The charter school movement has been expelled from Washington state’s public education system, with a Supreme Court ruling late Friday that the privately run schools are not public schools under the state’s constitution…
[seems fair]
…Charter school proponents have three options, all of them “long shots,” said Bill Keim, executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators. The first would be asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling. The parties have until September 24 to final that motion, before the court ruling becomes final.
The second option was a special legislative session. Third was asking local billionaire Bill Gates, one of the nation’s top charter school benefactors—spending at least $440 million—to write a check to keep the charters open until the legislature acts. “The downside is that would re-enforce that they are private schools,” Keim said.
Mr Gates could always transfer the funds to public schools I guess. But probs the legislative session option will help the private people taking public funds, as always it seems.
No, the Flag Consideration Panel got 4 hours of input from assorted designers.
They will have spent significantly longer than 4 hours to cut the list of 40 down to 4 finalists.
They performed trademark and copyright searches on each of the 40 designs for example, which resulted in 1 of the original 40 shortlisted being ruled invalid and removed from further consideration.
Well, according to the economists it’s all a farce:
Things have not gone to plan. None of the four designs has gripped the public. A fifth design, known as the Red Peak option, composed of triangles and supposed to evoke Maori mythology, has acquired a following on social media. So far the government is having none of it. Mr Key says that he is not going back to Parliament to accommodate the fifth design, though an electoral-law expert has helpfully suggested that all the government need do is substitute it for one of the chosen four.
…and by many voters who find it distasteful that their country is being rebranded like a sagging brand of detergent.
Yeah, I think Key’s ‘bright’ idea of changing the flag probably isn’t bringing him as much joy as he expected it would.
It’s what it says on the tin – contrary to orthodox ‘wisdom’, in the UK, a Labour party that is a real alternative, not an incompetent clone of the tories would resonate with voters. The same is likely true here.
Instead of fuckwits blathering about making the 90-day law “fairer” (for whom?) or getting a TPPA deal that’s “better” (in the way that ebola’s better than leukaemia?), we could have a real Labour Party.
Instead we have frauds like Grant Fucking Robertson who can’t even bring himself to say “socialist” for fear that the Rotarians he sucks up to won’t buy his lattes for him anymore.
Where is the groundswell of support for change within the Labour Party rhino?
Where are the thinkers?
Where are the future leaders?
Do you see any hope of Labour regaining it’s mojo, or do you think it’s fucked, and the Left requires a new political foundation Party to regain government?
The potential groundswell is in exactly the same place as it was in other places prior to quite simple thoughts and ideas being articulated by likely (not certain) future leaders.
NZ Labour has no depth because the legacy of ’84 was break-away parties that ‘died on the vine’….with a little help from ‘liberal’ toxins, courtesy of NZ Labour.
That means that there is no SNP – a major party – capable of occupying ground abandoned by Labour. And there are no Jeremy Corbyn’s who have bided their time on the back benches working for their constituents these past 30 years.
Labour will change – slowly. Mere ‘Johnny come lately’ adopters of what will already have transpired across the left in the English speaking world.
A big part of the problem is capture. If they’re constantly being offered the hospitality of Sky City, then they’re going to feel more of a reflexive concern for Sky City execs than we filthy proles. Sky City knows this and that arsewipe Goff wants their support in his mayoral campaign, so hey-ho, he gets a nice seat in their corporate box to watch allegedly grown adults chase a leather balloon around a field.
Parliament for a lot of MPs is a networking shop where they can scout out positions in corporate boards and their attitude increasingly becomes, to paraphrase JFK, asking not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them.
The filthy proles I guess have to keep buttonholing their representatives at least. Invite them to events and then make sure that instead of treating it as another opportunity for self aggrandisement, make sure they sit down, shut up and listen. Remind them who they work for. Remind them who’s going to be knocking on doors for them come election time – or staying at home. Humiliate them for taking favours. Ask them embarrassing questions and publicise their evasions. Never give them a free pass just because they hum a bar of The Red Flag once a year.
Little at least knows it’s “not a good look” to be seen dining with charter school boards, but he’s been pressured by men in suits into stabbing young workers in the back over 90 days fire at will. Someone needs to elbow their way to the front of the queue and remind him whose party he’s in.
We don’t have money and corporate credit cards, but we can keep the pressure on them, tolerate no bullshit, call it out when it gushes.
Over the last couple of months, Corbyn has emerged as the front-runner not only among Labour members/affiliates but also among both Labour voters and the British electorate as a whole (according to all the polls). That extraordinary wave of Corbymania propelling him from outsider to red hot favourite within a space of just a few weeks. It’s been a remarkable revitalisation of Labour’s core values and brilliant (for those of us opposed to tweedledee / tweedledum politics) to see.
But no one should be under any illusion that if he does win the leadership (and the purging of Corbyn-supporters and non-delivery of 10s of thousands of voting papers continues to concern me on that score), then he will come in for a total shitstorm of smears, abuse and ridicule from the MSM and Blairite/Tory Establishment.
We’ve already seen the hysteria from a series of shell-shocked Blairite Grandees paraded before us by a complicit media. And, of course, the all-too-predictable anti-Semitic smears emanating from Britain’s Israel-Right-or-Wrong Lobby and its fellow-travellers, along with New Labour’s US-Right-or-Wrong ”Atlanticists’ (one of whom, you approvingly cited in yesterdays Open Mike).
But you aint seen nothing yet !
It’ll be relentless and may very well destroy the Corbyn leadership. Quite possibly an initial poll bounce over the first few weeks, followed by an all-out campaign of MSM vitriol that sees Labour support fall, possibly even plummet.
Then, again, I’m not entirely ruling out a backlash against the media from Labour supporters and a reasonable slice of the broader public. Particularly (as the Lord Ashcroft poll cited by rhinocrates suggests), from the Labour-leaning faction of Ukip supporters. It’s clear to me from digging deep through UK polls of the last 2 years that Ukip voters (in stark contrast to the Party leadership) are substantially on the Left in terms of public ownership, anti-austerity. Like most NZF voters here, they’re socially-conservative Left.
It’s also clear that an overwhelming majority of Labour voters (and Greens and more than a few Lib Dems) support the sort of policy platform that Corbyn is offering.
If the establishment follows its predictable course of ‘Project Fear’ (redux), then the backlash will be a tsunami.
Yet again, and I’m sorry if this bores peeps, I’m looking at ‘the establishment’ fortunes in Scotland…the SNP, with almost all media continuing to lambast them, are now around 60% with an election about 12 months away.
The only thing that will soften support for the SNP is a UK Labour led by Corbyn.
It’s a good sign that, if anything, the high profile MSM intervention from Blair/Brown/Straw/and the particularly vile Mandelson (admittedly in Blair he’s got some pretty stiff competition for that title)…has served to propel Corbyn even higher in the polls (and among the membership). All the Blairite and MSM hysteria appears to have been counter-productive.
I’m hoping this momentum, this desire for a thorough-going revitalisation of not just the Labour Party but UK politics as a whole, will continue to sweep through the roughly 50% of voters (Labour, Green, Lib Dem, Ukip and even a few Tories) who consider themselves primarily Left-of-Centre on most substantive issues.
But I never discount the ability of the establishment media to influence public opinion. And I remain concerned that the Scots electorate may be unique (within Britain, apart from certain urban enclaves in the North of England, London and the Welsh Valleys) in the sheer strength of its social democratic values (partly forged, certainly reinforced, by the Thatcherite onslaught in the 80s/early 90s).
TPPA has not gone away – it’s merely dropped out of the MSM – the corporate media – surprise, surprise!
There is intense pressure to sign the TPP asap – but why the hurry? It has been on the negotiating table for six years or so. Obama has received ‘fast-track’ powers to push the TPP through before the presidential elections.
The point made in the first of these short videos is that Obama has been bought and paid for by big corporations in the US. To gain funds for his campaigns he made promises to his corporate backers – now he has to deliver on those promises!
Which begs the question – how much did our own PM cost? What promises has he made to corporate backers? What is Groser going to get out of the deal?
The point made in the second short clip is making the legislators ‘own’ the document. It must be debated by parliament – it can’t be modified in any way – but our parliamentarians can be held responsible. We need to be prepared to let them know that we will read the provisions of the TPPA – and if we don’t like them – which we will not – then we will hold them responsible!
Is there anything good about the TPP? Free trade has not been good for New Zealand. We are heading for a low income economy (if it isn’t already here) with a super rich 1 or 2 per-cent and the vast majority the working poor! Free trade hasn’t worked to create jobs in America either – see the short clip below!
Might sound strange but a good poster boy for the anti-TPPA movement could be Donald Trump
He’s been saying quite loudly, and publicly I might add, that US politicians are bought & paid for. He’s often told how he’s donated himself and had pollies at his beck & call. One of his best arguments for nomination is he has his own money and isn’t being bribed or influenced by anyone.
For me, the road to This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate begins in a very specific time and place. The time was exactly ten years ago. The place was New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The road in question was flooded and littered with bodies.
Today I am posting, for the first time, the entire section on Hurricane Katrina from my last book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Rereading the chapter 10 years after the events transpired, I am struck most by this fact: the same military equipment and contractors used against New Orleans’ Black residents have since been used to militarize police across the United States, contributing to the epidemic of murders of unarmed Black men and women. That is one way in which the Disaster Capitalism Complex perpetuates itself and protects its lucrative market.
This material is free for reproduction.
From the Introduction:
I met Jamar Perry in September 2005, at the big Red Cross shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dinner was being doled out by grinning young Scientologists, and he was standing in line. I had just been busted for talking to evacuees without a media escort and was now doing my best to blend in, a white Canadian in a sea of African-American Southerners. I dodged into the food line behind Perry and asked him to talk to me as if we were old friends, which he kindly did.
Born and raised in New Orleans, he’d been out of the flooded city for a week. He looked about seventeen but told me he was twenty-three. He and his family had waited forever for the evacuation buses; when they didn’t arrive, they had walked out in the baking sun. Finally they ended up here, a sprawling convention centre, normally home to pharmaceutical trade shows and “Capital City Carnage: The Ultimate in Steel Cage Fighting,” now jammed with two thousand cots and a mess of angry, exhausted people being patrolled by edgy National Guard soldiers just back from Iraq.
The news racing around the shelter that day was that Richard Baker, a prominent Republican Congressman from this city, had told a group of lobbyists, “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.” Joseph Canizaro, one of New Orleans’ wealthiest developers, had just expressed a similar sentiment: “I think we have a clean sheet to start again. And with that clean sheet we have some very big opportunities.” All that week the Louisiana State Legislature in Baton Rouge had been crawling with corporate lobbyists helping to lock in those big opportunities: lower taxes, fewer regulations, cheaper workers and a “smaller, safer city”—which in practice meant plans to level the public housing projects and replace them with condos. Hearing all the talk of “fresh starts” and “clean sheets,” you could almost forget the toxic stew of rubble, chemical outflows and human remains just a few miles down the highway.
Over at the shelter, Jamar could think of nothing else. “I really don’t see it as cleaning up the city. What I see is that a lot of people got killed uptown. People who shouldn’t have died.”
He was speaking quietly, but an older man in line in front of us overheard and whipped around. “What is wrong with these people in Baton Rouge? This isn’t an opportunity. It’s a goddamned tragedy. Are they blind?”
A mother with two kids chimed in. “No, they’re not blind, they’re evil. They see just fine.”
Klein’s talk last week in Sydney is worth a watch too. This video is an hour, but the actual talk is maybe 30 or 40 mins. She’s talking about climate change and why critiquing capitalism is so important. She also makes the links with the refugee crises.
At the start she calls out some of the people involved in the event organisation’s board and their influence on border policy. A great example of emotional and political intelligence that reminds us that it’s women like Klein who should be in charge of things.
The story is typical of the lop-sided state that Bush built: a weak, underfunded, ineffective public sector on the one hand, and a parallel richly funded corporate infrastructure on the other. When it comes to paying contractors, the sky is the limit; when it comes to financing the basic functions of the state, the coffers are empty.
Sounds just like what National has been and is doing to our own state sector – lot of money for the private corporations to bring in huge profits while the essential services are run down.
Termite, collectively, alter the global climate. Every species on the planet alters the environment around to better suit themselves, though not always for their best. So this gormless old fat of a media mogal, whose business is peddling power, and using wedg issues, no matter how contrived and stupid, goes uncriticized by the free market. Believing as he does the the great unwashed his media empir sells to could not also fundamentally collectively alter the global ecosystem. Its just a crazy idea, humans capable of altering climate, humbug. A communist having recognized the evil of capitalism could have not done more to destroy, ridicule and waste capitalisms good effects.
” One of the Flag Consideration Panel members who helped to pick the final four options sits on a government board where her job is to help promote the Fern Mark logo.
Julie Christie is an advisory board member on New Zealand Story, a NZ Trade and Enterprise body which approves the use of the Fern Mark image used on the black-and-white version of the final four flag options.
She declared a conflict of interest at the same meeting at which the flag panel was told the NZ Story board had cleared the path for the Fern Mark to be used on a new flag. ”
snip……..
“The OIA papers show Ms Christie declared two conflicts of interest at a July 30 meeting of the flag panel. She declared her link to the Fern Mark and as a member of the commercial committee of the NZ Rugby Union.
The minutes said “the panel noted these conflicts of interest as minor”.
Not content to get rid of John Campbell with her personal vendetta and take down TV3 with it, she now has her sights set on NZ – devaluing our country via it’s flag and emblems.
“Finance Minister Bill English says the Auckland housing market is on fire, and people need to be careful not to get burned when prices fall.
“Mr English said when house prices rise as fast as they have in Auckland, they do fall. He said growth may slow down, and some people may have borrowed too much.
“Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler said two years ago investors accounted for 33 percent of transactions in the Auckland housing market, but now they made up 41 percent.
Mr Wheeler said in overseas housing markets where there have been large house price corrections, investors have been more likely to default on their loans.
Meanwhile, a leading economist said the Auckland housing market is a growing risk to the country’s economy.
Shamubeel Eaqub told Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report programme the Reserve Bank may have to intervene – even though it was not its policies that were inflating the market.
Again this statistic from the RB governor; why is this not being seized upon by opposition parties? Where is it from?
The Government has just announced another $10m for petroleum data to be secured and supplied to the oil industry, paid for by, yes you. If it looks like a subsidy and acts like a subsidy – it is a subsidy. In this case a subsidy to find more oil we can’t afford to burn if we don’t want to cook the climate.
Steven Joyce’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment latest science investment round just announced it will give GNS $2.4m a year over four years to ‘develop new workstation-ready data products for the exploration industry.’ I know the oil industry is facing a low oil price at the moment but it’s hard to believe one of the world’s largest and most profitable industries needs a to go cap in hand to the taxpayer for a hand-out. This comes on top of $25m in previous years, $46m in annual tax breaks and benefiting from the forth-lowest tax plus royalty rate in the world.
The IMF has calculated NZ subsidises the coal, gas and oil sectors to the tune of $US 2.5 billion per year (as of 2013).
The public cost of US$2.5 billion is comprised from such costs as air pollution, lost tax revenue, climate change etc that are all directly attributable to the industry.
All I could find was a global figure of $5.3tn USD, from an IMF working paper published in may. This included both direct subsidies and the indirect costs of externalities such the effects of poor air quality on health and so forth. Estimates were broken down by region, but not by individual country.
I do have/did have. I downloaded the spreadsheet and, of course, it didn’t come with a link. I’ve been mulling a post on it. If/when I do that, I’ll be hunting out the link again.
I believe it came from a link off of another link from here…
Just part of the turnover. The general secretary’s role in Labour is a hard one, the money is crap, the skills required are immense and varied, and the hours are horrendous.
I saw Mike Smith do that role for many years when I was still active in the Labour party, and was always impressed that he didn’t throw up his hands and depart. It is completely underfunded and massively undervalued especially by the Labour staffers and MPs at parliament. The only time they value it is for a short period around the election.
Tim Barnett did a pretty good job of it. He helped to get a lot of the changes required for the Labour party organisation to survive. Who really gives a pigs arse about MPs and staffers anyway? To lose the party base would be to consign the MPs and their staff to a future like United Future or Act have.
And Labour does it without going into virtual slavery to large donors in the way National or Act did.
That would be ideal. However the primary role of the secretary is to deal with the multitudinous details of running a large mainly voluntary organisation. Since that role is fulltime and with a very very limited staff, it doesn’t leave that much time for chasing donors.
The Labour party needs to start treating donor chasing as being a professional activity and set aside some funds to hire people to do that task. You bring the pres, sec, and anyone else in when you close.
But also figuring out how to get more small and repeated funds from smaller donors would help a lot. Again, they have to set that up and run it for the long term with an eye to lowering costs of collection.
MPs in particular see the importance just before the election each time. But lose interest afterwards. Essentially they need to be kicked out from the process because they have screwed up dealing with the party issues for several decades now. Consequently they haven’t gotten fixed.
At the end of his diatribe is this: ‘Jock Anderson has been a journalist for a long time, observing matters from what he describes as a sensible centre-right perspective. He can be contacted at jockanderson123@gmail.com‘
Seems Dr Joe Aitchenson on Radio NZ afternoons (hope I have the name right) ‘gets’ the shit that it seems NZ Labour and a fuck shit pile of people just can’t get their heads around.
Not a bad run down considering the source. He was on between 1 O’Clock and half past.
It took me a couple of days to fall across David Farrar’s comment on the banning of Into the River by the Film and Literature Board of Review:
“Don’t get hysterical and silly. And it isn’t banned as much as suspended – there is a difference.”
Actually it is banned, temporarily, but still banned. Also it’s good to know he thinks the government banning things is acceptable. Let’s take his site off line for a month and see whether he’s so casual about it.
Ha! Waitangi Tribunal has told the government the way they are handling Ngāpuhi claims is unfair. Let’s see how the arrogant Chris Finlayson reacts to this as he loathes being challenged.
I resigned from the Labour Party in 1987 or 8, not sure which year now. I’ve waited 30 years for the appearance of a Jeremy Corbyn or a Bernie Sanders on the New Zealand political scene – someone who will take the party back to the core values of the left and away from the neoliberalism bullshit we’ve had to put up with for years.
Let me tell Labour, you can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds! Neoliberalism policies have all but disenfranchised a huge section of the NZ public – but we’re waiting for a truly grass-roots upsurge like what is happening in the UK.
Take this country back to the days before Douglas and Prebble began to demolish it, with inclusive policies – and I could tell you what I mean by these if you wish (see below) – and build a movement for change that will sweep the rich and filthy rich into the dustbin! As someone said, the poor don’t need the rich, but the rich need the poor!
1. Raise the top tax rates and close the company tax loopholes.
2. Nationalise crucial industries and social services which were sold by National – without compensation!
3. Get rid of the SOE business model – allow government departments to do what they are instituted to do without having to pay a dividend.
4. Introduce a Guaranteed Basic Income which allows ALL people to live with dignity and participate fully in society. Introduce a maximum wage!
5. Get private business and the profit motive entirely out of government services! This includes prisons and schools.
6. Restrict foreign investment in land and do an analysis on the benefits of any foreign investment to ensure it is of benefit to New Zealanders.
7. Encourage the growth of unionism and collective bargaining, giving working people a role in management as is done in some other countries.
8. Take climate change seriously – make this country lead the world in green technology. Immediately stop oil exploration around and in New Zealand.
9. Distance this country from American adventurism (and the machinations of other countries for that matter) – pursue a policy of neutrality and leadership for a better, more just and peaceful world.
10. Bring integrity back to politics by government funding 100% of election campaigns.
11. Bring some sanity back into the banking system by regulations on credit creation.
12. Negotiate bilateral free trade agreement which benefit the working people of both countries. Exclude ISDS clauses!
Restrict foreign investment in land do an analysis on the benefits of any foreign investment to ensure it is of benefit to New Zealanders.
That’s easy – there’s never any benefit to a country from foreign investment thus it should simply be banned.
Take climate change seriously – make this country lead the world in green technology.
It’s not so much climate change that we need to take seriously to do that but sustainability. Our present use of scarce resources is unsustainable. Climate change is the result of that unsustainability.
Bring some sanity back into the banking system by regulations on credit creation.
Ban credit creation. Make it so that the only money in the system is what the government creates and spends into the system.
Negotiate bilateral free trade agreement which benefit the working people of both countries.
Nope. Droip out of all FTAs including the WTO and set minimum standards that other countries must reach before we will trade with them. Such minimum standards will mirror our own which will ensure that trade will actually happen when it’s beneficial.
“That’s easy – there’s never any benefit to a country from foreign investment thus it should simply be banned.”
“Nope. Droip out of all FTAs including the WTO and set minimum standards that other countries must reach before we will trade with them. Such minimum standards will mirror our own which will ensure that trade will actually happen when it’s beneficial.”
Sigh…Draco your passion is admirable but you really do come up with some idiotic statements at times.
Suggesting we stop trade other countries – let’s just look at one area… we get almost all of our medicines from overseas, your suggestion on the face of it would consign thousands of NZers to death.
Also to suggest that all foreign investment in NZ has no benefit is patently absurd.
Also to suggest that all foreign investment in NZ has no benefit is patently absurd.
Well, after many decades of foreign investment we haven’t actually seen any. If anything we’ve seen serious damage to our economy because of it. We see NZ businesses bought out and then shipped offshore complete with the IP – no jobs produced and the loss of the income that the IP and business represented. Foreign ownership of the banks has led to massive outflows of money resulting in even less investment than we would normally have. There’s more evidence of damage to our society from foreign investment on CAFCA’s website.
So, the only thing that’s patently absurd is you as you seem to be incapable of reading what’s written and have an ideological belief in offshore ownership despite the evidence.
Well done Tony – can I suggest that your most natural home is in the Green party rather than Labour, even though they have no plans for several of your points they are more closely aligned with your overall vision than Labour will ever be.
But more likely it will guarantee Labour stays in ‘glorious’ opposition as it did during the 1980s and 1990s – until finally it reached out to voters in the centre and won three elections in a row. But until then Thatcher and the Conservatives ran rampant for 18 years.
Too often we forget that being in government is the objective. Anything else is just academic discussion.
Where he proves, conclusively IMO, that he’s just not original Labour material?
These fucks who think everything is about winning and power and that nothing is about being right…please, don’t anyone mumble anything about lamp-posts.
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Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Garrett, Lecturer in Exercise Science and Physiology, Griffith University Australia’s love affair with the major football codes – the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) – is well documented. However, one aspect that stands out to many observers, ...
The White Lotus is back for season three. Here’s what we made of episode one. The third White Lotus season rinses and repeats – and thank God for that. Turns out there is enough comedic and dramatic juice in resort-set ensemble satires on privilege in the modern world, ...
Founder, journalist and author Tim Burrowes joins Duncan Greive to discuss a torrid decade in Australian media and whether there are reasons to be optimistic amid the carnage. Tim Burrowes is the author of a book and a Substack called Unmade, which are truly essential guides to media in ...
The self-appointed apostle says he could be to Christopher Luxon what Elon Musk is to Donald Trump, and his track record speaks for itself.Who is New Zealand’s answer to Elon Musk? The Herald’s tech insider, Chris Keall, put the question to his LinkedIn acolytes the other day. “If Luxon ...
The last good thing at the supermarket is gone. Mad Chapman mourns the Cadbury mini egg cartons. When life is overwhelming and it feels like every story around you is a bad news story, there are a few things that can be relied upon to instil a sense of calm, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Parker, Honorary Professorial Fellow, Melbourne CSHE, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Judges in Australian courtrooms have a lot of power. They can decide on someone’s guilt and the punishment for it, including lengthy prison time. But what if they get ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Birrell, Researcher, Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock Australians are waiting an average of 12 years to seek treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, our new research shows. While ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Bell-James, Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland Almost 200 nations have signed an ambitious agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss but none is on track to meet the crucial goal, our new research reveals. The agreement, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philippa Collin, Professor, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University Australian school students’ civics knowledge is the lowest it has been since testing began 20 years ago, according to new national data. Results have fallen since the last assessment in 2019 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Buckley, Senior Research Fellow, Education Research, Policy and Development Division, Australian Council for Educational Research Michael Jung/ Shutterstock There is a persistent gender gap in Australian schools. Boys, on average, outperform girls in maths. We see this in national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Deane, Professor, Queensland University of Technology Australian beef exports to the United States are GST-free and should not be subject to any retaliatory tariff. William Edge/Shutterstock The latest round of proposed tariffs from US President Donald Trump includes a response ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a 36-year-old tertiary adviser and bartender shares her approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female. Age: 36. Ethnicity: Pākehā. Role: Tertiary adviser, ...
The change allows for devices that do screening, similar to at drink-drive checkpoints, rather than having to test oral fluid to an evidentiary standard. ...
Almost 40% of those departing NZ long-term are aged 18 to 30. What sort of country will they leave behind, asks Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Young people leading the charge out the door Last year saw ...
New Health Minister Simeon Brown is presiding over a list of resignations from high-ranking health officials that some say is a "bloodbath". What's going on? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Rickerby, Lecturer, School of Product Design, University of Canterbury The Poly-1. MOTAT , CC BY-NC Some 45 years ago, a team of staff and students at Wellington Polytechnic designed and built a desktop computer with an operating system customised for ...
The Forum has raised concerns regarding the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill, which, if enacted, will radically undermine existing human rights protections, Indigenous rights, and constitutional safeguards ...
The passage of time hasn’t been kind to Ngāi Tahu.When its High Court hearing over wai māori (freshwater) commenced last week, 52 months after the claim was filed, the tribe mourned the loss of two named first plaintiffs – Bishop Richard Wallace, of Makaawhio, and Theo Bunker, of Wairewa – ...
Margie Apa, Nicholas Jones, Diana Sarfati, the board of Health New Zealand … and will Lester Levy be next?The biggest names in our health service are tumbling like dominos.It’s been called a bloodbath and a crisis.What’s going on?Every day there’s a new story about shortages, patients having to wait for ...
Opinion: The coalition Government’s recent revisions to the business investor visa, officially the Active Investor Plus but commonly known as the ‘golden visa’, has put pay-for-residency back in the headlines. While many object to the commodification of citizenship implicit in this policy, questions should be asked about its potential as ...
One Christmas, to thank him for helping me hugely with my writing (on a mentor scheme), I sent Michael King a dark blue cashmere scarf. I chose it with the awful knowledge that he was battling cancer, and I somehow thought it might keep him warm and make him feel ...
Comment: Readers may recall the commentaries from academics that appeared on these pages as well as on many media outlets, alarmed and appalled by the disbanding of the Marsden panels for humanities and the social sciences.The Marsden Fund is a “blue skies” initiative established by Simon Upton in the 1990s. ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard seven hours of submissions. Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.An “insult to every one of our tīpuna” was the first advice the Justice Committee heard on the Treaty principles bill ...
The same councillors who decry excessive spending on pet projects just voted to pump millions of dollars into a greenhouse for flowers. On Thursday last week, Wellington City Council voted to consult on repairing Begonia House, the greenhouse for exotic flowers in Wellington Botanic Garden. The options for repairs range ...
It’s important to respect people’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly, but how much political deference is due when it isn’t peaceful? Commenting on Destiny Church members storming a children’s event at the Te Atatū library and community centre on Saturday, prime minister Christopher Luxon said it’s important to ...
Comment: US is capitulating to Moscow’s demands before negotiations over Ukraine even begin The post The day the West died appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Asia Pacific Report Two Palestinian resistance groups have condemned “the brutal assault” on prisoners at Ofer Prison, saying it was “barbaric criminal behaviour that reflects the fascist and terrorist nature of” Israel. In the joint statement, Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) called the attack a “miserable attempt” by Israel ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Avarua, Rarotonga Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown hopes to have “an opportunity to talk” with the New Zealand government to “heal some of the rift”. Brown returned to Avarua on Sunday afternoon (Cook Islands Time) following his week-long state visit to China, ...
Washington Supreme Court expels charter schools from state public school system
Mr Gates could always transfer the funds to public schools I guess. But probs the legislative session option will help the private people taking public funds, as always it seems.
Flag advisory group has just four hours to give their opinion – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/71941611/panel-advising-on-new-flag-cobbled-together-advice-from-designers
No, the Flag Consideration Panel got 4 hours of input from assorted designers.
They will have spent significantly longer than 4 hours to cut the list of 40 down to 4 finalists.
They performed trademark and copyright searches on each of the 40 designs for example, which resulted in 1 of the original 40 shortlisted being ruled invalid and removed from further consideration.
Well, according to the economists it’s all a farce:
Yeah, I think Key’s ‘bright’ idea of changing the flag probably isn’t bringing him as much joy as he expected it would.
The smug, flat-arsed cowards and careerists who have turned Labour into a beige tory party should take note of this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/most-voters-would-welcome-a-more-radical-socialist-labour-party-new-poll-finds-10494366.html
It’s what it says on the tin – contrary to orthodox ‘wisdom’, in the UK, a Labour party that is a real alternative, not an incompetent clone of the tories would resonate with voters. The same is likely true here.
Instead of fuckwits blathering about making the 90-day law “fairer” (for whom?) or getting a TPPA deal that’s “better” (in the way that ebola’s better than leukaemia?), we could have a real Labour Party.
Instead we have frauds like Grant Fucking Robertson who can’t even bring himself to say “socialist” for fear that the Rotarians he sucks up to won’t buy his lattes for him anymore.
Where is the groundswell of support for change within the Labour Party rhino?
Where are the thinkers?
Where are the future leaders?
Do you see any hope of Labour regaining it’s mojo, or do you think it’s fucked, and the Left requires a new political foundation Party to regain government?
The potential groundswell is in exactly the same place as it was in other places prior to quite simple thoughts and ideas being articulated by likely (not certain) future leaders.
NZ Labour has no depth because the legacy of ’84 was break-away parties that ‘died on the vine’….with a little help from ‘liberal’ toxins, courtesy of NZ Labour.
That means that there is no SNP – a major party – capable of occupying ground abandoned by Labour. And there are no Jeremy Corbyn’s who have bided their time on the back benches working for their constituents these past 30 years.
Labour will change – slowly. Mere ‘Johnny come lately’ adopters of what will already have transpired across the left in the English speaking world.
A big part of the problem is capture. If they’re constantly being offered the hospitality of Sky City, then they’re going to feel more of a reflexive concern for Sky City execs than we filthy proles. Sky City knows this and that arsewipe Goff wants their support in his mayoral campaign, so hey-ho, he gets a nice seat in their corporate box to watch allegedly grown adults chase a leather balloon around a field.
Parliament for a lot of MPs is a networking shop where they can scout out positions in corporate boards and their attitude increasingly becomes, to paraphrase JFK, asking not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them.
The filthy proles I guess have to keep buttonholing their representatives at least. Invite them to events and then make sure that instead of treating it as another opportunity for self aggrandisement, make sure they sit down, shut up and listen. Remind them who they work for. Remind them who’s going to be knocking on doors for them come election time – or staying at home. Humiliate them for taking favours. Ask them embarrassing questions and publicise their evasions. Never give them a free pass just because they hum a bar of The Red Flag once a year.
Little at least knows it’s “not a good look” to be seen dining with charter school boards, but he’s been pressured by men in suits into stabbing young workers in the back over 90 days fire at will. Someone needs to elbow their way to the front of the queue and remind him whose party he’s in.
We don’t have money and corporate credit cards, but we can keep the pressure on them, tolerate no bullshit, call it out when it gushes.
Don’t suppose you are looking for a change of career Rhino?
I just wish they’d just finish this fucking British Labour leadership vote.
We can only tell the reality of public opinion once the new leader is in and we have a good tracking poll series.
Over the last couple of months, Corbyn has emerged as the front-runner not only among Labour members/affiliates but also among both Labour voters and the British electorate as a whole (according to all the polls). That extraordinary wave of Corbymania propelling him from outsider to red hot favourite within a space of just a few weeks. It’s been a remarkable revitalisation of Labour’s core values and brilliant (for those of us opposed to tweedledee / tweedledum politics) to see.
But no one should be under any illusion that if he does win the leadership (and the purging of Corbyn-supporters and non-delivery of 10s of thousands of voting papers continues to concern me on that score), then he will come in for a total shitstorm of smears, abuse and ridicule from the MSM and Blairite/Tory Establishment.
We’ve already seen the hysteria from a series of shell-shocked Blairite Grandees paraded before us by a complicit media. And, of course, the all-too-predictable anti-Semitic smears emanating from Britain’s Israel-Right-or-Wrong Lobby and its fellow-travellers, along with New Labour’s US-Right-or-Wrong ”Atlanticists’ (one of whom, you approvingly cited in yesterdays Open Mike).
But you aint seen nothing yet !
It’ll be relentless and may very well destroy the Corbyn leadership. Quite possibly an initial poll bounce over the first few weeks, followed by an all-out campaign of MSM vitriol that sees Labour support fall, possibly even plummet.
Then, again, I’m not entirely ruling out a backlash against the media from Labour supporters and a reasonable slice of the broader public. Particularly (as the Lord Ashcroft poll cited by rhinocrates suggests), from the Labour-leaning faction of Ukip supporters. It’s clear to me from digging deep through UK polls of the last 2 years that Ukip voters (in stark contrast to the Party leadership) are substantially on the Left in terms of public ownership, anti-austerity. Like most NZF voters here, they’re socially-conservative Left.
It’s also clear that an overwhelming majority of Labour voters (and Greens and more than a few Lib Dems) support the sort of policy platform that Corbyn is offering.
If the establishment follows its predictable course of ‘Project Fear’ (redux), then the backlash will be a tsunami.
Yet again, and I’m sorry if this bores peeps, I’m looking at ‘the establishment’ fortunes in Scotland…the SNP, with almost all media continuing to lambast them, are now around 60% with an election about 12 months away.
The only thing that will soften support for the SNP is a UK Labour led by Corbyn.
That’s what I’m hoping, Bill.
It’s a good sign that, if anything, the high profile MSM intervention from Blair/Brown/Straw/and the particularly vile Mandelson (admittedly in Blair he’s got some pretty stiff competition for that title)…has served to propel Corbyn even higher in the polls (and among the membership). All the Blairite and MSM hysteria appears to have been counter-productive.
I’m hoping this momentum, this desire for a thorough-going revitalisation of not just the Labour Party but UK politics as a whole, will continue to sweep through the roughly 50% of voters (Labour, Green, Lib Dem, Ukip and even a few Tories) who consider themselves primarily Left-of-Centre on most substantive issues.
But I never discount the ability of the establishment media to influence public opinion. And I remain concerned that the Scots electorate may be unique (within Britain, apart from certain urban enclaves in the North of England, London and the Welsh Valleys) in the sheer strength of its social democratic values (partly forged, certainly reinforced, by the Thatcherite onslaught in the 80s/early 90s).
TPPA has not gone away – it’s merely dropped out of the MSM – the corporate media – surprise, surprise!
There is intense pressure to sign the TPP asap – but why the hurry? It has been on the negotiating table for six years or so. Obama has received ‘fast-track’ powers to push the TPP through before the presidential elections.
The point made in the first of these short videos is that Obama has been bought and paid for by big corporations in the US. To gain funds for his campaigns he made promises to his corporate backers – now he has to deliver on those promises!
Which begs the question – how much did our own PM cost? What promises has he made to corporate backers? What is Groser going to get out of the deal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPIsjH25GHo
The point made in the second short clip is making the legislators ‘own’ the document. It must be debated by parliament – it can’t be modified in any way – but our parliamentarians can be held responsible. We need to be prepared to let them know that we will read the provisions of the TPPA – and if we don’t like them – which we will not – then we will hold them responsible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgbmR3ERh6o
Is there anything good about the TPP? Free trade has not been good for New Zealand. We are heading for a low income economy (if it isn’t already here) with a super rich 1 or 2 per-cent and the vast majority the working poor! Free trade hasn’t worked to create jobs in America either – see the short clip below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTrPsFTGmYI
We need to keep up the anti-TPPA pressure, and not let this monster slip past us in the grey dawn of a totally neoliberal future!
Tony Veitch ?
I’ve been wondering about that too.
Not the plonker who kicked his girlfriend down the stairs – I had my name long before he disgraced it!
fair enough and thanks for letting us know.
We need to keep the pressure up on the TPPA. Like this:
TPP protesters take to roundabout
About a dozen anti-Trans Pacific Partnership protesters took to a roundabout at the southern entrance to Wanganui this morning.
The protest was to coincide with the arrival of deputy prime minister Bill English to the city.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=11511429
We need to keep the TPPA in the forefront of the news as the flag debate is providing the much needed distraction for the Nats.
Tony Veitch (real or pseudonymous) is keeping his eye on the ball.
Also http://whatreallyhappened.com/es/content/japanese-group-sues-stop-tpp-talks-group-citizens-has-sued-japanese-government-arguing-trans#axzz3lNnoYmfp
Might sound strange but a good poster boy for the anti-TPPA movement could be Donald Trump
He’s been saying quite loudly, and publicly I might add, that US politicians are bought & paid for. He’s often told how he’s donated himself and had pollies at his beck & call. One of his best arguments for nomination is he has his own money and isn’t being bribed or influenced by anyone.
Priceless! That’s the selling point! I can’t be bribed because I already own the politicians!
+111
+1
the lack of self awareness is jaw dropping
Take back the news! The new Scoop.
http://takebackthenews.nz/
Alastair Thompson @althecat
http://takebackthenews.nz #takebackthenews
https://twitter.com/althecat/status/641925827634958336
Naomi Klein has made Chapter 20 of her book available for reproduction, and for those who haven’t read “This Changes Everything” it is worth the time.
Just posting the first half of the introduction.
The full introduction might be worth a post in itself… (moderators?)
Naomi Klein: from naomiklein.org 28 August 2015
Apologies. Excerpt is from “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” published in 2007.
Klein’s talk last week in Sydney is worth a watch too. This video is an hour, but the actual talk is maybe 30 or 40 mins. She’s talking about climate change and why critiquing capitalism is so important. She also makes the links with the refugee crises.
At the start she calls out some of the people involved in the event organisation’s board and their influence on border policy. A great example of emotional and political intelligence that reminds us that it’s women like Klein who should be in charge of things.
Sounds just like what National has been and is doing to our own state sector – lot of money for the private corporations to bring in huge profits while the essential services are run down.
Russel Norman is leaving parliament. Marama Davidson is going to be an MP!
https://blog.greens.org.nz/2015/09/11/introducing-our-newest-green-mp/
Many thanks to Russell Norman for all his hard work under what have been pretty difficult situations at times.
Snap weka! (Deleted duplicate…)
Good news about Marama Davidson though. She is a very articulate and informed person, and will be a welcome addition.
Termite, collectively, alter the global climate. Every species on the planet alters the environment around to better suit themselves, though not always for their best. So this gormless old fat of a media mogal, whose business is peddling power, and using wedg issues, no matter how contrived and stupid, goes uncriticized by the free market. Believing as he does the the great unwashed his media empir sells to could not also fundamentally collectively alter the global ecosystem. Its just a crazy idea, humans capable of altering climate, humbug. A communist having recognized the evil of capitalism could have not done more to destroy, ridicule and waste capitalisms good effects.
pathetic and sad are the words that come to mind to describe this whole sham
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11511139
” One of the Flag Consideration Panel members who helped to pick the final four options sits on a government board where her job is to help promote the Fern Mark logo.
Julie Christie is an advisory board member on New Zealand Story, a NZ Trade and Enterprise body which approves the use of the Fern Mark image used on the black-and-white version of the final four flag options.
She declared a conflict of interest at the same meeting at which the flag panel was told the NZ Story board had cleared the path for the Fern Mark to be used on a new flag. ”
snip……..
“The OIA papers show Ms Christie declared two conflicts of interest at a July 30 meeting of the flag panel. She declared her link to the Fern Mark and as a member of the commercial committee of the NZ Rugby Union.
The minutes said “the panel noted these conflicts of interest as minor”.
“the panel noted these conflicts of interest as minor”.
Minor????
Which is precisely why John Key made sure she was on the panel.
F*&*King Julie Christie.
What a corporate welfare trougher she is!
And no taste to boot!
Not content to get rid of John Campbell with her personal vendetta and take down TV3 with it, she now has her sights set on NZ – devaluing our country via it’s flag and emblems.
i am sure she was able to put her bias aside when it came to the vote 🙄
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/283904/beware-of-akl-house-prices-english
“Finance Minister Bill English says the Auckland housing market is on fire, and people need to be careful not to get burned when prices fall.
“Mr English said when house prices rise as fast as they have in Auckland, they do fall. He said growth may slow down, and some people may have borrowed too much.
“Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler said two years ago investors accounted for 33 percent of transactions in the Auckland housing market, but now they made up 41 percent.
Mr Wheeler said in overseas housing markets where there have been large house price corrections, investors have been more likely to default on their loans.
Meanwhile, a leading economist said the Auckland housing market is a growing risk to the country’s economy.
Shamubeel Eaqub told Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report programme the Reserve Bank may have to intervene – even though it was not its policies that were inflating the market.
Again this statistic from the RB governor; why is this not being seized upon by opposition parties? Where is it from?
Great article by Gareth Hughes
The Government has just announced another $10m for petroleum data to be secured and supplied to the oil industry, paid for by, yes you. If it looks like a subsidy and acts like a subsidy – it is a subsidy. In this case a subsidy to find more oil we can’t afford to burn if we don’t want to cook the climate.
Steven Joyce’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment latest science investment round just announced it will give GNS $2.4m a year over four years to ‘develop new workstation-ready data products for the exploration industry.’ I know the oil industry is facing a low oil price at the moment but it’s hard to believe one of the world’s largest and most profitable industries needs a to go cap in hand to the taxpayer for a hand-out. This comes on top of $25m in previous years, $46m in annual tax breaks and benefiting from the forth-lowest tax plus royalty rate in the world.
The IMF has calculated NZ subsidises the coal, gas and oil sectors to the tune of $US 2.5 billion per year (as of 2013).
The public cost of US$2.5 billion is comprised from such costs as air pollution, lost tax revenue, climate change etc that are all directly attributable to the industry.
Got a link for that Bill?
All I could find was a global figure of $5.3tn USD, from an IMF working paper published in may. This included both direct subsidies and the indirect costs of externalities such the effects of poor air quality on health and so forth. Estimates were broken down by region, but not by individual country.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2015/wp15105.pdf
I do have/did have. I downloaded the spreadsheet and, of course, it didn’t come with a link. I’ve been mulling a post on it. If/when I do that, I’ll be hunting out the link again.
I believe it came from a link off of another link from here…
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/18/fossil-fuel-companies-getting-10m-a-minute-in-subsidies-says-imf
edit. Link is on this page http://www.imf.org/external/np/fad/subsidies/ (an excel spreadsheet)
and extended drilling rights into the maui reserve
Is Tim Barnett’s resignation a good or not so good thing?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11511453
The Labour Party will now have 3 different people in senior positions following the last election.
Can’t see how it could hurt, given how well they all performed at the last election.
Just part of the turnover. The general secretary’s role in Labour is a hard one, the money is crap, the skills required are immense and varied, and the hours are horrendous.
I saw Mike Smith do that role for many years when I was still active in the Labour party, and was always impressed that he didn’t throw up his hands and depart. It is completely underfunded and massively undervalued especially by the Labour staffers and MPs at parliament. The only time they value it is for a short period around the election.
Tim Barnett did a pretty good job of it. He helped to get a lot of the changes required for the Labour party organisation to survive. Who really gives a pigs arse about MPs and staffers anyway? To lose the party base would be to consign the MPs and their staff to a future like United Future or Act have.
And Labour does it without going into virtual slavery to large donors in the way National or Act did.
Thanks for the summary, LP
Ideally replaced by someone who with the President can raise some money.
That would be ideal. However the primary role of the secretary is to deal with the multitudinous details of running a large mainly voluntary organisation. Since that role is fulltime and with a very very limited staff, it doesn’t leave that much time for chasing donors.
The Labour party needs to start treating donor chasing as being a professional activity and set aside some funds to hire people to do that task. You bring the pres, sec, and anyone else in when you close.
But also figuring out how to get more small and repeated funds from smaller donors would help a lot. Again, they have to set that up and run it for the long term with an eye to lowering costs of collection.
MPs in particular see the importance just before the election each time. But lose interest afterwards. Essentially they need to be kicked out from the process because they have screwed up dealing with the party issues for several decades now. Consequently they haven’t gotten fixed.
“figuring out how to get more small and repeated funds from smaller donors would help a lot”
possibly need an Obama to inspire that.
Bloody hell – I see that Jock Anderson fresh from being given the DCM from the Herald has popped up as a commentator at Radio New Zealand. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/283942/opinion-books-shouldn't-promote-swearing
At the end of his diatribe is this: ‘Jock Anderson has been a journalist for a long time, observing matters from what he describes as a sensible centre-right perspective. He can be contacted at jockanderson123@gmail.com‘
Seems Dr Joe Aitchenson on Radio NZ afternoons (hope I have the name right) ‘gets’ the shit that it seems NZ Labour and a fuck shit pile of people just can’t get their heads around.
Not a bad run down considering the source. He was on between 1 O’Clock and half past.
Dr Joe Atkinson
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/aft/aft-20150911-1315-international_politics_-_joe_atkinson-048.mp3
It took me a couple of days to fall across David Farrar’s comment on the banning of Into the River by the Film and Literature Board of Review:
“Don’t get hysterical and silly. And it isn’t banned as much as suspended – there is a difference.”
Actually it is banned, temporarily, but still banned. Also it’s good to know he thinks the government banning things is acceptable. Let’s take his site off line for a month and see whether he’s so casual about it.
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2015/09/into_the_river.html
Ha! Waitangi Tribunal has told the government the way they are handling Ngāpuhi claims is unfair. Let’s see how the arrogant Chris Finlayson reacts to this as he loathes being challenged.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11511469
Talking points: (see 4.1.1.1 for my identity)
I resigned from the Labour Party in 1987 or 8, not sure which year now. I’ve waited 30 years for the appearance of a Jeremy Corbyn or a Bernie Sanders on the New Zealand political scene – someone who will take the party back to the core values of the left and away from the neoliberalism bullshit we’ve had to put up with for years.
Let me tell Labour, you can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds! Neoliberalism policies have all but disenfranchised a huge section of the NZ public – but we’re waiting for a truly grass-roots upsurge like what is happening in the UK.
Take this country back to the days before Douglas and Prebble began to demolish it, with inclusive policies – and I could tell you what I mean by these if you wish (see below) – and build a movement for change that will sweep the rich and filthy rich into the dustbin! As someone said, the poor don’t need the rich, but the rich need the poor!
1. Raise the top tax rates and close the company tax loopholes.
2. Nationalise crucial industries and social services which were sold by National – without compensation!
3. Get rid of the SOE business model – allow government departments to do what they are instituted to do without having to pay a dividend.
4. Introduce a Guaranteed Basic Income which allows ALL people to live with dignity and participate fully in society. Introduce a maximum wage!
5. Get private business and the profit motive entirely out of government services! This includes prisons and schools.
6. Restrict foreign investment in land and do an analysis on the benefits of any foreign investment to ensure it is of benefit to New Zealanders.
7. Encourage the growth of unionism and collective bargaining, giving working people a role in management as is done in some other countries.
8. Take climate change seriously – make this country lead the world in green technology. Immediately stop oil exploration around and in New Zealand.
9. Distance this country from American adventurism (and the machinations of other countries for that matter) – pursue a policy of neutrality and leadership for a better, more just and peaceful world.
10. Bring integrity back to politics by government funding 100% of election campaigns.
11. Bring some sanity back into the banking system by regulations on credit creation.
12. Negotiate bilateral free trade agreement which benefit the working people of both countries. Exclude ISDS clauses!
+1 Tony.
Excellent list. Send it to every Labour MP and LEC.
Wow, perfeck.
That’s easy – there’s never any benefit to a country from foreign investment thus it should simply be banned.
It’s not so much climate change that we need to take seriously to do that but sustainability. Our present use of scarce resources is unsustainable. Climate change is the result of that unsustainability.
Ban credit creation. Make it so that the only money in the system is what the government creates and spends into the system.
Nope. Droip out of all FTAs including the WTO and set minimum standards that other countries must reach before we will trade with them. Such minimum standards will mirror our own which will ensure that trade will actually happen when it’s beneficial.
“That’s easy – there’s never any benefit to a country from foreign investment thus it should simply be banned.”
“Nope. Droip out of all FTAs including the WTO and set minimum standards that other countries must reach before we will trade with them. Such minimum standards will mirror our own which will ensure that trade will actually happen when it’s beneficial.”
Sigh…Draco your passion is admirable but you really do come up with some idiotic statements at times.
So what’s wrong with them or is that you don’t actually know WTF you’re talking about and just wish to cast aspersions?
Suggesting we stop trade other countries – let’s just look at one area… we get almost all of our medicines from overseas, your suggestion on the face of it would consign thousands of NZers to death.
Also to suggest that all foreign investment in NZ has no benefit is patently absurd.
Where’d I say that?
Well, after many decades of foreign investment we haven’t actually seen any. If anything we’ve seen serious damage to our economy because of it. We see NZ businesses bought out and then shipped offshore complete with the IP – no jobs produced and the loss of the income that the IP and business represented. Foreign ownership of the banks has led to massive outflows of money resulting in even less investment than we would normally have. There’s more evidence of damage to our society from foreign investment on CAFCA’s website.
So, the only thing that’s patently absurd is you as you seem to be incapable of reading what’s written and have an ideological belief in offshore ownership despite the evidence.
🙄
QFT
Well done Tony – can I suggest that your most natural home is in the Green party rather than Labour, even though they have no plans for several of your points they are more closely aligned with your overall vision than Labour will ever be.
12. Negotiate fair trade agreements. 🙂
Tony a schoolboy.
hehehe.
So, anyone else see David Shearers post on FB?
Astonishing. Embarrassing. And actually, really depressing (as a member).
This one?
Where he proves, conclusively IMO, that he’s just not original Labour material?
Yip. Disgraceful.
Yes, I thought I was seeing things!
And NZ Labour still seem unable to enforce basic message discipline on their caucus after losing 3 elections. Hopeless amateurs.
These fucks who think everything is about winning and power and that nothing is about being right…please, don’t anyone mumble anything about lamp-posts.
Donations to the National Party? Just paid for itself…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/71965664/sir-peter-talley-becomes-a-knight-at-government-house
Disgusting.
Wheeler says its dangerous.
http://www.interest.co.nz/property/77548/rbnzs-wheeler-says-auckland-house-price-inflation-over-25-dangerous-territory-when
English says its on fire and some may get burnt.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/283904/beware-of-akl-house-prices-english
Where the hell is OSH?
Here is Mr fix it.
Steven Joyce said buyers needed to understand that interest rates weren’t going to stay low for ever.
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/aucklands-property-market-dangerous-territory-2015091113#ixzz3lPaDrF6Z
With teen idols acting like this:
https://youtu.be/SgBIBlzmrRE?t=1m27s
Is it any surprise we get reports like this:
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/south-auckland-school-student-brawl-investigated-2015091108#axzz3lMJBBnqY