Originally planned to coincide with the beginning of Anadarko’s drilling operations off the Otago coast, this weekend Dunedin hosts the; New Zealand Oil Free Future Conference 2014 (the “2013” on the title-page of the following link is just a minor glitch):
The fine work of the Oil Free Seas Flotilla off the coast of Te Ika-o-Māui seems to have delayed the arrival of the Anadarko exploration vessel for some weeks. Which is something to hold in mind when others deride protest action as futile. Now we prepare for that struggle to resume in Te Waipounamu. Aotearoa is watching, climate aware Southerners; here is your chance to represent the cause!
Yesterday afternoon at Saint Clair beach; climate activists gathered along with general public to send a message to Anadarko: “Wish you weren’t here”. That evening the Oil Free Future Summit continued with the OIL ON CANVAS art exhibition at the community gallery, 20 Princes st. Today sees the conference itself at the Age Concern Building, 9 the Octagon, Dunedin. Register for your seat now!
There will be an exhibition of electric vehicles in the Octagon at 1-2pm which is open to all, even if you have missed out on a seat at the conference itself. “After the conference on Saturday, there will be an after-party/gig at Chick’s Hotel in Port Chalmers. Buses from Dunedin will be leaving from the bus stop on the one-way street outside Countdown at 8.30 pm sharp on Saturday 11th Jan, and will be coming back into town at 12.30am.” I will be at home looking after my young child then so there’s not much I can add to that; except to say that it is my love for him, and need to care for his future, that most inspires my political activism.
The final part of the Oil Free Future Summit is a demonstration blockade of the Otago harbour between Goat and Quarantine islands. So, even if you are not coming to any of the conference talks; if you’re in Dunedin and have a sea-worthy vessel (even if just a kayak), float on down to Goat island. If you’re a land-lubber like me you can head on down to:
“The bus stop on the one‐way street outside Countdown Supermarket, Dunedin Central. This is where the bus will leave 12:00pm sharp on Sunday to take people to the HANDS OFF OUR HARBOUR day of action.” As we won’t yet be blockading any actual drilling-support vessels, this will be a bit of shake-down cruise to practice later tactics in a less confrontational setting than was originally envisioned.
Generally I like that there is focus on moving away from dependence on oil – and moving towrds becoming oil free.
But: Are electric vehicles back on the sustainability agenda again? I thought a big focus on such vehicles were a bit of a diversion from moving toward sustainability. Maybe they can be a little help in the long term if the move is towards less use of private motor vehicles – especially where the vehicles are mostly used to transport one-five people?
And are electric vehicles actually produced oil free?
Is this one of the ways corporates try to get in on the sustainability act, ultimately subverting it?
Electric vehicles as currently produced are not oil free due to the limitations of raw material supply chains, and manufactured product distribution networks. But we have to start somewhere. I don’t know a lot about larger vehicles, but I’m pretty sure that; trucks, forklifts and ships can be powered electrically (tanks certainly can), and our rail system uses diesel-electric hybrid engines that could easily be converted to full electric.
Older car bodies can be retrofitted with batteries and electric motors saving on iron smelting CO2 emissions. Batteries are a major limiting factor, but that is improving. My major interest is in electrically assisted bicycles – which are fucking great! Especially ones with regenerative braking (when you’re in a hilly town like Dunedin).
On the subject of large vehicles … Denver has a main street with a central area with trees and so forth and up and down each side are buses running, free to travel on when I used them in 2005, and one of their features was that they were battery powered.
Also over the past few years Denver has extended its light rail system out to Golden, as also seemed to be happening in Los Angeles. People transfering between LAX airport and AMTRAK or other city destinations can catch the free “G” bus to the local rail station and thence by light rail for considerably less cost than taxi or bus.
I wonder why electric run transport has not advanced where it could be used for most local transport.
Throughout the war years ,milk ,groceries and other goods in London was delivered by electric vans. They were efficient and cheap . I cannot understand why those vans were not developed into up to date versions of transport .I am sure there are many out there who remember that UD and Express milk was delivered by electric van.
I cannot understand why those vans were not developed into up to date versions of transport
I suspect the reason is politics and that the politicians got bought out by the fossil fuel industry. Personal cars really are an irrational idea so why did the politicians build the cities exclusively for car ownership?
My sister and her husband recently went on a tour of the US. While in San Francisco they visited Alcatraz. The ferry to get there was electric with solar panels and a couple of wind turbines on it. Although it had a couple of diesel generators for emergencies they’d never been used. It was, apparently, a very quiet and smooth ride.
I like the idea of electric public transport – was once the case in Auckland with trams and trolley buses – memories of the quirks of those buses losing their trolley connections and the driver having to get off and hoist them back onto the overhead wires.
Perhaps it won’t be easy – I’m not a sailor (though have done a bit of kayaking). That’s why it’s so good that the Oil Free Seas Flotilla has gained us a few more weeks to sort out the logistics of the operation. You could say that it’s mostly a symbolic exercise, and that they’ll just helicopter supplies over our heads. But you could say much the same thing about any protest action (and heliports can be blockaded as well as sea ports).
I’ll know more details after the third (activism) session today; I’d be down there now for the first session, but I’m parenting my son till at least 10am (will have the comp on in the background if anyone wants to ask me anything about the event till then, after that I’ll be AFK till after 5pm).
Thanks for being part of this Pasupial, and for putting up the comment. Very very important work. Would love to hear how it all goes (sessions and blockade).
Pasupial, I’d have been there if we hadn’t arranged holidays months in advance this year. Really want the blockade to send a strong message out, so I hope organisers have got experience on the water and have timed it well, because it will look silly if people are drifting off in the current instead of forming a line.
I couldn’t make it to Session 1, but; Sessions 2, and 3, of the New Zealand Oil Free Future Conference 2014, generally went well. I trust everyone who is out at Chicks is having fun at the Gig/ After-party. I have many pages of notes (about 2 sides double spaced foolscap per each of 8 speakers), so am not going to go into too much detail now; before I have a chance to digest these, and peruse some of the cited articles.
Session 2 was most illuminating; Neville’s Auton’s talk on “Clean Energy Alternatives” was the standout for me, but perhaps only because I’d heard much of Colin Campbell-Hunt’s speech previously (though I think I understood it better this time – Happy 68th Birthday Colin). Steve Abel had a good rapport with the audience, Jinty MacTavish not so much; but was very illuminating on carbon conscious innovations that the DCC are already progressing.
Session 3 was a little more problematic, though it was at the end of the conference day; after lunch, and electric cars. The crowd responded better to Amanda Thomas than Sophie Bond, but they both expressed a similar academic geographers perspective (if perhaps a bit jargon heavy for some, with; “Democratic Closure” vs “a vibrant contestatory process”). Peter Matheson was an elderly historian who connected well with the audience through humour and pithy turns of phrase – my favourite being his noting the recent media’s depiction of; “Shell as Santa Claus”. Gareth Hughes spoke well (without notes, but certainly with some prepared phrasing) on the the; “Drill it, Mine it, Frack it agenda” and “an economic mindset that thinks we can trash the government to prosperity”. Finally Chris Hay and Jo McVeagh spoke of their activist experiences.
If there is one thing that slightly took the shine off proceedings; it was the treatment of the representatives of the local hapu of Kai Tahu (Te Runanga o Otakou) during session 3. Not by the organisers and speakers themselves who were appropriately respectful to the harbour kaitiaki. However crowd chattering during the closing karakia was just plain discourtious, particularly given the rapt attention given to all else who took the stage (and I speak as a commited atheist).
We are pretty far south here, so Tikanga Māori is far from most people’s thoughts. It wasn’t malicious, or even that intentional, but from where I was sitting; I detected a strong sense of disconnection between pakeha and tauiwi on one hand, and tangata te whenua on the other. This continued during and after the commitment of the Otakou premiere waka to Sunday’s harbour blockade. That represents an immense dedication of hapu mana to the cause, but this; and their advice based on personal knowledge of the perilous channel between Rakiriri and Kamau Taurua barely evoked any audience response.
However, tomorrow is another day (or at least it was when I started typing this). The weather forecast isn’t the best for Sunday; with maybe a bit of drizzle around high tide at 2pm. It sounds like we have enough vessels (though more are certainly welcome) and the priority now is more life-jackets. There’ll be a beach contingent, so land-lubbers are also most welcome; come on out and fly your colours!
If we must have Shell and Anadarko drilling for oil/gas and so adding to the impending climate change disaster at least we should follow the Norwegian model where the state is a MAJOR investor and so reaps much of the profits from oil/gas found. Some or even most of these profits could then be used to develop a sustainable long-term energy policy.
In Norway, “Through the State’s Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) arrangement, the Norwegian State participates directly in the petroleum sector as an investor, and reaps all the associated rewards. According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy website, “the net cash flow resulting from the SDFI portfolio constitutes a predictable, long term and secure revenue to the Norwegian State.”
And the complete reverse of what YOU have just stated is equally plausible Phillip. When you use inflammatory words like ‘Tory’ you lose credibility. Smarten up please
It’s not a straw man, phillip. The extraction of oil without considering the way it’s done and the environmental impact is dangerous if you aim for a sustainable, steady state economy.
And it’s also dangerous to talk up Norway’s oil industry without considering whether it is contributing to a capitalist, profit driven over-dependence on energy.
Having the State gather the profits as Norway apparently does sounds great but think of the screams from worthy taxpapers when the exploratory wells find nothing? The Oil companies take the risk of failure and reap the rewards of success
The Oil companies take the risk of failure and reap the rewards of success
Oh, BS, no matter what happens we pay for it anyway.
The cost of the drilling will be covered in the price of the product whether that product was sourced in NZ or somewhere else in the world. Anadarko and Shell are taking on no risk at all while getting billions per year in profits.
If the NZ government did the drilling itself then the economy would be boosted by a few hundred million dollars which would then, over time, be taken out in taxes, i.e, no risk there. If oil/gas is struck then the cost is taken out in the price of the product and we also get the profits. If oil/gas isn’t struck then the exploratory drilling rig ups anchor and tries somewhere else.
The biggest concern is the possible blowout of the well.
That is why IMO NZ state revenues from oil/gas (per the Norway model) should be tagged so that they are mostly or even totally used to develop better public transport, cycle lanes in all NZ settlements, to subsidize solar power installations (both residential and solar power stations-Spain has successfully invested heaps in these), energy efficient buildings etc etc etc
I also think there should be a strong consideration of how much oil/gas we should extract, if any – especially if we are for the oil-free option, as highlighted by Pasupial’s comments above.
BG +1000….agreed!..imo…..if we must have it …and have the risks of running it ..then the Norwegian public sharing/investing of the profits is the way to go ( but with an emphasis on finding ways to wean ourselves off the oil dependence and towards green energy) ….anything else is theft from New Zealanders by the big oil corporates
…..the money should go into the coffers of free state high quality education , university , PhD and post PhD research….Research institutes, business start up support….medical research /setting up of new IT entrepreneurial business…..so that we can protect the land/river/lake environment and no longer be reliant on rampant dairying in the wrong places…. or trade with China….
….the money should also go into free public health, public transport, retirement investment, buying back state owned assets……proper funding and safeguarding of the DOC estate and sovereignty of NZ land
….the money should be invested in the future of NZers and our economic sovereignty
“The low number of results has been greeted as a victory by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, who says the policy is driving beneficiaries away from using drugs.
But her office admits it has no data to support the claim.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11184479
Two points.
1. Paula Bennett follows advice from BM and others. She makes claims with any evidence.
2. Despite this, the Herald still printed this non story and used a headline to continue government propaganda. The Herald is becoming more and more like Pravda in Soviet times.
Actually, it’s not a non-story – it’s the headline that’s the problem. Look at the first paragraph of David Fisher’s article:
Drug testing of beneficiaries is turning up an extremely low number of results showing drug use – and a lot of missing information about the controversial policy.
The kicker is at the end of the article:
Labour’s social services spokeswoman Sue Moroney said information on the benefits and cost of the policy should have already been collected.
She also disputed Ms Bennett’s claim the policy was scaring beneficiaries off drugs.
“The other way of looking at it is there’s 8,000 people who are not using drugs at all who are being sent off for drug tests.
“The government assumes the worst of beneficiaries and has no data to back it up.”
Well, NRT seems to have posted on the story first. But the NZ Herald may have got the information from the same plae as NRT – the FYI site, as linked in NRT’s post.
You have missed my point.
It is the Herald that toes a party line, that of the corporate elite, rather than acting as the fourth estate and being independent media.
Now you are not being factual. I read the Herald every day and find it quite balanced. The journalists are lazy but certainly not right wing as I believe you are suggesting.
It is very important to accept facts if one wishes to gain credibility.
I also read the Herald every day and I find that it is biased. Yes, the journalism is lazy which also makes it superficial. I also see a right wing bias. Your opinion is not fact nor is it credible.
Drug testing is a victory for the perfed out cops who do the drug testing, since they get even more taxpayers’ money poured into their pockets. It’s also a victory for the Tory businessman who imports the kits, who is no doubt on very good terms with the Minister. It’s certainly not a victory for anything sensible.
And how many forestry workers for example have to die before fools like you take workplace safety seriously.
Get stoned, I don’t care; just do it without risking other people’s lives.
As for beneficiaries being tested. Small price to pay for receiving a hand-out. Be grateful other tests are not in place.
Do you have evidence that deaths in forestry have anything to do with drug use, because there’s plenty of evidence that they have to do with employers taking shortcuts, working underqualified people to exhaustion, and a government which allows employers to get away with anything.
Have you been drug tested lately? Your irrational anger suggests you could be taking P.
I’ve noticed a lot of you angry righties popping up here lately with your hysteria. Are you getting worried about the coming elections? Or is there a competition running and you get to massage WhaleSpew’s corpulent frame after one of his workouts as a reward?
1) Nephew crushed a few years back. Bloods showed levels of THC. I worked forestry as a teen bye the way. Lots and lots of drugs. Not making excuses for the few bad employers just keeping it real.
2) Employers do not get away with anything; that’s simply Ludacris. I am an employer now and care to the nth degree for my staff and contractors; non of whom are paid less than twice the living wage (which in my opinion should be around the $30/hour)
3) Why should I be tested? I own the company. Something I imagine you could only dream about. And no I do not drug test my staff; I find it easier to not hire losers in the first place.
4) I’m not a righty as such but a swinging voter depending on who can take charge of the economy to my satisfaction. This year it will likely be the Nats.
5) I never worry about an election and you shouldn’t either. Usually they make little difference to those genuinely in need; most politicians end up focused too much on power. In my opinion if you are in opposition but agree with a government initiative/policy then vote for it; same goes if the opposition have good detailed policy.
6) If it is Whaleoil you have spelt incorrectly I have yet to visit their site; just a blog isn’t it?
Never mind, I replied to you before I noticed that you’d written what a bad boy chick magnet you were and how all the pakeha guys were shit scared of you. Just another internet dreamer by the looks of it. I won’t bother again, but thanks for pointing out my ludacris spelling mistake.
“Barack Obama has promised a year of action on US poverty in 2014, as a long-standing theme of his campaign rhetoric finally begins to show tentative signs of bi-partisan political momentum.”
Now you are not being factual. I read the Herald every day and find it quite balanced. The journalists are lazy but certainly not right wing as I believe you are suggesting.
It is very important to accept facts if one wishes to gain credibility.
Evidence of a lack of bias?
Please provide some editorials attacking the government or praising the Greens or Labour.
There are many doing the opposite.
Are you being deliberately contrarian?
Ask yourself:
Are you cautious about how you speak when in the company of ethnic people?
Do you feel more empathy for dark skinned poor than you do those of fair skin colour?
When you see a dark skinned person succeed at something do you cheer more because you expect less?
I suspect the true answers will be yes.
I see this behavior all the time. Women gravitate to me because they think I must be a ‘bad boy’ and white males are so scared I can do or say anything I like and they will accept it. I really hate cowards
Up till now I have ignored you because your posts are so boring. At least Paul has some testicular fortitude; unlike you. What’s RWNJ anyway? Actually don’t answer that, who cares.
Women gravitate to me because they think I must be a ‘bad boy’ and white males are so scared I can do or say anything I like and they will accept it. I really hate cowards
Maori men that think as you usually wear gang insignia or prison garb. Perhaps you should stop watching reruns of Shaft “Downunder” or for that matter “Mambo.”
Interesting concept. Is it just a gimmick, or does it have real potential?
It works for things like entertainment. Maybe the coffee shop/school will work because there’s a real motivation behind it to engage with users in terms of education and explaining the point of the scheme?
BTW Karol – it wasn’t that I was ignoring you yesterday re the Greens, I had just had a big dinner party the night before and needed to focus particularly hard on being productive.
The gift economy was prevalent a hundred years ago and its concepts still well used in more traditional areas of China, Russia and Eastern Europe. How well it will translate to the cafe scene…I guess that there will be real power behind it once a network of a dozen or so different kinds of shops and service providers get in behind it. It will form its own mini-economic network of providers and users.
Welfare? Government gift giving? Why not, if people can gift, companies can gift, why not government. There is however a war against government going on, they could do away with govt welfare so they mean to bog it down in red tape and bloat it. The only problem the more the war is won against government, the more necessary the social public and private safety nets become.
Stupidly in the US, the US security services have been hiring libertarians who avowed hatred of government would, should, have meant they never where hired.
Personally, I believe the media is far too influential in undermining and distorting (for profitabilty) society that any ‘return’ to some more ethical moral times is both unlikely and also was it ever true.
In fact its just more of the spectacle, those in power distracting us from they latest outrages.
The US, Japan,, UK, have all been recklessly printing money, money that is disappearing into the banks of the very richest, making them even richer, and inevitably leading to either a quick global inflationary depression, or a slow low growth recession. One day we will all wake up and realize money is worthless.
And that’s where we get back to ethics and morals, and why they exist, they are our personal hedge against collapse. Morals invoke trust in us by others, ethics show we can be trusted around others.
Take say driving laws, and all those white lines, why do some people consistent maintain the habit to drive within the lines, because they don’t see the law as oppressive (the fines are quite light compared to a prison sentence) but as a guideline, and trust that by training oneself in good driving habits that there is the reward of avoiding accidents.
You see we are just as moral and ethical as we always were, we’re just in denial, we don’t see and talk about how bad noise speeding drivers are advertizing that their carelessness and thus their less trustworthiness. Just as talking heads on TV and in management, or on TV who regale us with neo-liberalism are actually untrustworthy business and social partners.
Many people look at a Tory and know intrinsically they are immoral and stupid. Anyway my two cents. There’s nothing wrong with our morals or ethics, its the Heralds and Keys morals and ethics that are wanting.
The only problem the more the war is won against government, the more necessary the social public and private safety nets become.
Some western governments, or powerful parts thereof, are acting directly against the interests of their own citizens.
Stupidly in the US, the US security services have been hiring libertarians who avowed hatred of government would, should, have meant they never where hired.
Indeed. Like hiring free market Randians in to head regulatory offices.
Personally, I believe the media is far too influential in undermining and distorting (for profitabilty) society that any ‘return’ to some more ethical moral times is both unlikely and also was it ever true.
In fact its just more of the spectacle, those in power distracting us from they latest outrages.
Bread and circuses yes. Controlled by a dozen or so trans-national corporations. How handy for the privileged and powerful that is the case.
Many people look at a Tory and know intrinsically they are immoral and stupid.
I understand the point you are making. However there are a lot of good Tories out there that I would trust with both my person and my money. And a fair number of Lefties out there that I would not.
CV, it’s not a question of whether you would trust a particular Tory with your person or your money. It’s a question of whether we can trust them with our nation and our economy. I know what my answer is.
My understanding of the gift economy is that there is no expectation of return from the person who is being gifted to. In that sense I don’t think the cafe is doing gift economy, they’re more a mix of bartering and letting customers set their own pricing. Good on them though, it will definitely get people thinking about what it’s all about.
Pity about the university lecturer they quoted in the article, who seems well inured in the greed economy.
My understanding of the gift economy is that there is no expectation of return from the person who is being gifted to.
Not quite correct I suggest as the principle of reciprocity is a strong and underlying social value is understood throughout a gift economy.
This is also what makes a ‘barter economy’ (if such a thing ever existed) quite different from a gift economy.
And it is where many old traditions around gift giving come from: eg you give something appropriate to the person and of a scale to what you can give, but not something so outlandish that the person can never properly ‘repay’ you down the track. You don’t give cash as that is considered a thoughtless and impersonal gift (although the Chinese found a cultural way around this with ‘red packets’.) When you visit people in their homes you always bring along a gift for them, no matter how minor, as a token of appreciation and esteem. Etc.
In other words, a ‘gift economy’ is in fact just as much an interpersonal form of social relations as the cruel and patriarchal capitalist economy we have now is, and is an alternative or at least a potential parallel to it.
Swings and merry-go-rounds. There is no need for exchange to occur between the particular giver and receiver. That, as you suggest, would merely be barter or whatever.
Charlie Brooker – I have just found him and he is great and the others on the program.
A great interview between two clever women – Kim Hill and Elearnor Learmouth on her new book No Mercy. About the need to cannibalise when you are shipwrecked and telling the story of some notable shipwrecks, considering Golding’s Lord of the Flies and an experiment carried out by psychologists with 11 year old boys.
Apparently it is important with adults to make a plan that seems feasible and worthwhile to all and work on it so all thoughts are turned to positive things. It is good if you have a leader who treats everyone fairly, and keeps everyone in touch with the plan. There were two Auckland Islands shipwrecks that overlapped. There were 19 on one that scattered and didn’t even carry out the one idea they had had, to create a signal to catch the eye of someone on a passing ship. The other made a boat that sailed to NZ and organised a return for the remaining men. It had a strong-minded captain, concerned about other people.
All useful to know for the future. And also with something to say on how to manage the run-up to the elections. No scattering. Work together.
And I suggest don’t tell CV he doesn’t know anything – he is the best thing since sliced bread. Differences of opinion about the best way to go about things yes. Thoughts about what are the right and ideal actions. But also how to manage best the risk-taking and neglectful lack of action on forward-looking policies that are current. At the core CV is ‘the very model of a modern Labour politician”.
And any other Labour or Green or Mana politician who is trying to be both wise and progressive and wants to test his or her ideas in an opinionated but thinking forum would I am sure receive consideration and support here. Get a cross-party conversation going eh!
A great interview between two clever women – Kim Hill and Elearnor Learmouth…
I also tend to think of Kim Hill as quite clever, not least because she reads voraciously. However, last week, during an interview with an Oxford mathematics don who is also a creationist—go figure—she made reference to a book she had been reading, written by the insane British historian Michael Burleigh. Reading him is not the problem, of course; but she commented favorably on the book, which as it happens is as nutty as a Rodney Hide column, and about as authoritative. That Kim Hill had anything positive to say about such rubbish casts doubt on her judgement, and makes this famous dressing down of her by John Pilger even more relevant…. http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/face-to-face-with-kim-hill-john-pilger-2003
As for Burleigh, who should be, and is generally, treated with the disdain reserved for the likes of historians like David Irving and Bill O’Reilly, a couple of weeks ago I reviewed the same book that Kim Hill seemed so impressed by. The difference is: I read the whole awful thing to the end. I don’t think she read much of it at all…. http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1388267210.html
The Kim Hill interview with John Pilger was one of the first I’d seen with her after returning from the UK. Watching the complete interview, I was put off ever watching her again.
Which goes to show how personal prejudice can get in the way of information, because from that time I failed to meet another Kim Hill critic but still couldn’t bring myself to watch her. I missed out on some pretty good interviews by the sounds of it.
Happened to be somewhere last night where I was able to watch 12 Years a Slave. Good film by the way.
Anyway, it got me wondering (again) as to why it is, that whereas no-one has any problem understanding and condemning the massive waste of human potential and talent involved in compelling people to work sugar/cotton or whatever, far fewer people view modern jobs in the same critical light.
Can you imagine the air of disbelief that would greet anyone who was to propose that working cotton or sugar for a plantation owner engendered self worth and respect? And yet here we are, thousands upon thousands….millions, working jobs for business owners and/or shareholders that have far less utility than cotton or sugar harvesting. Yet these jobs are a path to self respect and worthiness (apparently) and so there is no outcry over wasted human potential and talent. And very, very few abolitionists calling for an end to the systems behind contemporary wasting of human life.
It is happening here, a good example is our pacific immigrants. How many pacific islanders are wasted doing cleaning/labour jobs? I work with a guy who was a lines man until he hurt his back and could not do that job anymore – this is a guy with a natural talent to cold read and then directing people to make good decisions for themselves – a natural social worker who empowers people to do it for themselves. He was wasted for 30 years, digging holes in the ground, because he was a pacific islander – what a stupid system we embrace.
I think you got the best term there Bill.
Abolitionists for the waste of human potential.
Or a new abolitionist movement based around that concept. Because, quite frankly, I’m sick of the waste this current economic system creates – it wastes humans because it can not cope with brilliance or a full flowering of humanities potential.
Yeah CV, it’s a travesty. But seriously, I can’t quite get why there isn’t a visible and vocal abolitionist movement like there was for plantation slavery. I mean, fuck, all (not quite true, but for arguments sake I’ll say ‘all’) there has been over the past 100 years is a pile of mad Leninists and their various off-shoots wanting to be in the position of ‘big boss’…as though being compelled to work for the glory of the ‘workers’ state is any less wasting than being compelled to work for some-one elses private profit.
Indeed. Although for the moment I’d settle for a capitalist social democracy where transfer payments are used to help those currently unemployed and underemployed people contribute their utmost to society. (UBI and full employment policy/jobs guarantee).
And then? I mean, only a misanthropic fckwit would argue against alleviating some of the more onerous aspects of our modern ‘arrangements’. So yes, UBI and whatever else. But then what? Because if there is no ‘and then’, we essentially ain’t moving anywhere and whatever gains there may be will be rolled back or diluted at some point.
“And then” is for us to speculate on as we haven’t even achieved step 1; and for the next generation to accomplish for themselves, if they want it. Or the academics to write up their hypotheses on.
The idea would be to take steps with something of an idea as to what we want that step to achieve and if it doesn’t then we change the step. That change may require anything from an amendment to outright repeal.
It’s like the UBI: We instate it with say $400/week. This will cause massive inflation in the housing market as the greedy rentiers stretch their hands forth to take as much of it as they can. Thing is, we don’t change the $400/week UBI. Instead we take another step and build a surplus of accommodation.
apart from the massive lag between upping rents and creating a housing surplus. So you have a few years of the UBI being blatantly insufficient and enough voters will think it’s a failed idea that they vote tory. Destination: another neolib regime.
We need to be thinking as thoroughly as possible as far ahead as possible, not just about the next footstep.
well, yes, they would all be generally inflationary (although not as bad as some tories might say), but the issue with the ubi and rents is that it essentially replicates the issue that some beneficiaries had with the accommodation supplement – when the landlord knows the tenants’ source of income, and also knows that there’s a housing shortage, the landlord can simply say “and this is how much you can now pay”. It could even benefit the capitalists more than the poor.
Which is one reason I prefer phasing in any particular policy, and especially the UBI – areas of abuse and exploitation can be identified before it gets too bad, and in this exampe new residences built to reduce theshortage in that area.
We need to be thinking as thoroughly as possible as far ahead as possible, not just about the next footstep.
Yes we do but we still need to take the first step. And we can take multiple steps at the same time – institute a UBI, a major house building operation and a rent freeze.
Basically, lab4 was signed off by a lot of people who fell into the “we must do something: this is something: we must do this” approach to problem solving (although championed by fuckwits). The absolute worst case scenario is the next govt jumps in, introduces sweeping reforms that have one or two serious problems to overcome but were on the right track, but then the tories get bounced back in and the reforms that were on the right track become discredited. An example is that “socialism” is still a dirty word for a lot of people who can cast a vote.
“we must do something: this is something: we must do this”
I actually think that approach is better than the we must have everything planned to perfection before we do anything that you’re suggesting. At least then we’ll get to learn from our mistakes.
Actually, I’ve been arguing for incremental introductions rather than jumping in. That way the mistakes will be smaller. As well as keeping focus on where we want to be going in the long run.
You and CV might want to act without thought. That’s a fast-track to failure, even if there weren’t some tories who would be fighting to increase inequality and poverty and so seeking to exploit the weaknesses in your steps.
Because many people on wages and salaries believe that it works reasonably well for them even if it’s not ideal.
Because unlike slavery, most people in NZ don’t such extremes of subhuman treatment in their day job.
Because we’ve all been socialised to believe we have choice, and 30 years of neoliberalism have made it much harder to challenge that (internally and externally).
The treatment – ie, how the condemnation is expressed or the precise nature of ‘sanction’ – is kinda beside the point. Even if everyone was housed in 5 star hotels with en suite flim-flam, the fact would remain that we and all our potentials are being channeled in a ridiculously restrictive environment to serve the very focused (and hardly inspiring) wants of a very few people.
But on the treatment front – I know of smart people – maybe not ‘academically’ smart- who work or who have worked in places where every single fucking day the wee boss who sits above them but below the three or four tiers of bigger bosses patrols like a traffic cop who’s having a bad day. Every day. And they are reduced to putting their hands up and asking permission to go to the toilet. Every time and every single fucking day. And it’s not some short term hell zone – it’s their entire adult working life…ten years, thirty years.
As for ‘alternative’, I admit that frustrates the fck out of me.We don’t have to see an alternative – just seeing the reality of what’s around us is ample justification for action. But then, people tend to always be looking for blueprints and what not, and then not acting in the absence of such blueprints. (While never asking “This blueprint? Who drew it up and figured it out and what does it suggest for…oh look – another heap of authoritarianism coming down form above.”) The bottom line is very simple.What alternative is needed to that which is inflicting damage – beyond not doing that which is inflicting damage? That’s the first step.
The treatment matters to many people though, and understanding that is important to understanding why people don’t resist the situation. This was point of the character Cypher in the Matrix – ultimately he chose to return into the matrix because it was comforting and more comfortable than reality. Why should someone care about wage slavery if they get to live in a fancy apartment with 3 flatscreen TVs?
In terms of a blueprint, I agree that we should be able to act in the first instance without a blueprint, but we still need to have a shared understanding. We don’t and I guess that’s what you were asking (why don’t we?) and I was suggesting some of the reasons we don’t.
I think one problem with expecting people to act without a blueprint is that you are asking them to risk their survival needs, take some things on faith. Most people aren’t going to do that unless they are ideologically on board, or their hearts are in it.
So, what you’re saying is that everyone has their price. A flatscreen + whatever for the balance of our creative potential…to cede our right to develop our potential. Or is it that we are trained and schooled to expect nothing of ourselves….to close our eyes and minds to anything beyond that which can be monetised?
Anyway, can the shared understanding not (at least initially) simply be that neither *this* nor anything that would parody *this* is in any way acceptable?
Which entails us ‘walking backwards’ into things, working out what we don’t want, rejecting the unpalatable or unacceptable. Turns out, that can be best and clearest way of moving forwards…we get what’s left after having cleared the smash. And that, given the process we use, can only be acceptable and palatable.
Oh fuck – did I just channel Sherlock Holmes there in an odd kinda way? Is the sun over the yard-arm yet?
I thought you were going to the Oil-Free thingy this afternoon 😉
“Anyway, can the shared understanding not (at least initially) simply be that neither *this* nor anything that would parody *this* is in any way acceptable? ”
You and I and many others share this understanding 🙂
For the rest, I think there will always be the Cyphers. Then there will be those that haven’t chosen which pill they want to take. Then there are those that don’t even know there is a choice, or even that there is such a thing as blue pill or a red pill.
I still think we shouldn’t underestimate what people will do to survive. Maslow’s heirarchy of needs. Some of what you are talking about is socialisation. Some of it is more fundamental, so I would guess that you have to wait until people have a lot less to lose, or you have to convince them that there are bloody good reasons to risk their survival needs (not you personally of course).
How many children are there as of right now in NZ who could develop amazing talents but who will be stymied because their talent isn’t easily monetised? I’m picking thousands and thousands.
And how many will wind up rejected by the market to waste away in disempowered and shitty living conditions that produce all manner of neurotic and destructive behaviours? Again, I’m picking thousands and thousands.
And how many will be ‘hunted down’ because their survival strategies, perfectly reasonable under the circumstances, run counter to arbitrary laws that ‘just happen’ to feed into ideas about creating profits in some privatised prison system. I’m picking a fair percentage of those thousands and thousands.
And how many people sitting in relative comfort will wring their hands and shake their heads and wonder what the world is coming to? Many. But god forbid they actually take a look at the systemic drivers behind the clusterfuck of ‘dysfunctional’ people and poverty. (not actually dysfunctional – perfect, though undesirable, functionality for the circumstances)
And – oh, fuck me dead – how many bleeding heart liberals will decry the lack of jobs as being the source and reason for the blight and the waste? Damn near all, if present attitudes are anything to go by.
And – oh, fuck me dead – how many bleeding heart liberals will decry the lack of jobs as being the source and reason for the blight and the waste? Damn near all, if present attitudes are anything to go by.
Yep, getting pissed off with that too. But, but, we neeeed jobssss No, we don’t.
Can you imagine the air of disbelief that would greet anyone who was to propose that working cotton or sugar for a plantation owner engendered self worth and respect?
I can, because I’ve seen it when people do. Check out things like the recent bullshit around Ani DiFranco proposing to hold a retreat in a former plantation. Five minutes after the first person said “wow, that’s kind of insensitive” you could hardly move for people insisting that most slave owners were actually lovely people and treated their slaves just like members of the family etc.
People are really bad at challenging things which they’ve been taught are normal.
People will say anything to justify the wrongs of the past, and even today, present ones. The worst now is people who stand up, admit their mistakes, expect instant forgiveness, and then expect those wrongs to instantaneously disappear.
Of course we also have the “great deniers”, a la our dear leader, who never ever tells fibs. Apologizes to BLiP. His list of J.K.’s “fibs” is magnanimous!!
By our leader I assume you are referring to John Key.
Look, it matters not who we all support and vote for this guy is hands down the best prime minister in New Zealand’s history.
The more people invent rubbish to suit their preconceived ideas the better good honest down-to-earth people like John Key look; comparatively speaking of course.
Time to get factual my friend.
“Look, it matters not who we all support and vote for this guy is hands down the best prime minister in New Zealand’s history…..
Time to get factual my friend.”
You are either trying to
A) do satire
B) stir up a hornet’s nest
C) incredibly deluded.
Smarty pants – ‘B’ correct. However I do believe he’s fantastic and I am betting he goes down in history as our best PM.
Strangely the two most hated politicians in the 80’s are now recognised as absolute top performers: Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
I have better things to do than discuss issues with someone aiming simply to provoke.
Evidence and reason appeal, not schoolyard banter.
Now you need to go home.
I’m always amazed that this happened in my lifetime.
“I certainly wasn’t afraid. And I wasn’t afraid because I was too angry to be afraid. If I were lucky I would be carted off to jail for a long, long time. And if I were not so lucky, then I would be going back to my campus, in a pine box.”
And someone made a very rude remark about politicians on Open Mike 10 January too. Oh that was me by the way. And some good discussion on Norway and why is someone trying to stir up hostility against them in Ireland. Was interesting – worth catching up.
To be honest greywarbler I am a bit puzzled that folk seem to have ignored it, bar Rosie and yourself, but such is life. I think it is a solid idea that should only be controversial to those who fail to understand how real change is sometimes required if things are really to change.
There were some pretty loud voices being thrown around TS these past months, and many of them called for new ideas for dealing with old political issues. Looking over TS posts today and yesterday, I see little discussion of anything new but lots of ongoing deckchair scenarios.
Then again, in blogs as in life, there is a certain judgmental bias that attaches itself to names, maybe I should have submitted it as an anonymous guest post. 😉
I reckon submit it as a guest post. I often skip over long comments in OM unless it is something that I am particularly interested in.
“There were some pretty loud voices being thrown around TS these past months, and many of them called for new ideas for dealing with old political issues. Looking over TS posts today and yesterday, I see little discussion of anything new but lots of ongoing deckchair scenarios.”
Offending your potential audience might not be the best way to start though 😉
Hi freedom. You will have noticed how interested people were in the matter of Len Brown sleeping around. Then a foxy little RWNJ red number flits past and all the lefties go baying after him/her. Reading and thinking, and then ditto, are so not hip.
I don’t follow lots of things I should and I hope the ideas will continue to be presented until I get them through my head. Blip is an example. Lots to read that has to be returned to again.
We need to keep on with this stuff. But it is post-Christmas and people are still spending their Christmas money or trading things online. It’ll be swinging back and hotting up.
What do you think about a possible early election? That will sharpen everyone. And what about a guest post offering? You could just fill it out with some background of what other places do or whatever, and put it up as a post. I thought it was a subject and a comment that deserved attention. So in another couple of weeks say when the holiday is over. I haven’t done a guest post myself yet but I haven’t had such an organised, considered comment to introduce as you.
Fukushima is not going away – it seems it’s not getting better and indeed it is melting!
So now we have a place we can call fall out city – it looks like it going to be giving us perpetual radiation for the next few hundred years. Safe green energy – my ass.
It seems the main stream media just want to ignore this issue.
Activists who broke into FBI office 1971, revealed direct govt activities against political activists and protestors, and helped take down J Edgar Hoover, finally revealed.
A smorgasbord of items about charter or academy schools. The new profit centre or center depending on what spelling your charter school chooses.
Academies and free schools should become profit-making businesses using hedge funds and venture capitalists to raise money, according to private plans being drawn up by the Education Secretary, Michael Gove http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cash-for-classrooms-michael-gove-plans-to-let-firms-run-schools-for-profit-8682395.html
and http://www.isreview.org/issues/62/feat-charterschools.shtml
In a stock market prospectus uncovered by education author Jonathan Kozol, the Montgomery Securities group explains to Corporate America the lure of privatizing education. Kozol writes: “The education industry,” according to these analysts, “represents, in our opinion, the final frontier of a number of sectors once under public control” that have either voluntarily opened or, they note in pointed terms, have “been forced” to open up to private enterprise. Indeed, they write, “the education industry represents the largest market opportunity” since health-care services were privatized during the 1970’s…. From the point of view of private profit, one of these analysts enthusiastically observes, “The K–12 market is the Big Enchilada.”1
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school_(England)
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_(English_school)
and
Charter Schools and The Profit Motive | JONATHAN TURLEY
jonathanturley.org/2013/03/16/charter-schools-and-the-profit-motive/
Mar 16, 2013 – We have no idea whether the money is being efficiently or effectively … The big business of charter schools (Washington Post) …. It’s about money and politics and influence-peddling. ….. Why would we outsource the nation’s curriculum to a for-profit publishing and test-making corporation based in London?
Charter schools work; that is a fact.
They help to lift the standards of other schools in their area; another fact.
Charter schools absolutely lift the performance of lower socioeconomic children; yet another fact.
Face it, you are against them because of who introduced the concept and not because of what they are.
Our Children are too important for you and your kind to go politicizing in the negative.
Why do you want uneducated kids? Is that because they are then more easily manipulated?
Here’s just some evidence. Try it for size. Now I know it will bug you that the poor brown kids will now catch up to the white kids much faster but don’t let that ruin your day:
Nina Rees at USA Today writes:
New York¹s public charter schools are upending old assumptions about urban education. And they can help even more students if New York¹s incoming mayor lets them.
Earlier this year, Stanford¹s Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) revealed that in just one school year, the typical New York City charter school student gained about five additional months of learning in math and one additional month of learning in reading compared with students in traditional public schools.
These gains, repeated year after year, are helping to erase achievement gaps between urban and suburban students. A rigorous 2009 study from Stanford professor Caroline Hoxby found that students who attend New York City¹s charter schools from Kindergarten through 8th grade will make up 86% of the suburban-urban achievement gap in math and 66% of the gap in English.
New York has roughly 70,000 students enrolled in public charter schools, and the numbers are on the rise. This school year alone, 14,000 new students in the city enrolled in charter schools with the vast majority in low-income neighbourhoods.
Remarkably, several charter schools in low-income neighbourhoods are showing some of the most impressive achievement gains. For instance, while just 30% of students citywide passed New York¹s new Common Core math exam, 97% of students passed the exam at Bronx Success Academy 2. The passage rate was 80% at Leadership Prep Ocean Hill in Brownsville, a community that has suffered academic failure for generations.
Mayor Bloomberg introduced “co-location” as a way to turn unused classrooms into productive learning environments. Sharing space also tests the hypothesis that environmental factors make it difficult for children in certain neighbourhoods to succeed in school. Charters quickly proved that theory wrong. For example, 88% of third and fourth graders at Success Academy Harlem 5 passed the state math exam. The traditional public school located in the same building only managed to attain a pass rate of 6%.
Across the country, charter schools have produced particular academic gains among students in poverty, minority students and students still learning English. The same CREDO study that revealed impressive learning gains among New York City¹s charter school students also showed that, nationwide, black students in poverty who attend charter schools gained the equivalent of 29 extra days of learning in reading each year, and 36 extra days in math, compared to their traditional public schools peers.
And are we going to have metal weapon detectors and guards armed with guns at our schools too? The New York education system is a fucking wreck, US students can’t read write or add anywhere as good as NZ students, and bringing onboard US modelled anythings simply to siphon off public education money for private profit, is stupid.
Manu is bored today and is seeking to disrupt any thread.
He’s had a few gos today already, even one claiming Key is NZ’s best PM ever!
Best not to waste your valuable time.
Hello Manu
You are onto a good thing with charter schools. Business looking for some profitable enterprise have noticed that education is desired by everyone. Also there is so little business enterprise going on it is one of the few areas of growth – selling dreams and measured information and skills to youngsters.
And it is government funded. So the perpetrators of these academies and charter schools don’t run the risk of losing their shirts when they don’t achieve excellence. Some will turn out to be really good for some youngsters, some okay and some abject failures. But the NZ government has so little interest in doing its job to provide for the nation what a responsible modern country needs, that they are happy to get rid of much of the education problem (much exaggerated) and not even set any standards or controls for most of the activity. And they will fund it. It’s great news.
So keep applying for all the grants that are available. Just keep everyone on the administration and teaching side up to standard won’t you. No large expensive people movers, large, high 4WDs at great cost. Don’t keep on dodgy coaches because they keep the sports teams winning or the kapa haka team achieving. You may be able to do a better job than the past.
But two great Maori schools are now closed, St Stephens and Queen Victoria. They couldn’t adapt and stand fast against elements that led to their downfall. Their problems will arise again in some charter schools. And they will be worse, and be kept under wraps for some time till some whistleblower arises. I think they will be an expensive mistake for the country. But will leave some well off. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=163341
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/education/native-affairs-old-school They were once bastions of excellence, responsible for educating many of Māoridom’s most esteemed leaders however their glory days have long since passed.
For over a decade ex-students and whānau have been battling to resurrect Māori boarding schools Queen Victoria and St Stephen’s College.
Now moves are underway to re-open these much loved schools. Semiramis Holland reports.
The study says every dollar of resources that was tipped into the finance sector in 1990 led to $3.50 in capital formation. By 2012, every dollar invested in finance led to $1.50 of capital formation.
The finance sector, and particularly all the auxiliary industries that have sprung off traditional banking, have got better at retaining that money for themselves and the people who work there. Between 1990 and 2012, financial profits rose 10.3 per cent a year and salaries rose 7.7 per cent a year. But the number of people who worked in the industry increased just 0.6 per cent a year, meaning that if you kept your job in finance, you’ve done very well.
So, anyone want more private financial institutions getting their hands on our super savings?
Our money system guarantees that inequality will get worse. The evidence compiled in this paper suggests that there are several factors contributing to the growth of inequality, but at the heart is the operation of the banking system.
And that’s proven by the above link showing ever more money going to the financial system.
If we want a better society the first thing that needs to be done is the reform of the financial system. Until that happens all we’ll have is ever increasing inequality and poverty.
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
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 the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Otago University professor of international relations Robert Patman says New Zealand should provide a robust response to Donald Trump's Gaza plan, and also "should stop tip-toeing" around Trump. ...
The new minister of transport has opened the door for public consultation on at least some of the speed limit changes the government said would be automatic. ...
Officially, they’re called ‘memecoins,’ but Kōura Wealth founder Rupert Carlyon says the crypto world has another name for them: ‘shitcoins’.In digital finance, that phrase is used for tokens that have no true value – in essence, a money-grab.A few days before his inauguration, US President Donald Trump launched his own ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. Guy Williams has made a whole show off the joke that he is a “volunteer” journalist. So getting publicly owned by David Seymour while trying to act as a journalist is a good and timely reminder not to underestimate the nuance and ...
Many of Sāmoa’s beloved dishes are the result of cultural collaboration, writes Madeleine Chapman. All photos by Jin FelletIf you ever find yourself at a barbecue in a Sāmoan home, there’s 99% chance that sapasui (chop suey) will be on the table. For the past century, sapasui has ...
The funnyman takes us through his life in television, including Jono and Ben mayhem, live Telethon flubs, and funnelling all those experiences into his new comedy Vince. There’s an inciting incident in Three’s new comedy Vince where morning television presenter Vince Walters (Jono Pryor) is visiting sick kids in hospital ...
People often claim they just want Waitangi Day to be a celebration. At Waitangi, away from the headlined political acrimony and the marae ātea, celebrating is what most people are doing. The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous ...
Is there anything more fashionable than a Māori get together? One of the best things about Northland is that nobody cares what they look like — probably because they’re all naturally more stylish than the rest of us, famously. Māori from the Far North, especially. In 27 degree heat, wearing ...
MONDAY“Name,” barked a representative of the lower orders.I regarded him with a look of stern disapproval, and told him from up high, “May I remind you that I have name suppression. I shall also thank you to ask with more respect as befits a former president of the Act Party, ...
Books of Mana: 180 Māori-Authored Books of Significance, edited by Jacinta Ruru, Angela Wanhalla and Jeanette Wikaira has just been released by Otago University Press. In this essay, Books are Taonga, Jeanette Wikaira explores her personal relationship to books and their value.For me, books are taonga. The knowledge ...
I’ve been in love with him since last July, but it’s only now in this tepid hotel room that I find myself wondering why. The first thing he does when we arrive is smoke a cone in the bathroom – he emerges, hacking up a lung, fists thrust into his ...
Get to know Tara, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Tara’s human for their support! Dog name: Tara Age: Two Breed: Mostly Border Collie and a little bit Catahoula Leopard dog If dog ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Gail Duncan, Chairperson of the St Peter’s on Willis Social Justice Group, one of the organisations invited to submit on the Bill, says the Government’s actions are unprecedented. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amani Kasherwa, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland In late January, a rebel group that has long caused mayhem in the sprawling African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo took control of Goma, a major city of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yee-Fui Ng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University An ad falsely depicting independent candidate Alex Dyson as a Greens member.ABC News/Supplied The highly pertinent case of a little-known independent candidate in the Victorian seat of Wannon has exposed a gaping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Nik/Unsplash You might have heard that eating too many eggs will cause high cholesterol levels, leading to poor health. Researchers have examined the science behind this myth again, and ...
Everything you missed from the third day of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard four hours of oral submission. Read our recaps of day one of the hearings here, and day two here. Parliament was quiet on Friday for the third day of hearings on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO Mino Surkala, Shutterstock Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University Netflix Netflix’s new limited series, Apple Cider Vinegar, tells the story of the elaborate cancer con orchestrated by Australian blogger Annabelle (Belle) Gibson. The first episode opens with Gibson’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Greece’s government has just declared a state of emergency on the island of Santorini, as earthquakes shake the island multiple times a day and sometimes only minutes apart. The “earthquake swarm” is also affecting other ...
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 The Western Australian state election will be held on March 8. A Newspoll, conducted January 29 to February 4 from a sample ...
She’s back behind the wheel, and this time, she wants to find out what it is that makes us tick. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. After a prolific career on stage and screen, 83-year-old Miriam Margolyes is on the road again. ...
A new poem by Jordan Hamel. Real Poet Every word earned its place and so did he, so should you. Real poet lives in the capital but writes himself into the Mackenzie country golden hour, man of the paper land, he neglects to mention his pollen ...
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 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25) No better time to get ...
The committee has published this list to inform the public about its work, and to give clarity to submitters who have contacted the committee asking if they will be invited to make an oral submission. ...
Alex Casey and Gabi Lardies dissect their Laneway 2025 experience. Gabi Lardies: Hi Alex :))))))) Congratulations on not getting sunburnt. Everyone I talked to at Laneway yesterday was braving the sun for one thing. Charli XCX. How was your brat experience?Alex Casey: We will talk about the rest of ...
The US President's suggestion, which sparked enormous debate globally, has been labelled as a threat, not a proposal, by the Federation of Islamic Associations. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Interior of Auckland South Men’s Prison.Getty Images Prisons are not colourful places. Typically, they are grey or some variation of a monochrome colour scheme. But increasingly, ...
FICTION1Tree of Nourishment (Kāwai 2) by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)Interesting to note that the author of the biggest-selling New Zealand novel in Waitangi Week is Māori (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai, and Ngāti Kahungunu).2 Kāwai: For Such a Time as This (Kāwai 1) by Monty Soutar (David ...
Remembering the renowned New Zealand writer, who died on February 5, 2025. The Stopover When the trout rise like compassion It is worth watching when the hinds come down from the hills with a new message it will be as well to listen. – Brian Turner Poet, environmentalist, sportsman, journalist, ...
Survivors can choose to have former High Court judge Paul Davison assess their individual claims to tailor payments to their personal circumstances. ...
Are we too modest when it comes to celebrating our putrid plant life?She’s beauty. She’s grace. She smells like a decaying corpse and lurks in the backrooms of Auckland Zoo, wallowing tragically in a bucket. In recent weeks an Australian corpse plant named Putricia has captured the noses and ...
Originally planned to coincide with the beginning of Anadarko’s drilling operations off the Otago coast, this weekend Dunedin hosts the; New Zealand Oil Free Future Conference 2014 (the “2013” on the title-page of the following link is just a minor glitch):
http://oilfreefuturesummit.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/7/11476177/oil_free_future_summit_programme.pdf
The fine work of the Oil Free Seas Flotilla off the coast of Te Ika-o-Māui seems to have delayed the arrival of the Anadarko exploration vessel for some weeks. Which is something to hold in mind when others deride protest action as futile. Now we prepare for that struggle to resume in Te Waipounamu. Aotearoa is watching, climate aware Southerners; here is your chance to represent the cause!
Yesterday afternoon at Saint Clair beach; climate activists gathered along with general public to send a message to Anadarko: “Wish you weren’t here”. That evening the Oil Free Future Summit continued with the OIL ON CANVAS art exhibition at the community gallery, 20 Princes st. Today sees the conference itself at the Age Concern Building, 9 the Octagon, Dunedin. Register for your seat now!
http://oilfreeotago.com/oil-free-future-summit-2014-2/
There will be an exhibition of electric vehicles in the Octagon at 1-2pm which is open to all, even if you have missed out on a seat at the conference itself. “After the conference on Saturday, there will be an after-party/gig at Chick’s Hotel in Port Chalmers. Buses from Dunedin will be leaving from the bus stop on the one-way street outside Countdown at 8.30 pm sharp on Saturday 11th Jan, and will be coming back into town at 12.30am.” I will be at home looking after my young child then so there’s not much I can add to that; except to say that it is my love for him, and need to care for his future, that most inspires my political activism.
The final part of the Oil Free Future Summit is a demonstration blockade of the Otago harbour between Goat and Quarantine islands. So, even if you are not coming to any of the conference talks; if you’re in Dunedin and have a sea-worthy vessel (even if just a kayak), float on down to Goat island. If you’re a land-lubber like me you can head on down to:
“The bus stop on the one‐way street outside Countdown Supermarket, Dunedin Central. This is where the bus will leave 12:00pm sharp on Sunday to take people to the HANDS OFF OUR HARBOUR day of action.” As we won’t yet be blockading any actual drilling-support vessels, this will be a bit of shake-down cruise to practice later tactics in a less confrontational setting than was originally envisioned.
Generally I like that there is focus on moving away from dependence on oil – and moving towrds becoming oil free.
But: Are electric vehicles back on the sustainability agenda again? I thought a big focus on such vehicles were a bit of a diversion from moving toward sustainability. Maybe they can be a little help in the long term if the move is towards less use of private motor vehicles – especially where the vehicles are mostly used to transport one-five people?
And are electric vehicles actually produced oil free?
Is this one of the ways corporates try to get in on the sustainability act, ultimately subverting it?
Karol
Electric vehicles as currently produced are not oil free due to the limitations of raw material supply chains, and manufactured product distribution networks. But we have to start somewhere. I don’t know a lot about larger vehicles, but I’m pretty sure that; trucks, forklifts and ships can be powered electrically (tanks certainly can), and our rail system uses diesel-electric hybrid engines that could easily be converted to full electric.
Older car bodies can be retrofitted with batteries and electric motors saving on iron smelting CO2 emissions. Batteries are a major limiting factor, but that is improving. My major interest is in electrically assisted bicycles – which are fucking great! Especially ones with regenerative braking (when you’re in a hilly town like Dunedin).
On the subject of large vehicles … Denver has a main street with a central area with trees and so forth and up and down each side are buses running, free to travel on when I used them in 2005, and one of their features was that they were battery powered.
Also over the past few years Denver has extended its light rail system out to Golden, as also seemed to be happening in Los Angeles. People transfering between LAX airport and AMTRAK or other city destinations can catch the free “G” bus to the local rail station and thence by light rail for considerably less cost than taxi or bus.
Public transport and esp electric public transport is the way to go.
We need to modify our urban planning approaches to make best use of these systems.
Thanks for the info.
I wonder why electric run transport has not advanced where it could be used for most local transport.
Throughout the war years ,milk ,groceries and other goods in London was delivered by electric vans. They were efficient and cheap . I cannot understand why those vans were not developed into up to date versions of transport .I am sure there are many out there who remember that UD and Express milk was delivered by electric van.
I suspect the reason is politics and that the politicians got bought out by the fossil fuel industry. Personal cars really are an irrational idea so why did the politicians build the cities exclusively for car ownership?
My sister and her husband recently went on a tour of the US. While in San Francisco they visited Alcatraz. The ferry to get there was electric with solar panels and a couple of wind turbines on it. Although it had a couple of diesel generators for emergencies they’d never been used. It was, apparently, a very quiet and smooth ride.
I like the idea of electric public transport – was once the case in Auckland with trams and trolley buses – memories of the quirks of those buses losing their trolley connections and the driver having to get off and hoist them back onto the overhead wires.
Hello Karol
Almost everything requires oil to be produced.
The tidal flow is strong between the islands, not an easy place to do a blockade perhaps.
I agree, not a place I would venture in a small craft … moderately scarey in a yacht.
Corokia
Perhaps it won’t be easy – I’m not a sailor (though have done a bit of kayaking). That’s why it’s so good that the Oil Free Seas Flotilla has gained us a few more weeks to sort out the logistics of the operation. You could say that it’s mostly a symbolic exercise, and that they’ll just helicopter supplies over our heads. But you could say much the same thing about any protest action (and heliports can be blockaded as well as sea ports).
I’ll know more details after the third (activism) session today; I’d be down there now for the first session, but I’m parenting my son till at least 10am (will have the comp on in the background if anyone wants to ask me anything about the event till then, after that I’ll be AFK till after 5pm).
Hope it went/goes well. An excellent form of protest.
Thanks for being part of this Pasupial, and for putting up the comment. Very very important work. Would love to hear how it all goes (sessions and blockade).
Pasupial, I’d have been there if we hadn’t arranged holidays months in advance this year. Really want the blockade to send a strong message out, so I hope organisers have got experience on the water and have timed it well, because it will look silly if people are drifting off in the current instead of forming a line.
I couldn’t make it to Session 1, but; Sessions 2, and 3, of the New Zealand Oil Free Future Conference 2014, generally went well. I trust everyone who is out at Chicks is having fun at the Gig/ After-party. I have many pages of notes (about 2 sides double spaced foolscap per each of 8 speakers), so am not going to go into too much detail now; before I have a chance to digest these, and peruse some of the cited articles.
Session 2 was most illuminating; Neville’s Auton’s talk on “Clean Energy Alternatives” was the standout for me, but perhaps only because I’d heard much of Colin Campbell-Hunt’s speech previously (though I think I understood it better this time – Happy 68th Birthday Colin). Steve Abel had a good rapport with the audience, Jinty MacTavish not so much; but was very illuminating on carbon conscious innovations that the DCC are already progressing.
Session 3 was a little more problematic, though it was at the end of the conference day; after lunch, and electric cars. The crowd responded better to Amanda Thomas than Sophie Bond, but they both expressed a similar academic geographers perspective (if perhaps a bit jargon heavy for some, with; “Democratic Closure” vs “a vibrant contestatory process”). Peter Matheson was an elderly historian who connected well with the audience through humour and pithy turns of phrase – my favourite being his noting the recent media’s depiction of; “Shell as Santa Claus”. Gareth Hughes spoke well (without notes, but certainly with some prepared phrasing) on the the; “Drill it, Mine it, Frack it agenda” and “an economic mindset that thinks we can trash the government to prosperity”. Finally Chris Hay and Jo McVeagh spoke of their activist experiences.
If there is one thing that slightly took the shine off proceedings; it was the treatment of the representatives of the local hapu of Kai Tahu (Te Runanga o Otakou) during session 3. Not by the organisers and speakers themselves who were appropriately respectful to the harbour kaitiaki. However crowd chattering during the closing karakia was just plain discourtious, particularly given the rapt attention given to all else who took the stage (and I speak as a commited atheist).
We are pretty far south here, so Tikanga Māori is far from most people’s thoughts. It wasn’t malicious, or even that intentional, but from where I was sitting; I detected a strong sense of disconnection between pakeha and tauiwi on one hand, and tangata te whenua on the other. This continued during and after the commitment of the Otakou premiere waka to Sunday’s harbour blockade. That represents an immense dedication of hapu mana to the cause, but this; and their advice based on personal knowledge of the perilous channel between Rakiriri and Kamau Taurua barely evoked any audience response.
However, tomorrow is another day (or at least it was when I started typing this). The weather forecast isn’t the best for Sunday; with maybe a bit of drizzle around high tide at 2pm. It sounds like we have enough vessels (though more are certainly welcome) and the priority now is more life-jackets. There’ll be a beach contingent, so land-lubbers are also most welcome; come on out and fly your colours!
(this is pretty cool/inspirational..)
“..From clever terraces to rooftop allotments –
– London’s oldest housing association reveals shortlist of firms that could build the next generation of affordable homes..”
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/jan/10/future-social-housing-crisis-peabody-young-architects
phillip ure..
If we must have Shell and Anadarko drilling for oil/gas and so adding to the impending climate change disaster at least we should follow the Norwegian model where the state is a MAJOR investor and so reaps much of the profits from oil/gas found. Some or even most of these profits could then be used to develop a sustainable long-term energy policy.
In Norway, “Through the State’s Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) arrangement, the Norwegian State participates directly in the petroleum sector as an investor, and reaps all the associated rewards. According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy website, “the net cash flow resulting from the SDFI portfolio constitutes a predictable, long term and secure revenue to the Norwegian State.”
This quote is from http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/good-idea-canada-how-norway-captures-oil-revenues-benefit-norwegians.
And yet, look at the rate of energy use per capita for Norway: amongst the highest in the world!
@ karol..why draw a strawman (to this argument)..?
..when bearded git is making a very valid point..
..and how is yr ‘point’ at all relevant to what bearded git just posited..?
..namely..that if oil is found/extracted..
..that the piss-weak royalties we would get..are a sick joke..
..and that the state should control/take most of that profit..
(..which brings me back to my partial-nationalisation idea..
..where the state/people take 51% control in vital industries/w.h.y..
..leaving 49% for the private-investors/shareholders..)
..these are valid/points bg is making..
..and they don’t deserve to be strawman-ed..
..(and..b.t.w..labours’ silence on this issue..as on so so many others..speaks volumes..eh..?..)
phillip ure..
Yep Phillip I like the 51% state control idea. Labour should be bold and pick up on this.
@ b.g..
yeah..i am not taking the piss with that 51% state control idea..
..the benefits are obvious..the state has control..(therefor no problems with doing what needs done..ie..fighting obesity..etc..)
..and so retains 51% of all profits..
..and the 49% private shareholding ensures the economic-efficiencies from their skills..
..and they get 49% of those profits to carve up..
..it is fair to all..
..and funny story..!
..most of the arguments the tories used to justify partial privatisation..
..also apply to my partial-nationalisation idea..
..so..hard for them to really argue against it..eh..?
..but they will..
..they will scream like stuck-pigs..
phillip ure..
And the complete reverse of what YOU have just stated is equally plausible Phillip. When you use inflammatory words like ‘Tory’ you lose credibility. Smarten up please
Actually, I’d say that you just lost credibility by obviously not knowing what the word Tory means.
Peoples opinions differ my friend; judging by recent polls most people would disagree with you. get used to it.
It’s not a straw man, phillip. The extraction of oil without considering the way it’s done and the environmental impact is dangerous if you aim for a sustainable, steady state economy.
And it’s also dangerous to talk up Norway’s oil industry without considering whether it is contributing to a capitalist, profit driven over-dependence on energy.
@ karol..yeah..ok..all fair points..
..but that isn’t the subject under discussion..
(..you could as easily thread any number of other arguments/ideas into this thread..
..were we to follow yr criterea/justification for doing so….)
..the discussion is about our piss-poor oil-royalties..
..versus the state-run system in norway..
..and what to do about it..
..isn’t that enough for the moment..?
phillip ure..
Having the State gather the profits as Norway apparently does sounds great but think of the screams from worthy taxpapers when the exploratory wells find nothing? The Oil companies take the risk of failure and reap the rewards of success
@ jcuknz..
i think you are missing the point..
..these would be the conditions under which these companies drill/explore..
..that finds are to be shared with nz..
..and if they don’t like that..?..tough..!
..that is just the way it is..
..a 51% – /49%split..
phillip ure..
The oil companies take a small proportion of the immediate risks of failuse and almost all the rewards of success.
FIFY
Oh, BS, no matter what happens we pay for it anyway.
The cost of the drilling will be covered in the price of the product whether that product was sourced in NZ or somewhere else in the world. Anadarko and Shell are taking on no risk at all while getting billions per year in profits.
If the NZ government did the drilling itself then the economy would be boosted by a few hundred million dollars which would then, over time, be taken out in taxes, i.e, no risk there. If oil/gas is struck then the cost is taken out in the price of the product and we also get the profits. If oil/gas isn’t struck then the exploratory drilling rig ups anchor and tries somewhere else.
The biggest concern is the possible blowout of the well.
The state waits till something is found, then it moves in. Like what happened with Maui, as I understand the historybooks.
Accepted Karol.
That is why IMO NZ state revenues from oil/gas (per the Norway model) should be tagged so that they are mostly or even totally used to develop better public transport, cycle lanes in all NZ settlements, to subsidize solar power installations (both residential and solar power stations-Spain has successfully invested heaps in these), energy efficient buildings etc etc etc
That’s a good suggestion, bg.
I also think there should be a strong consideration of how much oil/gas we should extract, if any – especially if we are for the oil-free option, as highlighted by Pasupial’s comments above.
BG +1000….agreed!..imo…..if we must have it …and have the risks of running it ..then the Norwegian public sharing/investing of the profits is the way to go ( but with an emphasis on finding ways to wean ourselves off the oil dependence and towards green energy) ….anything else is theft from New Zealanders by the big oil corporates
…..the money should go into the coffers of free state high quality education , university , PhD and post PhD research….Research institutes, business start up support….medical research /setting up of new IT entrepreneurial business…..so that we can protect the land/river/lake environment and no longer be reliant on rampant dairying in the wrong places…. or trade with China….
….the money should also go into free public health, public transport, retirement investment, buying back state owned assets……proper funding and safeguarding of the DOC estate and sovereignty of NZ land
….the money should be invested in the future of NZers and our economic sovereignty
Like it Chooky-would love to hear more ideas along same lines from other bloggers
More on how Norwegians invest from oil
‘The Iraqi who saved Norway from Oil’ (see Financial Times Magazine , Aug 29, 2009)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway
“Minister claims low drug result as victory”
“The low number of results has been greeted as a victory by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, who says the policy is driving beneficiaries away from using drugs.
But her office admits it has no data to support the claim.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11184479
Two points.
1. Paula Bennett follows advice from BM and others. She makes claims with any evidence.
2. Despite this, the Herald still printed this non story and used a headline to continue government propaganda. The Herald is becoming more and more like Pravda in Soviet times.
Actually, it’s not a non-story – it’s the headline that’s the problem. Look at the first paragraph of David Fisher’s article:
The kicker is at the end of the article:
For bonus slime points, the Herald fails to attribute where they got their story from – via norightturn (http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/use-for-oia-uncovering-piss-poor-policy.html) reporting on the OIA request of engaged citizen Matthew O’Leary (https://fyi.org.nz/request/1295-costs-of-drug-testing-job-seeking-beneficiaries).
Good on the Herald. Steal someone else’s work, and then let the minister put her spin on it to kill it.
Well, NRT seems to have posted on the story first. But the NZ Herald may have got the information from the same plae as NRT – the FYI site, as linked in NRT’s post.
You really think so? Call me jaded, but I think reporters spend 90% of their time interviewing blogs these days.
Well, it’s impossible to know. But I would have thought that some journons would also watch the FYI site for possible stories.
right wing blogs, that is.
+1000
Paul, just because The Herald doesn’t tow the party line to your satisfaction there is no need to get your knickers in a twist!
You have missed my point.
It is the Herald that toes a party line, that of the corporate elite, rather than acting as the fourth estate and being independent media.
Now you are not being factual. I read the Herald every day and find it quite balanced. The journalists are lazy but certainly not right wing as I believe you are suggesting.
It is very important to accept facts if one wishes to gain credibility.
Manu
I also read the Herald every day and I find that it is biased. Yes, the journalism is lazy which also makes it superficial. I also see a right wing bias. Your opinion is not fact nor is it credible.
Try reading it without your blinkers on.
Drug testing is a victory for the perfed out cops who do the drug testing, since they get even more taxpayers’ money poured into their pockets. It’s also a victory for the Tory businessman who imports the kits, who is no doubt on very good terms with the Minister. It’s certainly not a victory for anything sensible.
And how many forestry workers for example have to die before fools like you take workplace safety seriously.
Get stoned, I don’t care; just do it without risking other people’s lives.
As for beneficiaries being tested. Small price to pay for receiving a hand-out. Be grateful other tests are not in place.
Do you have evidence that deaths in forestry have anything to do with drug use, because there’s plenty of evidence that they have to do with employers taking shortcuts, working underqualified people to exhaustion, and a government which allows employers to get away with anything.
Have you been drug tested lately? Your irrational anger suggests you could be taking P.
I’ve noticed a lot of you angry righties popping up here lately with your hysteria. Are you getting worried about the coming elections? Or is there a competition running and you get to massage WhaleSpew’s corpulent frame after one of his workouts as a reward?
Hello Murray
In answer to your questions/accusations:
1) Nephew crushed a few years back. Bloods showed levels of THC. I worked forestry as a teen bye the way. Lots and lots of drugs. Not making excuses for the few bad employers just keeping it real.
2) Employers do not get away with anything; that’s simply Ludacris. I am an employer now and care to the nth degree for my staff and contractors; non of whom are paid less than twice the living wage (which in my opinion should be around the $30/hour)
3) Why should I be tested? I own the company. Something I imagine you could only dream about. And no I do not drug test my staff; I find it easier to not hire losers in the first place.
4) I’m not a righty as such but a swinging voter depending on who can take charge of the economy to my satisfaction. This year it will likely be the Nats.
5) I never worry about an election and you shouldn’t either. Usually they make little difference to those genuinely in need; most politicians end up focused too much on power. In my opinion if you are in opposition but agree with a government initiative/policy then vote for it; same goes if the opposition have good detailed policy.
6) If it is Whaleoil you have spelt incorrectly I have yet to visit their site; just a blog isn’t it?
There you go Murray, take a chill pill.
Anecdotes are not evidence.
Ludicrous
Never mind, I replied to you before I noticed that you’d written what a bad boy chick magnet you were and how all the pakeha guys were shit scared of you. Just another internet dreamer by the looks of it. I won’t bother again, but thanks for pointing out my ludacris spelling mistake.
Just the same old troll.
The ‘zomg i noes nothing about teh nets’ stuff is cute though.
“Barack Obama has promised a year of action on US poverty in 2014, as a long-standing theme of his campaign rhetoric finally begins to show tentative signs of bi-partisan political momentum.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/09/obama-promises-year-action-poverty-promise-zones
More rhetoric.
No “change we can believe in.”
@ paul..i dunno about yr casual dismissal there..
..what makes this more possible to actually happen is that there is also a republican party consensus(amongst some)..
..that something has to be done..
..and that if nothing is done..
..that dystopia beckons..
..that ..and that obama is now in full heritage-mode..(as is common amongst us presidents at this point in their political-life-cycle..)
..these two facts make me somewhat less cynical than usual..
..phillip ure..
I hope you’re right.
@ paul..heh..!..so do i..
..call me a wide-eyed optimist..
..but i think we are close to a tipping-point..
..in recent years..talking about poverty was a lonely business..
..mp’s went nowhere near it..(except to stigmatise..)
..the access-media went nowhere near it..(except to further stigmatise..)
..but that is not the case now..
..now..even neo-lib labourites pay lip-service to ‘the working poor’..
..(it’s ‘cos polling told them to..eh..?..push for any details..and you will find it is all just soft and mushy..)
phillip ure..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Poverty
– Good luck Mr President, you’ll need it
@ chris 73..
relevant-quote in yr link is:
“..The popularity of a war on poverty waned after the 1960s.
Deregulation, growing criticism of the welfare state, and an ideological shift to reducing federal aid to impoverished people in the 1980s and 1990s –
– culminated in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, –
-which, as claimed President Bill Clinton, “end[ed] welfare as we know it…”
..this is the pendulum that is now swinging back the other way..
..and yes..obama..and those here who (really/sincerely) aspire to these ends..
..will need ‘luck..
..but more importantly..
..they will need courage..
..the neo-libs are well-entrenched..
..in most areas..
..but history shows/confirms the aphorism that:
..’change is the only constant’..
..eh..?
..and that gets me up in the morning..
phillip ure..
This.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-war-on-poverty-turns-50-why-arent-we-winning/282832/
Paul
Racism is simply unacceptable in today’s society. Sort yourself out.
In what way was I racist??
Now you are not being factual. I read the Herald every day and find it quite balanced. The journalists are lazy but certainly not right wing as I believe you are suggesting.
It is very important to accept facts if one wishes to gain credibility.
Evidence of a lack of bias?
Please provide some editorials attacking the government or praising the Greens or Labour.
There are many doing the opposite.
Are you being deliberately contrarian?
Ignore that double-up, stupid website.
You clearly don’t like Americans; that’s racist!
Ask yourself:
Are you cautious about how you speak when in the company of ethnic people?
Do you feel more empathy for dark skinned poor than you do those of fair skin colour?
When you see a dark skinned person succeed at something do you cheer more because you expect less?
I suspect the true answers will be yes.
I see this behavior all the time. Women gravitate to me because they think I must be a ‘bad boy’ and white males are so scared I can do or say anything I like and they will accept it. I really hate cowards
What are you talking about?
I merely questioned the rhetoric behind the war on poverty in the US.
Manu appears to be a RWNJ dressed up as a concern troll. I suggest ignoring him.
Up till now I have ignored you because your posts are so boring. At least Paul has some testicular fortitude; unlike you. What’s RWNJ anyway? Actually don’t answer that, who cares.
+1
Manu
Women gravitate to me because they think I must be a ‘bad boy’ and white males are so scared I can do or say anything I like and they will accept it. I really hate cowards
What a load of crapola. Ko wai koe?
Nice try, not buying it.
Manu
Buying into what exactly?
Maori men that think as you usually wear gang insignia or prison garb. Perhaps you should stop watching reruns of Shaft “Downunder” or for that matter “Mambo.”
Coffee on the “gift economy”
Interesting concept. Is it just a gimmick, or does it have real potential?
It works for things like entertainment. Maybe the coffee shop/school will work because there’s a real motivation behind it to engage with users in terms of education and explaining the point of the scheme?
BTW Karol – it wasn’t that I was ignoring you yesterday re the Greens, I had just had a big dinner party the night before and needed to focus particularly hard on being productive.
The gift economy was prevalent a hundred years ago and its concepts still well used in more traditional areas of China, Russia and Eastern Europe. How well it will translate to the cafe scene…I guess that there will be real power behind it once a network of a dozen or so different kinds of shops and service providers get in behind it. It will form its own mini-economic network of providers and users.
Welfare? Government gift giving? Why not, if people can gift, companies can gift, why not government. There is however a war against government going on, they could do away with govt welfare so they mean to bog it down in red tape and bloat it. The only problem the more the war is won against government, the more necessary the social public and private safety nets become.
Stupidly in the US, the US security services have been hiring libertarians who avowed hatred of government would, should, have meant they never where hired.
Personally, I believe the media is far too influential in undermining and distorting (for profitabilty) society that any ‘return’ to some more ethical moral times is both unlikely and also was it ever true.
In fact its just more of the spectacle, those in power distracting us from they latest outrages.
The US, Japan,, UK, have all been recklessly printing money, money that is disappearing into the banks of the very richest, making them even richer, and inevitably leading to either a quick global inflationary depression, or a slow low growth recession. One day we will all wake up and realize money is worthless.
And that’s where we get back to ethics and morals, and why they exist, they are our personal hedge against collapse. Morals invoke trust in us by others, ethics show we can be trusted around others.
Take say driving laws, and all those white lines, why do some people consistent maintain the habit to drive within the lines, because they don’t see the law as oppressive (the fines are quite light compared to a prison sentence) but as a guideline, and trust that by training oneself in good driving habits that there is the reward of avoiding accidents.
You see we are just as moral and ethical as we always were, we’re just in denial, we don’t see and talk about how bad noise speeding drivers are advertizing that their carelessness and thus their less trustworthiness. Just as talking heads on TV and in management, or on TV who regale us with neo-liberalism are actually untrustworthy business and social partners.
Many people look at a Tory and know intrinsically they are immoral and stupid. Anyway my two cents. There’s nothing wrong with our morals or ethics, its the Heralds and Keys morals and ethics that are wanting.
Some western governments, or powerful parts thereof, are acting directly against the interests of their own citizens.
Indeed. Like hiring free market Randians in to head regulatory offices.
Bread and circuses yes. Controlled by a dozen or so trans-national corporations. How handy for the privileged and powerful that is the case.
I understand the point you are making. However there are a lot of good Tories out there that I would trust with both my person and my money. And a fair number of Lefties out there that I would not.
CV, it’s not a question of whether you would trust a particular Tory with your person or your money. It’s a question of whether we can trust them with our nation and our economy. I know what my answer is.
A similar story from the herald last year:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11164893
For this business owner, the motivation came from wanting people to re-engage with the model of trust and ethics in their dealings with others.
My understanding of the gift economy is that there is no expectation of return from the person who is being gifted to. In that sense I don’t think the cafe is doing gift economy, they’re more a mix of bartering and letting customers set their own pricing. Good on them though, it will definitely get people thinking about what it’s all about.
Pity about the university lecturer they quoted in the article, who seems well inured in the greed economy.
Not quite correct I suggest as the principle of reciprocity is a strong and underlying social value is understood throughout a gift economy.
This is also what makes a ‘barter economy’ (if such a thing ever existed) quite different from a gift economy.
And it is where many old traditions around gift giving come from: eg you give something appropriate to the person and of a scale to what you can give, but not something so outlandish that the person can never properly ‘repay’ you down the track. You don’t give cash as that is considered a thoughtless and impersonal gift (although the Chinese found a cultural way around this with ‘red packets’.) When you visit people in their homes you always bring along a gift for them, no matter how minor, as a token of appreciation and esteem. Etc.
In other words, a ‘gift economy’ is in fact just as much an interpersonal form of social relations as the cruel and patriarchal capitalist economy we have now is, and is an alternative or at least a potential parallel to it.
Reciprocity yes, but as a direct immediate exchange between giver and receiver?
Swings and merry-go-rounds. There is no need for exchange to occur between the particular giver and receiver. That, as you suggest, would merely be barter or whatever.
I got the impression that despite what it was saying the cafe did really expect people to pay for their coffee.
Charlie Brooker – I have just found him and he is great and the others on the program.
A great interview between two clever women – Kim Hill and Elearnor Learmouth on her new book No Mercy. About the need to cannibalise when you are shipwrecked and telling the story of some notable shipwrecks, considering Golding’s Lord of the Flies and an experiment carried out by psychologists with 11 year old boys.
Apparently it is important with adults to make a plan that seems feasible and worthwhile to all and work on it so all thoughts are turned to positive things. It is good if you have a leader who treats everyone fairly, and keeps everyone in touch with the plan. There were two Auckland Islands shipwrecks that overlapped. There were 19 on one that scattered and didn’t even carry out the one idea they had had, to create a signal to catch the eye of someone on a passing ship. The other made a boat that sailed to NZ and organised a return for the remaining men. It had a strong-minded captain, concerned about other people.
All useful to know for the future. And also with something to say on how to manage the run-up to the elections. No scattering. Work together.
And I suggest don’t tell CV he doesn’t know anything – he is the best thing since sliced bread. Differences of opinion about the best way to go about things yes. Thoughts about what are the right and ideal actions. But also how to manage best the risk-taking and neglectful lack of action on forward-looking policies that are current. At the core CV is ‘the very model of a modern Labour politician”.
And any other Labour or Green or Mana politician who is trying to be both wise and progressive and wants to test his or her ideas in an opinionated but thinking forum would I am sure receive consideration and support here. Get a cross-party conversation going eh!
A great interview between two clever women – Kim Hill and Elearnor Learmouth…
I also tend to think of Kim Hill as quite clever, not least because she reads voraciously. However, last week, during an interview with an Oxford mathematics don who is also a creationist—go figure—she made reference to a book she had been reading, written by the insane British historian Michael Burleigh. Reading him is not the problem, of course; but she commented favorably on the book, which as it happens is as nutty as a Rodney Hide column, and about as authoritative. That Kim Hill had anything positive to say about such rubbish casts doubt on her judgement, and makes this famous dressing down of her by John Pilger even more relevant….
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/face-to-face-with-kim-hill-john-pilger-2003
As for Burleigh, who should be, and is generally, treated with the disdain reserved for the likes of historians like David Irving and Bill O’Reilly, a couple of weeks ago I reviewed the same book that Kim Hill seemed so impressed by. The difference is: I read the whole awful thing to the end. I don’t think she read much of it at all….
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1388267210.html
The Kim Hill interview with John Pilger was one of the first I’d seen with her after returning from the UK. Watching the complete interview, I was put off ever watching her again.
Which goes to show how personal prejudice can get in the way of information, because from that time I failed to meet another Kim Hill critic but still couldn’t bring myself to watch her. I missed out on some pretty good interviews by the sounds of it.
Happened to be somewhere last night where I was able to watch 12 Years a Slave. Good film by the way.
Anyway, it got me wondering (again) as to why it is, that whereas no-one has any problem understanding and condemning the massive waste of human potential and talent involved in compelling people to work sugar/cotton or whatever, far fewer people view modern jobs in the same critical light.
Can you imagine the air of disbelief that would greet anyone who was to propose that working cotton or sugar for a plantation owner engendered self worth and respect? And yet here we are, thousands upon thousands….millions, working jobs for business owners and/or shareholders that have far less utility than cotton or sugar harvesting. Yet these jobs are a path to self respect and worthiness (apparently) and so there is no outcry over wasted human potential and talent. And very, very few abolitionists calling for an end to the systems behind contemporary wasting of human life.
Very strange.
It is happening here, a good example is our pacific immigrants. How many pacific islanders are wasted doing cleaning/labour jobs? I work with a guy who was a lines man until he hurt his back and could not do that job anymore – this is a guy with a natural talent to cold read and then directing people to make good decisions for themselves – a natural social worker who empowers people to do it for themselves. He was wasted for 30 years, digging holes in the ground, because he was a pacific islander – what a stupid system we embrace.
I think you got the best term there Bill.
Abolitionists for the waste of human potential.
Or a new abolitionist movement based around that concept. Because, quite frankly, I’m sick of the waste this current economic system creates – it wastes humans because it can not cope with brilliance or a full flowering of humanities potential.
This country wastes the potential societal and economic contribution of hundreds of millions of person-hours each year.
It’s a horrific travesty.
Yeah CV, it’s a travesty. But seriously, I can’t quite get why there isn’t a visible and vocal abolitionist movement like there was for plantation slavery. I mean, fuck, all (not quite true, but for arguments sake I’ll say ‘all’) there has been over the past 100 years is a pile of mad Leninists and their various off-shoots wanting to be in the position of ‘big boss’…as though being compelled to work for the glory of the ‘workers’ state is any less wasting than being compelled to work for some-one elses private profit.
Indeed. Although for the moment I’d settle for a capitalist social democracy where transfer payments are used to help those currently unemployed and underemployed people contribute their utmost to society. (UBI and full employment policy/jobs guarantee).
And then? I mean, only a misanthropic fckwit would argue against alleviating some of the more onerous aspects of our modern ‘arrangements’. So yes, UBI and whatever else. But then what? Because if there is no ‘and then’, we essentially ain’t moving anywhere and whatever gains there may be will be rolled back or diluted at some point.
“And then” is for us to speculate on as we haven’t even achieved step 1; and for the next generation to accomplish for themselves, if they want it. Or the academics to write up their hypotheses on.
so we take steps without any idea about where we’re going? Unwise.
The idea would be to take steps with something of an idea as to what we want that step to achieve and if it doesn’t then we change the step. That change may require anything from an amendment to outright repeal.
It’s like the UBI: We instate it with say $400/week. This will cause massive inflation in the housing market as the greedy rentiers stretch their hands forth to take as much of it as they can. Thing is, we don’t change the $400/week UBI. Instead we take another step and build a surplus of accommodation.
apart from the massive lag between upping rents and creating a housing surplus. So you have a few years of the UBI being blatantly insufficient and enough voters will think it’s a failed idea that they vote tory. Destination: another neolib regime.
We need to be thinking as thoroughly as possible as far ahead as possible, not just about the next footstep.
How does the UBI lead to rent increases?
increases available funds for poorest people, but housing supply static
So the living wage would also lead to rent increases? Or any other substantial relief of financial poverty?
well, yes, they would all be generally inflationary (although not as bad as some tories might say), but the issue with the ubi and rents is that it essentially replicates the issue that some beneficiaries had with the accommodation supplement – when the landlord knows the tenants’ source of income, and also knows that there’s a housing shortage, the landlord can simply say “and this is how much you can now pay”. It could even benefit the capitalists more than the poor.
Which is one reason I prefer phasing in any particular policy, and especially the UBI – areas of abuse and exploitation can be identified before it gets too bad, and in this exampe new residences built to reduce theshortage in that area.
Yes we do but we still need to take the first step. And we can take multiple steps at the same time – institute a UBI, a major house building operation and a rent freeze.
fools rush in, though.
Basically, lab4 was signed off by a lot of people who fell into the “we must do something: this is something: we must do this” approach to problem solving (although championed by fuckwits). The absolute worst case scenario is the next govt jumps in, introduces sweeping reforms that have one or two serious problems to overcome but were on the right track, but then the tories get bounced back in and the reforms that were on the right track become discredited. An example is that “socialism” is still a dirty word for a lot of people who can cast a vote.
I actually think that approach is better than the we must have everything planned to perfection before we do anything that you’re suggesting. At least then we’ll get to learn from our mistakes.
Actually, I’ve been arguing for incremental introductions rather than jumping in. That way the mistakes will be smaller. As well as keeping focus on where we want to be going in the long run.
You and CV might want to act without thought. That’s a fast-track to failure, even if there weren’t some tories who would be fighting to increase inequality and poverty and so seeking to exploit the weaknesses in your steps.
Why?
Because most people can’t see an alternative.
Because many people on wages and salaries believe that it works reasonably well for them even if it’s not ideal.
Because unlike slavery, most people in NZ don’t such extremes of subhuman treatment in their day job.
Because we’ve all been socialised to believe we have choice, and 30 years of neoliberalism have made it much harder to challenge that (internally and externally).
That’s not a comprehensive list.
The treatment – ie, how the condemnation is expressed or the precise nature of ‘sanction’ – is kinda beside the point. Even if everyone was housed in 5 star hotels with en suite flim-flam, the fact would remain that we and all our potentials are being channeled in a ridiculously restrictive environment to serve the very focused (and hardly inspiring) wants of a very few people.
But on the treatment front – I know of smart people – maybe not ‘academically’ smart- who work or who have worked in places where every single fucking day the wee boss who sits above them but below the three or four tiers of bigger bosses patrols like a traffic cop who’s having a bad day. Every day. And they are reduced to putting their hands up and asking permission to go to the toilet. Every time and every single fucking day. And it’s not some short term hell zone – it’s their entire adult working life…ten years, thirty years.
As for ‘alternative’, I admit that frustrates the fck out of me.We don’t have to see an alternative – just seeing the reality of what’s around us is ample justification for action. But then, people tend to always be looking for blueprints and what not, and then not acting in the absence of such blueprints. (While never asking “This blueprint? Who drew it up and figured it out and what does it suggest for…oh look – another heap of authoritarianism coming down form above.”) The bottom line is very simple.What alternative is needed to that which is inflicting damage – beyond not doing that which is inflicting damage? That’s the first step.
The treatment matters to many people though, and understanding that is important to understanding why people don’t resist the situation. This was point of the character Cypher in the Matrix – ultimately he chose to return into the matrix because it was comforting and more comfortable than reality. Why should someone care about wage slavery if they get to live in a fancy apartment with 3 flatscreen TVs?
In terms of a blueprint, I agree that we should be able to act in the first instance without a blueprint, but we still need to have a shared understanding. We don’t and I guess that’s what you were asking (why don’t we?) and I was suggesting some of the reasons we don’t.
I think one problem with expecting people to act without a blueprint is that you are asking them to risk their survival needs, take some things on faith. Most people aren’t going to do that unless they are ideologically on board, or their hearts are in it.
So, what you’re saying is that everyone has their price. A flatscreen + whatever for the balance of our creative potential…to cede our right to develop our potential. Or is it that we are trained and schooled to expect nothing of ourselves….to close our eyes and minds to anything beyond that which can be monetised?
Anyway, can the shared understanding not (at least initially) simply be that neither *this* nor anything that would parody *this* is in any way acceptable?
Which entails us ‘walking backwards’ into things, working out what we don’t want, rejecting the unpalatable or unacceptable. Turns out, that can be best and clearest way of moving forwards…we get what’s left after having cleared the smash. And that, given the process we use, can only be acceptable and palatable.
Oh fuck – did I just channel Sherlock Holmes there in an odd kinda way? Is the sun over the yard-arm yet?
I thought you were going to the Oil-Free thingy this afternoon 😉
“Anyway, can the shared understanding not (at least initially) simply be that neither *this* nor anything that would parody *this* is in any way acceptable? ”
You and I and many others share this understanding 🙂
For the rest, I think there will always be the Cyphers. Then there will be those that haven’t chosen which pill they want to take. Then there are those that don’t even know there is a choice, or even that there is such a thing as blue pill or a red pill.
I still think we shouldn’t underestimate what people will do to survive. Maslow’s heirarchy of needs. Some of what you are talking about is socialisation. Some of it is more fundamental, so I would guess that you have to wait until people have a lot less to lose, or you have to convince them that there are bloody good reasons to risk their survival needs (not you personally of course).
I could do with a drink myself as it happens.
How many children are there as of right now in NZ who could develop amazing talents but who will be stymied because their talent isn’t easily monetised? I’m picking thousands and thousands.
And how many will wind up rejected by the market to waste away in disempowered and shitty living conditions that produce all manner of neurotic and destructive behaviours? Again, I’m picking thousands and thousands.
And how many will be ‘hunted down’ because their survival strategies, perfectly reasonable under the circumstances, run counter to arbitrary laws that ‘just happen’ to feed into ideas about creating profits in some privatised prison system. I’m picking a fair percentage of those thousands and thousands.
And how many people sitting in relative comfort will wring their hands and shake their heads and wonder what the world is coming to? Many. But god forbid they actually take a look at the systemic drivers behind the clusterfuck of ‘dysfunctional’ people and poverty. (not actually dysfunctional – perfect, though undesirable, functionality for the circumstances)
And – oh, fuck me dead – how many bleeding heart liberals will decry the lack of jobs as being the source and reason for the blight and the waste? Damn near all, if present attitudes are anything to go by.
Yep, getting pissed off with that too. But, but, we neeeed jobssss No, we don’t.
Can you imagine the air of disbelief that would greet anyone who was to propose that working cotton or sugar for a plantation owner engendered self worth and respect?
I can, because I’ve seen it when people do. Check out things like the recent bullshit around Ani DiFranco proposing to hold a retreat in a former plantation. Five minutes after the first person said “wow, that’s kind of insensitive” you could hardly move for people insisting that most slave owners were actually lovely people and treated their slaves just like members of the family etc.
People are really bad at challenging things which they’ve been taught are normal.
aw fck- and I wasn’t feeling disenchanted enough as it was? cheers QoT
That’s me, feminist killjoy!
People will say anything to justify the wrongs of the past, and even today, present ones. The worst now is people who stand up, admit their mistakes, expect instant forgiveness, and then expect those wrongs to instantaneously disappear.
Of course we also have the “great deniers”, a la our dear leader, who never ever tells fibs. Apologizes to BLiP. His list of J.K.’s “fibs” is magnanimous!!
By our leader I assume you are referring to John Key.
Look, it matters not who we all support and vote for this guy is hands down the best prime minister in New Zealand’s history.
The more people invent rubbish to suit their preconceived ideas the better good honest down-to-earth people like John Key look; comparatively speaking of course.
Time to get factual my friend.
“Look, it matters not who we all support and vote for this guy is hands down the best prime minister in New Zealand’s history…..
Time to get factual my friend.”
You are either trying to
A) do satire
B) stir up a hornet’s nest
C) incredibly deluded.
I sense B.
Smarty pants – ‘B’ correct. However I do believe he’s fantastic and I am betting he goes down in history as our best PM.
Strangely the two most hated politicians in the 80’s are now recognised as absolute top performers: Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
Are you off the floor yet?
I have better things to do than discuss issues with someone aiming simply to provoke.
Evidence and reason appeal, not schoolyard banter.
Now you need to go home.
I’m always amazed that this happened in my lifetime.
“I certainly wasn’t afraid. And I wasn’t afraid because I was too angry to be afraid. If I were lucky I would be carted off to jail for a long, long time. And if I were not so lucky, then I would be going back to my campus, in a pine box.”
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/10/261384803/franklin-mccain-one-of-greensboro-four-dies
Thanks joe. You do post the best links.
@ weka..
grrrr..!!!
phillip ure..
What?
stoner jealousy…
@..’stoner jealousy’..
..does weka have better pot than me..?
phillip ure..
@ weka..’what?’..
each day i find/link to about 40-50 stories..
..ones that reach the high standard i set..(pun intentional)..
..and each day there would be between 5-10 that i wd consider are ‘must-reads’ for all..
..that i cd post here..but i don’t..(to avoid ‘spamming’ accusations/charges..)
..so..
..but yes..joe 90 also finds good stuff..
..and i have often posted links he has heads-up!ed me to..
..my ‘grr!’ was light-hearted in nature..(sigh..!..)
phillip ure..
Yes, I understood the grr, I just wanted to opportunity to point out that joe90’s links are legible and yours aren’t.
ouch..!
..passive-aggressive-bruises..again..
..there must be a green in the house..
..(was it something i said..?..)
phillip ure..
“..Yes, I understood the grr,..”
no you didn’t..
..anyone can see that..
phillip ure..
Thanks for the info Mathew.
I’ll pass it on.
Freedom came up with some controversial ideas about funding electioneering yesterday. Could be good? But what do others think. They are at –
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10012014/#comment-755610
And someone made a very rude remark about politicians on Open Mike 10 January too. Oh that was me by the way. And some good discussion on Norway and why is someone trying to stir up hostility against them in Ireland. Was interesting – worth catching up.
To be honest greywarbler I am a bit puzzled that folk seem to have ignored it, bar Rosie and yourself, but such is life. I think it is a solid idea that should only be controversial to those who fail to understand how real change is sometimes required if things are really to change.
There were some pretty loud voices being thrown around TS these past months, and many of them called for new ideas for dealing with old political issues. Looking over TS posts today and yesterday, I see little discussion of anything new but lots of ongoing deckchair scenarios.
Then again, in blogs as in life, there is a certain judgmental bias that attaches itself to names, maybe I should have submitted it as an anonymous guest post. 😉
afk
p.s.
tick tock
I reckon submit it as a guest post. I often skip over long comments in OM unless it is something that I am particularly interested in.
“There were some pretty loud voices being thrown around TS these past months, and many of them called for new ideas for dealing with old political issues. Looking over TS posts today and yesterday, I see little discussion of anything new but lots of ongoing deckchair scenarios.”
Offending your potential audience might not be the best way to start though 😉
OK. I have some time. I’ll put it into a post – it’ll be under my pseudonym, if that’s OK, but properly attributed.
Hi freedom. You will have noticed how interested people were in the matter of Len Brown sleeping around. Then a foxy little RWNJ red number flits past and all the lefties go baying after him/her. Reading and thinking, and then ditto, are so not hip.
I don’t follow lots of things I should and I hope the ideas will continue to be presented until I get them through my head. Blip is an example. Lots to read that has to be returned to again.
We need to keep on with this stuff. But it is post-Christmas and people are still spending their Christmas money or trading things online. It’ll be swinging back and hotting up.
What do you think about a possible early election? That will sharpen everyone. And what about a guest post offering? You could just fill it out with some background of what other places do or whatever, and put it up as a post. I thought it was a subject and a comment that deserved attention. So in another couple of weeks say when the holiday is over. I haven’t done a guest post myself yet but I haven’t had such an organised, considered comment to introduce as you.
Oh, I saw it, still thinking about it. Having a guest post about it would probably help stir some debate.
http://radcasting.blogspot.co.nz
http://radcast.org
Fukushima is not going away – it seems it’s not getting better and indeed it is melting!
So now we have a place we can call fall out city – it looks like it going to be giving us perpetual radiation for the next few hundred years. Safe green energy – my ass.
It seems the main stream media just want to ignore this issue.
The main effects (globally) will be on fishing stocks, but overfishing will negate this increasingly.
Its the blind leading the blind for the environmental, one disaster is blinded by another.
I love this video – web site
http://www.wolf-pac.com
China relegates the US to the world’s No2 trading nation?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25678415
The irony: Chinese workers sewing up Guantanamo Bay Orange clothing in that BBC photo.
Meaningless in term of power. US+EU+Other still larger.
“Carrying a sign just wasn’t cutting it any more”
Activists who broke into FBI office 1971, revealed direct govt activities against political activists and protestors, and helped take down J Edgar Hoover, finally revealed.
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/8/it_was_time_to_do_more
And we’re part of the plan.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175790/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_special_ops_goes_global/
http://www.tomdispatch.com/images/managed/socommap4_large.jpg
http://www.radicalcartography.net/index.html?usempire
http://empire.is/
Two nuclear powers squaring off against one another, tit-for-tat diplomatic sanctions, all the trappings of a new cold war. My money’s on India.
How did the savage govt manage to implement a 40 hour week, state housing and welfare without;
The sky falling;
Being voted out?
It was pretty radical stuff, yes?
How did the savage govt manage to implement a 40 hour week,
By doing nothing ie by maintaining the status quo,as it had been in since the realm of Queen Victoria.
Yep. Thing is, we need to change the status quo. If we don’t then we’re fucked.
The lowlanders of Eindhoven know a thing or two about cycling.
http://hovenring.com/
A smorgasbord of items about charter or academy schools. The new profit centre or center depending on what spelling your charter school chooses.
Academies and free schools should become profit-making businesses using hedge funds and venture capitalists to raise money, according to private plans being drawn up by the Education Secretary, Michael Gove
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cash-for-classrooms-michael-gove-plans-to-let-firms-run-schools-for-profit-8682395.html
and
http://www.isreview.org/issues/62/feat-charterschools.shtml
In a stock market prospectus uncovered by education author Jonathan Kozol, the Montgomery Securities group explains to Corporate America the lure of privatizing education. Kozol writes: “The education industry,” according to these analysts, “represents, in our opinion, the final frontier of a number of sectors once under public control” that have either voluntarily opened or, they note in pointed terms, have “been forced” to open up to private enterprise. Indeed, they write, “the education industry represents the largest market opportunity” since health-care services were privatized during the 1970’s…. From the point of view of private profit, one of these analysts enthusiastically observes, “The K–12 market is the Big Enchilada.”1
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school_(England)
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_(English_school)
and
Charter Schools and The Profit Motive | JONATHAN TURLEY
jonathanturley.org/2013/03/16/charter-schools-and-the-profit-motive/
Mar 16, 2013 – We have no idea whether the money is being efficiently or effectively … The big business of charter schools (Washington Post) …. It’s about money and politics and influence-peddling. ….. Why would we outsource the nation’s curriculum to a for-profit publishing and test-making corporation based in London?
Hey Greywarbler
Charter schools work; that is a fact.
They help to lift the standards of other schools in their area; another fact.
Charter schools absolutely lift the performance of lower socioeconomic children; yet another fact.
Face it, you are against them because of who introduced the concept and not because of what they are.
Our Children are too important for you and your kind to go politicizing in the negative.
Why do you want uneducated kids? Is that because they are then more easily manipulated?
Got any citations for your “facts”, manu? Got any critique to show there’s a problem with the evidence produced by greywarbler?
Hello Karol, thanks for coming out to play
Here’s just some evidence. Try it for size. Now I know it will bug you that the poor brown kids will now catch up to the white kids much faster but don’t let that ruin your day:
Nina Rees at USA Today writes:
New York¹s public charter schools are upending old assumptions about urban education. And they can help even more students if New York¹s incoming mayor lets them.
Earlier this year, Stanford¹s Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) revealed that in just one school year, the typical New York City charter school student gained about five additional months of learning in math and one additional month of learning in reading compared with students in traditional public schools.
These gains, repeated year after year, are helping to erase achievement gaps between urban and suburban students. A rigorous 2009 study from Stanford professor Caroline Hoxby found that students who attend New York City¹s charter schools from Kindergarten through 8th grade will make up 86% of the suburban-urban achievement gap in math and 66% of the gap in English.
New York has roughly 70,000 students enrolled in public charter schools, and the numbers are on the rise. This school year alone, 14,000 new students in the city enrolled in charter schools with the vast majority in low-income neighbourhoods.
Remarkably, several charter schools in low-income neighbourhoods are showing some of the most impressive achievement gains. For instance, while just 30% of students citywide passed New York¹s new Common Core math exam, 97% of students passed the exam at Bronx Success Academy 2. The passage rate was 80% at Leadership Prep Ocean Hill in Brownsville, a community that has suffered academic failure for generations.
Mayor Bloomberg introduced “co-location” as a way to turn unused classrooms into productive learning environments. Sharing space also tests the hypothesis that environmental factors make it difficult for children in certain neighbourhoods to succeed in school. Charters quickly proved that theory wrong. For example, 88% of third and fourth graders at Success Academy Harlem 5 passed the state math exam. The traditional public school located in the same building only managed to attain a pass rate of 6%.
Across the country, charter schools have produced particular academic gains among students in poverty, minority students and students still learning English. The same CREDO study that revealed impressive learning gains among New York City¹s charter school students also showed that, nationwide, black students in poverty who attend charter schools gained the equivalent of 29 extra days of learning in reading each year, and 36 extra days in math, compared to their traditional public schools peers.
[You should put links in if you are going to post from articles. This one is from http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/01/01/public-charter-schools-de-blasio-new-york-column/4265747/ – MS]
And are we going to have metal weapon detectors and guards armed with guns at our schools too? The New York education system is a fucking wreck, US students can’t read write or add anywhere as good as NZ students, and bringing onboard US modelled anythings simply to siphon off public education money for private profit, is stupid.
Credo fails test of sound research.
Sounds like your kind of research Manu.
http://www.edreform.com/2013/06/multiple-shortcomings-in-new-stanford-research-study-on-charter-school-performance/
Manu is bored today and is seeking to disrupt any thread.
He’s had a few gos today already, even one claiming Key is NZ’s best PM ever!
Best not to waste your valuable time.
Hello Manu
You are onto a good thing with charter schools. Business looking for some profitable enterprise have noticed that education is desired by everyone. Also there is so little business enterprise going on it is one of the few areas of growth – selling dreams and measured information and skills to youngsters.
And it is government funded. So the perpetrators of these academies and charter schools don’t run the risk of losing their shirts when they don’t achieve excellence. Some will turn out to be really good for some youngsters, some okay and some abject failures. But the NZ government has so little interest in doing its job to provide for the nation what a responsible modern country needs, that they are happy to get rid of much of the education problem (much exaggerated) and not even set any standards or controls for most of the activity. And they will fund it. It’s great news.
So keep applying for all the grants that are available. Just keep everyone on the administration and teaching side up to standard won’t you. No large expensive people movers, large, high 4WDs at great cost. Don’t keep on dodgy coaches because they keep the sports teams winning or the kapa haka team achieving. You may be able to do a better job than the past.
But two great Maori schools are now closed, St Stephens and Queen Victoria. They couldn’t adapt and stand fast against elements that led to their downfall. Their problems will arise again in some charter schools. And they will be worse, and be kept under wraps for some time till some whistleblower arises. I think they will be an expensive mistake for the country. But will leave some well off.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=163341
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/education/native-affairs-old-school
They were once bastions of excellence, responsible for educating many of Māoridom’s most esteemed leaders however their glory days have long since passed.
For over a decade ex-students and whānau have been battling to resurrect Māori boarding schools Queen Victoria and St Stephen’s College.
Now moves are underway to re-open these much loved schools. Semiramis Holland reports.
Pass the super – it will help the country
So, anyone want more private financial institutions getting their hands on our super savings?
And then there’s this.
And that’s proven by the above link showing ever more money going to the financial system.
If we want a better society the first thing that needs to be done is the reform of the financial system. Until that happens all we’ll have is ever increasing inequality and poverty.