So this happened today at Barnes & Noble: I went to take the kids to meet the Paw Patrol characters and this nice man approached me, told me how beautiful the girls are, and conveyed a heartfelt apology for the general anti-Muslim sentiment in our society today. He had tears in his eyes and told me that it must be so hard to turn on the news, that he feels awful about the bigotry my kids might one day experience, and that as a Jewish man whose parents didn’t speak any English growing up, he personally understands what it feels like to be rejected and discriminated against. I asked if I could give him a hug (he looked like he needed one more than me, but I guess I needed one too) and he wanted to reassure me that most Americans are decent people who don’t hate people like me or believe what they hear on the news. He then told me he’s turning 90 on Friday and insisted on buying each of the kids a present as a gift for himself and so they can have something to remember him by. I told him we should just take a picture instead so I can tell them the story one day (he accepted) but insisted on buying them gifts anyway afterwards.
“Sorry Morrissey, but not quite the lovely story you were hoping for”
Yeah it is. Her father is allegedly a convicted terrorist. But she isn’t. All I can see from that article is that she was a radical student when younger. Is that a definition of terrorist now? 🙄 So the story works even better if she comes from a family that is radicalised into violence but she herself isn’t. That’s how we create peace, by creating respectful relationships with people who are different from us.
I also noticed the misogyny in that article, that she is acceptable as a nice little wifey but not if she is overtly political.
Bernie Sanders Denounces Brazil’s Impeachment
as Undemocratic, Calls for New Elections
by Glenn Greenwald , The Intercept, Aug. 10 2016
VERMONT SENATOR BERNIE Sanders yesterday denounced in harsh terms the impeachment of Brazil’s democratically elected president. As the Brazilian Senate heads toward a final vote later this month, Sanders described his position, set forth in a statement posted on his Senate site, as “calling on the United States to take a definitive stand against efforts to remove Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff from office.” He added: “To many Brazilians and observers the controversial impeachment process more closely resembles a coup d’état.”
Sanders also condemned the unelected center-right coalition under Michel Temer that has seized power during Rousseff’s suspension and is now trying to install themselves through 2018. “After suspending Brazil’s first female president on dubious grounds, without a mandate to govern,” he said, ” the new interim government abolished the ministry of women, racial equality and human rights” and “replaced a diverse and representative administration with a cabinet made up entirely of white men.” They are now attempting to implement radical policies that could never be democratically ratified: “impose austerity, increase privatization and install a far right-wing social agenda.”
Sanders’ statement comes as Brazil’s elites – virtually unified in favor of Dilma’s impeachment – have taken extraordinary (and almost comically futile) measures during the Olympics to hide from the domestic public, and the world, how deeply unpopular Temer is. ….
Just a comment on yesterdays thread for all you people who are backing Clinton. The bad news for you is CV is right. Sure , Trump is totally unsuitable but Clinton… she will promise anything but it’s not words that count , it’s her actions. Look at her track record— she is nothing but a tool of big money ,corruption and the military. If she gets in you can expect full on war with Russia ( because of American aggression ). Just look who’s getting in behind Clinton … it’s bloody obvious.
I don’t know the answer to the shit this dying empire is getting us into but I do know Hillary Clinton is not the answer that any of us want.
Little aint saying anything to get anyone onboard, Trump does, the wackos and assorted nuts are loving him. Look what reallt puzzles me is Congress, wht havent they started impeachment yet, doesn’t matter which wins, Congress is going to impeach them.
Reminds me of G.W.B stole the election, was loathed, did absolutely nothing but play golf and dig holes on his ranch, only then to have missed all the reports on Bin Laden, it was not until 9/11 that America got a president, whose agemda was spending taxes oncontractors in Iraq by removing the army.
Watch yourself America, unpopular Presidents need grandstanding events to get popular.
…”A number of emails that the former first lady failed to turn over to the US government, but were released after a Freedom of Information Act request, show donors and associates of the Clinton Foundation and its Global Initiative seemingly having special access inside the State Department.
The conservative group Judicial Watch released 296 pages of unseen State Department records Tuesday, including 44 previously unreleased emails…
You must have had some seriously awful experiences with the midwives who supported you through pregnancy, labour and the post partum period PM for you to make such a negative sweeping generalisation.
Totally agree. Our Midwife trained a number of others while over seeing our pregnancies. All of them were fantastic, dedicated professionals. In the second pregnancy because of severe complications she was not able to directly oversee the birth however even though she wasn’t getting paid she showed up late at night and supported us through the birth.
Midwifery as Feminist Praxis
in
Aotearoa/New Zealand
RUTH JOY SURTEES
“This thesis highlights the ways in which the practices of contemporary midwives in
Aotearoa/New Zealand are caught within the intersection of an array of competing
discourses. The context for this is the reconstruction of midwifery in Aotearoa/New Zealand
as an autonomous feminist profession founded on partnership with women. Interviews and
participant observation with midwives, based mainly in one New Zealand city, are the basis of
an analysis of the complexity of midwives’ praxis as professionals. The analysis draws on
insights from critical and feminist approaches to Foucault’s theories of discourse, power and
the subject. It includes discussion of the conditions which came to produce and authorise the
concept of ‘partnership’. Which subjects can speak about partnership, and when? What claims
are made about it? What challenges it? ”
Builds on much work done over the years recording and analysing the largely patriarchy dominated politics of childbirth.
PM’s comment was out and out bigotry (ignorant bigotry I’d guess).
It’s based on a pretty small sample of midwives, yes. News stories like the above one tend to back up the evidence of my admittedly-small sample, however.
Your conviction that one must have experienced a pregnancy to know whether a midwife’s opinion on something is wildly irrational or not lacks an evidential basis.
Po-mo is short for post-modernism, in this case postmodernist philosophy. It’s often used as shorthand to refer to writing that uses academic-sounding jargon to obfuscate rather than explain.
Po mo- post modernism- is rubbish which is infecting academics (often French or American) who have a lot to say about nothing. I met one once. ..Pretentious emptiness to the extreme
For more information look at http://www.physics.nyu.edu/sokal/dawkins.html
That would be like me saying that doctors are rapists because there are some doctors who sexually abuse their patients. That’s me signposting to the problems with your position, not just the obvious one but the trickier political ones too. There is a deeper level of prejudice going on that culturally sanctions the damage that the medical profession does and tolerates, yet pillories the midwifery profession for mistakes that midwives make. There are some pretty murky gender politics in there around power and who we trust.
I remember reading a novel in the eighties set in a busy US hospital.
Young interns gasping in awe and wonder that a woman had actually given birth without the benefit of anaesthesia, analgesia or forceps.
And, shock horror, the mother was alive! The baby was alive!
And, by god the baby was spontaneously breastfeeding!
And, and , all was well despite the Doctors not being able to do anything (because the woman had eaten and couldn’t be anaesthetised) other than catch the baby.
Goodness gracious me…how on earth did humanity survive before the word “obstetrician” was invented?
That would be silly. Two of my kids were delivered by midwives, who were both highly competent, practical people and did a great job. The only one of mine that was delivered by a doctor in a hospital was dead, so you won’t hear any disparaging of midwife competence from me – the doctor/midwife success ratio in my own life overwhelmingly supports midwifery.
My comment was that midwifery “seems to attract a significant proportion of nut jobs,” ie in my experience (the above-mentioned births, multiple sets of ante-natal classes, serving the ones undergoing training at my institution, individuals I’ve known who’ve taken up the profession) a higher proportion of them are irrationalists than in other professions. That’s still a low proportion overall.
“…midwifery “seems to attract a significant proportion of nut jobs,”
Hmmm…I remember at varsity in the late seventies the psychology majors having a preponderance of ‘nut jobs’ in their ranks.
We (the non- nut jobs) wondered if they were drawn to psychology as a way of working through their own psychological issues.
My midwife, for all three kids, was trained in the Netherlands and was one of the first Independent Midwives in the country. Forever grateful I am for her saving No.1 son from the unnecessary forceps delivery demanded by the hospital specialist…for whom speed of delivery was the priority…there was a golf game waiting for him…I kid ye not.
Most of the early independent midwives (the eighties) were true professionals…which sometimes upset “home – birth societies”. These groups were often former hippies who eschewed all medical intervention for anything, and took umbrage when this midwife arrived bearing not only the obligatory birthing stool, but the newborn resuscitation equipment. She was, for this one ‘crime of medicalisation’, blacklisted by the Society. I imagine the forerunners of the nut jobs you are talking about are the midwives that were accepted by these groups.
I think the naturopath needs to be held to account there as well. It seems to me that she held a position of power of the woman and used it inappropriately.
Probably because she wasn’t practicing medicine, and to charge her with that would create massive problems legally regarding the large number of health care providers who aren’t medical ones.
I agree she should be charged with something though, and her professional body (if she has one) needs a bloody good rark up.
Yeah, (evidence base aside) the semantic difference between “practicing medicine” and giving assurances on what to do “if you want to see him better” is lost on me.
And if she was getting any sort of payment she should be done for fraud.
Fortunately it’s not lost on the justice system. Unless one wants to ban all non-medical health care, then there is a distinction between helping people with their health and practicing medicine. This is important because most healthcare in the world is done by non-medical people.
I hope they throw every book they can at that naturopath.
I wonder if the sevens losing and the generally dismal performance of our over-rated Olympians will finally puncture the miasma of self delusional complacency and smug self satisfaction of our middle class?
Nothing like shattering the assumptions of racial superiority of our settler class to get them whining about everything else as well.
Apparently Sanctuary spent six months in Europe and know considers himself so much more enlightened than us backward, uncultured proles and it’s become his duty to point this out where ever he goes.
Lots of eye rolling and what a wanker, seems to be the general response.
Well it seems a bit churlish to have a go at the athletes, I’m sure they went out there and did their best and its hardly the athletes fault the media went overboard on the medal chances
Ok so sure the media have played them up but generally dismal is certainly harsh and uncalled for, the Olympics aren’t halfway over yet and I’m pretty sure that all of the athletes there have put in their best efforts
So you’ve got some reject from sociology 101 insulting athletes just to make some point about the middle class
“I am sad because I don’t particularly derive my sense of identity from sport?” Totally! Had a customer abuse some staff & when I went to intervene it turned out he was pissed off at the 7s losing! & then on my way home I had dumb radio jocks saying Mark Todd had “let down New Zealand.”
If that were true you’d be off rubbing shoulders with your fellow rightwingers instead of trying to impose your sad lack of character and morality here.
Of course I’m unhappy – you criminal arseholes are wrecking my country and hurting my people.
No – you are merely a probable criminal. You are poorly socialised, antisocial, and prefer the views and company of criminals. If we were profiling you’d be a good bet, but you may not in fact be a criminal.
Oh Stuart you poor, misguided, fool, the majority of NZ voters gave enough votes for National to be the largest (by a great margin) party in NZ nad were able to form a government and will continue to do so until 2020
You only really like democracy (and be honest) when the party you support is in power
Mr Munro – you make my day. It makes me happy that people like you are so miserable – because the way you interact with people you disagree with – you deserve it.
There are plenty of lefties on here that make really interesting comments – you on the other hand add nothing to the quality of debate, and to be perfectly honest are the kind of example that will give the standard a bad name.
With comments like yours, and others who have posted things like “hang yourself”, and the people who (it appears from some post) to have made this a unhappy place for women to comment – it is disappointing that the comments section of this blog are making this blog IMHO a poorer place.
It is interesting that people often spew at Wh….O.. blog and the comments there – indeed they were terrible (and a lot of his post) – but credit where credit is due – he cleaned up his act. You sir – are the opposite and are making tis blog worse.
Why dont we all try to raise the game and drop the insults – and try to respect the place a bit more.
I was once optimistic that commentators here would change. But on reflection, the vile rudeness on display simply reflects the personalities and life outlook of these people. There is nothing that can be done. They don’t want to change and don’t want to hear any ideas that challenge their deeply pessimistic world view, and tendency to blame both the Government and “rich’ people for every real or imagined problem they see.
There is no discussing with you, you are not sincere. You are here to prevent conversation, to disseminate fictions and to cause trouble.
You disgust me – you and your fellow trolls – you are a form of pollution, both of blogs and of the world at large.
I don’t go on RWNJ sites attempting to impose my views on the participants. That would be arrogant and illmannered. Such considerations do not appear to trouble you.
Do not pretend to be a ‘plausible righty’ there is no such thing.
There has been a concerted effort by the moderators here in recent months to encourage positive discussions and to discourage pointless abuse. However, robust debate is often the norm and sometimes it’s witty, intelligent and enlightening. Sometimes it’s way too personal, which is a drag.
But overall, the site enjoys a huge readership, a lively commentariat and some of the best political bloggers in NZ writing posts. It won’t always to be to your taste, but you should take heart that there are many right of centre commenters who are regulars here and who generally get a fair go.
So I welcome your call to minimise the abuse. However, I think that’s already happening in a very meaningful way and that TS is the better for it. it won’t be perfect and all of us are capable of letting our frustration get the better of us, but I genuinely think we’re heading in the right direction.
You disgust me – you and your fellow trolls – you are a form of pollution, both of blogs and of the world at large.
Oh, very persuasive. There’s no comments thread that can’t be improved by a steadfast refusal to see people who disagree with you as fellow humans, right?
I don’t go on RWNJ sites attempting to impose my views on the participants. That would be arrogant and illmannered.
Given your commenting style, it certainly would be. On the other hand, if you tried stringing together an actual argument once in a while, you might find those right-wing sites interesting places to visit – hanging out only with people you agree with is corrosive of your reasoning skills.
@PM – I don’t come here to demonstrate my reasoning skills to the nuts – if they had any to speak of they wouldn’t be nuts.
It has to do with the epidemiology of movements – Key’s strategy guys know all about this stuff – that’s why they shut down Campbell. Semantic warfare.
“…BTW – the country in general is going just fine and most agree with that (see polls re country direction)…”
If I had a dollar for everytime some idiot said “NZ is a great little place that punches above it’s weight and is doing just fine” I’d be a rich man indeed. It is a line particularly peddled by Mike Hoskings. Now, to me this opinion can only be founded on smugly racist assumptions about some sort of cultural and/or racial superiority on our part that makes us somehow exceptional. A set of smug assumptions and myths about New Zealand exceptionalism – NZ is paradise, a great place to have a family and bring up kids, is egalitarian, and it punches above it’s weight – underlay the belief system of our middle class and act as rationalising tool to explain away our filthy rivers, our child poverty, our massive domestic violence problems, our massive wealth disparity and our poor economic performance.
Sport is an important bulwark of these middle class myths. Racist assertions of sporting prowess and success are seen as vindications of the existing social and economic order, just like it was with rugby in racist South Africa. Sport has always been a powerful propaganda tool. The fact is the successes of our Olympic team will be used by cheerleaders of the current system as proof we are on the right track. Failure, I would hope, will serve to do the opposite.
By the way – I think our athletes will do about as well as you’d expect from a modestly funded program from one of the poorer first world countries. The idea we are a genetically superior, outdoor bred, virile Aryan super nation of athletic over-achievers is rubbish.
“a great place to have a family and bring up kids” yeah hear that a lot, & in NZ we have had a 5 year commit suicide! But nah all good, nothing to whine about, the sun is shining, the Chiefs are wonderful role models for our young men etc…(sarc).
A policy of rehabilitation, hope, post jail employment, diversion and cooperation from Media to stop filling us with dreadful over-inflated crime reports.
But with the insistent push for bigger punishment, longer sentences, ethnic targeting, and political pandering, it would take very brave politicians to make a move to get us down from such high rates of imprisonments.
All hail the Netherlands.
Wonder of their decriminalisation of some drugs had an effect?
A relly has just joined the Dutch police as a forensic accountant from KPMG where he did the same job.
He reckons they are arsedeep in white collar fraud there and he will never be out of a job.
It just takes forever to nail the bastards.
His best story? Sitting opposite a bloke , and while the relly was pretty sure it was a computing mistake, watching the guys face and asking ” So where’s the missing 75 trillion ?” . Priceless.
P.S, I asked 75 trillion? indisbelief, and he said that was not an unusual amount to be dealing with, it only needs to be out of sight for a few hours for somebody to make a shitload. We’re still in kindy in this country.
….and the CC again taking issue with the Gummint (through the Select Committee) that the new legislation which will guide the ‘re-structuring’ has…
“”…missed the opportunity” to go far enough.
Becroft, the former Principal Youth Court Judge, took issue with four aspects of the proposed legislation. He called for the Youth Justice Age to be raised to 17, and said the bill did not go far enough in giving the child’s voice weight.
“The change half-step, and not full-step, to include Youth Justice seems to us to be burdensome, and it will add administrative complexity, it’s wrong in principle and it’s in flat flagrant breach of the United Nations Convention obligations.
The terms surrounding the creation of a new advocacy system for children were weak, and “delegation powers”, which would allow certain non-Government social workers to uplift children from their families, was concerning.
“Some very invasive state powers have been vested into those whom the chief executive might delegate those powers to, with very little prescription.
“There are dangers in leaving such significant discretionary powers to be developed behind the scenes, non-transparently, by policy make”‘
If there is a god who strengthens the resolve of Government appointed Commissioners….
Can’t remember when but a week or so ago had one of the resident righties (Chuck?) supporting the name change when I made disparaging remarks, I thought that you could rename the ministries with a bunch of more imaginative titles & the title of ‘Ministry of Vulnerable Children’ is just bizarre.
Can’t but help agreeing with the Auckland Action Against Poverty on this one. The bullying nature of Work and Income, and its failed policies – are just not working.
yep, many people do everything they can to avoid WINZ since the old social security turned into the current sadistic punishment maze, ever wonder why some of the local beggars are getting more insistent?
it is time for some direct action by and for the homeless too–organised squats in proven long term empty private and state houses and moneybags boats in marinas too
WINZ needs to be urgently retired in favour of some form of UBI, and in the meantime the PSA could stop accepting as members govt. staff in WINZ and MSD that spend their working day making other citizens lives a misery–“I am only following orders–doing my job”–should not cut it in this instance
I don’t have much fear of actually losing my job, but I do have fear about ever having to visit WINZ because of job loss, so their actions are working as they scare workers like me (& because of technology my job is in constant flux like most people I suppose.)
you are correct gangnam and it is scary for many others who could just do with some short term assistance that often their taxes have paid for, endless condescending seminars on how to write a CV, losing your documents etc. blaming you personally for the changing nature of work…
and income splitting is needed for couples, WINZ will not pay job seeker support if say one partner loses their job if they are living in a relationship of the ‘nature of a marriage’
WINZ is meant to be a nasty experience as the Household Labourforce Survey has long shown–there are more unemployed people than people actually in receipt of “jobseeker support”, and as signalled by the departments classic “Catch 22”, WINZ staff can be rewarded for denying the very assistance they are meant to supply!, and for applying sanctions and getting people off the books inclusive of paying and or receiving a fee to and from ACC and MSD…
+100…yes this is good that the MSM is starting to take notice …it should be there to protect democracy after all! ..this is what the MSM has traditionally been stated as being for
“In a statement to Business Insider on Wednesday, Rich family spokesperson Brad Bauman thanked investigators and implored high-profile figures to stop attempting to “politicize” Rich’s death by perpetuating unfounded theories about the shooting.
“The family welcomes any and all information that could lead to the identification of the individuals responsible, and certainly welcomes contributions that could lead to new avenues of investigation,” Bauman said in the statement.
He added:
“That said, some are attempting to politicize this horrible tragedy, and in their attempts to do so, are actually causing more harm that good and impeding on the ability for law enforcement to properly do their job. For the sake of finding Seth’s killer, and for the sake of giving the family the space they need at this terrible time, they are asking for the public to refrain from pushing unproven and harmful theories about Seth’s murder.””
‘NSA leaks show worries over intelligence gaps, training tips for media leaks’
“Among the latest batch of internal NSA documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden are tips for analysts on what to notice about media leaks, playing catch-up over intelligence, and medical surveillance.
On Wednesday, The Intercept released a batch of 263 internal agency reports, called ‘SIDToday’, from the agency’s most important division, the Signals Intelligence Directorate. Dating back to 2003, the documents reveal the department’s culture and operations with a roster of tips on training analysts to spot leaks to the media, internet monitoring, and notices about seminars on Latin American countries…
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If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
Muriel Newman writes – Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
Hi,I wanted to check in and ask how you’re doing.This is perhaps a selfish act, of attempting to find others feeling a similar way to me — that is to say, a little hopeless at the moment.Misery loves company, that sort of deal.Some context.I wish I could say I got ...
I have hitherto been fairly quiet on the new season of Rings of Power, on the basis that the underwhelming first season did not exactly build excitement – and the rumours were fairly daft. The only real thing of substance to come out has been that they have re-cast Adar ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
“The thing is,” Chris Luxon says, leaning forward to make his point, “this has always been my thing.”“This goes all the way back to the first multinational I worked for. I was saying exactly the same thing back then. The name of our business needs to be more clear; people ...
Buzz from the Beehive It’s been a momentous few days for Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision which blocked a summons order from the Waitangi Tribunal for her. And today she has announced the Government is putting children first by introducing to ...
In 2014 former Australian army lawyer David McBride leaked classified military documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC. Dubbed "The Afghan Files", the documents led to an explosive report on Australian war crimes, the disbanding of an entire SAS unit, and multiple ongoing prosecutions. The journalist who wrote the ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – According to the respected Pew Research Centre, “In seven of eight [European] countries surveyed, the most trusted news outlet asked about is the public news organization in each country”. For example, “in Sweden, an overwhelming majority (90%) say they trust the public broadcaster SVT”. ...
David Farrar writes – Kata MacNamara reports: Details of Tony Blakely’s involvement in the New Zealand Government’s response to the pandemic raise serious questions about the work of the Covid-19 Royal Commission of Inquiry over which he presides. It has long been clear that Blakely, a ...
Chris Trotter writes – Are you a Brahmin or a Merchant? Or, are you merely one of those whose lives are profoundly influenced by the decisions of Brahmins and Merchants? Those are the questions that are currently shaping the politics of New Zealand and the entire West. ...
RNZ reports – It’s supposed to be a haven of healing and spiritual awakening but residents of the Kawai Purapura community say they’ve been hurt and deceived. It’s the successor to the former Centrepoint commune, and has been on the bush block opposite Albany shopping centre since 2008. It ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. Usually we have a video chat to go with this wrap, but were unable to do one this week. We’ll be back next week.Several reports ...
The Transport Minister has set a hard 'fiscal envelope' of $6.54 billion for transport capital spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy is settling into a state of suspended animation as the Government’s funding freezes and job cuts chill confidence and combine with stubbornly high interest rates to ...
To be precise, the term “anti- Zionism” refers to (a) criticism of the political movement that created a modern Jewish state on the historical land of Israel, and to (b)the subjugation of Palestinians by the Israeli state. By contrast, the term “anti-Semitism” means bigotry and racism directed at Jewish people, ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Because hurricanes are one of the big-ticket weather disasters that humanity has to face, climate misinformers spend a lot of effort muddying the waters on whether climate change is making hurricanes more damaging. With the official start to the hurricane ...
Yesterday the Mayor released what he calls his “plan to save public transport” which is part of his final proposal for the Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP). This comes following consultation on the draft version that occurred in March which showed, once again, that people want more done on transport, especially ...
And it's a pleasure that I have knownAnd it's a treasure that I have gainedAotearoa’s coalition government is fragile. It’s held together by the obsequious sycophancy of Christopher Luxon, who willingly contorts his party into the fringe positions of his junior coalition partners and is unwilling to contradict them. The ...
The Select Committee hearing submissions on the fast-track consenting legislation is starting to become a beat-up of regional councils. The inflexibility and slow workings of the Councils were prominent in two submissions yesterday. One, from the Coromandel Marine Farmers Association, simply said that the Waikato Regional Council’s planning decisions were ...
Back in April, the High Court surprised everyone by ruling that Ministers are above the law, at least as far as the Waitangi Tribunal is concerned. The reason for this ruling was "comity" - the idea that the different branches of government shouldn't interfere with each other's functions. Which makes ...
Buzz from the BeehiveTolling was mentioned when Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced the government was re-introducing the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) programme, with 15 “crucial” projects to support economic growth and regional development across New Zealand. All RoNS would be four-laned, grade-separated highways, and all funding, financing, and ...
or the past 14 years, ever since the Spanish government cheated on an autonomy deal, Catalonia has reliably given pro-independence parties a majority of seats in their regional parliament. But now that seems to be over. Catalans went to the polls yesterday, and stripped the Catalan parties of their majority. ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ report: Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said the Electoral Commission should make sure the system ran smoothly and “taking away the right of thousands of people to vote” was not the answer. “Thousands of people enroled and voted on the day. If ...
Don Brash writes – There was a rather revealing headline in the Herald on Sunday today (12 May). It read “One in 8 Auckland homes on market were bought during boom, may now sell for loss”. The first line of text noted that “New data shows one in ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – At a time when universities are understandably nervous regarding the establishment of the University Advisory Group (UAG) and the Science System Advisory Group (SSAG) it may seem strange – or even fool-hardy – to state that there are long-standing issues in the tertiary sector ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist and Kelvin Anthony, RNZ Pacific digital journalist Police have used tear gas and stun grenades on rioters at an airport near Nouméa as the chaos in New Caledonia stretched into its sixth day. Five people, including two police officers, have died and hundreds of ...
Asia Pacific ReportThe global human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on France to not “misuse” a crackdown in the ongoing unrest in the non-self-governing French Pacific territory of Kanaky New Caledonia in the wake of a controversial vote by the French Parliament to adopt a bill changing the territory’s ...
A major provider of school lunches fears the government's new $3 limit for most students will see them eating more pre-packaged and processed food. ...
The star of Dark City: The Cleaner takes us through his life in TV, including the VHS revolution and the John Campbell impression that started it all. Best known for his comedic roles, Cohen Holloway says he struggled at times to maintain the stone cold facade of serial killer on ...
David Hill remembers an old friend, who you’ve probably never heard of. My friend Doug never travelled; he had little interest in the world beyond his own tiny rural town. I’ve rarely known anyone who radiated such contentment. Doug (I’ll call him that) died in March. You won’t know him. ...
Some of the earliest photos of life in Aotearoa are on display at Auckland Museum right now – but the identities of some of the people in them are a mystery.What was it like to be one of the first people in New Zealand to have their photo taken? ...
Since its founding almost a decade ago, Featherston Booktown has grown into one of the country’s most interesting and idiosyncratic literary events. Erin Banks reports from the audience. “Come in, have you had lunch? I’m about to make a cheese toastie.” Mary Biggs, operations manager of Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival, ...
After 33 years abroad, Loveni Enari recently returned to Aotearoa and Samoa in what a friend joked was an “existential crisis”. He learnt and re-learnt so much about his family, friends and both countries. Almost as an afterthought, he got a Samoan tatau. This is his story. (Accompanying it are ...
Nearly 30 years ago, two people told me they’d killed a woman they knew. I thought the truth would come out, that others would tell it. In the end, I had to. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Fact: in 1995, Angela Blackmoore ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at the week and shines a light on some increasingly rare longform journalism. Mōrena and welcome to The Weekend where there will sadly be no aurora to see. After a busy week last week of short, sharp pieces, this week we swung the other way, ...
ANALYSIS:By David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report Jean-Marie Tjibaou, a revered Kanak visionary, was inspirational to indigenous Pacific political activists across Oceania, just like Tongan anthropologist and writer Epeli Hao’ofa was to cultural advocates. Tragically, he was assassinated in 1989 by an opponent within the independence movement during ...
Forget thin is in, apparently now bigger is better … or is it? After over a decade of body positivity, girls, teens and women are even more confused about what body positivity actually is. The movement began with women confronting unrealistic expectations of how their bodies should look. But sub-strands ...
Grace always sat at the bar at the back of The Cambridge, where she could watch who came in. A huge mirror ran the length of the pub, so you could sometimes watch people without them knowing. The mirror made the place seem a lot bigger than it really was. ...
MONDAY Sheriff Mark Mitchell rose at dawn. He had a long day’s ride ahead of him. He was headed for Waikeria. Waikeria! Even the name itself stirred his blood, and set root in his imagination. There was nothing and no one in Waikeria. But he would bend it to his ...
The first phase of the inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones finished this week, turning up plenty of revelations and few answers. But through all the confusion, heartbreak and antipathy on display, the simple fact at the heart of this case remains: if little Lachie’s body had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Benjamin, Professor in Art History, University of Sydney “She’s no oil painting”. Those were the unkind words of a colleague commenting on the subject of Vincent Namatjira’s acrylic painting, Gina. Every one of the prominent Australians and cultural heroes in Namatjira’s ...
Government plans to require local councils hold a referendum on whether to have Māori wards breaches the Treaty of Waitangi, a Waitangi Tribunal report has found. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney This year the National Rugby League (NRL) opened its season in Las Vegas. It was an audacious move by the league’s ambitious head honcho Peter V’Landys to showcase the game in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate Professor, Music Industry, RMIT University Leading music organisations have praised the federal budget for its investment in the live music sector. The budget includes A$8.6 million for a program called Revive Live: to provide essential support to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marnee Shay, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, The University of Queensland The 2024 federal budget contains A$110 million for Indigenous education. This includes funding for various different organisations to represent and help Indigenous people as well as scholarships in a bid to ...
Air New Zealand has confirmed Nouméa’s Tontouta International airport in New Caledonia is closed until Tuesday. The airline earlier told RNZ it would update customers as soon as it could. Earlier today, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Morning Report government officials had been working on an “hourly basis” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Linley, PhD Candidate in Ecology, Charles Sturt University Grant Linley Australia’s unprecedented Black Summer bushfires in 2019–20 created ideal conditions for misinformation to spread, from the insidious to the absurd. It was within this context that a bizarre story ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcel Scharth, Lecturer in Business Analytics, University of Sydney OpenAI executive Mira Murati launching GPT-4o.OpenAI Earlier this week OpenAI launched GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”), a new version of the artificial intelligence (AI) system powering the popular ChatGPT chatbot. GPT-4o is promoted ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treasure McGuire, Assistant Director of Pharmacy, Mater Health SEQ in conjoint appointment as Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Bond University and as Associate Professor (Clinical), The University of Queensland Speedkingz/Shutterstock Menopause is a natural biological process that marks the end of a ...
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‘Cycling Works’ aims to show business support for citywide cycle infrastructure. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, supermarket giant Foodstuffs lost its attempt to block the construction of a cycle lane outside Thorndon New World in Wellington. The Spinoff’s Wellington editor ...
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Asia Pacific Report Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai — who is also Chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group — has reaffirmed MSG’s support of the pro-independence umbrella group Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) stance opposing the French government’s constitutional bill “unfreezing” the New Caledonia Electoral Roll. It is ...
Producer Susan Leonard remembers her father Ernie, a pioneer of Māori television, and how his legacy lives on in Pathfinders.My father was a fabulous man. His name was Ernie Leonard and he started in TV in the 1970s when it was still glamorous – when TVNZ made behind the ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk, and Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist The suspected ringleaders of the unrest in New Caledonia have been placed in home detention and the social network TikTok has been banned as French security forces struggle to restore law and order. The French ...
Multi-year appropriations - which give the government authority to spend money without reapplying annually - are loosening Parliament's control of the public purse, auditor-general says. ...
Dr. Eric Chuah who stood for a centrist NZ political party in the October 2023 NZ Elections for Maungakiekie Auckland will stand as a candidate for Tauranga City Council Ward of Matua-=Otumoetai and Mayor of Tauranga. ...
If you can’t get to the comedy fest, let us bring the comedy fest to you. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is in full swing at the moment, with a veritable smorgasboard of comedy treats ...
A new poll commissioned by Unions Wellington shows an overwhelming majority of Wellingtonians oppose the Council’s plan to sell the 34% public stake in Wellington Airport. ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 17 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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A Note of Hope
Leena Al-Arian, 27 July 2016
So this happened today at Barnes & Noble: I went to take the kids to meet the Paw Patrol characters and this nice man approached me, told me how beautiful the girls are, and conveyed a heartfelt apology for the general anti-Muslim sentiment in our society today. He had tears in his eyes and told me that it must be so hard to turn on the news, that he feels awful about the bigotry my kids might one day experience, and that as a Jewish man whose parents didn’t speak any English growing up, he personally understands what it feels like to be rejected and discriminated against. I asked if I could give him a hug (he looked like he needed one more than me, but I guess I needed one too) and he wanted to reassure me that most Americans are decent people who don’t hate people like me or believe what they hear on the news. He then told me he’s turning 90 on Friday and insisted on buying each of the kids a present as a gift for himself and so they can have something to remember him by. I told him we should just take a picture instead so I can tell them the story one day (he accepted) but insisted on buying them gifts anyway afterwards.
Read more….
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2016/08/04/if-we-could-just-load-the-one-percent-of-earthling-monsters-on-a-one-way-spaceship-to-pluto-the-world-would-be-a-beautiful-place/
Nice way to start the day, Morrissey. I think most people are fundamentally decent and will show that when the opportunity arises.
Sorry Morrissey, but not quite the lovely story you were hoping for
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/08/jewish-man-apologizes-to-muslim-woman-for-bigotry-she-turns-out-to-be-jihad-supporter
Hmm, smear by association? And it doesn’t change the essence of the story anyway.
The sicko comments on that story tell the real story.
Politics (especially US are a bit of a concern at present).
“Sorry Morrissey, but not quite the lovely story you were hoping for”
Yeah it is. Her father is allegedly a convicted terrorist. But she isn’t. All I can see from that article is that she was a radical student when younger. Is that a definition of terrorist now? 🙄 So the story works even better if she comes from a family that is radicalised into violence but she herself isn’t. That’s how we create peace, by creating respectful relationships with people who are different from us.
I also noticed the misogyny in that article, that she is acceptable as a nice little wifey but not if she is overtly political.
Bernie Sanders Denounces Brazil’s Impeachment
as Undemocratic, Calls for New Elections
by Glenn Greenwald , The Intercept, Aug. 10 2016
VERMONT SENATOR BERNIE Sanders yesterday denounced in harsh terms the impeachment of Brazil’s democratically elected president. As the Brazilian Senate heads toward a final vote later this month, Sanders described his position, set forth in a statement posted on his Senate site, as “calling on the United States to take a definitive stand against efforts to remove Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff from office.” He added: “To many Brazilians and observers the controversial impeachment process more closely resembles a coup d’état.”
Sanders also condemned the unelected center-right coalition under Michel Temer that has seized power during Rousseff’s suspension and is now trying to install themselves through 2018. “After suspending Brazil’s first female president on dubious grounds, without a mandate to govern,” he said, ” the new interim government abolished the ministry of women, racial equality and human rights” and “replaced a diverse and representative administration with a cabinet made up entirely of white men.” They are now attempting to implement radical policies that could never be democratically ratified: “impose austerity, increase privatization and install a far right-wing social agenda.”
Sanders’ statement comes as Brazil’s elites – virtually unified in favor of Dilma’s impeachment – have taken extraordinary (and almost comically futile) measures during the Olympics to hide from the domestic public, and the world, how deeply unpopular Temer is. ….
Read more…
https://theintercept.com/2016/08/09/as-temer-weakens-sanders-denounces-brazils-impeachment-as-undemocratic-calls-for-new-elections/
Just a comment on yesterdays thread for all you people who are backing Clinton. The bad news for you is CV is right. Sure , Trump is totally unsuitable but Clinton… she will promise anything but it’s not words that count , it’s her actions. Look at her track record— she is nothing but a tool of big money ,corruption and the military. If she gets in you can expect full on war with Russia ( because of American aggression ). Just look who’s getting in behind Clinton … it’s bloody obvious.
I don’t know the answer to the shit this dying empire is getting us into but I do know Hillary Clinton is not the answer that any of us want.
” Trump is totally unsuitable…”
Yet 9% of NZers prefer him, versus 7% for Little.
Little aint saying anything to get anyone onboard, Trump does, the wackos and assorted nuts are loving him. Look what reallt puzzles me is Congress, wht havent they started impeachment yet, doesn’t matter which wins, Congress is going to impeach them.
Reminds me of G.W.B stole the election, was loathed, did absolutely nothing but play golf and dig holes on his ranch, only then to have missed all the reports on Bin Laden, it was not until 9/11 that America got a president, whose agemda was spending taxes oncontractors in Iraq by removing the army.
Watch yourself America, unpopular Presidents need grandstanding events to get popular.
What was the question then?
+100 Garibaldi…and more on Hillary !
‘#PayToPlay: Hillary Clinton faces corruption scandal after links between donors & State Dept exposed’
https://www.rt.com/usa/355447-clinton-emails-state-department-foundation/
…”A number of emails that the former first lady failed to turn over to the US government, but were released after a Freedom of Information Act request, show donors and associates of the Clinton Foundation and its Global Initiative seemingly having special access inside the State Department.
The conservative group Judicial Watch released 296 pages of unseen State Department records Tuesday, including 44 previously unreleased emails…
I wouldn’t have thought a nurse would fall for this:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/83046590/australian-midwife-given-suspended-jail-sentence-after-nearly-starving-her-baby-to-death
A nurse probably wouldn’t, but midwifery’s another story – it seems to attract a significant proportion of nut jobs.
You must have had some seriously awful experiences with the midwives who supported you through pregnancy, labour and the post partum period PM for you to make such a negative sweeping generalisation.
Wishing healing and peace to you sister. 🙂
Lol.
PM’s comment was out and out bigotry (ignorant bigotry I’d guess).
Totally agree. Our Midwife trained a number of others while over seeing our pregnancies. All of them were fantastic, dedicated professionals. In the second pregnancy because of severe complications she was not able to directly oversee the birth however even though she wasn’t getting paid she showed up late at night and supported us through the birth.
Oh god! How tempting it is to have a “if it wasn’t for my midwife…” session!
However, it’s academic…
http://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10092/1662/Thesis_fulltext.pdf;jsessionid=1A555AD39D5789A0462C993096F73B60?sequence=1
Midwifery as Feminist Praxis
in
Aotearoa/New Zealand
RUTH JOY SURTEES
“This thesis highlights the ways in which the practices of contemporary midwives in
Aotearoa/New Zealand are caught within the intersection of an array of competing
discourses. The context for this is the reconstruction of midwifery in Aotearoa/New Zealand
as an autonomous feminist profession founded on partnership with women. Interviews and
participant observation with midwives, based mainly in one New Zealand city, are the basis of
an analysis of the complexity of midwives’ praxis as professionals. The analysis draws on
insights from critical and feminist approaches to Foucault’s theories of discourse, power and
the subject. It includes discussion of the conditions which came to produce and authorise the
concept of ‘partnership’. Which subjects can speak about partnership, and when? What claims
are made about it? What challenges it? ”
Builds on much work done over the years recording and analysing the largely patriarchy dominated politics of childbirth.
It’s all about power…..
From the abstract, it appears to be all about po-mo bullshit.
PM’s comment was out and out bigotry (ignorant bigotry I’d guess).
It’s based on a pretty small sample of midwives, yes. News stories like the above one tend to back up the evidence of my admittedly-small sample, however.
“It’s based on a pretty small sample of midwives, yes.”
Exactly how many midwives have you personally sampled, PM?
Oh, and explain “po-mo”….I freely admit to ignorance on that….
“Bullshit”, I get. 🙂
Your conviction that one must have experienced a pregnancy to know whether a midwife’s opinion on something is wildly irrational or not lacks an evidential basis.
Po-mo is short for post-modernism, in this case postmodernist philosophy. It’s often used as shorthand to refer to writing that uses academic-sounding jargon to obfuscate rather than explain.
Po mo- post modernism- is rubbish which is infecting academics (often French or American) who have a lot to say about nothing. I met one once. ..Pretentious emptiness to the extreme
For more information look at http://www.physics.nyu.edu/sokal/dawkins.html
Bet you can’t see where the prejudice is though.
I admit to a very strong prejudice against irrationalists.
Agree
You think midwives are irrationalists?
That would be like me saying that doctors are rapists because there are some doctors who sexually abuse their patients. That’s me signposting to the problems with your position, not just the obvious one but the trickier political ones too. There is a deeper level of prejudice going on that culturally sanctions the damage that the medical profession does and tolerates, yet pillories the midwifery profession for mistakes that midwives make. There are some pretty murky gender politics in there around power and who we trust.
weka…save it. PM will never get it.
….hasn’t evolved enough.
I remember reading a novel in the eighties set in a busy US hospital.
Young interns gasping in awe and wonder that a woman had actually given birth without the benefit of anaesthesia, analgesia or forceps.
And, shock horror, the mother was alive! The baby was alive!
And, by god the baby was spontaneously breastfeeding!
And, and , all was well despite the Doctors not being able to do anything (because the woman had eaten and couldn’t be anaesthetised) other than catch the baby.
Goodness gracious me…how on earth did humanity survive before the word “obstetrician” was invented?
You think midwives are irrationalists?
That would be silly. Two of my kids were delivered by midwives, who were both highly competent, practical people and did a great job. The only one of mine that was delivered by a doctor in a hospital was dead, so you won’t hear any disparaging of midwife competence from me – the doctor/midwife success ratio in my own life overwhelmingly supports midwifery.
My comment was that midwifery “seems to attract a significant proportion of nut jobs,” ie in my experience (the above-mentioned births, multiple sets of ante-natal classes, serving the ones undergoing training at my institution, individuals I’ve known who’ve taken up the profession) a higher proportion of them are irrationalists than in other professions. That’s still a low proportion overall.
“…midwifery “seems to attract a significant proportion of nut jobs,”
Hmmm…I remember at varsity in the late seventies the psychology majors having a preponderance of ‘nut jobs’ in their ranks.
We (the non- nut jobs) wondered if they were drawn to psychology as a way of working through their own psychological issues.
My midwife, for all three kids, was trained in the Netherlands and was one of the first Independent Midwives in the country. Forever grateful I am for her saving No.1 son from the unnecessary forceps delivery demanded by the hospital specialist…for whom speed of delivery was the priority…there was a golf game waiting for him…I kid ye not.
Most of the early independent midwives (the eighties) were true professionals…which sometimes upset “home – birth societies”. These groups were often former hippies who eschewed all medical intervention for anything, and took umbrage when this midwife arrived bearing not only the obligatory birthing stool, but the newborn resuscitation equipment. She was, for this one ‘crime of medicalisation’, blacklisted by the Society. I imagine the forerunners of the nut jobs you are talking about are the midwives that were accepted by these groups.
I think the naturopath needs to be held to account there as well. It seems to me that she held a position of power of the woman and used it inappropriately.
I agree
“Bodnar has been charged with reckless grevious bodily harm”.
Why practising medicine without a license isn’t added to the list I have no idea.
Probably because she wasn’t practicing medicine, and to charge her with that would create massive problems legally regarding the large number of health care providers who aren’t medical ones.
I agree she should be charged with something though, and her professional body (if she has one) needs a bloody good rark up.
Yeah, (evidence base aside) the semantic difference between “practicing medicine” and giving assurances on what to do “if you want to see him better” is lost on me.
And if she was getting any sort of payment she should be done for fraud.
Fortunately it’s not lost on the justice system. Unless one wants to ban all non-medical health care, then there is a distinction between helping people with their health and practicing medicine. This is important because most healthcare in the world is done by non-medical people.
I hope they throw every book they can at that naturopath.
I wonder if the sevens losing and the generally dismal performance of our over-rated Olympians will finally puncture the miasma of self delusional complacency and smug self satisfaction of our middle class?
Nothing like shattering the assumptions of racial superiority of our settler class to get them whining about everything else as well.
“Nothing like shattering the assumptions of racial superiority of our settler class to get them whining about everything else as well.”
huh?
Apparently Sanctuary spent six months in Europe and know considers himself so much more enlightened than us backward, uncultured proles and it’s become his duty to point this out where ever he goes.
Lots of eye rolling and what a wanker, seems to be the general response.
I have to say its one of the more mean-spirited comments I’ve read on here and I wasn’t sure the point he was trying to make (if any)
You reckon it’s down to all them Murrays, do you?
And nicely BM, you never fail to make Sanctuary’s point.
Well it seems a bit churlish to have a go at the athletes, I’m sure they went out there and did their best and its hardly the athletes fault the media went overboard on the medal chances
I think you missed his point too, he wasn’t having a go at the athletes.
“generally dismal performance” sure sounds like hes having a go at the athletes
Read the rest – the target is very plain.
I know he thinks hes making a point but really hes just coming off sounding like a bit of a twat
We all have our wee ways of making our points.
It was a pretty pointless point then
Perhaps a ptretty pointless point puck but a pretty pointless point perfectly pertaining to the point.
Possibly a pertinent point, probably a petty point, pretty much purposeless
You come across as someone who knows he fucked up but won’t admit it.
“generally dismal performance of our over-rated Olympians ” please tell me how that isn’t an attack on the athletes?
Who do you think is over-rating the athletes?
HINT: It’s not the athletes.
Ok so sure the media have played them up but generally dismal is certainly harsh and uncalled for, the Olympics aren’t halfway over yet and I’m pretty sure that all of the athletes there have put in their best efforts
So you’ve got some reject from sociology 101 insulting athletes just to make some point about the middle class
I don’t get the point, maybe someone could explain?
sanctuary, very sad man or woman, whatever
I am sad because I don’t particularly derive my sense of identity from sport? Your the sad sack, chum.
“I am sad because I don’t particularly derive my sense of identity from sport?” Totally! Had a customer abuse some staff & when I went to intervene it turned out he was pissed off at the 7s losing! & then on my way home I had dumb radio jocks saying Mark Todd had “let down New Zealand.”
“Nothing like shattering the assumptions of racial superiority of our settler class to get them whining about everything else as well.”
Sadly this actually sums up the believe of some people.
Im thinking a good, hard, honest look in the mirror would help sanctuary.
Judging by the response Sanctuary made a palpable hit. Did the cap fit?
Stuart, equally sad
Meh – if it burns the RWNJ trolls so antisocial they have to hang out here rather than on Whalefail where they belong so much the better.
Nope. Not at all. Im really happy with life and have little to whine about. Having said that I notice you do a lot – perhaps it was your cap?
If that were true you’d be off rubbing shoulders with your fellow rightwingers instead of trying to impose your sad lack of character and morality here.
Of course I’m unhappy – you criminal arseholes are wrecking my country and hurting my people.
Who are your people, Stuart.?
My people are the real New Zealanders.
🙂
Without the Chinese sounding surnames!
I’ve found his theme music, it only needs a couple of minor tweaks
You probably sing that in the shower you yankee sellout.
I’m not bragging but this more like my showers
I think most people here would prefer not to know what you do in the shower PR.
You brought it up remember 😉
“you criminal arseholes” – so you believe that everyone that doesn’t vote left is a criminal arsehole?
Not everyone – but certainly the major players in this government, and their more vociferous supporters are.
Damn straight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_people
So you infer that Im a criminal – any evidence to back this up?
BTW – the country in general is going just fine and most agree with that (see polls re country direction).
As for hurting “your” people. Im guessing if they are bitter, sad, people like yourself – it sounds more like self harm.
You should seek help.
No – you are merely a probable criminal. You are poorly socialised, antisocial, and prefer the views and company of criminals. If we were profiling you’d be a good bet, but you may not in fact be a criminal.
You should offer your services to the Labour party, you’d be a hit coming up with slogans 🙂
Yeah and you should offer yours to the reptilian infiltrators – but I guess you already have you treacherous piece of shite.
That’s the thing about democracy I guess, its great until right up until a party you don’t like gets voted in 🙂
You don’t know or care shit about democracy.
You could learn something here
http://robertounger.com/english/pdfs/demore.pdf
But in general RWNJ are irredeemably corrupt.
Oh Stuart you poor, misguided, fool, the majority of NZ voters gave enough votes for National to be the largest (by a great margin) party in NZ nad were able to form a government and will continue to do so until 2020
You only really like democracy (and be honest) when the party you support is in power
But don’t worry 2020 isn’t that far away 🙂
This is where you show your true colours, fascist.
Democracy consists in government listening to and acting upon the concerns of its citizens.
It does not consist of manipulating media and disenfranchising voters to secure a bare majority to facilitate the plunder of public assets.
This is not a democratic government, and you are, and always were nothing more than a despicable authoritarian, a vile satrap, a despot.
Shame on you!
Mr Munro – you make my day. It makes me happy that people like you are so miserable – because the way you interact with people you disagree with – you deserve it.
There are plenty of lefties on here that make really interesting comments – you on the other hand add nothing to the quality of debate, and to be perfectly honest are the kind of example that will give the standard a bad name.
With comments like yours, and others who have posted things like “hang yourself”, and the people who (it appears from some post) to have made this a unhappy place for women to comment – it is disappointing that the comments section of this blog are making this blog IMHO a poorer place.
It is interesting that people often spew at Wh….O.. blog and the comments there – indeed they were terrible (and a lot of his post) – but credit where credit is due – he cleaned up his act. You sir – are the opposite and are making tis blog worse.
Why dont we all try to raise the game and drop the insults – and try to respect the place a bit more.
I was once optimistic that commentators here would change. But on reflection, the vile rudeness on display simply reflects the personalities and life outlook of these people. There is nothing that can be done. They don’t want to change and don’t want to hear any ideas that challenge their deeply pessimistic world view, and tendency to blame both the Government and “rich’ people for every real or imagined problem they see.
Nah James Stuart is a good commenter imo – for proof look at all the buzzy bugs disturbed by his pithy comments. Lump it if you don’t like it James.
Oh sly why hang around then – you won’t be missed if you go – I’d recommend it.
There is no discussing with you, you are not sincere. You are here to prevent conversation, to disseminate fictions and to cause trouble.
You disgust me – you and your fellow trolls – you are a form of pollution, both of blogs and of the world at large.
I don’t go on RWNJ sites attempting to impose my views on the participants. That would be arrogant and illmannered. Such considerations do not appear to trouble you.
Do not pretend to be a ‘plausible righty’ there is no such thing.
Well said Marty Mars and Stuart Munro.
Hi, James.
There has been a concerted effort by the moderators here in recent months to encourage positive discussions and to discourage pointless abuse. However, robust debate is often the norm and sometimes it’s witty, intelligent and enlightening. Sometimes it’s way too personal, which is a drag.
But overall, the site enjoys a huge readership, a lively commentariat and some of the best political bloggers in NZ writing posts. It won’t always to be to your taste, but you should take heart that there are many right of centre commenters who are regulars here and who generally get a fair go.
So I welcome your call to minimise the abuse. However, I think that’s already happening in a very meaningful way and that TS is the better for it. it won’t be perfect and all of us are capable of letting our frustration get the better of us, but I genuinely think we’re heading in the right direction.
You disgust me – you and your fellow trolls – you are a form of pollution, both of blogs and of the world at large.
Oh, very persuasive. There’s no comments thread that can’t be improved by a steadfast refusal to see people who disagree with you as fellow humans, right?
I don’t go on RWNJ sites attempting to impose my views on the participants. That would be arrogant and illmannered.
Given your commenting style, it certainly would be. On the other hand, if you tried stringing together an actual argument once in a while, you might find those right-wing sites interesting places to visit – hanging out only with people you agree with is corrosive of your reasoning skills.
@PM – I don’t come here to demonstrate my reasoning skills to the nuts – if they had any to speak of they wouldn’t be nuts.
It has to do with the epidemiology of movements – Key’s strategy guys know all about this stuff – that’s why they shut down Campbell. Semantic warfare.
“…BTW – the country in general is going just fine and most agree with that (see polls re country direction)…”
If I had a dollar for everytime some idiot said “NZ is a great little place that punches above it’s weight and is doing just fine” I’d be a rich man indeed. It is a line particularly peddled by Mike Hoskings. Now, to me this opinion can only be founded on smugly racist assumptions about some sort of cultural and/or racial superiority on our part that makes us somehow exceptional. A set of smug assumptions and myths about New Zealand exceptionalism – NZ is paradise, a great place to have a family and bring up kids, is egalitarian, and it punches above it’s weight – underlay the belief system of our middle class and act as rationalising tool to explain away our filthy rivers, our child poverty, our massive domestic violence problems, our massive wealth disparity and our poor economic performance.
Sport is an important bulwark of these middle class myths. Racist assertions of sporting prowess and success are seen as vindications of the existing social and economic order, just like it was with rugby in racist South Africa. Sport has always been a powerful propaganda tool. The fact is the successes of our Olympic team will be used by cheerleaders of the current system as proof we are on the right track. Failure, I would hope, will serve to do the opposite.
By the way – I think our athletes will do about as well as you’d expect from a modestly funded program from one of the poorer first world countries. The idea we are a genetically superior, outdoor bred, virile Aryan super nation of athletic over-achievers is rubbish.
“a great place to have a family and bring up kids” yeah hear that a lot, & in NZ we have had a 5 year commit suicide! But nah all good, nothing to whine about, the sun is shining, the Chiefs are wonderful role models for our young men etc…(sarc).
🙂
Netherlands Closes Prisons due to Shortage of Criminals
http://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/netherlands-closes-prisons-due-to-shortage-of-criminals/
A policy of rehabilitation, hope, post jail employment, diversion and cooperation from Media to stop filling us with dreadful over-inflated crime reports.
But with the insistent push for bigger punishment, longer sentences, ethnic targeting, and political pandering, it would take very brave politicians to make a move to get us down from such high rates of imprisonments.
All hail the Netherlands.
Wonder of their decriminalisation of some drugs had an effect?
A relly has just joined the Dutch police as a forensic accountant from KPMG where he did the same job.
He reckons they are arsedeep in white collar fraud there and he will never be out of a job.
It just takes forever to nail the bastards.
His best story? Sitting opposite a bloke , and while the relly was pretty sure it was a computing mistake, watching the guys face and asking ” So where’s the missing 75 trillion ?” . Priceless.
P.S, I asked 75 trillion? indisbelief, and he said that was not an unusual amount to be dealing with, it only needs to be out of sight for a few hours for somebody to make a shitload. We’re still in kindy in this country.
These 50 Images Capture The Rare Beauty Of Rio’s Street Art Scene
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/street-art-tour-rio-de-janeiro-olympics_us_57a8d469e4b0aae2a5a0bcda
Incredible save nz. In much misery there is room for much colour.
a visual feast…thanks!
Snz -Thanks for that. Another place Valpariso has such amazing street art. Our ‘graffiti artist ‘ kids should be sent there to see how it’s done.
Now, for some GOOD news.
The other evening I shared this….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/82699004/Ministry-for-Vulnerable-Children-name-stigmatising-and-labelling
in which the new Children’s Commissioner diplomatically throws down the gauntlet to the Gummint on the ‘re-structuring’ of CYFs.
The name “Ministry for Vulnerable Children has gone down like a cup of cold sick with, well, practically everyone.
Becroft describes it as “…stigmatising and labelling.
It is depressing, even crushing. It focuses on the problem not the solution. We do not call the Ministry of Health the “Ministry of Sick People”.”
Fairfax did a poll, and Becroft promises to make sure the Gummint knows what folk think of the new name.
Hope springs that this latest ‘re-structuring’ is going to get more active attention from the Children’s watchdog.
And then another article…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/83021330/raise-the-youth-justice-age-mps-told-at-evidence-hearing-for-cyf-overhaul
….and the CC again taking issue with the Gummint (through the Select Committee) that the new legislation which will guide the ‘re-structuring’ has…
“”…missed the opportunity” to go far enough.
Becroft, the former Principal Youth Court Judge, took issue with four aspects of the proposed legislation. He called for the Youth Justice Age to be raised to 17, and said the bill did not go far enough in giving the child’s voice weight.
“The change half-step, and not full-step, to include Youth Justice seems to us to be burdensome, and it will add administrative complexity, it’s wrong in principle and it’s in flat flagrant breach of the United Nations Convention obligations.
The terms surrounding the creation of a new advocacy system for children were weak, and “delegation powers”, which would allow certain non-Government social workers to uplift children from their families, was concerning.
“Some very invasive state powers have been vested into those whom the chief executive might delegate those powers to, with very little prescription.
“There are dangers in leaving such significant discretionary powers to be developed behind the scenes, non-transparently, by policy make”‘
If there is a god who strengthens the resolve of Government appointed Commissioners….
Andrew Becroft….good on you sir!
Can’t remember when but a week or so ago had one of the resident righties (Chuck?) supporting the name change when I made disparaging remarks, I thought that you could rename the ministries with a bunch of more imaginative titles & the title of ‘Ministry of Vulnerable Children’ is just bizarre.
Can’t but help agreeing with the Auckland Action Against Poverty on this one. The bullying nature of Work and Income, and its failed policies – are just not working.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/08/11/auckland-action-against-poverty-uni-research-highlights-deficiencies-in-govt-job-policies/
yep, many people do everything they can to avoid WINZ since the old social security turned into the current sadistic punishment maze, ever wonder why some of the local beggars are getting more insistent?
it is time for some direct action by and for the homeless too–organised squats in proven long term empty private and state houses and moneybags boats in marinas too
WINZ needs to be urgently retired in favour of some form of UBI, and in the meantime the PSA could stop accepting as members govt. staff in WINZ and MSD that spend their working day making other citizens lives a misery–“I am only following orders–doing my job”–should not cut it in this instance
I don’t have much fear of actually losing my job, but I do have fear about ever having to visit WINZ because of job loss, so their actions are working as they scare workers like me (& because of technology my job is in constant flux like most people I suppose.)
you are correct gangnam and it is scary for many others who could just do with some short term assistance that often their taxes have paid for, endless condescending seminars on how to write a CV, losing your documents etc. blaming you personally for the changing nature of work…
and income splitting is needed for couples, WINZ will not pay job seeker support if say one partner loses their job if they are living in a relationship of the ‘nature of a marriage’
WINZ is meant to be a nasty experience as the Household Labourforce Survey has long shown–there are more unemployed people than people actually in receipt of “jobseeker support”, and as signalled by the departments classic “Catch 22”, WINZ staff can be rewarded for denying the very assistance they are meant to supply!, and for applying sanctions and getting people off the books inclusive of paying and or receiving a fee to and from ACC and MSD…
I really enjoyed this one for how fickle and cosmically unjust campaign coverage can be in determining U.S. Presidential races:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/film-how-to-destroy-a-presidential-candidate/
Finally the MSM, but not yet in US, is starting to catch on
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3726250/Enemies-Hillary-Bill-say-27-year-old-murder-victim-Seth-Rich-suspected-leaking-DNC-emails-belongs-Clinton-Death-List-people-ties-couple-died-time.html
+100…yes this is good that the MSM is starting to take notice …it should be there to protect democracy after all! ..this is what the MSM has traditionally been stated as being for
not sure who is right, but the family would like for people to stop spreading this rumor.
but then they must be paid of by the clinton machine.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/dnc-seth-rich-wikileaks-politicize-2016-8?r=US&IR=T
“In a statement to Business Insider on Wednesday, Rich family spokesperson Brad Bauman thanked investigators and implored high-profile figures to stop attempting to “politicize” Rich’s death by perpetuating unfounded theories about the shooting.
“The family welcomes any and all information that could lead to the identification of the individuals responsible, and certainly welcomes contributions that could lead to new avenues of investigation,” Bauman said in the statement.
He added:
“That said, some are attempting to politicize this horrible tragedy, and in their attempts to do so, are actually causing more harm that good and impeding on the ability for law enforcement to properly do their job. For the sake of finding Seth’s killer, and for the sake of giving the family the space they need at this terrible time, they are asking for the public to refrain from pushing unproven and harmful theories about Seth’s murder.””
…and on the subject of the mainstream media:
‘NSA leaks show worries over intelligence gaps, training tips for media leaks’
“Among the latest batch of internal NSA documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden are tips for analysts on what to notice about media leaks, playing catch-up over intelligence, and medical surveillance.
On Wednesday, The Intercept released a batch of 263 internal agency reports, called ‘SIDToday’, from the agency’s most important division, the Signals Intelligence Directorate. Dating back to 2003, the documents reveal the department’s culture and operations with a roster of tips on training analysts to spot leaks to the media, internet monitoring, and notices about seminars on Latin American countries…