: And what India really wants from New Zealand isn’t butter or cheese, but a radical relaxation of the rules controlling Indian immigration.WHAT DOES INDIA WANT from New Zealand? Not our dairy products, that’s for sure, it’s got plenty of those. ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Yesterday, 5,500 senior doctors across Aotearoa New Zealand voted overwhelmingly to strike for a day.This is the first time in New Zealand ASMS members have taken strike action for 24 hours.They are asking the government tofund them and account for resource shortfalls.Vacancies are critical - 45-50% in some regions.The ...
For years and years and years, David Seymour and his posse of deluded neoliberals have been preaching their “tough on crime” gospel to voters. Harsher sentences! More police! Lock ‘em up! Throw away the key. But when it comes to their own, namely former Act Party president Tim Jago, a ...
Judith Collins is a seasoned master at political hypocrisy. As New Zealand’s Defence Minister, she's recently been banging the war drum, announcing a jaw-dropping $12 billion boost to the defence budget over the next four years, all while the coalition of chaos cries poor over housing, health, and education.Apparently, there’s ...
I’m on the London Overground watching what the phones people are holding are doing to their faces: The man-bun guy who could not be less impressed by what he's seeing but cannot stop reading; the woman who's impatient for a response; the one who’s frowning; the one who’s puzzled; the ...
You don't have no prescriptionYou don't have to take no pillsYou don't have no prescriptionAnd baby don't have to take no pillsIf you come to see meDoctor Brown will cure your ills.Songwriters: Waymon Glasco.Dr Luxon. Image: David and Grok.First, they came for the Bottom FeedersAnd I did not speak outBecause ...
The Health Minister says the striking doctors already “well remunerated,” and are “walking away from” and “hurting” their patients. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Wednesday, April 16:Simeon Brown has attacked1 doctors striking for more than a 1.5% pay rise as already “well remunerated,” even ...
The time is ripe for Australia and South Korea to strengthen cooperation in space, through embarking on joint projects and initiatives that offer practical outcomes for both countries. This is the finding of a new ...
Hi,When Trump raised tariffs against China to 145%, he destined many small businesses to annihilation. The Daily podcast captured the mass chaos by zooming in and talking to one person, Beth Benike, a small-business owner who will likely lose her home very soon.She pointed out that no, she wasn’t surprised ...
National’s handling of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis is an utter shambles and a gutless betrayal of every Kiwi scraping by. The Coalition of Chaos Ministers strut around preaching about how effective their policies are, but really all they're doing is perpetuating a cruel and sick joke of undelivered promises, ...
Most people wouldn't have heard of a little worm like Rhys Williams, a so-called businessman and former NZ First member, who has recently been unmasked as the venomous troll behind a relentless online campaign targeting Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle.According to reports, Williams has been slinging mud at Doyle under ...
Illustration credit: Jonathan McHugh (New Statesman)The other day, a subscriber said they were unsubscribing because they needed “some good news”.I empathised. Don’t we all.I skimmed a NZME article about the impacts of tariffs this morning with analysis from Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr. Kerr, their Chief Economist, suggested another recession is the ...
Let’s assume, as prudence demands we assume, that the United States will not at any predictable time go back to being its old, reliable self. This means its allies must be prepared indefinitely to lean ...
Over the last three rather tumultuous US trade policy weeks, I’ve read these four books. I started with Irwin (whose book had sat on my pile for years, consulted from time to time but not read) in a week of lots of flights and hanging around airports/hotels, and then one ...
Indonesia could do without an increase in military spending that the Ministry of Defence is proposing. The country has more pressing issues, including public welfare and human rights. Moreover, the transparency and accountability to justify ...
Former Hutt City councillor Chris Milne has slithered back into the spotlight, not as a principled dissenter, but as a vindictive puppeteer of digital venom. The revelations from a recent court case paint a damning portrait of a man whose departure from Hutt City Council in 2022 was merely the ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
The economy is not doing what it was supposed to when PM Christopher Luxon said in January it was ‘going for growth.’ Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short from our political economy on Tuesday, April 15:New Zealand’s economic recovery is stalling, according to business surveys, retail spending and ...
This is a guest post by Lewis Creed, managing editor of the University of Auckland student publication Craccum, which is currently running a campaign for a safer Symonds Street in the wake of a horrific recent crash.The post has two parts: 1) Craccum’s original call for safety (6 ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff has published an opinion piece which makes the case for a different approach to economic development, as proposed in the CTU’s Aotearoa Reimagined programme. The number of people studying to become teachers has jumped after several years of low enrolment. The coalition has directed Health New ...
The growth of China’s AI industry gives it great influence over emerging technologies. That creates security risks for countries using those technologies. So, Australia must foster its own domestic AI industry to protect its interests. ...
Unfortunately we have another National Party government in power at the moment, and as a consequence, another economic dumpster fire taking hold. Inflation’s hurting Kiwis, and instead of providing relief, National is fiddling while wallets burn.Prime Minister Chris Luxon's response is a tired remix of tax cuts for the rich ...
Girls who are boys who like boys to be girlsWho do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boysAlways should be someone you really loveSongwriters: Damon Albarn / Graham Leslie Coxon / Alexander Rowntree David / Alexander James Steven.Last month, I wrote about the Birds and Bees being ...
Australia needs to reevaluate its security priorities and establish a more dynamic regulatory framework for cybersecurity. To advance in this area, it can learn from Britain’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which presents a compelling ...
Deputy PM Winston Peters likes nothing more than to portray himself as the only wise old head while everyone else is losing theirs. Yet this time, his “old master” routine isn’t working. What global trade is experiencing is more than the usual swings and roundabouts of market sentiment. President Donald ...
President Trump’s hopes of ending the war in Ukraine seemed more driven by ego than realistic analysis. Professor Vladimir Brovkin’s latest video above highlights the internal conflicts within the USA, Russia, Europe, and Ukraine, which are currently hindering peace talks and clarity. Brovkin pointed out major contradictions within ...
In the cesspool that is often New Zealand’s online political discourse, few figures wield their influence as destructively as Ani O’Brien. Masquerading as a champion of free speech and women’s rights, O’Brien’s campaigns are a masterclass in bad faith, built on a foundation of lies, selective outrage, and a knack ...
The international challenge confronting Australia today is unparalleled, at least since the 1940s. It requires what the late Brendan Sargeant, a defence analyst, called strategic imagination. We need more than shrewd economic manoeuvring and a ...
This year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will take place as a fully hybrid conference in both Vienna and online from April 27 to May 2. This year, I'll join the event on site in Vienna for the full week and I've already picked several sessions I plan ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatchpresenter In 1979, Sam Neill appeared in an Australian comedy movie about hacks on a Sydney newspaper. The Journalist was billed as “a saucy, sexy, funny look at a man with a nose for scandal and a weakness for women”. That would probably not fly ...
The governments blueprint of how it will invest $12 billion over the next four years into the New Zealand Defence Force mentions climate change twice. ...
Protesters are occupying the site of a proposed fast-tracked coal mine on the Denniston Plateau, near Westport. The 70-strong group, organised by climate activism group 350Aotearoa, says this is just the first of a series of protest actions they are prepared to take against the mining company, Bathurst Resources Ltd., if ...
In an art world context, photography has evolved significantly over the years pushing boundaries in both technique and concept. No longer the poor cousin of painting, but still much more affordable thanks to photographs being sold in numbered editions, an art photograph doesn’t merely capture a moment—artists use the medium ...
Last year, 20,000 observations of Christchurch species were made during the annual City Nature Challenge, a way for anyone to get involved in biodiversity. It’s back again this month. Even in suburbia, even on grey autumn weekends, there is biodiversity. You just need the time to look for it: to ...
Asia Pacific Report Peaceful protesters in Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest city Auckland held an Easter prayer vigil honouring Palestinian political prisoners and the sacrifice of thousands of innocent lives as relentless Israeli bombing of displaced Gazans in tents killed at least 92 people in two days. Organisers of the rally ...
ANALYSIS:By Ben Bohane This week Cambodia marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to the murderous Khmer Rouge, and Vietnam celebrates the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces in April 1975. They are being commemorated very differently; after all, there’s nothing to celebrate in Cambodia. ...
By Gujari Singh in Washington The Trump administration has issued a new executive order opening up vast swathes of protected ocean to commercial exploitation, including areas within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. It allows commercial fishing in areas long considered off-limits due to their ecological significance — despite ...
New Zealand commemoration lead John McLeod said a small team, including members of the NZDF and the NZ Embassy, assisted in the covering up of remains that were exposed. ...
This Bill is a great opportunity to improve our system of government across all levels. Let’s make sure we get it right and give the public a say on a simple and enduring solution. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate in Media and Communications, University of Sydney Tech giant Google has just suffered another legal blow in the United States, losing a landmark antitrust case. This follows on from the company’s loss in a similar case last ...
Paddy GowerAmanda Luxon. I mean what can you say. Easter is a good time to publish my latest reckons at Stuff because without exaggeration or making too much of things, Amanda Luxon walks among us like Jesus but probably with better shoes.Jesus healed. How good is that? It’s really good, ...
How can an afternoon be long when it starts at one o’clock and finishes at half past three? Beauden thought about that as he stood at the back of the classroom and looked through the large window to the upper grounds where his colleague Monty Spiers was taking a phys ed ...
Alex Casey delves into the enduring success of The Artist’s Way, a self-help book beloved by everyone from retirees to famous rappers. On the video call, my mum is gesticulating so wildly while recounting all her recent creative endeavours that she knocks her cup of tea over a work-in-progress jigsaw ...
Feijoa scholar Kate Evans reviews the dish everybody raves about at Metro’s 2024 restaurant of the year, Forest. People have been telling me I need to try the deep-fried feijoa dessert at Forest for about three years now. I’m embarrassed it took me this long, but it takes a lot ...
Chef, author and reality television judge Colin Fassnidge takes us through his life in television. Colin Fassnidge is a huge television fan. He watches every blockbuster TV series the moment it drops and scores every single show on his Instagram account. It’s a habit that recently caught the attention of ...
Why are shops on Parnell Road allowed to open on Easter Sunday? It’s all thanks to an obsolete rule from the 1970s that’s been ‘frozen in time’.Originally published in 2023.Under our current trading laws, most stores are required to stay closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday (along ...
Yael Shochat, chef-owner of Auckland restaurant Ima Cuisine, shares the recipe for her hot cross buns – regularly voted among the best in the city.Originally published in 2019.HOT CROSS BUNSMakes 12You may use equal weights of pre-ground spices, but you’ll get a much better flavour if ...
Gràinne Moss knows she can’t tackle the final leg of one of the world’s toughest swimming challenges alone.In her quest to complete the Oceans Seven marathon challenge, 38 years after she began, she’s enlisted the help of two remarkable women – one barely out of her teens, and the other ...
By Susana Leiataua, RNZ National presenter There are calls for greater transparency about what the HMNZS Manawanui was doing before it sank in Samoa last October — including whether the New Zealand warship was performing specific security for King Charles and Queen Camilla. The Manawanui grounded on the reef off ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Labor increased its lead again in a YouGov poll, but Freshwater put the party ahead by just 50.3–49.7. This article also covers ...
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 18, 2025. Labor’s poll surge continues in YouGov, but they’re barely ahead in FreshwaterSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and ...
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 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) Haymitch’s Hunger Games. 2 Careless People: A ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Labor increased their lead again in a YouGov poll, but Freshwater put them ahead by just 50.3–49.7. This article also covers the ...
A new poem by Tusiata Avia. How to make a terrorist First make a whistling sound which is the sound of a bomb just before it lands on a house. Then make an exploding sound which is the sound of the bomb which kills a father, decapitates a mother, roasts ...
The top-rated Scrabble players in the country go head-to-head this Easter weekend. Watch games live from 9.30am on the stream below.How does it all work?The Masters is different to most Scrabble tournaments in that it’s invitational, open only to the top-rated players in the country. The ...
Books editor Claire Mabey appraises all the Austen-adapted films from 1990 onwards to separate the delightful from the duds.For the purists, read our ranking of Jane Austen’s novels here.It is a truth universally acknowledged that not everything is created equal. Since 1990 there have been 12 attempts to ...
To arrive through the heavy red door of Margot in Newtown is to be invited to the best dinner party in town, hosted by the best friends you haven’t yet made. Table Service is a column about food and hospitality in Wellington, written by Nick Iles.Hospitality is a term ...
Analysis: The announcement last week that Colossal Biosciences in the USA had “de-extincted” the dire wolf, which was last seen 13,000 years ago, was reported worldwide.The three wolf pups generated equal parts fascination and widespread scientific criticism. But is this actually de-extinction, and what are the implications for the potential ...
We recommend the best – and longest – television series to watch this holiday weekend. As the Easter holiday weekend descends and the weather turns a little grim, many of us will turn to the trusty old television for comfort and entertainment. If you’re lucky, you’ll have some time over ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 18 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NONFICTION1 No Words for This by Ali Mau (HarperCollins, $39.99)A free copy of the author’s new memoir was up for grabs in last week’s giveaway contest. Readers were asked to share their feelings about Mau, a former broadcaster and one of the most powerful figures in the New Zealand #metoo ...
The PM doesn't understand his agriculture minister, who said “We probably don’t have enough tax in this country”.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/somewhat-convoluted-pm-confronts-ministers-claim-there-isnt-enough-tax-in-new-zealand/2XEBBRY7IBFTPANBRW7RASO7CE/
So looks like the PM is seeking to evade the truth. Only extremely weak men do that. His biological signalling to the nation is likely to be widely interpreted as admission of defeat. Winners don't do such signalling.
I think the conclusion can be made that hipkins lurching labour into the centre ..has been a total misreading of the mood of the left/centre left…
Our present situation as a nation is redolent of the failures of the neoliberal-incrementalism that labour has clung to since the days of douglas…
It is all coming to the conclusions long predicted by critics of that poxy ideology…
The rich have got so much richer…the poor have got so much poorer..
And our institutions of our society are in many cases falling apart…showing the results of that neoliberal-incrementalism having been applied to them for those preceeding decades…
And many now know those above realities…and know we can't just continue doing the same things..and expect different outcomes ..
All of the rest of us know that the rich have become obscenely rich..and that they pay f*ck all tax…and have been laughing all the way to the bank…while things just get worse for the rest of us..
Hipkins has failed to read this mood..
We are now looking to politicians to fix what ails us ..and all we see from hipkins is a face blank to our wants..
(Who has now resorted to muldoonist think big bullshit..wot with his tunnel dreams…)
And I know labour have yet to release their election policies…and hipkins could still pull a flock of rabbits out of his hat..
But I fear that tax off fruit/veg could be it/their big bang policy..
And if it is..it will be nowhere near enough..
And I know that their are many in labour who know the party has to swivel to a democratic socialism brace of policies/ideas..for both it's own..and the countries sake .
And good on them..!..more power to them..!..and they should be in the ascendant…but hipkins has shut all that down..to his/labour's peril..
What's wrong with Damien O'Connors statement? I have more of a problem with the PMs response to the statement, which as usual uses a lot of words to say nothing at all.
Study after study has shown NZ has a taxation issue and for an extremely earthquake, volcanic and flood prone set of islands subject to whatever weather and sea currents are playing out in the Pacific that's a problem.
the rebuilds for the north island and Christchurch are astronomical and we never talk seriously about how to pay for them, imagine if we had another Christchurch level event in Wellington? We simply couldn't pay for it. Hell we still haven't fixed CHCH.
I usually defend journalists but Ryan Bridge's interview with the Pm was disgraceful, smarmy rich prick from a family of money vibes just oozes out of him.
Him and everyone like him would be absolutely happy with bankrupting the country from borrowing to pay for a rebuild to a natural disaster but heaven forbid he pay a cent more in tax
The PM just sucks… At everything… In these interviews he always comes off as a man of no ideology, principles or political beliefs, he just uses loads and loads of words to say nothing.
Not once have I ever seen this prime minister seriously challenge a tory journo when they are attacking the most modest basic center left position, Hipkins will just say lots of words and pretty much agree with the tory journo and say "wait and see" and he increasingly speaks like a president with "I have decided" "me" statements rather than a prime Minister "we have decided"
A man of no conviction, unwilling to stand up for the most modest left wing belief…
It's no wonder most people think he's full of shit. He's so ideology free he could lead national and it wouldn't shock anyone
I suspect he got spooked by Damien telling the truth – so un-Labour-like it almost seems subversive from such a conservative chappie. Anyone with half a working brain will have instantly correlated his statement with Parker's diffident ditching of his revenue portfolio, not to mention Grant's collaboration with him.
One or two journos have been speculating re cabinet division. After somnambulating for three years I doubt if any of them are capable of being that activist. Deep state theorists will be presuming they have been relentless in underperforming due to a directive from on high that they need to toss the baton to the Nats this time. Luxon needs their help due to incessant harping not working well for him.
Hipkins deserves credit for copying Ardern's captain's call on tax policy – divine right to rule hasn't been trendy for quite a while so the two of them trying to force the beast in thro the back door is an ongoing source of entertainment. Trying to teach thicko Labourites that the leader doesn't need a cabinet to make collective decisions is excellent subversion of democracy – but they're too thick to get it fast.
Helen Clark ought to give the two credit for their strategy of making Labour PMs seem presidential. She could point out that Lange started it, unilaterally jerking the rug from under the rogernomes in the new year of '88. However you may have been a little to hard on Hipkins re conviction/ideology, Corey. I suspect he is adhering to the neolib prescription like a limpet due to personal conviction that Thatcher's `no alternative' dictum is the correct ideological line to follow.
Interesting times
Rogan: No one is going to run against Trump on the Republican side and win because you are not going to get the Trump supporters… The fact that he was the President for four years, and the country was in a great economic situation
https://t.me/My21wire/12846
Unemployment was down. Business was booming. Regulations were being relaxed. More things were getting done.
When you look at the Russia collusion. When you look at the Steele dossier. When you look at all the bullshit, they tried to throw at him that we now know is bullshit.
Not just bullshit, but coordinated bullshit. When you look at the fact that they suppressed this Hunter Biden laptop story.
And 51 intelligence agency representatives signed off on that to say that this is Russian disinformation, which we know they know is not true. That's scary.
Because now you have the intelligence agencies colluding to keep a guy from being president, who was president during a time when the country was thriving economically."
[You have changed your username. We don’t generally allow this, but if you want to do this once, please let me know that this is now the username you will use going forward or if you want to go back to the previous one. In premod until I get a response. Also, I fixed the typo in your email address, please check each time your fill it in again – weka]
mod note, you are in premod until you respond.
Also, it's unclear whether the words in your comment are yours, Rogan's, or someone else's. Please see how other people make quotes clear on TS for comments going forward.
Hi Weka,
Just got chewed out by Iprent and Incognito for not following policy (some thing about me being a dickhead –
). Fair comments from them as your all busy people. I will have a read of the policy and improve my posts.
As for name change, yes please keep KS
It's time for all good christians to come to the aid of the party. Which party though?
Go Alfred! Fire that rocket! Suck enough votes out of National & folks will call you Alfred the Great!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2023-former-national-party-minister-alfred-ngaro-set-to-launch-new-christian-party/LA6PRUVYPNBXLOIZVJDCOA55GI/
Can see him picking up a chunk of vote out of South Auckland tbh, Luxon is probably fairly attractive to the Christian vote.
If there was a legitimate constituency for an explicitly Christian conservative party in New Zealand, surely one would have succeeded by now.
Just ask:
Christian Heritage (1.35% and 0.12%)
Destiny New Zealand (0.62%)
The Kiwi Party (0.54%)
Family Party (0.35%)
Conservative Party (2.65%, 3.97%, and 0.2%)
Clearly, these yahoos can't count.
A reference to 'Dirty politics' today reminded me of the conspiracy theory,theory.
P.M John Key said Hagars revelations were a 'lefty conspiracy'.
People who buy into conspiracy theories are often characterised as gullible,easily manipulated,fools.
The term 'conspiracy theory' was the C.I.A's go to response to alternative viewpoints regarding geo political events .From around the the time of JFK's assassination ,to the present day, it became a standard response to anyone questioning the establishment version .
Even today in 2023, the findings regarding JFK's murder remain …classified.
Nothing to hide,nothing to….fear!Right?
My favourite jfk-theory is the mafia one..
Y'see it was a close vote..and the story goes that his father used his connections from his time as a bootlegger running alcohol into america from canada..to approach them to do all they could to get the vote out for his son… promising in return that under his presidency they would be largely left alone..
So they did..and their influence was particularly effective/important in Illinois..a state they largely controlled..where kennedy just squeaked in..
But then kennedy set up a special commission to target the mafia…run by his brother..
So they whacked them both..'cos my understanding is that you don't really want to do stuff like that to the mafia…
(Roberts assassin was a low ranking gangster guy..)
And as a theory..I reckon it hangs together quite well..
(And the fact the official findings are still classified.. pretty much demolishes the oswald alone official explanation..)
John Key wouldn't know what is left and what is right basically a Snake Oil Salesperson IMHO ?
Good to see the Sackler deal chucked out by the US Supreme Court.
Hopefully that evil family will have to give evidence alongside opioid addicts.
Also in the Washington Post today. Fancy Seymour being a shining light for American Libertarians.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/10/new-zealand-act-party-seymour-libertarianism/
Oh, but you forgot the Libertarian Party in Germany that is currently part of the Ample coalition. FDP. The Yellow party among the red SPD and green Green.
The FDP is a liberal party, much like our Labour/National, the PDV is the German libertarian party and equivalent to ACT.
PDV is a 'libertarian' Party that was birthed in 2009 and died failing to thrive.
FDP, Free Democratic Party of Germany however is a bit more successful, aking to ACT, by appearing somewhat reasonable in regards to the excesses of the main parties.
Libertarian parties can have a 'progressive' bend, see Seymour supporting the Self ID bill for example, and euthanasia, and if enough money is involved the next thing i can see him support is the legalisation of drugs.
The best foreign Minister Germany ever had came from the FDP, the Free Democratic Party of Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Dietrich_Genscher
Interesting times…. Don’t tell me …. The Democrates are good guys…No conspiracy here
NZincs political class (Nats, Lab, Act, Greens) are a bunch of suck ups ….
https://t.me/My21wire/12846
💢Rogan: No one is going to run against Trump on the Republican side and win because you are not going to get the Trump supporters… The fact that he was the President for four years, and the country was in a great economic situation
Unemployment was down. Business was booming. Regulations were being relaxed. More things were getting done.
When you look at the Russia collusion. When you look at the Steele dossier. When you look at all the bullshit, they tried to throw at him that we now know is bullshit.
Not just bullshit, but coordinated bullshit. When you look at the fact that they suppressed this Hunter Biden laptop story.
And 51 intelligence agency representatives signed off on that to say that this is Russian disinformation, which we know they know is not true. That's scary.
Because now you have the intelligence agencies colluding to keep a guy from being president, who was president during a time when the country was thriving economically."
You are joking I take it Karl?
He has drunk deeply of the cooker kool-aid I am afraid.
This is a couple of days old – so apologies if it's already been posted, but Audrey Young has done a couple of articles on what a Left or Right cabinet might look like after October.
Yes, of course it's speculative – but interesting to see opinions on which areas the minor parties might stake out, and who might be scheduled for promotion, or demotion.
Originally published in the Herald – but paywalled – so here are the archived links as well.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2023-audrey-young-the-cabinet-under-a-labour-greens-maori-party-govt/2A3DZDXW4BGL3CFPXH6PHBEDJU/
https://archive.ph/WGET5
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2023-audrey-young-what-a-national-act-cabinet-might-look-like/YSR5VCYMA5G5HGJCVTNR3YEO4Q/
https://archive.ph/hD4j8
Interesting, thanks. The only really bum note is Genter as associate transport and outside of cabinet.
Also, completely different ball game if the Greens say the wealth tax is a bottom line.
Entirely possible that Parker (who Young tapped as Transport) may retire during the term – thus freeing up Transport (certainly Halbert – who has been chairing the Transport & Infrastructure Committee – and who might be seen as a replacement — hasn't exactly been outstanding in this role)
Of course, negotiations – including over party bottom lines – might change things substantively (e.g. Hipkins would probably have to go as PM, if the GP negotiated wealth tax as a bottom line).
Who does Labour have to replace Hipkins?
Entirely without prejudice.
I'd see that Parker distancing himself from Hipkins over tax could be seen as a signal to both the left wing (in general) and the left wing of the LP, that there is an alternative.
I don't see Parker, myself, as leadership material (and he's ruled it out himself a couple of times) – but he could well be the money man (Finance).
Prior to Wood's spectacular self-destruction – I'd seen him as pre-positioning himself for a run at the top job in the next few years. But October would be way too soon for him to have remedied his blotted copybook.
I'd also seen Allan as a strong candidate as deputy. But, well off the cards for the next few years (if she ever comes back to politics)
McAnulty has done well – but perhaps not enough experience yet.
The solid, competent and capable performer is Megan Woods. She's been carrying at least two people's ministerial workload and is all over the detail of her portfolios, is a solid performer in the house, and is quick-witted, persuasive and articulate in interviews (unlike Little, for example, who came across as dour and dogged). I wouldn't be surprised to see her emerge as a front contender.
Leaving aside questions about whether any particular individual would be interested, Parker and Little are former Labour leaders, Robertson a former Deputy PM and Sepuloni is the current Deputy PM. Davis is the deputy party leader so would also be someone to consider. From the rest of Cabinet, Woods would be the stand out and Tinetti and Verrall also stand out to me in terms of experience with big portfolios.
Parker retiring during the term? You mean before October?
Nope – the reference was to the formation of a Government in the next term.
And the speculation that Parker would retire during that term. Obviously, if he gains a high cabinet post, then that's less likely – but if he's continuing in a mid-level one, and ongoing tension with Hipkins over wealth tax – then it seems much more likely.
Talbot Mills does not agree with Curia. Who'd a thunk!!
When the new polls are published Curia usually has National's numbers higher than the rest. David Farrer maintains their methodology is among the best so there must be another reason for it. 😀
Evidence?
Based on the election polling results, helpfully collated here, this seems to be a lie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2023_New_Zealand_general_election
Looking at the last 7 polls (July/August) – the National Party reached a high of 36% – not in the Curia ones, but in those conducted by Talbot Mills and Newshub.
There is a 4point difference . Commented on but not fully released.
Talbot Mills doesn't seem to have released a recent poll – the last one I can find of theirs is end June-beginning of July.
Unless you have a link to a more recent one – or have some private information.
That poll, interestingly, has almost identical results for Labour to the Curia one taken over the same period – and the TM one has a higher result for National.
The key word is "usually". I'm talking in an historical sense. It has been noted many times over the years including by journalists – always in a slightly amused vein. 🙂
Evidence. Because you seem to have none….
Perhaps a link to an article by these 'amused journalists'….
Your constant calls for evidence is boring. No way am I going back over 20-30 years of newspapers to satisfy your lust for links on comments you don't like.
Based on such an attitude, no-one would be able to offer any reflection on past events. History as we know it would become obsolete. 🙄
So – no evidence. A complete invention on your part.
Even when it is pointed out to you (with evidence) that your statement is certainly not true ATM; you double down, and insist that it must have been true sometime in the past – again with no evidence.
Your inventions and evasions are considerably more boring – and frankly, dishonest.
And, you seem to have missed the requirement, being enforced much more rigorously in the run up to the election – that evidence must be provided if called for on TS.
" that evidence must be provided if called for on TS.".
Really?
Yep. Here
Scroll down to “Providing evidence”
https://thestandard.org.nz/moderation-notes-in-election-year/
That appears to be only if you are asked by a moderator. Under the bit on current problems in the link you provided it says "and providing evidence when asked by a moderator"
If the moderator doesn't take action it can, as Anne is doing, be ignored.
An example of which, is that the sea salt has to be behind the mustard when the ball is passed to be onside.
It's a quote, from a film, so a link to the film from which the quote came was provided.
See 14 below.
It’s an expectation, with the possible consequence of moderator interest in the lack of.
Why do you say "complete invention" when you could find it online in 5 seconds? I just did.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300948107/labours-new-polling-shows-rosier-picture-for-party
2. "Complete invention" refers to Anne's statement. "When the new polls are published Curia usually has National's numbers higher than the rest."
I asked for evidence for her statement – providing a link to the reported polling data for this year – to show that it did not appear to be true.
Note that 'usually' in common English would have to reflect at least 50% of the time – and probably quite a bit higher.
Check the link. It was published at 8 am. See the time of the (many) comments.
You didn't find it, but that's nobody else's fault.
Nope. I said I couldn't find it – and asked for a link.
That's why best TS practice is for the original commenter to provide a link to the story they are commenting on.
Apologies Belladonna. And to Anne.
Using the Wikipedia link you provided @ 8.1.1, there have been 24 Curia polls since the last election, as far as I can tell.
13/23 of the Curia polls were higher than the subsequent poll (in that table) by an average of ca. 0.6%.
14/24 of the Curia polls were higher than the preceding poll (in that table) by an average of ca. 1.0%.
None of this is terribly meaningful, in my opinion, and not worth wasting much time & effort on.
These figures relate to the polling of National, of course.
Question incognito?
Do you think the quantity of polls is putting off working class and poor voters?
For me, this slew of them is making me spew. I'm still trying to get people enrolled, and the polls are just fluff, a real distraction. And at worst, they feel like a manipulation.
No, I don’t think that polls on their own and by themselves put off people/voters. Same applies to politics in general.
Thank you Observer.
Your arrogance is mind boggling Belladonna.
This 'fact' has been mentioned on this site by numerous commenters over the years which you would not know about because you are a newcomer. In the past I also saw it reflected upon on a few other public forums. Don’t ask me where because I've forgotten now. That does not mean they don't exist.
NO. I am not going to trawl through thousands upon thousands of comments to satisfy your desire to be the dominant force on this site.
Bd has my sympathy for the 'tricky' choices that political centrists face.
If only that nice Mr Key had made good on his 2008 election promise to close the gap between Kiwi and Aussie wages. Another flood of Kiwis crossing the ditch (to a country with an even earlier Overshoot Day than Aotearoa NZ) may be looming.
https://www.overshootday.org/newsroom/country-overshoot-days/
The Dominion Post newspaper reported that while Economic Development Minister, Gerry Brownlee, was saying the wage gap had reduced since his party came into office, figures it obtained comparing average weekly earnings in November 2008 and February this year (2010) showed New Zealand wages grew by 5.2 per cent compared to 6.17 per cent for Australia. Australia's ordinary average wage rose from A$1165 to A$1243 ($1433 to $1529) while New Zealand's went from $891 to $947. One of John Key's election promises was to 'close the gap'.
https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.590892
"…. the 'tricky' choices that political centrists face."
Sitting on the fence must be very boring and extraordinarily uncomfortable.
Maybe you should stop making shit up…
I think you owe Anne an apology.
Nah. Cw comes across as a bit of a reactionary. They rarely apologise.
There are two election campaigns being waged at present.
The first is the campaign between the Nats and Lab for the top spot.
The second between the Nats, ACT and NZ First.
The second one is the most interesting and amusing:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2023-winston-peters-claims-acts-attack-ad-proves-the-party-is-worried/SMF7GX52VJFWHE6CJGQADYLJYI/
Peters is always entertaining…..
Without knowing what methodology the polls use to address the undecided & unlikely to vote it's hard to know what to make of such huge disparities in the polling, they seem outside the margin of error – and remember all polling methods nowadays seem to be unable to overcome an inherent bias to the right (if the last few actual election results are any guide).
Still, the trend for Labour is down. Hipkins needs to come up with something more than insipid "prudent" centrist managerialism in the next few weeks to win back voters moving to non-voting, NZ First or the Greens. Labour needs a circuit breaker policy – some sort of mega extension of middle class welfare might do the job, but I would prefer a tax free threshold on income somehwere in the range of $10-20,000.
At this point the question is, are the Talbot Mills polls for the Labour Party done on the same basis as the ones released to the wider public?
And … are they done to coincide with another poll (say Curia) ….
Apparently, the regular TM polls are not done for the Labour Party, but for one or more 'corporate clients'.
And are 'leaked' rather than released. [I have to say, that given that they are leaked every time, they should just bite the bullet and release them officially]
From the coverage of the last one…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/labour-and-chris-hipkins-crash-in-latest-poll-gap-with-national-widest-since-2017/R6MWQK2TQBGK5FY3ZKOEYGVYPU/
I don’t know anything about the basis for Labour’s internal polling (or National’s for that matter)
From memory they often do coincide but whether that is intentional is hard to say. Bearing in mind they have to conduct the poll which could take a few days and then collate the results, I think they follow a similar time-span especially at this time in the election cycle.
As far as I know Talbot Mills polls are commissioned by industrial and business communities. I guess each group highlight the information they require, including the Labour Party, so they might not be done on the same basis.
Just my thoughts on what I recall happening over the years.
Causal analysis of the Maui disaster here: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/10/us/factors-fueling-maui-fires-climate/index.html
Precondition: drought. Result: tinderbox. Unknown: spark. Scaling up factor: Dora to the south + anticyclone to the north = wind vortex between them.
Elemental analysis gives us a tetrad: drought/drying out/combustion/conflagaration.
Chaos theory taught us that two adjacent domains that are complex systems produce creative catalysis at the boundary where their influences balance out 30 years ago. Both scientists & opinion leaders have failed to get the picture ever since – even when reality clobbers them with the force of a piece of 4×2.
Climate change is increasingly giving us scenarios like this classic Maui picture to learn from. Mainstream leaders floundering are no good for anyone. We need people who learn the lessons nature is trying to teach us.
China is discovering the downside of a slide to authoritarianism, autarky and a loss of investor confidence that the rule of rule will be the norm in doing business in China.
"… foreign direct investment into China fell 89% from a year earlier in the second quarter of this year to $4.9 billion, according to data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange…."
89% collapse in investment year on year is huge. This the lowest in 25 years – in otherwords, for the lifespan of China's economic miracle.
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/09/1193013362/biden-executive-order-restricts-investments-china-tech
Perhaps the unease in China's elites at Xi's policies is behind the mysterious sacking of foreign minister Qin Gang, Xi's hand picked man for the job.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/7/28/chinas-missing-ex-minister-reveals-the-limits-of-xi-jinpings-power
4.9 billion or even 8 billion is no big deal in context.
'The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in China was worth 17963.17 billion US dollars in 2022, according to official data from the World Bank. The GDP value of China represents 7.97 percent of the world economy.'
I think Ukraine receives more than 4.9billion a month to fight the 'good' fight.
That is just nonsense. China has fallen into deflation and everyone knows the figures from Chinese economists are doctored up the wazoo – According to Bloomberg & Fortune (paywalled, although you can easily Google the headline) the already disasterous official youth unemplyment rate of 21.3% could actually be double that.
China has very high local government debt – so they can't use that to stimulate their way out of trouble like they did after the GFC. High debt and deflation are major headwinds, and China is far to dependent on export receipts (17% or so of GDP, the United States is about half that) fto achieve anything like the autarky that the United States has in it's economy for trying to stimulate growth. Putin’s mad invasion of the Ukraine is a disaster for China, because it has alerted the USA and EU to how hollowed out their own heavy industry base has become and led directly to economic measures to booset that base – which is a direct cost to China.
The main take away for me is an economic slow down in China brought on my Xi's hardline approach will be very destabilising, and probably very bad for NZ.
So World Bank data is 'nonsense' – very good!
Dependent on export receipts!
17% is alot lower than I thought.
We know NZ is a trading nation which runs an 'open economy. How dependent are we.
Talking about debt, the U. S has a meaningless debt ceiling, that gets raised every year and has trillions of unpayable exposure. It would be a complete basket case apart from its privilege as default currency for international trade.
The world is tired of subsidising US hegemony and the desire to challenge it is accelerating.
China has merely responded to tariffs and military threats imposed by America.
We are but a single armhair shivering on the inhaled breath of China.
About 1/4 of our entire export income (agriculture and tourism) comes from China, about US$16 billion.
China exports US$3.7 trillion a year to the world, growing 4.51% from 2021 to 2022.
We mean almost nothing to them. They mean a helluva lot to us.
That income is tanking btw, lambs back $2 kg and mutton $2.50 on this time last year, might be an election worth losing!
Key admits he has some political bias……but then…Luxon and Seymour will squirm at this:
"……compared to the rest of the world, the international director, former Prime Minister and National Party leader said New Zealand was “pretty darn good”.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/pretty-darn-good-sir-john-key-upbeat-despite-debt-stress-chinas-economy/A7D6QO6HTFCKTMJ7CBLX56EQ34/
Can anyone remember a time when Australia was NOT doing better than us!
5x our population and the mining sector alone earns more than NZ's total GDP.
Economically Australia is less "boom and bust" than NZ…..then there is the politics….
Key goes on to say: “It’s a feeling that we’re in a malaise, that we’re not doing that well. That Australia’s doing better than us.”
This is the politics, the general perception that the opposition have been cultivating, during and since the Pandemic……which by the way now seems to be conveniently ignored as any influence at all….
78 years since the dropping of nukes on Japan.
Good job by peace activists -non-violent direct action.
Looking forward to their non-violent direct action to mark 86 years since Imperial Japan began the systemic murder of 200,000 – 300,000 residents of Nanjing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contest_to_kill_100_people_using_a_sword
I don't have a problem with that protest, I mean my take is they can still protest and just get away with a severe telling off and a conviction.
I question the relevance though, the use of nuclear weapons on Japan occurred eight decades ago now against the background of a global total war where the Axis were guilty of unspeakable acts of barbarism.
These days the people most likely to rattle the nuclear sabre are the likes of Dmitry Menvedev, who seems to enjoy getting stuck into his liquor cabinet and then posting wild threats of nuclear armageddon on his social media – which is exactly the sort of behaviour one would want from a senior politician of any major power with a massive nuclear stockpile /sarc/
So 'they asked for it' did they.
You need to brush up on the Great Satan's record of death and destruction since WW2.
They even brought back… torture.
The Japanese were pretty much the dictionary definition of "they were asking for it".
You know what they say – don't start what you can't finish, and if you decide to throw away any restraints on your behaviour and engage in barbarism you had better be 100% sure the other side don't get into a position to return the favour with interest, because you can be sure they’ll do so with alacrity.
Interesting take on innocent civilians being fried……1 bomb to learn ya….and another for good…measure!
Do you have portraits of Atilla the Hun,Genghis Khan,George Bush,Tony Blair and Henry Kissinger hanging in your hallway?
'they' were the innocent civilians of the two bombed cities..
And they certainly weren't'asking for it'..
'they' were the vassals of their emperor…
Those bombings were war crimes most foul ..
All america had to do was to drop one in an uninhabited area..to show the Japanese military/emperor what they could do to them ..
They didn't need to bomb those cities..
They didn't need to kill all those innocent men/women/children .
They were their war crimes ..
Sheesh anything that questions an end to war, and you jingoists come out of the wood work fast.
I don't usually post this guy (as he's not well liked here), but this is interesting. The blockage to Green Transition is political, not technological, who knew!
I've been saying this for a while, although I would say social and political as well as psychological.
(havent' watched the video)
Perhaps you should say who "this guy" is before you expect people to click on an unlabelled YouTube link.
Interview on the BBC in the 80s. Why do we not invest in large numbers in public transport? answer: because we could never meet demand, and besides it is easier for us to get people to buy private transport. It just stuck with me then that we are never going to get it done properly.
The destructing of public transport initially was political – the closure of rail lines for commercial and person transport, and the failure to revive it is also.
Instead we have :" here have up to 8 grand to buy an EV, it will make you feel all green here as the pollution is in the lands were we mine, build and then via shipping". But its ok, you get to feel all warm and fuzzy whilst driving in your own very green and progressive country.
who wants to have a go at explaining the soccer offside rule to me?
It was explained in the movie Bend It Like Beckham – 1hour 10 minute 20sec – 1hour 11 min 30s – the sea salt has to be level or behind the mustard, when the ball is passed
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/bend-it-like-beckham/movie/s1-e1
thanks for wasting my time SPC, fs.
It can be contentious but the gist is you can't pass a ball to a teammate if they are past the last defender when you kick it.
It is to stop a team having their strikers just standing next to the goal waiting for the ball to be kicked up the field.
Strikers therefore have to stay near the last defender and not get between them and the goalie unless they already have the ball or are chasing it.
It ain't easy, but I'll have a go….
A player is offside:
If there is only the goalkeeper between you and the goal (and you don't have the ball) – then you are off-side – if your side is attacking, or you receive the ball.
If you have the ball – then it doesn't matter how many players are or aren't in front of you – you can't be off-side.
The tricky part comes with passing – when you pass the ball forward – you have to ensure that there is an opposing player (other than the goalkeeper) in front of the attacking player – to whom the ball is being passed – before they receive the ball.
Open to correction by someone with a greater degree of experience in coaching, refing or even watching soccer than I have!
At the time the ball is passed, not before they receive the ball.
The sea salt can sprint past the mustard after it is passed before they receive it and be onside.
I bow to your superior expertise – and I'm sure there are other nuances I've missed as well…..
Visual representation might help:
The blue player (attacker) farthest left in this image is in an offside position when their teammate with the ball kicks it because only one red player (defender) is in front of them, in this case the goal keeper. The blue player at farthest left needs to be to the right of, or behind, the dotted line (which is marked by the next closest red player to their goal) so that more than one defender is in front of them.
Notes:
It doesn't need to be the keeper, just any two defending players.
It's not an offence to stand in an offside position, but it becomes an offence if you engage in play from that position.
No offsides from a throw in.
No offside if the ball passer is closer to the goal than the receiver (see corner kicks).
Offside is when any ball playing part of the attacking player is in front of second last defender ie, arm is fine up to the shoulder because in football the arm is not a ball playing part of the body.
I hope Winston First gets around 4.5% of the vote come election time. Soak up some of that protest vote that might otherwise go the ACT but not sufficient for him to get back into Parliament. The other odd ball and fringe parties like conservatives, brian tamaki party, outdoors etc can take a bit from the right wing as well. A realistic outcome on election night, Labour-Greens about equal with Nat-ACT and either needing the support of Maori party. Keep the Maori Health Authority, continual work on climate change and a CGT once the government is formed
Winston First will get 7-9% of the vote so long as he and Shane Jones keep their heads screwed on and don't start playing the Smart Arse Maori Tricks by letting their ultra ego's get in the way.